Tabitha, Caitlin, and Lily pulled Mae into the kitchen and threw her against a counter. Tabitha straightened her cloak and told Lily and Caitlin, "Watch her. She has become friends with the master's daughter. We can't have her blabbing our plans because the plans will not be foiled because of a witch who barely even knows a basic levitation spell."
Lily nodded and told Tabitha, "You have nothing to fear. Mae won't be meeting with Madeline any time soon."
Tabitha nodded and replied, "Good, I'm going to check on Anna."
Mae shut her eyes and felt like screaming for help. 'Madeline needs to know what has happened,' she thought. 'But, I can't get to her with three of my coven hovering around me like this.' She whimpered and fell to the floor. Lily pulled Mae up by her collar. "You make breakfast for Anna, like you were told,' she spat in Mae's face.
Mae replied through clenched teeth, "Yes, ma'am." Then, she walked over to the fireplace, and used her magic to light a fire. 'I do know a basic levitation spell. I'm not an idiot like they all think,' she thought as she stared into the fire and wished she could teach them a lesson. But, she let her anger go for the present time. There would be a time for revenge, and Mae knew she would not be the only one to seek revenge on her coven. 'Victoria will regret this, I swear she will.'

Tabitha went inside of Anna's room, and she stood there staring at the unconscious woman. "We're risking a lot for this mission," she said out loud to nobody in particular. "To think we're doing this to get a monster slayer of our own that will be brought up to protect us. It's ridiculous." Tabitha walked over to the side of Anna's bed. "We could have enslaved Van Helsing. That would have been so much easier and would have taken less time."
Tabitha pulled a pouch of untainted pixie dust from her cloak. Not even Victoria knew she had it, and she would be punished severely if anyone found out. Only Victoria was allowed to have pixie dust, and Tabitha stole a pouch out of Victoria's room. But, Tabitha grabbed a little bit of the dust in her hand and whispered an incantation. She was hexing the pixie dust to wake Anna up instead of letting her sleep from Victoria's enchanted drink. Tabitha just wanted Anna to suffer because it brought her joy to see others in pain.
The hex set, Tabitha blew the dust in Anna's face. After the dust was gone, Tabitha quickly departed to leave Anna alone with her thoughts. 'Anna will be devastated when she realizes she's all alone.' Tabitha thought. 'Such a shame.'
Anna could feel the fatigue and drowsiness fading away, and she tossed around in her bed. "Gabriel," she whispered just before she opened her eyes. Anna didn't believe it when she found herself alone. "No," she said out loud. "This isn't right, Van Helsing was here." Anna could feel her throat grow scratchy from fighting back tears. She just couldn't believe that the previous night was all a dream because it had been too real. 'Van Helsing was here, he had to have been.' Anna's mind was telling her that her whole night with Van Helsing had been a dream, but her heart refused to believe it.
Anna pulled her legs up to her chest, and she cried desperately wanting to believe that Van Helsing had found her and made love to her the night before. But, there was a horrible hollowness that filled Anna's soul as she began to doubt that Van Helsing had ever been there at all. Her crying ebbed, but she was left sitting on her bed in a delicate state of mind. She felt her spirit was broken, and she didn't want to leave her room ever again.
Tabitha was standing outside of Anna's room, and she entered without Anna's permission. "Hello, Anna," she said receiving a miserable look from Anna. "It's time for you to come downstairs and have breakfast."
"I'm not hungry." Anna replied as she laid back down on her bed.
Tabitha rolled her eyes and pulled Anna up with her magic. Anna glared at her and shouted, "Leave me alone!" But, Tabitha was not sympathetic and pulled Anna off of her bed and onto the floor. Anna just sat on the stone floor not looking up at Tabitha. So, Tabitha grabbed her by the collar of her dress and pulled her up onto her feet.
Then, Tabitha pulled Anna out of her room and led her to the kitchen. Anna struggled the whole way because she really wasn't hungry and wanted to be left alone in her room. "Why don't you listen to me?" Anna pleaded. "I just want to be alone!"
Tabitha slammed her down into a chair, and snapped her fingers. Lily shoved Mae over to where Anna was. Anna saw the look of fear in Mae's eyes and began to fear that something was ill fated. Mae set a plate with the same breakfast foods Anna had been presented with everyday since she was in the captivity of the witches and vampires. "I'm sorry, but I'm not hungry."
Lily laughed, and her red hair bounced. "Dear girl if you don't eat, you'll make yourself sick."
"That doesn't bother me." Anna shot back as she pushed the plate away from her.
Tabitha put her hands on Anna's shoulders and squeezed hard, making Anna wince. "You'll eat if we have to make you," she hissed.
Mae used her magic to shove Tabitha away from Anna. "She asked to be left alone, and she said she wasn't hungry!" Mae shouted.
Lily and Caitlin exchanged glances as Tabitha strolled up to Mae. Mae was slimmer and shorter than Tabitha, but she did not falter in her glare. Tabitha slapped Mae hard across the face, leaving a red mark across her left cheek. Mae dropped down to the floor and held her hand to her face. Tabitha leaned down and sternly told Mae, "Victoria put me in charge while she is away, and you were told to keep busy. I won't let Victoria be disappointed in us for letting you do as you please. And, nobody pushes me. Are we clear on that?"
Mae nodded in response, but she felt like spitting in Tabitha's face. Tabitha accepted Mae's nod and left her alone with Anna. They left to brew a nice drink for themselves, and Tabitha was confident that Mae wouldn't disobey her again.
Mae sat on the cold stone floor sulking about how she was being treated. Anna touched Mae's shoulders. "Why do you take abuse from them?" Anna asked her.
"Because their powers are more advanced than my own." Mae replied rubbing her cheek as she stood up.
Anna motioned her to sit down by her at the table. "Thank you for what you did. It means a lot to me, Mae. You stood up to them even if they do treat you like dirt."
Mae stared down at the table for a moment. "I would love to escape this coven. They are doing so much that I don't agree with right now. But, that's been the same since I was born."
Anna leaned on her arms. "Were you born into the coven?" Her interest was spiked because she had never seen a witch until she was brought back to life and captured by some. Mae seemed unlike the rest of the witches.
"Yes, my mother was a respected witch in their coven, so that is why they put up with me." Mae replied. "But I'd love to get away from them."
"What are they doing in secret? I know there has to be something going on because there has to be a reason they need me." Anna whispered.
Mae was about to tell Anna what was going on when Tabitha, Lily, and Caitlin returned. "Mae," Tabitha said.
"Yes?" Mae inquired.
"Go find us a human to have some fun with. I miss that one I dragged around yesterday. Cute, little guy too bad his friend spoiled my fun." Tabitha bragged to Lily and Caitlin about terrorizing Carl's well being the day before.
Mae sighed and received a sympathetic look from Anna as she rose from her chair. Mae felt sorry for Anna. 'There is no reason for her to go through a pain like this. Next time I'm left alone, I'm spilling everything to Anna. She deserves to know that Van Helsing was here last night.' Mae thought angrily.

It was midday before Carl could feel his body want to wake, but he found his body wouldn't listen to what his brain was telling it. Even his eyelids wouldn't lift up so he could see where he was. But, he could hear several horses trotting along, and he could feel a bumpy ride of a carriage underneath him. Carl wondered, 'What's going on? I can't move at all, and my mind's a little fuzzy. I remember Van Helsing was lying on the floor in the Valerious manor. I ran for him, and that witch blew something in my face. I know I lost conscious then. Now, I am...where? I hope Van Helsing is here and safe.'
Carl continually tried to wake up, but he was struggling with staying conscious. He felt like he was underwater due to the fact that his eyes would not open, leaving him in darkness, and his mind was sluggish on everything now that he was awake for a few minutes. But, he was beginning to get feeling back in his limbs. Carl began to struggle just to move, and he was finding that it was working but was exhausting him at the same time.

Carl's breathing quickened, and it drew Victoria's attention. She glared over at Carl and saw he was struggling to move. 'How can this be,' she thought to herself. 'I gave him a strong dose of the hexed pixie dust. How is he even able to move so soon?' Victoria looked again to make sure she saw correctly, but Carl was moving and was coming out from under the pixie dust's influence quickly. Victoria shook her head. 'He is remarkable. Van Helsing is taller and built sturdier, but Carl is the one who is harder to drug. Who would guess?'
Victoria let Carl squirm a little more just to see if he would wear himself out before she had to drug him again. But, he showed no sign of giving in to exhaustion, so Victoria pulled a handful of the hexed pixie dust from the pouch at her side. 'A handful should last him,' she figured. Then, she blew the dust into Carl's face and watched him inhale it.
Carl felt the pixie dust upon his face and instantly thought, 'Oh, no,' right before he fell back into a deep and dark unnatural sleep. Victoria smiled at the sight of Carl's body going limp again, but she found that his immunity to the pixie dust was troubling. No human had come out of the pixie dust's effects so quickly. 'Maybe I misjudged him.' Victoria thought as she stared at the blonde friar with a couple days worth of stubble on his face. She was thoroughly confused on how the friar had overcome the pixie dust, but she knew that he would not be awake again until he and Van Helsing were in Rome was again.
Victoria turned to see Van Helsing apparently having nightmares because he was breathing rapidly and jerking every once in a while. She couldn't help but grin at her diabolic behavior. 'Oh, it's good to have the power to make others suffer. I've suffered far too long without punishing others for it. Now, I take innocent victims as my prey. All well, I plan to make anyone I meet suffer.' Victoria thought as she continued to watch Van Helsing suffer in his unconscious state of mind. "Believe me," she whispered to Van Helsing, "the dreams are far better than the reality you will awake to."