Chosen Chapter 11: House Party
Part 4
Xxx
As time passed, Violet was getting more and more impatient and kept checking her phone. Arthur still had not shown up and she figured he had probably forgotten. Although she supported his desire to find answers about the Wizards, she also worried it could turn into an obsession. She wanted to send another text, but decided not to. She looked around and saw Paige was talking to Duncan's rude brother. She looked uncomfortable, so Violet grabbed her glass and walked over.
"I had heard the Charmed Ones were beautiful, and they certainly weren't exaggerating." Don said.
"Yeah, thanks." Paige replied with an eye roll.
"I can't believe you married a mortal." Don continued. "You know, my friend Simon was devastated when you turned him down. But you deserve better than him."
"You're a friend of the Brit?" Paige remarked. "That makes sense. You do seem to share the same obnoxiousness and arrogance."
"Ouch." Don replied with a smile. "You're feisty. I like that."
"I'm also married." Paige replied.
Violet was about to interrupt when she suddenly heard a scream coming from the hall. She ran over and saw Billie and Hope standing there with worried looks. At the same time, the scream had disrupted the rest of the party and everyone came to see what was going on. Billie guided Hope into the living room and the rest followed.
"What happened?" Duncan asked concerned.
"You know that demon we vanquished earlier today?" Billie replied. "Turns out he is not quite vanquished after all."
"What?" Violet asked shocked. "How can that be?"
"I don't know. I guess he faked his death or something." Billie said. "He is here in the house."
"Hold on, where is my brother?" Nathan suddenly asked as he looked around.
"The demon took him. And we think we took Darcy earlier." Billie admitted.
"What do you mean, took him?" Nathan asked, though Billie could only shrug, as she had no idea.
"What kind of demon are we dealing with, Billie?" Paige asked.
"Some kind of shadow demon." Duncan replied. "He can create vortexes."
"Oh no." Paige said.
"What?" Billie asked. "Do you know what we're dealing with?"
"I'm not sure." Paige replied. "But I remember hearing about a type of demon that can create vortexes like that. They are called Void Demons."
"I've never heard of them." Duncan noted. "What do you know?"
"Well, Void Demons are very powerful demons whose bodies essentially are their own pocket dimensions." Paige explained. "They can suck victims into their personal void and feed on their suffering."
"Wait, does that mean Darcy is dead?" Hope called out panicked.
"No, not yet." Paige quickly said. "The void doesn't kill them, but traps them in darkness until the demon is done with them."
"So we can still save them?" Nathan asked.
"In theory. If we can find a way to vanquish the demon." Paige replied. "But since they have no real physical body, it is nearly impossible."
Suddenly a demonic laugh sounded and a vortex opened in the floor. The demon rose up and looked around with a smug and arrogant look. "So my secrets are revealed." He noted.
"Give me back my brother!" Nathan demanded angrily.
"But why? I do so enjoy his tormented screams." The demon replied. "They are even more enjoyable than those of the girl."
"You son of a b…" Nathan started to say, though Duncan put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.
"Do you have a name?" Duncan asked.
"Valefar." The demon replied.
"Why are we talking to this monster?" Don remarked. "Let's just destroy it."
Don raised his hand and fired a short bolt of hot flashing light. Valefar smirked as he turned to shadow and the bolt passed through him, causing it to burn a large hole in the wall.
"You idiot." Duncan called out. "We just said he has no physical body."
"It was worth a shot." Don replied with a shrug.
"You can fight me all you want, but you're all mine now." Valefar said. "You are trapped here, and one by one, I will drag you into the endless void."
The demon laughed and disappeared back into his vortex. Everyone stood still for a while, unsure of what to do. Finally, it was Hope who broke the silence as she walked toward the front door.
"We need to get out of here." Hope said. "This house isn't safe. We can figure out a plan once we're out of here."
Violet looked at the door and, for a brief moment, saw a shadow moving behind the glass. She screamed at Hope to stop as he reached for the door, but was too late. The moment Hope opened the door, a vortex opened behind it. Before anyone could react, Hope was pulled into the shadows with a scream and disappeared.
"Hope!" Billie screamed.
"Close the door!" Paige called out as the vortex began pulling all of them it.
Billie nodded and flung her arm, slamming the door shut. Violet walked to the window and looked outside. As she touched the glass, the outside was replaced with endless darkness. It was like the demon had cast a vortex around the entire house.
"We need to find a way out of here before the demon takes us all." Duncan said.
"How?" Nathan asked. "You've seen what happens. The moment any of us try to leave, the demon just opens another vortex."
"Perhaps I can orb us out." Paige said. "Tyler. Come on. I am orbing you home first."
"What, why?" Tyler asked.
"It's too dangerous for you." Paige replied.
"Paige, stop treating me like a little kid." Tyler argued. "I can take care of myself."
"Not against this." Paige replied. "Your fire isn't going to affect this demon, so that means you're powerless against it."
"Paige is right, Tyler." Billie added. "Besides, I think we're all powerless against it. We need to get out of here until we can find a solution."
"I want to help." Tyler said.
"And you can, just not from here." Paige said. "Now come on."
Paige took his hand and they started orbing out. As they dematerialized into millions of orbs, another vortex opened in the middle of the air and began sucking in the orbs. Billie quickly flung her arm and the orbs dispersed, causing Paige and Tyler to rematerialize as they were thrown across the room. Don charged past Violet and offered his hand to Paige.
"Need help, my dear?" Don asked, though Paige merely gave him an annoyed look and got up herself.
"Sorry. That was a panic response." Billie said. "I didn't mean to throw you so hard."
"Don't worry, I think you just saved us." Paige replied. "So teleporting is also not an option."
"So we really are trapped here." Violet concluded.
"I think the demon merged with the house, became part of it." Paige said. "That way, he can keep us contained and open a vortex the moment we try to leave."
"So he can also hear and see everything we do." Duncan added.
"And he is seemingly also cutting off all communication." Tyler said as he held up his phone. "I lost reception the moment the demon appeared."
"How do we fight something like this?" Violet asked nervously.
"What if we split up?" Nathan suggested. "We can all try to get out at the same time at different spots. I doubt the demon can open that many vortexes at once."
"No, splitting up is the worst thing we can do." Billie said. "The demon wants to pick us off one by one. He is waiting for us to panic."
"Okay, this is officially the worst party ever." Tyler remarked. "No offense."
"None taken." Violet replied. "This is hardly how I planned it."
A silence fell in the room as everyone seemingly tried to figure a way out of this mess. Although she was still at him for not showing up, Violet wished Arthur was here. He always knew how to make her feel confident and he would find a way out of this mess. On the other hand, she was relieved that he was probably somewhere safe.
Xxx
Arthur followed Ambrose as he left the office and walked down the hall. They took a turn past the stairs and entered another room. When they went through the door, Arthur was surprised to see it was a large antique-looking library. He walked to one of the bookcases and saw books he thought were lost centuries ago, or never even existed. For someone who loved history, this place was like a dream come true. He was not a religious person, but some of these books almost seemed sacred.
"I figured this would get your attention." Ambrose said.
"These books. They shouldn't even exist anymore." Arthur noted. "People have been looking for some of these for ages."
"It took me a long of time, effort and money to track them all down." Ambrose said. "As you can see, most of them are about Wizards and the time that came before."
"You collected them, why?" Arthur asked.
"Because I consider it my purpose to preserve the history of our race." Ambrose replied.
"This sort of information should be shared with the world." Arthur said. "Why would you want to keep it hidden?"
"For their protection." Ambrose replied. "These books are the last of their kind, just like we are the last of ours."
They walked away from the bookcases and sat down in large, comfortable chairs by the window, overlooking the garden and the San Francisco bay behind it. It was quite an amazing view, though Arthur had little interest in views right now. He wanted more answers.
"I guess I can understand that." Arthur admitted. "But as a history professor, my goal is to spread knowledge, not contain it."
"And that is why I brought you here." Ambrose replied. "Wizards have lived in the shadows for too long. We were nearly destroyed and hunted down. Our entire civilization was almost erased."
"If I may ask, how did you survive?" Arthur asked. "Where are you from?"
"How much do you know about the ancient cities?" Ambrose replied.
"I know they were once ruled by Wizards." Arthur said. "But most of them fell. Atlantis was destroyed, Zanbar was overtaken by demons."
"Exactly." Ambrose replied. "All cities were eventually lost. My city, Avalon, was the last to fall. When the war took it, I was able to escape with a few others. Rathmere, Zakal, Merrill, Merlin and Bowan. You must have heard about some of them."
"Zakal and Merrill turned evil." Arthur noted. "Merlin was killed by a sorceress named Morrigan centuries ago, while Rathmere fell to a Spider Demon. I don't know about Bowan."
"I think you may have heard of him." Ambrose replied. "A few years ago, he sought to become the Source and tricked the Charmed Ones into helping him."
"Are there others?" Arthur asked.
"There could be, but I have not found them." Ambrose admitted. "I imagine they have kept themselves hidden like I have."
"So as far as you know, you're the last." Arthur said. "That must be lonely."
"It was for a long time." Ambrose replied. "But not anymore."
"What do you mean?" Arthur asked confused.
"Can't you connect the dots yet?" Ambrose asked with a frown. "Think about it. I am trying to preserve my race in more than one way."
"You had children." Arthur realized. "Bryant is your son. And that girl from before, Harper."
"My daughter." Ambrose confirmed.
Arthur frowned as he tried to wrap his head around this new information. For years, he had been searching for answers about the Wizards and now he could finally get them. All of this had started because he wanted to learn more about his past, about his… father. Arthur looked at Ambrose with a shocked expression and the older man smiled.
"So you finally figured it out." Ambrose said amused. "My son."
Xxx
While everyone was debating ways to escape the demon in the living room, Nathan stuck to the background and sat down on the stairs in the hallway. He had nothing to contribute and he was focused on trying to sense his brother anyway. Normally their telepathic connection always allowed them to sense his presence, though now there was nothing. It felt weird and empty without him, like a part of himself was missing.
"Are you okay?" Duncan asked as he came sitting next to him. "We should stick together. The demon wants to take us one by one."
"I needed a moment." Nathan replied. "I was trying to contact Nick, but he is out of my reach."
"We will find him." Duncan said determined. "We will find all of them."
"I feel so powerless." Nathan admitted. "I don't even have my speed anymore."
"I understand. Though in all fairness, I doubt speed would have helped here." Duncan replied.
"Perhaps I could have outrun that stupid vortex." Nathan reasoned.
"Or you would have been sucked in as well." Duncan replied. "Don't focus on things like that, let's focus on finding a way to stop this."
"You're right." Nathan said to motivate himself. "We're going to kick some demon ass."
"Damn right." Duncan replied.
Duncan smiled faintly and took his hand. They were about to get up when Don entered the hall, trying once again to use his phone. He mumbled annoyed and put it away. When he turned around and saw them holding hands, he frowned uncomfortably. Even though they had just met, Nathan already really hated him.
"We shouldn't split up." Don said.
"Right, I bet you would be devastated if we disappeared." Nathan remarked.
"Contrary to how it might seem, I do actually care about my brother." Don replied. "I just wish he would give up this… whatever this is."
"Don, how many times do I have to tell you?" Duncan asked angrily as he got up. "I am not going to change. I can't."
"Please, everyone has to do things they don't want to." Don replied. "You think I wanted to marry Margaret? I only did so because our parents wanted me to. To carry on the Phillips name."
"Well, I am not you." Duncan said.
"Obviously." Don replied arrogantly.
"I mean that I stopped letting mom and dad determine my life long ago." Duncan explained. "That is why I came here to attend college. I needed to get away to be myself."
"You have a responsibility to the family." Don replied.
"He doesn't owe you anything." Nathan snapped at him. "I never had a real family, but that sounds better than yours."
"I'm not talking to you." Don said.
"And I am done talking to you." Duncan replied. "It is pointless. Just because your life is miserable, doesn't mean my life has to be."
Duncan walked away and Don wanted to follow him, though Nathan grabbed his arm and stopped him. "I think you said enough." He warned him.
"Are you looking for a fight?" Don asked.
Nathan hoped he would throw a punch, as he needed to vent his own frustration. Before anything could happen, a vortex opened right next to them. Nathan managed to grab the staircase and held on to Don. As he looked at the arrogant jerk nearly falling into the vortex, he was tempted to let go for a moment. However, he realized he could not do that. He was not that person anymore. Why did being good have to be so hard?
"Don't let go." Don called out.
"I'm trying." Nathan replied.
Nathan felt his hand beginning to slip just as Duncan and the others came running in. In that split second, he lost his grip and both of them disappeared into the darkness.
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