Chapter 5: The War Begins | Hypnotized | True Feelings Revealed

Rachel was furious. She had been pacing for many hours now as she grumbled to herself. Her powers had never failed her, so why should they do so now? Maybe it was because Jack was the only who dared to go against her like that. People usually avoided the Enchantress. And that's usually how she liked it. But now she just wanted to be around him, just to know what he was thinking. Maybe he had a time limit to how long he could block her.

As plans formed as to how she could maneuver around this obstacle, Rachel noticed, in the corner of her eye, a green and brown thing coming in the direction of Halloween Town. She looked up. It was smoke or something. It was in the sky, becoming denser and coming closer. What was it? But when she saw the black that was coming in behind it, she knew immediately.

The war was about to begin.

She gasped and ran off of the Spiral Hill, which is where she went after slapping Jack, and ran back to town. Jumping over the gate, she shouted, "They're here!" Jack and a whole lot of other citizens turned. Rachel pointed behind her at the brown and green smoke and the blackness coming their way.

Jack looked at it and gasped. He turned to the citizens, "Get to your homes and stay there. We'll take care of it." There was a lot of fleeing after that. Jack ran off towards the doctor's house. Rachel called after him, but he was already gone. Rachel turned back to the green, brown and black coming their way and took out were sword before heading past the gate again.

The Enchantress noticed how thick the smoke was and how much of the black there was. It was getting bigger and bigger every minute that passed. It didn't scare her because she was used to fighting and not being scared. All her fears had washed away with her life. She knew the smoke was the smell and the sign of zombies and the black was the vampire bats. They were coming and there were lots of them.

They were early…

Jack rushed into the doctor's lab. Doctor Finklestein turned, "Jack? What's wrong?" Jack explained in a rush, "The war is beginning, so I need to Soul Robber back! Is it finished?" The doctor nodded, "Yes, I tweaked it and it should work. But you must get used to it. I don't know if you should fight until you are used to its new abilities."

Jack frowned and took the Soul Robber from the doctor. "No time!" He said as the Soul Robber gripped onto his arm, "I have to go!" He bowed his thanks and ran out of the room, down the ramp, and out of the doctor's house. He headed out of the gate and immediately, he was faced with a zombie.

Not even bothering to use the Soul Robber, he punched the zombie in the face. "You're a little early, buddy! Why don't you come back in a few weeks?" The zombie moaned in response. Jack sighed, blocked the lousy punch aimed at his chest from the zombie, and delivered and punch and kick that severed the zombie's head and knocked him to the ground.

He stepped on the zombie's head and crushed his brain, ending the zombie's afterlife. "I can't believe I just did that…" Jack sighed. He looked up, gasped, and blocked a vampire just in time before it could hit him in the spine. Jack looked around quickly as he faced his current opponent and saw the three recruits facing off both zombies and vampires at the same time.

Rachel was currently hacking at a zombie and vampire, smashing their heads against each other. The vampire muttered before he fell unconscious to the ground, "I vont to suck your blood." Rachel sighed, "Whatever, Mr. Pathetic." She kicked him in the face.

Vorgan was currently punching and kicking-in the faces of his opponents. He moved very fast for being so big. "C'mon, who want more?" He shouted at a new group of zombies. After taking out each head of the group with one swing of his arm, he began smashing their brains. "Ha! You not so tough!"

Damon was currently using his arrows from the air. He wasn't as tough as Rachel and Vorgan. In fact, if he was hit too hard, he would probably go down instantly. From the sky, he knew it was harder and probably impossible for the zombies to get him. But he still had the vampires to worry about. Fortunately, they were clueless as bats, so if they turned into bats to meet him, they would just fly lazily around him and he would shoot them down.

Rachel looked ahead as soon as she was done with the last of the zombies and vampires coming her way. Ahead she could see two dark and very tall figures. Taking a closer look, she saw the skin on the one to the left was green with patches of brown. The other one had very pale skin, blood red eyes, and black hair and attire.

"The Zombie and Vampire Kings." Rachel mumbled loud enough for them to hear. "Ah, yes…the Enchantress I've heard so much about." The Vampire King said. "Rachel Terrera, yes…I've been vonting to meet you." Rachel held up her sword in a ready stance. The Vampire King, who was originally in the shadows, stepped out to reveal the most handsome of beings that Rachel had ever seen.

What Rachel didn't realize was that she was being hypnotized…

The Enchantress lowered her sword to the ground subconsciously. The Vampire King smiled, "Now, now, no need to fight me. I just vont to talk." He walked up to her and lifted her up by her face, "You have very beautiful eyes. Your complexion is perfect…" He smiled, showing his jagged teeth. "Now why are you fighting on the side of good. Why don't you fight with us, my dear? You shall be rewarded in the end."

Rachel closed her eyes and moaned. Jack, who had heard her moan, turned and gasped at the sight, "NO! You leave her alone!" The Vampire King turned to him, "Shut it, Bone Man!" He turned back to the girl in his grasp, "You shall fight for us…and destroy all the citizens of Halloween Town and the other holidays. Do you understand?"

Rachel slowly opened her eyes. They were no longer their deep blue. Now, they were a blazing red. But they were half closed as if she wasn't even aware of what was going on. She would now do anything the Vampire King told her to do. "Yes…" She said. The Vampire King smiled, "Now, why don't you start by going into town and attacking and destroying the citizens."

Rachel didn't respond. She only picked up her sword and ran in the direction of town. Jack gasped again, "No! Rachel, stop!" But she didn't listen. In fact, she couldn't even hear anything except the Vampire King's voice. "You leave her alone!" Jack shouted. The Vampire King turned and sped towards him like a bullet until he was right in front of the Pumpkin King.

"Why? Are you in love with her?" He asked the skeleton. Jack stopped and thought about that. The Vampire King waited patiently. Jack reviewed the past few days. He had tried to help her and tried to let her see the truth of what she lived…or didn't live for. More like what she was undead for. She died hating a lot of things and she used her rage to fuel her actions, her fighting especially.

But after all the bad things he'd seen her do, he knew there was goodness in her. She just needed to find it. And maybe…he would be the one to help her. But the question remained…was he in love with her? As soon as the Vampire King asked that and Jack thought about it, the answer became clear…

"Yes…I am…" And with that, Jack sped off in the direction of town so fast that the Vampire King couldn't stop him. Jack knew what he had to do. He just had to do it right without getting hurt or slapped again. Could he break the spell put on his new crush? He knew the only way he could do that was if she loved him too…he could only hope!