She Belongs To The Devil

"Let's hide in the wardrobe then."

Juniper pressed her daughter's head against her chest and agreed, "Yes, let's do that."

Her daughter's room didn't have other smaller rooms or private chambers like her and Edwin's. So there wasn't much option for them to hide.

Juniper hurried towards Joy's wardrobe and got inside. She shut the door close and sat down in a corner, hiding in between the piles of clothes.

She lightly caressed her daughter's head and instructed her, "Let's stay here for a while, okay? Don't speak a word if you hear someone outside, no matter who it is… unless it is your father who came for us."

Joyce nodded. She then put her little arms around her mother's neck and clung to her mother.

Though her mother was making it sound as though her grandmother wasn't a big deal, and that they were just playing hide and seek with her, she knew better.

The little witch knew that her grandmother was a bad news. And she silently prayed that her grandmother would never find them.

However, before her prayers could reach the ears of the concerned, Lillian was already at the door of her room.

---

Edwin was feeling agonizing pain in his heart and his stomach. By now, all the other parts of his body were numb and cold.

The pain in his heart was greater than the pain in his stomach though. He felt like a failure, both as a father and as a husband for not being able to protect his daughter and wife.

He regretted not being brave enough and aiming right for the heart of his mother when he got that small window to stab her earlier.

Blood spurted out of his mouth again and he gagged. He spitted out the blood somehow and cleared his airway. But he was struggling to keep his eyes open. No matter how much he tried, his vision was getting blurred and he could barely see.

When his eyelashes gave up on him, he heard some voices from a distance. He heard someone saying his name.

However, he wasn't sure if he was dreaming, if he was having an auditory hallucination, or if he was already dead.

---

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Juniper was startled by that light knock on the door. She squeezed her eyes shut and tightened her hold on her daughter.

"Joyce darling…" Lillian called for her granddaughter from outside the door in her sweetest voice. She waited for a few seconds to see if her granddaughter would be fool enough to answer her. "I haven't seen my sweet darling in a long time. Come and see who's outside…"

Joyce, however, pressed her lips tightly and closed her eyes. And she buried her face in her mother's chest.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Joyce jumped a little because the knock was a little louder than before.

Juniper lightly patted her daughter's back to reassure her that everything was going to be fine. However, she herself was unsure what was going to happen to them.

"Joyce honey… It's your grandma. Don't you also want to see your grandma? I've also got some sweets for you." Lillian spoke in a soft and polite voice like she used to before in the hopes that Joyce would willingly open the door for her.

If it was before she was imprisoned for her crimes then Joyce would have come running to her by now. However, that wasn't going to happen even in her dreams now.

Lillian was now a little agitated that her granddaughter wasn't listening to her.

She hated defiance.

And being defied by that little prick annoyed her even more.

---

"Edwin! Edwin! Wake up!" Raphael tightly clasped Edwin's arm and violently shook him to make sure that Edwin was alive.

Edwin gasped and opened his eyes. He touched his neck and inhaled deeply for quite a few times.

"Are you feeling alright?" Raphael hovered above Edwin's face and asked with worry lines all over his forehead.

It took a few seconds for Edwin to align his eyes and thoughts. He recalled being stabbed by his mother. He abruptly lifted his head and touched his stomach to check his wounds.

"How…" He was shocked to see that there were no swords poking out of his belly and no wounds left by those swords. "How am I still alive?"

For a second, he even thought that all of that craziness that happened with his mother was just a dream of his. But then he sat up to see all the corpses that were lying around him as a result of the mayhem that his mother caused.

"You are one lucky fool!" Raphael sighed in relief. "The Mystic Coven arrived here just in time and saved you."

Raphael smacked his brother at the back of his head and scolded him, "You were attacked by your mother, weren't you? What were you even thinking by going against her with a sword? Or did you even take a sw–"

"Oh god, no!" Edwin widened his eyes as he recalled his mother heading towards his quarter.

He instantly jumped on his feet and asked Raphael with a sense of urgency, "Where are the witches of Mystic Coven? That dark witch was heading towards my quarter."

"Oh god!" Raphael was also left stunned upon hearing that. "They must be helping in stopping the fire from spreading to the whole Palace."

Edwin looked into Raphael's eyes and asked, "Ask them all to come to my quarter! I will head there first."

"No, wait!" Raphael tried to catch his brother so as to stop him. He had just been brought back to life by three of the witches when he was on the brink of death.

However, Edwin had dashed away from his reach by then.

"Damn it!" Raphael stomped his feet on the ground and ran in the opposite direction to get the witches.

---

"Like father, like daughter!" Lillian thought to herself while pinching the bridge of her nose. "I was thinking of killing you swiftly… but maybe I should have some fun after all…"

"I know you're in there, Joy!" The dark witch roared showing her true colors and her true intentions.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

This time, Lillian slammed her fist on the door very aggressively. "Be a doll and open the door for me!"

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Or else I am going to break the door down!"

The thudding sound on the door was so loud that both mother and daughter were terrified of what was going to happen next.

Juniper clasped her mouth with her trembling palm. Tears rolled down her eyes in fear. She could already imagine Lillian torturing both of them, capturing them to torture Edwin, and then killing all three of them to get her revenge.

Boom! Crash!

The mother and daughter heard a loud explosion very close to them. Their ears rang deafeningly.

"Oh hell!" Juniper cursed in her mind. She bit her lower lip and tightly shut her eyes.

But she was thankful that even in that terrifying situation, Joyce didn't even let out a squeak.

"Joy… come out, come out and play…"

They heard a bone-chilling voice of Lillian from inside the room.

"Now where could you be hiding?"

"Boo!" Lillian looked under the bed as if she would find Joyce there. "Oops!" She sang in a loud voice to let Joyce know that she was looking for her, "Not under the bed."

"Where could she be... Ooh! I know where to look next…"

Both Joyce and Juniper held their breath when they heard the creaking of the floorboard getting nearer and nearer to them. Their heartbeats were off the charts.

The door of the wardrobe flung open and a soul-scaring head peeked inside, "Boo!"

Joyce tightened her hold around her mother's neck upon hearing that god-awful voice right behind her. Juniper, on the other hand, refused to open her eyes again after getting a glimpse of Lillian's ghastly face.

"Well… well… well… What do you know? I found both of my victims in one place."

Lillian clapped her hands and cackled as if she just reached the pinnacle of her happiness. "Ah! Could my day get any better?"