Lahat ng Kabanata ng Under the incubus' protection: Kabanata 71 - Kabanata 80

My wide and bloodshot eyes settled on Desmond. He was unscathed and unaffected. The fight was pretty one-sided. I couldn’t believe that everyone’s doubts and fears had manifested into reality. Our beautiful romance was tainted with blood.“What have you done?” I hollered. “What is wrong with you?” I took another look at Mason. The blood was a lot. It was perplexing how his body hadn’t turned blue and lifeless.Desmond chose not to answer me and folded his arms.To check for a pulse, I hurried to Mason’s body. My thumb couldn’t feel a thing on his wrist, so I placed my hand directly on his heart. Relief washed over me when I felt his heartbeat. He wasn’t dead.In a frenzy, I charged at Desmond, hitting him in the chest with open hands. His cream-colored shirt got stained with bloody handprints. I turned my palms to find remains of dry blood there. “Oh my God!”I sprinted towards his attached bathroom and ran my hands under the tap water, rubbing hard to get the blood spots off me.“R

The red ink of Desmond’s mirror message was still on my hands as I drove. It had stained my steering wheel and probably a lot more when I exited Mason’s house after vigorously rubbing the disturbing words on the mirror. I was leaving without entering Mom’s house again and giving them a reason for my absence. It didn’t matter as my destination was nearby. The road was bustling. In whatever direction I moved my gaze, I found myself surrounded by vehicles and people. Why did it all feel empty and meaningless? Tears poured down my cheeks when I repeated Desmond’s message in my head again. How could he say he loved me when he couldn’t control his rage? I wasn’t the victim of his dangerous anger as everyone had predicted, but did that make it any better? Humans fear the law and jail time. What did Desmond need to fear? He could commit countless crimes and still not receive punishment for any of them. Since our love wished for a lifetime together, how many such instances did I need to endu

I scratched my neck. There was a constant itch and dryness in my throat. Not even two glasses of water could reduce the discomfort. The problem wasn’t physical. It lay somewhere in my heart. The guilt was making me lose my mind.Talking next to the attic stairs, I hadn’t paid much attention to Madame Long’s warnings. What could go wrong when summoning a spirit with whom I had shared my heart and a bed?My confidence had begun to waver by looking at the strange ritualistic stuff already spread around Elaine’s energy room. It appeared as if they were preparing for war. Madame Long hadn’t cracked more jokes as she was busy doing some last-minute things with Elaine before commencing the ritual.Unlike what I had previously seen in such rituals, no sigils were on the floor, and there were no circles, fire, or pools of blood. Instead of the regular eerie items, there were a dozen ancient daggers, mirrors covered with white sheets, and two deer heads dripping with fresh blood. Did Madame Long

We watched an ancient enchanted scroll burn to ashes in Desmond’s hand. It dispersed into the air and vanished into nullity. At that moment, my faith in white magic wholly dissipated. What was the meaning of a contract if it wasn’t indestructible? I felt betrayed by everyone in front of me. How could they be oblivious to the capabilities of an incubus?“What the hell?!” I shouted at the white witches. “The contract was supposed to be indestructible, yet he incinerated it effortlessly. How are any of your clients protected? I know you’re doing this for free, but I offered you money. You should have accepted it or asked for more if it’s about payment. My life is not a joke.”“Keep your trap shut and listen to me!” Madame Long gave me an icy stare. “You non-magic beings jibber-jabber endlessly. Who is the one at fault when you can’t follow instructions? You allowed him to destroy the contract on a silver platter.”“How so?” I searched for an answer in Desmond’s blank face. He seemed unpe

My chest muscles constricted, and my breathing became irregular. The candlelight had revealed something so disturbing and sinister. I prayed my vision was only tricking me because the thing before me, I believed, was the Devil himself in the flesh.Surrounded by shattered glass and fragments of wooden mirror frames stood an unconfined demon. All of it was visible to me, and it was just as real as me. Its black slit pupils enclosed by striking gold irises were looking directly into my eyes. I moved my gaze up and down its body, trying to make sense of what was before me. Its appearance differed from the ones trapped in the mirror. Attached to its bald head were two distinct goat-like horns. And a long tail hung from its bottom. The shape of his body was in between a human and an otherworldly being, leaning more towards the former. Its skin was vantablack: the darkest shade of black. If I were not mistaken, Satan was depicted like that in movies, and also religious people had a simila