Chapter 14

A portal opened up in the woods, dropping off Hecate and Empusa who was boiling with rage. She was trying hard to cool herself, but it didn't work. Her breath was heavy with her fists clenched tightly.

"She should have waited for me to rip her apart" she cursed panting as she clutched her side which has began to heal.

Hecate said nothing, she kept a straight look at Empusa, who kept ranting about her not getting to kill Miss Brentwood.

"And that bitch with snake hair, she ruined everything" she said, "Who is she?" She asked turning to face her mother.

"Stheno Gorgon" she replied, " and you're dumb to have tried to engage her yourself. I saved your life out there" she added.

"You didn't save my life!" She snapped, "you made me look like a fool".

Hecate inhaled deeply, stretched her hand forward as she silently cast a spell that opened another portal. It opened to a very dark and deserted. The environment looked almost lifeless and the trees around has no leaf, they all look dead.

" I don't care about what you think at the moment. I'm going to see Erebus concerning Stheno. I need answers, it wasn't supposed to go this way," she said to Empusa as she walked towards the opening. "Stick around and don't do something stupid" she said while entering the portal which closed up immediately.

****

"You planned all this without my knowledge?" Mr. Gary yelled. They were all back at the base and had explained all what happened to Mr. Gary who had already seen the news of the clash. He was mad they did everything without informing him or carrying him along.

"Did you make yourself available?" Mr Ben shot back at him. "You were busy getting mad at the fact that your daughter was chosen over you" he added dropping his wristwatch on a nearby table before taking of the coat he had on.

"Wow, so it was planned huh?" Said Mr. Gary, "and you of all people supports it".

" it's the only right way I see" Mr Gary said.

"Can we just caught this bullshit and focus on the problem at hand?" Clara yelled, cutting off the two men going on and off.

Richard had not said a word to Mrs Smith since they arrived at the base. There seems to be a sudden wall between them as they find it difficult to talk to each other. He couldn't believe his wife had been hiding it from him all along.

"We have more problems already. What we need right now is a solution" said Clara.

No one said a word. They all seems to be deep in thought. Mrs Smith was sitting directly opposite Clara and Richard.

"So you mean this demons wants the stone of fear which according to you, appeared mysteriously on Trey and it could not be removed from his neck?" Mr Gary asked trying to get things straight.

"You're on point" said Mr. Ben who had grabbed his iPad and was now running series of research on the iPad and the computers around.

"Good, and a demon assisted you during the fight?"

"That, none of us understands" Clara chipped in.

"Who is she by the way?" Mr Gary asked.

"She's my history teacher" said Trey.

"Your ex-history teacher" said Clara, cutting him short, "cause trust me, she's never gonna show her face in that school again"

"And this detective?" Mr. Gary asked facing Clara.

"Was my new partner" she said.

"Look, this whole thing is confusing" said Mr. Gary, "I'm trying as hard as I can to put the pieces together, but it's proving to be some sort of jigsaw puzzle, cause I see no reason why a demon will protect Trey, preventing other demons from getting the stone, and why another set of demons will try to hijack it. It's driving me crazy" grabbing a bottle of water and sipped from it.

"Maybe they all have different ambitions" Mrs Smith said as they all turned towards her. She sighed.

"Look, it's very simple. They won't fight themselves if they're after the same thing or working for the same person. They need the stone for different purposes, meaning they work for different sets of high ranking demons. It's just a guess" said Mrs Smith.

"How come no one thought of this before?" Said Mr Ben as kept staring at Mrs Smith.

"I think I'll agree with her on this one" said Clara, "it's obvious they're aren't working for the same persons"

"I agree with her too" said Derek who had been sitting there without saying word since. He had a bottle of vodka in his hand which he occasionally sipped from as he listened to the conversation, Joe was there too.

"The big question now is, who it what are they working for?" Said Mr. Gary.

"That's gonna be difficult to tell" said Trey, "since the almighty Stheno Gorgon is also here to take me" he added dryly.

"Wait, Trey is still here?" Said Mr. Gary surprised.

"Yes, is that a problem?" Asked Mrs Smith.

"Of course, it is. He's too young to be involved in all of this" he replied.

"He's not too young to be involved, cause if he is, the stone won't have chose him" she snapped.

"Are we doing this again?" Said Mr. Gary turning to face Mrs. Smith.

"We ain't doing shit, you're the one overreacting" Mrs Smith replied as the rest watched the duo argue.

"I'm not overreacting, Lucy. I'm just trying to show my concern. I care about him and wouldn't want him to get hurt" Said Mr. Gary.

"Here we go again" she scoffed, "pretending to care, when deep down inside of you, you know you don't" she added.

"Can you two just calm the hell down, please!" Clara yelled.

"Well you tell her to calm down!" Mr. Gary snapped.

"You're the one not calming down" Mrs Smith replied.

"Oh my God!" Said Mr. Ben aside.

"Can you just, do something?" Trey whispered to Mr Ben who had turned round the table to where Trey was sitting.

"I'm sorry, I can't" he replied, "it won't end well for me" he added.

"And you?" Trey asked directing the question at Joe.

"Guys, you really need to calm down!" Joe yelled, but no one seems to hear him. Mrs Smith and Mr. Gary just kept nagging at each other.

"It's not working, I'm sorry" Joe told Trey with a sorry face.

A loud gunshot was heard all of a sudden and the glass table between Mrs. Smith and Mr. Gary was shattered to pieces. Everyone froze including Mrs. Smith and Mr. Gary as they were all shocked.

"I think I now have your attentions

Now, let's discuss like real adults," Clara said, returning her handgun in it's holster.

"What the fuck, Clara?!!" Mrs Smith yelled.

"That was an eight-fucking-thousand you destroyed" Mr. Gary almost had an heart attack.

"Oh, looks more expensive than it's worth" she replied sharply, "I'd go for something more expensive next time. Probably that big screen over there, I think it's worth over a million, right?" She said pointing at the big screen down the hall.

"Fuck you!" Said Derek who had dropped his bottle of vodka when he heard the gunshot.

"Thank you" she replied with a smirk.

"Now that I have your attentions" she started with a more serious look, "lets discuss like real adults should. We have a new threat, the lady with the snake head. What was her name again?" She asked turning to face Mr Ben.

" Stheno Gorgon," he replied.

" Thank you, Stheno whatever..." She replied turning to face the rest. " If there's someone that I fear the most today, then it's definitely her. A look at her and you end up a statue, might wanna know how many statue-cops we have in Oak City at the moment" she said.

" What are you driving at?" Said Derek.

" If there's anyone we should put down first, then it's definitely Stheno and who is the lady with snakes on her body? Gosh, I hate snakes!" She said, " poor animal is always used for evil" she added with disgust.

" It's Hecate" Mr. Ben replied. " She's a goddess and a witch, mother of Empusa, who happens to be a flesh eating and blood drinking demon"

"Great! Just great!" Said Clara, "you now have a god mother and demon daughter on your list of hunters" she said turning to face Trey, "And oh, a psycho semi goddess" she added with a smirk on her face.

"It's no longer funny, Clara" Trey replied.

"Look, it's simple. Trey will stay at the base where he's protected you guys while I just get the hell out of here before I find myself going deep into this shit again. Things can't get messy than this" she said gesturing at Richard. "This isn't the life I wanted. So, dad could take over. I had never wanted to involve my husband, but with what happened tonight, I can't risk it" she added rising from her seat as Richard did the same. They both left the hall as everyone trailed their behinds.

"I thought she had a change of mind?" Clara said not directing her question at anyone in particular.

"I don't think so, considering the fact that she almost lost her husband" Mr. Ben replied.