Chapter 2
Candy ground her heel into my face with vicious force.
All these years, to keep me trapped by his side, Victor had forced me to swallow a potent elixir that sapped my magical essence, dulling my powers to nothing.
After so long, I was as fragile as any mortal.
And now, enduring Candy's brutality, my body was crumbling even further.
All I could do was grit my teeth and take the searing pain, wave after wave.
Once, I had been a free spirit of the enchanted wilds, wielding arcane forces, gliding through realms unbound and untamed.
Now, I lay pinned, limbs immobilized, my form stripped bare and vulnerable.
Humiliating tears streamed from my eyes as I wrenched against my bonds with everything I had left.
"Stop!"
A frantic cry pierced the cellar's gloom.
It was Lucky, my loyal spirit companion I had nurtured for ages.
We were linked by a sacred life-bond pact, but since Victor had ensnared me in his warded villa, Lucky had been confined too, orbiting the estate like a ghostly sentinel.
His range was limited to the villa's enchanted boundaries.
He had just returned from his aimless wanderings when he spotted me, degraded and broken like this.
Enraged, he extended his claws, poised to leap at Candy in a fury.
Candy jammed the dagger deeper into my chest, a warning slice drawing blood.
"Your mistress' heart is a prize. One more move, and I'll rip it free on the spot," she spat.
Seeing Lucky falter, Candy barked, "Back off already! You wanna watch her bleed out right here?"
Lucky shuddered, his form taut with dread.
His gaze locked on the vivid blood seeping from my chest.
Agony twisted his features as he bit his lip raw.
He would trade places in a heartbeat, hating to see me suffer like this.
"What do you want to let her go?" Lucky begged, his voice cracking with raw desperation.
I swallowed the pain and shook my head fiercely, signaling him to flee while she could.
His eyes brimmed with tears, fixed on me as he braced to turn away.
"Hold it! Think you're sneaking off for backup?" Candy snapped. "Step out that door, and I'll end your mistress right now."
Lucky shook his head, resolute.
He would sooner die than let me endure another second of this.
Dropping to his knees, he pleaded, "Please, spare my mistress. Name your price. I'll do whatever it takes."
Candy lifted a hand, idly twirling her long, crimson-lacquered nails.
"Alright. Die in her place, and she's free," she said casually.
Tears traced down Lucky's cheeks as he met my eyes, clenching his jaw.
"You swear? My death buys her freedom?" he pressed.
I thrashed my head side to side, silently imploring Lucky not to buy Candy's poison lies.
Lucky had been my shadow for centuries, completely sheltered.
He didn't understand true evil, let alone from a person who literally wants me dead, like Candy.
"Lucky, don't!" I rasped, agony ripping through my cry.
But before the words fully escaped, Lucky slammed his head into the unyielding wall. Blood cascaded down the stone, trickling into fissures, his broken form slumping lifeless before me.
I went rigid, staring at the horror, grief clawing my insides.
Candy smirked with disdain, striding forward to plant her foot on Lucky's still-warm corpse.
"Spirit beasts are such suckers. They can't even tell truth from lies," she mocked.
My vision blurred red with rage as I bellowed for her to stop, but she tuned me out like static.
Only after she had twisted her heel into Lucky's remains to her satisfaction did she pivot back to me.
"Just a pet. Gone is gone.
"But your heart? That's the real prize.
"I'm ripping it out and turning it into an elixir for Victor to down."
I locked eyes with her, my voice dropping to glacial depths.
"Do you have any idea who he was? Even if you grovel and release me now, you're as good as dead."