Page 76 of Demons & Damnation

Chapter 31

Balthazar and Azazel headed back to the Worthington mansion, their frank heart to heart having worn them both down mentally. They both wanted a pint of whiskey and they both wanted to sit in front of the fire and contemplate their worlds since their chat.

Walking up to the front door, Azazel grabbed the door handle only to be greeted with a short, sharp electric zap, as if the handle had been electrified. Shaking his hand for a few seconds, he took a hold of the door handle again only to receive another but more powerful buzz of electric.

“Ow,” he said, frowning and jumping back. “Mother fucker.”

Balthazar stepped around his brother and tried the handle as well only to be greeted with the same jolt of electric. Taking a step back, he took measures to an extreme and kicked the door in, smiling with satisfaction as it bust wide open.

As he lifted his foot and placed it over the threshold, a powerful surge of energy bounced back at him, sending him flying back six feet through the air.

“What the fuck?” Azazel said, walking up to the threshold. He held out his index finger and inched it across the doorway, finding the point at which resilience met him. “It’s a shield,” he said, turning to see Balthazar already back on his feet.

Balthazar picked up a fist sized rock from the driveway and hurled it at one of the upstairs windows. He watched in disbelief as the energy shield surrounding the mansion seemed to bend like a trampoline before throwing the rock back away from itself. To Azazel’s amusement, the chunk of rock bounced right back at his brother, smacking him square in the forehead.

“I could have told you that would happen,” Azazel said, chuckling.

Balthazar rubbed at his head, a deep frown creasing his forehead. “That actually hurt.”

Before Azazel could come back with a sarcastic response, the air around them filled with the sound of tinkles, as if a million cats with bells on their collars were running around.

“Hello, gentlemen,” Mildred said, shimmering into existence just the other side of the threshold. Close enough to touch but no way of doing so. The air around her pulsed with a sky-blue energy, her eyes gleaming with triumph as her body seemed to vibrate with life. “I’m terribly sorry for this minor inconvenience. Unfortunately, I have something very important to do this evening and I can’t have any distractions or interruptions. Perhaps you could seek some alternative accommodation elsewhere?”

Azazel snorted. “I think you may perhaps fuck off. This is our damn house.”

Mildred gave him a bone chilling stare, her eyes empty and devoid of emotion. The sinister smile that then tweaked at the edges of her thin lips turned the air around the three of them icy cold. “I think it would pay you dividends to be very careful what you say to me, Azazel.”

“I think it would pay you dividends to remember who the fuck we are, Mildred. You’re a ghost, you mean nothing here.”

“Let’s revisit this conversation in a few hours, shall we?”

Balthazar walked back several metres, away from his brother and Mildred and their battle of words. Bending down to touch the ground, Balthazar closed his eyes as he splayed his palm out across the earth. In his minds eye, he pictured himself as a bird, soaring over the entire expanse of the Worthington estate. The same vivid sky-blue energy throbbing around Mildred flooded the earth around them.

Flying up higher, Balthazar tried to see the edges of this power, to see where its limitations reached, but to his shock, it reached out for miles and miles, filling up all the ley lines, telluric lines, and water lines. It swallowed at least half the county from what he could see.

Pages from the book he’d read on the secretive coven Mildred had been a part of sprung forwards, filling his consciousness with the words.

A witch can easily alter her physical state for a long-term period of time. Should the witch lose her previous physical body, i.e. she is in a state commonly referred to as ‘dead,’ the witch can inhabit the physical body of only another witch.

However, such a transfer can only take place under the exact measures of the following three circumstances:

The witch (from here forwards referred to as ‘A’) wishing to inhabit the physical form of another witch (from here forwards referred to as ‘B’) will need to be in a position to take control of B’s body before B’s soul leaves the physical form.

‘A’ will need to have the required energy levels, strength levels, and skill levels to perform this transitioning merge outside of her group’s powers.

‘B’ will need to be fully complicit and fully understand that no reversal can take place. ‘B’ will essentially be replacing ‘A’ in the ether world.

It must be understood that no general witch can perform, undertake, nor survive such a complicated, delicate practice, nor is it permitted. This course of action is strictly to be used only if a member of The Helios Coven is in dire need of being in physical form once again.

N.B. It is highly recommended, for power and strength purposes, that an elemental witch be persuaded to aid the event. If such a feat is accomplished, and ‘A’ is of sufficient stature, this could be attempted single handed, although no such event has ever been recorded.

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