Dark Hunger

Auril's magic was that of healing, of regenerating. As soon as it touched the wings, small plants sprouted over them. The demons turned to look at their backs. They yanked the plants from the wings which had taken roots inside their veins. Every time they pulled out a plant, they yelled with pain. And the more they pulled out the plants, the more they grew. Soon small plants started growing all over their wings, feeding on their blood. The winged demons howled in pain. Their wings became heavy and they couldn't even lift them. The wings dragged behind them as they yanked more plants but within a few minutes the entire span of wings was marred with dense growth. 

Laurel and Vaden watched it in horror. The winged demons ran inside the forest howling and screaming in pain. 

Laurel realized that if she didn't do anything at this time, she would miss the opportunity. Her magic wasn't affecting Elize, so taking advantage of the situation, she pushed Elize towards Vaden. Elize lost balance and she fell on the ground barely a few feet away from the demon. Laurel rushed to pick her up to show everyone and bent over her. "What are you doing, my queen?" she said, almost chiding her. 

Vaden took advantage of the situation. He charged at Elize and grabbed her from the ground. He pulled her up and in a second whirled her against his chest, pinning her hard. 

"Elize!" Caleb shouted. He went towards her but by that Vaden had his claws on her neck. 

"If you take a step further, I will kill her!" 

"Are you fucking mad?" Caleb said. "Leave her else—" 

Elize held Vaden's arms and kicked him. "Leave me!" She shouted at him and cursed him to release her immediately.

"She is going to go with me," said Vaden as he lifted her up in the air. "Laurel had made a deal with me that she would deliver the queen to me." He looked at Laurel who smiled and nodded at him. 

Stunned, Caleb whipped his head to see Laurel, but Laurel stared at him innocently and said, "He is lying, Your Highness. I didn't make any deal." 

"Deal? Are you insane?" Elize pounded him with her fists. "Leave me, you ass!" She touched her bracelet to use the magic against Vaden and free herself, but the ruby inside glittered and then nothing happened. With wide eyes she looked at Caleb. "Free me!" she said. "This is all going wrong!" She was shocked that the bracelet wasn't working. She had seen it glowing so many times and knew that it had magic inside. 

"Free her Vaden. I will give you whatever you want," said Caleb. He extended his hand forward for Elize. 

Vaden pressed his claw inside Elize's neck and blood oozed out. She shouted in pain. "Don't you come closer. We have what we came for. And now king Edyrm is not going to attack you. He will straightaway go to Galahar to stake his claim for the throne. He will challenge Rolfe Aramaer!" 

"Don't!" Caleb said, his voice shaky, his chest heaving up and down. 

But Vaden let out a low growl and with a grin, disappeared into the forest, at speed which was nothing but a shock to all of them. They heard Elize's fading screams. 

As soon as Vaden was gone, Caleb flung his hands in the air and created a portal of golden lights. He looked at Laurel who walked up to him with a huge smile and held his hand. Together they entered the portal followed by Auril. As soon as they stepped out of the portal, it closed behind them. 

As soon as Caleb was out, he held Laurel's hand, pulled her close to him and his lips crashed on hers. His fingers traveled from her hips to her head. When he pulled away from her, his was staring into his wife's red eyes. "Welcome home, my love," he breathed. 

Elize gave him a beatific smile. She entwined her arms around his neck and pulled him back to kiss her again. 

Aurill shook his head. "Don't mind me! I am just going away from here," he said and then muttered, "Damn these mates!" 

No one minded him and the lonely soul walked away from there leaving the two lovers in the moonlit night of Yelgra forests. 

When Elize had kissed him to her heart's content, she said, "I feel bad for Laurel." 

Caleb grunted. "She got what she deserved. So don't." He recalled how he had used his magic to put spells on Laurel so that she looked like Elize. 

Laurel was a sorceress and Caleb knew that he had to be very careful in using his spell on her because the moment he did that, she would detect the magic. 

He had been watching her closely. 

--- 

Last night when he had healed from his fever, he found Elize looking out of the window. He removed his blanket and then padded behind her to wrap his arms around her. Elize was too surprised, but she asked him to stay quiet and pointed towards the movement in the woods. They both saw Laurel going inside. Laurel looked around her for a moment and then she walked in under the cover of dark night. 

"What is she up to?" Caleb asked, his brows furrowing deeply. 

"I don't know," said Elize. "But I am going to find out." 

"You won't go alone," he said. 

"I won't take you, Caldy," said Elize as she began pulling a pants up. 

"Auril will go with you," he replied. 

"Cool!" Elize said and kissed on his lips. 

She had gone with Auril into the woods. Auril had used his magic to camouflage them. They saw Laurel talking with the demon and making a deal with him. The deal was to deliver Elize to him in exchange for the ruby she had on her wrist. The demon left and only when Laurel came back, did Elize and Auril walked back to their rooms. 

Over the breakfast, Laurel had told them about the deal, which Caleb feigned ignorance, but then agreed. In reality he was practicing his magic skills on her to cast spells in which she would look like Elize but she wouldn't come to know about it. 

He was not able to cast the spell on her because it took time for him to emulate her magic in order to manipulate it. When she came down to meet them in the lobby, Caleb had perfectly emulated her magic. He cast the spell on her and she looked exactly like Elize, but she couldn't see or feel what he had done. At the same time, he had cast a spell on Elize for her to look like Laurel. Once again, he manipulated Laurel's magic and led her to believe that nothing had changed. 

Elize was wearing the Amber Moonstone bracelet in her hand, but it was a fake one. The real one was with Auril at all times. A few days back, the two had gone to the market of the last town and got the jewelry mimicked by a master craftsman. Caleb had given the moonstone to Auril and had put the fake one on Elize's wrist. He did that because he had seen Laurel gazing at it a number of times.. He had informed Elize about the switch.