Demons Beside You

“Sienna, are you resting?”

“If you have something important, then I’m not sleeping.”

“My friend was attacked by something today. I have two flash drives with the surveillance footage. Help me check it.”

“Okay, come over.”

Chen Zhao hurried over to Sienna’s home. It was his first time visiting where Sienna, Chris, and Shirley lived.

The house wasn’t big, but it was in a nice neighborhood, so the monthly rent wasn’t cheap. They probably lived here so Shirley could have a good environment.

Sienna and Chris were waiting for Chen Zhao in the living room. He took out the flash drives.

He first played the footage from the front desk. A woman walked into the motel and Ethan started talking to her.

“Huh?” Sienna uttered in surprise.

“What, you know her?”

“She can’t be alive still… This is impossible…”

“Why?”

“Her name is Evangeline, a powerful witch. Twenty years ago, she and my teacher and a dozen other witches went to fight a ghost ship. She never came back.”

“What if she didn’t take part in the mission?”

“She definitely did. When I brought my teacher there back then, I saw her on the ship already.”

Chen Zhao played the second video. It was the footage from the third floor.

Chen Zhao also saw the entire process of Li Qing fighting Evangeline. He saw Li Qing use eastern spells on Evangeline. Then semi-transparent apparitions appeared on Evangeline’s body and her body was distorted.

“Ah!” Sienna cried out. “I got it.”

“What’s going on?”

“Evangeline is a deathspeaking witch, or a deathspeaker. She’s skilled in soul magic. When she fights, she can make her soul separate from her physical body and fight as a soul. It’s possible that during the ghost ship battle, she hid her body first and then participated in the battle. However, the mission failed in the end. Her soul was trapped in the ghost ship. For some reason, she recently broke free and her soul returned to her body. But it’s not just her. The souls of the other witches and the evil spirits also returned to her body. The dozen of witch souls and the evil spirits all combined into what she is now.”

“What is she now?”

“I don’t know. This has never happened before.”

Chen Zhao was reminded of how he and Blackie had gone to kill the ghost ship before. Blackie had destroyed the ship and most of the evil spirits, but there had been too many. The mixed souls in Evangeline were most likely the souls that escaped from that time.

“Might she be the one hunting witches to create the Nest of Curses?” Chen Zhao asked.

Sienna furrowed her brows. “If that’s the case, then it’s a problem.”

“How big of a problem?”

“She has so many people’s souls combined. Most of them are from other witches too, so her magic must be unprecedently rich now. She’ll know all sorts of magic, from toxicology, to deathspeaking, spiritology, and divination. The souls and magic abilities of the dozen witches are all combined, in addition to a dozen spirits. She’ll be physically strong too.”

Chen Zhao was quiet for a moment. Then he said, “Let’s assume that she’s the one killing the witches. Do you know why she would do that?”

“No, but I must tell the other witches about this. If there are still some who are ignorant about this, they can get attacked suddenly.”

“Is there a way to track her?”

“I need to research…” Sienna said. “You decided to attack?”

“She already hurt my friend,” Chen Zhao said.

“The woman in the video?”

“Yeah.”

Sienna nodded. “I’ll help you ask now.”

She called Rupert and said, “Rupert, is Teacher beside you now?”

“Yeah, why?”

“There’s a problem.”

“What problem?”

“Evangeline is still alive and she’s turned into a monster. She’s the one killing the other witches.”

“What?” Rupert cried. “What’s going on?”

Sienna explained everything. Rupert was completely terrified.

Evangeline had combined the souls of a dozen witches and evil spirits, possessing the knowledge, magic abilities, and power of the other witches. What kind of monster was this?

Even if Rupert thought she was a genius, she still had to hesitate when faced with a monster like this.

“Teacher also escaped from that ghost ship. Ask her if there’s a way to track Evangeline.”

“Are you crazy?” Rupert exclaimed. “Why do you want to track something so dangerous?”

“My friend, a really strong friend, will act.”

“No matter how strong, they can’t go against this kind of monster. This is seriously a monster. No one can fight against monsters.”

“I don’t know if he can win, but if even he can’t, then we’ll probably have to leave L.A. Otherwise, Evangeline will most likely find us. I doubt you’d want to face a monster like that.”

“Okay, I got it. I’ll ask Teacher.” Rupert hung up.

Camilla had already floated over to her. “Was that Sienna?”

“Teacher, there’s a big problem.”

“If it can make you this scared, it must be very serious.” Camilla looked seriously at Rupert.

She was always fearless about everything. Camilla had never seen such an expression on her.

Rupert told Camilla what Sienna had said. Camilla’s expression changed as well.

“Even back then, I felt that her magic lacked something, but I didn’t know what. Now, I finally understand. She’d forcefully turned herself into a monster. What a pity.”

“Teacher, do you have a solution?”

“How can I have a solution? Evangeline has already become an irreversible monster. Even if I’m alive, I’d still turn and run if I see her, let alone as a soul like now.”

“So there’s no solution at all?”

“I don’t know. I can’t think of anyone who can beat her.”

“Sienna said that she has a powerful friend who might be able to beat her. She wants you to help and track Evangeline.’

“Impossible. It’s too dangerous.”

“But Sienna insists.”

“No,” Camilla said firmly. “Go now and restrain Sienna. We can’t let her mess around.”

“Okay, I’ll go tomorrow.”

“No, go now.”

“But it’s already three a.m. I want to sleep.”

“Say that again?”

“Okay, okay. I’ll go now.”