NIGHT, I Rin [classic book list txt] 📗

scared at all; on the contrary, she was enjoying her strength and power. The Pentagram protected her from the hot vapor, magma and ash and Lica was able to continue the ritual...

She waited until the lava flows reached the valley. Then she drew another magical symbol in the center of the pentagram and kneeled down. She started to read a new spell. With every word, volcano and the mountains quaked more and more. The fire flows rushed back to the crater. When the last lava flow disappeared, Lica closed her eyes and said slowly:

“Amen...”

At the same minute, a lightning from the sky struck Angelica. The girl did not even have time to scream. She fell off the edge of the earth. Then a light substance separated from Lica’s body, flew to the crater of the volcano and came into it.

The meeting with the Devil

“One, two, three, four...” Angelica was counting clouds drifting over her head.

They were so different - each had its bizarre shape. The girl watched with interest as they were changing their shape. One of the clouds slowed his pace and turned into an unusual figure. It was a man on a horseback.

“Nice!” admired Lica. “The rider looks like real!”

Suddenly, the figure turned to the girl and said:

“Angelica, take your time! You are too early here! Go back!”

“Early, here?” the girl did not understand. “Where am I?”

Looking around she was trying to identify the place where she was. Everything around was green. Lots and lots of grass, bushes and even trees. However, strangely enough she could not hear any sound: no chirping crickets, no birds singing or humming flies.

“Where am I?” she couldn’t understand.

She looked up and saw a bright, pink sky. Vague feeling that, she had already been here, crept into her soul. Lica turned to the cloud-rider and startled... She saw the Prince of... Vampires in front of her!

“Arthur?” the girl gasped. “You have scared me! Where are we?”

“Don’t you remember this place?” asked the Prince.

“Well... something familiar. Something that I've already seen in my life!”

“That's right, in your lifetime...” the vampire said grimly.

“Wait!” exclaimed Angelica. “Isn’t it the place where I was waiting for you while you were going to your lord - Devil?!”

The Prince of Vampires nodded.

“The Hell Valleys!” the girl guessed. “But what are we doing here?”

“You have sinned, Angelica. You have been accused in witchcraft and now punished. Even I cannot ease your fate!”

The Prince of Vampires nervously was walking back and forth...

“Why? Why did you give your soul?” finally he asked.

“My soul?” amazed the girl. “What?!”

She looked around again and then suddenly remembered...

Lica remembered herself standing on the volcano top and saying the spell. Then she saw herself from the outside - a gray-haired, old man standing at the vents with fiery lava and stretching his hands to the sky. Then a lightning strike and... emptiness!

“Honestly, I don’t remember anything!” said Angelica with a frightened voice. “The last thing I remember was the lightning strike.”

“This lightning knocked your soul out,” Arthur said slowly. “The magical rite was planned for Huron not for you. Even in his body, you were an ordinary mortal girl.”

  “Are you saying I am dead?!” horrified Lica.

The Prince of Vampire nodded.

  “Moreover, you have sinned! Now your future fate is in Devil’s hands... Come with me, Angelica!”

Trying not to look into her eyes, the Prince gave her his hand. Angelica, hardly breathing, gave Arthur her hand. The Prince easily pulled her and suddenly Lica hovered! They were flying over the Hell Valleys and the girl looked at the bizarre clouds for the last time.

“Goodbye, Viatores!” she exclaimed.

Then something whistled in Lica’s ears and slides of her own life flashed in front of her eyes... Here when she was a little girl - had a fight with a neighbor boy because he had taken her ball. Then a kindergarten, school, friends and the dearest person - her mother...

“Mommy,” sobbed Angelica, “she will never know where I have gone!”

Meanwhile, the flashing scenes from her life had slowed down and she saw a bright, orange spot of light.

“The light at the end of the tunnel!” Lica grinned.

“No, it's just the beginning of the tunnel,” said Arthur. “These are the gates to the underground residence of my Lord!”

Indeed, the "orange spot" was the entrance to a very long, twisted corridor. Wondering in it, our heroes came in a huge underground hall. It was fabulous; everything there was grand and monumental: the walls made of gems were playing with all colors of the rainbow; Angelica could not help admiring its beauty.

A little further, there was a very big throne. It seemed to Lica that it was made of gold. The throne was so huge that she had to lift her head to look at it. Its arms and legs were made in the shape of human bones, its back was framed with gold skulls and eye sockets were inserted with large diamonds and emeralds.

The Vampires’ Prince released her hand and stepped a little back. A minute later, a gust of wind flashed in the hall. The Prince bowed in obeisance. Angelica looked at Arthur and when she turned back to the throne, it had been already occupied.

Lica had read about the "evil spirits" many times, watched horror movies and that’s why she had some idea of ​​how the host of Hell had to look. The girl expected to see anyone - from the horned monster, spewing fire to imposing man with a haughty smile and cold eyes. However, who she saw was not matched to any of these images!

A lovely, bright angel was sitting on the throne! Anyway, Angelica thought that angels looked so. He was dressed in a long, white robe. He has long, straight, blond hair and beautiful white wings, on which red blood was flowing down. She couldn’t see his face because of the glow that made girl’s eyes began to water. Angelica blinked a few times and froze waiting. The Angel was silent but suddenly Lica heard voices in her head...

“Why did you bring her to me, Prince? I need the energy of living souls, and this is a soulless body!”

“I do not know why she is in the Hell Valleys, so I thought you would decide her future!”

Angel raised his hand and a thin ray of light out of his hand struck the wall of the hall. The wall turned into a big screen and as if it was a TV Lica could see the last shots of her life...

She saw how she was climbing the volcano... Her body was changed and transformed into Huron’s... She was drawing the pentagram and reading spells... The lightning stroke Lica and her soul flew away...

Angel was thinking. For a while, there was complete silence and then voices again.

“You have thrown me into a dilemma, Prince! On the one hand, this girl is a sinner and certainly deserves punishment. On the other hand, she is our savior! Without her, the evil would get up to us. Who knows, maybe the whole earth would have been destroyed...”

“I am looking forward to your justice, my Lord!”

“…In any case, she has been already punished. A body without soul is not viable and very soon it will disappear...”

“That's why I am asking you for mercy! It’s in your power, my lord, to give her the opportunity to live without a soul!”

“To make her undead?”

“Yes, my Lord!”

“You have surprised me, Prince! Why are you so worried about this ordinary mortal girl?”

“She is our savior!”

“Oh, yeah, you are right...”

Angel fell to thinking again. Lica was feeling edgy.

“What does it mean" will disappear?” she thought. “Will I disappear forever?! What does it mean, ‘to make undead’? I do not want to become a goblin, zombie or brownie! If so, it is better to disappear!”

“I made the decision,” she heard a voice of the Lord in her head. “I'll make her undead for three days. In three days she has to return her immortal soul. In three days time my spell will end, and if she does not find her soul, she will disappear.”

With these words, the Angel stood up and the bright light waves came out of him. One of them covered Lica of the head and she flew away somewhere. She was wildly twisted and rotated; Angelica felt so bad, that she thought - a little more and she will disappear. She closed her eyes and then something suddenly strongly shook her. The girl cringed. Then she felt it again.

In search of Huron

 

When Lica opened her eyes, she saw the face of the Vampire Prince. He was shaking her by the shoulders and saying:

“Angelica, wake up, Angelica!”

“Arthur...” she whispered. “You're alive! What a blessing! I'm alive! Well then, there were no hell and that... beautiful Angel!”

“Devil!” the Prince corrected her.

“So, I was just rambling about it!?” Lica said looking at him with hope.

“Alas,” Arthur said grimly. “It was true! Now we have very little time, Angelica, we have to replace you with the sorcerer.”

She sat up and looked around. Everything was in fire; the air was ingrained with sulfur. Lica and Prince were near the volcano vent, which, however, stopped erupting. On the one side from there a deep gulf stretched and on the other they could see the valley. Oddly enough, but there was no sign of any wounded warriors or any dead monsters. Everything was absolutely clean, as if there was no battle.

“Am I undead?” she asked with horror.

The Prince nodded.

“But why then I can see, hear and feel?”

“Can you feel the heat coming from the volcano?” asked Arthur.

“No,” Angelica said with surprise.

“And what’s about pain? Are you feeling anything? I mean, you have been stroke with lightning!”

“No,” said Lica even more surprised.

“That's because you are actually dead. A body without soul cannot adequately perceive the information, so it quickly degrades and dies.”

“But how did you know that it was I? I was in Huron’s body!”

“You forget my dear, that I can see perfectly in both the material and the subtle world. That's why when I saw your soul was flying from Huron’s body, I understood everything and decided to take you to my Lord. Otherwise, we would have been here.”

It seemed to Angelica that she couldn’t feel the earth under her feet.

“What a nightmare!” she murmured. “And who am I now? A zombie?”

“Zombies cannot think. But you can! To tell the truth, you're lucky! My lord made ​​you a witch.

“Witch? Does it mean I can do magic now?”

“You can do magic, conduct ceremonies, perform rituals and so on.”

“But I...” started saying Lica.

“There’s a time and a place for everything,” interrupted her Arthur. “And now we’d better hurry up! We must find real Huron.”

“We? Why do you help me? Your life is in danger... You have already done a lot for me!”

The Prince of Vampires stared into her eyes and said:

“Maybe I'm doing the most stupid thing now but for some reason I'd love to. Come on!”

He gave her his hand and helped Angelica up.

“Volcano vent is a portal into the other world,” continued Arthur, “however not the most comfortable, because too hot!” There is another way - through the gorge. I think we should go there.

“I agree!” Lica nodded. “Remember, Margo said a monster dragged Huron into the abyss.”

Then Lica remembered the witch and exclaimed:

“Ah! I completely forgot about Margo! She is there alone... wounded and unconscious! We must help her!”

Angelica ran down the slope of the volcano.

“Wait!” the Prince of Vampires tried to stop her.

But Lica was running like a wind, not hearing him. Even from the distance, she noticed that place where the pentagram was. At its center was motionlessly lying the woman.

“Margo!” cried the girl. “I am coming!”

She ran to the witch and examined her carefully. Dried blood on her head and clothes caused for serious concern. Lica immediately put her ear to the woman's chest and listened. Her heart was beating, although very slowly.

“What is to do?” Angelica panicked.

Then her mind as if turned off itself. The girl