Amala dressed up in a hurry, she was running late for the meeting. Thanks to the death of the young girl named Alexa, it woke the council from its slumber.

Though it was evident the homicide was done by a human - a very smart, careful human since there was no sign of supernatural tampering - but the ongoing investigation has led to the discovery of buried cases having connections with the Burning Eaglets.

It seems they haven't eradicated all of them as initially thought, but it was just a matter of time till they swept that devil spawns out of the surface of the earth.

Amala's mind switched to the reason for the meeting tonight :Lia. The girl was more mysterious than she thought, but they weren't called witches for no reason; magic made the work easier for them.

The council would be so mystified to find the first time made-hybrid.

The girl is a mutation, an abnormal creature; a deviation from nature and because they haven't heard from the horse's mouth, they still had no idea how she came to be.

Amala chose her most trusted clan members for this dangerous task and though they would have reported to the council already, they had to be sure of their findings.

She wasn't sure if the girl was just unlucky to have such a fate or if she was a threat to the council. So far she hasn't uncovered any connection with the girl and the Burning Eaglet.

If anything was wrong, it was the strange relationship she had with the vampire leader of the Nicoli clan and Daniel.

As far as she knew, Daniel and Asher had never been friends; he hated that vampire's gut, so why were they both now coexisting?

Strange, Amala thought, something was definitely fishy. Perhaps, after the secret meeting with her members tonight, she would seek out Daniel tomorrow.

Now she remembered, the werewolf owed her a favour for healing his pack and she would call in on that; hopefully, Daniel tells her the truth.

It would be easier getting information from the werewolf considering their closeness, than that scary, smart secretive, creepy yet one hell of an attractive vampire named Asher.

The door to her room was opened abruptly causing her to whirl around but her eyes widened at what she saw.

"Zhuri! " Amala screamed in shock as she took in the sight of her clan member bloodied from her head to her feet.

Zhuri staggered towards her but Amala covered the distance between her with fast strides, just as the girl collapsed to the floor from exhaustion.

"Zhuri, what's going on !" She shook the girl whose eyelids were drooping.

"W- we...were attacked " The girl spoke with a heaving chest, her words coming out in gasps.

"Attacked? "

"T-the...b-burning..eaglet attacked ...e-every..body..dead… me… " Zhuri couldn't speak any further as the pain choked her.

It was true she called a meeting and if everyone had arrived as expected, that means she just lost ten of her best witches save Zhuri . A cold glint appeared in her eyes, the Burning Eaglet dared touch her clan?

"I-I… sor..rry… "

"Save your breath,I need to heal you" She told the young lady and placed her hand on her chest, beginning to chant a healing spell.

Amala groaned in pain because the magic took a toll on her too, Zhuri obtained not just surface injuries; some of her organs were destroyed, it was a miracle she was still breathing.

Once she was done, Amala lay back on the ground exhausted and devastated; she had failed her clan.

She had failed to protect her people, the very witches she had taken an oath to take care of the day she was appointed leader.

Yes, investigating and infiltrating Burning Eaglet was dangerous but she had laid down a plan that would minimal damages and loss of life;she was sure of winning! But who knew it would end up this way?

Amala wasn't the oldest witch but she was older than the average human was supposed to and she had seen enough of life and battles between the humans and supernaturals.

She had battle knowledge and experience and powers but it seems she encountered a stronger opponent this time.

"Your wound must have healed but you're still weak" She told Zhuri while struggling to her feet, "Stay here and rest, I need to go to the scene and confirm the death of our members with my own - "

Amala was yet to finish her statement when a knife was plunged deep into her chest swiftly; she spat out a mouthful of blood at once.

Her eyes grew wild with shock and disbelief, she turned around stiffly with slowness to meet her stabber, Zhuri.

"W-why?" She asked, hot tears streaked down her cheeks.No matter how much she thought about it, why would Zhuri stab her unless…

The loud clicking of heels against the marble floor in the passageway brought her attention to the door which opened on its own with a creak as someone strutted into her room confidently.

Amala took a step back when her eyes settled on the intruder who now welcomed herself by taking a seat.

" My ladyship " Zhuri acknowledged her presence by bowing.

"You betrayed me and the council for them! " Amala spat in anger, sending that ignorant fool a hateful look.

Zhuri smirked at her outburst, her once pale and fearful expression was now full of life; Amala was fooled, she fell right into their trap.

"Betrayed?" Zhuri scoffed and regarded her with contempt, "I just saw the light, that's all "

" You fool! "

"Even with that injury, you still have quite an energy? I can't help but applaud you; you're a worthy opponent "

Amanda who applied pressure to her bleeding chest retorted," If you had considered me a worthy opponent, you should have faced me head-on!"

Her ladyship laughed, "Quite true, but you were the first who used undermined method else we would have fought honorably"

Amala knew she was talking about the spy she had planted, that had been the riskiest and careless move she ever made and now, it cost her a lot.

The spy they sent was discovered and killed before they could gain any useful information and now, it finally attracted the enemy.

If she was fit, she could proudly stand her own with this woman. But now, Zhuri had fooled her into exhausting her power in the guise of healing her ; she hadn't not died yet because she was sustaining herself with her magic.

The only thing she could do now was buying time till reinforcement arrived, there was no way the rest of her clan members would not have noticed what was happening.

Amala wasn't hoping to survive this, but she would do everything to ensure this demoness was captured tonight.

Suddenly she drew out her drawer with lightning speed, opened a small bottle, removed the cork and poured the whole content down her throat.

"You've really given up on your life tonight " Her ladyship pointed out.

She was unfazed by the scene, just sat watching and observing her every movement with amusement.

Her ladyship wasn't stupid, she had noticed Amala taking backward steps towards her vanity table and had a feeling something valuable was held there, turns out it was just a Reverse potion.

Just as the name suggests, the potion returns you to your prime form but there was a backlash: accelerated

aging.

Depending on the quantity one takes, but once the portion wears off the victim ages two times their normal age.

In Amala's case, it was instant death: she took everything in the bottle, not to talk of the fact she was older than most witches.

A painful scream was drawn from her lips as the portion began its effect. The pain made her double over, then kneel to ground before crawling on fours.

Zhuri bit on her lips nervously while watching the scene unsure, why was her ladyship not doing anything?

Moments later, the ear-piercing scream stopped as Amala stood to her feet but something was different about her.

Her hair was soft and longer - almost touching her waist - there was not a trace of wrinkle on her face cause her skin was smooth as satin with a youthful and healthy glow.

Lips pressed together, Amala pulled the knife out of her chest with both hands, determination mixed with vengeance in her eyes.

She gasped sharply when she retracted the blade successfully. A self-satisfied smile graced her lips which disappeared as soon as she settled her gaze on Zhuri.

Goosebumps covered Zhuri's arms as soon as she saw the murderous intent in Amala's eyes. She panicked and looked towards Her Ladyship for help, but the person in question shut her eyes with her leg crossed over the other, unconcerned.

Zhuri knew it was game over unless she escaped.

Gripping the knife the little fool had stabbed her with tightly, Amala hurled it towards her with a spell when she tried escaping, "Occidere!"

The knife flew towards Zhuri and just before reaching her, duplicated; one stabbing right into her chest while the other pierced into her head and she slumped to the ground,dead.

"Your turn now !" Amala wasted no time in charging at her ladyship who didn't move an inch. But just as she tried to take a step, her body began to tremble.

"No. No. No! " Amala screamed as her hair began to turn white, falling off one after the other; her skin saggy with creases while losing strength in her entire body.

"What did you do to me?! " She yelled at the calm witch who finally opened her eye.

"Just made the portion wear off faster, nothing much "

Amala's teeth discolored and fell, she was a complete shadow of herself moments ago. Soon, she crumbled to the floor, breathing her last.

Her ladyship stood to her feet with a sigh while dusting her hands.

One down, who's next?.