Chapter one hundred and seventeen

Cousin Natalia looked at her palms like she had seen a ghost, her face filled with unwillingness as if she could deny what she had seen and make it not true,

"This is...this is not possible! My spell, how could it just vanish? I am a first circle witch! The youngest to ever receive such an honor! No one can snuff my powers like blowing a candle out. No, it must have been a trick. I am the most talented witch to ever be born in the last century, you can't be more powerful than me."

When I heard her nearly incoherent babble, I laughed so hard that tears began to flow down my cheeks,

"Most talented witch in the last century? Are you kidding me? What cave have you been living in? Jesus, I now know what the Chinese meant when they said a frog in a well. You aren't that powerful Natalia, hell you aren't powerful at all. If you went out there into the real world, I doubt you would last a day before you annoyed someone with your whiny voice and end up in a ditch. Hell, just a few hours ago I met a girl who was only half your age and could blow you out of the water, literally blow you out of the water, if she sneezed at you at the wrong time. Most powerful witch in a century? What fantasy world are you living in?"

Natalia glared at me and stomped her foot in anger, she actually stomped her feet like a petulant child having a tantrum. With that gesture, the last vestiges of respect that I had for her as a human being vanished into thin air.

Her entire body started shaking as if it was unable to contain all the rage that she had bottled up inside. Her lips trembled, her eyes started to twitch. I thought that she might actually become the first person to explode because of rage but unfortunately that didn't happen and instead she started to shout at me in an even shriller voice, a voice that mede me fear for the crystal lake outside.

"How dare you talk to me like that? You are nobody! A random dog that my soft hearted uncle took in, you have no right to talk to me like you are superior to me!"

"I don't ? The last time I checked I am superior to you in every way. I am more powerful than you, I am obviously smarter than you, I am more beautiful than you and even after I have said all this, I am still more humble than you. How dare I talk to you like this? I think you are missing something important, I plan to do much more than talk."

With that, I took out my fan, the one that contained Barry's spirit and whispered, "Singe her but don't hurt her. I want her scared not injured," then I pointed the fan at Natalia and injected some power into it.

A gout of golden flames flew towards Natalia before she could react and she was engulfed by the flames until they vanished a second later leaving her frozen in fear.

Her jeans and T-shirt had been reduced to tatters hanging off her frame revealing her milky skin and blue lace underwear but her body itself was completely unharmed except for one exception, her hair and eyebrows had disappeared. She was completely bald as she stood there like a deer in headlights.

I brought the fan closer and whispered, "I thought I told you to only singe her?"

Barry snorted and said,"She is lucky she has her skin let alone hair. I can smell the corruption and evil from her soul. The only reason she isn't a pile of ashes right now is because of your order."

I was having a whisper argument with Barry when my supposed great Aunt Olga stepped in front of Natalia and blocked her off from my sight.

"Sophia right? Well Sophia, I apologize for Natalia's actions. I would also like to apologize if you thought that I was trying to belittle your power earlier. Now that I have seen a demonstration of your power and control, I would very much like to invite you to join my coven."

I tried to sound polite when I said,"No thank you."

"I don't think you understand, I am offering you a way to increase your power and harness it in ways that you couldn't have imagined before."

"I know what you are offering me. In fact I know exactly what you are offering me but I am not interested. I am not a witch but even if I was, I wouldn't join your coven. I know that your hands are covered in blood Great Aunt, I know what kind of path you took to get your power and I want no part in it."

Great Aunt Olga's face grew gloomier with every word I spoke until her face resembled a thundercloud, her eyes became cold like ice chips as she stared daggers at me, "Don't act all high and mighty in front of me! I can see the succubus behind you! I doubt that you picked her up at a grocery store. I know the rituals to summon demons, they all require sacrifice!"

I was going to answer her but Delilah raised her hand and started to jump up and down like a student at a classroom who really wanted to answer a question. I looked at her in exasperation before I gave up and pointed at her like a teacher allowing a student to speak.

"She didn't summon me, I chose to follow her."

"You chose to follow her?"

"Yeah. Basically she scared the crap out of me so I decided to serve her, it's a demon thing, you wouldn't understand. Anyways, let me give you some free advice, don't piss Sophia off. I mean seriously, you don't want to open that can of worms or more accurately a can of snakes, like really big vipers filled with poison and big enough to swallow you whole."

I looked at her and raised my hands over my head in exasperation, "And what is that supposed to mean? I am not that bad!"

Delilah shrugged,"Sorry Soph but I think your track record speaks for itself. Do you remember what you did to the last person who pissed you off?"

I couldn't help but glance at Boris who was standing behind me.

"Good point. *sigh* Whatever. Anyways, I am not here to make new enemies, lord knows I have enough as it is. So in conclusion ; I am not joining your coven great aunt, I like your new look better than your old one cousin and if you need another makeover feel free to contact me at any time, it's been nice meeting you grandfather but next time you want to talk let's Skype instead of all this hooha. Farewell grandfather, great aunt and cousin Natalia."

With that I turned around and left. This time nobody stopped me.