She moved away every time, trying to defend herself and not able to attack back as the black witch was too fast for her. There was no opening which made it difficult to even put her hand down for a second. When the black witch attacked her directly, Penny used both her knives to deflect the hit, pus.h.i.+ng it above her head before using force to kick the black witch which had her stagger. 

This gave Penny an opportunity to run around the tree as the black witch chased her. The butcher's knife cut through the air and she moved farther away where the butcher knife got stuck in the tree tightly. 

Penny quickly attacked the black witch who moved away from the tree where her knife was stuck. She tched under her breath.

On the other side of the forest where Penny was, Elliot had engaged himself with the older witch who was trying to get the package as well as the man. The man kept the same pace as the black witch, enjoying himself with some good fight by making use of his long legs to kick her and have her stay away from what he was protecting. 

This time it was Penny who attacked the black witch, not letting her pull out anything from her dress and keeping the woman busy. She was able to get her knife closer to the black witch's until the woman caught hold of her had and threw her across the forest floor, sliding down the forest floor which was covered in snow. The witch had been quick enough to pick the knife which Penny had been using, bringing it to her ready to stab when a gunshot echoed in the forest. 

The black witch fell flat on her face, the black blood first seeping out before her body turned to dust, leaving an imprint of the body on the snow. Damien moved his hand to the other black witch but before he could get her, she escaped from there. Leaving the man as well as the package of spitgra.s.s behind. 

Damien walked towards Penny, giving her his hand and she caught it, standing straight to feel one side of her body hurt, "You okay?" he asked looking at her. 

"I am okay," she gave him an a.s.suring smile when he continued to scan her. 

"Do you have your book with you?" he asked Penny, she shook her head. 

When she had started to defend herself, Penny had forgotten about the book and had dropped it, "I don't have it."

"Good. With this, the black witches will never know about the true moon signs and the ma.s.sacre won't take place successfully any time soon with the ritual," at least not until they realize what was written in the book was nothing but false information. A complete utter lie that was useless for the black witches. 

Damien had initially planned to make one copy of it to store in the library but he knew that creating more than one would benefit them. Especially if a black witch was prowling in the town it was obvious that they would want to take it if they made it more suspicious. 

"Do you still have the lighter?" asked Damien to get it back from Penny. Taking the book of the moon signs and tearing out the pages, he burnt the spitgra.s.s along with the pages of the book. This way no one would ever come to know or make use of it. Penny saw the dried leaves give out smoke and a strange smell that Damien couldn't stand long and he walked away from it. 

Penny followed him instantly, leaving Elliot who was waving his hands near the fire as if he were freezing. 

Catching up to him, Penny came to stand in front of him to see Damien's face that had changed, seeing it she pressed her lips. His eyes had turned black, the skin around his eyes showed the nerves like fine lines. His fangs had appeared but it looked different. Like a rabid animal in the wild. Was it the smell of spitgra.s.s? She could hardly imagine how strong a pinch of it was and to inhale it in the air even after moving away from it. 

He looked as if he were in pain, placing one hand on the tree, he turned away from her. When Penny went to touch his arm, she heard him warn, "Don't," her hand hung in the air but she placed it on his arm. 

"I have already seen your corruption before," she could feel his muscles that had turned tense out of pain or thirst. 

"You should keep some distance from me right now, Penny. Did you forget the body in the abandoned church?" his voice came out hoa.r.s.e. No, she hadn't forgotten about it. The bodies where every ounce of blood had been sucked out of them, "I don't function well with the corruption," he turned to look at her, his eyes still having that wild look in them, "You don't know what I am capable of when I am like this."

Penny wished she could do something about it. To stop the corruption so that it wouldn't bother him the way he was feeling the pain in his body. His expression again started to turn dark. She took a step forward and put her arms around him to hug him. She could feel his heart beating in his chest, faster than usual. She closed her eyes when she felt his arms go around her, his hold tightening around her. 

"I won't let anything happen to you, Damien."

She heard his heart calm down after two minutes to hear him say, "My knight with knives and needles," and she smiled.