.

The creepers around her legs and hands didn't stop but tightened that was squeezing her limbs right now making her flinch in pain. Piers saw the black witch jump out of the broken window and he quickly made his way towards the lady. Putting the gun down, he pulled out the knife he was given before leaving the mansion and started to cut the creepers to release Penny from it. 

Penny herself took out the knife from her shoe and let her herself free from the creepers, "Thanks," she said looking at the young man who gave her a nod. 

"Why did he go out of the window?" Piers muttered looking towards the window without going to look at where the man had gone. 

"What are you doing here? You were supposed to go searching for the toad," Penny said.

"The house feels like a maze because of no light. Lady, it is hard to find the toad." 

Getting away from the creepers and they left the room before she cast another spell, this time the spell wasn't to bring one ball of light but every lantern that had been unused for many years which in truth had not been used even by Robarte by his charm spell now lit up with a flame in each one of them that brightened the entire mansion. Though there were some parts of the mansion that were still dark, this would be enough to make sure they wouldn't fall for any trap. 

"This should be better?" Penny asked, looking at the man whose eyes were wide. 

"It must be really true then. That you are a descendant of the great white witch. Unfortunately, the Artemis never walked through the path of being white witches," Piers said as he had only found out that this lady was related to them, "Let me go find the toad again."

"Don't get killed. I will look for the toad and Grace too," Penny said and at the same time both of them heard a series of gunshot rain on the above floor. It looked like Damien had met either her mother or her uncle. 

Penny and Piers who were going to deviate path from that point suddenly heard a creaking sound apart from the gunshots which at first was very subtle but then it turned the volume high enough and suddenly the floor started to move behind them where the floor was opening up to leave a death trap at the bottom. She caught sight of the sharp jagged wheel that was moving in speed. 

"Run!" Penny said as she started to sprint from there. 

Piers was slow in comparison to Penny who was still trying to catch the whirring sound by leaning his head towards the walls and when he finally realized, noticing the floor, he started to run following Penny. 

"What is this place?" The mansion they were in started to s.h.i.+ft around its architecture and decor, each corner having death traps. At one point they had to dodge the sharp moving metal plates that moved alternatively making them take one step at a time without missing the empty s.p.a.ce unless they wanted to be killed by it. 

"I don't know," Penny said with her heart beating in her chest, "I think the previous owner of the house designed it and the black witchers just happened to know about it?" 

The house didn't look like anything before and it looked more poised and st.u.r.dy compared to the earlier house they had witnessed that looked as if it was going to crumble down in one strong blow of the wind. 

While Penny and Piers were together trying to not get killed by the house, Damien was on the top floor with Penny's mother. 

"Do you feel stupid for not being able to identify who I was?" the black witch asked, one side of her lips was pulled up in mockery as she carried a gun of her own, "I thought you would be sharper but for a pureblooded vampire you are too slow."

"Apologies for not meeting your expectations which I don't care about," Damien said, throwing the small capsule towards her which she caught and as if in realization she threw it just in time for the capsule to blast, "How was your day the last few weeks?" he dodged the gunshot and responded back with one of his own to see the black witch disappear behind the furniture. 

"So it was you who put up my pictures," the black witch asked, annoyance in her tone when she found out who had made it difficult for her to move. 

"Did you like it?" Damien was amused, "Were you waiting for councilman Ava to life the bounty from your head? Maybe she would have if you didn't lose the book and make your mistress angry." 

Laurae glared at the mention of the mishap that had taken place weeks ago while she was still trying to decipher the book, "Looks like you met her and have solved the problem with her which only makes it easy for me."

"Oh? My bad, but we didn't kill them. They have escaped from our rights so there's no telling when you will be hunted down. Heard the book was very important, how could you be so reckless, Laurae?" Damien tched with a disappointed look. 

He could see the anger bubbling in her eyes but she didn't bring it on her tongue. 

"You know even if I don't kill you there's someone who wants your head. How exciting is that?" he asked the woman. 

Laurae didn't wait to hear what else this pureblooded vampire wanted to say and she continued to fire at him without a pause. The large room they were in started to change and 

Damien had to move back until the movement stopped.

"Do you know what is exciting?" Laurae asked him with a smile on her face and she said, "Killing your sister. She begged and cried not to kill her. Should have seen the blood all around her. It was beautiful."