Witch Juice Ch. 04

Vincent woke up to the morning sun beaming into his eyes through his hotel window. His hand shot up to block the light as he groaned, struggling to turn away and get more sleep. However, as he turned, he suddenly realized that Lilith was no longer in the bed with him.

"Figures," he said with a smirk. "Makes it easier, anyway." He sat up out of the bedsheets and started to put his clothes back on. He drew his phone from his pocket and ran through his contacts. His finger caught Lilith's name. He jutted his jaw out to the side as he pondered over the idea of contacting her again. His confident expression faded. But soon, his finger instead flicked her name up, his contacts cascading through. Finally, he came to one contact, simply named "V." He selected the name and put his phone up to his ear. After a couple of dial tones, he hears an answer.

"She took it. She has it," he groggily asserted into the phone.

At the other end of the line, a woman stood in an alleyway in the city streets. She was a tall, dark-haired woman sporting fashionable shades. Her face had sharp, strong features, her grin was thin and wicked, applied with maliciously black lipstick. Her slender, trim figure was hidden beneath a large, black overcoat, complete with a wide-brim, equally-black sun hat.

"You picked quite a good time to call," she replied in a sarcastic tone. Her voice was sultry and low, yet chilling, causing even Vincent to be mildly discomforted.

"This... is, uh, spontaneous, you know. That kinda thing," he answered, still drunk with sleep.

"The trap is set then. Where can I find her?" she asked hastily.

Suddenly, from behind her, a police officer approached her from the mouth of the alleyway. His pistol was drawn with both hands, and he walked slowly towards her. His aim was shaking, his eyes were wide with fear.

"I-I- saw you... I saw what you d-did... to my partner," he managed to cough out the words as his jaw chattered, the terror overtaking him.

Vincent's voice continued through the phone. "She left the hotel about... " Vincent laid his hand against Lilith's side of the bed to feel its warmth. As he felt the faint heat, he sighed. "Two hours ago. She should be around the university. I gave her a dress- it's inlaid with wraith-cloth threading. She wore it; the scent should stick to her skin, even if she showers. Your sharp, sharp nose should be able to pick it up."

"Good enough," she replied back.

"Hey!" The officer coarsely roared at the woman, his confidence waning as his voice cracked.

"Give me a moment, I have to take care of a pest," she commented nonchalantly.

"What?" Vincent questioned.

The woman lowered the phone from her ear and slowly turned to the officer. "You saw what I did, huh? Very good." she condescended. "If you saw it, then you know why you should run along-" A loud bang echoed into the air and a sudden flash penetrated the darkness of the alley. A trail of thin, wispy smoke left the barrel of the officer's gun.

The woman stopped speaking abruptly. Her patronizing expression soon faded into one of grave sternness. She slowly reached into her left shoulder and pinched at the surface of her coat, at a small divet. From it, she produced a squashed bullet and presented it to the officer. His quaking distress intensified as he realized what had just happened. The gun's aim became even more unstable.

"That wasn't very nice," the woman snarled. She began to walk towards him. Two more shots rang into the air, but she was unphased. The bullets fell to the floor with a soft clink. They could hear the faint, distressed screaming of bystanders outside the alleyway as the gunshots reverberated into the street. The officer held his aim, ready for another shot, but now the woman was in arm's reach.

She swiftly grabbed the gun out of his hand without any resistance. The officer's entire body was stricken with dread as his expression melted into terror. The woman looked at the gun quizzingly, holding it up by the grip. "Such peculiar tools for weak, insignificant beings." She gripped the weapon, which signaled the officer to try and turn and run. However, her arm shot out and her hand was suddenly clasped around his neck. "Let me show you real power." She gripped the gun harder until the metal began to crack in her hand. Then, with a loud snap, the gun crumbled to the ground in shambled pieces.

"W-what the fuck... are you?" the officer managed to breathe out in a hushed tone through the powerful grip on his neck.

The woman simply responded with a dreadful grimace. She held her arm up and made a claw with her hand. Her red-polished nails began to grow long, into sharp, talon-like curves. The officer's eyes widened even more as he witnessed his grim fate. Her palm straightened out, and she rocketed her hand into the officer's chest as he could do nothing but hiss in pain as his throat was compressed by her mighty hand. Her talons punctured through his skin like it was paper, the bones in his chest crackling and snapping as her sharp nails soon met a bloody heart, and her hand had ripped through the muscles and sinew and was now out the other side. Blood spurted forth from either end of the hole she had voraciously torn into him. The man forcefully gurgled in pain as she continued to press on his neck, blood making its way through his mouth and dribbling down his chin as the internal bleeding began to geyser out through his body. The deep red blood splashed to the floor hard as it continued to pour from his fatal wound, and soon his gurgling subsided as his eyes stopped moving and his body stopped writhing. However, she continued to grip his throat harder, and soon a loud crack resounded through the alleyway.

She withdrew her arm from the man and a torrent of red followed. She dropped the body to the floor with a loud splash, causing the pool below to erupt into the walls of the alleyway. The woman looked at her arms, which were now drenched in deep crimson. Soon, all the thick liquid in the ground and on the wall began to lightly sizzle. Small wisps of scarlet gas rose up from the bloody mess and directed themselves towards the woman. She closed her eyes and held out her hands as the blood on her arms also began to absorb into her pores, soon disappearing completely. The pools of the alley soon evaporated into a red mist that flowed into the woman's hands. A more intensely crimson vein of mist flowed from the officer's corpse, with the mangled husk slowly decreasing in size, his dead skin turning deathly grey and wrinkled. The pools eventually disappeared, as if they were never there, leaving only a crumpled and twisted bag of skin and bones that was once the officer.

"A light snack to start the day," she joked to herself. She brought the phone back up to her ear. "You were saying?"

Vincent, at the other end, had heard only tidbits of the assault. His face turned from one of aloof carelessness to one of stern calmness. "You'll find her at the university. She'll lead you right to him."

"Excellent," she hissed with a grimace. The grey, wrinkled sack of skin on the ground soon turned into dust in the wind out of the alleyway.

Many hours later, during the cusp of nightfall, Lilith wandered around the streets outside the various academic buildings on campus, making her way to an inner courtyard, filled with lush grass, cut freshly from that evening, filling the air with a pure, loamy scent. Lecture halls and learning centers were scattered along the outside of the pavement that bordered the large green lawn, with gothic-style lamp posts dotted along the walking paths, providing a slight yet warm illumination to the slowly emerging dark of the night.

The scenery would usually provide Lilith with a calm sense of peace. It was quiet and students were sparsely traveling around to their late classes. Some were relaxing on benches, reading books, enjoying the serenity that came with a warm summer night. Others rested under the various trees that were scattered about the courtyard. Lilith could only hear the rare chattering of passerby, along with their lightly echoing footsteps. However, she struggled to find that inner peace, as she tightly gripped her newly built instrument in one hand. She paced back and forth along the walking path, sheathing the gnarled, fanged wand underneath her zip-up hoodie, checking it every so often, away from the eyes of the public. Between the tips of the two fangs, a small wisp of blue light emitted faintly, much to Lilith's frustration. She reassured herself that her awkward stance while walking would feign as her attempt at reading her bright phone screen in the inner pocket of her sweater.

"It should be working, I don't get it," she grumbled to herself. "I constructed it from the coven's finest materials...Damn it!" She proceeded to attempt to banish it with her violet flames as she did with her vials. However, the sparks of fire simply surged up the surface of the wand and quickly fizzled out, unaffecting it. "Great," she groaned.

"Excuse me, you lost?" A large man approached Lilith from behind, jogging in place and taking his headphones out of his ears. He was glistening with sweat and took a swig out of a water bottle as he looked at Lilith. "I jog here often, you need directions?"

"No," Lilith asserted, turning her attention back to the wand.

"I can show you where you need to go on your phone there," the man flashed a friendly smile. Lilith could sense his eyes wander to her cleavage as she was pulling her sweater out to observe the blue light of the wand, revealing a tight low-cut tank top. She hastily covered up.

"I said I don't need help," she replied sternly.

The man chuckled. "You don't need to be shy. It's a big campus, plenty of people-"

"Get lost! Insolent creature!" Lilith shouted with all of her might. Her eyes began to glow with violet light. The man's eyes widened and he slowly backed away.

"Uh..." The man was dumbfounded.

"Go!" Lilith commanded loudly once more. The man simply backed away and ran in the other direction. Only then Lilith realized that her shrill voice resounded through the inner courtyard, catching the attention of everyone around her.

She looked around, as she could now feel the eyes of the courtyard on her. She could hear the hushed whispers of passersby and feel the confused gazes of onlookers. She ground her teeth in frustration; she wanted to shout at them all. She wanted to show them all of her true power but the fact that she simply couldn't expound on her annoyance. Instead, she quickly shuffled away from the courtyard. But her tired expression soon changed to surprise as the small blue wisp within her sweater started to grow. A strand-like wisp of magical smoke grew from the light ball, but it was still wavering to and fro. Lilith, guided by the swirling wisp, scurried around the street, causing people near her to dodge her with puzzled looks. However, her focus was now solely on the wisp, her expression now chiseled with determination. Finally, after minutes of dizzying loops and circles about the walkways, the wisp settled, the strand of smoke now wavering in the direction of the Mathematics Lecture Hall.

"Ah." Lilith produced a sly grin as she pondered. "Makes sense, now." She took off her sweater and tied it around her waist. "Time to work the charm," she whispered to herself as she followed the rest of the students into the lecture hall.

Emmett was walking into his Linear Algebra class along with the many other students sauntering into the lecture hall, cursing themselves for putting such a late class into their schedules. The once-bustling crowd of students from the beginning of the semester was now culled by boredom and cut down to a sparse, yet still sizable group. Emmett had actually gotten a perfectly fine class in the mid-afternoon when he signed up, but as soon as he had heard Jenna was taking the same class, he changed it over to this one within the second week. He didn't mind the awkward night class' timing, he just wanted to be with Jenna.

The lecture hall was quite large, holding one hundred or so seats all aligned in semi-circular rows, each row lower than the previous, all leading down to a huge whiteboard and wooden podium on its right side. The professor was there, but instead of gathering his notes as per usual, he was brimming and chuckling while talking to an old student of his. It was a student that Emmett had recognized all too well.

"Aidan's here?" Jenna had snuck up behind Emmett, startling him, causing Jenna to lightly snicker. He quickly composed himself in front of his crush. After his dream from last night, the hot aura around Jenna was seemingly beginning to sear him.

As he looked at Jenna, the eerie whiteness of the corridor from his dream seemed to creep into his peripheral vision. As she was now right in front of him, Emmett was only now realizing how vivid his dream was, how accurate and detailed his vision of Jenna was, and how real the sensations felt. He looked at Jenna's lips again, and could strikingly recall the wet sensation of them slurping on his cock. His head started to feel light as his toes curled up within his shoes and his whole lower body felt like it was heating up. Emmett was beginning to wonder if that was even a dream at all.

"Hello? Everything okay? Aidan's got you really shaken up, huh?" Jenna's words penetrated Emmett's trance. He suddenly snapped back to the real world.

"Yeah, he just wants to, ya know, make sure I come to class and actually pay attention," Emmett answered nervously. The whole situation seemed childish.

"I see... Oh! Is this because of that thing with Thomas? That was some crazy shit." Jenna's eyes were wide with the appetite for drama.

"I know, I want to say the guy had it coming, but still..." Emmett looked down and began to ponder something.

"Still what? He totally had it coming. Do you remember when he was caught roofie-ing some of those girls from the D&D Club? Just so he could take pictures of them while they slept at his apartment? Yuck!" Jenna and Emmett continued to scan the lecture hall for seats.

"Yeah, but... raping a girl in the bathroom of a student center? That's not his style..."

"Oh yeah, what exactly is his style? Do predators have a style now?"

Emmett grinned at Jenna's joke and rolled his eyes. "That's not what I mean. I mean, like, he was a creep, a coward. He stuck his camera up girl's skirts on the bus, he smelled girls' hair when they got near him, that kind of creep."

"Not the 'attack-a-girl-in-a-public-restroom' sort of creep, huh?"

"Plus: no witnesses from a crowded student center in the middle of exam season? I would've heard some crazy stories on the internet by now."

"Right, 'I was there,' or 'I heard the whole thing' kinda deals."

"Exactly," Emmett nodded.

"Sounds like we have a mystery on our hands, Detective Grimm."

Emmett rolled his eyes again. "I'm being sorta serious for once."

"I am too! You've convinced me, I guess, it sounds weird. But what can we do now?"

"I... I don't know, actually. It sounded pretty exciting though."

"You play too many video games," Jenna scoffed.

"Please, I barely have the time anymore... I make my own games now," Emmett joked, sounding over-dramatic on purpose.

"Thrilling," she chided.

Aidan, down at the whiteboard, exchanged friendly handshakes, shoulder pats, and giddy expressions with his old math professor. He started to make his way up the steps to the back row with a cheery jaunt, towards Emmett and Jenna who were still scanning the lecture hall for open seats. Aidan was a tall young man. He had a strong, angular chin yet soft, baby-faced features. He had medium-length, flowing hair and he had a gentle gaze, his eyelids always seemed to be half-shut. It made it difficult for Emmett to be too mad at him despite his annoying demands. Other than that, he had broad shoulders and a strong physique. Although Aidan was known for being a genius with the highest scores in the university, all while double majoring in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, he still found time to be president of the campus' legendary Karate Club, which kept him in tip-top shape. Nobody really knew how Aidan did it all.

"Emmett!" Aidan beamed at him with his usual chipper demeanor.

"Hi, Aidan," Emmett spilled out without a hint of joy.

"Jenna!" He turned to Jenna with the same cheeriness.

"Hi, Aidan. Thanks for being here," she chimed out. It was obvious Jenna didn't really know how to act around Aidan's unwavering joy. "I guess ol' Emmett can't rest on his ass now." Jenna playfully jabbed at Emmett with an elbow.

"Oh, come on," Aidan urged. "I'm not some babysitter. I just want to make sure our good friend Emmett here just makes it out of Linear Algebra and Topology alive."

"I'm doing fine on my own, thanks." Emmett defended. "You didn't have to come here, I'm not a baby."

"Again, just making sure, not here to baby you around," Aidan assured back.

"Yeah, Emmett. It wouldn't hurt to have a little boost, right?" Jenna added.

"You're supposed to be on my side," Emmett hissed.

Jenna giggled back, "I'm never on your side."

"Anyway," Aidan interjected. "This is going to be a tricky lesson. It's on the Woodbury matrix identity. You familiar?"

Emmett and Jenna stared blankly back at Aidan.

"No," Emmett answered unemotionally.

"Okay, well, like I said it's a tricky one, so please pay attention to this stuff. It'll definitely be on the final."

"Aidan, I didn't come to lecture to just goof off, okay."

"You don't have to goof off, you could just fall asleep or just not pay attention," Jenna added matter-of-factly.

Emmett leered at Jenna, her mischievous grin unwavering, and Aidan simply nodded in agreement with her.

"Alright, lecture's gonna start in fifteen minutes, so take your seats- oh, and don't forget the Topology notes."

"Thanks for the reminder, Mom." Emmett scoffed.

"Don't mention it." Aidan started with a light jog for the back row as Emmett and Jenna moved towards some seats in the midsection.

"You're not sitting with us?" Jenna asked before Aidan moved out of earshot.

"Oh, well, maybe not today. When I was a sophomore I used to sit in the back here." Aidan excitedly jumped in one of the flip-out lecture seats in the furthest back row, landing in it perfectly with a satisfied grin. "It's the very same seat where I finally understood pseudo-Euclidean spaces. Plus, it'll feel less like I'm babysitting you, right?"

"Nostalgic, I guess," Jenna commented, trying to force out a bit of shared excitement.

"Great!" Emmett exclaimed with relief. "Let's go sit far away." They continued towards two empty seats towards one of the midsection rows and finally sat down, drawing out the small attached desk paddles to lay their notebooks out on.

"He's just as eccentric as ever, despite the whole news about Thomas. Is he really gunning for the number-one spot?" Jenna wondered.

"No, he doesn't care about that kind of stuff. And I don't really think he liked Thomas much anyway."

"Maybe he is broken up about it, though. He seems like the type to not make others worry about his feelings, you know?"

"Yeah, I see your point." Emmett looked back at Aidan. He beamed back at Emmett, shooting out a swift thumbs up. Emmett unenthusiastically produced his own groggy thumbs up, to which Aidan beamed harder.

"Or maybe not," Jenna observed, looking back.

"No, you have a point. Remember when I got kicked from the Computer Science program? That's when I met Aidan."

"I remember. Aidan was with that peer mentorship program." Jenna nodded.

"Well, he was going through shit at the time too. His mom had cancer- it's all good now, though. But, at the same time, his older brother got caught up in some bad shit or something. Drugs or some legal trouble with a girl I heard."