Julia Lelieveld and the battle with the underworld
~25~

My body responded immediately and I kissed back forcefully. We lay close to each other, I felt my heart beat faster. I grabbed him tightly and ran my hands over his back. His muscles rolled under my hands. His hand had wandered to my buttocks. Instinctively I crossed my leg over his. He rolled on top of me and broke our kiss. My desires screamed, I wanted more of this. I couldn’t think clearly anymore. He leaned over and kissed my neck, I threw my head back for better access. He went down slowly. And suddenly I felt it again, my powers came back. I felt complete and everything felt even more intense. He pressed against me and I felt his excitement grow. He broke away from me and looked at me intensely, I pressed my lips to his and the feeling took possession of me again. This couldn’t last long enough. Just when I thought that, I felt Lucas stiffen and he broke away from me. “What is it?” I asked him. “Your powers are back, I feel you stronger by the second, I think we have to stop before they replace us again.” I let that sink in for a moment and nodded. He let out a deep sigh and lay on his side next to me and looked at me. He circled my stomach with his hand. He left a warm trail that only made me want him more. I took his hand and took it off my stomach. “I’m afraid I can’t contain myself,” I admitted embarrassingly. He shook his head. “I totally understand, come turn around.” I turned my back to him and he curled up close to me, he put his arm around me and took my hand and we fell into a deep sleep.

“Good morning.” I heard softly in my ear. I slowly opened my eyes. We were still the same as last night. I squeezed his hand and he kissed my head. “Good morning too,” I said to him. I picked up my phone and was surprised to see that it was half past seven in the morning. We had a really long night and that felt good. My body hurt a lot less and my powers felt as clearly present again than usual. I sat down on the edge of the bed. Lucas sat up behind me and pushed my hair aside and kissed my neck. I let it go for a moment and closed my eyes in delight. And the moment I closed my eyes I saw Renzo in front of me. Startled, I stood up. He looked at me uncomprehendingly. “Sorry, it’s not fair to Renzo. No matter how nice it feels.”

I saw Lucas pull his eyebrows together and he nodded gently. He got up and went to the bathroom. Shit, I didn’t make him angry or hurt, did I? I just didn’t know what to do with this. Renzo had my heart, I loved him. But ever since I lost my powers and helped Lucas get them back, it felt so good too. But that feeling was all I was against. I couldn’t cheat on Renzo with his own brother. And the worst part was, if he hadn’t stopped yesterday, we would have done a lot more than just kissing. I lowered my head into my hands and sat for a while letting everything run through my mind. “Hey, I understand. It’s just so overwhelming, those feelings. I’ve never felt anything like it. I replace it hard to deal with, that kiss just came naturally.” He raised his shoulders. I got up and stood in front of him. “It’s hard, I don’t want to cheat Renzo, but I need my powers and you’re the only one who can help me do that. And once we get going, somehow I just can’t stop.” He put his arms around me and gave me a big hug, I grabbed him tight and we stood there for a while. He gave me another kiss on the head and then let go of me. Was this some kind of goodbye? I looked at him and his eyes were sad, I probably looked the same. “It’ll be fine,” he said. I nodded and walked to the bathroom defeated.

When we were done we packed our things and walked to the reception, the dining table was set and there were simple sandwiches on it. We ate our breakfast, said goodbye and walked out of the hotel. Lucas grabbed his bike and we continued into town. This one had already come to life. Deftly he drove east of town into an older neighborhood. The houses and buildings were quite outdated and in some cases the windows had been replaced by wooden plates. Lucas stopped in a narrow street. He stopped his engine in a small alley. “It must be here somewhere.” He looked at me inquiringly. “What is it?” I asked him. “The property we’re looking for is on Earth borders, I think you should have a feel for which property it is.”

I looked at him with wide eyes.

“You mean the same borders that Rob has under his house?” He nodded. “Is there an Elementor or practitioners living here too?” He shook his head.

“No, we’re looking for a witch, but they often protect their homes from evil too.” “A witch, yes of course, that can also be added,” I said dryly. Lucas suppressed a laugh. I focused on the elements again and walked down the street, somehow being pulled to the neglected door between two boarded-up windows. We looked at each other uncertainly. Lucas gently felt the round, cross-engraved door knob. He turned it over and opened surprisingly smoothly. Inside, a dimly lit lamp shone from the ceiling, its orange shade gave an eerie effect to the room. I looked around and it was as if I had stepped into a movie. The room was full of stuff, we barely had room to move ourselves. I got a strange feeling about all the special things I saw. Objects, books, dolls, bottles and jars with contents that I did not want to investigate further. A shiver ran through me. Lucas noticed. He took my hand and went ahead of me. At the back of the room was a desk, Lucas pressed the bell. We heard some shuffling behind a large curtain that hung behind the counter. A wrinkled hand gripped the curtain and an old woman emerged. She gave us a piercing look, didn’t say anything and gestured for us to follow her.

I looked at Lucas and he shrugged. We followed her gently through the curtain. Behind the curtain was a surprisingly cozy space. The old woman was sitting at a large table with all kinds of things I’d never seen before. Candles burning everywhere. She pointed to the chairs facing her.

“What brings you here?” the woman asked in fluent Dutch. I looked at Lucas questioningly. “Can you speak Dutch?” I asked her in amazement. She smiled. “Of course, I can talk to anyone.”

“We’d like to ask you about Evil and the Underworld and how to get there,” Lucas said.

The woman paused for a moment and looked at us for a long time. “That’s quite something you’re asking of me. It could get me in trouble if He replaces out.”

She looked at me and put her hand on the table. “Give me your hand, honey.” I found it hard to trust her, the last time someone asked for my hand, they read my memory like it was nothing. Lucas poked me in the side. I looked at him annoyed for a moment, but I gave her my hand.

She turned it over and studied the lines on my hand. “Interesting,” she said. She followed two broad lines on my hand. “See these lines? These are the love lines, a lot of people don’t have one, some people who are lucky have one. That means they replace a love for life, but you girl, you have two.” She looked at me in awe. “Your lifeline also looks very interesting, I wonder?”

She took my hand with her other hand too and whispered something in an unfamiliar language and her eyes suddenly flew open and seemed to see through me. “Not true, what have I here, a chosen one. And why do you want to go to the underworld? You don’t belong there at all, that’s your enemy.”

I nodded. “He took something dear from me.” “Aha, does that have to do with those love lines of yours?” I nodded. “That’s right, and why do you want to go there?” she asked Lucas.

Without saying a word, he gave her his hand. First she studied his hand and looked intently at him, then she whispered in the same language. “No, but an e-warrior who has joined the good side. It shouldn’t get any crazier,” she cried with a small cry. She seemed pleased with our visit.

“I can tell you how to get there, it’s not that hard. The hardest part is how to get out again.” I looked at Lucas for a moment.

“How do we get out?” I asked her. “If you survive, the only way out is when a First Soul at the gate promises to close it from within.”

“A First Soul?” I asked her.

She nodded. “By a First Soul we mean someone who has never died. Demons and angels for example, they have had to leave their First Soul behind and move on with an intangible Second Soul. But you, you are a first soul. Though I can’t say that for sure, Archangel.” And she looked at me again. I was shocked at what she said, because if that were true, then I’ve had a soul before that I knew nothing about?

“So only a First Soul can close the gate from within?” asked Lucas.

She nodded. “Is there another way?”

She seemed lost in her own thoughts for a moment when she suddenly started talking again. “Do you know why I put the earth boundaries under my house?” She didn’t even wait for our response.

“To be exact, I did that 20 years ago. I was your average witch, so I was on the side of Evil.” I looked at her startled. She laughed faintly. “Yes girl, all witches are born with the morals of serving Evil, just like the e-warriors, but some witches are also defecting.” And she pointed to Lucas. I nodded. “But 20 years ago I was given an assignment to track down someone, Evil knew there was a chosen one, a novice, perhaps those themselves didn’t even know that this one was a chosen one. But you could already faintly feel the power. He wanted me to track down the one with a difficult spell. Of course I was loyal to Evil and I got to work. When I finally found the chosen one, I saw that it was only a boy. He was barely 15 years old. And the worst part was, he looked like my son about the same age. I knew what the underworld would do to the chosen one. I couldn’t bring myself to think he was going to be killed. And then I did the unthinkable, I took away his powers. This only out of protection for himself, that he could just grow up to be a grown man and lead a life of his own. And with this act I felt the transition to the other side. I started to see everything from a different perspective.” She sighed. “Evil found out what I had done. He was furious that I had taken his chosen one from him and in revenge he killed my son in front of my eyes.” A tear ran down her face. I put my hand over my mouth and my eyes filled with tears. “How awful,” I whispered. I saw Lucas look at me and he took my hand. He too was struck. “Since then I have placed the earth’s boundaries under my house so that Evil cannot replace me anymore.”

“He killed my father a week ago and took my brother, who also switched to the other side,” Lucas said softly. I squeezed his hand briefly. “And that brother of yours, is your love line?” she asked me. I nodded. “Oh my gosh, how complicated everything is.” And she looked at us. I felt myself turn red and looked down. “Honey, it’s okay, you’re sincere and that’s the most important thing.” I looked at her again and nodded softly.

“There’s another way,” she finally said. I looked at her with wide eyes and Lucas immediately looked up too.

“I’ve been alone for so long and I’m old. Even though I’m a witch I don’t want to rejuvenate myself all the time, that’s going to affect your soul at some point and I don’t want that. My time is almost up here and this would be a good ending.”

I looked at her uncomprehendingly. “What do you mean?” I asked her.

She laughed slowly. “I mean I’m going with you and I’m going to fight with you against Evil, I’ve got a bone to pick with him. And when you are safe from the underworld I will close the gate.”

“But you can’t, then you can’t get out.”

“It’s alright girl, I’ve barely been out of my house for the past 20 years. Afraid that Evil would replace me. This isn’t life either, and I’ve never been able to take revenge for what he did to my son. Now that you’re coming my way, it’s time. It’s okay, I want to do this.”

My thoughts were working overtime, she couldn’t mean this, it would be suicide. “No, honey, I don’t have long. Look at me. I am old and my body is deteriorating. You don’t have to be afraid, my powers are still as strong”, and she gave me a wink. I smiled at her and nodded.

“Can we trust you?” Lucas asked. She stood up slowly at that question. She took a box from a large closet and came back to sit with us. She looked at Luke. “You’ve had the traditional e-warrior upbringing?” she asked him. Luke nodded. “Good,” she said. She opened the box and took out a sort of star. “This is a pentagram,” she said at my questioning look. And she went on. Around the pentagram she placed candles, a dish, a knife, a bowl, some statuettes and some jars. She nodded at Lucas. “Tell her what this is.”

“It’s an altar, it’s used to make spells.” I looked at Lucas for a moment and nodded.

Finally, she took out an octagonal beautiful gem. From every angle, the stone was a different color. Brown, red and pink alternated. I looked at Lucas and he looked wide-eyed at the stone. “Is that a promise stone?” he asked softly. “Your father raised you well, boy.” She nodded. “This is a promise stone. And with this I want to make you a blood promise.” I looked at her questioningly. “Don’t worry, it doesn’t take a lot of blood. We use blood, because then the spell is binding. I mustn’t break my promise, because if I do, I’ll be cursed forever.”

I looked at Lucas and he nodded. “It’s true, no one breaks their promise when it’s set with a promise stone.” I nodded gently. This was all so new to me.

“Come, give me your hand.” Hesitantly I gave her my hand and she put it down by the pentagram, she did the same with Lucas’s hand. She ran her hand over the candles and they all came on at once. She laughed a little. “Besides magic, we also have control over the elements,” she said. She took the bowl and placed the beautiful gem in it, then she took Lucas’s hand and held it over the bowl. She took the knife and cut him in the palm of his hand, his face twisted and there was a trickle of blood in the bowl. She wrapped his hand in a piece of cloth and then took my hand. I clenched my teeth and felt a sharp pain in my hand. The blood dripped into the bowl. She also put a piece of cloth on me and then she cut her own hand. The moment her blood fell into the bowl, she began to whisper in that foreign language again. I thought it was exciting, who knows, maybe she’d cast a completely different spell, but Lucas trusted her and I trusted Lucas. She was our only hope of getting Renzo back. After a few minutes she stopped whispering and drank the contents of the bowl in one go. I had to suppress a gag. I looked at her uncomprehendingly. Lucas squeezed my hand and said that it was okay. A shiver ran through me and at the same time I felt a burning pain in my palm where she had cut. I dusted it off and looked at my palm in wonder. The cut was gone, but a pentagram had come back for it. The woman laughed softly. “When I submit my pledge, the pentagram will disappear.”

“Are you okay?” I asked her. She looked very tired.

“Yes, this is just a very powerful spell, it takes a lot of energy. I think you know exactly what I mean.” I smiled at her. I knew all about being exhausted and losing my powers.

She walked slowly back to the closet and fumbled a bit. She came back with two small bags. “Here, keep these bags with you, so I can always replace you and know when you are at the right point to travel to the underworld. When the time comes, I’ll join you.”

I took the pouch. It was a small burlap pouch, tied with string. I didn’t know what was in it, but I put it in my pocket, this was important. We couldn’t go to Renzo without her.

“Okay, I’ll give you the location, when you know it it’s important to go there. Keep your head down, because girl, you’re very powerful.” She smiled at me. I blushed a little. “I’m just not sure how to manage it all yet, it’s still so new to me.” She nodded. “All in due time.”

“Now give me your hand with the pentagram.”

We gave her our hands and she took them firmly, again she whispered some sentences. And at a certain moment I saw an image in front of me. A kind of well with a staircase in it and with that image I knew exactly how to replace it. I looked at her in amazement. “Do you know?” she asked. We both nodded. “Good, I’m going to prepare here and come to you when you get there.”

I walked over to her and took her hands. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome sweetheart. Well, go, see you soon.” She turned me around and pushed me to the door. “I don’t even know your name,” I told her. “Daria, that’s my name.” And with those words she closed the door behind us and immediately locked it and disappeared behind the curtain.