The Tiger Prince's Witch
Chapter 74- Satan

Anna wanted to break down from the loss of her father, but she knew she couldn't. That would be giving Astaroth precisely what he wants. There will be time to grieve later. Right now, she had a demon to kill. When she turned back around, she had her face fixed with a fake smile. Anna saw the surprise on Astaroth's face.

"Did you think that would break me? We were expecting losses. You can't go to war and expect to go unscathed. However, we will still win in the end." Anna looked toward the others who were still in the half circle. She was waiting for him to get a bit closer so he couldn't try to slither back down into the hole.

"You may act tough little witch, but we both know you're a mess right now and want to run to mommy and your dead daddy." Astaroth hoped to have a stronger reaction from Anna than she was showing. He would never admit it, though. "Sorry, some of us can't hide behind others like little bitches." Anna was pissed, but she refused to give him the upper hand. When he came a few yards closer, she knew it was time. She nodded to everyone. As the fighters behind her ran to attack the ones down below, she, Jaz, Kamryn, and Micah levitated into the air, making a square around the demon.

Marcella and Shila had their little ones directly across from him so they could help when it was time. Astaroth looked at them in confusion.

"What is this supposed to be? Wow, I'm so impressed tigers can fly. If you think that will have some sort of effect on me, you're mistaken." As he prepared to end them all, they pulled their energy forward and sent it directly at the demon. He froze when he realized that what was coming his way wasn't the power of four. It was the power of six.

"Our children are gifted as well, Astaroth. Now prepare to be sent to hell." As he stood still, he was surrounded by winds, lightning, and fireballs, all coming at him at once. Micah and Kamryn rained boulders on him with so much speed that he had trouble fighting them off. Anna could hear people crying and screaming, but she kept all her attention on the task at hand. This was all or nothing. If they didn't beat him, then they would all be dead.

When it looked as though he was going to go down, he got a new wave of strength that made him grow to over eight feet tall. They didn't back down, but she knew it was time for the other two to show what they were made of. Anna looked toward Sean and Sasha and nodded.

They looked toward Astaroth with sickly smiles well beyond their infantile age. She knew it was Mila and Felix she was staring at. Their eyes began glowing brightly and beaming straight into the demon, who was taken by surprise. When he saw what was happening, it was too late. He tried to wave his hand and move away, but he was slowly turning to stone.

He screamed as the stone began to crumble from the bottom up. Astaroth wasn't prepared for them to have so many reinforcements, but he wasn't giving up. They may defeat him now, but he would come back. Maybe not in this century, but he would be back.

"You will regret this." As the stone finished crumbling, his words were drowned out. They didn't lessen their powers until he was nothing more than dust that floated away in the wind. With him consuming the souls of all those fighting for him, they also turned to stone. The palace's fighters broke each stone to ensure they were truly gone. The entire battle was over a lot faster than anyone could have hoped. However, it came at a price.

Anna and the others flew over the grounds to check the damage. They had lost more lives than she had expected. She flew over to where her mother was lying beside her father. She placed her hand on her mom's shoulder as the tears streamed down her face. It was then she realized her mom had no energy. She was dead.

"Nooooooooo. Why did he have to take both of them?" Anna fell to her knees, holding Liana close, rocking back and forth. Both her parents were gone. They would never see Liana grow up or any of their future grandchildren. She would never see their smiling faces as they beamed with pride. It was too much. The black hole in her heart made her inconsolable. It was then that she heard another scream. When she looked up, Kamryn was standing next to Lynn and Randal's lifeless forms.

Anna jumped up and ran over to wrap her arms around him. This shouldn't have happened. She had expected one or two of their parents to be killed, but not all of them. She looked for Jaz and Micah, who were headed in their direction. "Jaz, where are your parents?" Anna asked anxiously. Was this a lesson? Were they all supposed to sacrifice their parents to win? She couldn't stop her tears as much as she tried. This wasn't right.

"I can't replace them. When we started levitating, they were behind us. I don't know what happened to them after that." Anna closed her eyes and tried to feel for Maura and Bryson. When she felt nothing, she already knew their fate. Jaz saw her face and screamed. She and Micah began searching frantically for her parents and found them just below the palace steps next to a rose bush.

Why did all the parents die? Anna couldn't wrap her head around it. The scrolls didn't mention anything such as this happening. Something was wrong. As she looked out at everyone else, she noticed more than half of those they started with were dead. This confused her even more. Their loss should not have been this great. Where was Santi?

Anna began searching for him while everyone else watched. They had never seen her this worked up before, and it concerned them. They had many losses, but she seemed frantic, not grief-stricken.

"Has anyone seen Santi?" She asked, and everyone shook their heads. Then she heard it.

"Here," A weak voice came from below her. She walked to the edge of the palace entry and looked toward the hole where Astaroth had shown himself. Santi was lying near it. He was completely unrecognizable. His mate Maxie was lying dead next to his broken body. Anna raced down to kneel beside him.

"What happened?" She asked with tears once again running down her face.

"We tried to help. I know you said to leave him to you, but I still felt responsible for bringing him here. I'm so sorry, Anna. I should have trusted you. When your powers hit him, they also hit Maxie and me. It didn't have the same effect but caused us to fly into the air. Unable to control our limbs, we began shooting the power to the people on our side. I'm responsible for the death of them all. I'm so sorry." Santi was sobbing loudly.

Anna understood now what had happened. When the power of six goes into the body of someone good, it can cause an internal fight. That's what happened with Santi and Maxie. Their tiger and wolf didn't know what to do, so they tried to send the power back out. It hit their own people.

Just as Anna was getting ready to speak, the ground began to shake. It was worse than what happened when Astaroth came. She didn't understand what was happening. Who was trying to come for them now? Astaroth was gone. No other demon should be prepared to fight them. Anna stood up and looked around. Everyone was staring at her, waiting to see what was going on.

Standing next to the large hole Astaroth had made, she noticed something moving deep inside. Against her better judgment, she leaned over to get a closer look just as a large black figure emerged. Not all the way out, only partially. He was black as night with two small horns on his head. His eyes were glowing red as he looked at her with a small smile. She felt no fear as she stared back in disbelief.

"Hello, Anna. It's nice to finally meet you." His voice was smooth as honey but still gave everyone a slight chill. She couldn't help herself from smiling back. Maybe all wasn't lost.

"It's nice to meet you too." She replied truthfully.

"Anna, who or what is that?" Kamryn asked nervously. She looked at him and everyone else, wanting to see their expressions. Despite what they may have thought, he's not the enemy. "Everyone, I would like you to meet Satan."