Rika's Apprenticeship Ch. 13

In the meanwhile, in the Castle, Myra and Asmodeus were about to enter in Rika’s room.
The Demon of Greed was indeed in his Giant Snake form, and the witch opened the door for him.
They were shocked to see the room empty, but not only that, the forged Book was amiss, as well her clothes.

“Damnation! What happened?” the Giant Snake hissed, frustrated.
After he was defeated and driven away by those two witches and Neko Demon, he swore to revenge himself on them in some way, and Myra just offered him a great opportunity.

“How’s that even possible? I saw her eating the meal! She was supposed to be asleep! Wait…” she said, worried, and she ran toward her bedroom, finding it empty as well.
“That little piece of scum! She kidnapped my apprentice! But how’s that possible? Even if she’s talented she surely couldn’t use a teleporting spell so powerful to escape with Lucy…” Myra said aloud, thinking about the possibilities.

Then she had an epiphany, and she said, “Let’s go check where Lucy is.”
They went in a room with a mirror. It was like the one in the Mansion that checked the forest, only this one was linked with the collar around Lucy’s neck.

“Bingo! They took her in Leda’s Mansion, we can go to her,” Myra said, grinning evilly.
Asmodeus rolled his acid green eyes, and said, “You can go, I cannot…they put a barrier againssst me all around the houssse. I can only ssstay outssside of it, and…they alssso have the “unbreakable protection” that defend them…” he finished with a sneer.

“Oh…now I remember that the order “break the contracts” started from them. But I would remain loyal to you, no matter what, Master Asmodeus! So, what do we do now?” the enchantress asked, frowning.
The Demon of Greed smiled in a pleased way, and said, “Good, and you can enter in that Mansssion. You can take your acolyte away, you know that ssshe’s important for the whole plan, and remember to take the Book of Rulesss too…it’s utmossst important, even more than Lucy!” he ended, seriously.

Myra nodded, and said, “I can go now, they don’t know about the “homing spell” I put into that collar, and I think that they are asleep now, so I can move around undisturbed,” she said, grinning.
The Demon of Greed had another idea. “Can you kill them in their sssleep?” he asked.

The Mistress shook her head, and said, “Sadly no, in our clan there’s a law that forbid to do such a thing, and the Wise One has her meaning to discover who was the culprit…and the punishment…” she said, shuddering.

Asmodeus looked disappointed at the news, and he asked, “The punissshment? What it isss?”
Myra shuddered again, and said, “She would strip the culprit off of her powers, and she would make her forget that she was an enchantress, but she would left some memories, and then she would send her in the human world…without no means of identifications, and dressed with rags. The witch usually end in some asylum or mental hospital, because the humans think that she’s crazy. No thank you, I don’t want to end like that…and you need my help to do your plan…” she ended, now more like herself.

The Demon scoffed, and waved one of his hands. “Yesss, I need you. Ok, go in Leda’sss Mansssion, and do what you have to do, I count on you, all right?” he said, seriously.
Myra nodded, and she used the homing signal in the collar.
She was now in one of the bedrooms of the Mansion, a Guest Room, and Lucy was sleeping peacefully on the huge bed.

“She’s still asleep…good…the trigger I gave her is a fantastic thing!” Myra whispered, an idea forming in her head.
She went near her acolyte, and she whispered in her ear, “Open your eyes, and then sleepwalk where the Book of Rules is, then return here.”

Lucy’s eyes shoot open, but she wasn’t awake, and she had that glazed and fixed eye stare. Then she descended from the bed, and she went for the door, following a mysterious calling, but the door was locked.
Myra groaned, and proceeded to open the door, with a spell, only that it didn’t worked.

“What the heck?” she said, using another spell to illuminate the area and her eyes widened, seeing the intricate incisions on the door, and rune written all around the frame.
She moved the sphere of light on the ceiling, and the same symbols were there as well.
The evil Mistress groaned. “Damn, I fallen right into their trap…” she said, sadly.

Then she ordered at Lucy to return in the bed, and sleep, and she sat on one of the chair in the room.
She fell asleep, since the chair was comfortable, and in the morning she woke up, when the door opened.
She looked at the door, to run out of it, but then she paled, seeing who was entering in the room.

There was Rena, the Kyuubi, then Leda and Rika, and finally Athena, which was looking at her with a scowl.
“What are you going to say in your defense, Myra Oakbark? You didn’t receded the contract with Asmodeus, and not only that, you tried to drug this poor apprentice, to be killed by that Demon. And I might add that you went here to take away that poor, abused, acolyte, and you ordered to her to take the forged Book of Rules. Why it’s so important? Why you don’t want to follow the new rules? Answer me!” Athena said, enraged.

Even if the Wise One was younger than Myra, she radiated an authoritarian aura that made the evil Mistress tremble in fear.
“I cannot tell you, Wise One! I have a link with Asmodeus, and he would surely discover that I confessed about his plan!” Myra said, desperately.

Leda smirked, and said, “You can tell us, here. I’m sure you know that we put a blocking spell around the House, to not let that Demon come here, and it block whatever link somebody has with him.”
The cruel enchantress pouted, and bit her lips, unsure, then she said, “Ok, but if you told me a lie, you would pay, Leda!” Myra said, frowning.

Athena frowned. “The only one who would pay is you! Now spill it!” she said, with dominance.
Myra nodded, and told at them the whole story, “I discovered that Master Asmodeus created the forged Books of Rules in the past, for some of us. I noticed that, for every country, there was a single enchantress that followed the rules I followed.”

“I did some more researches and I discovered where the real Book of Rules was hidden, but the moment I touched it, Master Asmodeus appeared, summoned by a spell on the real Book of Rules. He knew that we had to break the contract, and he went to the other Mistresses to tell them to not break the contract. I and the other enchantresses didn’t wanted to destroy that contract, because we were loyal to him.”

“Since I discovered where the real Book of Rules was, I was chosen to be the one who help him in his plan. You see, the forged Book of Rules was in our hands for nearly 500 years, and following his rules, in the right way, gave power to those Books. He explained to me that I had to wait, and then use Lucy and the Book, with a special spell he knew, but he cannot do by himself. Using that spell, on Lucy, which was very submissive to me, and on the forged Book of Rules, would make that Book the real Book of Rules, and so it couldn’t be changed, and the other real Book of Rules would become like this one, and so the entire Clan would act like me, or the other enchantresses who has the forged Book of Rules. Ah, and their Books and submissive acolytes would work as catalysts for the real Books of Rules and the other acolytes, and the Mistresses would become loyal to him,” she explained, grinning triumphantly.

Athena and the others were flabbergasted, and the Wise One asked, “You seems to be happy to do that task! And now, tell me, when this rite should be done?” she asked, with an imperative tone.
Myra didn’t wanted to answer, but the Wise One had the power to control them all, like she was the definitive Mistress.

“Tomorrow night, Wise One, uh, no, wait…it’s this night! I remained her for the whole night! Master Asmodeus must be very pissed right now!” Myra said, panicking.
Athena sneered, and declared, “You know, at this point I think that would be a VERY good idea to send you outside this Mansion, so the Demon of Greed himself can deal with you, but I have a better idea…Leda, close again the door, so she can’t escape, and I have a task for you…” she said, while the black-haired enchantress closed again the door, leaving Myra, agape.

The Wise One explained her plan, and the two witches and Kyuubi did what they were told.
Rena teleported in the Castle, and using all her ninja techniques she found the contract and the real Book of Rules and she took it away.
Since it was already touched by Myra, Asmodeus didn’t noticed that it was taken away.

Asmodeus was still in the Castle, but luckily he was sleeping in the Guest Room where Rika was the previous day, and he didn’t noticed the arrival of the Kyuubi.
Rena wasn’t anyway worried, since she was a sacred Nine-Tailed-Fox, and even if Asmodeus was stronger and much older than her, she was sure she could use one of her sacred spell to keep him distracted.

But this time she didn’t had the “opportunity” to test her skills on  him.
Athena had called the other evil Mistresses, with the excuse of asking them questions about the forged Book of Rules.
Unlike Myra, they didn’t know that Asmodeus was the responsible of their wrong behavior, since the Book changed the Mistress who taught the “right way” to do things at their acolyte, and the “wrong way” spread from generation to generation, making becoming more true at every passage, like a suggestion under hypnosis.

Hidden in the room there were Leda and Rika, and they cast a certain spell, to bring there the contract with Asmodeus, helped by Athena’s animals (which were owls and birds of every species).
Right on cue, the contract floated in front of every evil Mistress, and they all gasped.
Athena told them what she knew, and she ordered at the Mistresses to go in their Mansions or Castles and using the forged Book of Rules, to find the real one, and they were followed by a good Mistress, in order to not let do some tricks.

All of them found the real Book of Rules, and then Athena ordered them via telepathy to break the contract, and Leda sent a telepathic message to Rena to do the same with the one she had.
When all the contracts were broken, Asmodeus woke up, hissing, and his eyes were even more green that before.
“What’sss happening?” he hissed, since he still was in his Giant Snake form.
Then he also sensed that all “his” Mistresses found the real Book, and he was even more frustrated.
Under another order of Athena, the evil Mistresses – and Leda, which had Myra’s one, broke the forged Books of Rules, and Asmodeus felt that too, having his soul linked magically with the false Books, when he asked at that enchantress, almost 500 years ago.

He returned in his human form, and started pacing back and forth the room. “No! No! How’s that possible? Somebody surely has discovered the whole ordeal! Myra…and Leda! I’m sure that she is the responsible!” he hissed.
He thought about what to do, not having the resources to go where Myra was, and he thought about a solution.

In the meanwhile, the Mistresses who destroyed the Books were returning themselves, because the real Books of Rules were doing their work. They were “released”, and the spell broke, like they were released from a long trance.
Some of them were cruel on their own, and some of them were enraged because they were naturally loyal to Asmodeus, but they were like this because it was in their nature, and anyway now there were the new rules, so they had to behave.

Myra didn’t changed, because she was the “Chosen One”, meaning that her line of “family” was meant to be like this, for the rite to occur, and it was one of the families that was anyway loyal to the Demon of Greed, and to old methods of treating the acolyte and slaves.
In fact one of her ancestors was the one who created the forged Books of Rules and spread them in the right families.

Myra had to tell at Athena all of that, due to the fact that the Wise One had the control over them all.
Athena judged her guilty for hiding that information, and for trying to kill Rika, even if she wasn’t the one who would kill her.
And so what Myra dreaded happened. Athena stripped her of her powers, and memories, leaving some of them, to render her crazy.

Then, as a joke, the Wise One sent her near the Ystrad Hotel, sure that Asmodeus would return there.
And right on cue, the Demon of Greed had returned at the Hotel, using a special room in the Castle, after thinking that his plan was again disrupted by those two wretched enchantresses, Leda and Rika.

He went down from his penthouse, to make a walk to clear his head, and outside the Hotel he found the now ex-witch, sitting on the floor, mumbling nonsenses, dressed with a grey and ruined tunic.
He remembered about that treatment they undergo in case like this one, and so he shook his head, getting angry, but also feeling what seemed pity for the now crazed woman.

She felt his gaze upon her, and she looked up. She seemed to recognize him, and she crawled near him, grabbing one of his leg.
“Master! You are my Master! I found you, finally!” she shouted, some people turning in her direction, and shaking their heads, thinking that that city was surely full of strange people.

Asmodeus kicked her away, and he sneered, almost a whisper, to not be heard by the passersby, “Don’t touch me, filthy woman! I suggest you to stay away from me. I’m pretty angry right now, but seeing you in this state satisfy me enough to not kill you!”

This seemed to bring happiness in Myra’s eyes. “So do you know me? Please, Master, tell me about my past! I know that you were in it, I remember that well, and I’m sure that I had powers, so many powers, but I cannot remember…help me!” she said, almost shouting.

A couple of Police Officers came near Asmodeus, and Myra, and one of them said, “This woman is troubling you, sir? Can we do something to remedy at that?”
Asmodeus looked at Myra, and at the Policeman, then he said, “No, she’s only a crazy woman, leave her like this. I’m sure that she was going to be calmer, right?” he said, his eyes locking with Myra’s and he briefly used a little of his hypnotic power on her, unnoticed by the Policemen.

She felt herself relaxed, and she nodded dully. “Yes, I’m sorry…sometimes I don’t feel well, and I act like that, I’m really sorry…” she said, with a peaceful voice.
The two officers nodded, and one of them asked her, “Do you want to go in a hospital? If you don’t feel well, they can cure you, and keep you warm.”

Asmodeus had an idea, and he said, “This would be a good idea, but let me accompany this woman at the Hotel, to eat something, and then I would accompany her at the hospital.”
One of the agents asked, “That’s ok for me. Could we take your particulars, if it’s not a problem for you,” he said, in a business tone of voice, and even if the tone was gentle there was an underside of threat.

Asmodeus was used to this type of questions, so he said, in a neutral tone of voice, “No problem, agent, and I’m sure that you had heard of me. I’m Asmodeus Anguinn, and in this moment I am living in the Ystrad Hotel.”

The agent widened his eyes, and he said, in a worried tone of voice, “Oh, yes, I’ve heard of you, sir! I’m sorry for being so mistrustful, but I’ve heard that a lot of weird things happened lately here in Pittsville, and I wanted to be sure that you could be trusted. I apologize again, and I hope that you wouldn’t get mad at me.”

Asmodeus smiled in a nice way, but inside he was already planning his personal retaliation against this man. “No problem, officer, you are only doing your work. Now, miss…?” he asked at Myra, like he didn’t know her.

She looked up, at him, like he was a saint, then down, in a sad manner, and said, “I don’t remember my name…there are things that I remember, but not my name…”
The Demon of Greed nodded, since he knew that the punishment expected that too, even because the witch was so old that her name didn’t figured in modern lists.

“Amnesia, uh? Let’s see if we can take care of that too…” he said, thinking about a thing he had in his luxurious apartment.
Myra nodded, and he gallantly lifted her, and then he took her inside the Hotel, and up in his room.
Whenever somebody approached him to ask about the strange woman, he used his control over them, and they didn’t questioned him.
A plan was forming in his head, and while he went up with her, he smirked evilly.