Hello everyone,

My apologies for staying away longer than the 3 days that was announced but i had a week filled with unfortunate circumstances.

For starters, i sprained my neck (it's fine now, i just had to use a brace for a couple days), then my baby sister's hostel burnt down and we had to scramble to replace her stuff. And also at the weekend we had to go visit relatives and while i was there i smacked into a glass door 😭😭😭, is any of you behind this because what??? i have a split lip now and hopefully no concussions.

Anyway, the Patreon is all set up and we should resume schedule as usual.

Thanks for reading.

Link to the Patreon : + read up to 12 advance chapters at https://www.patreon.com/_ink_

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

Celeste leaned against the cold stone wall of the building beside the Carrion, lighting up a cigarette to keep herself occupied. The flare of the flame at the tip of her wand illuminated her face, gorgeous sea-green eyes looking like a stormy sea in the nighttime.

Her auburn hair fell past her back, framing her bare arms and doing little to protect her from the chill of the night. Celeste threw her head back gently on the wall to expel a puff of smoke, watching the white cloud dissipate above her eyes.

Elaina liked to pretend that she didn't exist anymore, why did it irk her so much? This was exactly what she wanted when she tore herself away from the other. But the thing was, she couldn't stand to see Elaina so unbothered. The fat pig should have crumbled when Celeste left her side.

She sighed, taking another deep draw of her cigarette and puffing it out, she had no regrets, not one. If she could go back in time before she took the steps that landed her where she currently was, she would choose them over and over again.

Right now, the entire world was at her fingertips, she could get whatever she wanted with a crook of a finger. More money than Elaina could stuff down her fat throat was all hers for the taking because she had the key to the world.

Beauty, undying beauty. She could take the form of a man's deepest fantasies like the Goddess of Beauty, Aphrodite. And with it, she could get whatever she wanted.

She could afford to buy a Witch or two at the auction from her overflowing coffers but tonight she didn't feel like it, watching Elaina greedily eat like a pig being fattened for slaughter sickened her. It made her lose her appetite as well, which was why instead of using one of the young Witches who were full of life, she would pull an 'X' and lure a foolish man to his doom.

'X'... Wasn't that what the Muggle policemen were calling her? It made a smile form on her blindingly beautiful face. Her beauty was ageless, no one could guess her age even if they tried, she was basically immortal.

Celeste's smile dropped, she had caused enough of a ruckus here in London. No one was privy to it but she planned to flee the city, no, flee the whole country or continent if it came down to it. She had nothing tying her down, she had more than enough money to go from town to town living the dream life. Plus, she would make more on her journeys.

'Tenebris Vitalis'

(A/N: Means 'Dark Vitality' in Latin and it's a dark spell that retains youth. It requires the fresh blood of a human to complete and its effects are not permanent which means that the caster is required to renew the spell at intervals to keep the effects.)

The epitome of perfection that had given her the ability to achieve this dream all wrapped up in a single spell. She had spent years perfecting it and when she finally did, she opened up to her most trusted person about her dark secret. Elaina was closer than a best friend, closer than a sister, decades of suffering and tragedy had bonded them together as they struggled to keep their head above the pool of blood and survive.

But instead, Elaina had spat on the culmination of her sweat, tears, and blood and called her 'ugly' and delusional. That fat pig that was gluttony anthropomorphized, the nerve of the flabby bitch…

Celeste glanced down at her hand to find out that she had crushed her lighted cigarette in a clenched fist, a burn mark visible on her delicate hand. She forced the snarl off her face as well, straightening up with a forced sigh. She had achieved nirvana already, dwelling on a fat ghost from her past might just end up being her downfall.

Which was why she would be carrying her final kill in London tonight, before the sun came up over the cooling body, she would already be on her way out of the country.

The auction just ended which meant that the afterparty must have kicked off, finding a Wizard who was way too drunk to stand and just happened to wander off from his friends would be the perfect kill. It reminded her of the first time she had tried out the spell.

She had gone for humans simply because there were too many of them and they were easier prey than Majes, she made sure to knock the human male out first, careful with her actions. She would never get enough of warm blood splashing on her face when she cut into them, her wand turning into a knife sharp enough to slice through bones.

They didn't even feel it, giving up their warm vitality for her to convert into beauty and youth. It was the most their measly lives would ever come to, if anything, they were lucky to be chosen by her to die for her sake.

Men should grovel at the feet of beauty… Celeste decided a long time ago when she was dressed in muddy sack robes and kicked down simply because she wasn't beautiful enough.

The sound of shuffling footsteps caught her attention sure as if she was a wild animal out on the hunt for prey, she immediately stepped out of the alley she had walked into to wait for the unlucky rabbit that would stumble into her trap.

It was still deserted outside, the only people outside were the spectators who were always smart to give the Carrion a wide berth as they watched on from the fringes. It made Celeste frown, it was unexpected for someone to come stumbling out at the start of the party, already drunk. It could be a first-timer though, especially one that made the mistake of haggling for a prize when they didn't have enough money to pay.

Celeste had seen it too many times to count, a haughty young Wizard who came upon decent money inviting his friends to the auction to show off. He bids far higher than the contents of his pockets with plans of stepping down just at the last moment to make it seem like he actually had the money to spend, only to turn out unlucky and the other opponent stepped down first. The only thing to do then was to get drunk and fear for their future.

She watched the young Wizard stumble further and further from the Carrion, getting closer to the space between buildings where she had been camping out in. Celeste stepped out fully from the alley, lighting another cigarette to draw attention to herself, this would be an easy game.

Her eyes widened pleasantly when the stumbling young Wizard turned out to be the very last person that she had been expecting. She had walked up to him with plans to seduce him to a shabby one-roomed apartment just outside of Blackmore Alley where she would slice him up and then toss him in some nearby back alley.

"Well, hello there." She smiled slowly, eyeing up the inebriated Wizard. She had no idea why young Audric Albeline was leaving the Carrion mere minutes into the afterparty already hopelessly drunk but she would not miss this chance.

She was certain that Blackburn would pay nicely if she told him that she helped him get rid of his little problem. Audric stumbled right into her like she had materialized in front of him last minute and Celeste had to help keep him upright so he didn't topple over. This made Celeste smile, it was like taking candy from a baby.

They were in a dark corner so no one saw her intercept him, it didn't matter if she was seen with him anyway, by sunrise, she would be far away from the nuances of London.

She didn't bother having a conversation with him, he seemed to have blacked out when he bumped into her, it would have been futile talking to him. Instead, she made quick her escape, leaving Blackmore Alley to a dingy and trash-filled backstreet.

Celeste dragged the unconscious Wizard to her shabby apartment, it was a place she had gotten when she first started hunting humans. Posing as a prostitute to lure them was easy but she couldn't just kill them in backyards, what if someone walked in on her?

So instead, she rented an apartment close to Blackmore Alley. She didn't live in it, it was merely for her rituals. It was to this apartment that she dragged Audric Albeline to, no one paying them any attention. To begin with, the streets were mostly deserted, it was already late at night and this was a bad neighborhood.

Celeste pulled the lax Wizard with her inside the rundown apartment. There was only a single bed on the torn carpet-covered floor, nothing else was present in the dim space. She stood back with her hand on her waist, panting slightly from exertion as she stared down at the tall Wizard sprawled every which way on the ratty bed. This must be her lucky night.