The snow had stopped, but with the thick clouds that hid the sun behind them, there was no trace of the sun's rays. Marceline's carriage reached the edge of the Palavista forest. The coachman nervously opened the carriage to his young mistress, not knowing why she was revisiting this place.
Marceline looked at the forest and ordered, "Don't go anywhere and stay here." Pulling out a crown coin, she waved it in her hand, "You better not try to betray me, Adam, and tell anyone about this or what I am doing. Or I will make your life a living hell."
"Of course, milady. I would never do that!" The coachman caught hold of the coin that the vampiress threw in the air. He looked at it and noticed it was a crown coin and bowed at her.
Marceline started to make her way towards the heart of the forest, where the roots of the trees emerged from the forest ground, which was slightly covered in snow. She continued to walk until she finally reached the witch's den. When a stake flew at Marceline, but the vampiress was quick to hold it. She turned and glared in the direction the stake had come from, and noticed the witch hiding behind a tree.
It didn't go unnoticed by Marceline that the witch looked younger than last night when she had met her.
"Well well, it seems like you are turning into a frequent customer of mine," the witch stepped away from the tree.
When the witch came near her, Marceline grabbed the witch's neck and harshly pushed her against the nearby tree's trunk. The vampiress pulled the dagger from her cloak and placed the pointed edge above where the witch's heart was beating. She threatened, "Throw another wooden stake and I will sever your head from your body. Don't think just because I don't have my fangs, I am harmless."
The witch quickly nodded, "It is just for precaution sake, milady. Do not take it personally."
Marceline squeezed the witch's neck further before pushing the witch away from her hold. The witch staggered on the snowy ground. She then stated, "I want you to change the curse that you put on the person yesterday. Remove the sunray part and keep the rest of it as it is."
The witch coughed, touching her neck before looking at the vampiress. She said hoarsely, "I cannot redo the curse, lady. I will need the fangs again to connect to the person which melted yesterday during the ritual curse I did."
Marceline gritted her teeth in anger. This couldn't be happening! She looked at the witch with suspicion and distrust in her eyes. The witch had better done the curse right because she had been looking forward to it. Glaring, she turned around with the end of her cloak swinging in the air and started to walk back to where her carriage was waiting for her.
As Marceline walked on the soft snow-covered ground, her shoes slightly sank in before she pulled them up to step forward. She wondered how long it would take for the clouds to clear and if she should go to the witch and get the clouds cleared from the sky! Halfway near the carriage now, she thought of revisiting the witch when the snow was softer than it looked, and her foot sank deeper inside the snow and stuck into a tree's root covered in snow, making the vampiress wince.
"Ugh!"
Marceline pulled her foot in difficulty, but only ended up falling backwards, and she turned frustrated, as nothing was going according to her plan!
When she tried to stand up and walk, she hissed in pain as it seemed like she had sprained her right ankle.
She loudly called her coachman, "Adam! Adam!"
But the coachman was a lowly vampire who couldn't hear from the distance between them. Huffing and puffing, Marceline reached the edge of the forest where the carriage was parked and she staggered. Noticing her coachman, who was playing with a twig, she glared at him. Noticing her stagger, the coachman asked in concern,
"Milady, are you alright?!" When the coachman came near her, as she almost wobbled and was ready to fall flat on her bottom, the vampiress glared at the lowly vampire.
"Don't. You. Dare," Marceline caught her footing while her foot hurt. She then demanded, "Are your ears filled with snow that you couldn't hear me?!"
Had she called for him? The coachman shook his head, "I did not hear your voice, milady. Or I would have come right away!"
Marceline rolled her eyes and then glared at the lowly servant. The coachman quickly opened the carriage door and watched the vampiress struggle to climb inside, and it took her a good twenty seconds before she sat inside on the seat..
"Back to the mansion," Marceline ordered her coachman.
"Right away, milady," the coachman replied, closing the carriage door. Walking to the front of the carriage, he climbed and sat on the driver's seat. He moved the reins of the four horses that were tied to them. Soon the vehicle left the edge of the forest side and got on the road.
Marceline gently pressed her hand on her right leg as her twisted ankle had a lingering ache. She was supposed to go and visit Lady Aurora in Hollow Valley. Maybe she would do it after changing her clothes, also the ache in her foot would reduce after an hour or two.
The vampiress leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes, wondering what to do next as there was still time before she would get her fangs. As the carriage moved on the snowy grounds, Marceline failed to notice the clouds had moved a bit for sunlight to pass through the gaps of the clouds.
The rays of the sun first fell on the wide forest with tall and thick trees. The light started stretching further until it finally touched the ground, fulfilling Marceline's wish.
