"Mabari, growl attack now!" Bella yelled, reacting quickly to the scene before her.
Jowan suddenly started yelling into his mage staff.:"Dog-Jacob used Dread Howl on the Henlocke, but it wasn't very effective!"
Bella reached for her mage's utility belt, where she kept her travel sized summoning tomes, okay summoning cards. She had only just bought the belt, which was why it had not featured in the story up until now. She grasped the first one in her clumsy fingers and thrust it dramatically into the air.
"Lothering Heights, I choose you!" Bella shouted.
A bolt of brown energy zapped out of the tiny piece of cardboard and struck the ground before the Henlocke, while Cullen writhed futily against the weight of its deadly wings. The energy formed into the shape of a short young woman, with a very severe hairstyle, dressed in a dowdy brown dress that turned into a miniskirt once it fell past her hips. Despite the drab plainness of her hair, she had several sparkling hair clips and a jewelled tiara resting upon her head. Her dowdy dress was covered with multi-coloured ribbons and there was the faintest suggestion of wings around her shoulders.
Bella glanced at her summon, it was almost as pretty and as ordinary as she was, but not quite.
"Lothering Heights, use your Melodrama Wail on the enemy!" Bella commanded.
The summoned Brontë soldier let out an ear piercing shriek: "KAAAATHY! HEEEEATHCLIIIIIFEEE!"
"Lothering Heights used Melodramatic Wail on the Henlocke, it was super-effective!" Jowan yelled.
The Henlocke staggered and let Cullen go.
"The Henlocke became confused, it dropped Sparklepire in its confusion!" Jowan said, as though that wasn't obvious.
Bella quickly dragged Cullen away from the Henlocke, wrenching both her shoulders as she did so.
"Trainer Bella received Sparklepire!" Jowan added.
Then the Henlocke shrieked in anger as it saw that its shiny toy had been torn away from it. It began to flap its horrendous wings.
"The Henlocke uses Wing Gust on Lothering Heights!" Jowan pointed out.
Bella's Summon began to cough, clutching at her chest, while the faintest trace of blood bubbled forth from her lips.
"Lothering Heights is taking lung damage!" Jowan screeched.
The Summon gasped desperately for breath before swooning in an appropriately modest manner, her mini skirt showing off her underwear.
"Lothering Heights has fainted!" Jowan said, stating the obvious.
"Oh no," Bella cried as her summon slipped away into blackness. Bella immediately grasped the next tome in her mage utility belt and thrust it skywards. "Blight and Prejudice I choose you!" Bella cried.
The lighting once again shot forth from the piece of cardboard. It formed into a severe but dashingly handsome man, wearing a tuxedo and a mask. His tuxedo was soaking wet as though he had just jumped into a lake. He was almost as snootilecious as Cullen, but not quite. He frowned at the Henlocke and the situation in general.
"Blight and Prejudice use your Smouldering Gaze!" Bella yelled.
Tuxedo Darcy curled his lip in contempt: "In a society such as this? It would be insupportable!" he sneered, ignoring Bella's desperate pleas for help.
"Blight and Prejudice's snooty level is too high, he ignored Trainer Bella's commands!" Jowan cried desperately.
The Henlocke cried out with a screech most fowl and flapped its dread wings once more. The resulting gusts of wind turned into a sudden hurricane and slammed directly into Bella and her friends. Bella and Cullen were thrown straight into the sky, Marisu collided with a tree and fell down dead. Dog-Jacob stuck his claws into the ground and hung on for dear life. Jowan wrapped his arms about a tree and managed to yell "The Henlock used Whirlwind! It was super effective!" before the howling winds had him too and he went sailing through the air.
Cullen awoke suddenly and sat bolt upright. "I have to find Bella!" He cried and ran forwards. He instantly collided with some kind of barrier and glance off, sending him sprawling. Maniacal but musical laugher filled his ears as he clutched at his aching arms, much to his chagrin. Where was his strength? His dark energy?
"Who's there?" he cried, seeking a source of the diabolical laughter that rang in his ears. He pushed against the invisible walls around him, discovering his was in a small circular cell.
There was a flash of light and a purple skinned Desire Demon materialised outside of his cell. Her eyes were as black as night and her horns flashed with purple lightning. "Who are you and what have you done with Bella?" Cullen demanded, pummelling the wall with his fists.
"Oh you poor fool, haven't you realised yet?" the demon said, sensuously, and Cullen recognised her voice though all his senses screamed in denial.
"Bella?" He asked, stupidly, as reality slowly dawned upon him in horror.
"There is no Bella Amell, fool!" the Desire Demon said, in Bella's voice.
"That can't be true! I love her!" Cullen yelled, hitting the barrier with all his might.
"Silly little Templar can't tell fact from fiction," the demon said, teasingly. "Did you not notice how completely ridiculous my little story was? Did you really think you were some sparkly demon kin?"
Cullen looked down at himself, he was no longer as handsome or as sparkly as he had been when was in the demon's delusion. His fists were bleeding from pounding against the barrier and his blood was ordinary, not dark and tainted. He was a normal man who had been toyed with by a demon.
"Bella!" He cried out once more, in denial, as the demon's laugher echoed around him.