Everything around me felt surreal when Lilith jumped Alijah, who appeared frozen. All I ever expected was to find a soul, not an entire living body. I could only watch as she cuddled herself into his chest before he snapped out and grabbed onto her shoulders, peeling her away from him.
All I feared was coming true, and what was worse was that Edna was still alive. I had lost my love and freedom in one swoop.
Is it too late to order you to kill me? Probably...
I couldn't dare say so with Lilith there as it could harm her.
Can I order you to run with her after you kill me? Maybe...
In that scenario, many people would die for such selfish reasons. My gaze slumped onto the floor as I was trapped there. While I tried to adjust, Alijah's paranoia took hold of the reigns.
"How and what are you doing here?" He questioned, narrowing his eyes.
He was probably skeptical that she was even real.
Sadly, she is.
I felt the warmth of her hands on mine, which alone confirmed that she wasn't an illusion. I could almost feel an icy grip take over my soul.
If only she weren't here, you would be mine for one more moment.
Yet I could do nothing to hurt him.
Not in that way, at least.This sweet pain is worth it for your happiness. Right?
"I was waiting for you! I knew you would come for me, Ali!" Lilith beamed at him, who grimaced.
Having her right before him appeared too much for him to process. After all, the last time he saw her, she was in a pool of blood, and that happened six thousand years ago.
"You were dead, Lilith. You shouldn't be here." He declared, pulling away from her.
The moment those words left his mouth, the elf clasped her hands onto her chest before around the surrounding space.
"I can tell something happened to our village. It's almost as if time passed without me being aware of it. But you're saying I died? That's something hard to swallow." Lilith mumbled, reaching for his hand.
Instantly, he jerked away from her.
Huh? Is it because of me? Will I cause mayhem in this, too? No, you're probably just having a hard time processing this. I blind-sighted you, too.
This wolf needed time to adjust. All the while, I would never feel him again.
"Yes, you died six thousand years ago," He informed, taking a few steps towards where I was.
However, he never took his eyes off her, yet I refused to look at his expression.
"Oh... I died... and it hurt, didn't it?" Lilith mumbled, glancing towards the ground, shivering.
"You had your guts gouged out. So, yes, it was painful." Alijah huffed, reaching towards me.
"My memory seems hazy. I remember feeling pain. Then everything got cold and lonely before waking up here." The elf informed, grabbing onto his arm before he could get me in his grasp.
Whatever was happening between them didn't concern me anymore.
She's here, and I have to back off.Focus... on something else other than them.
Fortunately, there was nothing better to do than find the witch that caused me to be imprisoned in my home. Not that I could fight her by myself, but any advantage I could see would help when I came back to my family.
"You remember anything else?" I stepped into their conversation as my voice lacked any warmth.
I couldn't let myself break. No, that was something for when I was alone. Upon hearing me, Lilith gazed at me as I tried to act like nothing was wrong with me.
"Rem…" Alijah breathed before being tugged by the elf.
"Hm... I think there was a lady here when I woke up. After saying she would return, she told me to stay here, but I don't know where she went." The elf answered, shrugging.
Of course, you wouldn't know a thing. That was silly of me.
I nodded, turning away from them. "I see," I mumbled, glancing in front of me.
The scenery was all too quiet. With all the white surrounding us, it was almost eerie, though the grass below was still green. All that flooded my mind was how I would get over the fact that I had lost everything.
My freedom was no closer to me, and the love of my life was gone in one swoop. I hoped to travel the world even if Alijah was gone. That kept me standing, but that dream would vanish if Edna breathed.
This is another impossible dream in the list of failures I seem to keep getting.
In the distance, I saw an orb floating away from Alijah's radius. A soft sigh left my lips as I slowly stepped towards the ghost, hoping to find more information as the elf tried to make amends with my beloved wolf.
Their bickering slowly died in the background. He struggled to pull away when she clung to his arm with her full weight. As I approached the orb, others also appeared near it.
They want to capture the Lycan and kill you by using the elf! The ghost warned me, snapping me out of my self-pity.
A trap?!
Turning towards Alijah, I tried to warn them, only for a sharp pain to erupt from my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. The only words that left my mouth were a yelp before I could see what caused it as dark chains erupted from under me.
They separated me from Lilith and Alijah as they wrapped around my legs and arms. After being bound, I saw a small blade embedded in my shoulder, where blood pooled on my shirt. Whoever had thrown it had a lousy aim if they had been targeting my heart or head.
However, throbs soon echoed through my entire being, letting me realize they had hit their mark.
Wolfsbane? Iris?
My vision blurred as if it were the first; everyone present was about to fight for their lives, while the latter would only weaken me. Something my attackers didn't know as my medical records were kept secret by my father.
How did they know?
Edna and her followers suspected that Fenris's hybrid daughter was involved in Alijah's disappearance. Lumas were like Lycans for poisons. However, thanks to the part I inherited from my mother, Iris barely affected me. In the sense that it didn't kill me, yet if it was wolfsbane if my stunt on the roof still held up, then everyone around would...
Well, if it's wolfsbane, if my roof stunt still held up, everyone here will…
Whatever was in my system made me feel the first side effects. The last time Iris had been in me was when I was a Lycan, so I didn't perceive the initial effects, and it was probably in less quantity than it was in this blade.
After all, it only took a bit to drive a Lycan insane. The raiders had used a small capsule since Iris was expensive to get, while the amount of liquid that dripped out of the weapon embedded into my shoulder enlightened me that these attackers weren't in any shortage.
My body felt warmer as everything became hard to focus on. In my field of view, my wolf appeared to have gone missing, yet it was hard to concentrate on anything further than the length of my arm. He probably was pushed into one building by the chains with Lilith.
For a moment, I was alone on the battlefield as my breathing became unstable. Somehow, the pain that radiated from the wound was less than the void within my chest. Luckily, it wasn't long until a figure appeared before me from a portal made of darkness.
Edna had access to magic I had never seen. Yet again, she was older than anyone else, so it was a given that she knew more about the world than I did.
My attacker stared at me, snickering when they took off their hood to reveal a blond man with deep blue eyes. He wasn't alone, as twenty or more were accompanying him from the distance behind him.
The unknown man grabbed me by my chin, tearing off my wig as I winced in his grip. His azure gaze scornfully scowled at me, fascinating me.
I've never met you, but you hate me. Ah… You look at me the same way everyone outside my family back home sees me.
However, in this man's case, it was different. He didn't gaze at me as if I were lesser than him; to him, all that mattered was…
"What a catch! I've seen to have caught a spawn of the bitch who almost killed me once! Maybe I'll make you suffer, as she did to me all those years ago." The mysterious warlock huffed, grabbing onto the nice before digging it into me more.
A sharp gasp left me before I suddenly burst into laughter. He gripped me tighter instead of letting me go, drawing his face closer to mine.
"What's so funny, mongrel?" The warlock questioned, letting go of the blade when I noticed a faint dark aura radiating from my body.
He knew nothing of what he was provoking, and I was already in a grim mood, but someone was worse than me and keen on protecting me, too. Behind the wall of chains, a crimson hue erupted from one of the houses nearby, growing bigger with each passing second.
A red aurora shone from one house, growing bigger with each second that passed.
"Oh, silly warlock, I don't think my partner will let you do as you please," I smirked, shifting my gaze toward the radiant light.
"What?" The man followed my glance as I took a deep breath.
"Alijah! Do what you want! Kill whoever you want!" I screamed hard enough for him to hear me.
My chest shimmered, responding to the lunar energy coming from my beloved. The bond we shared responded to his desire to save me as if his power followed through my veins, shattering the chains surrounding me and canceling all the surrounding magic within the vicinity.
I hadn't noticed what happened or that my body was glowing the same color as his. All I could think about was how the energy erupting from him was insane and how he could reach this far when my father could only do a few meters around him.
You truly are a monster rightfully feared by them. Even so… I'll…
Alijah was a monster to be rightfully feared. Half of the warlock's forces, in an instant, were gone from one of his attacks, and any scenery behind them disintegrated as his blow took everything surrounding it.
Upon seeing that, the warlock yanked himself away from me as I instinctively grabbed onto his arm, dragging him to the ground with me. During the struggle, he seized the knife that was stuck on my shoulder on our way down.
Moving past the pain, I pinned his arms to the grass as blood dripped down my arm and chest.
"Ouch! You surely know how to treat a girl!" I growled.
At least I'm not losing control. So it isn't Wolfsbane.
However, the blood from the wound let me know it was Iris. Otherwise, it would've healed by the time he yanked it out. Unlike me, Alijah was safe from them using it, as he had decimated their forces in two blinks of an eye.
It seemed Lilith was with him, too, so she was safe.
Pity. I guess... I'm the only one who'll lose it all today.
"So, the rumors are true. You're immune to Iris." The warlock noted, holding onto the blade tighter.
"Hah, speak when spoken to." I snapped one of his arms, causing him to set out a mighty scream before grabbing his throat into my newly free hand.
Back in Silverant, my great-grandfather once tried to kill me with Iris. I was a disgrace to his family, after all. That was before he mysteriously croaked.
After the accident, I was only thirteen. He visited the manor under pretenses and fed me, Iris, giving me a significant sick day. Still, because of him, we discovered I was immune to it and all witchcraft potions, much like Wyatt's love elixir.
For that rumor to circulate through Edna's channels meant that the witch had moles everywhere. Most people didn't know the reason my great-grandfather died, but it was Shade who did it. She had been silently watching when she witnessed what he had done.
Of course, there wasn't a piece of him left to find after she was done. Not that my mother cared; my father didn't, either. That man had tried to harm their baby girl, and in their eyes, he was no longer family.
Even Aunty Amelia didn't mourn for him. Being so close to the warlock, I could see him better. Those beautiful eyes were full of agony, thanks to the arm I had broken. Tears were visible in his eyes from the pain.
However, what caught me off guard was how handsome he was under all of the malevolence.
It's a shame you're working for that old hag. Wait… Do I have a thing for bad—
There was a weird aura coming from him that I couldn't point out what it was.
"Where's your mistress?" I questioned, trying to focus on him, yet my impaired vision made it hard.
A sharp smirk rose on his lips before erupting in laughter.
What the… Are all of Edna's minions this insane?
My concentration was shattered when his broken arm suddenly healed as he used the moment of surprise to grab me by the back of my head before yanking me towards him. The sudden movement caused me to let go of his throat to catch myself.
"My lips are sealed, mutt." The warlock announced, centimeters away from my lips.
They were on me a second later as a pulse of energy flowed through me. The sensation of another's touch on me caused me to yank away faster than I thought I would ever go. My mind was blank, unable to understand why he would ever do that.
Instinctively, I covered my mouth, trying to wipe off the feeling he left behind.
It's disgusting. Much to my horror, Alijah was in front of us. The expression in his eyes was the scariest I had seen on him in all the months I spent with him. His arm was high up as his murderous intent skyrocketed.
He was about to rain down chaos on us when Lilith hugged him from behind, stopping his attack by throwing off balance. A dark portal appeared under the warlock in those moments, and he sank into it slightly.
"That's enough, Cain. Back down, we've got more than enough." A voice I had never heard whispered from within the shadows.
A woman...
The warlock licked his lips, slightly disappearing from my sight and into the shadows below.
"Wait!" I muttered, snapping out of my shock and reaching for him.
"Bye-bye, mutt. We'll meet again." Cain declared, smirking before vanishing into the abyss, leaving me again with no lead.
I tumbled onto my knees the moment he left, shaking where I was.
"Fuck!" I screamed, trying to stand up, only to stumble again.
Alijah jerked himself away from Lilith's grasp, running towards me to catch me as I gave out. The Iris was slowing me down more than I thought.
Perhaps the dose… Crap!
Whatever they gave me was more potent than the one the raiders had used on me before.
"Rem!" Alijah helped me up as I tumbled onto him.
"I'm—" I tried to tell him I was fine when he suddenly hauled me up to meet with his face.
It was almost as if he were about to kiss me, yet before our lips clashed with one another, Lilith stopped him in his tracks when she pushed him aside to aid me.
Eh? Were we about to… Nah… I have to be imagining things. I must be.