Sabrina's Point of View
He was shaking as I fell to the ground and looked up at him.The pain in my side was searing and hot.
Silver blade!
He really wanted me dead!
The tall man came to take the blade from his hand. Then hedropped a vial by my side. "Take that and you can save yourself. Or not.Your choice. But this is a message that you are not wanted anywhere nearTweeds."
I looked to Kelvin, felt tears fall from my eyes. I saw thepain in his. "I am sorry, Sabrina."
My vision began to cloud and I could no longer hear whatthey were saying. Eventually, it was just me in the clearing. I found thebottle and looked at its blue contents. Then I shut my eyes and cried, notbecause of the pain, but because of the betrayal.
It seemed like everything I had done was all for nothing. Ihad been good, and bad had been done to me. Men were really scum. I had losteverything I had to Kelvin.
So, I decided that it was better to let myself die. I letthe bottle fall from my hand and released myself to death.
***
My eyes fluttered open and I was surprised to see that I wasback in the clearing. Moon far above me. When I tried to move, the wound in myside announced itself and I just laid back.
I knew that I wasn't going to heal anyway. So how the heckwas I still alive?
"Just take the darn thing," drawled a voice.
I looked around me and saw no one. "Who's there?"I asked, because that voice didn't sound like any one I knew.
There was an exasperated sigh. "The vial you weregiven. Why won't you take it?"
So, a watcher. "You saw what happened?"
"Been here the whole time."
"And you let that happen?" I asked, frustrated atthe meaning of those words.
"Honestly, I didn't see that blade coming. He just cameout of the blue. And that was something."
"Are you a ghost? Is this real? Shouldn't I bedead?" I asked.
"Not yet. I would know if you were. Why do you want tobe dead, anyway?"
I thought about not telling, but what harm could it do? Atleast, if I was to die alone, maybe someone should know why.
"The man who stabbed me was my lover. For a year now.Yesterday, I gave him my position as Alpha King so that he would make me hisLuna. But he rejected me for someone else, and tried to kill me."
"Hm. I've seen worse. Anyway, you should hurry up andtake that vial."
"I don't want to," I said.
"Because you want to die," he stated.
I hesitated. "Yes."
"How about I make you an offer?" he asked.
I shook my head. "Would it matter?"
"It will if you knew who I am," he said, and Icould tell that there was some taunt in that statement.
"So why can't I see you?" I asked.
The voice formed into the figure of a man and his featureswere sharply odd. His face looked pale, and those eyes. Was it me or were theyblood red? It was when he smiled at me that I remembered the paintings I hadseen of him.
The cursed Lycan king.
Stories had it that he was a lunatic and had been cursed tolive the rest of his days in solitude because he bit the wrong witch.
I tried to move away from him.
"I would not advice that, love," he said."You look pretty bad."
"And you look worse," I said.
"That makes two of us. Let's talk about my offer ofvengeance."
"What vengeance?"
"I will help you get revenge on your man."
I looked at him. He was wearing a white suit that was aspale as his face. "And why would you help me?"
"Let's just say that I don't like someone gettingrobbed of his or her power. And we, my friend, are just that."
"I am nothing like you," I disagreed. Looking downat my wound, I saw that it had stopped bleeding much but the opening was widernow.
"You should take that vial or the wound will reach yourheart. And trust me, you don't want to experience that pain. I've killed a manlike this before and it wasn't lovely. Which makes me the best candidate foryour revenge plan." He smiled at me, stood up and looked at his watch."So you have just five minutes to make a decision before you die. I'llleave you alone to do that."
And he was gone.
I was scared of him. People hardly ever saw the cursed Lycanking. Those who did said horrible things about him. And if the man was reallywho he claimed to be, then I should find out. He might have been reported ashorrible but he didn't want me dead. That should mean something.
I took the vial, opened and swallowed its contents. Theeffect was slow, but I soon became drowsy and lost consciousness.
***
When I woke up again, the wound at my side had lessened to asmaller hole. All I had as evidence was the gaping hole in my shirt.
I sat up just as the cursed Lycan king emerged from theTweeds.
"Decided to part ways with death, good move."
I got to my feet. "Now what?"
He went to my father's statue and lifted it onto hisshoulder. "Now, you both are coming with me."
He took me away from Tweed pack. On foot, we crossed atarred road and went deeper into the woods, a different one.
Finally we stopped at a cliff and he pointed beyond."That's where I live."
Sitting behind some tree tops, was the roof of a tallbuilding. I sucked in my breath until I reached close and saw that it wasreally a dark palace. Its gates were thrown wide open and the place was quiet.
We went in and he dropped the statue at a corner, blockingout the painting on the wall. The windows were open and moonlight intruded, buthe soon lit the place with candles and shut the door.
The Lycan king took off his jacket and put it on a chair."This place might look inadequate, but it has all the basicamenities."
"Does this mean that I'll be staying here?"
"It does."
"With you?"
"I am not going to jump on your bones. But that guywould have told everyone that you are dead by now. And if you want to make thissuccessful, then remain dead so he doesn't come after you. No, after us."
"So, where is my room?" I demanded.
He pointed upstairs. There are about ten rooms on the secondfloor, then five on the third. Make your choice."
And he lived in such palace all alone. No wonder why he wascrazy.
"This sort of solitude can make you go insane,right?" I asked, as I sat in a chair.
"Says who?"
"No one. Just saying."
"It's not me you have to be afraid of."
"Who do I have to be afraid of?" I asked him.
"The man who took your place," he said.
"Uhm, what's your name?"
"You know about the cursed Lycan King but you don'tknow his name?"
I actually knew his name but I wanted to hear him say it.
"Peter Devonshire," he finally said.