"I won't deny it," David replied, taking in the nostalgia of the manor. It was a vastness of paintings, mahogany, and marble but it didn't feel like home. Despite the fireplace burning red hot with coal, the house felt cold. It was devoid of love and the only emotions David could sense from the property he now owned were disappointment and dysphoria. "There are dire situations."
"And would you care to share them with me?" The sprite probed. Usually, David would be wary to divulge information like that to anyone. Telling the wrong person could lead to another war between every supernatural faction and David wanted to avoid that as much as possible. But Arielle was someone he could trust. She was of Fae origins and that m
David's face burned tomato red as Satake shifted to the side. Hesitant, David turned in his direction and noticed his eyes were closed. He wasn't sleeping. At least not deep enough to be considered a slumber. Satake's eyes opened again. His attention flew to the book nestled on David's bosom. "What is that?" He asked. "A book about relics," David replied, sitting up and placing the book on his laps to hide his bulge. Satake did the same. "Why are you researching about them?" David raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want to know your own origins?" Satake threw his head back in exhaustion and part frustration. "I am not so sure. I have built a life for myself as a part of the Crow family. With this new awakening, I am beginning to question everything. My life. My identity. I know if I keep on digging, I will eventually lose them both. So who will I be when I don't have those two things? Who is Satake Crow? " "Satake Crow is who you have always be
JASON"How are you feeling?" I asked Axel as he gulped down a glass of water."Better." Axel's voice was shaky. I cocked my head down and noticed the wound still hadn't healed. Axel could have died if he had not reached out to me when he did. Just thinking about it made my blood boil. Sofiane was stepping out of line a little too much. I wasn't even sure I could continue to pardon his madness as an aftereffect of losing Candice. Axel had been his former beta and if Sofiane didn't even take that into consideration when he gutted him, there was no telling how far the Alpha of Hobbstone was willing to go.I turned to Pearl. "Why isn't his wound healed yet?""Give it a day or two. The residue of the poison needs to leave his body first. " Pearl replied."Jason, Don't worry about it. I have been through worse. I'll survive."I placed my hand on top of his. Axel wouldn't say it but I knew he was hurt. "Well, I hope this kills every hope you
JASON The church of Cassandra lay in the heart of Wentworth. It was a place where darkness overshadowed the light and where creatures that went bump in the night could be themselves. In simpler words, a place where the individuals the mundane had tagged as monsters would be on their best and worst behavior without fearing the consequences of their action. It reeked of alcohol and blood as I drove towards the only building in this part of town that didn't look like it was a cheap motel harboring blood lovers and the high fae of the lower court. As we passed through a set of blanketed trees, a towering building came into view. The stench of drugs, blood, and sinners also slowly went extinct. Until all that was left in sight was the serene church of Cassandra the all-seeing. I pulled over at the gate. An old woman was waiting at the other side. She was dressed in all black and she smiled the second our eyes met. "Good morning Alpha Jason. The eye of Cassa
OLAMIDE It all went to hell after the supposed seer's statement. As Jason took hold of my hand and walked me back to the car, I could not help but linger on the words of the blind woman. The conviction in her lips as she uttered those words. The accusing look in her bleeding eyes. It cemented the words that had echoed at the back of my head one too many times. I was cursed. "Coming here was a mistake," Jason said. He looked aghast. I wasn't even sure why. I was the one who had been tagged a walking breathing misfortune. The worst part was that I even agreed that the words of a total stranger had to be the truth. The signs were there after all. The second my parents got my brother and me abroad. We seemingly lost contact with one another. Not to mention that the night Deji was murdered, I intended to follow him but I was too lazy to make good on that. All of that could not just be a coincidence. Jason escorted me to a passenger seat and slammed it shut.
The dark curtains shielding Valentine from the intense rays of the sun were pushed aside. As the rays of hot light washed over Valentine, she made an effort to roll away from its direction. Her body was supposed to ache but as Valentine stretched her body out, she discovered something quite odd. She felt good. An entirely different story considering she had spent the night on the living room couch in hopes of avoiding Devin. Her tired hands felt the surface she was on. It was soft and spacey. That made her jerk. Her eyes shot open and daylight immediately stabbed it making her blink repeatedly. She took a look around and her suspicions were confirmed. She was in the bedroom. Her clothes were off with the exception of the peachy matching underwear she had on. That bastard, She swore under her breath. Panic surged from the deep as Valentine examined herself. A part of her knew that despite everything she thought about Devin, there were some lines the man wouldn't cross
SATAKE The world outside became loud and I was tempted to open my eyes. The scenery that graced my eyes looked very different from what I had become accustomed to waking up to all my life. I tried to get on my feet when I noticed David cocooned up next to me. His hands were clutched to the book he had read me all night and his face was the depiction of a true angel. I brushed away a lock of dirty blonde that hindered me from gawking at his pretty face. I found myself strangely admitting that I found this warlock attractive in every sense and David couldn’t just be a piece of eye candy. Oh, no. He was smart, witty, inventive, and forgiving too. The more time I spent looking at him, the harder it was not to fall under his spell but I had somewhere to be. I stepped out of the bed and tiptoed towards the door, stopping for a minute when the door creaked open. That book was on my mind. I groaned in frustration then tiptoed back to David's side. He was holding on to
OLAMIDE The soft rays of moonlight played on my skin as I stood in front of an audience that Jason termed my people. These people were just like him. Werewolves who looked rather human until something or someone ticked them off. Next to me was Jason's brother, Devin, and a beautiful woman with skin like olives. I immediately assumed that was his mate. My heart thudded as Jason walked onto a platform to give his speech and goosebumps erupted from my skin. It was not the chilly wind that blew up the robe I was wearing. It was not the fact that everyone surrounding us wore similar robes and it definitely wasn't because I had nothing but skin under the robes. It was strange to admit but I did not feel self-conscious about it in any way. A large part of me wanted this and I couldn't for the life of me wrap my head why it did. A sigh escaped my pursed lips as I recollected the past few days. I had tried my best to find this David Flament but every turn of the way le
TWO DAYS PRIORAs Ginger bent the laws of nature to return home, a prick of regret burned her skin as she realized her perfect spell had given a not-so palatable result. She had willed herself to reappear in her bedroom but instead, she was outside her apartment, and no matter how hard she tried to repeat the spell to give a perfect result. It kept on failing and that told Ginger all she needed to know. As always, her mother had figured she was not at home. Ginger walked reluctantly to the front door. She could almost feel her mother's worry cloud the house. Usually, Ginger's reappearance would lead to a scalding reprimanding but Ginger had an ace up her sleeve this time. She peered into her phone screen. Half-caked blood coated most of it. Blood that had poured directly from the veins of Olamide, the suspected attribute. With good faith, I knocked. The lock snapped in seconds and a gust of wind opened the door. Yasmin was walking leisurely across the room with a glass of win
Olamide walked out of the Crimson lane house unscathed. Witches and warlocks from the Primrose coven gathered around the house with the sole aim of retrieving Yasmin Maplewood. Olamide locked her arms with her brother as the Primrose coven witches surrounded them. Yasmin didn't resist arrest. Jason handed her over to the eldest member and watched as the aged warlock slapped handcuffs engraved with various sigils to Yasmin's open hands. The sigils glowed brilliant green as they clasped shut. "What happens to her?" Jason demanded."She will be tried by the high courts. Her powers will be stripped and she will be jailed for a very long time. I can however assure you that Ginger Maplewood will not know the pain of losing her mother. The Primrose coven will do its best to protect her." Olamide's eyes drifted from the conversing supernaturals. Far from where she stood, She noticed Sofiane walking towards an almost totaled car. In his hands was the limp body of David
Only you have the power to save them... a sweet voice reminded me...Save them allThe memory of my mother reared up before me, so intense that for a minute the greens of the forest plundered in my vision, the image of it transposed over the frozen horror to come. I smelled the rain, felt the coolness of fresh air running through my face and hair. I remembered the feats my mother has performed with her gifts, the stance she took when she chose to heal ravaged the recesses of my mind. The bearing of her breath in the cold night when she helped dying animals and plants, the isolated moment I saw her drain ichor from a coyote that stole her goats. The sigil atop my palm glowed hot and sang to every memory. And finally, I understood what the power my mother had left in my protection did. What it meant and why it was converted by many. All that power resided in me to create balance and the frozen picture before was not harmony. Single stran
"Don't do this..." Lilith pleaded. "I love you Mamu."Deji pulled his sister close as Lilith spewed that blasphemy. His brows jerked high as he silently implored how the vampire countess could tell herself such a lie. "And you love me too." Lilith insisted. “I know you do. Just hand over the girl. Give her to me Mamu. I will forgive you.”“Shut it!” Deji slammed, pulling his sister even closer. "You do not get to tell me what to do anymore."“When...” Lilith for the first time faltered. Her attention left Deji and lingered on Jason. She remembered those black smokes that shot out of his hands. It took that little for her to come to a conclusion. With a splay of hands, she picked the Alpha from the floor causing Yasmin to retrace her steps from the Relic–Alpha duo. "This all started when your so-called gifts hit him. What the fuck did you do?" The look in her eyes was clearly maniacal. Her irises were crimson red and the white parts were oily orange. Veins of
JASON There was something truly horrific about watching your allies die. Even the volatile ones. As David dropped to the floor with petrified eyes, my heart skipped a beat because his death was more than losing an ally. Our lives were on the line. Seconds trickled by. It turned to minutes but the worst had yet to happen. I took one good look at myself then at Sofiane. We were still very much alive. I wasn't even sure what to believe anymore but one thing was painfully clear, I was terrified. I hated to admit it but for the first time in a long time, dying scared me. Lilith licked her bloody fingers and let out a maniacal laugh. "How unfortunate," She said, her eyes sewn onto the body on the floor. "He broke the spell before he died. How noble." Did that make things better or worse, I pondered. I reckoned with the latter because, in all honesty, I expected nothing but the worst from the now late surviving Bloss
Yasmin continued to slice onto Satake Crow's skin, ignoring his screams for help and the obvious opposition that has managed to sneak past a coven of vampires and her maze of chaos. Crimson blanketed over her hands reminding her she was executing a sin. A moment of relapse causes her to look back into the eyes of the dying relic. She could tell he was begging for mercy even when his mouth couldn't move. "You have come too far," Yasmin told herself. "You can't back out now." The witch reminded herself that Lilith would have the intruders cornered in no time. The scythe sliced through Satake's flesh and bones like it were butter and soon, Yasmin noticed his beating heart. She spared Lilith a look for security. The countess of death had her hands on the now unconscious attribute's throat. Her eyes however were not on the Aloha werewolves who had broken in. Her gaze lingered on the vampire she had sired as he too was unconscious. The bright side to things though was that Lil
Two wisps of smoke shot in Lilith's direction. One burst into Olamide's chest rendering her unconscious. The second flew in Lilith's direction, aiming for her cold heart but before the disintegrating ball of darkness could hit Lilith, Deji jumped in front of her causing the darkness to hit him instead. Like Olamide, Deji collapsed to the floor, both living their worst nightmares.IntermissionThe room was dark but below a flickering lightbulb was a woman dressed in a satin black nightdress that accentuated her features and complimented her dark skin. She looked familiar to Deji. As he strained his eyes through the window of the girl's apartment, a spark burned bright in his mind. This was the human girl bound to the chair. Why, he wondered. Why was he here? He barely knew the woman. Deji pondered if he was in her head. He tried to move to make sense of the situation on groun
Two wisps of smoke shot in Lilith's direction. One burst into Olamide's chest rendering her unconscious. The second flew in Lilith's direction, aiming for her cold heart but before the disintegrating ball of darkness could hit Lilith, Deji jumped in front of her causing the darkness to hit him instead. Like Olamide, Deji collapsed to the floor, both living their worst nightmares. ***Intermission Candice Blossom's world grew darker as she threaded a familiar forest. This was a memory. One she remembered like yesterday. The night it all went to hell. "Why am I here?" Candice asked herself. Her lips weren't moving. Neither did she have control over her legs. In fact, the only thing she had power over was her sight and all she could do was continue to watch as her legs jogged into a clearing. There was a man slumped to the floor. A woman was above him.
JASONSofiane pulled open the gates and we slipped in, breaking off leaves and stumbling over a low ground shrub but managing to step high and land on a cobblestone pathway that we followed toward the side of the property. The night was opaque and sheltered amid the vines and overgrowth, but the moon was still very bright and that gave us werewolves an advantage. If we stepped out into the open, we would be noticed. The expanse was crammed with long teeth. With a stake in one hand, I darted aside a long, hanging vine heavy with flowers and crept close to the finewood-sided house. I signaled to Sofiane and he nodded in understanding before disappearing to the back. If he entered through the rear, we would find each other inside. So that left me with David. Tilting my head into one of the walls, I listened, honing my senses toward the house and beyond the walls.A scream alerted me. It sounded like Satake and I fucking lost it! I was about to burst through a dust
Satake woke in a standing position. Except his feet were barely touching the floor. Head bowed forward, the muscles in his body twanged. Something was banded across his chest. A crest of some sort and it stung. His body felt numb. Especially his back region. He tried to move only to realize that his arms were wrenched above him, his wrists hemmed together. He wriggled but couldn’t move much. The air around him was musty with a lingering scent of blood.Flickering his eyes a hundred times to adjust to the darkness, Satake came to be fully awake. He tried to talk but he could only wince as a sharp pain shot up his body. His jaw was messed up. His foggy memories were beginning to prop up. He had remembered resisting after that damn witch had attacked him with a cursed weapon. He also vividly remembered being driven to unconsciousness by one of her vampire pals. His sight cleared slowly and in time Satake came to realize he was in someone's living room. There were rugs rolled up to a