CHAPTER 3 - New Case

IN THE dead of night, Alexis walked to the sound and saw someone she knew, but before she could utter a word… She was stabbed in the abdomen. 

Her eyes widened in horror. She can’t fathom why her friend would do such a thing. She could only stare at her bloodied hand as she stopped the bleeding. Fear engulfed her whole being she couldn’t even react properly to the excruciating pain that she was experiencing. 

She tried to run, but what can a weak Omega that was stabbed do? She cried as her friend walked towards her with a knife still in hand. She crawled away and cowered behind a tree, wishing that this was all a dream or a prank gone wrong. She pleaded, to her friend, to the moon goddess, to anyone --to please save her.

She tried to shout, but before she could, her throat was slashed. She could feel and hear her blood gushing out her throat, pouring like waterfalls onto the ground, soaking the green grass beneath her feet. She began to breathe with difficulty and her body became numb with pain. She hopes and prays that someone will come and see her. 

“I... I... I don’t want to di...e. Ple...ase someo..ne save me.” She yelled internally. Everything was turning dark now and she could only mutter the question, “Why?”

She saw her friend's lips move, but she could no longer hear anything. She can only stare as tears and death blur her vision, but she doesn't want to close her eyes. She wants her friend to remember the look on her face and the burning hatred that she feels right now.

~

The weather was gloomy, a few rays of light entered the dark chambers. But none of the Omegas are in slumber, all of them are wide awake. Standing in a straight line in an empty worn-out assembly hall in two groups. Female on the left and male on the right side.

Waiting for the guards to tell them what to do. Shortly, Gamma Sevy entered the assembly hall alone. He looks pissed off with a mix of distress. Everyone is on heightened alert as he might put the blame on them and turn them into punching bags. Which has been a norm here.

Everyone was looking at one another. Then they heard Sevy sigh deeply. "Everyone!" He yelled.

"Today and for the following weeks, you will have a buddy system. No Omega should be left alone at any time of the day. If an Omega is missing you need to look for them as soon as you can."

Vesper glanced at the tenures among the group and all of them had the same grimace on their faces. Death. Mourn. Sorrow and regret.

Evie raises her hand and then asks in her childlike voice, "Sir! Is there something we need to know?"

Sevy sighed again.

"Alexis Mar'tine was found dead today around four o’clock in the morning. Details of her death remain confidential as of the moment. Only Delta and higher know, so don’t ask me."

"Shit!" Vesper says to herself.

Some weep upon hearing the news but immediately compose themselves.

Vesper could sense sorrow, rage, and grief in the air. The atmosphere was suffocating, she felt lost, and her hand started trembling.

"Are you okay Vesper?" Emily asks. Her face shows concern with a hint of sorrow.

She nods.

"Gamma Sevy!" Emily yelled.

"Is it possible to be paired with my roommates?"

“You can be paired with anyone,” he says, then assigns them their tasks.

Emily was assigned to clean the rooms.

Jolly and Evie will tend the garden and wash the laundry.

When it was Vesper’s turn Sevy stared at her. Black frizzy hair, pale complexion, severely malnourished state, sunken cheeks, droopy gray eyes devoid of emotions. She looks like she’s already dead. Despite that, she’s a beauty in her washed-out way.

"As a newcomer, one of you should be assigned to carry trash bins out of the manor," Gamma Sevy says.

"You look so pale. I don’t think you could carry things without breaking yourself in half. So I’m assigning you to the kitchen. Do you think you could wash dishes without breaking them or yourself?" He added with a bit of concern and mockery in his tone.

"Yes, Gamma! I can do that." She responds with a weak, low voice that matches how she looks.

From there, they rode a minibus that would carry them to the main building. The ride is almost eight and a half minutes long. The first day is tiring for the newcomers. Jolly is having difficulties tending the garden as the mud makes her want to puke. Luckily, Evie grew up on the farm, took care of most of the garden work, and let Jolly do the laundry.

Meanwhile, Vesper almost stumbles while carrying the plates, then one of the senior Omega probationers helps her and tells her to only carry a few at a time.

By eight in the evening, after the dinner of the higher class, they are relieved from their stations and free to roam around the manor or in the nearby town. As long as they go in pairs and will return to the barracks by eleven o’clock for the final roll call.

*

Emily, Jolly, and Evie went to town with others. While Vesper stayed in the manor and told Lestine that she’d travel back to the barracks with him. Meanwhile, Lestine rested in one of the leisure rooms on the first floor. He drinks beer while sharing stories with his friends.

Vesper made her way to the second-floor library area. She stared at the mountain of books in front of her. Then she moves her way to the history section, where she pulls out a book titled: Wolves 1900. It shows a summary of the life of werewolves in the 1900s and how they protected themselves against the blood hunters.

She got another book titled “Vanishing Wolf, a Memoir”

Her eyes start to widen as she reads the book.

“The year is 1947, the world is changing drastically after World War Two. It is as if the moon goddess is distancing herself from all of us. At first, the changes were subtle, no one could even tell, but as the months and years went by, it became clear. The wolves inside us are vanishing. I can no longer speak to mine and do so like others. The silence of the wolves is followed by the kids changing to a wolf state uncontrollably. Kids not teens. Kids as young as five years old. Now they no longer need to wait for the right age or the full moon. They have just transformed, and it is a problem now that the hunters of the Blood Order can easily detect our younger generation.

The last one to go is our ability to smell and feel when our mate is nearby.

Now there’s no way to tell which is your fated mate. You can mark anyone you like to assert dominance and tell others that that wolf is taken. No difference to a dog marking his territory. I wonder if the moon goddess will one day let us speak to our wolves again.”

-

“I wonder if some of these things are still here today. Wouldn’t that be amazing if you had the ability to know who your soulmate is?” Vesper asks herself.

While she was reading she couldn't stop hearing a buzzing sound. Murmurs of men. The smell of sorrow, disgust, and rage.

"Another one", says the man.

"The third one this month." Say the other one.

"Does the council know about this?"

"Not yet."

"The Alpha Elder forbade the leaking of the news."

"How many more Omega needs to die?" asked the third guy. His voice filled with sorrow.

Upon hearing that, she felt uneasy. "Why am I hearing them? Where are they?" She asks herself. She gently closed the book and was about to leave when suddenly a gust of wind blew towards her location and two men appeared before her.

"Where did these guys come from?" She asks herself. Startled, she stood still and stared at them.

"Newcomer?" one of the guys asks.

She nods.

"You’re not allowed in here. This library is for Gammas and higher only." The other guy says.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t know." She mumbles weakly. Her head is lowered, and she discreetly glances at their pin. Light blue and dark blue.

Then look at the man with the dark blue pin. Reddish brown hair and freckled face. She remembers who he was.

She bows her head and then says "I’m sorry Alpha Mercimer."

"You know who I am. That’s nice. How about you? What’s your name?" He says while smiling. A beautiful smile. Youthful. Gleeful.

"Vesper Pierce. I arrived here yesterday, Alpha."

"I can call Dimitry. To teach her a lesson in rooms she can’t enter."

"She’s new, Valdor. Give her a break. Just next time read the signs," Alpha Mercimer says while pointing to the door, which clearly says no Omegas are allowed.

"Of course. Alpha!" She bows again.

Mercimer gestures for her to leave. Which she did immediately. She was in such a hurry that she did not notice a woman walking in her direction.

SPLASH!

The woman's wine poured onto her white dress. Her face is livid. Vesper glanced at the woman’s pin. It’s green. “A Delta.” She said to herself. Her face paled as the Delta walked towards her. She could feel that the woman had a strong aura, her scent giving out malice and rage.

“Someone please stop her,” she mumbles under her breath.

The delta was about to lunge at her when suddenly a tall figure held her hand and said, "Selene, what are you doing?"

Selene's face paled, her hand almost trembling. "Alpha Qillalon. I... I'm just teaching this Omega some manners."

"Van Kirk," Vesper said to herself while glancing at the Alpha in front of her, staring at him with resentment. The way she stared at him was far worse than how she looked at Selene, which Alpha Qillalon noticed immediately, but he shrugged it off as he smelled her fear in the air and gestured for her to leave.

"Peculiar," He says to himself as he takes a mental note of her weird reaction and scent.