CHAPTER 23 LENA. Slipping my hands into the pocket of my hoodie, I slipped into the house and shut the door behind me. "What the hell..." I muttered as I crossed the hallway into the living room. Even with the hoodie I had on, it felt like I was about to freeze. I began to shiver, my muscle spasmed as I tried to create more heat for my body but it did nothing. "Oh... Fuck..." Speaking was hard for me and my speech was starting to slur. I slid my phone out of my pocket and painfully dialed my father's number. My fingers tapped haphazardly against my phone and dialed my father's number. He picked up after three rings. "Hey, cupcake," "D-dad. I don't know what's wrong," I began to ramble. "The house. It's— it's really cold and I— I just feel cold!" Just after saying that sentence, I felt a wave of weakness hit me as I tried to breathe. It was nearly impossible to breathe properly and when I got the idea of the possibility of experiencing hyperthermia, I slid to the
CHAPTER 24 LENA. "gods," I muttered as I climbed out of the bed, trying hard not to hit his frozen hand. If I made one mistake, his hand could break out of his wrist. I couldn't imagine something terrible happening again, all because I couldn't control whatever was going on inside of me. Finally, I was out of the bed. I stared at my father's frozen body in shock. My mouth was agape and just as a sob escaped my throat, I clamped a hand over my mouth. I had to do something. Standing and staring at him wasn't going to do a damn thing. I knew what could happen to him if he stayed frozen for one hour and as I rushed to the window to push it open with the hopes of bringing in some warmth from outside, Mr Finn's words from AP Chemistry came to my mind. If a person is frozen with ice, which is one of the rarest things to ever happen to man, their body goes into a state of suspended animation, causing all biological processes to slow down to the point of stopping. Though, fre
CHAPTER 25 LENA. "Don't come close," I whimpered as I moved farther away from him. I had been traumatized by just that tiny moment of watching his frozen body. The panic that had overcome me while I watched the flecks of ice fall off his skin as it faded into nothingness reminded me of being alone with Jason with no parents. I wasn't ready to become an orphan, not ready to experience the intense grief that came with losing two parents within the space of one week. He was staring at me with both hands on his hips. That was the stance he made whenever he was confused. He took off his glasses, reminding me of how hard it had been for me to take it off while he was still frozen. I shuddered. "Why don't you want me to come close?" He asked as he drew close. "Scoot over, Lena. You're making me worried. I want to know if it's a fever. You're shivering so you are probably expelling heat and feeling cold on the inside," "No! Don't come close! Don't you get it?! I don't want you
CHAPTER 26 LENA. His back was turned against me. He was over six feet tall with a broad back and straight, powerful legs. His slightly long hair fell against his neck, a part of the jet black lushness silhouetting the sides of his face. I couldn't see what he looked like except I turned over to the other side to see him clearly. But there was something odd about him. Something really odd about his demeanor. It screamed danger. There seemed to be a dark cloak around him. It oozed off him in torrents and I would have stepped away and ran for her life if I hadn't been so inquisitive. From where I stood, I tried to see if I could recognise him but nothing gave him away. He remained unknown. Then he turned. I stumbled backwards and gained my footing finally. He towered above me and looking up at him, it was impossible to capture his face. I could see every part of him but not his face. Squinting my eyes and drawing closer, I tried to see if it was my eyes but it wasn't. H
CHAPTER 27 LENA. I stumbled backwards and my hip hit the window sill I had just stood up from. My hand clamped over my mouth to suppress the scream that threatened to escape my throat. My hands began to shake. I was really anxious. This had happened again and I didn't know if she was going to survive this because she was caved in a box-like ice casing that glinted under the light. No way in hell. She wasn't going to survive this. "Lena," My father's voice brought me back to earth. I had totally forgotten that there was anyone else in this room as I had been engulfed by the crippling fear of watching another person get frozen again. It was all my fault. "What just happened?" I looked at him as tears escaped my cheeks. His face was covered in sheer, crippling shock and for a long time, his eyes kept darting from the frozen body of the healer to me. "I—" My voice broke as I fiddled with my fingers. "I don't know. I can't— oh, gods," I placed both of my hands on my head
CHAPTER 28 LENA. I looked up at her from where I sat, my knees pulled to my chest. "And how do I do that? Embrace the cold?" She took a seat right in front of me and crossed her legs like she had been practicing yoga her whole life. I couldn't do that shit for more than ten minutes before losing feelings in my legs. "Just... Embrace it." I was hit by a wave of very short lived nostalgia. She sounded just like the voice in my head and from the way she kept staring at me and smiling, I believed she was the one. But she wasn't. I knew it. I could feel it in my guts. A shiver than through my body and I shook with tremors, teeth chattering as I tried to gain composure. She watched me for a long time with awe and fascination. Like she was staring at a wonder of the world. "Never in my life did I believe I was going to witness this day. Do you know how much power you carry? It's scary and refreshing at the same time," I wasn't interested in listening to an abridged
CHAPTER 29 LEAH. As soon as I had gotten home, the first thing I did was jump into the shower, ignoring the regular questions my mother asked me about school. My father was yet to return. He had gone on a business trip about a week ago and was yet to return and that gave me the advantage. He wasn't here to give me a stern look when I refused to listen to my mother. I loved them both but my mother could be overbearing and annoying and as for my father? He was the sterner one you had to respect without him even asking for it. I guessed I did because he respected me too. I decided to take a long, warm shower as I imagined sitting in front of Damon, his ruby eyes piercing into my skin like a searing iron as he stared into my soul. The imagination did things to me. His build, the vein running up his arms, the way his hair was naturally tousled— a lot of boys paid for their hair to look that way. Luke included. But Damon didn't even have to make an effort. And he was also really
CHAPTER 30 LENA. The healer left a few hours ago and my pp father spent a bit of time with me before he went to attend to Jason. He has asked me to rest properly and not leave bed till I was fine enough. I was even served dinner in my room and I nearly teared up when I remembered how my mother did this whenever I was sick. The idea of her being dead was hard to take as I had only relived memories of her alive since her death. After dinner in my room, my father bade me goodnight. He didn't even lean down to kiss my forehead. Just patted the ends of my bed. As much as the healer had told him it was safe to touch me, he had decided to give it a few hours. My body was starting to feel normal but there was that prickling feeling of the cold still residing within me. I had totally forgotten that there was a life outside my own for the past few hours that I jumped out of my bed when I heard the notification ding on my phone. I pushed myself to my feet and snatched my phone fro
CHAPTER 127 (Epilogue) LENA. "Do you think this is a good idea?" I asked Damon as I slipped into a simple gown. One I usually wore when going to important meetings. Damon, who had slept over, all thanks to my Dad who gave him the permission, was still on the bed typing away at his phone. He looked up at me. "What's that? The meeting?" I nodded. "Yes." He climbed out of the bed and placed his phone on it before walking over to where I stood and cupping my cheeks. "Yes, love. It is an absolutely good idea. An opportunity for me to make it up to everyone and I don't think I can do it without you. So get dressed and let's go to the council meeting." "Okay?" I nodded. We arrived late. The meeting had started about an hour ago and just as we stepped in, everyone turned to look at us. Master Choi was at the door. He smiled at me. "You did it." I looked at Damon who shook his head. He didn't want me telling people what happened. It was our little secret and I was going to keep it f
CHAPTER 126 LENA. We were back in Willow Town. Directly in front of the tree close to the portal. Damon decided that closing it for good was the best idea. And I agreed to it. As soon as it was closed, I turned to him with a bright smile on my face. "I still can't believe that this is already over. It ended as soon as it began." "It wasn't easy anyway." Damon replied as he parted a branch for me to pass through. "I thought I was going to die for real. Metheus he...he makes me so afraid." "But he's gone now," I took his hand in mine and we intertwined fingers. "He's gone for good." "And I am happy." He sighed and looked at me. I pushed back a lock of his hair that fell over his face. "I am so happy, Lena. I am happy to be here with you. I want to help now. This is my way of repaying my sins." "It wasn't your fault," I said to him as we burst out of the woods. I smiled, seeing that my car was still there. It was almost dawn and I could tell from the way the skies
CHAPTER 125 LENA. "She is the weakest of them all," He snarled, his feet leaving the ground as he floated into his air and commanded darkness. "I thought we were bringing some challenges. But this one? She's going to be dead before this ends." "Don't listen to him, Lena. He's trying to make you afraid of him. It's what he does." This was definitely harder than I thought. I was just coming out from the shock of seeing everyone that had died in the attack and having to let them go for good. There was this pain and burning hatred in my chest and it was all directed at the man standing before me. He was evil, menacingly cunning like the Devil and I saw why Damon was so afraid of him. I would be too. But I wasn't. All I wanted to do was avenge the death of my mother and everyone else. I had vanquished all of his demons, had his sons all locked up in abyss and it was just me and him against the whole fucking world. He was strong, I had to admit that. None of
CHAPTER 124 DAMON. Wyverns. I hated them with everything in me. They were the bane of my existence and my father had used these creatures to traumatize me a whole lot of times. I didn't even want to think about it. But Lena was standing beside me and she didn't look the least afraid. "They are an illusion, Lena," I informed her. "Created in his mind and brought to life like a hologram." She nodded. "That means we go for him?" I nodded. He wasn't here yet but that was the memo. "Yes." From the tower, we could see the Palace. There were several entrances on each floor and I knew which he was going to step out from. More wyverns flew out through the dome of the castle, flapping their dark, veiny wings and screeching into the night air as they flew around. One swooped down to our level and I ducked, pulling Lena along with me. "Their talons are sharp enough to kill you." "Not if we kill them first." "My father, remember?" She nodded. Just as we mo
CHAPTER 123 LENA. My smile didn't falter. Not even when uncertainty creeped in. "Trap?" I burst into laughter. "That's nice. What type of trap though? A bobby trap?" I burst into laughter when I noticed how their frowns deepened. "We have no time for that. You're going to calmly walk to us and you're going to surrender. Unless you want us to force you." Slowly, my arms spread out. My eyes darted over to the other side of the wall. It was just Damon there. Just as he shook his head at me with panic in his eyes, he was pulled off the wall forcefully. I frowned and darted my eyes back to the men before looking back at the fort. Damon was in combat with Stefan. What the fuck? Something was wrong and Damon was unaware. Closing my eyes, I felt my powers bubble up from my insides. My eyes opened and I didn't miss the shock on the men's faces. A smirk curled up my lips and I drew close, feeling frost coat on my fingers. One of the guards broke out of the others and
CHAPTER 122 DAMON. We both took a seat on one of the tree logs and maintained an awkward silence. She probably didn't care but I did. I wanted to tell her that I missed her and that I wanted to kiss her full on the lips. That I wanted to touch her and sink my fingers into her hair. But she didn't seem to be in the mood for all that. If there was someone more determined than Stefan, then she had to be the one. She placed her backpack on the floor and zipped it open before grabbing a bottle of water and a croissant. She looked at me and raised it into the air in a way of asking me if I was going to eat but I shook her head and smiled at her in appreciation. Nodding, she sank her teeth into the croissant and began to chew slowly as she took a look around. She gulped down her water and kicked at a stone. I knew she was avoiding me. I knew she was avoiding getting into a conversation with me. Sighing, I leaned against the tree trunk close to me and watched her while she a
CHAPTER 121 LENA. Everything on my mind right now tethered towards ending all of this and defeating Metheus. I couldn't process anything other than that and even if a tiny bit of me still felt something for him, I decided to process those feelings first before saying anything. "So what do we do now?" I asked as I kick started the engine. "Uhm, we should see your father before doing anything else. He's missed you." I gave him a hard look. "If we do not do this now, I don't know when we will. Someone else is going to die." A look of hurt flashed in his eyes but it was gone as soon as it came. He nodded. "I wasn't planning on killing anyone after that but you're right." "Where are we driving to?" I asked as I slowly backed away before making a turn in the middle of the road. "And know that if you lead me down the wrong road and try to kill me, I'll rip you apart before you blink." He's not going to harm you. "I don't care!" I snapped back at her, not minding
CHAPTER 120 DAMON. We were seated in her car now. It had taken a lot for her to let me sit in the passenger seat. What hurt the most was how she avoided me when I tried to touch her. It felt like she was repulsed by me and it hurt really bad. It wasn't her fault anyway. I had brought this on myself. I had hurt her terribly and I knew she wasn't going to ever forgive me. Hell, I wasn't going to forgive myself for putting her through too much pain. Her fingers were wrapped around the steering wheel and her knuckles had turned white from having to grip it tightly. Once again, it was my fault. I wasn't even going to blame her for something I did. I wanted to reach out to her. I wanted to touch her so bad. I had planned a lot for her return. I had made a lot of collages of both of us and we had even set up a surprise party for her when she returned. I had set up a date for us both together before I took her back to my place. But today of all days, tragedy struck and I cou
CHAPTER 119 LENA. Why did everything seem to turn sour on my return? From finding out that Gamma Fred had died to meeting Alpha Lance who had lost all hope in this cause and seemed not to care. He had looked like he was waiting for the downfall of Willow Pack and now...Damon? It had to be a dream. I shook my head and tried clearing my head but he was still standing before him, shock written all over his face and for the first time, I saw who he really was. For the first time, it clicked. It all started to make sense. The dark aura, the confusion that had come with him. It was all starting to manifest right now and I couldn't find my Damon anymore. I didn't see the boy I was in love with. All I could see was a murderer. A beast. A fucking killer and a demon. I tried to speak but my words got caught in my throat. My eyes darted over to the dead bodies. The amber glow of the streetlights around it burnished against the pale skin of the dead bodies, making them look ethe