Chapter 7: Poison

Marcellus 

Still holding on to my cane, the repressed anger mixed with pain was tough to handle as my head began to explode. Everything was blurry and filled with red. Nate was still talking but I couldn't make out the words. 

“Nate, shut it!” I yelled at him. “These things are for you to handle. We cannot risk another attack not when we are at the brink of a strange transition. If I am gone my brother would take charge of everything and do you think he would let you lead with what is best of the pack and the realm? How come we still don't know about the assassins that has been terrorizing the realm?!”

“Alpha, we are looking into it.” He said quietly. 

“Looking into it?! How come anyone isn't capable around here? Are you all waiting for me to die?! So you can do what the hell you want?” My raged fueled faster. The pain became unbearable and this was the episode and it was only a matter of time before the seizures finally took place. It was bad enough that I could control my anger and the pain, I thought the pain was getting better. I thought I could ease. 

I could barely see now, I grabbed the edge of the desk as Nate gave me a glass of water. I glared at him, taking it from him and smashing it on the wall. “Do you think drinking water is going to help me. “ I sighed as I sensed Cassius at the edge of the door. This leisure room was far from being what it was lately, it was his I got through the episodes. Where I work when I want to be away from everyone and everything. It seems at the brawl if each episode I had given people reasons to hate me even more, to stay away from me. I could breathe but the illness barely gave me a shot at something decent. 

I started writhing on the floor and Cassius came closer with a shot of a sedative but it was only going to wear off. I was finally able to see clearly as my nerves were calm but the pain persists. My eyes darted across the room, seeing Claudia standing at the entrance. She was paying attention and eavesdropping. I could see the worry dancing on her face.

“What are you doing here? “ I yelled. Making her flinch. “Get out!” I didn't want her to see me like this. There were worst things to be standing at the hek of someone's demise. She flinched in fear but she stood there. Coming closer, I could see the fear in her eyes. I didn't want her to see me like this. There was this need to protect her from all these, to shield her from the pain and disgrace of my weakness. “Claudia, don't make me repeat myself.” I gritted in pain.

“I'm sorry, I don't always do what I am told to do. Not here. In my previous pack, that would have worked but I don't have to fear anyone anymore. Those times are going far away..” he sighed. Sitting close to me now, trying to shift the hem of my sweatshirt, I closed my eyes, inhaling the peace her aura brought. I held her hands, stopping her half way. She narrowed at me. 

“It's okay. I just want to check what has been done to you.”

“You don't know half of what's going on here, Claudia. Please just go. I am too tired.”

“You'd be surprised that I know enough, Marcel.” It's been so long since I heard anyone call me that no one called me. The only person who called me that was my mother, who apparently was no more. The card Claudia was exhibiting, she was the only one who could have given me such attention. When Claudia came she was scared and unsure but all of a sudden she had her way around me. 

Her aura? Gave me strength each time she was close. I let her get close. Only one person has ever gotten this close. Just one. She grimaced seeing my neck, she shook her head. “This is bad.” 

“Well, nothing can be worse than dying…”

She turned to Cassius, who was not just the pack healer but also a friend. Nate and him were the only ones that I trusted with everything inside me. “Do you have Chamomile, Sage and rue?”

Cassius nodded immediately. “I don't think Alpha is meant to take such strong herbs though.”

She then turned to me. “Trust me they are the only thing that can help you right now. I'd explain when I am done.” I gave Cassius a nod and he provided what she asked for. She prepared it in the form of tea after disappearing for a while. She helped sit me up and brought the tea to my nose first before helping me drink it. At this point, I didn't bother to question if she knew what she was doing, I just needed ease to the pain and if trusting her was going to help with that I was willing to do it. Immediately, I could feel the strength taking root. The pain reduced and I felt better than I ever did in months. 

It showed there was something wrong that Claudia could see. “How? How did you know what to do? Are you even a wolf?” I sighed. Cassius was surprised that it worked but I didn't need their eyes on me this instant, I dismissed them, I was not prepared to work today. I was still weakened but I felt a bit better. 

“How long has the rash on your neck been there?” She replied with a question. I stared at her. I feel like the naive girl they were sending my way seemed to know a lot that I was yet to find out. 

“Weeks. I feel it's been there longer.” She shook her head immediately. 

“If it has been there longer, then you wouldn't be alive.”

“I'm doomed to die anyway, Claudia. Isn't that obvious? I'd welcome death if it comes today.” She just stared at me blankly. 

“The rash is as a result of graveyard dust ingestion. It seems your illness is long term, a curse as you have told me before. The thing with curses is that, when it is reaching it end goal it isn't aggressive.” Her eyes were looking down at my bare chest that seemed to be left as the heat trickled down. Her hands reached out again, I stopped her immediately. 

“If you want me darling, you just say so.” She shuddered, rejecting the idea from her mind. I loved how she could be so innocent, naive and curious at the same time. It also made me wary, if she was just gaining my trust only to finish the job faster than planned. I know a lot of people wanted me out of the way but it was difficult to find out who, since i am more dead than alive.

“I just want to check what's tattooed on your chest.” I showed her, it seemed she was trying to decipher what was going on with the engraving, which was an inverted ‘x’ that was burned on my skin.

“It is an engraving to show that I am cursed. Paying for others' mistakes seems to be my legacy.” She thinned her lips. 

“This magic associated with that mark is ancient. It can't be turned.”

“How do you know so much? You sound like a person from the grey realm.” She shook her head trying to decipher what I meant. 

“What's the grey realm?” 

“Okay, there's a whole new world out there that you seem to know nothing about. I find that hard to believe. Again, I thought you were the Alpha's daughter… From the Silverclaw pack.”

“I am. But his illegitimate daughter.” That explained why they were so quick to marry her off to a living corpse. Her father must have caught wind that a wife was for a half dead man and he quickly chose the illegitimate one as a sacrifice. “I have lived a life of servitude under the wings of my cruel father. Getting married to you was an alliance because they were losing their importance as a pack and he needed a strong ally. Which your father presented on a good front in exchange for me. I thought you didn't know about it.”

“I wasn't told about any of the arrangements but that didn't mean I didn't know. I have ears and eyes around.” I sighed. It might be a sob story which I was going to verify myself. “You said something about graveyard dust.”

“It is used for dark magic. Serve as a poison to quicken the process of death. It is ingested, through food or drink. It doesn't come with any kind of curse. None that I know of.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Are you telling me that someone is trying to finish me off that quickly?” 

Claudia sighed, her Innocence taking shape. “It seems so. For now, I can help with your food, if that's okay with you. If you want me to stay out of your way, you got it too.”

“That's not necessary.” In the moment she wandered off. Cassius and Nate rushed in, seeing how better I am. 

“Well, she seemed to know a lot.” Cassius said. “Maybe your parents bringing her for you wasn't such a bad idea.”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, Cassius, you have sources outside this pack, right?” I asked him, he nodded. “Good, look into her and her past. If someone like her comes this close to me, I want to know every detail about her past.” 

Nate stood there, waiting for his order. “Someone poisoned me. Find out who? I believe someone is making a maid do it. Find out the person and bring the person to me.” I growled.