Chapter - 7

Ivy's POV

"Can we stop somewhere to get food?" 

Chris nodded and soon enough, we were pulling into the parking lot of a small diner.

We walked inside and grabbed a corner booth for ourselves. The conversations all around us seemed to hush all of a sudden, just like they had back at the departmental store. 

It was almost as if the people in the restaurant were taking extra measures and keeping their voices down so it didn't disturb us. It was all way too similar to what had happened back at the store for it be a mere coincidence. Back there people had scurried away from us like we carried the plague itself and even then they had taken care to keep their voice low so at to not disturb us.

But why?

Why were treating us like this? 

Were they scared of us?

Or more importantly, were they scared of Chris?

As I looked at him sitting in front of me with all the grace of a royal king, I admitted that he was a bit scary, specially with that mask of cool indifference he seemed to wear all the time. It made it extremely difficult for anyone to guess what he was thinking. 

And naturally, the kind of people who were almost impossible to read scared people like no other. You never know what they would do next.

They were unpredictable.

And it was natural human tendency to be scared of the unknown.

"So, what do you want to eat?" Chris asked me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

His grey eyes pierced into mine like always. That was another thing about him. He always looked into my eyes whenever he was talking to me. I looked down at the menu lying on the table, grateful to have a reason to focus my attention elsewhere. 

I flipped through the pages. "Oh, they have pancakes! I'll have chocolate stuffed pancakes with caramalised bananas," I decided with a grin. God, even saying the name had my mouth watering.

"You do realise that it's the middle of the day, right?" Chris asked, making me look up at him to see his lips twitch.

"I know. But you can not confine pancakes to a particular meal time like that. They deserve to be eaten all day every day. I mean, have you even seen a pancake?" I asked him, my eyes wide with excitement.

He cocked his head to the side. "I have, which is precisely why I believe that it should not be eaten at a time other than breakfast."

"That's just plain mean and a grave injustice against pancakes all around the world!"

"Why don't you start a campaign to support pancake rights all over the world then? You're obviously passionate enough about the subject."

Was he making fun of me? 

Judging by the way his lips twitched, I decided that he was. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Maybe I will. In fact, that's the first thing I'll do once we're out of here."

Before he could say something else, a waitress appeared at our table- a slightly round middle aged woman with a happy smile. "Ready to place your order?"

I smirked at him before turning to the lady. "Yes, we'll have two plates of chocolate stuffed pancakes with caramalised bananas. Oh and two chocolate milkshakes, too. That will be all, thank you."

The waitress nodded at us and before Chris could so much as open his mouth to say something, the waitress was gone.

"Did you just do what I think you did?"

"If by that you mean order pancakes for the both of us, then yes, I did."

"Because you need to have them right now and break this stupid stereotype about having them only for breakfast."

"You're going to force me to eat pancakes just to prove a point?" 

"Pretty much, yeah." 

"You really are something else, Ivy Emerson," he stated. 

"If by something else you mean a beautiful, sweet and smart girl, then yes, you're right," I grinned cheekily at him.

He gave me a flat look in response.

I grinned harder.

Soon enough, our order arrived and I dug in, watching as Chris did the same, albeit a bit grudgingly and with much less enthusiasm than yours truly.

I moaned as the chocolate melted on my tongue. God, these were easily some of the best pancakes I had ever tasted. I looked up to tell Chris the same only to stop short when I noticed that he was sitting stock still. Not that he usually didn't sit that way but his hand seemed to have frozen mid movement too. And his grey eyes, they seemed a few shades darker too.

"What happened, Chris? Are you okay?" I asked him, worried that something had gone seriously wrong with him.

He shook his head a little. "I'm fine. Eat. And kindly refrain from making such noises while you're at it." 

I blushed. Oh. That was what had troubled him. I nodded before I continued eating.

Soon, the food was gone and I looked around for the waitress to bring our bill.

Chris simply stood up. "Let's go." 

"We need to pay the bill first."

"We don't."

"Why? Do you own this diner too?" I asked jokingly.

"I do."

My eyes bulged as I followed him out of the diner and into the car. 

"Do you own everything in this town?" I asked as we buckled in and he started driving.

"Not everything."

I was about to sigh in relief when he continued. "Only about three fourth." 

If possible, my eyes widened even more. Good God, he really was rich. No wonder people cowered away from him in fear, anyone would scurry away from a man as powerful as that. 

And yet, here you are. A voice at the back of my head whispered.

Only until I've found my mom, I reasoned with myself. I'll leave as soon as she was found.

The rest of the ride was spent in companionable silence. I jumped out of the car as soon as the car rolled to a stop in the basement again, and in my eagerness to see Lily again, nearly forgot all about bringing the items I had just brought up to my room.

Almost as if reading my mind, Chris looked at me. "Go ahead, I'll have someone bring everything up to my- err, your room."

I nodded my head at him gratefully before rushing inside. 

It took me a while, but I finally managed to find the room Lily was in. It was, after all, pretty much the only room I was familiar with other than the room I had slept in.

What I saw in there, however, made my greeting smile vanish.

Lily was thrashing about on her bed, screaming in pain while a hoard of doctors and nurses tried to contain her. 

"What's happening?" I asked, stepping further into the room, worried for Lily.

Her eyes were blood shot and I wasn't talking the I'm-sleep-deprived-so-my-eyes-are-blood-shot kind of a blood shot. Her eyes were so red that it looked like blood would start dripping from them any second now. I had never seen anything like that in my entire life.

A nurse rushed over to me. "She seems to have gone rabid. You must stay away from her, ma'am. It's not safe to be near her right now."

I frowned at her but before I could reply, she had rushed back to stand by Lily's side, doing what she could to help.

Behind me, the door opened. I looked behind me to see Chris walk in.

"What's the commotion all about?" He demanded and this time, one of the doctors rushed to him to explain the situation to him.

"I'll restrain her while you administer the necessary medications."

"But sir, it's not safe to-"

"I do not like to repeat myself," Chris said, his tone cold.

The doctor gave a jerky nod before stepping aside.

I watched as Chris strode towards a thrashing Lily and held her arms in his. Then, in one swift move he was behind her, holding her arms from behind and pulling his legs over hers from behind to stop them from moving.

Lily tried to bite reach down to bite his thighs but Chris tightened his hold on her, pulling her back.

"Do what you have to," Chris barked at the doctors who were standing around, clearly shocked at what was happening.

His command seemed to spurred the doctors into action and two of them jabbed an injection into each of her arms. 

"This should knock her unconscious in a few seconds," the doctor said. Chris nodded, his muscles straining with the effort to contain her.

We waited a few seconds but nothing happened.

A whole minute went by, still nothing. Lily continued to thrash about in Chris' arms. 

"Why isn't anything happening?" I asked the question which was on everyone's mind.

The doctors looked clueless. "I don't know," one of them said, looking helpless.

"Well, don't just stand there! Try and figure something out." I ordered and they all scurried off, probably trying to figure out a way to control the girl.

I turned to Lily. "Lily? Can you hear me? Calm down, please," I tried, but my words fell on deaf ears. She didn't respond. She looked like she hadn't even heard me and with the way her eyes were practically ready to bleed, I didn't think she could see me either.

What was happening to her?

I looked at the doctors for help, but they seemed busy trying to figure out a way to help. Frantic, I rushed towards Lily, stopping next to the bed. 

"Stand back! It's not safe!" Chris snapped at me and I took a step back almost instantly. And not a moment later Lily strained to the side, her teeth snapping like a rabid dog.

Before I could comprehend what was happening, her body convulsed violently. Chris held her tighter.

I gasped as blood started pouring down her eyes and her whole face contorted into one of immeasurable pain. "Her eyes! What's happening?" I muttered, aghast, feeling both horrified and helpless. 

"Godammit help her someone!" I shouted at the doctors. "Do something!"

The two head doctors looked at the scene before us with wide eyes. "Her time is near, Alpha," one of them said.

"What do you mean? Do something! Help her!" I shouted at him, my eyes filling with tears. Lily was much too small to die. She had barely seen anything, she wasn't supposed to die so young. No one was.

Chris gritted his teeth, simply nodding at the doctors, not saying anything.

Before I could do something, anything to help save her, Lily started coughing violently. Blood poured out of her mouth and down her chest. She was so far gone that she didn't even have it in her to not puke on her own self. 

The sound of violent wretching filled the room as Lily continued to vomit blood, staining her hospital gown and the white sheet underneath a dark crimson.

I was so shocked that I couldn't even move a muscle, let alone do something.

Suddenly she stopped and just when I thought it was over, with an ear piercing shriek, Ivy wretched again, only this time along with blood something else came out of her mouth as well. Something long-ish and slimy. 

Were those...? Were they really...? Had she really puked her intestines out? 

Just as the thought crossed my mind, Lily stopped struggling. The fight going out of her as her body felt limp. And without the doctors having to confirm it, I knew. I think we all did. 

Lily was dead.