6. Dead and Gone?

Angel

Soon, a tall man with onyx-coloured eyes, as dark as two abysses, entered the place. My wary eyes inspected him cautiously as I tried to find out who and what he was. He looked normal, except for the grey wick of hair in the middle of his otherwise very dark hair. I’d never seen a werewolf with grey hair before – it wasn’t a thing since our kind doesn’t age. Even without being able to smell his scent, something told me that he wasn’t a regular werewolf.

My eyes moved around the room as I heard a strangled gasp; it came from one of the tall and sturdy warriors, he was now pressing his back against the wall like a scared child. What the hell? I looked at the other three elite fighters, and they also seemed really affected by the newcomer’s presence, making way for him swiftly and moving their gazes down as if the man was their Alpha. My brows raised in confusion. I didn’t understand anything. I, too, could feel his heavy and odd energy. But this man wasn’t an Alpha. Even weirder than that, I could’ve sworn that I saw two of the serious and impassive-looking warriors starting to tremble.

Yet, with the elephant in the room – or better put, the weird wolf in the room – taking a few steps closer, I started coughing. I could feel pure darkness seeping from him, his very presence was toxic.

The newcomer looked at me and smiled, closing the distance between us as Alpha Blake lifted my shirt, showing him my moon-shaped birthmark. Why were they obsessed with it? What was up with this mark? Was that why he wanted me? Many confused thoughts popped into my mind, but in a matter of seconds, my thoughts went silent and all I could feel was thick darkness wrapping around me.

“This man. He isn’t normal, Angel. He is pure darkness, I am very scared!” Sia whimpered, shaking in my mind. I wish I could hug her, reassure her that things would be alright, even though I was pretty sure things would never be alright again. May the Goddess protect me.

“Here she is Elijah: your gift!” Blake told the newcomer, who flashed me a haunting smile.

“Finally, I found you. It was hard, Girl. You are someone hard to find and hard to kill!” Elijah caressed my face, and all I wanted to do was to peel my skin off; this man gave me all the creeps.

My whole body squirmed, and like a miracle or something like that, I managed to partly shift and elongate my nails into Sia’s sharp claws. I swallowed the moan of pain as I cut myself when I ripped the rope around my hands.

“Stay away from me, you fucking crazy dudes!” I yelled, clawing Elija’s chest as hard as I could.

My attack only made him laugh as he took a few steps away and cleaned his chest with the handkerchief he took from his pocket. A gasp left my lips as I noticed that his blood was as dark as his eyes and it smelt rotten.

“Elijah, can we put her potty mouth to good use?” Alpha Blake asked.

“If you try anything, you will die!” I yelled, my claws poised to attack again. I surely wouldn’t manage to kill anyone, but I would give them a run for their money.

“No, pup. You will die,” Alpha Blake laughed, throwing his head back.

“I might die, but if you touch me, I swear that I won’t be the only one meeting the Moon Goddess today!” My words burnt with determination. They might kill me, but he won’t place his dirty paws on me. Alpha Blake would have to kill me before it!

“I have no time for that, Blake. You fulfilled your part of the agreement, and I will fulfil mine. The girl is mine.” Elijah told him, and Blake huffed in frustration. That damn prick!

“Untie her completely now. I’ve waited too long and I am tired of exchanging pleasantries,” Elijah ordered, and to my surprise, the Alpha did what he said, untying my waist and legs.

Who was this dark-blooded creature who commanded an Alpha as if he were a school pup?

As soon as I was untied, I started kicking and clawing the Alpha, but my little fight party only lasted a couple of minutes before he immobilised me and turned me to Elijah. In a swift movement, he took a completely dark knife from his pocket — it oozed thick and black smoke.

“Angel, I think this is dark magic! We will die. I love you, and I am so sorry I wasn’t a good enough wolf to you. I am sorry I couldn’t protect you!” Sia murmured in my mind before the knife pierced through the flesh of my lower stomach.

All I wanted to do was to reply to her, to tell her that I loved her too, and that it wasn’t her fault, but it was too late, I couldn’t feel her anymore. A scream left my lips and an icy pain exploded within my soul. Even worse than dying was to feel my Sia dying within me.

Sucking in the tears, I kept my eyes open through the insane pain, giving Elijah a defiant stare. Elijah moved his hands in the air a couple of times, and more dark smoke left them, pulling me from Alpha Blake’s grasp and enveloping me. The dark magic strangled my whole body, making me drift off, losing consciousness.

His wicked magic consumed me. Everything was darkness. I was dying.

~ *

The movie of my life playing in my mind was over. Did it mean my time was also over and now I was dead for good? Or better put, dead for bad?

To my relief, I heard the wolf howling once again. Relaxing as much as I could, I let the soothing howl wash over my mind. It felt good, it felt like life.

I felt as if my soul was following the she-Wolf’s sound to finally meet her wild and beautiful soul. A little explosion surged in front of my eyes as a green light merged with something golden and beautiful. Somehow, I knew that the green light was me – it was my very soul, plus the golden gleam that was within it now.

Could that be the Goddess?

“Angeline?” I heard a sweet and warm voice. It drifted with goodness, life while soft and healing energy caressed my broken heart —Yes, that must be the Goddess.

Another howl vibrated through my being, followed by the heavenly voice calling for me.

“Angeline, look at me. Open your eyes, I am within you now.”

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t open my eyes. My soul reached for Sia’s, yet it couldn’t find her anywhere. I was fully aware of what such emptiness meant, and my heart clenched painfully.

“Where is Sia?” I asked the voice.

“Sia is gone. She sacrificed herself in an attempt to save you; her soul shielded yours, and consequently, she took the hardest hit of Elijah’s dark magic.”

“She is gone?” I cried into my mind, “I need my wolf! She is part of me, and I can’t be without her — what will I be? A were-without-wolf?” I mourned. I could feel the damn tears sliding down the immaterial dress of my soul.

“You will have a wolf, Angeline. You will be complete. But this wolf won’t be Sia,” she explained. I sobbed hard, my heart breaking for her. My poor sweet and naive Sia sacrificed herself for me. It was all their fault! The cruelty of all those horrible men. They had to pay for it!

“What is happening now? Am I gone?” I asked, beyond confused. Was the Goddess collecting my soul to take me to the other dimension – to the Ether?

“No. Now that I am within you, and our souls are united, you will live again. The Goddess told me that She is returning your life through me, but you are the one to decide if you wish to take her offer. Also, you are the one to decide how to live it. You will have to pave your own way and make your own choices whilst you walk on the tightrope between destiny and desire. Those important decisions you are to take shall determine who you are and if you can fulfil the divine mission that was inscribed in your body and soul centuries ago, even before you came to exist. But don’t worry, Angeline, you will never be alone; I will be with you every step of the way, now that our souls are one.”

So, she wasn’t the Goddess, yet she sounded pretty divine.

“Wait! If you aren’t the Goddess, but you are someone she sent, who exactly are you?” I asked, my confusion only growing. I was still riding my death headache, and well, it was hard to think straight after coming back from death. Everything still felt numb – kind of half-dead, pun intended.

“Open your eyes, Angeline.”