Chapter 5

Valerie’s POV

With a gasp, I jerk up from the bed, panting heavily. The first thing I do is take my eyes around my surroundings and when it slowly becomes familiar to me, I let out a relieved sigh, placing my hands on my chest. I climbed down the bed gently, trying as much as possible not to wake April after the terrible session of nightmares last night. Glancing at the clock, which was exactly 5:00 am, and knowing I wouldn’t be able to sleep again, I walked into the bathroom to the sink and turned on the faucet, splashing water on my face.

Leaning against the sink, I looked closely at the dark circles under my eyes, probably from stress or maybe from crying too much. I looked into my eyes in the mirror, regretting it almost immediately as faint screams filled my ears, messing with my head. The memories of my previous unfortunate life, my encounter with the goddess, and even my more unfortunate new life flashed in my head. I tore my eyes from the mirror with a gasp, looking elsewhere, since it was the only way to keep my sanity intact.

I left the bathroom, heading out of the room to start the few cleaning I had to do around the motel. Although there wasn't much to do, considering the fact our motel was quite small, and we barely had any customers, it was most of the time left clean.

A few hours later, I heard footsteps walking down the stairs and when I looked up, just as expected, April was walking down the stairs, her pink backpack draped over her shoulders.

"Good morning, Val." She beamed, flashing me her usual wide smile, moving to sit on one of the chairs in the reception.

"Did you sleep well, baby?"

"Not really." She pushed her lips to the side, looking down at her fingers. I did not have to ask why, knowing it was those dreadful nightmares she had, so I crouched before her, holding her small fingers in mine, making her look up at me. "They'd be gone soon? Okay? You're a strong baby, remember?" She nodded, flashing a toothy smile.

"I better get ready; we don't want to miss the bus." Ruffling her hair, I turned around and ran up the stairs to have my bath. I slung my bag over my shoulder as I walked down the stairs a few minutes later. The sun was starting to come up, and the light was already breaking into the motel. I grabbed April's hands and headed outside, walking to the bus stop. We arrived just in time and I threw my arms out, waving the bus down. We moved to the back of the bus and I sat down, ready to drown in the depth of my thoughts, knowing the drive to the town was about 15 minutes long. April sat by the window, watching the passing scenery with interest brimming in her eyes.

It's been three years since I lost my parents again, and eighteen years since I came back to the world. Selene made me relive my life right from the very start, but never warned me I was going to lose my parents and the entire clan again. This time around April was my sister, not my cousin. Although my parents named her Arya, I just preferred calling her that. Honestly, there were a lot of things Selene did not warn me about and a lot of things I was yet to understand. She wanted me to make this right, and was losing my family again a part of making this right?

We escaped to grandma's place, my maternal grandmother, who was a werewolf. She was the only family we had left, and that motel was our major source of income. I never attended school after the death of our parents. Only April could, and it took a lot of jobs to pay for her fees.

I was more like a parent to April, and I loved it. Our motel was on the other side of the city. I guess that was the reason we barely had customers. Our last customers came five weeks ago, and ever since then, we've been waiting for a miracle.

Nevertheless, I still had my plan in mind, though, my plan for revenge. But I had no lead yet and once I find one I would kill everyone who had a hand in the killing of my people and my family, starting with my supposed best friend, Eve. If only the goddess allowed me to be reborn with all my memories intact, I would've prevented all of these.

I dropped April off at her school and proceeded to go to the mall where I worked, not without having breakfast with April at a small restaurant. She has always preferred school lunch, so that was settled already.

"Valerie, how's April?" Jones, my only friend at the mall, walked up to me, his usual smile on his face and round glass perched on his nose.

"She's great," I replied, pretending to sound enthusiastic like him. Well, that has been my life for the past three years, pretending every passing second. By evening, I was returning to the motel with April. I woke April up by the time we arrived at the bus stop.

"Did you have a nice day at school, April?" Grandma asked as soon as we stepped into the motel. April excitedly ran to her like she wasn't sleeping a few minutes ago, telling her about her day at school before proceeding to do her homework while sitting on one of the chairs and tables around. I sat by the counter, as usual, staring into space while waiting for time to fly by and close up the motel. By 9:00 pm, April was already fast asleep in the room. Exhausted, I stood up from the counter, ready to call it a day. I must've been lost in thought that I did not notice the car drive into the parking lot. Five men all dressed in black walked into the motel just as I wanted to lock it, a demeaning aura coming from them.

"Welcome to Roy's Motel. I'm Valerie. How many rooms will you require for the night?" I spoke, faking an energetic voice while trying to keep a smile on my face. I was quite happy, though. It seems the miracle we had been praying for finally came to pass.

"Five rooms." One of them replied, keeping a straight face.

"Okay, let me get your keys." I rushed back to the counter to grab the keys before walking back to them.

"Follow.." I trailed off when I caught sight of the man standing behind them, his hands tucked into his pocket as he stared around the motel dryly. My heart skipped several beats and I could feel a lump swell in my throat as I stared directly at the familiar face of my previous mate and murderer.