25 – GUARD DOGDAMONIt was essential that I left the pack ahead of Stephan's group.If I wanted to get where I was going ahead of time, I needed the head start.I had decided after I left Rebekka that it was not enough fun to just sit on the sidelines and watch the so-called heir carry out his mission, I needed to be involved somehow.I had been navigating for some hours now and I recognized the mountain head from one of the maps, I grinned to myself, I was close to my target.I paused suddenly, my body tingling and alert, I could feel a pair of eyes on me.Was there a sentry or a scout? I was being watched, I could feel it.I frowned, the pair of eyes that were on me didn’t feel human.I resumed walking, causally on the outside but very alert inside, my eyes were scanning the hill ranges for any sign of my watcher but I could not spot it.Whoever or whatever it was, it was skilled in stealth, but I knew, sooner or later, it was going to show itself.The sun was already hiding itself
26 – TEA PARTYREBEKKA“Are you Rebekka Kent?” a deep voice asked from behind.I turned around startled.An intimidating looking pack guard was standing behind me.I backed away from him as my panic began to rise.What was all this? I had just woken up in the morning to start my day and now a pack guard was looking for me?“I am, is there any problem?”He must have noticed the look of apprehension on my face because he made an attempt to smile, “You are not in any trouble, miss.”I still looked at him suspiciously but I was much calmer now.“You have been given a high summon.”My eyes widened in shock. A High Summon, me?“Sorry, there must be some sort of mistake, are you sure you are talking to the right person?”“You are Rebekka Kent, right?”I nodded.“Then it is definitely you.”I was still shocked, a high summon? But who could be summoning me? Damon and Stephen were both out of the pack on some secret mission that neither of them told me about. I didn’t know any other high born.
27 – DANGER ZONEDAMON“Take it easy, I told you I come in peace!” I barked at the guard.“Shut it, you wild beast!” he shouted back and shoved me forward roughly once more.They were now leading me deeper and deeper into their hideout, to see their leader.I was able to convince the guards that killing me would not be in their best interest and instead that they should take me to their leader.There were hushed whispers coming from tents inside the dark cave as people pointed at me and spat on the floor in disgust.I grinned to myself, these witches sure did hate us wolves.“If you indeed have nothing valuable to say, I will make sure you die a very painful death,” one of the guards said and shoved me forward roughly.“It doesn't even matter what you say, you are not leaving here alive!” the other added.I could feel the venom and spite in their words but it didn’t faze me.These guys were idiots, that is why they were nothing but common guards. I wanted to talk to the person in cha
28 – DYING MINUTEDAMONThe coven leader looked at me in shock, “Liar,” she muttered.I was starting to think that this woman was not as clever as I gave her credit for. If I remained here and Stephan and his group came in and met me, I would be in a serious situation, I needed to get out of here as soon as possible.“Go, find out what is happening,” she instructed one of the warlocks.The bald man withdrew his blade from my neck and rushed towards the entrance of the hideout.“We are wasting precious time, you need to come with me now,” I said with urgency in my voice.The coven leader cast me a confused look.“The longer you stay here, the less likely your chance of escape.”“Keep quiet, let me think,” she said as she began to run her fingers through her hair.“What is there to think about? This is cut and dry.”“Keep talking and you would lose your tongue,” the second warlock threatened.I eyed him then kept quiet, my mind was working.It sounded like a simple enough plan, make Ste
29 – INVASIONSTEPHANI heard a hissing sound and then out of the blue, one of the witches came flying at me from the dark.It was a good thing that I could see in the dark else that attack would have been really fatal.I spun to the side and she missed me wildly.She landed on the floor on all fours and then let out a high pitch piercing scream.The entrance to the cave began to tremble and everything around me felt like it was vibrating at an exceedingly high pace.I staggered as I tried to find my footing.The face of the witch had already changed from that of a woman in her mid thirties to that of an old granny.Her cheeks sagged and there were wrinkles on her forehead and her eyes were sunk into her socket.Her former lush red hair was now in strands and there were boils all over her scalp.My heart skipped a beat as I saw the monstrosity before me, so this was a witch’s true form?She came at me again, moving on all fours like some sort of insect and then she leapt on me driving
30 – BLOOD VISIONREBEKKA“Stephan and I are already discussing our wedding which will be happening anytime soon…”Lady Vanessa’s words danced around in my mind as I walked away from the Duncan’s pack house.My legs felt weak and my head felt heavy.What did she mean by she and Lord Stephan were planning a wedding?Would a man that was planning a wedding kiss me with such passion and hunger? She must be lying.But she sounded so sure, so smug and confident… could she really be lying? Why would a high born feel the need to lie to a nobody like me, she must be telling the truth.My heart felt like it was going to give out any second now, I could not bear this anymore.“So, just remain out of sight and don’t try to stir up any trouble else… being attacked by thugs and getting poisoned would be the least of your worries!”There was something about the way she said it that didn’t sit well with me. First of all, how did she know that I was attacked by thugs and poisoned?Apart from the thu
31 – INVITATIONDAMONI led them down and deeper into the cave, with my super hearing, I could hear the distinct sound of running water up ahead, surely there must be an opening somewhere there.“Wait here, let me check it out,” I told the coven leader.She nodded, “Be fast about it.”Foolish woman. If she had been fast about accepting my proposal earlier, we would not have been scrambling to find a new exit now.We would have just walked out the way I came in and been long gone before Stephan and his merry band of witch killers made it to the hideout.True to my hearing, there was a hot spring located somewhere up here in the mountains.I followed the sound until I came to the source of it.There was a slit in the rocky outgrowth and the rays of the early morning sun streaked in through the crevice.The problem was that it was not big enough to fit anybody.In a network of caves such as these, there was bound to be more exits but we could not risk it, we might run into wild wolves.I
32 – CLAWEDSTEPHAN“That’s odd,” Claude commented.He was saying out loud what I was thinking.I looked at him, “I have been thinking the same thing.”“What’s odd?” Flint asked.He and Claude banded together when I told the group to split up and they went searching left.I had remained in front of the main tent, a part of me thinking that there was some secret bunker or something here and that any time soon, witches would pop out of it and attack.Nothing of sort happened and time passed and finally Claude and Flint were back.Claude looked at Flint, “Are you an airhead?”Flint frowned, “That does not call for insults man, just tell me what the fuck is going on.”“Can’t you smell?” Claude yelled. “What do you smell?”“Nothing!” Flint protested.“Exactly,” I chipped in, “Nothing.”“When we came into this hideout, we could smell the witches, their stench, their sweat and even to some extent, their bloodlust but now… now we are in front of the leader’s tent, there is no scent whatsoever
95 – STEPPING IN FILTHDAMON POV“Where the hell do you think you are going?”I walked briskly after her and grabbed her arm and turned her around roughly.“Do you think you can just walk out on me?” My eyes were wide and darting around searching her face.Where was Rebekka getting this false confidence from? Did she think her life was just something that she could just throw away like that?Under my watch? That was not going to happen.“Let go of me, Damon.”Sneering, I let my fingers curl around her arm and held her more firmly, “You are not leaving here until I have talked some sense into that thick skull of yours.”“I don’t have time for this, people are dying, Damon.”“Let them die, the fuck do I care?”Rebekka gasped in shock as she looked at me in disbelief.“Yes, does that surprise you? Huh?”She looked up at me with hurt eyes, “How can you be this callous? Can’t you see how much suffering is going on around you?”“So far as it is not you, I could not give a shit!” I yelled at
94 – CLASH OF CONVICTIONDAMON POVAs I walked down the back entrance of the clinic, I felt a knot in my stomach. I didn’t like the feeling. I knew that I should have come back earlier, as soon as that pretentious dick, Vane, stopped me from using the Elite Guards, I should have rushed back here.The truth was that I was scared of what I would find, a Rebekka in a coma with red sores running down her spine.A part of me didn’t want to see that, to admit that I had failed her, that I had failed in general. Coming this morning was just routine I told myself.With how fast her own case was progressing, there was no way that she would still be alive now. She surely was dead. It was better I met her corpse than to meet her suffering and feeling helpless in her presence.I smirked as I walked into the clinic, the smell of disinfectants was so thick in the air that I could not distinguish her scent from anything else.Finding her in this mess would be a pain, “Hey…” I grabbed a hold of a wi
93 – A DEADLY CHOICEREBEKKA POVI was still caught up in the heat of the moment, I still could not believe that what I had done had worked.It was not until Luna’s Gwen’s voice had replayed in my head like ten times that the implication of what she was asking for dawned on me.Mass Produce it?The excitement vanished from my eyes and I blinked as reality hit me hard. I looked at Luna Gwen, she was not facing me again, she was smiling with Dr Purcell as they celebrated the medical breakthrough.When Luna Gwen finally turned to look at me, I had to force a smile.“Whatever you need Rebekka, just let me know.”I nodded sheepishly with my hands in my lap.As soon as Luna Gwen walked away, I ran straight to Kami’s brother. I had to see and feel for myself that the vaccine had worked.He was blinking and looking around in confusion, “Are you okay?” I asked him?“Kami,” he muttered and then his face contorted as he fought back the tears that were building up.I could not control my own emot
92 – GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWSREBEKKA POVWhat if, just what if my blood could be used as some sort of vaccine for the plague?That was the only common denominator between Lord Stephan recovering from a fatal WolfsBane poisoning and me surviving a plague that no one else seemed to have a cure for.I was dead certain that it would work but also scared, what if it didn’t? I would just be wasting precious time and sharing unnecessary hope.No, I would not tell it to anyone, I would keep it to myself and I would put it to the test and do it quickly. The sooner I ruled it out, the better.“Rebekka?”I spun around to see Miss Caitin staring at me with surprise.She was looking at the hospital gown I was putting on, “Are you sick?”“No,” I almost yelled. “Just ran out of fresh clothes.”She sneered, “Get dressed into something proper, there are more people that need those gowns… and what are you doing just standing there? The left wing is not going to take care of itself.”“Of course, right away,
91 – AN OLIVE BRANCHDAMON POVVane!I didn’t have time for that bastard yet, what the hell was he doing telling men that I ordered to get ready, to stand down?I frowned and my eyes narrowed, I still did not turn or acknowledge his presence, “Are you deaf and dumb? Grab your lances and spears and follow me!” I yelled again.The men stiffened and looked at each other in confusion.“Yes sir!” they echoed.“I said, Stand down Damon!” Vane’s voice was much louder than mine and even more forceful.I sneered and turned to look at him, “What is it that we have here? The chief of the Elite Guards? No, the right hand to the alpha? No… that’s right, you are nobody to give me commands!” I yelled back.“You are all dismissed!” Vane yelled at the guards present.They shuddered and began to shuffle away.“If any of you take another step, I will have his head!” I commanded without even looking at them.Everyone came to a halt and stood very still.My eyes were on Vane and they were not happy eyes.
90 – A CRAZY IDEAREBEKKA POVConstriction, that was what it felt like, it was as if something was pressing my throat on both ends and stopping me from breathing.Even the oxygen mask that I was given did not seem to totally alleviate the problem.My eyes kept darting back and forth in my socket as I was looking at the white coats taking care of me and the other patients.They did not seem to know what they were doing, they just hung an IV bag overhead and put the drip in my arm – the same drip that they had been administering to all the sick patients and not one had gotten better.I lay there on my bed, panicking, unable to talk or gather the strength to move. I doubted if Dr Purcell knew what happened to me, he must have been so busy dealing with cases that I doubted if he even knew that I went out with Damon or that I was now infected with the plague.This could not be the end of me, I refused to believe it. I had promised Kami’s brother that I would save him – I could not die wit
89 – BLOCKADEDAMON POV“What the hell is that?” Rebekka gasped in shock.I squinted as I stared at the massive coiled beast that was just under the surface of the water. It must have been about fifty feet long, I could not really tell seeing as it coiled into itself.The scales were reddish and black all mingled together, large like a bronze shield and by the looks of it, just as hard.“What do we do?” I could hear the panic in her voice and I wished she was not so agitated, but at the same time, I did not blame her.So this was the cause of the outbreak that had been decimating the pack? A part of me was relieved that it was not the black stone dagger but damn it… that would have been far easier to destroy than this massive creature.I looked at Rebekka, “We retreat,” I said in a low voice that could barely be heard above the rushing water.“Retreat?” she yelled back.I winked at her to try and signal her to stop shouting but she was not getting my point.“We cannot retreat Damon,
88: SERPENT OF SCALESREBEKKA POVMy jaw dropped when I heard that and it felt like someone smashed into my chest with a hammer.I staggered back and looked at him, my eyes were mingled with the hurt that was burning in my heart.Damon sneered, “Oh don’t give me that, you didn’t seem to care about him when you were pleading for me in my bathroom.”I gasped.A wave of guilt washed through me and I didn’t want to be there right then. What made me think that seeing Damon was going to be a good idea?“Exactly,” he chipped in when he saw that I was silent. “Hey, look at the bright side, if he never comes back, you never have to deal with the guilt of whether to tell him or not about our little… adventure.”He grinned at me, his blue eyes staring at me with an intensity that made me uncomfortable.I sniffled and looked down to the floor, looked like everywhere I went, it was bad news, “I am glad you are alive,” I said in a downcast tone and turned back to head into the clinic.Damon sighed,
87: THE CONTAGION REBEKKA POVI blinked twice to make sure that what I was seeing was correct. Scales?Reddish black for that matter, a color combination I had never seen before.A mixture of excitement and panic shot through me as my eyes stayed glued to the microscope as I peered into it.I could not believe it, I was operating under a weak premise that the disease might somehow be water borne and now that premise was paying off.I could not wait to let the Luna know.I jumped down the stool and sprinted out of the lab, back to the lobby.The chaos momentarily threw me off again, so many new faces and sick people were littered all over, coughs and cries were coming from all over the place.Without even knowing it, my eyes went in search of the little boy from earlier. I had promised him that his sister would be alright but she died, right before our eyes.I could not find him in all that chaos and I started to panic a bit. It took a bit of time for me to calm myself down, he still