Chapter 4

          BEAVERTON, OREGON

          

               (Black Blood Pack)

          Cameron's point of view

    Grief and sadness were two feelings that were not so foreign to me. It felt as if their very existence were carved out from my soul, like a ditch of dark hole deep within in my heart. A hole that cannot be filled by anything that the world could offer. I thought of it at that time as a sad moment in life where you have to push through to the other side, but there's no pushing through, and there's most definitely not an other side to this sadness, other than pain and more pain that I'll have to get through everyday. It is the only emotion that have absorbed me. The more the years rush by, and the world keep growing, it only get more harder and impossible to deal with.

     I'm aware of what the world thinks of me, what everyone thinks of me. They say I'm nothing more than a saddened soul that have sold what little of his humanity to the devil. Well, I can't blame them. That wasn't exactly a lie. I had changed. Fuck! Who wouldn't after going through my entire life for the last seventeen years. It's been abominable and heart wrenching. There are some dark days that I almost cave into the darkness that have absorbed me and accompanied me everywhere I went. No matter how deep I fell, how bad everything got, I only hang on to the last straw of my old self because of her, my beautiful mate, Davina. I can't abandon her in this fight against the awful unruly hands of fate. She needed me, as much as I did her. Sometimes it get so hard for me that for the first time I my existence I wish I could just curl up and die. But there's still some hope left in this sufferable madness. The hope of finding our miracle, our lost daughter. Our stolen princess.

    That keeps me going. It's like the very blood that pumps in my veins. My drive and redemption. And I will never give up on the chance of making my family complete, and making everything right. Bringing her back home to where she rightfully belong, with her brother, her mother and I. And until I do. I cannot return to the person I once was, until I find my daughter, I'll remain this way. Cold, heartless and ruthless.

       The last seventeen years have been brutal and soul crushing for me. I've spent the last years turning the world upside down in search of the cursed witch, and the she-wolf who took her away from us, before she was even born. I console myself with the helluva satisfaction of detaching their heads from their body, while I rip off their worthless excuse of a heart. The thrill is something I look forward to. After only a few years of trying to find out any information about Emily and Jasmine whereabouts from people they once knew or had been acquainted with, my patience had slowly worn out. The dark witches, and wolves kept repeating they knew nothing about those two. That was impossible. Someone had had to know something, so I had to improvise and changed my tactics. My hobby of late was torturing and inflicting pain on everyone of them. But today wasn't one of those days, I had to step out a second from my world and make a visit to an old friend.

    I shook out of my thoughts, and used one of my vampire gift, and teleported to a familiar place, the Black Blood Pack. 

     "Who goes there?!" I heard a sharp, threatening voice from the lashing darkness. I halted on my tracks and was instantly circled by a group of wolves. Cautious steps further approached me, and a torch was forced at my face.

    "King!" The voice exclaimed in surprise and fear. I recognized him as Hendrick, the Alpha's beta. He bowed his head in respect, and the group of wolves circling me shifted to their human form, dropping their heads in submission to their King.

     "It's been a long time Hendrick" I calmly said to him. 

     "Yes Alpha. It's been ten long years since we last met" He brewed one of his smile across his rugged face acquired from many wars. 

    I looked him up and down carefully. He had aged quite a little, but his strength and agility was something that was ever still present.

      "How's Luca?" I swerved. We began strolling down the meadow to the Pack house. My hands inserted into the leather black jacket.

     Hendrick sigh was worrisome and deep. It was just as I imagined. I didn't need his words to confirm it. Lucas's condition was not improving. This would be why he requested my presence.

     "I can only say, he gets worst each day" His eyes held a distinct pain and fear. Those words meant one thing, and regretfully, his life was coming to an end. 

    I released a consoling sigh, tapping on Hendrick's shoulder. We reached the first floor when I zoned in on the figure that hopped it way closer to us in elation.

     My full cherry lips curled up a smile. "Is that who I think it is?" I asked in surprise, noting the genuine elation that had risen somewhere within me.

     Hendrick nodded frankly and her shrieks invaded my ears. 

     "Uncle Cameron!" She sprang into my arms. I engulfed her tiny frame with my large arms.

     "Lyra?" It sounded completely like a question. I was still amazed how these kids grow up so fast nowadays. "You are all grown up"

    She giggled, pulling from my embrace. This was a sheer wonder. The last time I had seen her, she was no more than eight, and now she's becoming a grown ass woman. My deepened smile shrinked a little at the thought of my angel. My little girl. My daughter. She would be all grown up as well. A pang of my usual sickness stung my chest, sadness and pain. I felt my wolf, Vittorio howl in my head in pain.

     Brushing it all aside, I consumed my focus on her. She kept telling me about her life, school and queried about Asher. I was marveled by how much she said in short minutes. We approached Alpha Luca room. Hendrick and Lyra left me when we pulled up at the door. 

     I knocked once, before twisting the doorknob open. The room was dark. Not even the moonlight rays was allowed in. I sniffed the awful, yet familiar smell of despondency and sadness. My eyes caught his bulky frame that leaned against the curtains. It was either he hadn't felt my presence yet, or felt too tired to make any movements.

    I stepped closer. "Luca…" He jolted in shock, his eyes meeting mine in the darkness. 

     "Alpha. I didn't hear you come in" He said quietly. His voice sounding strained and too tired to speak. 

    I strutted to the curtains, tugging at it. The room brightened a little from the moon's light that filtered in. I could see him properly. His deep eyes met mine, and he forced a smile that betrayed his true emotions. He was still as huge and bulky as always, but I couldn't recognize the soul harboured down in those saddened eyes. Hendrick was right. He had worsened severely.

     I leaned against the wall, opposite to his. "You look terrible Luca" I was honest. He had aged alot within the last years, almost at the fast pace humans did. 

    He forced a smile again. The soft skin around his eyes were weary and worn out. His once sharpened and broad shoulders fell on him like they had been soaked in the rainfall. 

     "I could say the same about you" Touché. He was right. I wasn't any better myself. 

      "Take care of yourself Luca. You still have children who needs you" At my words, his eyes lazily roamed out the window into the blank space. 

     "How's he doing?" He asked. His words dry, and voice plain. But the emotions seeped through his gaze.

     "He's holding up well. He's no longer a kid you know, he has grown into a fine young man" I conjured the image of the little boy who came to us at a young age. At the tender time when he desperately needed a parent. He was only just five and my heart felt for him. He reminded me of the time I lost my parents at that age. I knew what I went through, how much I had craved the love and warmth of a parent. But I don't blame Luca in anyway. They both were another one of fate victims. Anyone who had recently lost the love of his life, his destined other half and one true mate would be left as broken and incomplete as he was. It happened to me when Davina died in my arms. Fuck! I had lost it. I felt my whole world had ended, and it would have if she didn't escape death and returned back to me. I knew exactly how this man felt, so I couldn't prejudice him.

      "I guess he got his old man's genes after all" Luca attempted stifling a chuckle, but it ended up in an uncontrollable violent cough. 

     "He also inherited Lucia's beauty" I poked. Lucia was an untouchable subject with him. But I had to even though it hurt him. For Asher, Lyra and himself. I had too. "You should see him" I added, expressionlessly. Luca remained quiet. "He blames himself everyday for her death" 

      "It wasn't his fault" Luca was quick to defend. I saw a spark of his old, lost and forgotten self. 

     "Then you should tell him yourself. He needs you. I can only be there for him as a guardian, uncle and friend. But you are his father, Luca." 

     Luca expression softened. His eyes held my cold, expressionless amber eyes. 

     "I can't look him in the eye. It's my fault he grew up without a mother" Luca's broken, tear-stricken voice sounded. All I saw in him was profound guilt. He knew better than anyone that neither Asher nor him was to blame for Lucia's death. Lucia was someone special. A demon princess that was mated to an Alpha. She knew she wouldn't make it. She had the choice to choose between her life and her child's, and she chose to have the child. It was fate wrongdoing. Lucia lost her life during childbirth and that cross was something neither Asher nor Luca should have to carry. 

      "Hell Luca! You know fucking well it's not your fault nor Asher's. He's been waiting for you for thirteen years already. He has this notion that you despise him for killing your mate…."

      "I would never. I love my son. He's the proof of what Lucia and I shared. Of our love"

     "Then tell him that. He needs to hear it not me." I knew I sounded harsh. But that was brutal honesty. Deep down I wished I had such privilege to tell that to my daughter. Everyday for the last seventeen years, I always wondered what she thought of me. Of Davina and I. Her real parents. I died each time just having to think what lies Jasmine and Emily must have probably told her. She must have thought we abandoned her, or even worse, we didn't want her or we gave her up. But we didn't. She was stolen from us even before she was born by Emily, the witch who performed the ritual that transferred the child Davina was expecting into another host, Jasmine. Davina didn't get the chance to birth her like she did with Theo. I didn't get the chance to carry her as an infant. Those were moments stolen from us by Emily and that psychotic ex-girlfriend of mine. Losing her was not a choice.

     "That was why I called for you…." His eyes were hard as a rock. His face adopting a grim, deathly demeanor. I mentally held my breath awaiting his words. "...... I don't think I'll make it that long."

     Something in my chest lurched. "Explain what you mean?"

      "I'm dying." He protruded, pulling his gaze back to the darkness hovering outside the window. 

     "That can't be Luca. You can't be sick not when your wolf is…." A thin realization cut sharply through my words. I looked at him in horror. "Fuck damned No. Luca. I can't believe this"

      He nodded. Not glancing my way. "My wolf died. He couldn't bear the pain any longer." He tried detaching the sorrow from his words. But he barely had any luck on that. 

     "When?" Was all I could form. Involuntary, I thought of Asher and Lyra. How devastating the news will be.

     "Few months ago." He counted the words, like he was reciting it from the blank darkness. 

     I shut my eyes closed. This was bad. No one could live for too long without their wolf who died from the pain of losing one's mate. "I can easily make you a vampire."

     He snickered lightly. The moon rays nesting on his dulled face. "I won't be able to make it through my transition. My body and soul are weak, and I have no will to live. Even if by some miracle I survive, living will be far worse than dying. With the pain in me, I might become a souless ripper." He took a careful pause. His eyes locked with mine. "I do not want that for myself. I have lost my will to live a long time ago. It's time I take some rest, I've made her wait for far too long"

       He had made up his mind. There was no persuading him. "Does anyone know about this?"

      "Hendrick." Luca summoned the name with ease. "He's the only one that knows in the Pack" 

     I dug my face into my both palm of mine, rubbing tersely against my face. "What do you want me to do now. How can I help?" 

     He slowly pulled his distant lost gaze to mine. A warm smile finding his dry, lifeless lips. "I knew I could count on you" 

    He paused. "Asher----"

    "You should send for him. Tell him yourself" His gaze drifted from mine.

     "I will. Lyra is so young. And so is he" I could feel Luca concern. Even I would feel that way leaving Theo all alone.

     "Asher is one hell of a tough man. Believe me he grew up into a fine young man. He'll make a good Alpha" I assured him. I took Asher as a son of mine. I believed in him.

     "Yeah." He chuckled roughly. "Lucia and I will be forever grateful to you and Davina. I knew I will never be able to be a good father to him. Even when I took in Lyra. I knew it. I didn't want to disappoint Lucia. I don't know how I'll be able to survive if she hadn't sent Davina to me."  

      I exhaled deeply. Thinking of my mate and Lucia's encounter. If it wasn't destiny, I don't know what else to call two strangers knowing each other through a mere dream few months after Lucia's death. 

      The door jerked open, interuppting us. Hendrick hastened to us. Face crippling with fear. His heart beat absconding through the roof. Absentmindedly, I used another of my vampire gift and read his mind before he could speak. My heart dropped quickly and hands fell from my pockets, knowing it's news from Wiscon. Davina, my mate was there with the witch Cyrene.

     "Sorry for interrupting. It's urgent" Hendrick apologized. Carter and Blake followed behind him.

    The look on my face grew with uneasiness and fear. 

    "Did something happen?" 

     Carter met my gaze.

     "It happened again. It's the Elder witch Elona. She's dead." Carter said.

     I clenched my jaw at his words. Not again. I pinched my forehead. "When?"

     "Today. She was found like the others" At Blake words, my hand folded into a ball in a fit to subdue my rage. It's been recurring for the last seven years. Mysterious deaths all around the continent. At first it started with random deaths from different supernatural kind. But in the last three years it grew worse. High ranking officials from different supernatural kind began to die mysteriously, leaving behind no trail at all, and now an Elder witch was murdered.

     "It keeps getting worse by the day. Everyone is in panic. No magical being is safe anymore" Luca sounded quietly into the night's darkness. His intense gaze directed outside the window. 

     "The Circle called for a meeting. They are requesting for your presence this time" Carter said. It had been a long time since I attended a meeting called by the Circle. I had more important matters to attend to. But I had to go this time. This mysterious deaths were concerns to everyone. And I had to see my mate, Davina, and more importantly the witch Cyrene. She has been having strange visions, some of which Davina thinks may have to do with our missing daughter. Our little miracle.