Chapter Four: Twice A Fool

My wheelchair rolled causing a creaking sound that echoed through an entire apartment. I laid on the ground, breathing heavily, my hand clutching my chest tightly. There was a high pitched frequency that kept on beeping in my ears as the room spun around me. 

I didn't know how long I laid there, I probably had fainted. I pushed the body on my lap away with great effort. I got up and stared at my bloody  hands and the body that laid on the marbled floor. I didn't know what to do with myself at the moment, my thoughts were hazy and my body ached all over. 

I knelt down, tears running down my cheeks as I pushed the body of the man I once loved over to reveal his face. There were two bullet holes in his body, one was between his eyes and the other was on his chest. 

When I laid my eyes on him, I frowned. There was something wrong with his face, it seemed like his skin was skewered in a way. I placed my hand on his face and then touched his face and my frown deepened. His face seemed to be made of some sort of synthetic rubber. 

I touched it once more then pulled at it. To my surprise, the skin stretched, so I pulled further and it kept stretching. I clutched it tighter and then yanked it suddenly and like withering leaves it fell off his face and I trembled, shutting my eyes. How can someone's skin just fall off?

I have never killed anyone before but I didn't think that skin falling off was one of the attributes of a dead body. I leaned over the body and opened one of my eyes. I gasped, leaping off the body, my expression twisted from curiosity to despair. 

My heart at this point seemed to be ripping from my chest, and my breath  got even worse. I scrambled away, distancing myself. 

It took me a while to get myself together and when I did the door to my room swung open. I glanced sideways to something that horrified me even more. 

I jumped off the ground straight on to my bed staring at the figure in front of me with knitted brows. “Hailey,” he said walking towards me. “What happened here?” he demanded.

“What?” I said, my voice breaking.

“Are you alright?” 

“What?”

“Hailey, it's me, did you shoot him?”

“What?”

“Stop saying what and speak to me, I need to know if you are okay?”

I glanced at him again. “What?” I was barely thinking, my head wasn't processing anything, all I knew was, I was afraid and confused.

The man I had killed earlier had the skin of Throgan plastered across his face and that was what fell off. When I glanced at the man's face, it was somebody else entirely, someone I had never met before. Worse was, the person standing in front of me at this moment was Throgan, he looked disheveled and disturbed. 

His shirt was torn, he seemed to have blood streaming down his head, there was a 9mm in his hands and he seemed out of breaths. 

“Hailey, you need to respond. Did you get the files?” He demanded. 

I glanced at him, wanting to scream but I decided to calm down. “Why are you two people?” 

“Oh… yeah, I should explain,” he chuckled. “However, I cannot explain here with a dead body. Might be great for you, being the daughter of Andolopus and all but I will not be the one your father decides to pin the murder on.” He said and then lifted me across his shoulder. 

“What are you doing, Throgan?” I yelled. “Put me down!”

Throgan shook his head. “I am afraid I cannot do that princess. I need leverage against your father and also leverage against the conglomerate. There are lots of things you all don't understand and I am not going to explain it here,” he said with a chuckle as he dashed through the corridor of our home.

I glanced at him, if he was planning to pass through the open gates, he would have trouble doing that. Well, I needed to know a lot of things before this situation got uncontrollable. “What was that thing in the room with me?” I demanded.

“That is a skinwalker!” he replied without explaining. He didn't need to. Every wolf knows what that means, it was a legend passed on for generations. If there is a skinwalker, right in its shadow, the blood suckers will thrive. If this is true, then we have a problem, a very big problem. 

Instead of heading to the entrance, Throgan headed further back, when he was about to reach the dead end he turned right and then put me down beside him. “Don't move!” he said.  

Something about his words compelled me to stay. He opened a latch on the floor then he picked me up and entered, the latch snapped shut behind us!  It was only until we were fifty heartbeats into the tunnel that I realized what he’d done. “How dare you?” I yelled  and then dug my nails into his neck. 

He yelled and placed me on the floor. “Are you insane?” He demanded. 

“How dare you use the voice on me!” I yelled back. An alpha werewolf can use the voice to control the will of humans and other werewolves below it. It worked on allies the most  as they are unwilling to disobey from the on set. 

“Because this isn't a tour, girl. This is a kidnapping, I need you.”

“What the hell are you talking about, I screamed!” 

He shook his head. “Let me break it down to you. The skinwalker that you managed to kill in your room took on my appearance because they needed to get the file but he took on my appearance and memories and acted exactly like me. Except towards the end when he had grown paranoid and the influx of two different minds had made him mad. Everything he did before today was what I would have done too. Tracy and I are dating, I only came close to you to get the files and whatever you want to think now, I never loved you!”

The words hit me like a bullet and I stared blankly. “What…?” I said. “What the hell are you saying?” I yelled. When I saw his face, something in my heart told me, it was going to be alright now that my real fiance was here and at least something was right, but now I realized I had been wrong. 

“Think about it girl, why would I ever wanna be with a cripple!” He demanded. 

I glared at him and frowned. Anger welled up  inside me. Not at him, but at myself. I have been so stupid, and I was stupid two times over. I chuckled to myself and I didn't even try to run when he slammed his fist into my face. My eyes went hazy and I collapsed.

When I opened my eyes, I was dangling from a chain, both my hands tied as I forced myself to breathe. Throgan was seated in front of me with Tracy on his lap and both of them were half naked as they kissed each other.