Tell A Lie

ZINA

Zina gritted, the message sinking with her. This time, hot tears streamed down her cheeks. "I must ask again what it is that you want?" She said, her voice coming monotone down that it initially was. The fight was finally leaving her, and where she was brave was now an understanding of the gravity of her situation.

"I love your voice as it is now more than as it was before. Your voice tells me you understand the veracity of your situation." The man said casually, his voice signifying that he was enjoying the manner that Zina's once strong demeanour had broken. 

Zina could guess what type of man he is; a sadist wolf. The kind that would enjoy breaking her will, just for the fun of it.

He leaned down, clasping her jaw in his large hands, and tugging Zina closer, "listen to me," he gritted, spittle flying from his mouth and landing on Zina's face. "I reckon you will be summoned to the capital soon by the Alpha King of the North."

"You reckon wrong," Zina spat back, "I am but an insignificant person, no Alpha King will summon me."

Zina felt his creepy smile rub against her skin the wrong way. 

"The Alpha King of the North shall summon you. I believe they might already be on their way, here, to the eastern lands."

The man spoke like he was so sure of it, and Zina wondered how it is that her life was about to change in such a big way and yet she was yet to see nary a thing of it in her visions.

"And why would he summon me?" Zina asked, struggling with the fact that the only Alpha King in their world wanted to see her. She understood that powers like hers were heavily coveted in their world, but compared to herself, she was aware that there were a lot of capable seers and even high ranking Thetas in their world.

The fact that she was Aberrant made her even less appealing. In terms of rankings alone, her status as an Aberrant was a step away from the hated and notorious Deformed Werewolves. And as for her powers; she saw visions indeed, but only when it pleased the gods.

"He summons you to tell him a vision." The man said with a smack of his lips.

Zina laughed, finding his response honestly humorous. "I am afraid while it is I who sees, the visions are not of me."

The man scoffed, "Whoever said you need to see anything? All you've to do is pretend that you've seen one."

Chills ghosted over her skin and dread coiled in her stomach like a viper waiting to strike. But Zina refused to be afraid at that moment, "sir, are you not afraid that the gods will punish you?" She said, voice dripping with menace and a heavy dose of sarcasm.

"I am afraid the gods have already punished me, it might be just you who they will punish next by the time you've told this vision… or should I say lie."

Zina's blood boiled hot from anger. It was because of this sort of helplessness that she had avoided using her powers publicly even though it would have assured her of a somewhat relatively easy life.

Emphasis on somewhat.

"The Alpha King shall ask you two questions; the first one is who shall kill me, and the second, who shall inherit my throne—to all these questions you must answer; Daemon NorthSteed, the fourth legitimate son of the Alpha, born in the year of the Dire Wolf and currently twenty-two years old is the one who shall kill his father. And also the one who shall also inherit his throne. Tell this lie, and I will let your people go."

Something snapped in Zina as the tears burned at her eyes but didn't fall. She was wholly incapable of crying, a deformity she had always appreciated. But at that moment, as her emotions were caged behind glassy eyes and a white blindfold, her body shook with rage at how helpless she was yet again.

Just like the day her biological mother tossed her to the forests for the finding of the kindest or most ruthless person to find her. 

Zina, her eyes clouded with rage on her behalf and on behalf of this Daemon man, gripped the man who spoke the horrendous words to her by his shoulders abruptly, and the man startled, but strangely, could not disengage himself from her. 

Raw power pumped through her blood as a vision slammed into her. "I shall tell this lie for you sir, but do you want to hear a truth?" Her voice was monotones lower, deathly hypnotic, and even soothing.

"What is it?" The man asked arrogantly, but small fear creeped in his words. Zina wondered if he could see how her eyes glowed in that moment beneath her blindfold.

Voice dripping with menace and raw power, Zina drawled, "Under the crescent moon, a hand shall reach out and rip your heart out of your chest."

The man jolted, escaping from her hold. Her original captor reached from behind her and slapped her. "What nonsense!" He growled, angry on behalf of his master.

Zina wasn't even done yet. She smiled maniacally, continuing, "and even when this hand rips your heart out you shall not die… not until your limbs and manhood are ripped out in the same manner shall you cease to breathe."

This time around her original captor kicked her, spitting on her. "Damn Aberrant!"

"I am not even done yet!" Zina screamed, her frustration ebbing at the edges. "Because when you touch a single member of my pack, I shall make sure your cursed fate meets you earlier than that day!" She screamed at them, conveying how well she meant her words.

That night, as Zina tried to sleep, her body throbbed badly from more than one source of pain. Both from being hit badly by her captors for spewing cursed words, and from the pain of her rejection that was yet to ebb away.

In her visions, she saw the same man she saw almost every day. The same man she had taunted Jacen Vampage with.

A very powerful looking man with chiselled jaws and terrifying dark pits for eyes. He wore rags; the clothes of a commoner that rivalled the raw strength that he emitted. Even his alpha wolf was evident at that moment for her to see.

The man stared at her with an indecipherable expression, his neck length black hair tousled by the wind as snow drops fell on him. At that moment, he stood so powerful and yet it seemed he resisted that power. Zina wondered why.

A tear rolled down Zina's cheeks as she watched the man in her vision. The snow showed him to be from the North where ice and glaciers formed. 

She wondered if she was already on her way to meet him, who is her cursed fate.