Chapter 50.1

I jerked backward again as an army of emotions crawled into me. Fear. Guilt.

I dragged a leg backward again, not taking my eyes off my victim. This wasn't the first time I had killed someone, but strangely it felt different.

No, it was. He was human and not the beasts who came after me. He had a life and I took it. I killed him. I was one of those fucking beasts.

A shivering cry pushed out from my lips and my ass hit the ground. Hard.

Hastened steps rushed into the alley, racing to where I was with my victim whose eyes were pinned on me, haunting me.

"No," The familiar voice of the woman I almost killed minutes ago banged against the walls of my mind as she inspected him. My victim. "He's dead," She muttered, swinging her eyes at me.

I couldn't tell what was in those gazes or what she was thinking. I knew already what I was. A monster. And as a series of questions attempted to raid me, I cut them all off, my eyes still on my victim as his were on me.

"Ciri!" Her voice snapped, dragging me off the ground. "Look at me!" It was snappy again. "We have to get out of here!"

"Him? What about him?" I didn't know I was still shuddering. Like a weak mindless pathetic monster.

"Do you want to stay here for someone or the cops or worse to find you with a dead body which has canine holes in his neck?" It was a rhetorical question. She didn't really need me to answer that because they were right in her eyes. "We have to leave now!"

With one final look at the man whose life I just ended. Wasted. We left.

I hadn't muttered a word even as we returned to Kali's place. I didn't even know why she brought me back here. I wouldn't have if it was me. It was not only stupid but risky to have someone who could snap and lose control so close.

I was alone in the attic while Kali went to check on the children. As a series of questions grazed my mind, all I could see were the lifeless eyes of that man staring back at me.

I groaned, burying my face in my bloody hands. I haven't cleaned up yet. I should. But I couldn't. I had to understand what the hell was I. It didn't make sense anymore. This was a side of me that was never part of my discoveries. Maybe it was a good thing. At least Asher was spared the torture of seeing the monster in me.

"You are a vampire?" Kali's voice seeped in. Cold. But not scared.

I swallowed a bile. The action almost made me puke out the blood which no doubt was the only thing in my stomach. "A vampire," Yeah, that's what I was. "I didn't know,"

"Obviously," She slumped into one of the chairs before me, not caring about distance. She was crazy if she thought I couldn't snap any second and finish what I had started with her.

I glanced at her neck. She has a scarf around it, covering my mistake.

"First time killing?" She was up, strolling to one of the small tables, and returning with two beer cans.

Getting drunk was off the table tonight. I didn't want to lose these emotions. I wanted to feel the guilt. He deserved that much.

Her brows raised questioningly as she took a swig, tossing the other can across the table to me.

I shook my head. "No," I glanced towards the window as darkness still fought head-on against dawn that was almost settling in. I couldn't help but wonder if anyone had found him yet or if he was still lying in the cold.

I shut my eyes. "But he was human. He didn't deserve what I did to him. He must have a family. People that cared, that loved him and I took him away from them," The words sent a pang of pain in me and I fought the stinging in my eyes.

She was quiet and when my gaze met hers, I realized she was studying me. "What?"

She sighed, "Nothing," She drank from her beer. "I get it. You feel bad for what you did. If you didn't, that will only mean you are a mindless, heartless ripper but you still have to know it's not your fault,"

I scoffed at her words. Utterly not comforting. And I didn't want to be comforted. His family should be. I had to figure out just who the fuck I was. What I was.

I groaned as Jasmine's words rang in my ears. Maybe, I was a curse. And Mason's words took the opportunity to slip past the gate of my self-torture. It didn't surprise me anymore. I could feel this dark side of me, in stark opposite to Nina's presence. It was dark, and I see why I could have awakened something truly dark. And then the witch's words settled in, and I was back to clueless. I needed answers. I needed to find him. The Alpha King.

And my eyes snapped open. "You are a witch. You must have a coven or something, but you are out here alone, except for the young girl," I met her stunned gaze, and she smiled.

"You can feel Ria's magic?" Her smile deepened. And I nodded.

At first glance, I could feel her magic. But she was different in a way. Usually, I could feel a witch's magic in their blood, but Ria's was different. It wasn't in her blood. It was like it wasn't in her but at the same time, there was in her.

"I did have a coven. But like I said, I was stripped. Restricted. I can't do much," Her reply was short as she sipped from her beer again.

"Why? What did you do?" I was prodding, not usually my style but I had to know the person that was either stupid or too kind to keep a monster next to her, without even on a leash.

"Not my best days. It was stupid and at that time I thought was the best thing, but it wasn't. There were consequences. So I was punished. The typical," She summarized, flexing her fingers.

"But you regret it?" Her brows lift to me. "Your mistake?"

Her face turned impossibly hard. "With my life. That's why I'm going to do everything to fix my mess," Her deep gorgeous smile returned.

A second of silence passed by before I started again. I had contemplated my options but none was as promising as what hers might hold.

"I need to find someone,"

She sipped from her beer before responding. "Who?"

"The Alpha King," As the words left my lips she visibly stiffened. "Do you know him?" I held on to the hope that had begun to build.

"Even if I hid myself away, news flies. And from the whispers flocking around, he's a dangerous man. Very dangerous,"

I gulped, thinking. If he was, then why the hell did she say I should find the Alpha King?

I shouldn't trust the witch's words. This could be a trap. Maybe to conveniently play right into the hands of those who are after me too. But I had no choice, this was a risk I had to take if I wanted a shot at answers. If he could help, then I had to find him.

"Do you know where I can find him?" I pressed on and she threw me an incredulous look as if saying 'Didn't you hear the last part of my sentence?'

I ignored the questions shooting from her eyes, pinning her with mine.

"No," She sighed. "He's not someone that can be tracked easily. And I have no idea what pack he controls. But I do know he's the King of wolves,"

My eyebrows twitched confusingly.

"The Alpha of all Alphas," She raised a brow at my persistent confusion. "You know, like the lord of all lords. Well, he runs the entire wolf kind," She gave up. "Just out of curiosity. You are a witch, how come you have never heard of him? He's legendary," She threw me another stare. Because I only found out what I was or what I thought I was only a few days ago but I couldn't go down in detail. "But not for good things though,"

"So no way to find him?"

"It's dangerous, but if you ask around, someone might know something. But not witches though, he's not exactly their favorite at the moment," Her words again were not very helpful.

I nodded thanks.

"I think you should get cleaned up and have some sleep. The bathroom is downstairs, the first room to your right. The others don't come up here and children are asleep so don't worry, but if any of them catches you, just say we are roleplaying for Halloween," She winked with a humor-filled voice.

Very funny. I wished I could say but the humor didn't reach the guilt that tightened in my chest.

I left for the bathroom and showered, the dried stain watching the blood on me coming alive and mixing with the water, running down the drain. I wished I was back at Asher's pack. In his arms. And all these were nightmares that I would wake up from.

By the time I got back into the attic, Kali had finished her can of beer and mine and was sprawled on the couch, sleeping. There was a fresh folded pile of clothes on the table for me. A tee and black pants.

I settled on the couch next to hers after I got dressed, checking for any calls or texts on her phone. Nothing.

I was getting worried. Asher or Lyra must have gotten my message by now. Why on earth weren't they responding?

The questions lingered on my mind till I fell asleep. It must have been a short time of sleep because by the time I woke up dawn was still crawling in and the stench of death was all I could smell.

"Kali?" I jerked, and with fear and confusion, she did too. Before I could speak, the cry of a child sliced through.

Kali was the first to react, sprinting out of the attic and I followed her.

The first thing I saw was the smug face of a man as he almost dived his claws at a young girl. My body reacted before my mind could, and in the next second, his head was in my hands, and his body was on the floor and the cries of the children amidst the chaos were like a blaring alarm.

They were everywhere and so were the blood and bodies of the few women that worked with Kali.

My heart squeezed. They were here for me. I had no doubt. I led them here. Alm this happened because of me. I caught a glance of Kali moving the children up to the attic and some of these bastards went after them but I intercepted midway, moving faster than a speeding bullet, rage flaming harder and wilder in me and the desire to have everyone of them reduced to nothing more than corpses was immense.

They didn't see me coming, and with this new dark side of me a breath from being in control, I tore every one of them into unrecognizable pieces but more kept coming. And that's when I heard it. The broken cry of someone behind me.

I turned in time to watch him slit her throat. Blood gushing from her neck as she fell to the floor.

"No!" The words left my lips, along with something else. A force that sliced through the air, bursting through every fragile glass, holding an unexplainable fire that burned the insides of every one of them.

I grabbed the girl in my arms, she was gasping, fighting. And Kali frantically hurried to our side, dropping the small bottle in her hand on the floor and as it broke I could feel the magical energy that filtered into the air.

"It'll keep them out for a short time," She rushed, almost choking at the sight of the girl.

"She's dying," I forced the words out.

"Doti, look at me," Kali yelled, tears in her eyes and fear clogged her throat. "Please,"

"Can you do something?" I know she can. She has like a zillion of those concoctions and potions in the attic, one of them could save her. It must. I couldn't handle another death on me. She was just a child.

"No!" She yelled, her tears now flowing, her pain and helpless weakness a sight that broke me. But she froze, her eyes on me. "You can,"

I could. But I couldn't even heal myself when I was badly beaten and wounded. "I don't know how to," My eyes fell back on the girl, and I could feel her life escaping. "What do I do?" The words came out urgent from my lips, my eyes meeting Kali.

And she walked me through it. I kept on repeating the words she said. It was in a different language. Maybe Latin, but I doubted it. I had no fucking idea what it was but what was more frustrating was that nothing was happening. "It's not fucking working!" I lashed out in rage.

"You are not fucking concentrating!" She yelled back. But she was wrong. I was. "She's…" Kali's words made me stop chanting and I could hear the monotonous sound of her heart plummeting.

"No," I continued, chanting, focusing harder. I wanted her alive and not the other way around. The banging and clawing on the door and walls getting louder but in the midst of that the loud gasping and racing sound of heartbeats that filled the air between Kali and I was a fucking appreciated miracle.

I couldn't believe I did it. Her eyes opened and the mark of death on her neck had been healed.

Kali carried her. "Let's get out of here. It's only a matter of time before they get—" At her words, a wall cracked almost collapsing.

I followed her to the attic and to my surprise, there was an open portal there and Ria right in front of it, like she was anchoring it, keeping it open but it was unstable, on the brink of shutting close. Doti ran through, leaving Kali and I.

Kali was about to go through but stopped. "We don't have all the time,"

"Go Kali. And thank you for everything but I can't risk their lives again. If I follow behind, those bastards will only come after you all," I could hear the heavy footfalls rushing up.

She threw me an exasperated look, about to speak when the glow from the portal died and vanished into thin air, leaving just me and a stranded Kali.

She groaned, rushing to the shelf, and snatched a small glass. She threw it on the floor and it broke, unleashing a yellow smoke that formed into another portal.

"Ciri now!" She yelled, jumping into the portal. "We don't have enough time!" She yelled and without a second thought, I snapped the heads of the bastards that broke through the door, jumping in after Kali.