CHAPTER 9

Song Of The Chapter: Look What You Made Me Do ~TaylorSwift

Chapter: 9

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PERSPECTIVE: Aizea - The girl that hears after dark

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The first tear slides down Andre's mother's left cheek. Her downcast eyes - I can still say - are blankly beseeching me to not step into this trap. Oh, she has no idea...

"I'm sorry for all the role-play earlier. I had to ask you if you go hunting simply to cross-check if you're really human.", Andre says more casually than I would discuss the weather. Earlier. That's my whole damn life, idiot. I wanted to scream on his face. But, of course, I won't.

Because, I have the upper-hand of the enemy's cluelessness. I can almost see those amber eyes shine with pride. I'll actually make them shine with pride when I'm out of this hell, I promise to myself.

I keep the sweet smile plastered on my face. I won't make it that sickly sweet, yet. I'll let him build as many castles in the air as he wishes to.

"It's absolutely alright Andre. Now, I don't need to fear not being able to be with you. I thought you had no idea that I was different. And that made me so scared and wary all the time. I'm sorry for all those lies of omission earlier. I'm just so happy.", and with that, I embrace him. As my head rests on his chest, I'm pleasantly surprised by how easily the fake tears come.

Maybe, they're not that fake. Deep down, I finally notice the throbbing ache of my heart at the deception of all these people that I have loved so. For whom, my whole seventeen years of life is just the prelude of their drama. I cry for all my lost relations, and I cry because I'm just so grateful beyond words to have Lloyerd in my life. I cry for the human lady who's life has been ripped apart into shreds by the cruel claws of these beasts. And, I cry in joy at my own transformation - at how quickly the cold soothes my sobbing heart into the strong dagger that I want to stab through Andre's own beastly heart.

Maybe, I also cry for Andre. I mourn the loss of a true friend. Actually, I mourn the fact that I never really had him to lose.

I raise my head and look up at those clear blue eyes which now remind me of nothing but deceit and the consequent revenge. And, survival. My topmost priority at the moment.

Andre wipes away my tears and I want to slap his hand away.

"Hey, it's alright now.", he soothes me, as if I'm a damn kid.

I sniff a few more times before dramatically asking him with as much pain in my voice as I could muster, "How did I come here, then, Andre?"

His eyes seem to soften and he looks away to exchange a glance with probably Sheroa. Another traitor. The biggest actor out here. Then he refocuses on my face.

"Sheroa found you sixteen years back in the dark depths of the forests. Possibly, the evil people of the Land Of Wudes had abducted you from somewhere and then left you to die once they had lost interest.", Andre explains matter-of-factly. The expression on his face almost makes my jaw tick. Almost.

"Oh.", I let out an encouraging exclamation. I need to know the whole story, right?

Andre's eyes shine with what looks like the slightest bit of remorse. As if those glittering blues can ever touch my heart again!

But, sooner than I can even reconsider that prospect, pride fills his eyes. Good for me, though. The vainer he gets, the easier it is for me to hate him.

"We are the shifter-warriors, Aizea. It's this our duty to the Lord Of Shifters to make sure that the next leader is stronger than the previous one. And, this progressive generation-wise power hierarchy can be maintained only if the Mayor - the one with the strongest shifter - mates with a human. Sheroa was part of the team sent into the dark woods to check if they found a suitable candidate - it would be a generous act too. And, just look at my fortune - the Lord tied my life with yours - yours of all people!"

His voice has picked up the classical Mayor's cadence that I hate with a passion. It only makes it that much easier to act, for me.

I pretend to throw a meek and curious glance at his mother - while in reality, I can't even bear to look longer than a fraction of a moment at the broken-ness that mars her lovely features. "Where is M'lady from?", I ask, trying to make my voice sound softer than I remember it ever sounding.

Andre doesn't even look back at his mother. He simply sighs and says, "Father fetched her from the seas. She was also - ultimately - saved from the evils of the Kingdom of Wudes."

My judgement says that fetched is not the perfect word to use to describe how your sadistic father kidnapped your mother. But, guess it works anyways. I don't even expect anything better than this from these...

I mentally cringe and halt before mentioning the word.

"Oh. What am I supposed to do now, Andre?", his name feels unbelievably bitter as it rolls off of my tongue. I'm overwhelmed by the hatred that I am feeling for him. Even more, by the thought of just how much I didn't hate him even yesterday.

"I think some bonding time with Clara should help.", the former Mayor drops his expert advice where it was the most thoroughly uncalled-for, but somehow, I think, he has helped me, unknowingly.

"Sure.", Andre agrees with not-too-much enthusiasm. "Come."

The next thing I know, I am being ushered away from the crowded Gathering Field, through a passageway in the back, by Andre's hand on my elbow - that threatens to burn off my skin by the sheer ire and hatred the simple touch invokes.

But I halt. I have to. I know that my former family isn't as much of a saint as I possibly thought them to be - but I can't just leave for forever without a single backward glance.

I peek around from above my right shoulder. Sheroa, Melinda and Rubelle's faces are overflowing with joy. Fools. They even look so foolish smiling this broad. Like foolish traitors who aren't even wise enough to realise that what they've done is wrong - gravely wrong, the gravest mistake they've ever made.

But Chorsh's eyes are glinting with a sheen of unshed tears. My only ally in this lonely Zaayes. My soul-brother. In this moment I realise that there are so many questions that I want to ask him - What are they? Why do they need to mess up with the lives of perfectly good human girls? Has he ever gone hunting? What do they hunt? Why do they even need to hunt when they are completely capable of eating normal food? Does he know that I'm not human?

I can't, though. Still, I catch his stare with mine. They are brimming with care, fear and concern. I give him a very slow, reassuring blink that only he understands and he actually looks reassured.

Maybe, he does know that I'm not human either.

But the very next moment his eyes catch sight of my tiara - and he sees it, actually sees it, for the first time. He's the first one to do so, and his eyes widen in pure horror. I smile at him - a cold smile that promises carnage - and turn back around.

I let Andre lead me away from the last traces of my shredded softness and naïvety in Zaayes.

The weather hasn't gotten any better, and strangely, I like it. As I walk towards Andre's residence - conveniently close to the woods, at the border of Zaayes - I hear the wind, the lone witness to the nights that I and Lloyerd have cherished together, whisper the wordless promise of cooperation in my eager ears. My heart feels warmer, though my ears are still just as eager - almost thirsty - to hear his voice.

As I step my first foot across Andre's threshold I feel a strange burst of determination.

"I'll take you to mother's room now. You can talk with her and know whatever basics you want to know. Meanwhile, I'll sit with the council for my very first meeting as the new Mayor.", Andre grins as he finishes speaking.

New Mayor - he's obviously excited by the new title. Once upon a time, I would've considered this grin to be handsome. It would've even possibly quickened my heart rate.

I hide my grimace with a bright smile and when he pecks me lightly on my forehead - as if he has all the rights to do that - I clench my fists for two reasons. Firstly, I don't at all like what he's doing at the moment. And, secondly, I don't want him to decipher the design on my tiara just yet.

But he doesn't.

He heads away and I silently appreciate my own acting skills.

I walk upstairs where Clara had been earlier led to by the Mayor. It's really amazing that he has already left for the meeting in their library.

It's a large and lavish house and the first-floor lobby is pretty large and lavish as well. I pass on door and find no lights illuminating the room, through the glass panes. The next door is quite a distance away. This is what being the Mayor's house for generations looks like. Though, I actually expected it to look somewhat eerie or something. But the cool blue themes don't give away any such vibe.

I knock on the door, seeing the room illuminated on the other side.

Almost immediately and almost robotically, Andre's mother, Clara - I'll keep calling her this only whilst I'm here, because being Andre's mother isn't her damn identity - opens the door. I expect to see atleast some trace of anxiety on her beautiful face, but there's nothing. Absolutely nothing. It makes my throat tighten.

I step inside, as she moves aside to let me in. She doesn't even look up at me.

The room is in all peaches and beiges - calm and docile, just like the resident. I figure out that she won't even ask me to sit, so I do myself that favour by taking a seat on the edge of her bed. But, before that, I silently shut the door.

For one second her eyes flicker up at me - or maybe at my audacity, or, my apparent naïvety.

"I'm not quite the person for introductory pleasantries - not now and here and with you in this...", I pause as I search for the right word, "... situation - so, I'll just skip to the burning question.", I take a deep breath and harden my eyes. "What are they?"

She visibly flinches, as if I've slapped her, and then her head snaps up to look at me with incredulity in those otherwise unfathomable clear blue eyes. I'm sure this is something that she's done for the first time in years, and this tells me that I'm already making progress. I don't speak a word, but I beseech her with my eyes. She has to understand the urgency. She has to tell me.

She continues staring at me, as if trying to figure out what I am.

To get something very precious, you often have to give quite a lot.

I need her trust and the valuable information that she has. For that, I'll have to give her the truth.

"I'm not human.", I whisper to her, so low that even she has to read my lips to understand what I'm saying. Her eyes widen even further and she shivers.

"Please.", I mouth to her. I don't know how much time has passed as we just keep staring at each other - my eyes beseeching and hers baffled. She finally notices the roses on my tiara and her soft, bewildered gasp is heard.

"What are you?", are her first responding words. That's a good question.

"I don't know, and that's why I need your help. I swear to take you out of here - before your heart ceases beating or your warm breath dies - just please tell me."

My feet are itching to stand up and take me to her, but I stay seated at the edge of the bed.

She warily glances at the shut door before two words escapes her trembling pink lips, "Soul-savorers."

What in hell is that supposed to mean?!

I don't realize that I've thought aloud till she answers the question. "They feast upon the souls of humans to sustain their shifter spirits.", her whisper is now urgent and informative, as if she's not sure if she's going to survive this moment, so she atleast wants to pass on the information. But, that won't be the case. No way.

But I taste fear at the back of my tongue for the first time today as I ask her, "Did they...", I can't finish my question, but she understands. She nods sideways in vehement negation. I sigh in relief. I'm not sure if anything remains of a human if the soul is gone - and right now I have too much on my platter to be dealing with some kind of a walking-dead or whatever.

I see the first smile grazing her lips, as if sensing my thoughts, and it makes her look so much prettier.

"Humans do die if their soul is taken.", she informs me. But soon, all too soon, her eyes are trained on my tiara. This time she's frowning in concentration, as if trying to remember something. And then she remembers.

Her eyes widen and her jaw drops. "Where did you see these?", it's an urgent question and I answer it just as quick. "In my dreams.", I don't elucidate my answer, however.

The horror that I saw in Chorsh's eyes are now reflected in hers.

Then she speaks and I know that she is speaking nothing but the true fact, "You're a fae! A royal one?!"

A fae. I toss and turn the word in my head. Lloyerd never told me. But, it all should make sense now, I guess.

"How're you even alive?", she asks me, horrified.

"Because they think I'm just as human as you.", I reply, my voice sounding way too cool even to my own ears.

"But, how? Don't you ever feel the urge to sing?", her voice is now a slightly louder whisper, and I realize that I don't have much more time.

I stand up. "He doesn't let me.", I answer her in a super-calm, hasty and low whisper. Then I go ahead and hold her hands in mine. She is a tad shorter than me. "Look, I'll come back for you, alright? Just when they ask you about my whereabouts, either tell them that you don't know a thing, or paint me the villain - I don't care. Just, survive. I don't care how. Survive. I'll come back for you. And, soon. Till then, survive."

I hurry through the words and stress on each 'survive'. I can't believe I'm giving this mantra to a woman who's nearly Melinda's age.

My mother... I catch myself. Melinda isn't my mother.

She is too frozen to even nod. I glide to the door and quietly open it. I know that the main door is guarded. So, I quietly shut it right back.

"Where's the back door?", I ask Clara in an urgent whisper. She snaps out of the shocked trance before taking my hand. Some energy has refuelled her senses. She quietly opens the door and then leads me to straight down the corridor.

There's a door and I can assume that a staircase lies behind it. I'll manage the rest. I catch Clara's hand as she raise her hand to turn the doorknob. I shake my head at her. "Go back to your room.", I mouth sternly to her.

Hope glitters in her clear blue eyes. They truly remind me of the sea, and of freedom.

I watch her go back to her room and shut the door silently. Only then do I take a deep breath and twist the doorknob.

The door opens to a backyard that has nothing but semi-dry grass covering the whole stretch of it, till where it disappears into the darkness of the dark woods.

I realise that this is a bad idea, a little too late. There's no turning back now. But this is probably the only area where these people - whatever they are - intrude into the peaceful darkness of the forest.

I glide down the staircase and walk towards the woods. That's when I first hear the loud voices. They are hear, and they are looking for me. I smirk to myself. I won't mind a chase.

I don't know where all this confidence is coming from, but I think once you know that you're already screwed, you don't quite care any longer.

Lloyerd.

Lloyerd.

Lloyerd.

His name is a silent chant in my mind.

A re-energizing chant.

"Aizea!", Andre's outraged yell momentarily shatters my peace of mind. I am resentful. But, my anger, sorrow, disappointment, resentment, or any other emotion isn't more important than my survival at the moment.

The wind starts working it's magic. It's velocity picks up as I stride faster into the darkness of the forest. It's shrill murmurs drown down Andre's yells of my name, till I hear a ripping sound. I can no longer hold myself from turning around.

I'm in the darkness now - the familiar comforting darkness - but Andre stands in the dull light of the overcast day. Actually, his shifter stands.

It's dark brown fur is dangerously shiny and the ire brewing in the stormy depths of those blue eyes is intimidating. But, I don't care, as I said. I don't care even when I see it's eyes finally noticing my tiara. Too late.

My eyes challenge him.

I have never seen a shifter this up close - in broad daylight - and I must say that it is nothing close to casual or non-scary. Atleast when it bares it's canines in a snarl.

I see three more shifters slowly move forwards to flank him. And, I pray to the wind to help me. Again. And, it complies.

I simply turn around and run. The wind makes the forest all around a dark blur. But, I can still hear the haunting sound of paws on the moist ground.

But, all I do is run. I simply keep running and never turn around.

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