Chapter 16
It was refreshing she thought as she walked through the tunnel of trees that lit up in response to her presence, was it her power or the fact that she was some kind of fae? She couldn't even recall anyone using that word around her, her entire life. At the end of the tunnel the full moon shone down on her and the forest glowed in response, she heard wolves howl in the distance. She was not alone in this forest tonight. Another howls, which a few more joined. Did they know that Roland and Cordelia had died? Were they coming to avenge them? She looked at the tunnel of trees and as if nature read her mind trees began to grow to seal off the tunnel. She couldn't risk any more harm to come to her friends, and none to come to her alpha that had been with her through everything. Which left her useless Beta, who had mated with her, clothed her, protected her and cared for her. Was it all a lie? She sped up her walk into a jog and then into a sprint. They would pay, she would make them pay.
The guards let her in without batting an eyelash, she hid the silver dagger in her cloak as she walked in, and hoping they somehow wouldn't see her true intentions.
She ascended the spiral staircase and closed her eyes hoping she could somehow sense her mate but the freshness and awareness she felt in the forest was dimmed in the building. "Ivan," she called, almost singsong-y as she walked down the corridor of their large wing, she saw John peak his head out of a room further down the hall, his eyes lit up at seeing his alpha female return.
"Catherine! You're alive, you survived the changing!" He rushed to her and stopped "You're not a wolf, where is Alpha Peter?"
"Where is Ivan?" she smiled at her omega that was backing away from her, realizing that this woman was not the alpha that had left him a week earlier, her kind disposition vanished and left with only murderous intent.
"The elders have taken him, they said that you had to be taken away to change due to you being a Helian, and alpha Peter had to help, but you haven't changed at all…"
"The elders." She bit out "John do me a favor, go to alpha Roland’s and see if you can find an omega named Mate-"
"Oh I know him"
"Well good, go get him and the other omegas that are Alpha Roland's as well."
"But-"
"Do as I say John!" she ground out, the flames seemed to die down in response to her anger and the omega ran past her to fetch Mateo.
She had walked this path unwillingly twice, she thought as she walked down the hall towards the council of elders. The flames in the sconces that dimly lit the halls seemed to shy away from her as she passed. She ascended a set of stairs and saw the familiar double wood doors to the rounded room where the elders stayed.
Catherine attempted to pull the door open but it was locked, she banged on the door again and heard voices inside, one of which was deep and low, Ivan, Ivan the betrayer. She saw red. Catherine grabbed one of the sconces and set it at the foot of the door where the hinges lie, and another on the other side., the heavy oak began to smoke and where there is smoke, there's a fire, she ran down the hall and grabbed another, setting it between them. The heavy oak doors caught fire relatively quickly after the varnish melted, and she could hear shouting on the other side of the doors. She waited with her dagger drawn for the doors to fall down or to burn up, one or the other. Finally, her patience lost, she pushed one of the doors forward on the middle part that didn't catch fire, and the wooden giant fell forward like a great tree falling in the forest. With a clatter the flaming door fell to the ground and she saw the elder council back away from her and towards the exit. Ivan too was moving for the back exit.
"Good evening gentlemen." Catherine said as she hopped over the fire and into the room.
"Ca-Catherine." Ivan looked horrified to see her and the elder council started to fumble with keys to unlock the back door.
"Ivan the betrayer." she smiled at him and he backed away from her.
"You-You're not dead? You're not a wolf either. What are you?" he asked trying to join the elder council.
"Ask them!" she screamed the room shaking in response and the council stopped fiddling with the keys and turned to look at the two of them.
"She's a forest fae, not a Helian." One voice ventured from the back.
"A forest what?"
"The lycanthropy trapped her powers for the most part, we wanted her dead before the sickness wore off. An angry fae is nothing a simple werewolf can handle." another voice in the huddle of old men called out
"Open the damn door before she makes it over here" a third voice muttered and the familiar jingling of keys was heard.
"What?" Ivan roared "but you promised me, I could be an alpha wolf."
"If your alpha was disposed of, which she has not." a click, the back door has opened the men poured out of the room, leaving them alone in the room together, the second door finally fell with a gust of wind and a clatter that echoed off the walls. He backed away from the fae who seemed to glow with anger.
"Catherine you must understand," he said holding his hands in front of him "they promised me power, they promised me everything."
"At whose expense Ivan?" she screamed, the walls rattled and Ivan looked around, his demure and kind alpha was gone and replaced with a bloodthirsty forest creature.
She heard him growl and she braced for an attack, Ivan was quick to anger and quick to apologize as was his wont. However he never attacked, he stayed far away from her. Like a caged beast. "Say his name, tell me who you betrayed!"
"Alpha Peter was not a good alpha anyways, obsessed with peaceful resolutions, playing within the system of the elders, we needed someone with power."
Her blood was boiling and her pace quickened, walking across the moonlit floor to meet Ivan, to show him what loyalty meant, Ivan the betrayer. It was quiet except for their heavy breathing and her steps across the floor. Then she heard something creak above her. She looked up to see that plants were threatening to break the skylight and she quickly ran over out of the way of the glass and up to Ivan, dagger extended to his neck and as he tripped over one of the elder's chairs and fell on his back, she straddled his body, the dagger inches away from his skin. She heard the skylight shatter, raining glass down on the room. She froze, the loud noise was deafening, a strong gust of wind signaled it hitting the floor, shards kicking up and flying over the two of them who were currently covered by the large oak desk.
"Your death will not be in vain, Ivan." she hissed "offer yourself to me."
For the first time since she had met the large and hot headed wolf she saw true fear in his eyes, knowing now that his life was in the small blonde girl's hands. He opened his mouth to speak.
"Catherine!" a voice called across the room. "Catherine are you in here?" it was Peter.
She sat up and looked over at the other side of the room where Peter was standing with John and Mateo. Ivan threw her off of him and she slid across the floor, yelping as glass caught into her skin, tearing up the green velvet cloak.
"Catherine! Ivan! Don't touch her for fucks sake man, she's a fae!"
The beta werewolf was furious and grabbed the bloody Catherine by her neck, holding her up in the air "I don't know what that is, and I don't give a shit either." the werewolf ground out slamming her against the wall causing her to emit a strangled cry "She'll be dead with your corpse to follow Peter. I will be alpha, and lead my pack as I want it to be led!"
As she was being suffocated she felt the strength in her hand leaving, the silver sacrificial dagger slipping through her fingers, her vision was darkening and her brain was becoming cloudy, this was it, the last thing she was going to see was an angry Ivan, murdering her to take her place.
It was a flash of gold, that's what death looked like, she thought and she felt herself fall to the ground. She took her final breath and…she was breathing! Her eyes snapped open and she saw Ivan wrestling with a large wounded wolf. Peter had saved her! She saw blood in the golden wolf's fur and she realized he was too hurt to fight for much longer.
She felt
around on the floor for her dagger and something sharp pierced her finger. Catherine looked down and grabbed the silver sacrificial dagger, getting shakily to her feet, cutting open her palm "Blood offered, vlos belbaunin, joros emplaniilid." it was with a rush of power that she touched the golden wolf's side. Like an electric current flowing out of her and into his side, it was so much that the wolf yelped as if he was injured and backed off Ivan, leaving room for the bloodthirsty fae.
Ivan was bitten up but still breathing, blood dripping off of his arm and shoulders, leaking through a familiar white t-shirt and jeans. She breathed heavily, was it her power that was almost too much to bear, or recovering from almost dying. She did not know. "As my beta you are mine to offer, blood offered, blood accepted, goodnight Ivan the betrayer. vlos belbaunin, joros emplaniilid." she drove the dagger into his chest and instantly regretted it, the ties she had with her beta gave her the pain back and she screamed in agony, feeling as if her chest had broken inwards, she was sure that she was going to die from her own greed. The amount of power from his blood knocked her backwards. She looked at his lifeless body that created a gnawing emptiness in her body, and the blood on her hands, at Peter who was staring at her in both awe and fear, and at John who looked almost horrified, and she began to cry.
It was Peter who stepped over his beta and gathered the murderous fae in his arms, the blood on his body now entirely superficial as he had been healed of all his wounds he hushed her. "It's over now."
"Peter," she sobbed "I killed him."
"after he attempted to kill us both? and kill you again? hush now." He went to pick her up but she shook her head, standing up and pulling the dagger from her dead beta whose eyes were staring lifelessly up at the ceiling. She stood up shakily and took a long shuddering breath, summoning all the courage she had left, ignoring the pain in her back.
"No, No I am not done yet. There is more." she stepped over Ivan, flicking the blood off her dagger and pushing out the door the elders flooded out of earlier. She had no one left anymore, nowhere to belong. She was some kind of outsider a feared deity of the forest, and they would pay, she would make them pay for all of her suffering, every last one, every moment of weakness, every ounce of blood loss, every confused second, all of it.
Chapter 17
Peter followed her out and she heard the footsteps multiply behind her and when she turned around to see who was following her she realize it was everyone. It was the D’états it was the Votkinsks, the remaining clan members from Roland and Cordelia, the forest sages, who, while looked worse for wear, were determined, it was Gwen and Shawn and Finn and Bailey. It was a small army of people, it was all the people she had helped, had sacrificed for, had suffered for. It dawned on her that she very much had a home. These people who she had all passed off as doing something right, something she knew they deserved were all indebted to her through kindness. How had this happened? She smiled and walked forward, her head held higher now. She would repay this kindness with the blood of the elder council.
The hallway was broad and moonlight fell onto the floor from large windows on either side, it led to a second set of doors, they were smaller than the first set and she grabbed onto the handle and rattled it. Locked, she looked down at her hand and wished she could open the door without having to resort to fire and she felt the familiar rush of power flow through her and the doors rattled in response. Perhaps Ivan's death meant more than simply some extra energy. She pushed on the door and heard the wood creak under the pressure "Open Open Open" she chanted and then a word left her mouth that she never had heard anywhere between a whisper and a hiss "pahntar"
A click and the doors swung open to reveal a stairwell that led down, down, down. Catherine sprinted down them, her cloak fluttering behind her. The elder council, wherever they were, would pay for withholding such information. The pain of lycanthropy, the memory loss, the slight disappointment that she could never truly be with Peter as his mate.
It was dingy catacombs at the bottoms, empty tombs that she wondered if were ever meant to be used, cobwebs and dust, the air was so old it was almost suffocating, where were they? "Catherine, I don't think we should-" Peter began
"We must!" she cut him off, her eyes alight as she walked down the hall and suddenly she smelled death. It was repugnant and she looked over to see that there were indeed bodies in the catacombs, wrapped up and decaying through bandages. Where the hell were they? She forged forward, holding her nose, her eyes watering as she continued further forward. Trying not to look at all the dead bodies "are these all wolves?" she heard John asked.
"Yes, these are dead alphas that were sacrificed for protection to the forest." Peter replied "when you become unable to fight you either become an elder, or you donate your body to protect the compound"
Catherine rolled her eyes, did these people believe in keeping anyone alive? She could faintly make out a small wooden door at the end of the tunnel. She sped up her walk and hoped they could get out of the catacombs soon, the stench was making her feel sick. She came to the door after a few minutes and tried to remember what she had said before "Pa…pahn…pahntar?" she called out to the door suddenly feeling a gust of air and the door flew open.
Whatever she had expected on the other side of the door it was not what she saw. A large dungeon that was almost as big as the great room where the banquet had been held, damp and musty, there was some lighting from oil lamps on the wall but it was mostly dark, she could hear water rushing but not see it. Catherine saw, on the other end, the outline of a figure. Was it the elders? She rushed down a small set of stairs to the floor.
"A fae? I see why you came to me for protection." a voice called out of the darkness.
"I didn't come to you for protection," called Catherine into the darkness, wondering if this was one of the elders but she heard Peter whine behind her, like a wounded animal
"Catherine, we need to go, forget about the elders, this doesn't smell right" her alpha said backing away from his mate and into the group of people "We have to go. This is not good."
"What?" the blonde fae asked turning back to see the wolves clustering back against the far wall. What was there to be afraid of, the elder council was nothing to be afraid of. They were a bunch of old men who bossed a bunch of wolves around to suit their own agenda.
"You should listen to the dog, Catherine, is it?" the same voice said
"It is, not that it means much to you." she brandished her dagger and tried to make out the figure in the darkness but lost sight of him, the hall was too big and too dark.
"Are you having trouble seeing in such light? I apologize, I do keep it rather depressing in here." she heard a snap and suddenly the room was filled with light, the candles on the wall were consumed in fire.
He was lanky, tall, pale, and dressed considerably well, the elder council were standing next to a small table. She looked around and saw the bodies of men and women hung up on the wall like the crucifixion. His skin was as white as the moon and his lips were red. His hair was black and flowed down to his thighs, it was shiny and limp on him, he was a figure to behold as he crossed the empty dungeon floor at a leisurely pace "I have not met a fae in hundreds of years, and the first one I get is as bloodthirsty as me. However," he sent a glance back at the elder council "I have a good set up here, you see, they bring me food and I do not kill your entire society."
"Cocky, aren't you, what are you? another sage? a wolf that desperately needs to get out?" Catherine was sick of disposing of one obstacle and facing another, if this was truly the end of the line she would get rid of him as well. She stood her ground, no man, no matter how well dressed they were, would scare her off her goal, they would pay, she would make them pay.
"I am the vampire that owns this castle, and these lands. I am the lord of the forest that requires the sacrifice. I keep the forest alive and safe as long as the blood is flowing. The sages and these wolves supply me food. I'm just…leasing it to these wolves, in return for a fee. You un
derstand right?"
"So you're a vampire landlord. I get it. I'm here to buy the property then." she moved forward and the vampire laughed.
"I like you! Unfortunately this is not a lease to own type situation." he sighed and stopped but a few feet away from her "However it would be a shame to kill a fae, we get so few. The forest, I don't doubt will be furious with me for killing their deity, and property values go down…"
She noticed he had pupils or irises at all, his eyes were just white. She heard somewhere in the back of her mind a quote from an old history class "and the famous quote," her mind rang "don't attack until you see the whites of their eyes which was"
He he gotten close enough for the saying to ring true and she lunged towards the man who grabbed her wrist with ease, tossing her to the ground, causing her to yelp and the silver dagger to clatter across the stone floor
"I had heard that fae were powerful forest creatures, is it true that you are one?" he replied boredly looking down at the girl who was half naked on his dungeon floor.
She scrambled to her feet and began to run across the room to his throne where the elders were hiding in a little cluster next to a wooden throne with red velvet cushions. "Where are you going little girl?" he called as she kicked over the table and grabbed the nearest elder council member, slicing his throat open and causing the other men to scream in terror, "blood accepted," she hissed dropping him to the floor "vlos belbaunin, joros emplaniilid" the familiar rush of power thrummed through her, she felt almost invincible. Catherine turned around to see the vampire walking boredly towards the fae "You are breaking my toys what am I to do with you."
Destined for the Alpha Page 15
