Chapter 12

~Alistair~

The lights went off, and I guessed it was the Beast of Vengeance who had unintentionally put out all the lights, as he wouldn’t do so on purpose, since it was a detriment to him.

There was a complete state of chaos in the hall, and people hid under the tables, and tried not to make a sound for fear of what they had seen, locating them and coming after them. I could hear everyone’s heart pounding terribly in anguish and fear, and I could feel the tension in the room.

About twelve years ago, tragedy had struck in the family of an Omega, the lone wolf, who was the least in the hierarchy of werewolves, and was the slave in every pack if he had one, or could choose to live without a pack, which was also an option, but the Omegas were not as strong as other werewolves, as werewolves are stronger with a pack.

On a certain day, this Omega who was akin to nothing but trash in his pack, got offended by the Alpha of his pack, who had forced him to dance naked as a punishment. The Omega had refused, not willing to take in further embarrassment and humiliation from the Alpha and the Betas. He then decided to leave the rest of his pack members, and try to survive on his own, with his little daughter, his wife and blind mother.

However, that night, the Alpha and some Betas went to his home, molested his wife in his presence, after which they killed her, his daughter and his mother, absorbing their powers. His two eyes were then gauged out, and he was left bleeding, in pain and anguish. He wanted to end his life, but he didn’t want to go down without a fight. With his last breath, he called upon Nemesis, the goddess of Vengeance, to give him the strength to avenge what had been done to his family, or rather, help him get his revenge.

Nemesis had looked upon the wicked act that had been done to him and the members of his family, and frowned upon it. She was so angry, and in her anger, said: “You have every right to get revenge. Go and kill. Kill all those who have shed innocent blood. Kill each and every one of them. Kill their children. Do not stop. Kill all those who have hunted you. Kill all those who have done you wrong.”

That was how the Beast of Vengeance had been created. The story is that he roared out in anger, and became all that Nemesis had pronounced it to be. Not only had he killed the Alpha and his Betas, he also killed their family members, then started to go after people who offended him in the past, and even the human beings who had hunted him. Of course, Nemesis had realised it too late that she had made a mistake in her choice of words when making him a beast, but she didn’t revoke all she had said, as her words couldn’t be reversed, but she stated that the day he went after someone who had never offended or hurt anyone, he was going to vanish into thin air.

It was for that reason that the Beast of Vengeance had gone after Eliana ten years ago, because she was the daughter of the family who once hunted him. She and her friends were the first human beings he went after, and when the killings became too much to bear, I had taken it upon myself to get rid of the beast once and for all.

After saving Eliana’s life a decade ago, the beast had come after me while I waited for an ambulance to show up, and to prevent it from ever killing anyone again, I had stood in the way of him and Eliana. I had known that he was going to attack me if I blocked his path, so, I didn’t let him get close to Eliana, who was unconscious on the ground.

In fury, he dug his claws into my chest, and in that moment, he vanished into thin air, growling loudly in excruciating agony, because I had never offended nor hurt anyone.

The Beast of Vengeance was 7 feet tall, and could rip me apart in a matter of seconds. I didn’t understand how or why he had suddenly appeared once again, and I needed answers. Thankfully, the beast was a creature of the night, and would only be around till dawn, but how so sure was I that he wasn’t going to try to kill someone before dawn?

Someone’s phone fell, clattering to the floor loudly, and the beast, who could hear clearly but couldn’t see in the darkness, was now aware of someone’s location.

I heard it growl, and it moved with heavy footsteps towards the direction the voice had come from. Dammit! I knew that I wasn’t going to let him kill an innocent person just like that, and had no choice than to leave my hiding place.

Eliana’s face was buried in my chest, and she shivered in fear, holding onto me tightly.

I reached out to her in the darkness, and cupped her face in my palms.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back,” I told her, in a whisper.

She held my hand. “Where do you think you’re going?” She asked, also in a whisper.

“Just trust me,” I told her, and left her alone, despite her pleas that I should stay back behind since everyone had already dialled 911, and the police were on their way, as if there was anything the police could do about it.

I ran to the roof, where a bulb was still on, and shouted out loud: “Hey, you know it’s me you want. Come and get me,” I yelled, at the top of my voice.

If I could lure him onto the roof, I could make him vanish into thin air again, I figured, because last I checked, I still hadn’t committed an offence against anyone.

The beast growled loudly and found his way to the rooftop, where it approached me. The last time I had seen him, he still had a human face, but now, he was covered in black fur, but still managed to walk with two legs like a human being, even though there was no humanity left in him again.

I let him pounce on me, and he dug his claws into my flesh. Surprisingly, I felt pain and screamed in agony, as my plan to have him vanish into thin air again didn’t work this time around. Maybe it was because I had probably offended him that it was impossible to make him disappear again.

Instead of lying down there looking hopeless, I growled in anger, and brought to light the wolf that was in me. My fingernails turned into claws, fangs replaced my human dentition, and my blue eyes had a red glow now.

I pushed him off me, and sent him staggering backwards. I dug my claws into his chest, but he shook it off as if it hadn’t even hurt him in the slightest bit, and took me up in his arms, hitting my head on the wall several times, before throwing me on the floor. He approached me, and sat on me, growling loudly, then with his long claws, he pierced my heart, making me scream in so much pain, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

Never in my life had I felt so powerless. Even though I worked out, and went to the gym all the time, and even went to defend my fellow werewolves when I heard them howling, I still felt pretty much useless this time around.

I felt my life being smuggled out of me, and I wrestled and struggled in vain for my life not to be taken away from me at such a young age. Although the only person who could come to my aid now by yanking the Beast of Vengeance off me was Jenny, the only person that was on my mind as I was drawn away from the earth, was Eliana, with the memory of her smiling broadly, as her brown hair ruffled in the wind.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Eliana step in. I would have thought I was just hallucinating, but I could perceive her scent.

“Get out of here,” I managed to say.

The beast growled at her menacingly.

Eliana brought out her pepper spray, which was in form of a key holder, and carried just a single key. She always had it in her purse, and I wondered if she thought the beast could be stopped with something like a pepper spray.

I didn’t mind her doing so though. It was going to cause a distraction, and I needed it so badly, so that I could get the upper hand, before my life was ripped out of me.

Eliana sprayed the pepper spray in the beast’s eyes, and it growled loudly, so much that the earth shook. It fell backwards, and became really weak, as if his power had been drained from it.

I stood up immediately, and watched as the beast staggered into the darkness, deciding against going after it, since I didn’t even know how to kill it.

Eliana and I looked at each other, apparently waiting for the other to say something. When the silence was too heavy to bear, I decided that I should speak up.

“You finally got to see the real me, but you weren’t even terrified at all, and you ended up saving my life with a pepper spray, which I didn’t know could work on shape-shifters until this day. Thank you,” I said, scared of what she might say next.

She was probably going to end things with me, and I guessed that she hadn’t been terrified of me because she had known long ago, from her experience with the Beast of Vengeance, that shape-shifters existed. I couldn’t blame her though if she didn’t want to ever see my face again.

“It wasn’t pepper spray,” She said, finally speaking up.

“What?”

“It was wolfsbane,” She said.

I was taken aback. “Where...where did you get it from? And how did you know that wolfsbane weakens werewolves? Do you know any other werewolf apart from me and the beast you just saw?” I asked.

She shook her head, in negativity. “No, but ever since that day ten years ago, I’ve been studying about shape-shifters and unnatural beings, and I carry this around, so that in case one tries to kill me again, I can at least defend myself. I’m glad it worked, because I’ve always doubted the authenticity of using mountain ash and wolfsbane against a werewolf,” She said.

I looked at her, in wonder, surprise and admiration. Who was she really? She was such a smart-ass woman, and I hoped she didn’t let go if me just yet.

“We both have a lot of things to discuss,” I told her.

She nodded, in agreement. “Yes, we do, and we will, but not tonight. The cops are around, and I will leave with my parents. Thanks for today,” She said, and without saying more, she turned around, and walked away, without looking back, or even hesitating.

I wanted to call her back, but I couldn’t. Somehow, I knew things had changed between us. I had once dug my claws into her backside unintentionally. She had every reason to be afraid of me now that she had seen me in my true form. She was probably thinking that one day, I’d switch from being a human being while we were making love, and it was understandable. She deserved better than a werewolf.