Chapter 82

~Alistair~

According to Eliana, her relatives knew about the old house, where we usually held our meetings, and they were going to come anytime from now. There was a pregnant silence which had fallen upon everyone in the room, and I could sense that everyone was feeling apprehensive, as the atmosphere was tensed.

I was trying hard to be strong for everyone, because they were all going to start panicking the moment I started to show that I was also apprehensive, and worried that things weren’t going to turn out well.

Thankfully, Eliana had been able to make the potion lose its potency, and we could only hope that it worked to our favour. When she had offered to help, I had refused at first, but since she insisted, I had had no other option than to let her act as a spy on our behalf.

Worried that she may be caught or suspected, I had paid close attention to their discussion since the first time she had decided to go there, pretending that she was now on their side, and that was two days ago.

I could feel that the battle was almost over, and even though they possessed the means to kill us, we had abilities that couldn’t be contended with, and if they wanted war, we were going to give it to them; and of course, we were going to win the battle.

It looked as though we had the upper hand, but still, I was worried about things going awry, especially because it was hard for prophecies to be avoided. No matter how hard one tried or struggled, it was hard for the person to completely avoid the occurrence of what had already been prophesied.

We heard a car pull over at the parking lot, and heaving a sigh, I stood up from the chair which I had been sitting on, and decided to address my people, so that we all wouldn’t just be physically ready for them, but also mentally and emotionally prepared to handle whatever the outcome of today’s battle was, either good or bad.

“The hour has come, Crimson Knights. It is time to defend your people against our adversaries, and show them what Crimson signifies. Today, we’ll shed the blood of anyone who attempts to shed ours, and deal mercilessly with them. We will teach them a lesson that they’ll never forget, and anyone who had it in mind to challenge us in the past will be shaken because of what will happen here today. After showing them the stuff we’re made of, no one will ever dare challenge us ever again. No matter what happens, we are going to survive this, and we just have to do our best,” I told them.

They roared in anger at The Venators, and cheered to show support for the words of encouragement I had given to them. All able-bodied men were present, along with soldiers and guards, both male and female, and Katherine was also there to assist with her spells and magic, but she stood in a safe corner away from everyone else.

“Remember to be filled with positive thoughts in order to defeat the ones who claim we are evil, when they are actually the evil ones. We’ll do this for our ancestors, for our children, for Crimson moon pack,” Aunt Salome screamed, raising her javelin high in the air.

“For Crimson moon pack!” Everyone roared, looking confident and determined.

The door was opened, and eleven of the notorious werewolf hunters family, The Venators, walked in, armed with swords made out of silver and dark magic, mountain Ash and wolfsbane. They were all smiling broadly, and I saw Eliana looking worried, as she walked in briskly with them.

“What the... Did we just walk into a room filled with human beings?” The one called Santana asked, looking confused.

Seeing that the potion had actually lost its effect and they saw us as normal human beings, I gave my Knights a signal to stand down, while I handled the issue.

“What were you thinking you would find when you walked into this room in the first place?” I retorted, feigning innocence.

“I’m sorry, we must have lost our way,” Melissa said, looking uncomfortable.

“It’s fine. You can take your leave now. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for,’ I said.

“Apologies for any inconvenience that we may have caused you. We will take our leave now,” The old and crooked great grandmother said, wearing an apologetic look on her face.

They turned around, and began to leave just in the same manner they had came, but I felt like it had been too easy. Somehow, I just felt that the battle wasn’t over yet, and even though it was true, I probably shouldn’t have been thinking about it, because just then, my thoughts seemed to have jinxed the whole situation.

Just when they were almost outside the door, Eliana’s so-called favourite cousin, Denzel, just had to go and open his big mouth.

“Is it me, or doesn’t anyone else find it suspicious that they are holding weapons, and looking prepared for a fight?” He asked aloud, and I could see the look Eliana gave him, knowing for sure now that they were never going to just leave us alone.

Immediately, the great grandmother, who should probably be resting now in her old age and living righteously in order to end up in a good place in the afterlife, instead of going about and looking for who to kill, stopped right in her tracks. As soon as she did that, all the others stopped too, and before anyone could say anything, they turned back to face us, throwing suspicious looks at us.

The old woman, who was apparently their leader, and Eliana’s grandmother, as well as Ian’s great grandmother, began to walk briskly towards us, not slowing down even for one second, despite her age.

I chuckled nervously. “We...um...we are shooting an action movie, and this place is a nice location since it is also an historical drama. However, our director and the camera men are yet to show up. Guess they are stuck in traffic or something,” I said.

She ignored my statement, and as she walked closer, my heartbeat increased faster, wondering what she could possibly be up to. Immediately she got to where I stood, she lifted up my sweatshirt, and that was when I realised what she was doing.

Every pack had an emblem, and when a werewolf was born, it was engraved on the stomach. Ian didn’t have one because Eliana didn’t know of the tradition, but the rest of us, who were born to parents that were both werewolves had that mark, in order to be recognised by any of the pack’s members, and to be considered a true and loyal werewolf to the pack.

Seeing that it was useless trying to lie to her since she had already confirmed that we were werewolves who belonged to a pack, I gave my pack members a signal to be prepared, after which I gestured to Eliana with my eyes to join us, so that we could protect her in case anything was to go wrong.

“We have been deceived. They are werewolves; each and every one of them are our enemies, and they have deceived us,” The great grandmother yelled, looking really angry.

“What kind of trickery is this? Santana, does the potion have an expiry date?” Melissa asked.

“It doesn’t,” She replied, also looking shocked.

“Then, how come we couldn’t recognise them for what they truly are?” Melissa asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? Someone betrayed us,” Santana replied, looking at Eliana, who had failed to heed my warning and step away from her evil relatives.

“Eliana wouldn’t...”

“No, Melissa. I think Santana is right. She did something to the potion, and she betrayed us,” Eliana’s uncle, Aiden, accused.

“You have no proof!” Eliana yelled.

“How did they know that we were coming if you didn’t leak the information?” He asked, and Eliana stuttered, unable to come up with a reasonable explanation.

“I don’t think she would do such a thing. Perhaps, my son, Denzel, did it. He has been against this plan from the very beginning,” Melissa said.

I was taken aback. Truly, Eliana’s family was the worst. How could a mother accuse her own son of being a traitor without mincing words?

“It doesn’t matter who betrayed us, or who didn’t. What matters is the fact that the universe is on our side, and we’ve discovered who they truly are,” The great grandmother said.

I drew out my sword, and heaved a deep sigh. “I really didn’t want it to get to this,” I stated.

Melissa sneered. “You know that you won’t be able to move if this building is circled in mountain Ash, don’t you?” She asked.

“Mountain Ash only works on werewolves. It doesn’t work on me,” Katherine said, and all eyes turned to look at her.

Coming forward, she began to recite some incantations, closing her eyes. When she opened them, she gave me a nod. “The mountain ash has lost its effects,” She said.

“Wow. So, they have a witch. I’m sure you didn’t see this coming,” Melissa said, and without warning, brought out a perfume bottle, and began to empty its contents.

“Don’t inhale,” I screamed, realising that what she was spraying contained wolfsbane, and it was going to render us weak and powerless.

Unfortunately, it was too late, and they started coughing uncontrollably. By the time the place had stopped choking us so much, and half of our people were lying on the floor gasping for air, we heard Katherine yelp in pain.

As we turned back, we saw her sprawled on the floor, lying in a pool of her own blood, with a dagger plunged deep into her heart.

Aunt Salome ran to where she lay, with tears streaming down her eyes. “No, Kat. No!,” She yelled, showing how pained she was by the turn out of events, and removed the dagger from her heart, then attempted to heal her.

“Don’t waste your time. The dagger was poisoned,” Melissa said, flexing her muscles, with a satisfied smile on her face.

“I love you,” Kat said weakly, and in the next second, she was gone.

Aunt Salome wept bitterly and uncontrollably, and seeing her shed so much tears made my blood boil with rage. Again, another important person had been snatched away from my pack, but this time around, I wasn’t just going to let it go.

Fuming with rage, my claws shot out, as well as my fangs, and my eyes were glowing. The werewolves around me also began to transform, as we decided to have our revenge on the Venators.

“Killing you all will be so much fun,” Aunt Salome said, wiping her tears, as she stood up from where Katherine laid dead on the floor, and rushed towards Melissa, which she bit aggressively on the neck, sending her crashing to the floor, shrieking in pain.

The plan had been to make them not find any werewolf even though they kept on taking their potion, so as to cause them to believe that we had probably taken off after the death of the Clarke family. However, they had wanted war, and they were going to get it in fourfold.

Aunt Salome licked Melissa’s blood and laughed hysterically. If it didn’t work out, the plan was to turn them all into the same thing they hated, and our plan was working, because Eliana had been smart enough to lock the door so that there was no room for escape, and had also thrown out all their weapons while they had been focused on rendering us weak with wolfsbane.

Although most people wanted them dead, I had managed to convince them that doing this was a better plan. Like I always said, death was too good a punishment as it was an easy way out, but making them become what they wanted to fight against because of the hatred they had for them was the most painful punishment they could ever receive.

One of their relatives stabbed Aunt Salome in the stomach with a pocket knife he had kept hidden in his shirt, and I became even more enraged, to the point that I lost all control, and began to push away everyone and everything that stood in my way.

My eyes met with that of a brown-haired woman, who I failed to recognise, but seeing that she wasn’t in a wolf form, I could tell that she was an enemy I should get rid of.

“Alistair,” I heard her say, but I had gone beyond the point of reasoning, that I doubted if that was truly my name.

I approached her speedily, dragged her by the hair, and lifted her up. She was breathing hard and pleading with me profusely, but I was out of my mind, and all I wanted to do was scratch her with my claws by the neck, and put an end to her.

My human and wolf side struggled, but the wolf side won, and I placed my claws on her neck, wearing a sly smile.

“Goodbye,” I said, ignoring her pleas.

Like Hamlet, I guess this story also had a tragic ending, but it wasn’t much of a big deal. After all, happy endings only existed in fairy tales.