Forty two

OLAMIDE

I felt a wave of fresh air caress my face while I watched the many people that waltzed the corners of the street. Some looked happy. Some looked miserable but they had not the slightest idea what horrid things I would do just to switch places with them just to blissfully unaware that this side of the world existed. I noticed Axel stealing multiple looks at me as we closed in on our destination. He had questions and so did I. I had been hoping he would be the one to break the ice but considering he has kept his mouth quiet for the long duration of the ride, I decided to do the breaking.

"Axel, what do you know about vampires?"

Axel peered at me through the driving mirror for a moment before returning his attention to the road. "Well... I have no concern with them. We don't really mingle with their kind but from the little I know, they all descend from Vlad Dracula and his wife, Wilhelmina. He was killed during the holy wars so Wilhelmina who now goes by the name Lilith basically runs the whole shit now. They are parasites who depend on human blood for sustenance. There is really nothing special about them. Why do you ask?"

"Out of curiosity." I shrugged. I looked outside for the second time. The road looked crooked and completely desolate. All signs of human civilization had deadened and all I could make out from where I sat were trees and shrieking birds. "But," I continued. "How does a vampire turn others? Do they infect them through bites like in the movies?"

"That is possible," Axel replied. "But I doubt that is the case when those damned things decide to turn humans. It is possible for a vampire to unintentionally turn a human when they feed on account that while digging their fangs into the flesh of their unfortunate victims, they injure themselves causing a blood transfusion. However considering that they love to drain their victims entirely, things like that can only happen once a blue moon. Vampires are creatures enslaved to a pang of eternal hunger. The reason is they are creatures with inhibitions stronger than a regular human so when a vampire loves, they love strongly. Humans are only turned when they catch the fancy of a long tooth. That or spite. They hate someone so much that they decide to curse them with eternal life, insatiable hunger, and unending hate for the monsters they have become."

I felt a cold chill sneak and overwhelm my body and it only worsened when the car came to a halt at the big gates that crowned the infamous mausoleum. To even consider that my brother had been snatched away from me because some monster incapable of control was fascinated by him. A disgusting thought leeched out of my heart and as horrid as it sounded, I hoped that it was true. Yes, I wished my brother was dead.

Axel squinted his eyes to see through the pathetic name that had been wreathed in with the gates and read, "Wentworth Mausoleum. Seems we made it." He then turned to face me and asked the obvious. "What are the shovels for?"

"We are digging up my brother's grave," I muttered, opening the car doors and stepping out.

"What...I don't understand..." Axel followed suit, slamming the door shut as he tried to get a grasp of my demands. I was already by the old black gates when realization dawned on him. "You don't...you believe your brother is a vampire?"

"I don't know what to believe Axel. His death was a mystery. I always thought some psycho serial killer murdered my brother and those other men but now that I know witches, werewolves, and vampires exist and she keeps implying that my brother might still be alive, I have to know for sure. He had the telltale signs. He was completely drained of blood. There were markings on his neck. What if it wasn't a serial killer? What if it was a vampire?"

Axel was quiet to my outburst. It was like his mind was trying to process all I had said. I was so sure he would tag me as deranged and try to drag me back but I had no qualms letting the witch inside me take control for a second if it ensured I had a chance at finding out the truth about my brother. Candice relished the idea and hoped Axel was stupid enough to try to subdue me. I doubted Axel could do that to me but I wasn't taking any chances.

"You probably think I am crazy," I muttered after, opening the gates and stepping inside.

"No, I don't think you are crazy." Axel retorted, closing the distance between us. "You are my Luna and no matter what you say, no matter how crazy it might sound, I will always be subservient to you."

"I...appreciate that Axel."

"It's no worries. Go inside. I'll get the shovels and join you soon." Axel said, giving me a light pat on the shoulder.

I did as he asked and proceeded to find Deji's grave. It felt strange to be doing this. It felt horrible even. Since Deji's departure from this world, I hadn't seen it fit to visit his grave because it only brought bad memories. Now I was here on mere suspicion that my brother might have been turned all these months I grieved him. I pondered further on the theory. If Deji was by any chance alive, why didn't he ever try to reach out? Was my brother afraid of hurting me? Or did turning also mean that they forgot everything and everyone relating to the life they had before? I stopped in front of a familiar sight. There were a dozen wilting flowers on Deji's grave but they weren't from me. Someone else had been here. Someone who actually cared and for the first time in a long time, I caved.

"Hello, brother.."

***

Axel fished out the shovels from the trunk and proceeded to lock the car. Throwing the sacked metal to the floor, he reached into his pocket and withdrew his phone. He was hesitant. The poor girl seemed distraught to the idea of her brother belonging to the league of the undead. But Axel had picked out something Olamide had mentioned. Something along the lines of someone implying that her brother was alive. Jason had to know. Jason had to know everything. It was why the beta had been set up to protect the Luna after all. It was a cover-up by Jason to understand why his mate had become so accommodating out of the blues. Axel hit the phone icon, hit Jason's contact before keeping the mobile phone close to hearing range while he waited for an answer. The call ended but the Alpha didn't pick so Axel proceeded to text the Alpha his findings. As he constructed the words, Axel suddenly felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck. He whipped his head around to search for any probing eyes. Someone was watching him. He felt it, that creeping feeling like he was being followed, but every time he turned in the direction his guts led him on, there would be no one there. It was getting to the point where Axel began to suspect he was just being paranoid. Maybe it was residual effects of completing shattering the delicate secret that Olamide had mumbled to him. Fuck it, now Axel was certain his wolf was going crazy when the shiver rushed through him for the second time. This time it was more intense. He couldn’t stop the sudden chill that ran up his spine, and he knew that this was not some reaction his mind was making up. Someone in the shadows was watching him, intently.

He continued to scan over the thicket for anything out of the ordinary but there was nothing and it definitely wasn't Olamide. She was too far away to spying on him not to mention that she was human. Shaking his irrational fears off, Axel bent to pick up the shovels he had dropped earlier when he immediately noticed a pair of feet in front of him. Whoever they were, they were incredibly fast, certainly not human and Axel might as well be dead if they wished it so. Bone white and fidgety, Axel dared to look at the intruder.

"Hello Axel," The handsome man said. "Why does fate keep pairing us against each other?"

Axel gulped. It galled him to have been so gullible. There was a reason why his wolf had been so twitchy. It was because they had felt that aura before. "Alpha Sofiane..." Axel forced out.