Chapter 29

Memory lane...

Azelbub's forest

The werewolf in their midst shook like he was having an intense seizure, his eyes rolled skyward and his fingers were curved into talons. All the cult members raised their hands to the sky, thinking it was normal.

Maris stood behind the tree, staring at the eye candies in front of her. She held up her phone, not wanting to miss an opportunity to get paid for taking such pictures to the broadcasting house. Plus, their butts were attractive, round and molded from heaven.

She thought of her butt and felt disappointed, it wasn't bigger than that of a ginger head man in the cult.

Suddenly, she tapped the camera icon and focused the lens on the man in the middle who appeared to be the one they worshipped as they had bowed earlier on his arrival. Her thumb tapped on the shot button and the loud sound of her camera and flashlight gave her off.

The werewolf gasped and gave up it's ghost, eyes already turned white and a cloud of something malevolent hovered above them, but the flashlight caught it's attention and with the speed of lightening, it rushed to Maris and filled her lungs, earning a sneeze from her.

The present~~~Maris.

"Oh, no," were the first words Maris uttered the moment she snapped out of her trance. "Why me, why did it kill the werewolf?"

"Because of what lives in you, you're not an ordinary counselor... You're the lost queen of the siren kingdom." Jeremy's mother answered, holding Maris' gaze. "That's why you're still alive."

Maris got to her feet with a deep frown that was beginning to make her head hurt and swallowed down a lump that had built itself a tent in her throat.

"Strange things are happening, humans that are pale and blood sucking demons now roam the surface of this earth." Jeremy's mother exclaimed and Maris' vision became blurry with clouds of tears. "And I think it's in the book of destinies for this to happen."

"What book of destiny?" Maris questioned, confused more than she was when Logan ran with her like the wind the first time he took her to the water falls.

She took in a deep breath and shook her head, trying to dispel thoughts about Logan. Somehow, everything reminded her of him.

"They are ancient and haven't been seen amongst humans since it was misused by the devil to destroy someone's destiny." Linda explained.

"I'm so confused. You knew all these things and never told me?" Maris got up, frustration evident in her voice is she rocked back and forth on her heels.

Maris took ten steps away from the woman and found a stream. Immediately, she knelt on the ground and stared back at the grey eyes in the water. They were swollen and red like her cheeks. She shaped her hand like a bowl and fetched some water to drink so as to ease the patchiness she was feeling in the walls of her throat.

"You know," the woman started, laughing hysterically and it startled Maris, causing the water to enter the wrong pipe and Maris coughed. "Dracula was pretty good on the bed."

Maris' coughing increased when she heard the last part and she spun with cow eyes to take in her features with incredulity.

"I didn't mean to startle you," Jeremy's mother said with a sheepish grin.

"Mrs-"

"Call me Linda." The woman cut her short and bent to take a handful of water. "Finally, some water."

"So you mean you enjoyed every bit of what happened?" Maris asked without thinking and got no reply from Linda.

Maris, still on her knees was clueless about everything happening. Was Linda actually a decoy? Maris' thoughts raced to Logan. What if he was right after all?

Series of questions zapped through her head as she stared blankly at the water and the moment Logan's pissed face flashed in her head, she tightened her dental bone. Logan was a jerk.

The fear of Jane the bitch getting Logan gripped her and she felt her heart sinking. The way she switched moods like clothes was scary.

"Maris?" Linda brought Maris out of a dark place in her head and back to reality. "You zoned out for a while."

Maris exhaled and caught a glimpse of Linda's face for a second, noticing the sober expression her face was now carrying.

"I'm fine." Maris forced a small smile, lying wasn't so easy in such a difficult situation.

Linda hugged herself and stared at the sky with heavy pillows of clouds already gathering, hinting at a wicked rain.

"We need to find a shelter before the rain begins." Maris got to her feet and Linda's gaze followed her.

"What about Jeremy?" Linda asked as tears lingered at the brim of her eyes with a sullen look that was contagious.

Maris felt pity, the whole situation had affected Linda's mental health that she acted like a mental asylum's patient.

"We'll get him as soon as possible." Maris assured her with a light squeeze on her arm and led her to the cave Logan and her spent the night the day he abducted her from her car.

**********

After the rain, Linda had led Maris on a mini journey to where she thought her son was. Firstly, they had made a stop at the dogman's cave, thinking they might find Jeremy since Dracula's right hand man was a dogman.

"One of my kind?" The king of dogmen frowned, interlocking his fingers in front of his face and resting his elbows on the arm rest of his throne. "We don't work for the devil or anybody called Dracula."

"I'm very sure it was a dogman I saw." Linda shook her head, trying to convince the king so he could help them fight and get her son back. "He was half human, half dog."

"Are you sure it wasn't a werehyena you saw?" He leaned back on his chair, his protruding stomach too big Maris bet he couldn't see his groin from just bending his head.

"Yes." Linda nodded, glancing at Maris and returning her gaze to the plus size king.

"Can you describe the dogman?"

"He had a black birthmark on his forehead, shaped like a map." Linda explained and the crowd gasped in unison.

"Could that be-" the king sat up, staring at the empty space in front of him with a scrunched up face. "–Scar?"

"Yes!" Linda snapped her fingers and the crowd erupted in whispers. "Dracula made mention of that name."

The dogmen king's face mirrored disappointment as he scratched his beards and sipped from a golden cup of wine.

"How dare he betray my kingdom and work for some filthy demon?" The king asked no one in particular and adjusted forward on his seat. "Lock the gates. No one is going in or out. Scar shall be banished from this kingdom forever. He committed a crime once and was close to being banished, but this is the height of it all."

Maris stood behind Linda, mute and just observing her surroundings. Never did she ever thought these creatures were real.

Oh, Logan.

Her subconscious muttered and she shut her eyes tight. He was right after all, maybe she was a stubborn head.

"And who is the beautiful maiden behind you?" A flirty grin graced the king's lips as he scanned Maris from head to toe with a hand, rubbing his chin. "Do you remember our deal, Linda?"

Linda stole a glimpse at Maris and returned her eyes to the king who couldn't get his eyes off Maris. Maris felt her soon creep as she felt his unholy gaze resting on the swell of her breasts.

"What deal?" Maris asked, surprised that Linda knew about these creatures she thought was once mythical.

"It's nothing serious." Linda flashed Maris an assuring look and casted a scowl at the king then said, "I remember."

"But you can swap it for something else." His smile grew wider with his tongue wetting his bottom lip.

"I can?" Linda's eyes brightened and the king nodded before motioning for her to move closer to him.

Linda moved closer and bent a little before the king took his lips a whisper away from her ears and whispered something. It didn't seem to be something good because she enlarged her eyes and her body stiffened.

"No going back on the deal." The king's face hardened, so did Linda's.

"What's the difference between you and the devil?" Linda asked and Maris' eyes ping ponged from Linda to the fat king.

"I have a heart, that's the difference."