Chapter 137 Funeral 2

Dimitri

Mozog

I watched the pyre of Sofiya, Valeralyn and Vladimir burn in front of me.

Nikolai had given a long as speech, a lot like the one he gave in Imporia but I couldn't even comprehend it.

All I could see was the dead body of my baby sister. And Vladimir. And their daughter. Sofiya's entire body was charred. Her usual light skin tone was now a horrid blackish red. I didn't see blood but I knew it was there earlier. Someone must've cleaned them. Her long blonde hair, the little that were left, had lost all its usual shine and had turned black. And Valeralyn, that little thing, wasn't even able to open her eyes before she had to close them. Forever. Vladimir had a whole in the middle of his stomach. I was sure he had impaled himself with a wooden stake.

The fire slowly began obstructing my vision of them as it covered the entire pyre.

"Dimitri," Mikhail stepped up beside me, placing his hand around my shoulder.

I couldn't find my voice to say anything to him. And for the first time, I didn't feel the urge to fill up silence with silly words, to make everyone smile and laugh, to make everything okay again.

Nothing about this was okay. Nothing was the same, it never will be.

Javier was gone. Sofiya was gone. So were Valeralyn and Vladimir.

There was a hole in my chest that would always be empty. It felt like someone had shattered my heart and tried to tape the broken pieces together. And a Sofiya-shaped piece was lost in oblivion. Never to be found. And no matter how much I tried, I would always feel that void. Not that I wanted to even try to fill it. I would rather miss her every second of my life than even try to forget about my baby sister.

"...going to be okay." He was saying something but his words didn't seem to pass through my ears.

"D, I can't sleep," Sofiya used to come in my bedroom every night till she was almost twelve.

She hadn't been able to say my name till she was almost six. And ever since our parents left us at Viktoria's, because they couldn't be bothered to look after two kids, Sofiya constantly needed to be reassured that I wasn't leaving as well. They had come into Viktoria's house, asking for a place to stay for the night. And they had disappeared before sunrise, leaving us with nothing but each other. That had made Sof fearful of the night.

"Come in," I always said, "I'll tell you a story." And then I would make up the most random story that popped in my mind and add my twist to it. It always made her giggle and laugh out loud, which was all I had ever wanted.

"There once used to live a handsome mosquito," I started.

"A handsome mosquito?" She laughed.

"Of course, why not? And he was in love with a leech." I said and she looked amused.

"A mosquito can't be in love with a leech, silly!" She rolled her eyes, still giggling.

"In Dimitri's world, it can! So he asked her to be his girlfriend one day. And the leech said that she can't because she's dying."

"Why is she dying?" Sof's eyes widened.

"That’s exactly what the mosquito asked!" I exclaimed. "Then the leech replied that she needed blood to survive but wasn't able to find a human to feed from. And then she added that she's starving, so if she didn't have blood soon, she'll die."

"So then the mosquito said, don't worry, I feed off from human blood too. I'll bit one and transfer that blood into your body!" Sofiya scrunched her nose in disgust, surely imagining it.

I controlled my laughter at the ridiculous story I had created. "The mosquito then flew away in search of a human."

"And that's when he found the most handsome boy he had ever seen in this whole world, with the biggest muscles and sweetest blood—me!" I grinned.

Sofiya laughed, slapping my arm playfully, "I knew it!" I usually found a way to add myself in any story.

"So he settled on my bicep," I said and pointed at my arm which had no muscles, considering I was only nine. But I still flexed the little I had and grinned at my sister, showing off. "And when I saw that the mosquito was feed off of me, I got angry! Because first of all, he didn't tell me he wanted to sit on me, he didn't ask permission to take my blood and he was hurting me." I huffed. "That was extremely rude of him."

Sofiya rolled her eyes again but let me go on.

"So I flexed my muscles like this," I flexed them again, "and so much blood got pumped into his body that it burst. All his blood—my blood got splattered over my arm like a glob!" I grinned.

"Ugh! That's so yuck!" She cringed.

"Well I washed my arm later." I rolled my eyes. "So the mosquito was obviously dead. And the leech soon died too. The end."

"What kind of story is that?" She groaned.

"An awesome one? It teaches you to not prank me and mess with me. Or else these muscles will cause you a lot of trouble." I grinned.

"Oh I'm so scared!" She said with a straight face.

And so naturally, I began tickling her, making her burst into fits of laughter and her begging me to let her go. Which I did, after I was satisfied with her level of suffering.

We slept together that night like we did every time she came to my room. But the reason this memory was my favourite one was because the next day, Mom had spotted multiple mosquito bites on Sofiya, too many to not be concerned. And she refused to use a mosquito repellent for quite a while after that.

Because in her little mind, she thought she was saving the lives of many mosquitos and leeches. And as dumb as that was, in that exact moment, I had realised that my baby sister will grow up to become a beautiful person, inside and out. It was a perfect example of Sofiya's innate goodness, her undying love for those whom she cared about.

And now, she was gone from this world. Forever. Taking all the goodness along with her. She was the light of my life, the one to slap some sense into me, the one to guide me, the one to love me unconditionally, to care for me.

We hadn't lived together for a few months now but her presence, her bond, brought me peace. Just knowing she was alive and well brought me peace.

"Dimitri." Nikolai came into my view. "It’s time to collect the ashes and pour them in the ocean."

I looked around and saw that we were the only ones left here now. The rest had always left to complete the ritual of their dead ones.

So many lives had been lost. My sister had lost her life. Her entire family had lost their lives. And here I was, alive.

If I had died, it wouldn't have mattered. I didn't have a mate, or a daughter. Sofiya should've been alive instead of me. Pain shot through my heart like I had been stabbed there with a dagger the size of my fist.

My throat closed up as I glared at Nikolai. If she hadn't come here, this wouldn't have happened. The palace of Imporia was the safest and that's where she should have lived. She should have lived with us, with her family where we could have protected her. Where nothing—no person, no fucking bomb could hurt her.

"It's your fault." I hissed. "My sister is dead because of you, you fucking asshole!" I punched him so fast that he didn't see it coming.

He cupped his nose as he stumbled back.

"Dimitri, I know you're upset, but it—"

I pulled my hand back to punch him again but he dodged and someone was holding me back.

"You should have never let her leave!" I screamed, fighting against the two people holding me so I could go beat Nikolai up. "You know she belonged at Imporia! With us! Her family. Her pack!"

My throat was raw as tears filled my eyes.

"It was her choice, I cannot dictate that." He shook his head, looking up, fighting to control his own tears.

"Don't fucking cry!" I yelled, grabbing Andrei and pushing him off me before I flipped Mikhail over my shoulder and ran after Nikolai. "It's your fucking fault! And your fucking father's."

A tear slipped down his cheek and anger filled in his eyes.

And that’s when I knew that I would finally get what I had been craving for ever since I got the news. A good fight. And enough pain on the outside that it would dull the pain on the inside.

We ran towards each other but I was tackled down mid-way.

"Fuck!" I hissed when I hit the ground and saw Max looming over me with angry red eyes.

"You twinkle dick!" He slammed his fist on my nose and a loud crack echoed in the ground.

"The fuck!" My mind was disoriented for a second before I got hit the second time.

"Max stop!" I heard Natalia's voice in the background but Max was too far gone as be began laying punch after punch.

And then suddenly, he was pushed off me. By Natalia. And then I saw Nikolai offering me a hand to help me stand up. I slapped it away and jumped to my feet before I attacked him again.

I didn't want compassion. I wanted a fight.

My entire family was yelling at us to stop. But they knew better than to intervene. It wouldn't end well for them.

"Back off." Nikolai growled at them and then motioned me to come at him.

I did. He was blocking most of my punches. He was stronger than me but knowing someone for more than a decade came with perks. And one of them was knowing everything about them like the back of my hand, which included their fighting style.

I ended up getting a good few punches in.

And it felt good to hurt and to get hurt. One gave someone a small percent of the pain I was feeling and the other dulled the pain I felt inside.

"You backstabbing rapist!" Max came out of nowhere again and pulled me away from Nikolai.

And the word rapist rung in my ears deafeningly.

I looked into my brothers red eyes and saw hatred and anger. And I knew this was the answer to what I wanted. The outside pain will dull the pain I was feeling inside.

Now I just needed to kill the sliver of hesitation he was feeling and push him off the edge.

I slapped a creepy fucking grin on my face. "You know what? It felt fucking aweso—" he was on me before I finished my sentence. I didn't even flinch.

I felt punch after punch and I took every single one of them. I didn't even fight back or try to block him.

Punch.

I deserved it. Sofiya wanted to come back to Imporia.

Punch.

She had told me the last time we met. I should have brought her home.

Punch.

She's dead because of me.

Punch.

Fuck. This one hurt. Blood pooled in my mouth and I cracked my eyes open to see Max. Blood had pooled in his eyes and the veins under them had appeared. His fangs were out. I'm sure they were aching to rip my head off my body.

I grinned and saw his anger spike tenfold. His vampire side was in control now and there was no holding it back now.

I saw him come closer, his mouth open to dig into my neck but he was pushed off of me by Nikolai.

I turned my head to the side. Everything looked like a blur. I squinted my eyes to see both of them rolling on the ground, fighting off each other.

My view was obstructed by some white-gold feathers. I turned my head again and saw they were attached to a woman. The sun shinned behind her head because of which I couldn't see her face.

Her wings moved and formed a cocoon around us, hiding us from the view of everyone.

And then she moved closer to me before kneeled next to me, her face looming over mine. A sense of peace washed over me and all the pain slowly diminished.

Did I die? Am I in heaven? Did she do some sort of magic? Whatever it was, I didn't want to move.

Maybe she was..."Goddess Luna?" I asked.

Pale blue eyes stared into mine and a motherly smile curved on her lips before she let out a low tinkling laughter.

I blinked a couple of times until my vision cleared up and I recognised her. "Avalyn."

"You're in too much pain aren't you?" Worry etched her face and her soft hands cupped my cheek.

"I feel better now." I replied. She closed her eyes and I felt her healing me. The pain I was feeling outside as well as inside slowly diminished till a soft, continuous ache remained.

"Thank you." I whispered when she opened her eyes. Her hand slid down till it rested over my heart. "The pain you are feeling here cannot be dulled by anything but time, Dimitri. Instead of picking fights with those who want to help you in the hopes of a distraction, redirect the energy to do something that will actually make a difference."

She was right. I had acted foolishly.

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"It's not me you need to apologise to," she stood up and tucked her wings behind her back.

I stood up and saw my entire family standing here for me. Sofiya was my sister by blood, but she was their sister too. Not by blood but it didn't matter. They loved her like she was. And instead of being there for each other in this difficult time, I had acted selfishly.

"I'm sorry." I apologised genuinely. "It wasn't your fault, I know it," I looked at Nikolai. "And I didn't mean what I said," I told Max who still looked pissed before I looked at Natalia, "I will regret it till the day I die. I'm so fucking sorry."

She blinked back a tear and shook her head. "It wasn't your fault. The entire situation was fucked up."

"I demand retribution," Max said, his voice hard.

"What happened?" Andrei asked.

"Natalia got her heat while they were locked up in a cell in Pythonissam. Dimitri kissed her and fingered her," he hissed.

"It wasn't his fault, Max. It jus—" Natalia started.

"Did I fucking stutter?" He snarled at his mate. "I felt it, Talia. I felt the pain you felt. Regardless of the fucking reason, he touched what wasn't his."

"I accept it." I said. He was right. I was out of line. I could've controlled better. I was the Beta of the largest pack of this dimension now. I should be able to control my wolf better than this by now. This was a mistake that I would never repeat again. "What do you want?"

"I will ask for it when the time comes. Be ready for it." He said and I knew he would hold on to this. Max wasn't the one who let things go easily. If he told me it would be asked at a later date, it would be. And whatever it was, I would do it.

We moved on to complete the cremation ritual after that. We collected the ashes of Sof, Valeralyn and Vladimir into ivory pots and then walked to the coast in silence before pouring them in the ocean. A few people from the Kingdom were still lingering here, bidding their loved ones goodbye one last time.

I kept looking at the vast expanse of the ocean in front of me, letting the cold water waves wet my legs. Cool breeze hit my face and I closed my eyes.

Sofiya was gone forever. I'll never hear her again, I'll never see her smile again, I'll never be able to hold my niece. I’ll never be able to give shit to Vladimir again and poke fun at him ever again. Javier was gone. That old man's dry humour never failed to make everyone laugh. He was like the father all of us never had. And we were left to fend for ourselves again, with no elder to guide us.

Redirect the energy to do something that will make a difference.

I spotted Rhazien and beckoned him over.

"Tell me everything." I asked.

"Vladimir had devised a strategy and we left to follow it. The safe place of the palace was a secret room above the throne room and the kids and elders were all there. A small jet had flown over the island when we were taking our positions, all of us had seen it. We didn't think much of it at that time." He gulped and then his jaw clenched as he looked off in the far distance. "The palace was bombed sometime after. Vladimir ran back to the palace in the hopes that..." his voice turned thick... "No one inside the palace survived. When he came back out, he looked like a madman, determined to kill anyone in his way. We were outnumbered but Vladimir fought off and killed more wolves than we could count. He was like a fighting machine..." He took a deep breath. "He fulfilled his duties to the Kingdom before joining his beloved on the other side."

I had always known Vladimir was a great man. But hearing this moved something inside me.

"And then after we won, he disappeared again. We found him lying in a pool of blood and a wooden stake in his chest besides Sofiya and Valeralyn." His voice trembled. "It was bad Dimitri...they were...Sofiya was in worse shape. Her stomach was ripped open. I'm guessing Valeralyn was still alive and Vladimir cut her out before she died too. But the baby didn't survive it. She was lying in Sofiya's arms."

My vision blurred with tears. I can't even imagine the pain my brother must've felt. And to have a strength to fight after that...I can only hope to be as great as him.

"But there is a big question. Adrik planned the attack but he doesn't have connections to procure bombs." He pointed out. It was true, Adrik was against modernisation, he didn't even have guns! How the fuck did he get bombs? The palace of Imporia and Poziarne were bombed too. "Verdura pack is the same. Someone has to have helped them."

"Who would support Adrik?" Every single pack in the entire dimension hated him—except Verdura. He didn't have the money to hire a jet and buy three bombs from the humans, nor did he have the technology to build them.

"The High Council." Max appeared beside me.

"They worshipped the ground he walked on." Nikolai agreed. "They kept calling him the King. I distinctly remember Xillian and Yolanda refer to him as the King instead of Alpha. It has got to mean something."

"Guess it's time for a little trip." My eyes narrowed. Those three old warts were as good as dead now.