章 49: Chapter 48
UNEDITED-
Anna POV-
We had managed to all slip by the threat of the snarlers without any casualties. Since then things have only been getting better. Though we are rarely sitting still we found ourselves enjoying eachothers company. I'm getting to know the men quite well, each one has their own horrific tail about their experiences with the 'Merciless Wolf King'. The trek has taken 7 days and we even had to cross a fast flowing river, but it will be worth it to know that we're safe.
"Are you alright?" Florence asked breaking me from my thoughts..
"I'm okay" I replied with a smile.. "How are you?"
"I think I'm okay.. I haven't been here for many years.. Gigi brought me back here once when I was eleven.. when I had asked her too. I honestly wasn't sure I would remember the way."..
"I can't imagine what you must be feeling, just remember that I'm here. We've got this." I really don't know what to say. She just grabbed my hand and walked the rest of the way with our hands intertwined.
-----
"It's just past those tree's" Florence pointed straight ahead..
"Okay, I'll go first, you wait here.." I spoke to the whole group.. "Protect them." I said to Anders.. Immediately he began quietly ordering his men to make a cirle around the two girls that I was talking about. They glared at me.. each with the same annoyed expression. "I'll be back in a minute okay?" I asked but left before either of them could answer.
As I made my way past the thick trees that Florence had pointed to I saw the compound. It was in a slight state of decay. Like no one has been here in a while. One gate was wide open, the paths were covered in leaves and had bright green plants sprouting out all over the place. A foul odour began to overpower my senses, the sickly smell of aconite. I continued my way through the large village in the direction of the smell.
In the direction I was walking I could clearly see over the worn huts a building substantially taller the the rest. That must be where the smell is coming from. I brought out both my guns cautiously moving closer. Just as I rounded the corner to lay my eyes on this building the large doors of it began to open. I quickly slid back behind the building holstering my guns, silently peeking around the corner.
"We don't know who they are.. they said they came for safety, maybe they are telling the truth." I heard a woman say before I saw a large man exit the building, his hair reached his shoulders and was white as snow, his beard neatly shaven resembled the rest of his well kept self.
"Belle we have been through this.. we can't risk anyone finding out we are here.. you know what we have to do.".. "It's kill or be killed, I thought you knew that" he sighed seemingly disappointed before he began walking in my direction.
I was about to run and tell the others we are not safe here but something stopped me.. "Get off me!" I heard it faintly from inside the building, I would know Bea's voice anywhere. Running is no longer an option.
In what I can only describe as an adrenaline fueled haze I managed to shift only one arm so that I could wrap it around this man's neck from behind, he almost screamed in fright. I felt him about to attempt a shift, my free hand soon became a glowing ball of fire that I held dangerously close to his face.. "Don't.." I demanded.. "I'm not here for you.."
"What, do you want?" he strained trying to pull his head further away from my flaming hand that I held far away from his face now anyway. Surely it is not that hot.
During the commotion a crowd had began pouring out from the building, each one of their faces plastered in pure shock, almost everyone had their mouths open. Probably because I can practically feel the dominance radiating off of this man and I'm easily restraining him.. also my hand is on fire.
"You have my friend in there." I let go of the flames in my hand and pointed in the direction of the door. In the doorway a woman with long dark hair stood with tears streaming down her face.
When our eyes met I felt a familiarity in them. To my amazement she began to walk through the crowd of people closer to me.
"Leena?" She asked in disbelief.. "My cub?"
My face dropped completely.. unable to control myself I dropped the large man to the floor where he stayed gasping for air.. Tears formed in my eyes as I asked.. "Bear?".
To my shock she nodded wrapping her arms around me tightly.."You're alive?" I asked even though she's here embracing me tightly.
"I never thought, I'd see you again.." she pulled back taking my face in her hands.. she brushed my hair back to take a better look at my face. "It hasn't been easy for you has it little cub." she sighed through tears, gently rubbing her thumb across the scar on my eyebrow. I could only shake my head in response.
"I don't understand." I pleaded for an explanation..
"We will talk about it.. but not here." she smiled through her streaming green eyes, brushing my hair back again to look at me. I know what she is talking about, there are about sixty people surrounding us. The man on the floor began to get to his feet .
"She cannot leave!" He tried to shout..
"She is not leaving.." Belle said simply, twisting her hand in the air it caught on fire.. he backed off slightly, looking at her questioningly.. "Kano.. this is Helena.. my sister.." It seems me and Belle have something else in common too.
I heard everyone in the crowd audibly gasp at the sibling revelation. The man's face went from anger to one of knowing. Maybe he has some understanding after all. I'd hate to kill someone because they were stupid. I mean it happens but I don't like it.
"Come on.." Belle took my hand to guide me inside the large building. It has been refurbished with parts of the other huts. I see makeshift walls creating multiple rooms where there would be one big one. This is quite innovative.
Without me needing to say anything Belle led me by my hand to a large room where my friends were tied up and gagged with a rope that was tied around their heads. She swished her other hand and uttered some kind of incantation, in seconds all the bindings had been undone. Everyone in the room looked at me then Belle, and back to me. They all looked slightly afraid and confused that I'd walked in hand in hand with the woman who captured them. And perhaps why we look so alike.
"I apologise for my behaviour.. I did not realise you were companions of my little sister.." Belle smiled. Now all of their faces were frozen in shock.. most of all Bea and Florence. They look hurt more than anything.
I really don't have time to explain it to them right now. I need to find out what happened to Annabelle.
"Sister?" Bea finally asked..
"It's a very long story.. and I promise I will explain, but right now I need to talk to Belle." I sighed..
"Well come on then.." Belle said tugging me straight out of the door and through the halls, some things never change.
She peeked through a door and ushered me into the empty room. It was furnished with a wooden dining table and eight chairs, along with two comfier chairs seated around a smaller table in the corner. She released my hand to grab a glass decanter from the large table and set it on the smaller one, along with two glasses.
After she took her seat she ushered to the chair next to her. "Will you have a drink with me?" she asked but already started pouring the second glass. I looked at her with a questionable expression. "I don't want to be 'completely' sober for this.. do you?" she raised her eyebrow handing me the glass.
"I guess not." I shrugged before accepting the glass, taking a sip of it. It was very floral tasting but sweet and tarty at the same time.
"You thought I was dead?" She asked taking a sip of her own glass..
"I think we all did.." I sighed in reply.
"What happened, after I left?" she asked hesitantly, like she knew the answer would some how hurt her..
"So many things.." I shook my head closing my eyes. She gently placed her hand on my arm that I had rested on the table.. I looked up at her again, astonished by how much she has changed and how much she is still the same. She looks so much like our mother now, even more so than me.. She is only three years older than me but she has much more mature features than I do. Maybe that is because Lycans age slower, so since the age of 17 I've been aging at a much slower rate, you can barely tell I've aged, I'm glad I was lucky enough to have already matured.
"You don't have to worry about my feelings Leena.. the truth often hurts but it is the only thing we can rely on.. besides.. you were the one who had to live it.." she almost choked on her last words, wiping another tear away taking a sip of her drink.
"After you disappeared, mother and father thought someone had kidnapped you.. they waited for someone to ask for a ransome but nothing came" .... "After a few weeks of no word something changed in them both.. I don't know what happened but they started calling me by your name, telling everyone I was sick so they couldn't see me." Even though they never told anyone I existed anyway.. My parents thought I would die as a baby, they couldn't have a weakling tarnish the familys reputation. "they moved me out of the left wing of the castle to join them. Then everyday after that I was preparing for my wedding day.. 'your' wedding day".. I corrected sighing.. "The funny thing is.. when I came here I could have given the people my birth name.. I think I gave them yours because it was the only piece of you I had left, maybe I just got so used to carrying it.."
"They always were foolish.. even as a child I saw it, how could they do that.." she sounded so indifferent yet disgusted, I imagine she's spent alot of time thinking about them. Having experienced what her life would have been, I can understand why she feels the way she does. "They started preparing you straight after I left?" she questioned still surprised and saddened. I nodded in response. "Leena they are sick.. both of them." she spoke, looking into my eyes.. but father?..
"Father loved us" I protested watery eyed..
"No Leena.. he needed us.. there is a difference. I don't know exactly what happened after I left but I do know what happened before.. our father hardly even looked at you.. you were dying Leena.. but neither of them bothered to even check in on you.".. "Neither of them consoled you when you cried as an infant, when doctors performed multiple agonising procedures you desperately needed to survive.. one of the nannies did that. And they didn't tuck you back into bed when you'd had terrible nightmares about it, I did that.." she finished her sentence downing the rest of her glass straight after, plonking it back on the table. I finished my glass and poured us both new ones.. As the years had gone on, it seems it had gotten harder and harder for me to distinguish what the truth really was. I was four years old when my sister disappeared and then I had to learn how to become her.
"At least mother showed her true colours.." I lifted the glass in a toast of regret before taking a mouthful and gulping it down. A little alcohol can't hurt.. and if it does would that really be a bad thing?.
"She did?" Belle sighed looking back to me. Probably understanding exactly what I meant. I nodded in response.
"Sometimes I thought I might have made you up you know.. the only time I ever heard your name is when they were addressing me.. that's probably why mother rarely ever used it." .. "Whenever I asked them about you or where you could be, they would point to me and tell me that, I'm right here.." I replied raising my eyebrows and my hand, still not understanding what logic could have possibly driven them to trying to brainwash a child. All the things I pushed down to fit the role they wanted me too, all to make living easier for myself.
"Well I'm not imaginary.. father had just decided to collect artifacts he didn't understand and put us all at risk in the process.." she sighed.
"What do you mean?" I asked in a confused tone.
"One of the artifacts father had brought back with him was covered in these, strange markings.. there were some on the top that looked like the moon, and some on the bottom that I now know are runes. Placed in a certain order and drawn out by someone with strong magical abilities.. they can open a doorway."..."I drew them on my bedroom floor not knowing what they were.. I landed on the outskirts of this pack and the rest is history." ..
"I saw the markings in your room before they put a new floor in.. I never knew what they meant.".."The artifact.. was it a wooden chest by any chance?" I asked taking a sip of my drink straight after.
"You did the same thing?" she almost laughed.
"Not exactly.. did you ever try to open the chest?" I asked.
"No, our father said that no one could open it.. that it 'defied all logic'.." she replied confusedly, imitating him on the last part.
"It opened for me.." I admitted quietly.
"What was inside?" she furrowed her brows clearly intrigued..
I waited a few long seconds before replying "A soul and his spirit.. somehow we fused together and the chest must have transported us here.." I relayed as much as I knew.
"You fused with him?" she asked with a serious confused expression.
"He is possibly the first Lycan to have ever existed, his soul lives in my mind and his spirit is now, somehow mine.." I answered sounding confused myself.
"I guess that would explain your hand.. I thought you might be using a different kind of magic.. I mean who knows what we are really capable of.." she spoke in amazement at the thought.
"Your not the only one?" I asked surprised..
"No Leena.. not anymore." she smiled at me. Hearing that name after more than fifteen years.. it really feels different, she's the only one who ever called me it, that's how I knew she couldn't be anyone else.
"How did you learn the incantation?"
"The alpha that you man handled on your way in is much older than he looks." she giggled "He managed to hide a grimoire while the rest were being destroyed. On my thirteenth birthday he surprised me with it.." she smiled at the happy memory.
"He's like your father isn't he?" the way he was talking to her before, it all makes sense now. I'm glad that she found someone to take care of her when she was still young, I just can't help but feel a twang of jealously that she had something real and good.
"I guess so.." she replied smiling nervously. "All this, it must be so strange for you Leena." A sad expression now imprinted on her face.
"It's a fucking trip.. and I'm not talking vacation.." I scoffed shaking my head at the utter obliviousness her words had held. Strange is the biggest understatement a person could come up with.
"Really with the cursing?.. if I had been around, you would have had a far superior vocabulary.." she smiled to herself before understanding the rest of my words.. "You didn't?" her mouth opened in disbelief..
"Actually, after you disappeared I had the best tutors money could buy.. if I'm cussing its because another word didn't fit the box.." I smirked.. And technically I would have had a much higher level of education than she has had.. I don't think she really thought about her words "And I didn't what?" I asked confused..
"Have you taken drugs?" she asked me seriously.. like she is really playing the role of big sister. I don't think anyone gets to judge me anymore. Does she mean in this world or the old one?
"Before I came here I dabbled when I could." I smirked. "And since being here I guess you could say, I've had my share of problems.." It took my body a long while to recover from the harmful effects of aconite.
"How long have you been here?" She asked..
"I don't even know.. nearly three years I think.." I tried to recall..
"Since you were eighteen?"..
"Well I guess over three years then.." I looked away, quietly reminiscing in the memories that now brought me the most pain, that cell. I've spent most of my time here in a cell.
Annabelle grabbed my hand, the second she made contact I was thrown backwards into myself, back into the memory. I was standing in the cell only I was watching my own skelital body dangle, being held up only by the heavy chains on my wrists in the middle of the room, almost unconscious. Four men loudly entered the room with buckets of boiling hot water and imedietly began stripping my body of the rags. The door was closed behind them and they began scrubbing at my skin with hard bristled brushes and soap. I screamed over and over from the side lines for them to stop.. while all you could hear from my almost lifeless body were groans of agony. I felt the tension around my wrist get even tighter, as I looked to the hand that wrapped around it I realised.. Belle is here..
Somehow in desperation and adrenaline fueled I threw us both out of my head.. As soon as I landed back into myself I stood up abruptly, causing the chair to fall backwards onto the floor with a crash. Belle looked up at me with tears and shock in her own eyes, she got up out of her seat and attempted to come nearer to me, her hands in the air trying to calm me down..
"Don't touch me.." I held out my hands shakily, afraid she was going to make me go back into the memory that I didn't know I even had.
"I'm so sorry.. it's not supposed to happen like that." her face was still in shock and despair at what she just witnessed.. she attempted to move closer but I moved back away from her nearly falling over my feet, I feel as afraid as I did in that cell.. she made me relive something I was better off without.
Soon the fear dissipated the familiar feeling of anger took ahold.. "If you wanted to know what I've been through you could have just asked.. you didn't need to violate me, don't you think I've had enough of that?" I asked sounding as hurt as I was feeling. I left the room closing the door behind me. She is my blood and I love her unconditionally but we are not the same people we were, I'm not the same helpless child I was. She doesn't have the right to run around in my memories. Even if she didn't know that was going to happen, she still tried to look in on a personal moment.
NOTES-
Did it get confusing?
I didn't even know that Annabelle had a sister until the last chapter.. or that her name is not really Annabelle. This is pretty fun to write honestly, I really never know what's going to happen.
The next chapter is pretty much already written so it will be on here soon. Today or tomorrow.
I hope your enjoying it as much as I am!
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