Chapter 67 – Lady Sanguine
“Every villian is a hero in his own mind.“– Tom Hiddleston
Lady Sanguine
“No children. No pregnant women. Do not touch the Gammas. Deviate from my rules and your lives are mine to take. Understand?”
“Yes, my Lady.”
I feel alive!
Fire simmering in my veins combusted into a raging wildfire by the pungent consternation involuting through the atmosphere. Adrenaline danced a sweet tango with the flames, and my senses heightened beyond measure. I can feel the pulsating heartbeats of the wolves as they ran for their lives. A body or magic blocked safety points across the land, effectively trapping the mutts to face the death itself. The same fear I was taught to embrace for my survival brings the wolves to their much–deserved fate.
I was sick of being the good girl; swallowing my thirst for revenge to stay on the blistering, painful path of light. Demolishing my life to pieces earned Zircon Moon the blessings that should’ve been mine. As I mourned the loss of my years to torture, they celebrated in their slice of heaven. A paradise thrived above the hell below. Benedictions galore–births, weddings, parties, celebrations–everything Zircon Moon didn’t deserve, they still got.
That wasn’t fair.
What about my life? What about my losses? I never got retribution for them and will never experience the joys and turmoil of graduating from school, having my first dumb kiss at thirteen, running to my Mom for first period advice, homecoming, prom, and so much more. At seventeen, I had to play catch–up because this pack took everything from me.
Including my innocence.
Tears of my oppression will make for storm surges of vengeance. Bathing the wicked land with blood is the only solution. All the agony, night terrors, and sadness will all come to a screeching halt once I wipe this pack from existence.
It needs to happen.
But my heart doesn’t beat to the tune of revenge and death.
Thump thump.
Thump thump.
Thump thump.
No. This beat is different. My heart throbs to the ballad of pain, drumming against my ribcage with incredible force. Why? Why is this happening?
“Kiya, stop this!” Abigail.
“Little Bit, come on! Wake up from this nightmare!” Jackie.
“You’re so much better than this! Don’t let the evil control you!” Sapphire.
“I know you’re listening, Kiki. Don’t do this, please.” Galen.
“We know you Kiki; if you do this, you’re going to regret it. Please, walk away!” Darien.
My friends. Their begs and pleas latched around my arms and waist like chains, pulling me from entering the haze of crimson retribution. Sadness dripped from their every syllable as it extinguishes the flames burning in my body. They want me back; to step back on the path of light once again. I feel the chains tighten and my head pounded with a rapidly approaching headache, enticing a whimper from my lips.
They don’t understand why I’m doing this. I wish they could take a step inside my head and see what it really is like carrying the burden I didn’t deserve. I feel their love and care. They’re the good ones. What did I do to deserve them?
As I was to turn around and reach for my friends, something stopped me. A dark miasma surged in my mind again, shooting their words down. It seized my soul and pumped my body with intense darkness. Osiris” presence looms and slithers like a viper ready to strike its venom in me again and again. He snuffed out the light, and my thirst for blood and death awakened anew.
“You can’t afford to have distractions, Little Moon.” His maniacal voice fills my mind, blocking out the screaming from the wolves. I turn my head to see a vicious smile on his face. “You have work to do. I’ll keep the Alpha company in your absence.”
He’s right.
I have a mission to complete.
I broke free from the chains and entered the crimson haze. A smile awakened on my face as I envisioned the bodies of my abusers lying at my feet, cold and lifeless. Through the chaos created by the witches and hybrids, my eyes locked on the targets as they escaped inside the pack house.
My blade desires blood, and I couldn’t wait to feed it.
I thought about killing Neron first. His eyes burned into my flesh as he, somehow, could raise his head. Deep blues swam begged me to come back to him, but I didn’t feel an ounce of mercy for him. Cutting off his head would be fun, but I decided against it. I nestled my blade in my thigh holster.
He’ll lose everything before losing his life. That’s the ultimate revenge.
“Kiya, wait!” Kwame’s voice rang. “You’re angry. You want us to pay for the crimes of the past. Our punishment is long overdue, but obliterating the pack won’t change the past. It’ll only hurt you in the end. Please think about this.”
“I have.” I replied, turning my head to face him with a smile. “And you can’t change my mind. But you and your family will live. You were the only ones who were kind to me, and I’ll forever be indebted.” My smile
Chap 67 Lady Sanguine
turned into a snarl when I turned back to Neron. “I’ll come for you later.”
My nose locked on the scent of chamomile and lavender. A calming fragrance poisoned with trepidation. Images of the woman’s death flooded my mind as every predatory instinct embedded in my DNA propelled me into the invaded pack house, tracking the owner down. I ignored the showcases of chases and slaughter around me, searching for my first victim.
Entering the second floor corridors, I heard a panicked conversation as I blended in the shadows.
“Raina, I can’t compromise your safety! You need to get to the bunkers, now!”
“No, Val! Osiris is controlling my sister; I know it! There’s no way she’d willingly become like this. I have to get through to her.”
“This is not up for debate. You honestly think you alone can stop her rampage? Is it worth putting your life in danger?”
“I have to try, right? I can’t give up on her!”
Oh, Raina. You have no idea how right your beloved mate is.
Unsheathing my dagger, I threw it toward the couple, watching the blade bury itself to the hilt in Valerian’s shoulder. Two shouts followed: one of horror and one of pain. The Beta crumbled to his knees as he gritted his teeth in feeling the effects of the blade seeping into his muscles. Raina’s hands began flailing like a bird in panic as she tried to remove the blade from her husband’s shoulder.
“S–silver…” He groaned out. “Wolfsbane!”
“What the hell-
“It doesn’t hurt that bad. Stop acting like a fucking baby.”
Fear glossed over warm browns when I stepped out of the shadows. ‘Good‘, I thought and smiled. Raina looked like a fish out of water, and I couldn’t help but laugh. Valerian, engulfed by his protective instincts, shot to his feet and shielded his wife with his body. My dagger is still embedded in his left scapula.
“Kiya…” He warned. “I don’t want to hurt you, but if you harm Raina, I will attack.”
“I didn’t ask for your permission.” I crossed my arms under my bosom. “The effects of the wolfsbane blade will continue to weaken you unless it is pulled out. Silver is an unnatural blood thinner and judging by the blood raining down from your shoulder, you’re shit out of luck. You can’t even shift.”
“Kiya.” Raina worked to pull my dagger out of Valerian’s shoulder, hand pressed against his wound as he paled. “Can we talk, please? Don’t hurt Val; he’s innocent in all of this.”
“Is he?”
In a flurry of action, the shadows billowed in from each corner under my gracious command. Dancing and twirling, it performed a spectacle for the three of us before launching into an attack. Black smoke separated the couple and launched the big man through the hallways and down the stairs, away from us. I don’t need
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his distraction. Raina shrieked as the same shadows slinked around her wrists and ankles and pinned her against an adjacent wall. Trapped under my mercy.
“No! Val!”
saw nothing and
“He’ll live.” Memories of Raina’s brutality battering my body played, igniting more hatred in my soul. “He let you do all those things to me. As a mate, he should’ve stopped you. Instead, he acted as if he continued to coddle you. Valerian is as guilty as you.”
“Leave him out of this, Kiya! This is between you and me! It’s not his fault; our love made us blind. It made me blind as I hurt you and…” Tears fell down her cheeks. “He needs help. I need to help him.”
“He’s a big boy, he can help himself.” I picked up my fallen blade, gripping the hilt like my life depended on it. “What else more can you say for me to spare your life?”
“What would killing me solve?” She whimpered.
“Funny. Odessa said the same thing before I slit her throat.”
A deafening cackle erupted from my throat when Raina’s eyes widened like saucers. Her nostrils flared and her skin visibly paled in horror. She must have smelled remnants of Odessa’s blood on my skin; the last pieces of her while the rest rots in the distance. My beloved sister shook her head in disbelief.
“No. You didn’t kill her. My sister wouldn’t kill anyone…no matter how angry she got.”
“A summer of uneasy peace between us doesn’t equate to you knowing me.” Clicking echoed as I marched up to my imprisoned sibling. The heels added to my height; now nose to nose with Raina, My hand shot up and grabbed her throat, squeezing her airways. “You know nothing about me and still know nothing. You ruined my life and never suffered the consequences for your actions. Luckily for the both of us, that ends tonight.” I twirled a lock of her hair with my knife, admiring the springy curl. “How does it feel to be the hunted in our little game, big sister?”
“P–Please…!” She wheezed, desperate for air. “W–what about my son? You can’t take me from him!”
“Adonis will be fine.” I sang, cutting the curl and watching it fall to the ground. “Contrary to your belief, I won’t harm him. Children are off–limits.”
“But you’ll be taking his mother from him!”
“Maybe. Children are resilient, remember? I can and will take care of him in your stead. It’s a shame that he’ll
never know how wicked his mother was to his auntie.”
The dagger glides across Raina’s russet flesh, tendrils of smoke twirling into the air as she winced and whimpered. “Does it hurt? I hope it does! I still remember the pain of when you cut me on the thigh. It was like someone set fire on my skin.”
Suddenly, an idea popped in my head. I gasped in delight, beaming like a maniac. “We are sisters, right?”
“R–Right…”
Chapter 67 – Lady Sanguine
“We should match!”
Shrill and deafening screaming were muffled by my hand when I slashed Raina’s right thigh in the same area and shape as she did to me when we were teenagers through the fabric of her flimsy green dress. Tears rained on my fingers as she sobbed and convulsed, red swimming down her thigh, dripping onto the floor. Now she knows what it feels like to be defenseless and unable to tend to her wound.
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.”
My sister’s struggles increased tenfold when I raised my blade, pointing toward the center of her cleavage. The scent of her blood beckoned for death. For me to put her out of her misery. No doubt that soon, Valerian will swoop
op in like a superhero to save his wife, so I must end her quickly before I end him.
I was ready to kill my sister. Her body would’ve laid before my feet if it wasn’t for something that ruined everything for me. My resolve broke, and the haze disappeared. A unique, sweet scent invaded my nose, blossoming from soothing lavender–very faint.
Orchids.
My nose found its way in the crook of Raina’s neck, sniffing deeply to ensure I wasn’t imagining things. It was true. The scent of orchids is hidden deep in her fragrance, like a bug hiding in a bouquet of flowers.
I couldn’t…I can’t kill Raina!
“No!” I cried, backing away from her. “No, no, no! This isn’t fucking fair!” My screams echoed throughout the hallway; the type of scream that bypasses the ears and strikes deep in the heart. All I wanted was Raina to pay, and I can’t even have that! Fate is cruel to me once again!
Snarling, I released Raina from her imprisonment and watched her crumble to the floor on her knees, holding her wound. “Leave! Leave, now! Stay the fuck away from me if you value your fucking life!”
“Kiya…” Raina tried to reach out to me with a trembling hand, but I flinched.
“I’m Lady Sanguine, stupid bitch! Leave me be!” My screams didn’t sound human anymore. It was like a pained monster bellowing out for someone to acknowledge. Nothing felt real to me. Since Raina wouldn’t leave, I did, disappearing into the shadows.
Raina got lucky. So fucking lucky! An unexpected twist of events delayed her to–be execution.
I’ll get her one day. Even if it takes months!
But, for now, I’ll focus on my next set of victims. And their scents of nutmeg and honey led me to their bedroom, where their scents accumulated the strongest. They’ll die in Raina’s place.
“You can’t hide from me!” I roared, kicking at the door three times until I tore it off its hinges, crashing to the ground in an emphatic thud.
Ashley and Steven Lane are in here.
And I won’t hesitate to kill them.