Chapter 20
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Inside a dark cold cell, a red-haired woman bound in shackles of iron and lay on the cold floor helplessly and tired. She looked tired and done with life itself. The Hawthorne necklace on her neck flashed a dull light as her body continued to be assaulted with ith great magnitude of pain. The Vampire king has no mercy and that is reflected in his actions of leaving the potency of the Hawthorne necklace active on her neck. She quietly moaned in pain but she couldn’t leave the spot or tear the necklace away from her neck because of her tied limbs.
” You will pay for your sins!” She spat out blood as the last words of Decanal invaded her head.
” I will kill you with my own hands!” Diana’s voice cursed in her head as the Hawthorne continued to inflict her with pain both mentally and physically. She couldn’t distinguish between the first Decanal and the current one in her head.
It was all her, Kiona Crosset’s doing. Three hundred years ago, She had killed the first Decanal by separating the wolf from the princess out of spite. The Princess had raided her entire coven and killed dozens of her sisters because they went against the council of the supernatural. Only Kiona escaped that night and she had sworn to avenge the death of her sisters.
She spent years honing her skills and perfecting her magic and spells. She had tried to drive a war between the Vampires and the werewolves hoping the Vampires would Annihilate the other races but she failed because of the vampire king. Darryl was too powerful for her to manipulate and he could see through her antics, he was also immune to her magic. So she settled with the Alpha king instead, she manipulated him against his daughter and turned them against each other.
Of course, the betrayal hit Decanal harder than the spell. The Black wolf watched her human counterpart wither away and attack Kiona blinded by rage. Kiona almost lost her life due to Decanal’s poisoned claws during the fight but she only succeeded after stabbing Decanal with the forbidden dagger which split the wolf into two.
” I will be back witch!” The two new entities had told her before fading into nothingness. But no! Decanal can’t be reborn. She tried everything to make sure Decanal’s soul remained sealed but the Wolf was not legendary for nothing. Three hundred years later, Decanal was back.
” You will pay for your sins!” Two voices clashed inside her head as she groaned in pain. Her face suddenly broke out and her skin became hot and raw with pain as she started aging rapidly. She went from looking like a twenty-year-old woman to seventy years old within a minute. She had lived for over three hundred years but she has never felt so much pain in her life.
” Help!” She cried but the memories and visions of Decanal coming back to kill her continued. She remembered the smug look on her face when she did it again, separating Decanal from Diana was harder because Diana had a perfect balance with Decanal but she did it even though it was temporary. She couldn’t kill Decanal this time around, she could only seal it inside a portrait she drew with her magic.
The portrait is to be kept safe by the Alpha of the Red Moon pack while Kiona finds a way to destroy the wolf for good so she can focus on the real threat, Dyrr; the other part of Decanal with the original abilities. But well, When you mess with the mate of the vampire king, you have to pay. She never imagined that Decanal would be mated to Darryl, the one person who knew her weakness and how to end the witch for good.
She let out a pitiful laugh at her situation. Every scheme, every plot, and every manipulation against Decanal proved abortive. She laughed as the pain became stronger. She couldn’t bear her failure. In the end, she would still end up dying at the hands of Decanal. She shook her head negatively as she refused to accept that defeat. She would rather take her own life than let that arrogant wolf kill her.
” Well, that will never happen Kiona” The cold voice of the vampire king slithered through the cold walls of the prison, almost freezing her. She felt the Hawthorne grow cold at the voice of its master. It stopped working and she breathed out in relief.
” I won’t allow you to die now. I will only kill you slowly until my mate delivers the final blow.” His eyes pierced through the darkness as he finally showed his face to her. He leaned over the iron bars taking a look at her pitiful figure. She looked older than a granny, it’s funny how Hawthorne could reveal the true colors of a witch. It was their only weakness.
” Who knows? Maybe Dyrr might want to do it instead? The new Alpha king will permit it, he is not like his grandfather. And you have been a nuisance to all races, even your fellow witches want you executed” He continued with a permanent smirk on his face. He looked better than the last time he had fought with Maurice in the throne room. He had been feeding and taking care of himself regularly.
After much groaning, she finally got herself to sit up. The shackles made noises as she crawled toward the vampire king.
” Please save me, just this once. We are old friends remember? You and I are one of the oldest supernatural please?” She begged fervently rubbing her palms together as the shackles continued to make noise.
” I warned you, Kiona. Three hundred years ago, even when I wasn’t mated to the wolf. But you didn’t listen, who knew your stubbornness would later leave you at my mercy three hundred years later” He said and all hope drained from her face as she watched the King’s unnerving cold gaze.
” I didn’t know she was your mate! He never told me!” She screamed but he could see past her lies. She was still stupid enough to think she could lie to him. He hummed and nodded his head.
” No. You were trying to kill two birds with a stone. I am the only one who knows your weakness and you know. Is that not why you advised him to bring an entire army against me?” He Scoffed and she gasped in shock. How did he know?
” Oh, it seems you forget I can look into anybody’s past just by touching them. I saw everything including your little deed with Dyrr, but that is not my business. Until we have both wolves or one of them, you will remain here suffering.” he said as she watched her eyes widen in pure terror.
” You should pray Kiona, pray they return soon because that is the only way your death will be soon. And if my mate fails to remember my name before the next full moon. That Hawthorne necklace will soon have a bracelet to accompany it. Witches like pieces of jewelry right?” He said before disappearing into the darkness. She screamed as the Hawthorne resumed its effects once again.
” Your old self is coming back. Should I be scared?” Maurice mused immediately Darryl got out of the dungeon. He quickly locked the door after his king and trailed after him on their way to the grand chamber.
” You don’t need to be scared. My mate will return soon. I can feel it” Darryl muttered happily while Maurice grinned from ear to ear. He missed Diana a lot, she was the only thing closest to a sister he ever had. He probably loved her more than her Alpha brother who is consumed with hatred and vengeance against vampires.
” The Luna queen is weird don’t you think? She looked pale when you brought Kiona in front of the vampire king” Maurice asked suddenly slipping into a more serious conversation.
” I know. I saw her in Kiona’s memories. Kiona had a lot to do with her being mated to the Alpha king but for now it’s none of my business” Darryl sighed as he took a seat. Maurice brought a glass of fresh blood to him instantly. He took it and down it, one go. His eyes flashed red before going back to normal.
” I saw her near the dungeon. She is suspicious but thank goodness they left already” Maurice said taking the glass from his king. Darryl only nodded, the Luna queen was none of his business but if she had attempted to free Kiona from his prison, he would have been forced to take action against her, Luna of his friend or not. And that would have risked a war between two races, but they left before she could try anything stupid.
He relaxed a bit into his chair as he willed his powers back to life, he envisioned the golden string connecting him to Diana’s subconscious and tapped on it so he could reach her again but what he got in return was flashes of hot pain through the fading mate bond. He gasped as the pain threw him to reality. The pain was hot and raw, it threatened to consume him whole.
Maurice was by his side instantly worried for his king, even in his weakest moment. Such a thing has never happened to him before. He groaned out loudly as the pain reminded him of the time Diana collapsed in his arms and the first time he visited her dream plane when she was in a coma. Could she be in a coma again?
” Something is wrong with Diana. She is … In coma” he rasped out, the mate bond was breaking along with his soul.