Emma felt like weeping, but she didn’t even know how to go about that. She was all manner of speechless. Her face was an artwork of sorrow, deep sorrow.
She shut her mouth, wet the upper ceilings of her mouth with her tongue, opened the buccal cavity to say something, but shut it again.
She wanted to talk, to yell, to cuss and scream but she couldn’t. She felt stupefied. No, more than that. There wasn’t a word to accurately describe what she was feeling at the moment. Her throat was clogged with unshed tears and words.
For the first time, she felt entrapped with words as she stared at the beast which hadn’t taken away its gaze off her this whole time.
The spell was broken, when she heard some steps behind her. Julius. She concluded, not turning aside to notice him. She was sure he was the one. Her nose had marked his scent. He was with someone too. The other vampire. She concluded, looking straight ahead at the beast, her brain already working to process the how and why her boyfriend was this way. What the hell had happened?
“Did you know about this?” She finally asked Ava, though not turning to look at her.
The silence that greeted her, gave her the answer quite alright. They had all known.
“What happened to him?” She asked, taking some steps to the middle of the hall.
When no one answered her, she screamed;
“Did you all go dumb?!! What. the. hell. happened. to. my. boyfriend?!!!” Punctuating each word, balling her fists, not caring or shaking when the hall shook like an earthquake was about to happen.
The surprised looks on the faces of everyone in the room didn’t faze her either.
“He was possessed by an Alferic beast.” She heard her lookalike say, and scoffed.
Perhaps, she should trash out this one while she was still on this. She thought.
“Who the hell are you? And why do you look like me?” She asked, raising her right eyebrow, when Aiden left the beast and walked over to the girl, his teeth gnashing at her.
What the hell. Is she his sister?
“You don’t talk to my lifemate that way.” He said, and she scoffed more louder, causing the beast to snicker. It seemed to enjoy watching the show unfold.
Within it, Derek was speechless, not understanding what had just happened. It was obvious that his little witch had made the hall shake. How?
The beast was admiring her too, to his anger.
“Stop staring at her that way. She is mine.” He had said.
“Not anymore. I will capture her and have my way with her. That way we will procreate. And then I will kill that witch that thought that she could control me.” The beast replied, and Derek grinded his teeth in anger, having noted the last statement of the beast. Leonarya was behind this. But how had she managed to ensnare him this way? He had tried as hard as he could, to remember, but to no avail.
“Lifemate?” Emma scoffed the more.
“What? Are we joking here?” She queried in anger, shifting her gaze from Aiden to the girl who was staring at her calmly.
‘That’s how they usually are. Imposters!’
She would return to the topic later, for now, Derek.
“She is not an imposter.” She heard Prescott say, and snorted, not wanting to hear anything. Who knows whether the girl was a witch, and had bewitched them all.
“Are you behind this?” She asked Freya.
“No.” Freya replied, still shocked at the resemblance that existed between them.
She didn’t blame Emma for thinking that she was an imposter, even though it was a bit annoying.
“Not like you would say yes if you are the one.” Emma retorted and Freya scoffed, refusing to cower again. And wasn’t she supposed to be human? She thought, meeting Emma’s glare with one of hers.
“Stop bickering with fools, my love.” The beast said, shattering the brisk unfriendly connection between Emma and Freya.
“Shut up, ugly. I didn’t remember asking for your opinion.” Emma stated, disgust written all over her face, as she turned her attention to the beast which now took a step towards her.
“Even though I am besotted with you, I won’t have you insult me girl.” The beast said, in a ‘gentle tone’ that surprised the people that had been in the hall before Emma had come in.
But Emma, not knowing the temperament of the beast, snorted.
“Get out of him.” She said, folding her arms across her chest.
“And if I don’t?” The beast asked, obviously amused with what he had just heard.
“The vampires will help you do so, ungracefully.” She replied, wincing unconsciously when she heard and saw the beast bend a bit, cackling in a loud laughter that resonated across the hall.
“Aiden, Julius… and… you…, get him out.” Emma mentioned, turning around and pointing at Julius and Yodah. She didn’t know the latter’s name then.
But the trio stood where they were, unmoving.
“Why aren’t you guys moving?” She asked, furrowing her eyebrows at Aiden especially.
“We can’t get him out of Derek.” Aiden replied in a low tone.
“What do you mean you can’t get him out? Aren’t you an all powerful being? You can change into a dragon, but you can’t command one out of a human being?” She questioned unbelievably, not getting the whole point of his power if he couldn’t do this small thing. Wasn’t he more powerful than Leonarya?
“He is an Alferic beast. They are not easily killed.” Aiden replied, keeping a blank face, his hand placed around Freya’s waist.
“So… there is no hope for him? Is that what you are saying?” Emma asked, her eyes widening in incredulity.
“There is… there was rather… Anthony.” Aiden muttered, looking aside to where Anthony still laid, still on the ground.
“Anthony?” Emma queried, following Aiden’s eyes to a figure lying still as dead. Maya was beside it.
No no. She muttered.
He couldn’t be dead right?
For some reason, she felt her heart hurt from the thought of that. He had been her food partner after all.