Lycanthropy

Did he just really say that? Did he just really say, that Radu is reviving my mother? How could this be true? How is that possible?

Is that what he was planning all along? Using the time that he had given us, for him to use and find out where she had lived and was killed and buried?

But even if he had managed to find her, her remains would have been perished over time. I mean she is already dead for over fourteen years!

And why would he do it in the first place? What is he up to with her, should he be able to do it?

Is he going to force me to cooperate, in turn for her to be still alive? Is he going to threaten me, with killing her again, if I wouldn’t comply to his commands?

What is the meaning of this?

Marius was now locked up in our dungeon, and Aron was trying to get more out of him. But he hadn’t said a word after the moment I had commanded him to tell me about Radu.

“But you did command him. So, maybe you can do that with Radu as well.” Dakota said to me.

“I doubt that, it took me all of my power to do it with Marius, and Radu is much stronger than him.” I replied and she nodded mentally.

“Are you alright, honey?” My grandmother said, as she came sitting next to me on the edge of the mountain peak.

“No.” I huffed, while looking in the distance.

It was quiet for a little while, both of us taking in the serene scene in front of us, before we spoke about the elephant in the room.

“The last time we sat here, you spoke about your mother. I’m glad that you have experienced plenty of good moments with her.” She suddenly said.

“Plenty is not enough.” I said, and she nodded.

“If your mother, my daughter, is coming here in an hour or two, then I don’t know what I will do. But I do know one thing.” She said.

“And that is?”

“If it is truly her, then I will try whatever it takes to save her.” She said, but I got a little angry.

“But what if it is just another trick? Just as he had managed to transform one of his assassins into himself? I mean, what is the reason behind all of his actions?” I asked her, while looking at her now.

“I don’t know honey, but we will just have to see for it ourselves.”

“Yes, I guess we have to. Radu is not answering his phone either.” I replied, while breaking Marius’ phone in two.

My grandmother stood up and reached out for me to stand up as well. Together we walked down the slope of the mountain and waited downstairs for Radu’s arrival.

Time went by slowly, where I checked the clock in my office for almost every minute. I know it’s cliché but it’s true when they say, that if you have to wait, time only goes slower. This small hour was one of the longest in my whole life, and I couldn’t wait any longer for him.

I rushed outside, hoping to find him waiting for me.

He wasn’t of course, so I turned around and wanted to get back inside.

Until I heard that voice.

“Emmy? Is that really you?” The most angelic sound that I haven’t heard for such a long time, echoed in my ears.

“This can’t be real.” I whispered, while not daring to turn myself around. “She is not here.” I continued.

“Emerson, please, it is me. I’m right here.” She said in a sad voice, trembling from the tears that she was trying to hold in.

I turned around and held my hand up, in a stopping sign. There was no way that I could commit to accepting this!

The female in front of me, looked like her, spoke like her, for crying out loud even smelled like her! But I’m sure that it wasn’t her!

“No! It’s not possible! Get away!” I yelled.

Radu was standing next to my mother, and my anger arose faster than Marius’ flashing speed!

“You coward! What tricks are you playing with me!? Who is she?” I yelled, while storming forward towards him, while passing by the creature that looked so familiar.

He raised his arms and accepted the hits that I gave him on his chest, abdomen and head. It was odd for him to not get angry at me, to not hit me back or do anything to stop me. His obsession towards me is just awful, he is being a weak man right now! But I didn’t care, I beat him until he was bleeding, and just kept on going even more.

“I have br- brought her here- for you!” He coughed.

I could hear people talk behind me, but I didn’t care what it was about.

I just kept on hitting Radu, with a speed that no one has ever seen, and while he was with his back against a boulder on the side of my mountain, I just kept going.

“Why do something like this?! Do you really think that I will come with you, because you tricked me, showing up with this woman! She is not my mother! She is dead!” I yelled, while Radu was coughing up some more blood.

I know that my Nightstalker part couldn’t exhaust me anymore, but even so, I was starting to wear out a little, making myself breath harder as I continued.

“Stop! He saved me! You can’t kill him!” I suddenly heard that angelic voice break through my exhaustion again, while she touched my shoulder.

Have I been hitting Radu that much already?

She put both her hands on my shoulders, and exhaustion came in even faster. I turned around and landed on one knee.

The woman, of whom I still not believe to be my mother, came down now as well and lifted my chin with her hand.

“Emerson, it is really me. Look me in the eyes, see it for yourself.” She said.

I did look her in the eyes and saw a white lock of hair wave by on a soft breeze. It was her hair, her eyes and her scent, but Radu tricked me once before, he could do it again!

Tears ran down my face. “No, it’s not true. I don’t believe it.”

“Then believe it, when I talk to you in your mind.” She said through the Lycan family link.

My eyes grew wide and my jaw dropped. She has contacted me through the mind link before, when I was young, but that was when we were all in the same pack. She could do it, because we were linked together on that level. But now that she isn’t in my pack, the only logical reason that this could be happening, is that she really is my mother.

I looked to my left, where my grandmother stood, and she nodded her head in agreement. My mother released my shoulders, and a little of my energy returned, so I stood up.

“But how is this possible?” I asked them both.

“Like I said, Radu has saved me.” My mother replied, nodding towards Radu.

“Can’t you see that it is her?” Radu asked me from behind me, and my mother smiled to me with the most sincere smile she could muster.

I looked at the bloody man behind me, as he stood up and tried to wipe the blood from his face, with the sleeve of his shirt.

For a moment I wanted to let her in, to accept that she truly is my mother. But I was still hesitant and an interruption was agreeing with me.

“She is a royal, that’s why this is possible!” I heard Dimitri’s deep voice yell, from up the mountain. He must have heard what we were talking about and had yelled downwards.

I figured out myself already that she is a royal, but I couldn’t believe that reviving someone, could still be happening after so many years! He had explained, days ago, that if a royal gets ‘killed’ it would only take some blood to revive again. But her body must have decayed over the years, so how could Radu still manage to get her back?

“Only my blades can kill royals, and that is what I will do with them!” Dimitri now yelled right behind me, as he jumped down the remaining height of the mountain.

I turned around quickly and saw that he was going for Radu’s bleeding body, with his shiny blades. Radu was about to be killed by me, as his army had killed plenty of my wolves already, so why should I care that he wanted to kill him now?

I looked at how Dimitri aimed for Radu’s body, swiping his blades, but Radu avoided it, half stumbling, half flashing.

“Is this your way of thanking me?” Radu asked me, but I didn’t reply.

There hasn’t been any time for me to talk to my mother thoroughly about this, and by the time that I switched my gaze back to her, she had been gone.

A blur of her body, guided me back again to Radu and Dimitri, where now my mother stood in between!

She held her hands up against the steel handles of Dimitri’s blades and crushed them together, making the steel pierce his hands. He roared in pain, as the bones in his hands got broken down by the force that my mother was using.

I was still exhausted, and still unable to do anything about it. But my grandmother had the same thoughts that I had. She flashed towards her, and dislodged her hands from Dimitri’s.

“What the hell are you doing!? Radu must be killed! This has to end!” She shouted against my mother, for the betrayal that she was showing again.

Only then could I see a light smirk raise upon my mother’s face, as she lifted her lip on one side of it.

“Oh, mother, you are just as gullible as you were when Radu made you to become one of his.” She said while slowly walking around her, showing her true colours.

I knew it!

Dimitri was trying to get the blades of his hands, together with now the help of several other people, including Aron.

“What do you mean?” My grandmother asked.

“I almost succeeded at making you both believe me, as that would have made it easier for Radu to keep you distracted during battle. But you should have listened to my precious daughter in the first place. It is true that Radu has played another trick on you.” She said, agreeing to my earlier statement.

“After so many years of being dead, it is extremely hard to revive a Nightstalker. Radu had to use at least fifty wolves to poor their blood onto my remains, and even then, there was only a slight chance that it could work. I’m glad that it did though. And even though I feel this sensational bond to him, I’m happy that I’m once again back to this wretched earth!”

Her eyes began to gleam red and then I was certain, that my mother was still dead. Sure, this was her body, her scent and her voice, but the little bit that stung in my heart, that had wanted to believe it was my mother from the past, washed away quickly.

I was right, it wasn’t her. Not truly.

The act of Radu, of using so many innocent lives, must have corrupted her soul.

My grandmother stuttered for a moment, not wanting to believe all the things that my mother said, and didn’t know what to say in return.