This chapter is dedicated to GoldenUnseen ilysmmm🥺💗
****
No, this can't be.

But the pale and bloody face said otherwise.

The blood inside my veins chilled. My heart started thumping so loudly that I was sure that everyone present here could hear it loud and clear. I felt bile rise up my throat. A hand clasped around my elbow but I didn't care.

The flame inside me stirred and glowed. You. This happened because of you. It roared and glowed brighter than ever.

No, that's not true.

Yes, it is. You did it.

The fire started spreading inside me like wildfire. I had to clench my fist to keep it from exploding. I pulled the cloak much lower so that no one even caught a mere glimpse of my face especially my eyes because, my green eyes are now glowing brighter than ever. If anyone looked at me they would see the sun itself in my eyes.

I prayed that no one saw the light emerging from inside of my cloak.

Someone was saying something. Something to me. I couldn't hear it due to the roaring that filled my head silencing everything else around me except those three words:

You did it.

You did it.

You did i-

NO! I DIDN'T. I dug my nails into my palms. Harshly.

A flood of memories churned within my head making me gasp for air. The images kept coming.

I first saw her face. Her kind, beautiful face. I had been ten years old when I had met her when Alexander had given me an offer and I had accepted it. Ten years. The moment I had gazed into her grey kind yet wise eyes exactly like my mother's I had immediately felt at ease and knew that I could trust her. She had always taken care of me like I was her own daughter.

Suddenly a memory arose inside my head and my eyes welled up. When Alexander had dislocated my shoulder when I was eleven because of a small mistake I had done for which she had gone up to him and smacked him in the face. Afterwards, she had taken care of me for two whole weeks.

Whenever Alexander would punish me she would come to my rescue. She had always been there for me and now, now that I gazed at her and saw her bruised up face, my heart wrenched to the point where I had to apply pressure on my chest to soothe the pain.

I forced myself to look at her again one last time and remembered each line in her face. To look at the marks that have been carved into her forehead and chest.

She was dead.

She, who treated me like her daughter was dead.

Anna was dead.

********
"Are you okay?"

"Shut up."

"Are you okay?"

"Shut up."

"Are you ok-" I shut Caleb off by grabbing him by his collar and giving him a glare.

"I said shut up! Why don't you ever understand? Ugh!" I push him away by his collar and start walking away. From the corner of my eye, I see Enzo watching me intently.

"Are you okay?"

I whirl around, "No, I'm not Caleb, I'm not! Don't you see me?! I'm not okay."

"I know," he says and suddenly pulls me to his chest, closing his arms around me.

"Um, what in the God's name are you doing?" I said, dumbfounded.

"Hugging you. Duh."

"I can see that. Why are you doing that?"

"It's an act of comfort. People usually do it to comfort someone or to show feelings like love towards their significant other." He said, smiling widely, showing his fangs off like he had just achieved a very big price for saying that. As if.

"Stop doing that. Right now. I don't need your comfort and I'm definitely not your significant other."

His smile suddenly falls and he clutches his right side of the chest with his hand while his other one strokes my hair. "Words can hurt, you know?"

I try to get out of his embrace but to no avail, he tightens his arms around me. I hear someone growl.

"Pssshttt humphhh."

"Yeah absolutely! Such wise words said by an equally wise person."

"Pfffttt. Leave me aloneee!" He tightens his arms more around me at that.

"What did you say? Oh, to kiss-" Again I hear that same growl. Is there a lion somewhere? "-you? Sorry, can't do that, I'm a noble person."

"If you don't leave me, Caleb, I'm going to knee you where the sun don't shine and then cut your arms off." I growl at him. He immediately loosens his hold at that and I take that as an opportunity to get myself out.

I cough out the hair that got into my mouth while trying to free myself of that torturing hold.

"You bloody bastard! Why did you do that? You know what? I don't even want to know. Leave me alone." I said and marched off into my room.

I shut the door of my room with a loud thud and rip my cloak off.

My hands find its way into my hair and I pull at it aggressively, "How? How did this even happen, how?" I said, pacing back and forth.

Why was she even here?

Suddenly, my phone rings pulling me out of my thoughts. Alex. I immediately picked it up.

"Hello, Katherine, is Anna with you?"

"What?"

"Anna? I sent her to you in case you need her. I know how much you love her."

"You...You sent her here? To me?"

"Yes, I did. Why?"

"She's dead! Alexander she's dead. They killed her."

"What do you mean, she's dead? And who are 'they'?

"You know who I'm talking about."

Silence.

"Tell me everything."

And I did. I told him everything.

"Should I tell them who really is behind this?"

"No! I thought you were smarter than this and it's not even confirmed that it's him."

"Um, that Alberta guy or whatever his name was confirmed it."

"Still, Katherine, you can't tell them. Don't you know that they are vampires?"

I sighed. He was right. "Alright, I'm hanging up." I hang up before he could object.

I tossed my phone on the bed and was just in the process of slipping my shirt off so, I could change into my nightwear until I heard a voice that made me froze.

"Pray tell, little assassin, who is it that is behind this?"

Cazzo!

——————————————————————————————————————