His Lost Queen

SEVEN

‼️
Meredith Blackfur
Avé
Sepet Castle

My lungs fill and my heart sinks.
I'm still here.
From my head to my toes, my muscles burn, skin is bruised, broken and the heavy scent of death lingers. Everywhere. In my hair, on my skin. On my sheets.
Reluctantly, my tired eyes part and adjust to the darkness. My only delight is that Corvin is finally gone, but the offending odor that clings to him is still strong. He must've only recently left. Rolling to my back, my body groans at the movement. A single tear rushes towards my ear.
I don't know how much longer I can do this.

It's been so many years of the same routine; the same humiliating treatment. Even now, I can imagine the things Granny would be saying; the things she'd be doing to get me out of this.
My gifts pale to hers.
If Granny were here today, I know for sure that none of this would've happened. Corvin would be ash, Brock would be dead or at the very least cursed; and me and Theia would be safely flourishing within what remains of the Harrow coven.
Alas, Granny isn't here; and my daughter was left with a mother whose magical ability wasn't to par. The most I could do was hide my mating mark and suppress Theia's Lycan.
If only I'd taken my lessons more seriously.
That's all I'm left with now; if's, should haves and could haves.

At least now I know my 'little star' is safely tucked away in Arcadia.
I've been waiting to feel her, hoping that the more she knew about me the more of a connection we'd form; and last night somewhere amongst Corvin's attacks.. she came to me.
Which means she found the book... and she's using it, likely without guidance. The thought physically pains me, I've done the same thing and I know the consequences of playing with magic you don't understand.
I kicked her out of my mind so fast that I knew it would physically hurt her; but it was necessary. I couldn't let her feel what Corvin was doing to me.
Nobody should feel that. Especially my little girl.
She's the only reason that I endure all of this. The one reason that I don't find some way of ending things whereby Corvin can't bring me back.
Corvin Ivicos isn't just bad because he's a vampire. He's inherently evil.

I remember the horror stories Granny would tell me growing up about the monster that destroyed the infamous Dracula. She said that he would sneak into the bedrooms of naughty witches and take them away during the night, never to be seen again.
I learned much later that one of the many gift's Granny possessed was 'the sight'.
Maybe all of those stories were her way of trying to warn me?.

Granny's face in my mind brings a new swell of tears, decades old grief that's as fresh now as it ever has been. There was a time that my gift was strong enough that I could summon her memory into reality, her hugs would be as real as if she were still alive and they would cradle me to sleep now and then; but those capabilities have long since been drained away. Along with most of what used to make me, Meredith.
Thankfully what remains is just enough to conjure necessities - like long distance projections to Lucenzo, the Alpha of Graypaw.

Shit I reek of vampire.
Rising to the bathroom, I ignore the weakness in my legs and the pounding in my head as I turn the shower to the hottest setting I can bear. Even if it means scolding myself - anything to rid my skin of his touch. Scrubbing, lathering, crying, I stand under the unforgiving stream letting it pelt me with fiery drops of fortitude.
No more crying Mer.

When I exit I stand and watch my reflection, allowing a sweeping glance over the battle scars left from the last few days. Reddish-purple blooms and raw puckered skin litter the most intimate places of my body, each of them a painful reminder of my circumstances.
My eyes reach my neck where I expect to see Corvin's mutliple attempts to break the fragile skin there, but instead I see Brock's mark proudly visible. Butterflies swarm in my belly as my skin flushes and searing heat flows from my head to my toes. I'm immediately taken back to the caress of his breath on my skin, the smell of pine needles and burning wood wraps around me. It curls deliciously in my lower abdomen as my eyes flutter closed, dampening the space between my thighs.