The Hybrid's Oracle

Trapped

Renée sat on the king sized bed in the room she shared with Lucian, her eyes were puffy and red as she stared out the window, into the woods, an ethereal glow enveloped her without her notice. After a while, she wiped the tears in her eyes, stood up and walked to the en-suite bathroom. She slowly stripped, one piece of clothing at a time like she was lost in a daze. Her eyes were unfocused as she looked into the mirror. A memory of how she looked while she still lives with her father flashed in her mind, now, she looked prettier and healthier.
She smiled but it faded all of a sudden, images of people mangled and lying. Pictures of the world entirely drenched in red. Bloodstained ruins , bloodied people, bloody mountain of corpse, bloodstained land. Even the skies and clouds were dyed in a frighteningly dense shade of blood.
The bloodstained ruins were the halls of a castle, the bloodied corpses were made up of the pack members; some that she was familiar with and others that she has never met. The pool of blood flowed like a river.
Bloody fog in the air, wails of misery, smell of death. Renee’s body started shuddering harder and harder, her eyes widened as her entire body turned pallid, it was as if all the blood had been sucked out of her body in a single instance.
Renee’s legs weakened and she fell to the ground, her eyes filled with fear as she broke free from the trance. “What is happening?” She muttered to herself, her body shivered a bit.
After a few seconds passed, she stood up from the ground and stepped into the bathtub, the water was warm and scented with roses, she took a deep breath, trying to block out what she had just seen.
She played in the water for a bit before returning to her room clad in a bathtub, she frowned she sees a particular face she wasn’t  expecting. Mara. “Why are you here?”
“Your highness, I brought some dessert for you, Princess Kiara asked that you try them and tell her what you think about it.”
“Get out and never enter this room without my permission.”
“But I knocked the door, Your Highness. I didn’t  received a response.” Mara frowned as she tried to justify her actions.
“Are you challenging me?” Renée raised one of her eyebrows, a sneer appeared on her lips.
“I wouldn’t dare, Your Highness.”
“You should have waited for my response. Don’t  you dare enter this room without my permission. Understood?” There was something about the maid that made Renée uncomfortable, so instead of acting on her instincts, it was better avoid meeting her.
“Yes. Your Highness.”  Mara walked towards the door, a sneer appeared on her face as she muttered underneath her breath “She is just a useless tool.”
A small knife flew towards her head, Mara ducked in time and it missed it’s target and got lodged into the wall. Renée strolled to where she was, her eyes was red as her body started to emit a bloodlust aura. The complete change caused Mara to shiver in fear, she crawled backwards with her hands and feet. “Do not kill me- I’m – I’m sorry. Your- Forgive me your highness. I apologize for my insolence.”
A knife was held in Renee’s  hand as she slowly got closer to Mara, she crouched down and with a devilish smile on her face, she trailed the sharp end of the knife on Mara’s face. “It seems like you are mistaken about a couple of things, so allow me to clarify them to you. One, I am a princess and you are nothing but a maid. Two, I have every right to take your life, right here and right now, do you know why, You can easily be replaced with another maid. I can kill hundreds of maids, and new ones would show up every time I do. Do you understand?”
“Yes. Your Highness.” Mara lowered her head, not willing to stare into Renée’s darkened eyes.
“Out.” As soon as she got the word out, Mara scrambled up to her feet and rushed out of the room as if she has just been given pardon from death. Literally.
Renée lets out a sigh of relief, she walked to one of the wardrobes like nothing had happened. She glanced through the clothes before finally settling for a red crop top and short jean skirt. The red glow in her eyes dimmed a little, as the ethereal glow envelops her once again. “Time to get out of this place.”
Renée walked out of the room, the eyes of the guards stationed at the door widened in shock. It was to be expected since she was showing so much skin; her neck, shoulders, stomach, legs and were exposed. “Your Highness-“ Two guards suddenly blocked her from leaving.
“Back. Off.” She whispered but her words hit them straight to the heart, it seemed like an order that they could not defy. Their heads instantly lowered towards her and they stepped out of the way. “Tell Princess Luciana that I’ll be on my way. No one should come looking for me.”
She strolled through the hallway, any guard that tried to stop her stepped out if her way with just a glare from her. Just like this, she made her way out of the castle and towards the forest but upon arriving on the path leading to a place only familiar to her, her red in her eyes completely disappeared and her face paled. Renée coughed lightly, she seemed to have regained clarity. She looked at her surroundings in confusion. “What just happened? How did I get here?”
**
“Why do you keep waiting here, Your Majesty? You should know that she would not show up.” A voice whispered into his ear as he stood under a tree… still waiting.
“She would definitely show up.”  Zander said with certainty.
“Your Majesty, She just got mated properly. Do you think her mate would be able to leave her for the rest of today?”
Zander frowned. “She promised to show up. Don’t  you have a better place to be than stalk me witch?”
“I have a better show to watch right here.”
“I’ll rather you leave, I don’t  need an outsider around while I’m spending time with my Beloved.”
“She belongs to someone else now, so unless you are prepared to make a move.. you better give her up in this lifetime and wait for the next.”
Zander grew silent for a while, pondering his options. To get close to Renée, he had used magic to change his identity from King Zeke, who was the vampire ruler to Zander, a young man who lost his lover. He is so sure that Renée was his Queen in her previous life but unfortunately, fate had matched her with someone else.
“Do you think she would want to still be with you even though she remembers her previous life? You are a vampire, she is the moon’s daughter,” The voice continued behind him but there was no one standing there. Each word she said was infuriating him. “You are a harbinger of death, she is pure like an untainted white Lily.”
“You must leave now, your work here is done. I would summon you once I reach a decision.” There was no response to this. Zander or King Zeke stared at the ruby gem in his hand… still waiting.
It took a while before Renée could find her way back to the tree where she had met her new friend, she kept circling back to the cabin where she had spent the night before she switched paths. Her face had regained a bit of color but she lacked stamina and energy and what she wanted to do was sleep.
“Hey Chloe,”  Zander’s eyes brightened as he saw Renée appear before him. His eyes brightened like a kid that was talking to his crush for the first time. His eyes trailed on her exposed skin, settling in the mark that was on her collar bone. His heart churned in anger, wanting so much to get rid of the brand that sealed her fate with someone else.
“Have you been waiting here for a long time?” She settled under the tree, taking a deep breath. Renée didn’t  notice the look on his face, she was too busy trying to catch her breath.
Seeing her slightly pale face, Zander clenched his fist and said through gritted teeth. “Are you okay?” He sat down besides her
Renée forced out a smile. “I got lost.”
Zander takes her word for the truth, not wanting to pressure her. “I was starting to think you might not show up anymore.”
“Sorry, I had a lot to deal with earlier.” Renée could not resist leaning her head on his shoulder. She couldn’t even begin to describe how tired she was feeling.
Her action pleased him, he gently took one of her hand , placing the gem and necklace on it. “I brought this for you.”
Renee’s eyes widened with both joy and surprise, “This is so beautiful.” She raised the ruby gem and tried to peer through it. For some unknown reason to her, she felt a strange connection with the necklace, it was a feeling of De Javu, like there was something she was forgetting but no matter how she thought about it, she has never seen such a necklace.
Zander stared at her actions with anticipation. He was hoping that it would trigger her memory of her previous life but his heart sank when no reaction came from her. “Would your mate approve of you being here all alone?”
“You can sense it too, right? That is why you also think it’s weird for me to be out here.”
“What do you mean?”
“You can sense that I completed my mating ritual with him but how come I’m here in the woods with a different person.”
When she raised her head from his shoulder, Zander could see the sadness in her eyes; this strengthened the resolve to claim her irrespective of the cost. “Are you happy?”
“I think I’m meant to be happy. Everything has changed, it’s different and I’m trying to get used to it.” Renée placed a finger over her mark and traced it lightly.
Zander was about to say something when he suddenly stood up, Renée looked at him with confusion. “Someone is coming. I have to go.” He ran off before she could respond, taking the necklace with him.
Before Renée could think about how her had swiftly ran away, Lucian walked towards her with a furious expression on his face.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” Renée doesn’t fight the sneer that curled up her lips. Rage, like she has never felt before, boils over. ‘In the end, I’m nothing but a tool to him.’
Renée didn’t care about anything else other getting the hell away from the man in front of her. The very man who stood just inches from her, looking down at her with a bored expression affixed to his face, his eyes boring into her like lasers that could see through her, leaving her squirming like an insolent child despite the rage vibrating through my body.
“Why were you so insistent on coming out here?” Lucian looked around, he couldn’t  catch a strange scent or feel someone else’s presence.
“What does that got to do with you?” Renée demanded, It’s a battle of wills as Renée and Lucian stared one another down, neither of them willing to back away.
He is angry. Pissed. Enraged.
Renée doesn’t care because so was she.
“Come with me.” Renée doesn’t miss the thinly veiled threat in his voice though Lucian has a smile on his lips, the hunger that flashes through his eyes is unmistakable. Defiance and anger courses through Renée’s veins at his command, She rolled her eyes sarcastically.
Lucian roughly held her chin, Renée felt her head spin before she sank into the darkness that has been threatening to overwhelm her.