Tainted Happiness {Formerly Returned} (Book 4) (Completed)

Chapter 2

Melanie POV

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My mind went blank. I thought Rosa had killed him when she was Strigoi. There was no way he could be back. I slowly made my way to the door to see if it was true, thinking that she had imagined everything.

"A-are to going to open the door?" I asked timidly, in a high pitched, squeaky voice, hoping she'd say no.

"Do I have a choice? I killed him. I watched him die, I felt him die. There is no realistic way that he can be living. This must be some sick hallucination." Rosa whispered.

"Open the door, Kait." Janine said, pulling her stake out with Rose and Dimitri behind her.

She slowly opened the door, putting on her neutral, Guardian face. The opened door revealed what appeared to be Kait's ex husband, but he was slightly different. It was nothing any of us had seen before. He had two sets of fangs, one in the usual place, then another in place of his premolars, right next to he first set. His eyes were a strange mixture of gold, purple, red, and tan. Each color had it's own place in the iris and was contained in a black ring around the outside of the entire colored part of his eye. His skin was the same color as the typical Strigoi, but had a pale blue tint to it. The tint seemed to be about the same pale, ice blue as what you'd see as a general eye color for the Ozera family. He smelled of blood, dirt, and decay. The smell was so potent and horrific that it easily made everyone vomit with the opening of the door. He was caked in dirt almost everywhere. He had it under his fingernails, embedded in parts of his arms, legs, and almost any other visible skin. It was difficult to tell the color of his skin simply from the sheer amount of dirt caked into his skin. He was wearing a dirty suit, similar to the suits they put on male corpses for funerals, only this suit was caked with just as much dirt as his skin. He honestly looked almost like a zombie, but he was fully functioning. I was surprised to find out that his voice was almost the same, but with only a few strange changes.

"You've underestimated me, babe." He said in the same voice that I remembered, but it had an evil sound to it. His voice almost sounded demonic, like something you'd hear on a paranormal movie or TV show.

Rosa gulped as if she was terrified and didn't know what to do. Rose, being Rose, caught everyone off guard, running to stake him, managing to pin him to the ground and shove the stake into his chest, only to no success in ridding the world of him. All that happened was Rose getting forcefully tossed off of him into a tree across the street, her stake getting pinned dangerously close to her head in a branch next to her. Janine then tried to cut his head off, but the old head died and a new one grew up from the body. No one had any idea as to how to kill this monster.

"What is that thing?" I heard someone scream. It was only when Vince placed his hand on my shoulder that I realized that the person who screamed was me.

The entire house was at a complete standstill. No one moved, no one talked, no one breathed. Dave took that as an opportunity to attack. He ran into the house as if he owned the place, catching all of us off guard. With the bond back, Rosa shouted a giant don't hesitate at me. No one knew what to do in order to contain him. With a single tap, he had us flying about as far as Rose flew when she tried to stake him. He was like a Strigoi on steroids. He was faster than us Viu, and about twice as strong. He was ruthless and he was here for one thing and that was to kill. Vince rushed our kids upstairs in an attempt to save their lives, only it backfired. Dave saw his quick movement, grabbed his neck with both hands and we heard a sickening crack. Vince's body became limp and the monster in our home began to drink him dry of any blood before tossing his body into a corner and running out quicker than he came in. I slowly walked over to my husband's body, hoping to be able to see some sign of life left that could be used in a healing attempt, but I saw none. Vince was dead and there was nothing anyone could do to change that. I no longer felt that life was worth living. My legs seemed to have gave out and I fell into a heap on the floor, lying there crying next to the body of the love of my life.