Desires

•CHAPTER LII•

I could feel Romeo's brows frowning whilst our lips are interlocking. He breaks apart from me and looks over me with wide eyes and parted lips.
He hears something.
"What is it?" I ask and grip onto his coat.
He ignores me. "Romeo?" I repeat and tug a little.
His arm pressed on mine and he swallows, his Adam's apple bobs up and down.
"What do you hear?" I whisper feeling jealous of his supernatural capabilities.

He suddenly grabs hold of me and in seconds we are on the bank of Stellar River. My stomach churns and I feel dizzy as the wind sweeps past me.
"You should have warned me." I say and try to focus on the ripples of the river to ease my nerves.
"Shh." He clasps a hand around my mouth and points between the trees.
I squint and try and see what he's looking at, damning my human eyes.
What I can make out is a figure moving around. Someone arguing, angry shouts that can barely be heard over the river.
"Who is it? What are they saying?" I whisper after pulling his hand off.

He's listening in, and suddenly his eyes widen.
"It's Miss Merzion." He whispers in a breath. "She's talking to someone. Someone I haven't seen before." He says.
I try and look through the green and I can just make out the dark hair.
"What is she doing? What are they saying?" I ask desperately.

What would someone like he be doing in the forest?

"They're talking about murder of Johann." He says questionably. "The old head."
I frown and suddenly the ripples of Stellar River make me feel the opposite of ease. I imagine a gnarly leg torn off sitting in front of us at the bank, waiting to be found. Or his bloody body sitting in the water with red following.
The voices get louder and suddenly I do hear her shouting incoherent words.
"What is she saying?" I say and look up at Romeo with hope.
He grips the tree and looks down at me.
"She was the one that murdered him. She just confessed." He says.
Suddenly I hear a roar and an ear splitting yell. A spitting growl and I look between the green bushes to make out a distorted head, a head of a gnarly beast with curled back ears and a human body. It's jaws a cage of drool and blood, with a head in between.
"Oh my god." I mouth shocked for words as the creature munches down at the head, crunching its skull with bursts of blood and brain dripping onto the leafy green.
I shouldn't have said anything. The beast looks toward our direction and amongst the green leaves the sting of yellow eyes meet mine.
Romeo covers his hand over my eyes and the other around my waist.

I feel the familiar pressure of the wind on my stomach for much longer.

He lifts his hands over my eyes and I remove his hand around my waist. I find myself in my bedroom already. I stagger to the bathroom and immediately vomit in the toilet from the dizziness.

Romeo holds back my hair in a bundle and gently stroked my back. It's hard to be angry at him when he's such a gentleman.

"Are you okay?" He asks softly and I nod, flushing the toilet and rinsing my mouth as he stands at the doorway.
I look at my face and it's pale with shock.
"What was that?" I ask deadpan and look at him through the mirror. It's not true that you can't see a vampires reflection.
"I don't know." He says.
"Are you sure it was Miss Merzion?" I ask the imagery of that warped beast head on her body flashes in my mind and it's almost like alarms go off from insanity.
He nods and I can see he's thinking of something. We need to tell everyone.

We arrive at the Maccon's. Their house seems to be the designated place.
This time Charlie is here, and with her mother.
Mrs Vissa stands with her palms resting on the counter. Her fingers are adorned with rings and her arms with bangles. Her neck holds a necklace of shark teeth and from her ears hang large bone plate earrings.
I can see where Charlie gets it from.
Lexi clears he throat. "Now who did you say this person was?" She said.
"Miss Merzion. The headteacher." I say.
"The one she heard talking about things before." Cole says, backing me up.
"What's wrong Lex?" Gabby says and carried a worried expression as Lexi looks down on the floor.
She scoffs. "Merzion. As if." She said.
All of our eyes are on her and even Romeo and Jason carry confused looks.
"What are you talking about?" Levi asks.
Lexi sighs deeply. "She's not a Merzion at all. She's Anna Bergman."
"Who's that?" Cole questions with a disgruntled expression.
I click it together that they're related. But what Lexi says shocks us all.
"I'm Lexi Bergman. She's my mother."

"What?!" Gabby exclaims and then covers her mouth thinking that she was too loud and light have woken up Mila.
Jason laughs. "No offence darling, but you look more like sisters." His Irish accent ringing through.
"Yeah...she can't be your mother." Cole says.
"No." Mrs Vissa speaks up. "It is possible." She says sternly.
Lexi sighs running a hand through her curly blond hair. "It's a long story that I wish to forget." She says. "We were a normal family. Coming from a pack from the west actually. My father was the Alpha, my mother his Luna. Everything was perfect as it could be. But one day when I was about your age, Azra, I came home to find them arguing over some trouble my mum had caused. She got into dark magic, traded one of my father's Alpha teeth to a witch for power. She didn't just want to be the Luna. She wanted more.
It had spiralled out of control, to the point where she had gone deranged. Hungry for power. Her wolf had completely changed into the beast you describe it as, she was completely unrecognisable. After months of trying to win her back, there was no use. My father fell ill to which I suspect was her doing with dark magic, and passed away. She had completely neglected me and my sisters, only looking for power. Dark magic had drove her crazy and there was no going back. It's a one way ticket to insanity."

We all took in Lexi's story with no ease. I felt like I had swallowed a lump.
"Dark magic in itself is hell. It's irreversible and only so few witches ever call out to it. If they ever do, their end never meets. But people get desperate and use dark magic to get what they want. In this case; power." Mrs Vissa says and folds her hands together. "It's a sad, sad thing." Charlie links her hands with her mothers.
"Why can't you just unmagic her back?" Levi asked.
"Because, dear boy, dark magic isn't like turning water to ice and ice to water. Once you make a deal with the devil there's no going back. It latches onto your soul forever like a leech. You'll carry it on your back for the rest of your life. Anna must have worked with it so much that it had physically changed her. That, for sure, is a leech never to leave. A nasty sight." Mrs Vissa said wisely.
Lexi nods approvingly.
"What is she doing in Morgen?" Gabby asks.
"She can't have killed that poor old guy for his job right?" Jason asks.
Lexi sighs. "I can only assume that her timely appearance has something to do with-"
"The beacon of power." Romeo cuts her off and she nods.

Everyone looks to Romeo.
"We have to stop her. We don't know who she killed yesterday but Morgen's population is on the decrease if we continue. Who knows if her next victim is one of us?" He says.
Gabby nods. "You're right."
"What if...we take her to the caves. Put her in her own hell?" Charlie says.
"That's a perfect idea." Jason says.

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authors note:

i loved writing this chapter, i feel like things are becoming more clear to you as readers.

i hope you all have a lovely week ahead of you.

please vote/comment!

-kiim