Revenge (Galen Hooks: Hunted- Book 3)

Chapter Eight- Take Action

"Are you going to turn her back again soon?" Bastet hissed angrily, flexing her claws and tearing at the wood block she was sitting on. "If not, I'll go to that house and claw Galen's throat out myself!"

"Patience, kitty," Johanna cackled. "We have the camera on her and I retrieved the small TV from the vault. We can watch her now and when Camila leaves for a moment, we'll turn her back."

"Well, how do we know she'll ever leave?"

"She'll check on the others at one point. Just wait."

Bastet swiped out at the tiny TV as soon as it was brought out and hit the button that turned it on. Galen looked so helpless on the screen that she almost wished she could jump in there and rip her apart herself.

"She's about to leave," she snarled. "Not just Camila, but her and Isabel. Galen will be alone for a little bit. They're talking."

"Well, how does that benefit us?"

"Humans are so stupid sometimes." Bastet bared her teeth. "Bring her into full-on monster. Never mind her friends; she'll destroy herself."

"No." Johanna shook her head. "I want Isabel dead first."

"Hey, from what you told me, Galen was your original target. Destroy her first. You can't stop me if I decide to do it myself first though."

"Fine." She narrowed her eyes. "But don't get angry at me if it fails." She turned her attention to the remote again. "Let's see if cats really are smarter than they look."

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For once since the first incident, Galen felt at peace as she slept. She knew Johanna was still out there hunting her, but she allowed herself to feel the peaceful feeling... knowing that she may never feel that again if her enemy wanted to kill her that badly.

Then Johanna quickly broke it. She was in her head again, whispering to her that she'd always be there.

"You know I'm already there where you are. And I am stalking your thoughts, your mind, your friends. And be ready for me. You just felt the last moment of peace you ever will."

Soon came the lightning. The thunder. But it wasn't real. It was the pain. The stabbing agony. Galen could feel it as Johanna's control was forced into her mind again. However, it was the first time she's actually experienced anything like that. It was like it was keeping her cemented in the command. She then saw through her red eyes again... right before she threw herself against the wall.

The pain that followed was so intense she couldn't even cry out. What the hell was Johanna making her do? Her right arm scraped against the dresser as she crashed to the floor, snarling. Angrily, she got up again and repeated the process, letting herself strike out at the dresser as she hit it again. By accident, that knocked one of Rhea's fragile glass wolf statues off toward her, shattering it against the wall. Fragments flew everywhere, slicing violently through her hands and wrists, as well as a large one hitting her just below the right eye. Furious tears streamed down her face, mingling with blood, though her eyes stayed glittering red. She wanted so badly to break free of what was happening, but she couldn't. It hurt so bad and for a few moments, she couldn't breathe.

"Galen, stop!" Suddenly, four pairs of arms grabbed her from behind, slamming her into the ground and pinning her there. Galen thrashed desperately under her friends' grip, kicking out at them as much as she could. Rhea quickly tied her hands together to prevent her from fighting, but her eyes still flashed with hatred, and when the violet-haired girl realized her hands were bleeding, she untied them again. "What is wrong with you?"

"She's in full-on monster mode!" Camila shouted as Galen slammed a fist into her chin. She recoiled, shaking her head. "We need to knock her out again!"

Skyla found the syringe and brought it to her, but it didn't do any good. Johanna had taken her too far and they couldn't put her to sleep.

And all of a sudden, it all stopped. Galen's eyes flashed so bright the light nearly blinded the rest of them, then the red disappeared, leaving only the dark brown of her regular pupils. With the barrier to the sleep medicine gone, Galen fell unconscious.

Camila took a few deep breaths as she crouched on the ground, rubbing her chin as the pain began to ebb from her friend's blow. "I'm glad... that's over."

"It's not over though," Isabel pointed out. "Unless we can get that weird chip out of her..." She reached over to Galen and exposed the skin on her chest, gently running her hand along it. "... this will keep happening again and again. However, if people in the hospital see her like this... they'll put her in an asylum or something. We can't let her go there."

"We need to get it out of her somehow though!" Skyla sighed. Then she snapped her mouth shut, casting a glance at her sister. Isabel returned the glance and the two of them spoke together. "We need to take Johanna down and destroy the device inside her."

"Didn't we say that destroying one destroys the other though?" Rhea exclaimed. "If we obliterate the other chip..." She broke off and looked down at Galen. Disturbing thoughts took form in her mind as she imagined driving a knife through Johanna, destroying the device and going right through her heart, leaving them with only a moment's triumph over her demise before the other one exploded as well, splitting Galen's chest open and sending blood pouring out. "It would kill her, or at least fatally wound her."

"It's a risk we'll have to take," Camila whispered. "I know her enough to know that she'd rather die than have to attack her own friends."

"That's true," Isabel agreed.

"What if it doesn't work out though?" Skyla protested.

"It'll have to," Rhea answered. "Everything will work out in some way." She scooped up Galen and gently set her on the bed, tying her with the strong rope to the bricks again. "We need to clean her up now though."

"Why was she doing that to herself anyways?" Camila hissed.

"Cammy, she was in Diamond Eye form," Isabel told her. "Johanna was trying to make her destroy herself."

"What is her angle?" Skyla frowned, narrowing her eyes. "First she's attacking us, then she's hurting herself?"

"I don't know, but look at how much she's bleeding!" Isabel grasped one of Galen's hands, noticing the scarlet liquid dripping onto the floor. "She's getting so pale... sis, go get the first-aid kit!" Skyla dashed out of the room. There was a huge number of cuts on the dancer's skin and poking out the shards of glass only made it worse. Eventually, it got so intense that it woke her up again.

"Izzy, is this really necessary?" Galen hissed to her friend, slightly straining against the bonds holding her.

"Hmmm..." Isabel tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You were just in full Diamond Eye form and basically tried to kill yourself, so I'd say... yes."

Skyla soon brought up the first-aid kit and the four of them managed to fix her up, but Galen's face still held the most pitiful look of pain. Her hands began to curl into fists as her breathing quickly became more labored.

"Uh, are you okay?" Rhea asked her.

"Not really," Galen groaned, wincing. "My head hurts so bad right now and my body feels like it's being torn apart by a bunch of jaguars."

"One of us needs to stay with her this time," Isabel said. "Matter of fact, it should be two of us. If she tries to hurt herself again, we will be there."

"I'll stay here with Rhea," Skyla proclaimed. "You and Camila need to figure out what Johanna's really trying to do here."

"And fast," Rhea added. "If we don't in time, she could destroy Galen."

"We're on it," Camila growled instantly. "I want to murder that stupid woman that's trying to hurt her."

"I second that," Isabel agreed. She gazed over at Galen, shivering. "Johanna is going down."