An Eye For An Eye

Quatorze

I sat beside Chris in the church, dressed in black like everyone else. Kara and her mother and the rest of her family sat by the front. The whole ceremony was generally gloomy and grim. It was a closed casket, because the ‘animal attack’ had left the body unsightly to look at. I couldn’t imagine a dead body would be comforting to look at for me, though.

Throughout the ceremony, there was a simmering hatred for Dad building up. It was his fault this was even happening.

I was glad to leave the stuffy church and walk with Chris to where the casket would be buried. Kara’s face was red and her eyes were puffy and I just wanted to hug her. I couldn’t imagine how she must be feeling, I wasn’t very good at dealing with things like this so it was probably for the best that Kara had her mother instead of me at the moment.

Once the casket had been buried in the ground and some words had been said, people started to disperse.

“You haven’t told her, have you?” asked Dad once Chris got in his car.
“No, you said not to,” I said as I shook my head. I wanted to tell her the truth but she had no reason to believe me.
“Good,” he said. “I knew you’d understand.”
“What you did resulted in me getting kidnapped,” I muttered as we walked.
“No, your stupidity resulted in that,” he said. “If that’s what even happened.”

I glared at him and stopped walking. “Why don’t you trust me? I haven’t done anything wrong!” A funeral was not where I wanted to have this conversation. I supposed it was going to happen at some point anyway.
“You went to Deucalion, I know you did,” he said.

How did he know that?

I furrowed my brow and crossed my arms. “What?”
“You went to that penthouse yourself, his Betas didn’t take you there.” I couldn’t just deny this, he knew. Somehow, he knew what I had intended to do when I went to Deucalion.
“Because you blinded him and killed my best friend’s father,” I replied coldly. There wasn’t any point in denying it. “None of this would have happened if not for you.”
“You’ve betrayed us, Liz.”
“And you didn’t? You didn’t just kill the Betas, you killed other hunters.”

How did he even know what I had intended to do?

There were tears in my eyes and it took everything not to scream at him. I couldn’t take this any more. I couldn’t stand hunting and lying any more. My dad had been lying to me and as a result I had been lying to Kara and Chris. I couldn’t do it.

“I’m not being a hunter any more.”

“I’ll disown you,” he threatened. He stopped and glared at me with a cold rage in his eyes. “You wouldn’t survive as a freelancer, you’d end up homeless, is that really what you want?”
“Disown me then, I don’t care. I’m not being a hunter,” I said before turning to see Chris. I had no idea how much he had heard.
“Are you two getting in the car?” he asked with a furrowed brow.
Shaking my head, I turned and left. “No, I’m leaving.”

Turning, I walked away from the two of them as quickly as I could. I wished I could have said a sort of goodbye to Kara but there was no time. I had to get back home, get my things and go to the hair appointment.

After locking the door to the house behind me, I left the keys in the mailbox and headed to the hair appointment. It was in half an hour and I couldn’t take the car, even if I still had the only set of keys. I’d have to walk.

Several hours later, I stood outside with a bag of new clothes in my hands, on the verge of breaking down into tears with soft ginger curls instead of straight, dark hair.

I was doing this.

I was finally leaving this all behind.

I hoped I would be happier.

Then it hit me, I didn’t have anywhere to go. I hadn’t planned for this part. How hadn’t I planned for this part? I had nowhere to stay the night and I doubted there was anywhere local that would let me stay on such short notice. Looking down at my phone, I saw all of the texts and missed calls from Chris. I turned the phone off.

I couldn’t go back home, I’d need my car to drive and that was on the drive. I had the keys but I didn’t want to risk going back home. As I aimlessly walked around backstreets, I had an idea. It was probably a bad idea but there might be one place I might be able to stay.

Staring up at the apartment block and taking a deep breath, I walked inside. This was my last resort. I headed over to the elevator and was surprised as no Beta greeted me. I was also surprised to find that the elevator was heading to the top floor, I thought a key was needed.

Breathe. I needed to breathe.

No, I was breathing too much.

Hyperventilating. That was the word for it.

The elevator stopped and the doors opened and I tentatively took a step forward.

“Liza?”

Turning to the left, I saw Deucalion sitting at the head of the dining table. With none other than the other Alphas. Ennis, Kali and Talia Hale were all sitting at his table, all of them staring at me. This was not the right time to be here.

He stood and walked towards me, his eyes glowing red. I dropped the bag of clothes and I realised I was shaking far too much. And I still needed to breathe properly, that was important.

“Deuc, I…”

I couldn’t get the words out, they wouldn’t leave my mouth. I stammered over them and I was shaking too much and I wasn’t breathing properly.

“What have I done?”