Chapter 67

Julian

I had just spoken to Mady on the phone. How could she have allowed my fifteen-year-old sister to go to a goddamn club? I would have to talk to her. In private. But until then, I would have to deal with Mia.

I sat in my car on the way to the club, struggling to figure out how to deal with her.

Luckily, Dad was asleep on the living room couch and hadn't noticed any of the drama. He would probably have blamed himself for Mia's behavior, as he always did. Even though everyone in our family knew who was really to blame for our situation.

The fact that Mia was in the Dark Lion Club had shocked me so much that I'd been on the verge of a transformation like I hadn't been for a long time. My whole body had simply wanted to get away. Out into the woods, just away from here.

How much I desired to separate this part of me, to get rid of it completely.

I turned into the driveway of the club, where I had to be careful not to run anyone over. The entire square was parked up, and drunks, but also simply careless students, staggered across the dimly lit parking area, out and into the former wood factory of this part of town.

A blonde girl in a white dress and mask came running toward me, and I braked slightly. However, she dodged out of the way and quickly scurried past my car out into the pedestrian zone.

I was honestly surprised that no one had been run over yet today.

I parked not far from the club and immediately got out to search for my little sister, dodging two reporters from the Blairville Daily who were looking for people to interview.

I looked around with increasing tension.

There she was, standing on the other corner of the parking lot with Emely.

I decided to go straight to the two of them, determined to explain to Mia in detail what she was provoking with her immature behavior, that certain actions could have consequences.

But I didn't get very far.

An unbearable pain in my neck made me pause. I touched my skin, my face twisted in pain, but there was nothing at all . The pain remained, and along with it came quick images.

A dark street, the street where I lived. A single flickering lantern, Larissa on the ground, in front of it... the black haired DeLoughrey guy.

Then the images disappeared abruptly, and I knew immediately from whose perspective I had seen.

In a hurry, I sprinted over to Mia and Emely. The latter seemed mentally absent. She must have seen the same images as me.

"I can explain..." Mia began with more nervousness than I was used to from her. But the pain and the images in my head distracted me, numbing everything else. I would have to take care of Mia later. Now I reached for Emely, who seemed to be in a trance, and shook her hard.

"Ems!" I shook harder. " Ems! Where is she?!"

"Who are you talking about, Julian?" I heard Mia behind me.

"Emely! Where's Bay?!" Panic rose up inside me. "Come on, Emely, I've seen it too!"

I didn't want to believe it. She must still be in that damn club with her friends...

Emely's eyes seemed to clear, and I used the moment to shake her again. Then, finally...

"Julian...the Ruisangors...they…"

"I know!"

"In front of your house..."

"Could someone explain to me what's going on?" Mia asked, confused.

"Get in the car!" I replied tensely, not taking my eyes off Emely, who was now also clutching her neck.

"But..."

"Just do what I fucking tell you!"

Mia groaned, but finally obeyed and hurried to the car.

"Ems, we have to get there, now!"

But instead of following me, Emely looked at me with hesitation.

The pain that we were both trying to suppress was now not only shooting through my throat, but flooding my entire body. But instead of paralyzing me, it cried out to help Bayla, to go to her and reassure me that she was okay.

"We don't have time to think!"

The increasing pain made my heart beat rapidly, and my grip on the car keys became slippery because my hands were sweaty and shaking.

"Julian..."

"What?" I looked into her dark brown eyes. " What , Emely?!"

"I'm not going to interfere there and endanger the pack's existence."

My breath hitched.

How could she say that? Hadn't she seen the pictures?

" Damn it , Emely! Just fuck that damn pack for once and do what's right!"

Her loyalty to that stupid pack made me so angry! Bayla was in danger and the Ruisangors had just broken the treaty, but all she could think about right now was her stupid pack?!

Instead of trying anymore, I let it go and ran to the car, where Mia was already waiting for me.

But Emely suddenly appeared at the passenger door.

"Let's go."

And even though I didn't know why she did it, I didn't question her sudden change of mind, but started the engine to drive off.

Five minutes later, we were downtown, where it was remarkably empty. Probably because everyone was at the club or at home at this time of night. I just wondered because two hours ago, countless children had been running around in Halloween costumes.

I was breaking all possible driving rules, so I couldn't care less.

"Julian?! That was red!" Mia sounded startled. "What's wrong with you guys?"

Neither Emely nor I said a word.

I was trying to get to our house as fast as possible, if I could without crashing, which was hard when Mia was asking questions all the time and the pain was increasing , not decreasing .

"Julian, she's in so much pain..." Emely whimpered from the passenger seat, unable to take her hand off her neck.

I felt the need to simply take her pain away, but I wasn't able to. There was only one person who could possibly do that, and she was in mortal danger right now.

I felt my hands shaking and gripped the steering wheel so tightly that my knuckles stood out.

" Fine . Ignore me then," Mia grumbled from the back seat. Her impatience didn't make it any better.

With trembling hands, I finally steered my car into the street where not only ours, but also the Adams' house was.

When I saw the flickering lantern, my heart stopped beating for a moment.

I braked hard, causing the tires to squeal loudly.

I had hoped that I was imagining it all. A bad dream. But of course, I wasn't dreaming.

How could you, Julian? How could you still think you were dreaming, in Blairville?

The reality was different. It lay in front of me on the pavement under a flickering lantern surrounded by menacing darkness and fucking ravens.

I pulled myself out of my state of shock and got out of the car to rush to the motionless girl on the stone path.

The ravens shot up into the air, screaming.

I fell to my knees, trying to feel her heartbeat. Panicked, I reached for her wrist, only to feel nothing but my own heart racing.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The pain didn't subside.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Bayla did not move. She was freezing cold.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Painfully, I forced myself to touch her neck, which was the only thing that was warm. Warm and wet . Smeared with blood . The thick, dark liquid stained my hands and the sleeves of my hoodie.

"Julian, her neck!" Emely suddenly screamed in panic, trying to press her jacket onto the area to stop the bleeding.

I, meanwhile, did the first thing I could think of and placed my lips on hers. They were so cold and dry, but I didn't let that stop me. Instead, I gave her my air and then pressed my hands onto her chest with pressure.

" Shit , what's wrong with her? Why is she lying here?!" I heard Mia, who then disappeared into our house. I distantly noticed how she woke our father in a panic.

I pressed my lips to Bayla's again. This time more intensely, more shaking and paralyzed.

"Come on!" I shouted loudly, pushing my hands onto her chest again and again. "Come on! Come on! "

A rage sparked inside me that was even stronger than the pain I could feel in the marrow of my bones. Bloody hell , I was angry with myself for not getting it right. I couldn't let her die. I couldn't just let her go like that.

"Larissa... She's gone!" Emely turned in a helpless circle as if she could find the girl anywhere. " Shit , Julian! They've taken her!"

"Could you please focus on Bay?" I snapped at her, perhaps a little too harshly, and I saw her startled expression for a split second.

"Come on!" I pressed again. Without success.

"What am I supposed to do?" Emely asked, uncertain and confused.

"I don't know. Call an ambulance, anyone!" I pressed out impatiently before pressing my lips to Bayla's again. But nothing happened. Bayla Adams was as cold as ice, motionless, like a corpse .

" God , son, what happened?" I saw my father and Mia return.

"The Ruisangors..." I gasped, then continued.

"Bayla?" I looked up at Diana Adams, who was rushing through the front yard, dressed in pajamas and a jacket, to reach us. "Bayla! My little girl!"

Her face contorted in shock. She dropped to her knees in front of her daughter and shook her hard before touching her hand.

"Why is she so cold?! Why is she lying here?!" She looked at me. "What's wrong with her, Julian?!" She shook her daughter harder now, but that didn't help either.

"What have you done to my daughter?!" she screamed with a disturbed look on her face and burst into tears.

I pulled back.

"What have you done?!" she screamed again; this time directed at Emely.

My father rushed to Diana and pulled her aside.

" No! My daughter!" Diana continued to scream and crawled back to Bay.

"It was the Ruisangors..." Emely said quietly, almost barely audible.

Then everything happened far too quickly. A shadow flitted past us and came to a halt right next to me.

"Move aside," the man in the suit I had last seen with Adrian on campus demanded.

I stood in front of him, ready to fight.

"Move away boy! I can help her!"

I looked into his gray eyes, which were beginning to glow reddish.

"Who can guarantee you won't kill her outright like your offspring did to the other girl?"

I felt my transformation kick in, and my veins stood out.

"He took her to safety," the man in front of me said, unimpressed yet tense. Then he shot past me and bent down to Bayla to take the jacket off her neck.

Diana Adams stared at him in shock, as if she knew him, but she didn't interrupt him, even though Quatura and Ruisangors hated each other as much as Senseque and Quatura did.

However, everyone was now staring at the bloody wound that the man was shining a flashlight on, clearly showing us a bite mark.

"What are you doing here, Bastien?" we heard from the street, where Alarik got out of a car and hurried over to us.

I looked at Emely.

Had she called him?

"I could ask you the same question, Alarik," Bastien replied without turning away from Bayla. "As far as I know, you've been expelled from this territory too."

Alarik did not respond to the Ruisangor but hurried over to us.

"Emely, you called me and said there was an emergency. I hurried and..."

Alarik fell silent.

Diana began to sob and shake her motionless daughter again, but it didn't increase the chances of her survival, nor did it cause any reaction.

Bayla was gone. And I was in shock.

In front of me lay Bayla Adams, the girl who had just moved in next door to us. Lifeless.

The problem was that it wasn't just any girl anymore. It was Bay . I didn't know exactly what that meant. I just felt a sense of loss in my chest, strong and painful.

"Who attacked my daughter?!" Diana cried out angrily, lowering her head to Bayla's chest, where she sobbed bitterly.

"Your daughter..." Bastien whispered, looking up, but the wind, which had just risen and was colder than in recent days, swallowed his words.

It blew through my hair and made me look up at the sky, which had turned dark, almost purple. Clouds piled up like mountains that were about to collapse. A rumble of thunder sounded in the distance.

"Who did this to my girl?!" Diana sobbed hysterically through her tears.

"She's not dead..." Bastien said without a sound, and I looked at him in surprise.

Diana also raised her head and looked at Bastien, whose entire appearance was becoming more and more puzzling.

"What are you talking about, Bastien?" Diana gasped, but Bastien didn't seem to care.

"Her heart," he said instead. "It's beating, barely noticeable."

I had never understood how Ruisangors' senses worked. I couldn't believe what he had just said. I was sure that her heart had stopped beating.

Diana started to cry harder again when my father finally pulled her to him and held her tight.

"My little girl. Who would do such a cruel thing?!" Diana's voice broke.

" Diana , she's not dead," Bastien repeated.

I looked at Alarik, who hadn't said anything else so far and was just staring down at the girl.

"I have to take her with me," Bastien finally said, which once again sent everyone present into an uproar.

"No..." Diana gasped in panic and looked up. "You can't take her..."

"Whatever happened, the girl stays here!" it came angrily from the street, where a black VW had parked behind Alarik's car.

"Alarik, Bastien... You should get out of here as quickly as possible before Gloria..." Then the mayor spotted me and Emely on the ground, Bayla between us.

"What have you done…" she burst out in shock and rushed over to us. "Which one of you touched one of our sisters?"

She also felt the pulse, and like everyone else except Bastien, who seemed to be playing a trick on us, she realized that there was nothing there except blood staining her fingers.

"Bastien..." The shock on her face grew, and she slowly turned her head toward the tall man.

"It wasn't him," Diana continued to sob, burying her head in my father's shoulder.

Dad had told Mia and me that they had both been very good friends back then. I wondered if it had ever been more than that. I postponed the thought again because I was aware that it was forbidden. My father always followed the rules without exception.

"We have to get her to Moenia. Now! Maybe I'll be able to get her to..."

"The last place she belongs is in your damn temple," Bastien interrupted the Domini in annoyance. "She's coming with me."

He put his arms around her body and picked her up as if she were light as a feather.

"This girl is one of us. She's part of the Circle. And the last thing I'm going to do is leave her to one of you!"

The mayor sounded unusually strict and upset. I wouldn't have reacted any other way. And yet I was too shocked to understand any of this mess.

"This girl can't be one of you," Bastien said in a serious tone and took a step back.

The fact that he could just disappear with her at any moment, like Adrian did with Larissa, made me jump up. If he ran, so would I.

He held Bayla's lifeless body in his arms. "She's with us now."

"What are you talking about, Bastien?" Alarik sounded confused, just as I felt.

"If she survives, and she will , then she's one of us," Bastien insisted impatiently.

"No... She'll die because she doesn't carry the conditions for such things," Amara said, approaching Bastien slowly.

"I can hear her heartbeat, Amara. You know what that means. She will become one of us."

Amara shook her head in haste. " No , Bastien! She's one of us. She's the daughter of one of our sisters. And the reason you can still hear her heartbeat is because she might be about to die . I can help her!"

Bastien didn't seem to want to discuss it any further, but instead gave Diana a look that could have meant anything . But he said nothing. He looked at Bayla, who looked ashen despite the warm lantern light. She looked like a statue of a goddess, like the ones that adorned the houses of the Quatura a few streets away.

"You put her down right now if you don't want this to have serious consequences," Amara tried a different approach. "This could turn out pretty well for you if you behave properly."

Bastien seemed to be struggling for temper. "Amara... you don't understand."

"Bastien, that's enough. She's one of us!" Diana told him and straightened up. She wiped away her tears, which had something childlike and fragile about it. "I want Amara to take care of her! Here! In my house!"

"But in Moenia..." Amara began, but Diana interrupted her with unexpected assertiveness.

"If you don't want a war, then you should bring her to my house . I think everyone here knows that the death of my daughter would mean chaos, and by the time she is somewhere else, it may be too late!"

I hardly recognized Ms. Adams. She immediately seemed less fragile, more stubborn, and superior.

"We should take her into the house," Alarik finally said, taking Bayla out of Bastien's arms, not without their eyes meeting for a moment. They were not hostile, as I would have expected, but scrutinizing, cautious.

And then something happened that no one had expected. Bayla's body began to tremble. Slightly at first, then stronger.

"What's happening to her?" Emely asked, and for the first time, there was fear in her voice.

"Something's wrong..." Amara finally said and began to whisper something I didn't understand. She put a hand on Bayla's forehead, which was now filled with beads of sweat.

Bayla's body vibrated and vibrated, then a deafening rumble of thunder sounded above our heads, and lightning flashed across the city.

"What the..." Mia gasped, and I pulled her to me.

The ground began to shake slightly, and the storm above us thundered powerfully, almost threateningly. The wind swept thousands of leaves into the air, blew away Emely's jacket and shook the facades of the house.

Then it started to rain.

This damn storm...

To make matters worse, countless disturbed ravens shot over our heads and... formed a circular formation.

I watched in shock as the noisy animals grew in number, but no one around seemed to notice.

"Amara, what about the girl?" Alarik asked aloud, because the thunder was ear-splitting.

Something dark was settling over the city at that very moment. It had started a few weeks ago when she had come here, but I had suppressed that uneasy feeling in the back of my neck day after day. Bayla was the trigger for something in this city, the key to a lock. Her appearance had set something in motion, and a deep, knowing feeling made its way into my consciousness. The feeling that this town would soon perish. And we with it.