"I wasn't given food for the first day I was there, I was later told by the witch nurse that it was necessary to check my system and its workings without interference in the form of food and since water was going into my system via the drip, I would be fine."
"When the monster came the next day, the tests also started. They injected me with all kinds of serum to speed up my process and that was the only thing I understood then from what they were all saying".
"This went on for hours, days, I lost track of time after a while. The serums would burn like wildfire in my veins, leaving me sweaty and in pain. No matter how loudly I cried for it to stop, it never stopped. The final straw for most of the people working with him was the strange box he procured from a witch".
"He said it was the missing piece in the puzzle he had been trying to solve. Most of the people working there complained that it was too much for a kid, even the witch disagreed with him on that, but all their complaints were silenced when they saw him rip through one of the doctors with his bare hands. That was the first time I saw him for what he truly was, a monster".
"The witch used magic to open the box and pulled out a circle shaped like a moon with inscriptions on it. She picked up the circle with a prong and placed it in the fire she made while chanting spells on it", I said dreadfully. This was the part that always crippled me, that would weaken me in my dreams each night.
"I laid there on that table and watched as the circle went from its brown color to a bright orange. When she finished her spell, she walked up to me and ripped my shirt exposing my midriff…" I had to swallow gently from how painful this was for me. Nothing in my life could have prepared me for that experience.
"Without a word", I whispered softly, "She placed the glowing circle on my stomach and branded me". Xander who had been sitting and struggling to hold back his reactions all this while flew up from the bed fuming. It was touching to see his reaction to the pain I had gone through.
Those days were the worst in my entire life. All through my time there, I was never fed not even once. I was never unstrapped from the table they tied me to and I never saw the outside world until I was rescued. Later on when I was rescued the officer mentioned that I'd been missing for two weeks but to me it felt like two years had gone by.
Xander was still pacing back and forth, trying to control his anger I believe. I let him continue, while I tried to pull myself together because there was so much more to tell him and he and I needed to be settled before we can proceed. It took some time but then I heard him inhale and exhale loudly, then he resumed his position beside me and apologized for taking off like that.
"After the witch branded me", I continued softly. "I don't know what reaction he expected but apparently my body didn't do as he wanted. At the time, I was going in and out of consciousness due to the branding pain, but the few times I was conscious I heard him say in bits, 'it's gone', 'she's human', what did you do?"
"I couldn't make sense of anything he said at the time but when I was rescued I found out that the seal had disappeared from my body only to reappear later before it finally went away while I was recuperating in the hospital."
"When this seal", I gestured to my back, "appeared on my back though, Aunt Maia confirmed it for me that it was the same branding I had when I was rescued then", I explained. "So that means you were branded with the seal of the goddess", Xander suggested and I could only shrug in response. The entire thing was still news to me.
"How did you even manage to survive that?" he asked in shock and awe. "That seal is not easy to locate as it changed covens every century or so and over the last six decades, it's been thought to be lost forever".
"Well whatever it was, it wasn't lost when the monster found it and had it used on me", I replied dryly. "And I only survived because I was rescued the same day". He looked really sorry and I had to remind myself that he wasn't responsible for the pain I went through. "I'm sorry I'm so snappy", I said apologetically. "I've never spoken to anyone about this and I guess I still haven't dealt with it the right way since it happened".
"I won't claim to know how you feel", he said gently. "But I do want to be here for you, whatever you need and you don't have to be sorry for anything. You are the one who was put through such wickedness at such a young age, no one could ever understand that better than you and I'm sorry if I sounded insensitive to your pain to trigger a reaction like that from you."
*******Xander's POV*******
"It's okay", she replied. "I do want to tell you everything, it's just difficult for me". "I get that", I replied softly. "If it makes you feel better we can pick this up another time". "No", she refuted immediately. "I need to tell you everything now so you can make a decision".
"What decision?" I asked worriedly, she was starting to scare me a little. "You'll know when I'm through", she replied. "I had a father growing up", she began again and I gave her my undivided attention.
"He was a friend, a father, and so many things in one", she whispered with her eyes glazed over. "He cared for me like I was his and I couldn't wait for my mom to get married to him. He had been beyond worried when I went missing and when my location was finally secured, he came for me before the police could execute their plan". I suddenly had a bad feeling about what she was about to say.
"He rushed into the place, guns blazing and managed to take down some of my assailants", she paused and I could hear her voice shaking, tears filling up her eyes with every breath, "he only made it so far before he was ripped apart by the monster".
To say I was mad would be the standard understatement of the century. I was struggling to come to terms with the fact that a human being would do such things in front of a child. Even if you were a monster there should be limits to the evil you commit.
With tears running down her face she continued and I was helpless to do anything other than listen to her tell her story.
"I can't recall any other thing from that day after that", she said softly. "The next time I opened my eyes I was in the hospital with needles attached to my body. I remember seeing my mom and feeling like she neglected me because the monster said so many negative things about her and I couldn't help but believe it when no one came for me for such a long time".
"A week after staying in the hospital, the nightmares began and so did my blackouts. I had been sleeping with the help of meds during the first week but the day I was taken off them, there was nothing to save me from my demons".
"The following weeks my mom took me to see shrink after shrink. They were all the same though, asking me about the incident like it was the easiest thing in the world to talk about and they all claimed to understand how I felt". She said that like it was the vilest thing anyone could ever utter and I understood that.
"A few months later though my mom gave up on shrinks and started looking for help for me elsewhere and that was how Aunt Maia came into our lives", she said with a smile. "She was the nicest old woman to me then and she never tried to force me to talk about what I had been through. She just stayed with me and tried to make me laugh all the time and I was happy for a month or so before the threats started coming in".
"When I was rescued, the police had tried following the monsters trail, but had lost him and advised that we move and get more security to ensure my safety. After a month of a no show, they had stopped patrolling and we all thought it was over. Then my mom started receiving death threats in the mail and threatening phone calls. We reported it to the police and they tried following it up with no results again".
"Aunt Maia had advised my mom to stop involving the police since they claimed it was an animal that had attacked my dad and not a human being which meant this was something beyond police capacity. Without depending on the police we knew we'd have to really go far and so my mom moved us again and that's all we've been doing for the last ten years".
It put things in perspective for me, when I finally knew what she had been through to make her so jumpy and a flight risk. It also made me realize that our world to her may seem much more like a curse than a gift.
I was still putting two and two together in my mind when she dropped the last bomb.
"For the last ten years we've never had to receive new threats to move to another place. We just did it spontaneously. But today, I just received a call from the monster and he wants something or someone from me in exchange for my mom". "What?!!!!" I exclaimed.
*****
It's been over two hours since Asha dropped that bomb on me and we were yet to come up with a good enough rescue plan. I had no idea where to begin tracking her or even what to expect because the only thing I could understand from all Asha told me was that the bastard who has her mom is a maniac and will do anything to get what he wants.
"Xander, I hate to be the one to say this but we need the witch", Canaan side from his place on the sofa in my office. "What witch?" I asked immediately because I refuse to believe that he wants us to get help from the witch whose very appearance started this bullshit.
"You know the witch I'm talking about", he replied smartly. "Like you said, she was the one who sealed Asha's powers to protect her and she worked with this guy, so our best hope of finding him rests with her and I'm thinking that's why he wants her back".
"Not to be annoying but I agree with him on this", Jesse said patiently. "And before you start listing the reasons why this is such a terrible decision, just remember it's literally the only option we have as of this moment and time is of the utmost essence".
"I don't see how this is even an option", I replied in frustration. "There are so many things that could go wrong. Like what if she's actually working with him and this is part of their plan. What if it's a trap and we lose Asha because we were crazy enough to risk using information we got from the same woman who helped torture Asha in the past".
"And the same one who did the only thing she could do to keep her safe and help return her to her family", Keith said matter-of-factly as he walked into my office. "I spoke with her and I can tell you when it comes to the subject of Asha��s well being we can trust her".
We all turned to him with mixed expressions of shock and confusion. "I'm all for finding the best way to help Asha, and if that requires info from the wicked witch of the west I got no problems", Justin said straightly. "But what I'm not up for is trusting completely the words and information gotten from said witch".
"What even gives you the confidence that she can be trusted", Nat asked warily. "Because her life is linked to Asha's", Lilith supplied from the doorway. Cue the looks of shock, confusion, disbelief and utter disregard for what we all just heard.
Even I was finding it difficult to believe. "Explain", I demanded right away. Lilith took a few steps into the room and then closed the door.
"As crazy and unbelievable as it sounds it's the truth", she said right away. "The type of magic she used to bind Asha's powers takes a toll on a witch and also keeps a portion of the essence of the said witch, kinda like a residue".
"Meaning Asha is carrying part of the witch's essence correct?" Jesse asked and Lilith gave a quick nod in reply. "When Maia came in contact with Asha as a recovering kid, her twin's essence was still swirling over her and that was why she kept suffering the relapses she did back then because she was carrying the residue of such magic".
"Being twin witches means Maia can recognize her sisters' magic trail and that would explain why she stuck with Asha all through these years apart from also wanting to help. But the moment she helped out with Asha's healing process, her light magic unintentionally bound their life forces together".
"And since they're twins, they share the same life force", Canaan inferred. "Meaning what happens to Maia happens to her sister". "Exactly", Lilith replied. "It is because of that, she came back to try and fix things because now, Knox knows they're linked and he doesn't need to find Asha to get to her, he can do whatever he wants to with her and that's why she ran".
"Is there any way they can be unlinked?" I asked quietly. Lilith hesitated to reply taking her time to study me first and feel out my mood and whatever else I was feeling. "It can be done", she replied softly and I breathed a sigh of relief that was cut short when she finished her statement, "but only when Asha comes into her full powers and does the unlinking herself".
"Hmm and I'm guessing the witch is here to help her do just that?" I asked skeptically. "She is", Keith responded. "And how is Asha expected to unlink herself when she has no witch in her blood?" I asked carefully.
"That's simple", Lilith replied. Don't know why but the minute she said that, my whole body went on alert. "Her mother came from a line of strong witches, though her powers are dormant since she wasn't trained to use them but the same magic flows in Asha".
"Which coven?" I asked with foreboding. I didn't need to explain what I meant, Lilith understood me perfectly. "The Kaliam Coven", she replied straightly. Everyone in the room gasped myself included.
It has been centuries since anyone heard anything about that coven of witches, after it was destroyed from within, but to hear now that my mate and the savior of our race was not only a lycan but she also came from the line of the deadliest and strongest witches that has ever graced this earth, "well I'll be damned".