Laying on his back, Kairo gave up on his multiple failed attempts of falling asleep. He was an insomniac and he had been one for six years but every night he would hope that it would be different. Even if he was ever lucky enough to fall asleep, it wouldn't be for long because the night terrors would remind him why his life was the way it was.
Loveless. Lonely. Hopeless.
He sat up, ignoring his grumbling stomach and glanced out the window. The tall trees stood firmly and towered over the building, a grey fog that was seeping from the sky made it impossible to see anything. A crisp breeze filled the room, causing Kairo to shiver slightly. It was nights like this that made him wonder if the path he had chosen had been the right one. Whether choosing to live in isolation and making vengeance his number one mission was the right decision.
"It's not too late." Hayes chimed in, wagging his tail. The Lycan had been waiting for an opportunity like this, he wanted to convince Kairo that they still had time to make a change
Although the Lycan had enjoyed the first taste of vengeance, he quickly began hating it and started detaching himself from Kairo. To make his conscience better, he would place all of the blame on Kairo and claim that he had no say in what was happening, when in reality, it had been him who had persuaded his human half to take this path in the first place. Now he regretted his decision, tremendously.
"It is too late." He sighed as he ran his hand through his brown locks of hair. Tucking his legs into his chest and resting his head on his knees, Kairo began to think about everything.
About why he had chosen to do this. What pushed him to become this monster. He had killed more than fifty wolves. All of them were someone's mate, someone's father or someone's daughter.
Their blood coated his hands, arms and all the way up to his shoulders. He had so much blood on his hands that it dripped onto the ground, leaving a trail that led to him. Kairo was a cold-blooded murderer but the worst bit was that he didn't stop, no matter how much the murders haunted him. No matter how many bruises he got from scrubbing the blood off his body. No matter how many times the victims' cries would replay in his head every second of the day.
He would still go out a couple weeks later and take another life. Because without that, who would he be? Without that he would be that sad, little 18 year-old boy who's pack had been brutally murdered and was left at the sympathy of all the surrounding packs.
There was no way he was going to be seen as weak. In no way was his pack going to be remembered as victims. The Red Star Pack would be remembered as the powerful, deadly pack of the South that had birthed the Legendary K.O; the judge and punisher of all sinners.
"So you don't regret taking this path?" Hayes snarled, feeling annoyed and once again hopeless.
"No." He answered, "I don't regret any of my decisions."
Kairo would gladly carry the weight of all the sins he had committed on his back and go to hell, as long as it meant that his people wouldn't be remembered as feeble and powerless. Which is exactly what he was achieving. One murder at a time.
[...]
"This is a very unfortunate event but let us not cry, let us remember my father. Let us power through this and show the rest of the world what a strong pack we are." Lennon spoke, his new-found dominance surging through.
Marcellus watched the young man with curious eyes before he turned around and headed for his car. The Alpha drove back to the castle in silence, his mind was all over the place.
He was stuck.
Should he call the number or not?
After parking the car in the castle parking lot, he sat in silence for a few minutes. Carefully arranging his thoughts and making a final decision. It had been a long time since he had felt his heart race as he typed in the number. Each digit sounding more alluring than the last.
The number that he was currently typing was pretty common. It was an untraceable number that was answered by K.O himself. For years, the packs and police had tried to trace it to find out whether or not it was linked to Kairo, the son of Beta Xander, with no luck whatsoever. It's purpose was for people to state the name they wished for him to investigate and if the person died three weeks later, then it meant that they were a sinful wolf but if they didn't, it meant that in the eyes of K.O, that person was innocent.
His heart pounded in his chest as he heard the phone ring and slowly placed the phone next to his ear. Marcellus didn't know the reason behind his racing heart or shaky hands, he thought it was merely because he was about to talk to an infamous serial killer.
"State the name"
Shocked by how human the voice sounded, Marcellus took a deep breath and attempted to answer but he didn't make a sound. No noise escaped his lips. Just deafening silence.
*Click*
He had hung up. The Grand King Alpha Marcellus had failed to utter a word and had stayed quiet for so long that K.O had decided to hang up.
"You should be ashamed." Kristian, his wolf, chuckled. He had predicted that this was going to happen and Marcellus had proved him right.
"I don't know why but I didn't expect him to sound so..."
"So human?" His wolf cut him off, "Do not be so naive. You are a King, you should know that there are beings capable of committing such horrendous acts and still keeping their humanity."
For some reason unknown to Marcellus, he felt his heart clench when he listened to Kristian's negative description of K.O. He felt that the description was too harsh, too unfair and too unjust. No one knew the reasoning behind his actions, why he had chosen this path and what pushed him to continue acting this way.
"Are you defending a murderer, Marcellus?" Kristian stood on all fours, his golden eyes glowing even brighter than before. His tone was sharp and accusing.
"Don't be stupid. I'm simply saying that he has never murdered an innocent. Had I found out about their heinous acts before he had, I would've killed them too." The King snarled back, grabbing his car keys and walking into the castle.
Rushing through the monarchical, magnificent castle, Marcellus paid little to no attention to the enormous, stunning chandeliers that hung on the beige roof and lit the room with a faint yellow, or the serene paintings of past Kings and Queens that decorated the halls and endless corridors. He simply hurried to his room and locked the door behind him.
Slipping off his suit, the King slipped into his bed in black, silk boxers. He laid on his back as he imagined all the possible things he could've said. Now looking back, he was glad that he didn't say anything at all. The only thing that had led him to that point was loneliness and his insatiable desire for chaos.
As King, he couldn't be so reckless.
With a long sigh, Marcellus turned off the light and shut his eyes. That night he dreamt of a wolf. A large, black wolf stood in front of piles of human and wolf corpses. Some of the bodies had been stabbed several times, some had been burnt and some had even been mutilated.
Only a single wolf stood there, it's beaming eyes focused on the burning building before it. The scent of smoke was thick and heavy, it made it even harder for Marcellus to see what was going on. Soon enough all he could see was black smoke. It clouded over everything until he couldn't see the piles of bodies or the burning building.
Even through all that thick smoke, he could see one thing.
Marcellus could see the furious and resentful eyes of the lone wolf; they burnt with a hate so bright that it blinded him and made him want to hide behind his army of soldiers. The very air that surrounded the wolf was so violent, so spiteful and so thick that it almost felt like it was choking him.
That wolf was the very definition of the devil on Earth and Marcellus couldn't help but feel drawn to it.