"You thought faking your death will keep you safe?" Blade said scornfully in an inhuman voice
"We're more than happy to fulfill your death wish," Ace's demon voice sounded in the still club, giving Freyja goosebumps and chills on her back.
"It's not killing if we kill a dead man, is it?" Aris's psychopathic laugh beamed in the entire club.
For the first time, Freyja felt frightened by them. She knew them like this in the past, but it seemed different they were crueller and more psychotic this time.
Blade cut deep into Jake's face with a swift move, mimicking the scar on his eye, then started laughing maniacally. That's when it hit her. Whatever happened to them, it involved him. Given how they wouldn't even tell her what happened and how it changed them, she knew it had to be awful. At that moment, to say rage filled Freyja's body was an understatement. Instantly her eyes went entirely black, and she howled so profoundly that all werewolves in the room, in Crimson Moon Pack and across the realms, felt her pain. At her surge of pain, all werewolves started crying, kneeling in pain and wailing, as it was excruciating. Even Axel and Blade barely took her pain in but couldn't keep the tears from falling on their faces. Despite tears pouring and the pain they felt, both of them started laughing the moment they saw her shifting.
Now, Rhea stood in Freyja's spot. Rhea was a large white wolf with her perfectly white fur that looked like glitter glistered it, which made it shine, while her eyes were a bright blue, and she looked magnificent. Even though Hades and Liam were immobilized, they could only gasp in astonishment. In his life, Hades has never seen a wolf that beautiful. But in the blink of an eye, before they could even process that, she leaped to attack; crimson red blood covered her white fur. Then, with her sharp teeth shrinking into his neck, she bit him so hard, Hades was sure she will kill him on the spot. The next thing Hades saw outraged him even more. While looking at her lovingly, Blade petted her head. That sole gesture told Hades that Blade saw her before.
"Easy, love, don't take all the fun for yourself," Blade said in a sweet tone before shifting as well, with Axel following.
After hearing his words, Rhea let go of Jake's neck. Rhea purred happily when she saw Kai, Blade's wolf and Deagon, Axel's wolf.
Kai was massive, with his fur as red as rubies and pale blue eyes; he made other wolves seem like mere stray dogs, while Deagon was as big as Kai, but his fur was as dark as night with silver eyes. When the group was together, they would always let their wolves out to run and play in the woods. Hence, their connection runs as deep as their human companion's connection.
Instantly, Kai pounced towards Jake, biting his hip, while Deagon leaped and shrunk his teeth deep into his collarbone. Then, when they had enough of his blood on their teeth, they backed away, leaving him barely breathing.
Ace's pale face got close to him, staring into his eyes. Then, in a flash, he consumed the man's very essence of life, trapping his soul and the soul of his wolf into a purgatory of his own doing. Afterwards, in his elegant manner with a psychotic grin, Aris severed his spine with a magic slice.
Jake's lifeless body was now lying on the ground in a pool of blood. The three wolves have shifted back to humans, and Ace has returned to his human form. Satisfied with the sight in front of them, the five of them stood still, savouring it. When Hades saw the look on her face, he felt petrified, but at the same time, deep hate flowed through his veins. Jake was one of his closest friends, and seeing how she ruthlessly murdered him while he could do nothing but watch, he hated all of them.
Now that Jake was dead, the five friends had to cover everything up. After Aris conjured them some clothes, Axel and Blade got rid of the body, making it look like a drunk driver's accident. Meanwhile, Ace wiped Hades's and Liam's minds and manipulated their memories so they would only remember going to the club, picking a fight with them, then drinking themselves senseless. Because of their drunken state, Jake wanted to race with the car, and they thought it sounded like a fun idea. When getting rid of the body, Axel and Blade have burned the car to a crisp. Because someone may want to examine the remains, Aris cast a spell to see the severed spine resulting from the car crash.
Since Luke had to be frozen in time with the other humans, Ace had to craft a tale for him, too. So Luke could remember until the moment Aris froze them, but after that, there was a bar fight in his memories, and they finally left winning.
Hades woke up in the morning with a splitting headache. Although still in the club, he almost couldn't recall anything that happened after he threw a fit of rage at seeing Freyja dancing with another man. However, he could remember drinking. While his hangover agreed with that, he could also recall an excruciating pain that he never felt before. Besides those two things, his head was empty, no matter how hard he tried to remember anything else. Finally, he woke Liam up, who was sharing his hangover.
"Where's Jake," Hades asked, still dizzy.
"Don't know, man," Liam replied hazily, trying to recall what happened the other night, but he remembered as much as Hades did.
"How did we get so drunk?" Hades asked another question, and Liam shrugged his shoulders, not knowing the answer.
Exiting the club, they looked for the car; they drove in. But when they realized it was nowhere in sight, they called a cab and went to Crimson Moon castle. After arriving at the castle, the truth of what happened last night struck them like lightning. When they heard the news about Jake's death, both blamed themselves for being such reckless drinkers that they couldn't even protect their friend. Despite hearing what happened, they felt something was wrong with this story. Given their very high alcohol tolerance, it was strange they got so drunk that they couldn't even remember anything. While trying to make sense of everything and wrap his head around Jake's death, Hades went into his study.
Even though his friend's death devastated him, he didn't have too much time to think about it or drown his sorrow. Soon after he entered his study, his father and a couple of the elders have summoned a pack meeting. Hades wondered what that was about as he gloomily made it to the meeting room.
Seated at the top of the table was his father, with two elders on either side of the table. When he saw the petrified looks on their faces, Hades shook his head, trying to focus. However, he couldn't help but notice three of the elders that were always against his father were not there.
"We all felt it?" His father asked with a grave tone.
The elders nodded while he did not know what his father was asking about.
"Felt what?" Hades asked.
"The most excruciating pure pain," elder Micah replied
He thought about the feeling he felt the night before and nodded, still uncertain.
"Who was that?" elder Joan asked
"No one from this pack," Arawn replied
"You mean to tell me; the wolf is not even a pack member and could send that surge of pain to all of us," elder Harrison said, shock laced on his face.
"How can that be?" elder Micah asked.
"It wasn't just our pack. All wolves across the realms felt it. Only one thing can explain this," elder Craig said in a calm tone.
"What's that?" Hades asked curiously.
A wolf that could make all wolves feel his pain had to be extremely powerful, and he wondered what pack he was in.
"She was born," Craig replied calmly but sternly.
She? Which she? Hades thought, confused.
"You're delusional, Craig," Joan said scornfully.
"That is just an old legend. It's a nice bedtime story for kids, but let's be real. She doesn't exist," Micah added to Joan's comment.
Elder Harrison and his father were silent while he couldn't understand a word from the other three.
"Enough," Arawn said in a low growl.
"Whether it is pure fantasy or truth, we can't deny having a packless wolf strong enough to connect with all wolves across the realm," Arawn continued.
Packless? This wolf is a rogue? How can that be? Hades wondered.
"You mean a rogue could do that?" Hades asked in disbelief at that possibility.
"Yes," Craig replied
"It can't be possible. Rogues have minor power, and they barely survive on their own," Hades said, still refusing to believe.
"Not this one. This one can be our demise or our salvation," Craig said with deep admiration in his voice.
Then he started telling Hades what he was referring to. Craig told Hades everything about Persephone's legend.