Her cherry lips parted as she slowly raised her head to look into his eyes. At this moment time seemed to freeze.
Their hearts and breaths synchronized taking them back to that fateful night. The night that tied their destinies together.
Aperius smiled at her as he slowly let go. In a trance, Lilith watched on as her lover shapeshifted into his wolf form and growled at the pair of twins establishing dominance.
In the blink of an eye, the solid ground was covered with bloodstains with a medley of wails and snarls saturating the air.
The pair of Sapphire twins were beaten to the ground despite having fought Aperius two vs one. The smell of blood and the cries of distress flooded her ears and instantly took her back. It took her back to a past she would rather forget.
A past filled with hopelessness, despair, and fear. The intense emotions she felt at this moment were so overwhelming that they drew her soul into the dark abyss. The world around her began to spin wildly before she fell into darkness.
Three years ago...
In a sparsely wooded area overlooking the shores of Odessa, thick clouds of smoke covered the sunny skies giving off the illusion that it was dusk.
Within the chaos, a penurious city had been reduced to rubble and burnt to the ground. The once beautiful landscape with the salty fresh air coming from the coast now smelt like petrifying corpses and rotten blood.
The enchanting coastal city that had blue clear waters were dyed red as the tides swept past the corpses bleeding into the sea.
As the pungent breeze blew by it swept with it the cries and howls from the dying intensifying the eerie atmosphere.
From deep within the clouds sounds of ominous laughter could be heard. It was the sound of the witches leaving the shores of Odessa after wreaking havoc. What attracted them to the shores of Odessa hadn't been found but blood was spilled.
As a lighter shade of dark blue shone on the horizon the ominous air dispersed giving off a breath of fresh air. Among the pile of dead bodies, a bloodied hand broke through.
The bodies atop the heap rolled down as the person trapped inside emerged from within. A slender figure covered in blood stood within the pile of corpses and from their posture alone one could tell they were enduring something great.
Seeing such a tragic scene the figure began to breathe deeply as the pain from witnessing such a grim sight seeped deep into their flesh stabbing straight into their heart.
Feeling distraught the person felt soft at the knees and as they collapsed their body rolled down the pile of corpses falling to the ground. Overcome with grief the person lay flat on the ground as they broke down in tears.
This grief-stricken person covered in blood was none other than Lilith, the only daughter of the alpha of the Linus pack. For centuries the Linus pack had thrived at the coastal lands of Odessa with a prosperous trade city sprouting from nothing.
But over the past few years, the witches had slowly chipped at the city in an attempt to cripple them and eliminate the Linus pack. After years of endless clashes, she had lost her father and her brothers dropped to the ground like flies.
Today she had witnessed the last of her brothers fight to the death against the sorceress supreme. Her fifth brother had died defending her from the vile enchantress who had poisoned her with the most vicious wolfbane there was.
Unlike other species of wolfbane, ferox wouldn't directly kill a werewolf. It would seep deep into the victim's bones and scorch every cell in their body causing excruciating pain before it kills them.
Lilith writhed on the ground as the gut-wrenching pain spread deep into her bones. Her smooth porcelain skin covered in sweat had bright azure cracks spreading like poisonous vines all over her body. A tear fell at the corner of her eye as she clutched at her abdomen in anguish.
From a distance, she could hear faint voices calling out her name but no matter how hard she tried she couldn't let out a single word. It was her soft whimpers and cries that finally grasped the attention of whoever was calling for her.
Before her eyes fell into darkness she had blurred flashes of the pack doctor instructing two young men to carry her. As they carried her away from the center of such a calamity she closed her eyes sinking into the dark void.
When she opened her eyes once more it was due to excruciating pain. Her entire body was covered in cold sweat drenching her clothes. As though enduring the bitter cold she shivered as she lay on the ground.
It was so unbearable that she subconsciously wished for death. It felt like she had fallen into a pit filled with barbed wires before a bucket of lemon juice was poured onto her wounds over and over again.
Her chest rising and falling deeply she turned to her side and vaguely heard voices echoing in her mind.
"She won't be able to make it."
"She will..... it's just that she won't be the same anymore. She would have to live with this illness."
"Will she accept it?"
"We would have to wait and see."
Soon the voices died down and she slowly sank into darkness again. As she fell deep into this dark emptiness her soul was being slowly swept out of her body by an invincible force.
The coldness of death slowly overtook her body and she wasn't fighting it. It seemed she had come to terms with it and was ready to leave this world and all its pain and sorrow.
Unfortunately for her, the world wasn't done with her yet. A sharp stabbing pain ten times more painful than what she felt before jerked her soul reigniting every nerve ending.
The chill that was overwhelming her body was instantly dispelled as she wailed in agony. Her soul was recalled from the deepest depths of Hades and she was brought back from death's door.