Kia woke up with a banging headache that rapidly subsided. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and he was there, staring at her with a smile.
"I must admit, blowing your brains out was a tad bit excessive. But it has proven over the years to be the most effective means to help new changelings to understand."
Kia sat up and rubbed her temple. A tiny bit of blood appeared on her fingers.
"I'm sure you have questions. And they will all be answered in due time. For now, we are way behind schedule. Go get dressed. Gushen would have to cook a fresh dinner for us."
Kia was confused. This had to be a dream or a bad joke. After spending all day convincing herself of the possibility that she had not actually died, Baglor had now cleared all available doubts. She was a werewolf. But what the hell did that even mean? The idea of werewolves existing and her being one of them was so mad and ridiculous that even after dying twice, she still struggled to accept it.
"My patience wanes," Baglor said. "Get up, get dressed and let's be on our way."
"No," she said. She didn't know what was going on, and he was right that she had many questions. But she knew for a fact she had no intention of following him back to his dark gothic mansion.
"Fine," Baglor said. "As your Alpha, I hereby compel you to heed my command. Get up and get dressed."
His words flooded her mind like an avalanche, bending her thoughts and will, eliminating her will to resist him until it only felt natural to obey. She rose to her feet, and a soothing sense of joy and relief ran through her. Obedience was so soothing like pressure easing off her body.
Walking to her room and changing her clothes promised even more freedom from the strain and pressure that she was now feeling strongly.
"What's going on?" She managed to say as she fought the urge to dash off to her room.
"Don't waste my time," he said, and suddenly, a sense of urgency pulled against her mind, making her heart flutter with eagerness. The thought of wasting his time felt so wrong and out of place. She needed to fix this. She felt the desperate need to obey him immediately.
However, she knew that this urge, this feeling, this desperate need to obey and please him, it wasn't her.
She looked into his eyes, those piercing pieces of blue sapphire, and held her ground. The pressure mounted and threatened to break her. And yet she stood her ground. He squinted his eyes in confusion, and then his face relaxed. The pressure rose to new levels and turned into pain. The pain started in her chest and quickly spread into her lungs. Within seconds, her bones began to tingle.
Obedience promised relief. Moving an inch towards her room was sure to absolve her of a lot of pain. But she couldn't let him win, couldn't give him the satisfaction of bending her to his will. He pushed more, mounting more pressure. She didn't know how he was doing it, but she could feel the pain in her bones flare up. She grunted slightly and gritted her teeth.
Her body began to shake, and nausea built up in her stomach as her eyes began to spin. She doubled over, holding her stomach tightly as her head felt a thousand times heavier. One step towards her room was sure to make it all better. Full obedience would mean full relief. But obedience also meant surrender. Kia was many things, including a stubborn woman who always fought until she couldn't stand.
As they stood in her living room, it looked like she was bowing to him. But in reality, she was doing the exact opposite, defying his authority to a degree that he had never experienced. She crumbled to her knees and curled up in a fetal position. Obedience was out of the question now. She was in too much pain to move. And yet the pressure mounted.
He crouched low and stared at her.
"Amazing," he whispered, even as he maintained the pressure upon her. Her heart pounded, struggling to send blood through her body even as her veins constricted. Her sight grew blurry, and her mind began to shut down. After getting killed twice, she wondered if she was going to fall unconscious or die again. Although she had resurrected twice, she was still scared, scared of what lay beyond consciousness, scared of losing her grip once again.
"You are a stubborn little thing Kia Ling," Baglor said. His voice sounded far away, like a distant echo of a faint whisper. "Perhaps, I have grossly underestimated you," he added.
She was in too much pain to think of a retort. Now, breathing slowly through her mouth rather than her nose, she couldn't speak even if she managed to come up with a response. She closed her eyes tight, trying to hide away from the pain, anything to ease the agony.
His footsteps receded from her, and she heard her damaged door slam shut. Only then did the pain ease off, flowing away like a soft wave that went with him. The pressure ceased. However, her body remembered. She lay on the floor for many minutes after his departure, slowly recovering from the mental and physical torture she had suffered at his hands.
Lying there in pain she had never imagined and could never understand, Kia swore to end Baglor's life. She didn't know how or when. But she knew one thing: his life was going to end, and it was going to be by her very own hands. The thought of killing him gave her strength, enough strength to crawl back to her bathroom and slip back into the tub.
The water was cold now, near frigid. But she slipped in, and it cooled her burning body. She began to sink in, but she didn't care nor did she try to stop. A new pain was a welcome relief, an escape from the pain in her blood, bones, heart, lungs, and brain. She wanted a painful distraction, and drowning seemed the perfect choice.
It is said that drowning feels like returning to your mother's womb. Kia found this to be right. Drowning is a warm, painful, but liberating feeling, especially when you are immortal.