Chapter Twenty-One: Ember’s Release

Chapter Twenty-One: Ember’s Release
Three Weeks Later...

The three weeks which Ember had spent in the dungeon were slow and painful. Without the presence of Cathy for company, Ember spent most of the time inside her head. 

Sometimes, she could swear that she still heard Cathy’s screams in her head. She would wake up covered in beads of sweat as nightmares of their failed escape plan haunted her.

Ember would never forgive herself for putting Cathy through such a horrible situation. If she had just listened, Cathy would still be here with her, not secluded in some other part of this scary dungeon.

Now, as the warrior unlocked her cell door, she felt the pressure of guilt weigh heavy on her chest. She shouldn’t be free, not after all that she had put Cathy through.

“Can… can I see her?” She croaked the question, feeling betrayed by even the sound of her voice.

“See who?” asked the warrior, eyeing her ruefully. Ember stuttered, “Um… um the girl that used to be here. Cathy”

“The vampire?”, the warrior asked just to be sure that he had heard Ember’s request properly. She nodded because her words had lodged themselves somewhere in her throat, refusing to resurface.

The warrior scoffed. “That bitch”, his voice was laced with a severe amount of dislike. “If I were not a werewolf, she would have left me with a permanent broken nose”

“It was my fault. Not hers” Ember told him. “I don’t care”, he replied. “You can’t see her”

“Please…” Ember pleaded tearfully. She could never live with herself if she left this dungeon without seeing Cathy. She wanted to apologize, to hold Cathy and tell her how truly sorry she was for everything.

“I promise I’m not up to anything. I just really need to see her. I am begging you” She looked straight into the warrior’s eyes. She knew he would be unable to resist her request.

He took a long, deep breath. “I normally would never do this” he told her. “Come on, she’s this way”. Ember thanked him looking really grateful.

As they approached where Cathy was, Ember’s legs became as heavy as a piece of log. It had been three weeks since the failed attempt to escape. Three weeks since she had last seen Cathy. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest.

“Such nerve you have to show up here” Cathy’s voice sounded in the emptiness of the dungeon. Even if Ember was not yet face to face with Cathy, she knew that Cathy was referring to her. That anger in Cathy’s voice could only be reserved for Ember.

She stepped forward gingerly until she was standing before Cathy. She gasped loudly as the sight she saw sent a shiver up her spine. Cathy was all skeleton. It appeared like huge chunks of her flesh had been dried up and were replaced with her bones.

Under her eyes were blackened and they held no compassion. Ember instinctively backed away, Cathy was completely unrecognizable. 

Cathy laughed, a dry and humorless sound. “What? Do I scare you now?”, she asked. Tears pooled in Ember’s eyes and poured down her cheeks because she knew. She knew that something had snapped in Cathy. She knew that the warriors had somehow managed to break Cathy’s mind.

“I’m sorry, Cathy” Ember said, her voice barely above a whisper. In just three weeks, Cathy had gone from the cheerful vampire in the dungeon to the scary, bloodlust vampire. Ember noticed the black veins around the corner of her eyes.

“I’m so sorry. I should have listened to you. I should have known that the plan was doomed to fail” Ember apologized.

Cathy remained silent, boiling from all the rage inside her. “Do you know what they did to me in here?” She asked. Without waiting for a response, she continued. “Everyday for three weeks, they would inject me with a vial of werewolf venom. They were killing me slowly!”

Cathy’s voice reverberated in the room. “They were killing me!”. Ember cried even more loudly now. Werewolf venom and a bite from a werewolf were extremely lethal to vampires. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Cathy”

To Cathy, Ember’s voice was an annoying sound in her head that she wanted to turn off. She lurched forward, charging for Ember’s throat but the chains around her ankles stopped her.

The warrior pulled Ember towards him. “We should get out of here”, he told her. Ember nodded slowly as the realization dawned on her that she had lost Cathy too, she added that to the mix of losing her memories.

As they walked away, Cathy’s voice trailed behind them, loud and sharp. “Watch your back, Ember. I am coming for you”

On hearing that, Ember shuddered in fear. 



Later That Night...

Ember knelt before Mr Lou as two warriors held her shoulders, pinning her to the floor. 

“Are you ready? This is going to hurt a lot”, Mr Lou said to her. She nodded, putting up a brave look.

This was the second part of Ember’s punishment. The part where she would demoted from a Sentinel back to Beta. The only Lycan strong enough to perform the ritual was the Apex, who in this case, was Mr Lou.

Whenever a Lycan moved  from one rank to another, the full moon bestowed a new power on such a werewolf. In order to take Ember back to being a Beta, which was the lowest Lycan rank, someone had to absorb all that power and the only person strong enough for that was Mr Lou.

Mr Lou chanted three times. “The moon gives and the moon takes”. He paused and looked directly into Ember’s blue eyes. “Ember Doyle, are you willing to give back to the moon until you’re ready enough for these powers?”, he asked.

She nodded. “Yes I am, Apex Leader”, she replied. Even if it was a punishment, Lycans still had to be willing to go through it.

“Good girl”, Mr Lou said. He raised his two right fingers and placed them on Ember’s forehead. This action sent a bolt of electricity through Ember’s whole body. It felt like her whole brain was being fried to crisp.

“Aghhhhhh”, Ember groaned in pain. The blue in her eyes lit up, shining brightly and then, it changed to a dull yellow. The yellow eyes were the mark of a Beta. 

Ember felt the power which used to be hers transfer to Mr Lou. She gasped and collapsed to the floor.

Mrs Doyle who had been watching from the corners, sprang up to her feet and rushed to Ember. She cradled Ember’s head in her hands before it could reach the ground.

“You are fine, honey. I am here”, she whispered continuously into Ember’s ear. Her daughter looked up to her weakly, happy to see Mrs Doyle after three long weeks. “Mom?”, called Ember weakly.

Her mother gave an equally weak smile. “Hi, I’m here. You are going to be fine, baby”, she continued saying.

Ember closed her eyes, trying so hard to believe her mother’s words, but all she saw in her head was Cathy’s menacing face. She heard Cathy’s voice saying ‘I am coming for you’

Her eyes shot open and her breath came in rapid spurts. She knew she was definitely not going to be fine.