Chapter 44: CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

After several minutes of waiting for Adam’s return, they knew there was a battle out in the Haiti Pack, the last time it happened, there were no survivors just casualties but it was getting really intense and everywhere was as silent as a ghost house in the Colven Pack, no one was saying anything, the sounds of clattering could not be heard, the only sound they heard was the pounding of their heart and the pacing of footsteps, but Alicia sat still wailing at the disappearance of her daughter.

The guards were on the ground trying to understand what it meant to lose a child. Most of the maids had started dispersing into their various ward, and the mansion was beginning to function again, before sometime a scream is heard by someone, not sure of where the scream was heard from, the mansion was in chaos as most of the guards had run to gather in the direction of the scream, everyone was running around looking for a way out,

Everyone seemed to have diverted their attention to the scream, one of the guards yelled and as they all got closer to the kitchen, they found Selena’s corpse on the floor, dead and numb. The part that frightened them was that it was just about time that they heard the news of Alisha’s stained items and now the death of their own.

“Check her properly, she could still be breathing,” one of the guards spoke.

“She is no longer breathing,” another guard said before bending down to inspect the body, he knew the dynamics of life and death. According to him, his mother was a nurse before her death so he knew little or more information about death. Immediately, he confirmed it. One of the guards ran off to tell Alicia about Selena’s death. As the guard got to where Alicia was seated still holding Alisha’s blood stained clothes in her hand, the guard disrupts her from her thoughts, “Ma’am, we just found Selena’s body in the kitchen,” the guard explained Getting back herself, Alisha looked towards the guard and towards the direction of the kitchen before speaking;

“Selena’s body?” she questioned “Yes, ma'am, she is dead.” Alicia couldn’t believe what the guard had just told her, she was finding it difficult to understand what was suddenly happening’ first, it was Alisha’s disappearance, now she was waiting for her son to come back from the Haiti pack where he went to find his sister, her eyes roamed round the hall thinking of the experience packed up for just a day, she just couldn’t understand what the guard was saying till she said, “Take me to her.”

The guard led her to the kitchen, as they approached the kitchen, she saw the crowd that had formed at the entrance, they cleared the part for her as she passed along the open space, as she looked at the body before her, she let out a soft cry, she was holding the tears back from flowing but the tears were too strong for her hold, the minute she saw Selena’s lifeless body, her body started shaking at the thought of holding her daughter in death too.

“Who did this?” she screamed as she let out a loud noise that seemed to call the others out of their rooms. Immediately, Xana ran out of her room running towards the scene with a worried look on her face, she looked utterly confused by the sight before her, “What happened? What's going on?” she asked. “Can something tell me why Selena’s is on the ground?"

“She is dead,” one of the guards said as Xana screamed loud enough to be heard by Adam wherever he was, pool of tears had gathered in her eyes as she started crying, there was total confusion as to who would have done this in their midst, At the same time, Sarah ran off from her room wearing a confused look on her face, she was terribly confused at the Alicia’s voice which made her jump up from her bed, she saw Selena’s body lying hopelessly on the floor.

“What happened?” she said one of the guards that stood beside her hoping to know more about Selena’s body but the guard replied, “She is dead,” the guards muttered to her hearing alone while she watched another tear roll down Alicia’s eyes.

“Dead!” she exclaimed. She had just seen Selena clearing the kitchen, how was it possible that she was dead, she asked herself. She still couldn’t believe in the death as she walked closer to get a perfect view of the body. Selena looked pale in death, still beautiful as always. Her eyes were shut by Alicia the minutes she entered the room, and her hand stayed still together with the bracelet she wore.

Someone else let out a loud scream.

“Look!” the chief maid pointed at something on Selena’s body and everyone turned to look at what she spoke about. The huge crowd was watching something on Selena’s body.

“It’s a mark?" she said as Alicia bent to take a look.

“It's not a mark, it is a bite,” another person said and everyone was astonished.

As Alicia tilted the body sideways so everyone could see the bite clearly, everyone widened her eyes and looked in Sarah’s direction with hatred in their eyes. Sarah was surprised as to why they all turned to face her, as she looked closely she discovered that bite looked exactly like a vampire bite which was why they all turned to face her. Hope they weren't thinking she killed Selena? She thought of removing her glance from anyone and focusing on the body. She was getting uncomfortable with the sudden stares she was getting from everyone, almost like they could send her six feet with their eyes. He couldn’t believe the fact that all of them all had the same opinion of the bite.

“It’s a vampire bite,” Alicia pronounced looking sternly into Sarah’s eyes. “And we have only one vampire with us.”

“She is a murderer,” Xana declared while everyone agreed with her by successfully moving away from her, to create a distance between them so they wouldn’t be infected with her evil.

The moment Xana spoke, Ian came rushing into the kitchen area, the smile he was once had had faded into the thin air, he couldn’t understand the reason for the crowd, he had just gotten information that Adam had gone to get Alisha from their enemy pack but the crowd he met still made him look in awe at the situation, he couldn’t understand why there were many people gathered in the kitchen.

He had hoped to come get Selena so they could go for lunch as he searched for her through his eyes, he could not find her, he pushed his way into the crowd to find her on the floor, she looked like she was asleep, maybe she slumped on the ground due to strenuous activities, he saw that her eyes was hut and Alicia had tears on her eyes while the others too had a sullen face, the main reason behind his shock wasn’t because of the crowd anymore but Selena was on the floor, lifeless and no one was saying anything to him.

“What happened to her? What the actual fuck happened to her, I need answers?” he yelled and Xana came up to meet him in his cold rage.

“She is dead, we believe she must have been bitten by a vampire because she has a bite mark on her neck” Xana said spilling everything out in her sullen face, the idea of making sure everyone knew what type of person she was the better for everyone else, all the while no one made sound. Ian bent down, took her numb hand in his and buried the hand in his face, all he felt at that instant was rage and revenge. He loved her with his heart, he was the Beta, he had the upper position at least it would add up.

He stood up to reposition himself after grieving for her, he was going to make whoever did this to Selena pay for their action, he studied the mark on her neck, he knew a vampire’s bite when he saw one and this was definitely an handwork of a vampire and the only vampire he knew was Sarah. She was the only one living with them at the moment, slowly he faced Sarah with his red raged eyes... His wolf was threatening to come out but he decided to keep it low for now till there was an attack.

“You killed her.” Ian faced Sarah and Sarah’s eyes widened with fear and innocence, Ian said what no one had been able to say.

“I didn’t kill her,” Sarah said innocently.

“You didn’t kill her? How then can you explain the bite that looks exactly like your kind?” he said.

“I swear, I didn’t kill her,” Sarah said in a low tone again.

“What wrong did Adam ever do in asking you to stay in the mansion? What have we all done to you to make us suffer? What harm has Selena done to you, you blood sucking monster? I did everything diligently for your sake, so you would be glad and happy and here you are paying us back in your own coin?"

“What beast have we been living with?” Ian asked the crowd

“She is a murderer, a vampire, a blood sucking creature and a beast, that’s what you are Sarah? That’s exactly what you are!” he roared as tears almost left his eyes.

“I didn’t kill Selena!” Sarah declared, but no one cared to listen to her. Instead, Alicia rushed to where she was standing and gave her a dirty slap.

“That’s for ruining my household with your animalistic nature.” She left just after the slap.

Nobody cared to listen to her, Ian kept on throwing weird words at her, she was utterly confused as to why nobody listened to her, “My fangs are immature, it can't hold the flesh in my mouth, you have to believe me, Ian," she said as she shouted at the top of her voice so everyone could hear her but everyone paid no heed to what she had to say.

“Lies, deceit, you have managed to rule us with the lies that you were a good person incapable of harming but I have seen your nature, that’s nothing left to know of you. You are a monster, you don’t deserve to be here, and you deserve to be hidden in the jungle with your kind. Fuck you, fuck you,” Ian said.

“Don’t you ever relate with me, I despise you from the depth of my heart,” Ian said as he moved to lift Selena’s body off from the floor so they could perform the ritual rites on her.

“You evil monster, I am glad your evil deeds have been exposed,” Xana said with a smirk on her face. The crowd had dispersed and she was the only one still standing at a spot, she thought of sitting but she felt her world would crash more if she sat, she stood still thinking of the names hurled at her and the slap Alicia had given her for claiming innocence, she knew there was nothing she would do that would prevent them from accusing her of what she had no hand and she had no one to tell her she was innocent, everyone was against her and Adam was nowhere to be found, she wanted to shed a tear but she remembered she was strong woman who had no tears in her eyes. There was no way she would cry for a crime she didn’t commit and she was sure the killer was in their midst.

Sarah stood defenseless, there was nothing else she could do, Ian had come to love her like his own but he couldn’t understand the reaction she gave him, he had not inquired or checked deeper into the truth of what was being said, he didn’t even agree to listen to her. The words he called her made her have a sharp pang in her heart due to the insults.

She knew she couldn’t stay in a place where she was not wanted, and she couldn’t wait for Adam to come back and meet the whole family against her,

What if Adam comes back and turns his back against her too, she thought as she sat still empty, devoid of emotion and lacked nothing to call her own. The pain on her back was getting intense and painful. All the while, she thought about escaping out of the mansion since it was of no use staying there, staying there meant she’d have to get used to the silent treatment the whole pack gave her and the hatred from Alice, Alisha and now Ian. The first mode of action was to get to the end of the mess, as she sat on her thinking she decided to plan her escape route out of the mansion, she would sneak out when everyone would be fast asleep, and no one would be able to detect hair movement since no one actually cared about her. When night came and everyone was fast asleep, Sarah reached for her backpack that was the only thing she had and owned, it was given to her by Adam together with some clothes. She contemplated leaving the clothes behind since it was Adam’s, it should remain in the mansion. She had not thought of a place to go yet but she knew she needed to leave the mansion as soon as possible before Xana poisoned her the second time.

What if Xana killed Selena and tried to frame her up for it? Sarah thought as she proceeded to get some things she might need to leave the mansion, the plan to leave was going to be difficult seeing that the guards were already spread round the whole area but she knew she would have to leave sooner or later. She didn’t stop to think for a second about Adam, the thought of him would make her weak, as she threw her backpack over her shoulders, she made for the door, looking and hoping she wouldn’t be caught by anyone, she managed to climb out of her window, jumped down the walls of the receding building and to the other part of the house, she moved into what seemed like bin, it made a startling noise as she stopped to glance around at the impact of the noise on the environment but she found nothing, she snuck under a truck, stayed in there for some minutes before jumping out of the truck and out to the road, atlas! She was free like a bird, free from the eyes that didn’t allow her to claim her innocence.