Chapter 38: Separate

Elias

_____

I cursed in my head. I must agree with Mairi. My grandfather was a weak shifter. He was seduced by this wicked spaewife. But who am I to judge? I couldn’t say I understood him either since I didn’t know what he really felt then. He was in a different situation than I am now. I just have to be strong and should not be tempted by this creature.

Mairi smiled at me. “Now you see why I said your grandfather was weak, Elias? As for your father, it was later on when I discovered he was weak too.”

I swallowed, knitting my brows. “You did the same to my father?”

She laughed hard and kissed my lips. Damn it! It was sickening. I instinctively pushed her, but she was only a bodach that I couldn’t touch. So, she was still latched on me, chortling. She was obviously enjoying this. I could only give her a slicing gaze with my dark orbs.

“No. To be honest, I wasn’t given the chance to taste your father, Elias.” She glided away from me with a smile of regret on her face. She sat down gracefully in a corner of my glass cage, still floating though.

I chuckled. “Then, what made my father weak? You said so yourself, he was.” I lifted an eyebrow.

She looked up at me. “I was overconfident that I didn’t see it coming. Andrin already warned me to stop chasing him. But I did something more than that. You saw it in your own eyes. I seduced him. I just couldn’t stop myself then, that’s why I did it. And when he came back, I thought I had him. I was happy. But he… he came back to kill me. Before I knew it, my head was already torn away from my body. It was the most painful thing I’d ever felt before darkness took me. I woke up feeling nothing. But I couldn’t see anyone that I recognized. They were all… wearing the same blank faces. It was kind of… sad, you know?”

I blinked, moving in the opposite direction. I stood across from her in the glass cage. “So, there’s no heaven and hell, you mean?”

The corners of her lips lifted in a bitter simper. “How would I know? That place we call the spirit realm is neither hell nor heaven. Maybe I’ll never know.” Now her grin went wider and there was excitement in her impish eyes. “But it’ll be fine if we’re together, Elias. I promise we’ll be happy together!”

My lips became a thin line, while my nostrils flared, and my eyebrows knitted. “How can I trust you when everything you did was all trickery? You wanted to own and use my grandfather for your own selfish agenda, you wanted to kill my innocent father and you wanted to kill me to see whether I’m strong or weak, Mairi, remember?” I gave her a scathing look.

Her mouth gaped open, smiling reluctantly. She got up and glided toward me, extending her hand to touch my face. However, I was quick to dodge it, going in the opposite direction with my super speed. She stopped in the middle of the cage while my back was against the cold glass cage. She looked at me like she was trying to decide what to do next. It was sort of unnerving because she had powers, but I didn’t show her my fear or any kind of emotion but my vexation on this matter and anger toward her.

“But you passed, Elias. You’re nothing like your grandfather or your father! You’re different. That’s why I have to have you with me, by my side. I promise to leave your pack alone, not to cause more harm to them if you just come with me. And I promise that Avabella will be safe or whoever it is you want to be safe. I will not do anything bad to them. Okay?” she said, trying to convince me.

I snorted at her. “You need to earn my trust, Mairi. After all, I don’t want to be your slave or puppet.”

Her smile suddenly faded. Her eyes became red again, infuriated at my being hard-to-get. Huh! I should play this right.

“First, you have to set Avabella free. You have to return Sangye to my pack, unharmed.”

“No!” she bellowed. “They have powers. They will get in my way to you. This is why I’m doing all this, Elias. Can’t you see it?”

I gave her a bored look. “I will not come to you willingly if you don’t give me what I want, Mairi. That’s my condition. If you do what I want, I’ll trust you.”

She looked at me for the longest moment then she gave a hearty laugh. “You don’t get to set the conditions here, Elias. When I say we’ll be together, we’ll be together!”

I gritted my teeth, looking at her with indignation. “You said yourself it’s no fun in the spirit realm and we’ll stay there?”

She laughed, turning round and round, making me feel the chills of the cool air she emitted. I looked at her with more annoyance. Then she glided closer to me; her face was so close to mine, but I didn’t blanch.

“I didn’t say we’ll stay in the spirit realm. But of course, after I will separate you from your wolf, we will go there first. And then,” she paused, looking at my wide chest, “we will be taking over another body. Humans, Elias. We will be living like normal people. We will try to experience growing old and dying together but we’ll come back again in the living realm, taking another body, satiating our physical needs and it’ll go on and on! That’s eternal, Elias. Don’t you want that?”

I snorted at that ridiculous idea she had. “I’m not completely mortal in this body, which I actually love by the way. So why would I want that kind of cycle of dying everytime, Mairi? Tell me,” I said sarcastically.

She was taken aback, and I looked at her with satisfaction.

“You just want to be even with me, right? You can’t ever have me, Mairi, whether or not you agreed with my conditions, so I can be with you. Huh! Did you really think I’d give up on Avabella? You’re sourly mistaken! You can kill me or separate me from my wolf, but I will not give you the happy moments you wish so much when you were still alive and even in the future! You’re the one who’s cursed, Mairi. You’re never ever going to have that happiness with someone you love because in the first place, you don’t know what it is to love someone!”

She screamed so loud that burst my eardrums, making my ears bleed. Warm liquid trickled down my ears, while the glass cage cracked because of the high vibration of her voice. At first, I thought I could escape so I quickly punched the cracked glass but then the cracks suddenly fixed all by themselves. Or rather, because of Mairi’s magic. It was really disappointing. I punched the glass again, ignoring the cracking of my bones and the pain it backfired in my hand. She laughed at my thwarted break out.

I gnashed my teeth, looking at the spaewife witch specter who was laughing merrily. I couldn’t hear her anyway. My eardrums were broken. They will be healed in a few moments, so I was grateful for it or I’d be even more pissed. Well, I already was because of her laughing face, but maybe less. I gave her a withering look, which she merely ignored.

“You can’t get away from me, Elias,” she taunted me with a cheeky smile. Her voice sounded muffled as my eardrums were healing. She came up closer to me, trapping me in a corner of the glass cage. “Out of all those men I’ve been with, you’re the only one who resists me. Even Vampire King Ozymandias couldn’t, ever since he met me in a brothel in my old Scotland, where I worked. And you very well know now that your grandfather wasn’t able to. He even had to kill me to prevent himself from being ensnared by my beauty and charm. But you… I find you the best!” She caressed my jaw with a delicate misty index finger. It was cool. Her eyes followed its movement as she traced its line and stopped right on my lips.

“You find me interesting because I am hard to get, I see.” I snorted. “Well, I must continue to play the role. Don’t you think? You’ll get bored if you get me too easily.”

She tilted her head to one side, pouting her lush lips. She appeared to consider what I said. “You have a point. But… I do really want you, Elias. I must separate you from your wolf now.” She smiled wickedly, making me freeze. I couldn’t think of anything to stop her or to even delay this game for a little more. I was hoping against hope that Avabella was somewhere and could rescue me. Right, I was feeling pathetic being the prey of an obsessed crazy spaewife witch specter. I had to depend on someone with the same witch powers, which happened to be possessed by my beloved mate. And for sure, she wouldn’t let this damn bodach to get me and take me away from her.

I tried to call out to Avabella through our mind link. Still, there was only silence. It was most probably severed when I was sucked in here and got caged. Damn it!

‘Where are you, Avabella? Are you alright, mon amour?’ I was too worried what happened to her as she was also being sucked by a magical quicksand back at the pond. Was there a possibility that she was also being caged like me right now?

Bile rose to my throat as sickening concern gripped my heart over my Edelweiss. I already missed her so much! I wanted to hold her in my arms. Just that. For a long while. I wanted to assure myself that she was fine. But it was impossible given the circumstances.

I also tried to reach out to any of my pack members. Again. Still, no one was reachable. It was definitely frustrating! If only I could get a hold of this spaewife witch, I could do something to save myself. But right now, time was the essence, to delay her possession of me.

Little by little, I found myself being laid down the floor. My heart trembled frantically.

“What are you doing?” I questioned the wicked bodach, who was smiling as she slowly waved her hand. My back touched the cold glass floor. I couldn’t move even though I wanted to.

“Relax, Elias. It’ll only take a minute,” she said in my ear and giggled. “Oh, I so long to touch you. Perhaps I’ll not get rid of Sangye yet. She’s caged by the way, like you. But her spirit is separated from her body because I used it to bring you here.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You thought it was Sangye who controlled her body all this time? No, Elias. It was me. I was only mimicking her and her powers. Her body has the essence of it, so I could very well use it to execute my plan while her spirit was just right here, in my own created realm.”

Now that made sense. That was the reason why I couldn’t reach any of my pack members, or even Avabella or Sangye. They were out of “realm range”!

“Now sleep for a second or two, Elias and come with me,” she said in a beguiling tone.

I could feel my eyelids go heavier in each passing breath. I had no choice but to close my eyes while my breathing was slowly withdrawn from my lungs. Maybe this was how it feels to be dying. I couldn’t do anything about it. Everything was beyond my control.

I finally succumbed to the darkness and coldness. It was only momentary, but I felt myself floating again. My body was very light, and I could feel something was amiss. I could not feel my wolf self anymore. I could only feel the sudden emptiness this new being of mine just perceived.

I struggled to open my eyes, only to find out I was floating right out of my own body. I panicked and noticed Mairi’s widening grin, from ear to ear.

“Now, Elias… we’re together at last!” She let out a chilling victorious laugh that was worth a cringe.