**CHAPTER FORTY-TWO.**
After the confrontation with Tyler, we decided to head back to Topper's apartment in Tribeca. The tension in the car was thick, the silence only interrupted by the sound of the tires rolling against the asphalt and the occasional murmur of the city. Topper was at the wheel, his hands gripping the steering tightly, while Drake sat next to him in the front seat, his face blank, lost in his thoughts. Draken and I sat together in the back, with Betty sitting by the window side, dozing off after the chaos of the day. Draken held my hand in his, his thumb gently rubbing comforting circles on my skin, an anchor in the storm brewing inside me.
I leaned my head against Draken's chest, my thoughts heavy, swirling like dark clouds before a storm. Karina’s face kept flashing in my mind, her laugh, her warmth, the sparkle in her eyes when she spoke about the hottest dudes on campus or the best dick she ever received. We’d promised to catch up at the dorm today—just today. The sharp sting of loss hit me again. The cold truth of her death felt like a blade twisting in my heart, and with it came a surge of fury. Tyler was responsible. I needed him dead. Karina deserved justice, and I owed her that.
“We’ll figure it out,” Draken whispered into my ear, his voice steady, calmer than it had been earlier. It was as if he could sense the storm in my mind, hear the violent thoughts I couldn’t voice. “We’ll not only get revenge for Karina, but we’ll figure out who Ozul is and find a way to put an end to all the hunters for good.”
“I just can’t believe this is real,” I said, my voice trembling. I could feel the tears welling up again, threatening to spill over. “We promised to see each other today. I don’t even know how to tell our friends… or her parents. God, what am I going to say?”
“Shh,” Draken whispered as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into a warm, protective hug. “Don’t worry, I’m here with you, Eline. You don’t have to go through this alone. We’ll figure it all out. I promise.”
The tears I’d been holding back spilled over, and I cried in his arms, feeling the weight of everything press down on me all at once.
By the time we arrived at Topper’s apartment, my tears had dried, but the ache in my chest remained. Draken helped me clean my face before we stepped out of the car, though I knew my eyes were still red and puffy. It took both Topper and Drake to rouse Betty from her sleep, and together we trudged upstairs to the apartment, where the rest of our friends waited.
As soon as we stepped inside, Brianna rushed toward us, her eyes wide with urgency. “Did you get him? Did you catch Tyler? Is he dead?”
“He isn’t dead,” Betty responded, her voice weary as she sank to the floor, too exhausted to make it to the couch. “I wish he was, but he managed to escape.”
“How?” Links asked from where he was seated next to his cousin, Kelvin. Hannah was seated on a three seater sofa where Karina’s body was spread, her face covered with a white handkerchief. My heart broke at the sight of her dead body, but I willed myself not to cry. After all, crying wouldn't bring back the dead.
Draken explained everything that went on between us and Tyler. He told them about the mystery man named Ozul and how the Hunters are now being backed by a dark magic that's oddly powerful.
“Basically, there's a mystery dude named ozul that's aiding the hunters in their scheme to wipe us shifters from earth, right?” Killian summarized. He was standing next to the door that led to Topper's room.
I nodded. “Yes. That's it.”
“Sounds like an empty threat,” Kelvin said, nonchalantly.
“It's not a bluff,” I replied. “We saw Tyler…he had this sort of power that even Drake couldn't figure out. There was even a barrier stopping Drake from tapping into his mind. We need to take this seriously because I can tell they aren't joking.”
Drake crossed the room and took a seat on the bean chair. I hadn't even paid him any attention since he declared that he should have just stayed home, rather than coming out to help us from what could as well be an impending war between shifters and hunters. In all honesty, I didn't even realize that I was pissed at him. Angry that he remained uncaring and nonchalant even when a friend of mine…a shifter, had died.
“You know, Drake, it could have been any of us,” I said, moving my fingers around the room to lay emphasis on my words. The room was dead quiet as everyone brought their attention to me. “It could have been any of us in Karina's position, dead. It could have been Brianna, Betty, your twin—and even Topper,” I let the last name hang in the air, waiting for a reaction from him. I saw something flicker in his expression…anger? Shame? Fear? I wasn't sure, but it was there. “You obviously don't care that Karina died, but it could have been any of us. Those close to you. You should have stayed home? Then leave. Leave right —”
Draken placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me. “Eline, what the hell is going on between you two?”
I shrugged his hand off like it was a stain on me and glared at him. “Don't you fucking touch me, Draken,” I yelled at him before taking my gaze back to Drake. He was still sitting, staring at me with eyes that looked like a fish — dead. “You don't care that the hunters are back? You don't care that the hunters could come back for your twin and make him die a thousand times more?”
“Draken isn't stupid enough to let himself be taken by a hunter,” Drake finally spoke. His voice was calm and collected, and it did more to even piss me off. He took the situation way too lightly. “When he was taken back then, he was just two, Eline. There is little to what a two year old body can do. He's different now. Stronger. Smarter. Way agile. Your friend wasn't smart, she was gullible, couldn't read between the lines, and that led to her demise. She was weak and like any weak root it was only a matter of time before she got uprooted.”
I stepped closer to him, my anger boiling over. I could feel the whole room pause, as if they were all anticipating my next move. “Are you blaming Karina for her own death? Are you seriously saying she deserved it?”
“Not exactly what I’m saying,” Drake replied, his tone infuriatingly indifferent. “But if that’s how you’re interpreting it, then yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes.”
“That's an insensitive comment to make, Drake,” Brianna admonished him, as though she was scared to put him in his place. “No one deserves to die.”
Drake inhaled and stood up from the chair before exhaling again. He towered over me, his face expressionless. “Oh, you think everyone's a saint? What's the meaning of life without death? Even little children die everyday. Do you really think I care? Everything that has a start has an ending. So does life—It ends. That’s the way it is.”
I scoffed, my anger burning hotter with every word he spoke. Of course, what I was even expecting from him? He had even taken one of my lives, leaving me with just eight, and yet I thought he could be reasoned with. Laughable. “You really are an asshole, aren't you?”
The room was deathly silent as I stood there, glaring up at him. Asides the height, another major difference between Draken and Drake was their eyes. While Draken's eyes were the most beautiful and warmest set of forest green eyes, Drake eyes were onyx black — like two black orbs staring into one soul. It reminded me a lot of the duchess of Edinburgh-their mother- eyes. However, Drake’s eyes were even more intense. *Soulless.* Like an endless void.
“Everyone’s going to die,” he said, quietly, adding to my anger. “Get out of your head, you're not special. None of you are. You aren't cursed with the gift of immortality. I couldn't care less about anyone's life, because at the end it's only going to be me left—”
“Including Topper?” I asked, standing face to face with him. “You don't care about his life also? You aren't scared the hunters would one day come for him? You aren't scared that you both won't get to enjoy the rest of his own life with you? And,” —I snapped my fingers— “one day he's here, alive, laughing, joking, giving you a good fuck, and” — I snapped my fingers again, ignoring the questioning look I was getting from those in the room — “the next…he's gone. I-I thought you loved him.”
The room fell into a silence so deep it felt like time had stopped.