Chapter 42. Scarlet

**42. Scarlet**

***Third Person's POV:***

Astrid found herself surrounded by pitch darkness from every direction; she assumed she had died and was now in the afterlife, but nothing made sense to her.

She knew she was dreaming, but it seemed like, through her sleep, she was transported to another dimension between her life and death. She badly wanted to open her eyes and tried several times but failed. She couldn't even see anything, leaving her perplexed as to where she should go.

She ran and ran, but even after what seemed like days, she couldn't find a way out. Occasionally, Rafael's anxious calls reached her, but her responses were futile.

A glimmer of light appeared in the distance, and she sprinted towards it happily. The light remained, revealing a silhouette—a familiar one.

That woman's figure was familiar to Astrid, and as she got closer and closer and the image became more apparent, Astrid's doubts were confirmed.

"Mom," Astrid said, seeing her mother standing there with her hand extended for her to accept. Astrid pondered, but she reasoned that even if her mother disliked her, she would not abandon her to die, right? She clasped her hand in hers and made the worst decision possible. She was immediately hauled into a cage. A scream came from her lips as she noticed a swarm of ferrous yet nasty creatures surrounding the iron cage on all sides.

When Astrid tried to move away from one creature, another would appear on the opposite side. Those monsters were nothing like anything Astrid had ever seen in her life. They appear to have been generated as hybrids by mixing two separate species. Yes, two different species, not just different creatures from the same species. The one that startled Astrid the most looked like a monitor lizard thrusting its tongue out, but it had the skin of a frog with a horrible slick liquid dropping from the side of his tongue and rolling on it.

If Astrid had had a logical mind, she would have puked at the sight of it.

She had no idea what time it was, but she thought she had been there for a year or more, although she knew it had indeed been some days.

Astrid felt drained of energy, but the medications given to her from outside were the only ones keeping her alive. A mysterious man suddenly intervened, tossing the creatures away. Yet he was more terrifying than any of those animals.

"I wanted you, and even after years of trying, I didn't get you, and if I can't have you, I won't allow anybody else to have you either." That man with thick skin and a reptile tongue announced.

Astrid had no idea what he was talking about or where he came out of the blue. It made no sense to her, and who was this man? He was definitely not in his true shape, but he appeared to have assumed this appearance in order to intimidate her.

He snapped his fingers, and the cage slid open. Astrid was taken aback when she saw this. "I prefer to hunt my prey, so I want you to run," he said.

Astrid wanted to try to escape. What if luck is on her side, and she ends up waking up? She was not a fool to sit there and die in her sleep. She had calculated the worst that might happen to her, and she would die regardless without even attempting to flee.

She was soon rushing toward her, but her body wouldn't let her, and she found herself surrounded by the same darkness she had encountered when she initially entered the location. "Rafael," she called again, hoping he could hear her, and continued sprinting in the never-ending void.

"Please come save me, Rafael," she pleaded.

"Do you really think that the bloody vampire of your mate can protect you from me? You are completely wrong, my love; he is so helpless that he can only sit and cry. Tch. Tch. What a pathetic way to die where you are not even getting killed in real life," he said.

"What do you mean?" Astrid came to a halt in her tracks. She couldn't even pinpoint the source of the voice. She turned about, attempting to locate the source so she could fly in the opposite direction, but all she could hear was echoing laughter.

When she turned around one last time, she gasped when she saw the man in front of her.

"Nobody will ever know how you died, Astrid; your death will be a mystery; all they will think is that you died in your sleep, maybe as a result of some disease."

In his hand, a ball of light formed. Astrid began to pull away, but she knew the end was near. "I wish I could have kept you alive a bit longer, but I have to do this now, or everything will go wrong." He made an announcement.

Astrid took a deep breath and closed her eyes, ready to accept her fate. Her entire life began to play out in front of her eyes, beginning with all of her good memories with her family and how her life suddenly went into a disaster, and then meeting Rafael and experiencing a short life but one filled with the peace and calmness she had always desired.

Rafael had addressed her as queen and made her feel like one. He bought the world for her, and he never demanded anything in return. This world had never been a place she wanted to be; she had intended to give up living a long time ago, but leaving Rafael hurt her.

Even after death, Astrid longs to be in a place where she can sense Rafael's presence, which she considers to be greater than heaven.

"Goodbye, Rafael, I love you," Astrid whispered one final time before a bizarre surge of energy slammed her in the chest, causing severe anguish to spread throughout her entire body, forcing her to fall to the ground and her soul to be taken away.

Astrid's oppressor stood near her lifeless figure and laughed victoriously.

"It's a shame, Astrid. Despite my best efforts, I was not able to get you. I tried everything and went out of my way to have you, but Rafael got you only because you are his mate. We would have been an incredible power couple and would have been unstoppable, but this is what you asked for." He began walking towards Astrid's dead body.

"I would have killed you a long time ago, but that rascal had taken every precaution to keep me away from you, and this was the only way," he said quietly.

He was going to kiss her on the cheek when he heard a fierce growl behind Astrid. In complete darkness, a pair of red eyes illuminated.

"N-no, you couldn't possibly be here." His head shook. "I was on time. I wouldn't have missed the opportunity if you couldn't be here," he panicked.

"Who are you?" he asked.

Soon after, a massive frame of a white wolf baring its fangs and its eyes illuminating growled once more, and a bolt of lightning struck the sky, brightening the surroundings and allowing everyone to see everything clearly.

That wolf began to approach the man. "You can't kill me because I don't even exist here." The man in creepy disguise laughed one last time before disappearing into nothing.

The wolf approached Astrid and nudged her with its nose. As it did so, a powerful wind blew towards them, lifting Astrid off the ground.

Once again, lightning struck her, but this time it was transformed into a beautiful hue of various colors scattered around her. On the other hand, Astrid felt as if she were dreaming again and being transported to an unknown place. She could feel someone shouting her name from afar, and no, it was not Rafael but some female.

Astrid channeled all of her energy and tried to open her eyes again, but she felt light as a feather, as if someone were lifting her off the ground, and a plethora of beautiful colors surrounded her. When she looked up, she was about to jump out of her throat when she realized how high she was off the ground. She let out a scream as she felt herself slowly descend and lie calmly on the ground.

"Astrid," she heard that soft voice say again.

"Who's there?" Astrid called, terrified that the man had returned.

"Astrid!" Astrid was taken aback when she noticed a massive white wolf approaching her slowly. She was astonished, rather than scared, by the sight.

"What is your name?" Astrid asked. "Did you bring me back to life?"

Astrid felt as if she were speaking to herself, as if she had known this wolf her entire life. "I am your wolf, Astrid, and my name is Scarlet," she said, although she didn't move her lips and seemed to be talking through her mind.

"Wait, how can you communicate without opening your mouth?" That was the stupidest question Astrid had ever asked, but her mind was not in the appropriate frame of mind at the time.

"Because I am your wolf," Scarlet stated flatly.

"If you're my wolf, how come you took so long to show up?" Astrid asked, knowing she would have gone through everything if she had her wolf with her this entire time.

"I was always there for you, Astrid, but something stopped me, and no, I didn't bring you back to life; I can't do that because you did everything to yourself, and this isn't the first time."

Astrid couldn't understand a word she said since nothing made sense to her. "But..." Scarlet cut Astrid off once more.

"We have an eternity to talk about, but let's get you out of here first," Scarlet said.

Rafael remained staring at Astrid's lifeless form. He didn't move; he didn't say anything; he didn't listen to anything around him; he just stared at Astrid's face.

"Bryan, take Astrid out; it's been a long time, and we can't keep Astrid here any longer. Her body could begin to decompose." Eva determined that she should be the rational one in this situation and do what was necessary. Her eyes were swollen from crying, and seeing her brother in his most vulnerable state was taking a toll on her.

Bryan directed the men to assist him in transporting Astrid to the cemetery. Rafael shoved them as they were going to pick up Astrid. "No, don't touch her; she hasn't gone anywhere; she'll come back to me."

"But, your highness..."

"Anyone who touches her should consider themselves dead, you understand?" yelled Rafael.

"Bryan," Eva called out to him.

Eva approached Rafael from behind, while several vampires gripped his sides. Rafael struggled to break free, but they added additional strength to restrain him.

He noticed a movement in Astrid's hand. As they were going to pick up Astrid, Rafael growled and threw everyone away.

"Don't take her; she's still alive; she just moved her hand." Everyone thought Rafael had gone mad and was seeing things. Rafael wouldn't even let anyone remove the IVs, despite the monitor displaying those straight lines.

"Astrid, please come back." Rafael attempted, but he was ready to accept that he had hallucinated the action when, after a few minutes, Astrid gasped loudly.

Everyone, including Rafael, was taken aback. The green lines on the monitor began to fluctuate and were eventually turned into calm sinusoidal waves.

"R-Rafael.... Scarlet"

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**There are lots of unanswered questions. I know.... Everything will be cleared in next chapter... So who's excited?**