221 - It Ends Here

The oath was made, and immediately, Gwen regained herself. She was confused about her environment, and the last thought on her mind before control had been completely snapped from her was hearing that she had no bat. She was on the verge of grieving her loss when her Queen’s cries of labor reached her ears. She pushed her confusion aside and attended to her.

“Milady—”

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded vigorously, tears welling in her eyes as her emotions overwhelmed her. What was going on? How did they even get here? What happened?! She had so many questions, but instead of asking those questions, she answered, “Without a doubt.”

“Then swear to me that,” Zezi said, gnashing her teeth in pain as she groaned and writhed on the ground with agony. Gwen sought to comfort her, but Zezi gripped her hand firmly. “Swear to me that no matter what, when I have my bats and you regain yourself, that you will run away with my pups immediately, no matter what happens.”

Gwen’s frown deepened. “But Milady—”

“And if I attack you, kill me.”

“YOUR MAJESTY!”

“SWEAR TO ME!”

Everything was happening in a daze, and even Gwen looked like a blur from a distance away, but through the echo, she heard Gwen say  “I swear upon my blood,” then the whiff of blood filled the air and only then did she succumb to the labour pains that had been ripping her apart her limp by limp. She howled into the air, as the sky darkened even more and rain poured down on them; thunder clapped and lightning flashed. 

Then they were born, just as Nicholas said, a girl and a boy. Gwen ripped a part of her dress and wrapped it around the little bats. 

“My babies,” Zezi called out breathlessly, tears welling in her eyes as she tried to touch her children, but Gwen’s hand threaded with hers instead, and the eyes hat bore dowm on her were not those of compassion from her Sweet Gwen, but those requesting a price that had been promised.

One that was owed.

This was it; she never even got to touch them. 

A force jabbed into her, pushing her to the back of her mind. She could hear her wolf howling in pain as another being tried to occupy a space that was already full. Her body shook tremulously, and she shifted from her wolf form to her human form rapidly; bones snapping, flesh ripping and mending.

Then, finally, she shifted into her human form. 

She stood up and a smile snaked across her lips. “Filthy fur creatures!”

She took in a deep breath and in the next moment, she teleported right in front of Gwen, who had been using her vampire speed to scale through the forest to save herself and the bats in her hands.

“Your Majesty,” Gwen gasped as she staggered back.

“Give me my little fur ones, I didn’t even get to hold them.” Zezi’s voice broke as she reached out her hand to her wrapped babies in Gwen’s hands, her eyes glimmering with tears.

Gwen took a step back, and Zezi quickly begged. “I am me, I swear by the Blood. I just want to hold them.”

Gwen smiled with relief. “Ah, Milady. I was so sc—” She flung the wrapped babies at her, which turned out to be stones that got lurched into her face, as she tried to drive a stake through her heart.  Zezi dodged them easily and snapped Gwen’s wrist, making the stake fall to the mud beneath.

Gwen’s cry of agony cut across the air, colliding with the thunderclaps. With a hand wrapped around her neck and claws digging into her flesh, Zezi lifted her completely off the ground, leaving her legs to dangle in the air.

She chuckled. “You are a good one.”

“Your compliment weighs nothing considering how terrible you are.” She paused, then mocked, “By the blood? Little fur ones? Whosoever you are, it is disappointing.”

“Where are the hybrids?’

“Somewhere you will never find them.”

Zezi took in a deep breath, her brows pulled together in confusion. She mumbled to herself.
“I cannot smell them.”

Gwen had heard that, and that made her feel even more at ease. She had hidden the bats as far as she could, and smeared them with mud and grape juice in an attempt to dampen their scent. It would take a good vampire some time to sniff them out. But whosoever her Queen had turned into or was possessed by was definitely powerful than just a good vampire. The fact that she couldn’t smell them at all, only meant that the bats were participating in hiding themselves too.

It was an ability that their mother had. How could they have it and be able to use it right from infancy?

By the Blood, this was good!

Now all she had to do was distract her till the King would get here. She might not understand anything that was going on but she definitely knew that the King would come for his Queen. 

“I could lead you to them.”

Zezi watched her for a moment. “You are lying.”

Gwen laughed. “Of course, I am lying.” Then she stopped, her eyes glimmering with tears, her voice soft with pleading. “Milady, come back to yourself. It is Gwen. Your Gwen.’

Zezi’s hand tightened around her neck. “Tell me where they are and I will spare you, free you from your blood oath and make your House a great one under my reign of Lavida.”

“You will never rule Lavida. The King will kill you!”

“In this body?”

“There is always a way.”

“You are willing to die upon a speculation.”

“No. I am willing to die upon the oath I made to my Queen.”

Zezi staggered, the weakness souring through her body.

By the Blood, if his stupid son had made a better decision for a mate, he wouldn’t be so weak already. This body had gone through too much; he needed the blood of those hybrids, it was mixed with his son’s powers, and it would be far more sufficient than any others. The only one that was better was his son’s blood, but he would acquire that later. Right now, he was in no position to fight him, and this stupid lowborn was making things difficult.

“You fool!”

In a flash, she dug her canines into Gwen’s neck and began to drain her of her blood. 

Gwen resigned to her fate, but then Zezi stopped and she tossed her to the ground.

Their time must be up. She must have smelt them.

“NO!” Gwen tried to pull her back, but it was too late; she was gone. 

****************

In Zezi’s hands were her children as she retrieved them from the cave that Gwen had taken the pain to hide them. Her eyes glistened with raw hunger, and her canines protruded as she wiped the mud away from them. Her mouth was dripping with Gwen’s blood as she brought them the bats to her lips. 

Gwen attacked her from behind, the stake in her hand, but Zezi slammed her away and her head hit the trunk of one of the mighty trees surrounding the cave, that, along with the blood loss, and her body being weakened by the prolonged possession she didn’t even know of yet, imbolized her. The stake in her hand was useless, and tears ran down her cheeks as she watched helplessly as Zezi prepared to feats on her bats.

“No, Zezi. Milady! They are your bats! Your children. You are their mother! WILL A MOTHER KILL HER OWN CHILDREN? WILL YOU KILL YOUR OWN CHILDREN?!”

The baby’s cry rang into the air as her fang dug into his tiny neck.

Then Zezi froze, she blinked, and quickly let go of her crying babies. She stared in horror at the bloodied sight. Blood was spilling from her son’s neck, her daughter was crying, and Gwen was passed out, blood and rain all over her. She wiped the blood away from her lips, tears streaming down her cheeks, her body shaking as the realization that she was the one responsible for this sank into her.

She took a step forward in an attempt to find anything to stop her son from bleeding, but a raw hunger washed over her, and in her mind, she could hear Valerick’s father screaming.

“Impossible! It can’t be! Control is mine only!”

She could feel the control slipping away from her, and as her wolf howled in pain, she realized that this was a rare opportunity because she was a werewolf and Valerick’s father had never possessed a werewolf before. She had another being in her. But it wouldn’t take long before he adapts and seizes control permanently.

She was running out of borrowed time.

She quickly grabbed the wooden stake while suppressing her need for goodbyes; she hoped that Valerick would make it in time for their babies and Gwen

She turned her back to them and raised the weapon in the air for full effect as her eyes flashed from blue to black, Valerick’s father fighting her wolf to regain control, knowing what she intended to do.

“ZEZI!” His voice struck her like lightning, and many distance away he stood, disheveled, frightened, and begging.

Don’t do this to me, please.

She smiled, relieved. 

“I love you.” 

And more than anything, it is because of that love that she took her next action. 

It ends now, it ends here, it ends with me. 

She plunged the stake right into her heart.

Killing her.

Killing her wolf.

And most importantly, killing Valerick’s father.

He would harm no one ever again. 

Not his son, not her bats, not Gwen, not anyone.

And this was justice.

Justice for George, for her family, for Gauva, and every other pack he had killed.

To die trapped in a werewolf’s body. That of a filthy fur creature.

It was delicious justice, it was only sad that it ca,e at the cost of her life.

A smile crossed her lips, and tears rolled down her cheeks as she descended into his arms and he grieved.

Oh, he grieved.

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((I was listening to Katy Perry’s Unconditionally while editing this, so blame her, not me. I apologize for how long this chapter is. I’m trying to end the book as fast as possible).