Chapter 18

DAY 4; THRID PERSON’S POINT OF VIEW.

Melody walked through the waterfall and was met with three men standing guard. It was just like Hannah had told them. Melody was a skilled fighter, so taking them out was very easy. When she saw the first man turn to ashes, she smiled triumphantly. The kill excited her.

“Gamma,” A female warrior called her attention. “Do we call in the Alpha now?”

Melody kept silent and listened for footsteps, and when she heard nothing, she gave the woman an OK nod. The young warrior sent Valeria a link immediately, telling her she could come in. Valeria let the rest know and together, they went in.

Hannah felt as if she was betraying her father, but she also knew it was the right thing to do. She wanted to have allies from the other kingdoms, and she knew it would be impossible if her father remained king. He made the griffins seem like terrible people. It was true that some griffins were rotten to core though.

“Where is the throne room?” Valeria asked, and it saddened Hannah a little. Leaders knew where the throne rooms of the other leaders were, but no one knew where theirs was.

“Come with me.” Hannah said, leading Valeria, Rhea and Melody alongside half of the warriors to the palace. The other half had gone with Carter, Logan and Azura.

She led them to some sort of path where it was almost impossible to see. The air was chilly, and it sent a chill down Valeria’s spine. She knew something was off, but she didn’t know what.

“Hannah, something isn’t right.” She pointed out, stopping in her tracks.

Hannah spun around to look at her. “What do you mean?”

“I can’t quite place my finger on it. We need to leave here now.”

“What do you mean leave now? We’ve come so far, we can’t just leave. Come with me.” She stepped forward to grab Valeria’s wrist only for Valeria to step back.

“I will not take another step, Hannah. Something isn’t right, I can feel it.”

Hannah began to get irate and Valeria knew. One thing her father had told her was that she always had to follow her guts. Most of the time, it would turn out to be that the feeling deep in your stomach would save you from falling into something dangerous.

“What the hell are you fe-”

Hannah’s words were cut short when an arrow was shot at one of the warriors behind Valeria. The warrior fell to the ground with a thud after she gazed down to see the arrow in her throat. Valeria instantly stepped backwards as her eyes scanned the surrounding area, even though it wasn’t really easy to see.

“What do we have here?” They heard a voice ask teasingly. It came from behind Hannah.

Hannah spun around and when she did, her blood ran cold.

Vladimir stood tall with his black orbs watching his daughter like she was going to be his next meal. Her betrayal infuriated him, and he did absolutely nothing to hide it.

“Father.”

“Traitor.” He said with a snarl, advancing forward.

Hannah took a step backwards, and he scoffed. “Pathetic betrayer. You really thought I wouldn’t know you would tell our enemy the truth?” His eyes shifted from his daughter and to a fuming Valeria.

“They did nothing to you.”

“They killed your mother!” He snapped, eyes burning with anger. “Those monsters killed my wife.”

“It was an accident. King Lucas didn’t mean to kill her.” Hannah said, her voice coming out low.

Vladimir snatched a knife from a warrior on his right and twirled it. “Do you know what an accident wasn’t?” He twirled the knife in his hands, “Her father’s death. I killed him in his sleep and it felt so good to feel a knife push through his chest and pierce his fucking heart!”

Valeria couldn’t take anymore more of his bullshit, so she shifted and lunged at him. At the sight of this, both sides began to fight each other. Now that it was obvious that Hannah wasn’t defending the griffins, her people attacked her without mercy. She wasn’t a princess in their eyes.

Hannah skillfully dodged an arrow that was aimed at her legs as she ran in the attacker's direction. Knowing fully well that fighting in this form could make her get hurt easily, she shape shifted into a brown wolf. Perks of being a griffin.

She extended blade-like claws and swiped them at the man who had attacked her, causing blood to pour out of his chest. Wasting no time, she clamped her jaws tightly around his neck and snapped his bones in half. The metallic taste of blood in her mouth made her feel powerful, and she liked it.

Valeria on the other hand wasn’t finding it very easy to kill Vladimir. Her fighting skills were a little sloppy as all she could think about was ripping his heart out of his chest. She ducked when Vladimir swung his knife in the air to slice through her skin.

On seeing that defeating Valeria while in his human form would not be easy, he shape shifted, stealing Valeria’s ability. At this point, they would be head to head. Her first instinct was to swipe her claws at his face and probably rip his eye out, but unfortunately, it didn’t work because he moved out of the way before she could hit him.

Vladimir pounced on her as he aimed for her throat—the easiest way to kill.

“Kieran is here.” Logan sent to Valeria through the mind link.

“Tell him to attack.”

She pushed him off herself and spun around to face her enemy. Drool fell from his mouth and to the ground, making him seem like a savage beast. It was absolutely disgusting. The two studied each other, waiting for the other to attack, but nothing happened. No one wanted to attack first.

Suddenly, something began going around them in circles that it was almost hard to see. Valeria stood her ground, knowing fully well who was responsible for what was happening. Almost at the same time, grunts filled the air, much to her delight. The griffins were losing.

Rhea simply used magic to squeeze her victims dry, and so did Azura. They weren’t even stained with blood.

“Vampires.”

Vladimir had shifted back, and he didn’t seem very pleased with the fact that vampires were on his territories. Just like he hated werewolves, he hated vampires.

“Vladimir,” Kieran suddenly stopped in front of him, with a smile on his bloody lips. “It’s been a while.”

“Get out of my kingdom unless you want me to rip your fangs and make you a necklace with it.” He threatened, glaring holes into Kieran’s head.

“Oh, I’m scared.” Kieran responded mockingly.

“Why did you kill my father?” Said Valeria, shifting back to the calmer side of her. Her skin was bare, but she didn’t mind. It was nothing new to her. Like Zayne would say; “They can see but they can’t touch.”

“He killed my wife. Do you have any idea how hard it was to raise a child on my own?”

Valeria scoffed in his face. “He raised two children on his own! You are not the only one who lost someone special!” She punched him across the face and he fell to the ground. “Did you even try to talk things out with him?” She pulled him up by his collar and punched him again. “What on earth was a griffin doing in a place meant for Alphas?”

“Hold on a second.” Kieran wiped blood off his lips. “By any chance was your wife called Marlene?”

“Don’t you dare say her name!” Vladimir screamed at him, only to get punched in the face by Valeria.

The corner of Kieran’s lips lifted into a smirk. “Marlene.” He said teasingly, “Marlene. Oh, dead Marlene.”

“Shut the hell up!”

Kieran looked down at him. “Make me.”

“Do you know her?” Valeria asked, digging one of her claws into Vladimir’s shoulder.

“Of course I do. Look, your wife wasn’t as innocent as you thought. She used to come to my kingdom pretending to be a vampire. Since you don’t allow other kings into your kingdom, no one knew who she was, but I’ll tell you a secret. Your wife was a slut.” He paused for a moment to study Vladimir’s face, “You do know what a slut is, right?”

“You’re a piece of shit.” He spat in Kieran’s face, and that was when Kieran lost his cool.

“One moment, Valeria.” He smiled a little when she let go of Vladimir’s shirt and stepped back. “Fucking asshole!” He continuously punched him until Vladimir had little strength in him. “Don’t you ever spit on me. Do you know how nasty that is?”

“Kieran, stop.” They both looked up to see Logan. “You’re going to kill him.”

He raised a brow in response. “Isn’t that the reason we came here?”

“We need him to ask his people to retreat. We’re losing fighters.”

Logan hurried to Valeria and gave his bloody shirt to her. She smiled appreciatively and went over to Vladimir. “I have no intention of killing you, but bear in mind that I can. Call your people off if you don’t want to die.”

Vladimir spat out blood. “You think I’m stupid? You’ll kill me after I give the order.”

“I don’t break my promises.” She assured him. “I will let you go.”

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw Hannah approach them. “I know Hannah won’t let you kill me and that’s the only reason I’ll give the order.”

Valeria pulled him up by his shirt. “Make it quick.”

It was quite funny to her he thought his daughter wouldn’t go as far as wanting him dead. If only he knew what was going on in Hannah’s head.

“Retreat!” Vladimir said loudly and as expected, every griffin came to a halt.

“Thank you for your cooperation, kind sir.” Valeria pushed her claws into his back until she felt something pumping. Her father’s murderer fell to the ground with his eyes wide with shock and pain.

“But you promised.” Kieran said, feigning surprise.

“Promises are made to be broken.”