Chapter Thirty Three

(Bryson's Point of View)

Right now, my head hurts like hell.


It feels like thousands of Anvils dropped on my head at one go.

If this is what Willy Coyote felt when that Anvil dropped on him, then, I feel you bud. Totally feel you.

Groaning, I peeled my eyes slowly, blinking furiously to get rid of blurriness. As my vision went back to focus, I found out I was tied to a chair, and more importantly, I was in a room - a very dirty one at that; the walls had grime on it, there was a small window to the far left of the room, across the window was a door with its paint peeling due to aging, and a small, dilapidated table was pushed back to the wall near the window.

'Where the hell am I?' I thought, very confused.

And then, just like I had been jolted by lightning, I remembered being whacked hard in the head... and that voice...

Damn it! That bitch Ciara!

When will she get the hint that I don't want anything to do with her now? How much will it take for me to feed sense into that psychotic brain that there would be no us anymore?

I can't even answer that when I'm freaking tied to a chair!

Through my anger, I struggled, squirmed from my bindings, and it needed great difficulty since both my arms and legs were tightly secured with the rope. With one last struggle, the door flung open and in strode Ciara, looking smug and confident as ever.

However, the person followed behind had me choke on my own saliva.

Marcus. A pureblood and a freaking Elder.

What is he doing here?! And with her of all people?!

Ciara trotted towards me, still sporting that creepy smile that I'd like to smack it off her pretty little face just as hard or twice the force than she did with my head.

"My handsome prince has awakened," she gushed, clasping her hands together for dramatic effect.

"You're delusional, Ciara," I spat at her. "What will you accomplish by doing all of this?"

She frowned, but I could tell it was fake. "Aw, you're hurting my feelings," she said as she clutched her heart as if she was hurt.

I snorted. "Feelings? You?" I asked her in disbelief. "You have nothing of those because all you have been doing is causing trouble to me and Reagan. You are nothing but a thorn on my backside and to think that I LOVED YOU!"

I couldn't hold it in. I admit that I did love her, but her dramatic change... I just couldn't even manage to swallow it.

Her eyes started to glisten as though she wanted to cry. Oh, please spare me. "Loved?" she asked. "Why past tense?"

"Are you that dense, Ciara?!" I asked incredulously. "Yes, "loved" - past tense, because you are being unreasonable. Why punish me for not loving you anymore? Why are you forcing me the impossible? Why can't you just leave me the hell alone and move on?!"

Ciara glared, took a step closer and slapped me across the face.

What's with all this abuse?!

"I'm doing this because I love you," she said, her breathing ragged and her eyes staring intensely into my own. "Ever since Reagan came back, you started to drift away from me and I was afraid, but I can't let you go. You're mine and mine always."

Slight guilt bubbled up inside of me. I did start to drift away from her when Reagan came back. I couldn't help it; she was the love of my life and I didn't stop loving her.

"I'm sorry, Ciara," I said softly. "I did love you but --"

"But you love Reagan more," she interjected me, her voice cracking. "I know."

And with that, she turned to face Marcus, who has been watching everything with a bored expression on his face.

Prick...

"Elder Marcus," Ciara said, "do what needs to be done."

Marcus rolled his pitch black eyes. "It's about time," he muttered as he went around her and stood in front of me. "Kids... so emotional."

"What are you doing?" I asked, eyeing the pureblood warily.

Marcus smirked and put his hand on my forehead and I winced from the coldness of his touch. "This won't hurt a bit," he said, chuckling a little.

I looked Ciara. "Ciara?" I asked.

As a response, she gave me smile.

Ah hell, this can't be good...



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

(Derek's Point Of View)

"Are you sure, Coop?" I asked my best friend.


He nodded. "Yes, no doubt about it."

I couldn't believe it. I wanted Cooper to be wrong, but damn that Marcus! I know he is a bastard and a heartless son of a bitch, but having the entire Elders turn against me and have me replaced by Darren, my older brother, is just plain wrong.

This is not due process. Marcus had encroached the rules and abused the use of his status
just to get rid of me. As for my fellow Elders, they were all spineless eels.

They were all the same.

However, be it unfair or not, I don't care. I'll deal with this later. Reagan's birthday is tomorrow and I had to contact a person who was once an important person in Reagan's life.

I wouldn't call this a gift. It is sort of a closure for Reagan.

"Are you going to do something about this?" Cooper asked as he moved to where I'm sitting.

I shrugged. "I will, but not now," I told him.

Indeed. For now, anyway.

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


Reagan's Point Of View

I woke up with a wide, silly grin plastered on my face. I didn't mind my cheeks were slightly hurting from stretching their muscles, but who cares! I'm happy.

Why?

It's my birthday and I'm finally eighteen!

Yeah, you betcha! Go shawty, it's your birthday! We gon' party like it's your birthday! We gon'...

Okay, that went overboard.

As I moved to sit upright, I was stunned that my body wasn't sore, nor my head was pounding like crazy. Could it be? Does that mean my transformation is complete? I'm a full Galerian now?

It was so hard to believe that all my life, I thought I was just an ordinary teenager, expecting drama and boy problems as I go along but now? It took on a whole new scale and here I am, a descendant of a legendary Galerian, Sephrina, who had so much hate against the purebloods who did her wrong.

Despite all that, I was curious on what I can do or how powerful I had become. Well, let's test out this super-powers I had inherited from my forebears.

My eyes roamed around my room, looking for an object, and when my eyes landed on my hoodie that was slung on a chair, I grinned. 'Perfect,' I thought. With concentration, I willed for it to levitate and...

"My love, are you awake?"

Aw, come on! Derek has the worst timing ever!

Sighing, I leaned on my back against the headboard and yelled back, "Yeah, I'm awake!"

The door opened and Derek came in, smiling his breath-taking smile and on his hand was a bunch of Carnations which happened to be my favorite.

I actually melted on the inside. Damn, my man is so sweet.

"Happy Birthday, my love," he greeted me as he sat at the edge of my bed and kissed me on the lips. "You're finally eighteen," he murmured, still lingering on my lips.

I sighed, still not believing that this man is mine. I feel like I am in the middle of make-believe and reality; it feels so surreal that I can't embrace the fact that I am with Derek and he loves me.

"Are you okay now?" he asked. "Does your body hurt still?"

I shook my head. 'Such a worry wart,' I thought. "No, not anymore. I feel fine now."

"Well that's good, since it's your birthday," he said, smiling broadly.

"Yeah, exciting isn't it?" I asked, kissing him one more time and leaned back against the headboard. "Imagine all the things I can do at this age," I said with a hint of malice into it.

Derek's eyes darkened as he took in my words. "Ma cherie..." he muttered in a low, husky voice.

I giggled. He was just easy to tease. "Just kidding," I said and eyed the carnations in his hand. "Are those for me?"

His eyes lit up, handed me the flowers which I gladly took and he then took my hand. "I know these are your favorite, so I hope you like them," he raised my hand and kissed my knuckles tenderly. "Again, Happy Birthday, Reagan," he said, still holding my hand.

I blushed a beet root. "Thank you, Dee."

"There is someone here to see you," Derek declared, all of a sudden looking nervous.

I frowned. Who on Earth would be here to see me? I had assume that it is only dad, Ryder, him and Cooper who will be with me on my birthday, but another? Who could that be?

"Who?" I asked, curiosity lacing my tone.

"You just have to see who it is," he said and then turned his face for the door. "You can come in now!"

As I sat there, waiting for this mystery person to show, my heart was pounding out of my rib cage for some reason. To be honest, I had this gut feeling that I knew this person and I knew I wasn't going to like it one bit.

Seconds passed and the suspense had literally put me on edge, the door finally opened and in strode the woman who had abandoned me, lied to me and who didn't protect me from that bastard of a so-called father.

"Mom?" I breathed, breathless from the shock.

I feel like there was a lump lodged up my throat, making it hard for me to breathe as I stared at the woman who of all things had the audacity to smile warmly at me. That caged resentment, the anger, I felt for her encompassed my whole being and I could almost taste it on my tongue.

The onslaught of these emotions were too much to take.

She smiled and said, "Happy Birthday, baby girl."