Beatrice barely remembered anything. She was only aware of the wolves attacking us from all directions and me whispering something to them. Asides from that, she didn't know anything. She wasn't awake when the strange woman spoke to me nor when we reached the hospital.
I gave her a few details of the night, hoping it would set her confusion aside and it did. For the time. She believed whatever I told her.
In the meantime, the doctor visited Beatrice and checked up on her. Her injuries were still bad but it was stitched up and ready to heal. After giving another dose of a painkiller through IV, the doctor decided she could go home and rest.
It was the middle of the day when she had gotten discharged from the hospital and we all were able to leave.
"I'm probably going to sleep for a lifetime." Beatrice said, clinging onto her things that I had gotten from the car that had crashed earlier last night.
We stood outside of the hospital, waiting for Arnold to bring the car and take in Beatrice. I placed my hand over her shoulder and said, "Don't worry. You'll get plenty of time to nap while we go home."
When Arnold pulled over, I helped Beatrice getting inside the car. I wasn't coming along with her as she needed the whole black seat to lay down and rest for the long trip coming ahead of us. I was going with King so I wasn't worried about another accident happening since we were going to follow them.
"Get home safe. I'll be right behind you and if you need anything, call me." I said to her.
She nodded her head and replied, "Thanks."
Arnold drove out of the hospital and got on the town roads. I slipped inside the passenger seat of King's car and blew a breath out of relief. It had been a difficult day but everything wrong was coming to an end. We were finally going to leave Barnsley and I never intended on returning back here.
As much as I wanted to visit my parents grave and stay in their house, I couldn't. There was someone here threatening me and even after years, the threats didn't stop.
I rested my head back on the car seat and cleared my head. For the most part, I got the closure I needed and I grabbed my Dad's journals as well. If I had enough time to read them, I could figure out everything about my parents and what might have happened to them but that all was for another day.
"Tired?" King asked, glancing at me from the driver's seat. He placed an arm over my shoulder and I leaned closer to him. "It's okay. You're going to go home and you'll have all the time to rest." He whispered, caressing my back.
"I'm just glad it's all over." I murmured while closing my heavy eyes.
The drive back to Frostford was a few good hours and since I wasn't driving, I had enough time to fall asleep and wake up fresh for the next thing coming ahead.
Aunt Carol had dropped a couple of messages through the night, asking me of my whereabouts but I ignored that as I didn't want her to know that I was in Barnsley, digging out the truth and in the process, I nearly got myself killed. She had enough worries in her mind for a lifetime, I didn't want to burden her anymore.
But I wondered.
Was she a werewolf?
It must've been a genetic thing or maybe she didn't get the genes. It could've been anything. I didn't wonder much as if Aunt Carol was aware of it, she would've told me about it or at least it would have raised some suspicion.
—
"Wakey wakey. We are home." A voice reached my ears.
Something soft brushed against my face, drawing me out of my sleep. Upon opening my eyes, I found Beatrice standing next to me with a flower she had plucked in her hand.
I rubbed my eyes and jumped up straight, finding myself in Frostford. The sun was setting down and my home was right in front of me. I had no idea when we reached as I was asleep the entire ride.
"Oh, what's the time?" I asked, feeling sluggish. My eyes were burning and I was sore from several different places as I had slept inside a moving vehicle instead of a bed. "When did we reach?" I dashed my eyes around, looking for him. "Where is King?" Reality flooded into me and I felt awakened.
"He's in the other car, speaking to that guy—don't remember his name." Beatrice shrugged.
"How are you feeling?" I placed one leg out of the car and asked her.
"Better, I guess so."
"That's good. Let's go inside—" My throat was parched, drier than it had ever been. "And you should get some rest before any of those stitches open up." I said, worry lacing my tone.
Whilst King and Arnold got the bags from the car, I went into the house with Beatrice by my side. She was limping a little as her knee was still in pain. On the other hand, I was alright, just a little sleep deprived. I intended on tucking Beatrice and speaking with Aunt Carol for a bit before going to my room and falling asleep for another a couple hours.
The mark on my neck tingled a little and I looked over my shoulders to find King approaching us. He smiled at me and I returned another smile. My heart felt full regardless of all the terrible events taking place. The morning at the hospital and the intimate time with King was best thing I had in a while.
The marking still had to be completed, it was only half-done. I was claimed fully by King but I hadn't claimed him. In order to claim him, I had to mark him and unfortunately, because of all the stress, I couldn't do it.
But I wanted to do it soon.
Unlocking the door, I stepped inside and found the lights switched off. The house was in silence, there wasn't any sound of the heater running or the TV. It was eerie.
My face turned pale as I heard nothing for the next few seconds. Where was Aunt Carol? I stepped further inside and Beatrice headed to the other direction while I headed straight into Carol's room.
"Is she working?" Beatrice asked behind me.
I shook my head and held the door knob to her room, "She doesn't works at this time. Either she's out with her friends or sleeping. Let me just quietly check." I whispered in a low voice while turning the door knob around and slightly pushing the door open.
"Eos," King called out my name in worry.
Something crept into my head, a strange feeling. Suddenly, the scent of blood reached me and I pushed the door open entirely before stepping inside and finding Aunt Carol on the ground.
Shot.
"Oh, no." My heart thundered hard while I got on the floor behind her. Every nerve in my body froze for a moment. "No, no, no." I whimpered while my shaking hands stretched forward to her limp body. She didn't move nor she breathed.
Aunt Carol laid on the ground with three bullets in her chest, in her heart, her eyes were closed while her nightgown was flooded with her blood. She laid in a puddle of her own blood.
Dead.
My eyes watered and soon the tears began dripping straight onto the floor as I grabbed my Aunt from the ground. I pulled her closer to me, hoping I could sense her heartbeat or something.
Nothing.
She was dead, she was dead long ago.
"Eos." King repeated my name while standing beside me, his face full of shock just as mine and everybody else's was.
"She's—she is not breathing. No. No. She can't die. No." I shook my head as my throat filled up with bile. Breaths barely made their way out of me. I felt my chest tightening with every minute while my gaze hovered over my Aunt.
I grabbed her wrist, it was cold as winter ice. Her skin was turning into a bluish shade that I couldn't recognize while her face was turning pale. A deep ache settled in my chest.
She was shot.
Killed.
Murdered.
Suddenly my eyes fell upon the note sitting beside her. I grabbed the note off the ground and pulled it to myself. The paper was red from one side, red with her blood. There was writing on it but I couldn't read it properly as tears blurred my vision.
Grief crashed into me and I bit into my lips to control the endless sobs slipping out of my throat. When the last of the tears fell down, I read the paper and the writing on it.
You shouldn't have come to Barnsley. We know now where you live and we will end the last of your family. We will come next for you.
My Aunt Carol was murdered by the same people that had murdered my parents nearly seven years ago.
Her death was on me.
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