Werewolves and mates. As cliché it sounded due to the overuse of the "werewolf and its fated mate" concept, mates really did exist; they just weren't what they were pictured to be. In most pieces of media or fiction, a werewolf's mate is another werewolf or being that had been destined to be with them since the beginning by some sort of divine being, an invisible force pulling them together by the strings of fate. However, that was pretty much bullshit. A werewolf was free to choose its own mate. When they met someone that they truly loved and wanted to spend the rest of their life with them, they could mark each other as their own, becoming the other's mate. The closest term it could be associated with would be marriage, but it was a little more than that. When a werewolf and another being decided to become mates, their souls entangled, becoming connected. They could feel what the other felt and a strong sense of longing always lingered in their hearts when they were away from each other.
That's why it seemed pretty reasonable that a werewolf went on a rampage when her mate had been killed. And that same mate was now crying in front of Reia and the other two, begging them to help her stop her fated lover from committing any other brutalities for her revenge.
"I've tried to stop her!" the ghost cried, her entire body shaking, "But she can't see me. No matter how hard I try to reach out to her, it's of no use. Sometimes it's as if she senses my presence near her, like my soul brushes against hers, but then it's gone and she goes back to killing. God, the way she... The way she ripped them apart -it's like it was no longer her!" she cried even harder, burying her pale face in her transparent, shaky hands.
Reia gently got up from his crouching position, looking down at the crying girl -who, on closer inspection, seemed to be around 20 something years old. "We're here to help," he said, the girl looking back up at him with glossy eyes. "Your souls are still connected, right?" he asked, the ghost slowly nodding her head in approval. "Then, you can still feel where she is at any given moment. Can you lead us to her?" Reia continued looking at her with a calm expression, waiting for an answer. The girl seemed to hesitate, obviously untrusting of their motives, scared that they might hurt her mate -even though she was responsible for 10 murders.
After a moment of silence, she also got up from where she was sitting, reluctantly nodding her head. "Ok," she whispered, her voice barely audible.
Reia smiled at her reassuringly, understanding why she was cautious of them. I mean, for God's sake, the girl had been murdered and now her mate was going insane. That's a pretty good reason to feel pessimistic about life.
"Untie us, you fucking bastard!" Cyrus shouted, his voice beyond furious, making Reia lose his train of thoughts.
"What he said," Lucius mumbled under his breath, refraining himself from using any of the curse words that were brewing on the tip of his tongue, letting Cyrus express them for the both of them.
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"My name's Laila and my mate's name is Sam," the ghost answered their question, looking at the ground as she led them into the heart of the busy city, ignoring all the people passing right through her.
The three vampires and Laila had been walking for a few hours, the ghost leading them towards where she felt her mate. During that time, they were mostly silent, thinking about the weird and complicated situation, but, after two hours of awkward quietness had passed, Reia decided that he should try to spike up a conversation and perhaps try to find out more information.
"I died about a hundred years ago," she continued, feeling the question rising in Reia's head.
"Do you remember who killed you?" Lucius asked.
A brief moment of silence followed, Laila being deep in thought. "Not really... That memory is all fuzzy. I mean, I clearly wasn't expecting to die that day," she laughed a humorless laugh, her eyes being clouded with a sad look. "All I can remember is that they were a vampire. They came from behind me, sinking their teeth into my throat and ripping it apart. At least it was fast. All I felt was a sharp stinging pain that lasted for a mere second, then I felt a warm liquid flowing from my wounded neck. I gasped for air as they let me fall to the ground. And then... Nothing," she explained, putting a hand up to her now unwounded neck. Reia couldn't help but flinch at her words.
"At least they let your head remain on your shoulders and didn't completely rip it off," Cyrus shrugged, making all three of them look at him with shocked expressions.
"You heartless idiot," Lucius gasped, smacking the back of Cyrus's head for what seemed like the hundredth time that day.
Reia shot them a nasty glare, warning them to stop if they didn't want to get tied up like feral dogs again, the other two sensing the menacing energy emanating from his body and immediately stopping their childish fight.
They walked like that for a few more hours, Cyrus constantly complaining that they would have gotten there so much faster if they just used their vampire speed and left the "useless" ghost behind -which earned him a few more punches and slaps from an angry looking Lucius.
When they stopped walking in a quiet neighborhood, the sun had already long since gone down, the bright moon being the only source of light besides the few illuminating poles that emanated a warm, golden light onto the empty street lined with cozy looking houses.
"She's somewhere around here," Laila whispered, fearfully looking around, but all she could see was darkness.
"Well, I hope that crazy bitch isn't killing anyone else while we're standing here like a bunch of idiots," Cyrus complained while looking around him with weary eyes. "This is a vampire neighborhood, right?" he asked after a few seconds.
Right as the question left his mouth, a pained cry was heard from the end of the street, near one of the houses there. All four of them snapped their eyes in that direction, anxiety filling their hearts.
"That's her!" Laila cried, pointing to a inhumane figure up ahead.
"Well shit," Reia cursed, rushing towards the werewolf, Lucius and Cyrus following closely behind.
Sam wasn't completely turned into a wolf, but she had the paws and legs of one, sharp nails and teeth ripping into the flesh of a bloody, crying vampire on the ground. Without wasting another second, Lucius -who was the fastest out of the three of them- rushed in, swiftly picking up the wounded vampire before Sam could land another hit, laying him down to safety a few feet away from the raging werewolf.
Cyrus took out three bombs from his jacket, preparing to throw them at her, but a desperate cry stopped him. "Don't kill her! Please!" Laila frantically sobbed, begging him not to throw the explosives at her mate.
"Then what the fuck are we supposed to do, you crazy ghost?" he snapped at her, but, before she could answer, Sam rushed towards Cyrus and Reia, both of them barely escaping her attack.
"I can momentarily restrain her, but I still haven't recuperated all of my magic mana," Reia explained as he dodged the furious werewolf's attacks. "Cyrus, distract her with a few of your bombs. Lucius, come with me. I have a plan that might stop her," he instructed.
Cyrus rushed towards the werewolf, grabbing the now extremely confused creature by the neck and plummeting her to the ground, blood pouring out of Sam's mouth as a pained groan escaped from deep within her throat. "Take that, you feral dog!" Cyrus mocked her, looking smug and proud. However, his cockiness was short lived, as Sam quickly recovered, punching him with one of her pawed hands and making him fly backwards, the werewolf rushing towards him.
Reia took Lucius's knife, slicing his palm -not as deeply as he had before, since he was still recovering. The blood quickly formed a rope, which had sneaked behind the distracted werewolf, quickly wrapping itself around her and restraining all of her movements. Reia could feel Sam fighting back, and he knew that in his current condition he wouldn't be able to hold on for long.
"Lucius! Lend some of your mana to Laila!" Reia instructed, struggling to maintain the blood rope around Sam.
Lucius gave him a confused look, but he quickly caught onto what Reia was planning. He approached the scared looking ghost, lifting his hand up and closing his eyes, a silver looking strand of magic leavening his palm and gently flowing towards Laila, entering her transparent body and disappearing. Slowly, the transparent body wasn't so transparent anymore. She flickered in and out of existence, but she was undoubtedly there. She looked down at her hands, shock falling onto her face, but she quickly knew what she had to do.
"Sam!" she desperately screamed.
The werewolf immediately stopped struggling and trying to fight Cyrus, slowly looking towards the sound of the voice she had missed the most. Her mate's voice. That's when Reia noticed the spiral in her tear filled eyes, his breath hitching. The swirl in Sam's eyes disappeared when she recognized Laila, her brown eyes looking at her, holding so much pain that it made Laila sob. "Laila?" Sam asked, tears running down her cheeks.
The ghost rushed towards her, wrapping her arms around her bloody body right as Reia released the blood rope holding her. They both collapsed to the ground, crying and tightly holding each other. Lucius and Cyrus joined Reia, looking at the two crying girls with sad eyes.
"You have to stop this!" Laila cried, cupping Sam's face with both of her small hands. "Please, Sam. I don't want you killing innocent vampires just to avenge me. I don't want revenge. I just want you to keep on living happily, knowing that I'm forever by your side, even if you can't see me anymore."
Sam began sobbing even harder, something flickering in her warm brown eyes. "I- I can't," she choked out. "He... He won't let me," she quietly cried.
"He? Who are you talking about?" Laila asked, frowning in confusion.
"The one who made me this way," Sam sobbed, pulling away from her mate. "He told me he'll give me the strength to kill the one who murdered you, but then... Then I was no longer myself. I had no control over my own mind. It's like he's living in my brain, taking away all of my free will. I'm his puppet, and he's making me kill all of them, just to... Just to make him come here," her words came out in quick, desperate breaths.
"Sam, I don't understand," Laila pleaded, trying to come closer to her.
That was when it happened. The spiral appeared back in Sam's eyes, all rationality leaving her body, turning back into the animal they saw when they arrived there.
Sam turned towards Reia and the others, dashing in their direction with murderous intent. The three of them stumbled backwards, taken by surprise.
"Sam!" Laila screamed, but it was too late. Her body became transparent again, her voice lingering in the cold night air, no longer being heard by her mate.
However, Sam did stop. It looked like it took all her strength to fight back whoever was controlling her mind right then, but she managed to do it. She lifted her claws up, a pained, stubborn expression on her face. "No more," she yelled, a promise to her dead lover. "I won't kill anymore!" then, with a quick motion, she slit her own throat, her lifeless body falling to the ground, finally free.
To be continued...
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