Chapter 322: Chapter 322

Enzos POV

Hazel walked across her small kitchen and rummaged through her cabinet until she found a wooden bowl. She returned to the table and placed it in the center before going to the other side of her kitchen and rummaging through some drawers until she uncovered a bag of coffee grinds.

She grabbed a knife from another drawer and sat it down on the table before taking her seat.

She opened the coffee and sprinkled some inside the bowl. Then she grabbed a knife and held the palm of her hand over the bowl.

Before she was able to slide a gash in her flesh, there was a pounding on her door, averting our attention.

“I’ll see who it is,” Selene said as she stood to her feet.

She went to the door and opened it; a small girl, maybe in her late 20s, ran into the house, breathless and panicked.

“Hazel! She gasped.

Hazel narrowed her eyes at the girl.

“What is it, Monica?” Hazel asked.

“There’s something outside It’s in the distance! I don’t know what it is.” the girl, Monica stammered.

I stood to my feet quickly and went outside with Selene. We both froze at the same time when we saw what Monica had seen in the far distance.

In the sky was a giant dark cloud; or maybe it was smoke. It looked as if it was coming toward us.

No; it was definitely coming toward us.

“It’s coming quickly, Selene breathed.

“It’s the dark curse,” Xander, who I hadn’t noticed was directly behind us. “It’s going to make everyone powerless.”

“I don’t think my shield is going to be enough to keep it away,” Hazel said, peering outside as well.

She took a deep breath and glanced at Monica who was shivering in the corner.

“Tell everyone to get inside their homes,” she ordered before looking at me. “We need to hurry and do this spell before I’m powerless.”

We went back inside quickly and gathered around her kitchen table.

Xander stood at the doorway, keeping watch of the dark curse with a grave look on his face.

“We have less than a minute,” he announced. “Do the spell quickly!”

Hazel began to speak the spell in her Latin tongue; as she spoke, a gust of wind whooshed around her house, lifting our hair up and around our faces. The table began to shake wildly as she clutched the bowl firmly in her hands.

As the lights began flickering, Xander began to count down from 15. That was how much time we had before the dark curse officially hit us.

Hazel spoke the last of her words and held her palm open above the wooden bowl which had the coffee grinds inside of it. She grabbed the knife as Xander reached 5 seconds.

With one quick motion, she swiped the blade across her flesh and blood pooled into the bowl. To my surprise, fire burst from the wooden bowl, heating up the entire room.

As Xander ended the countdown, he ran into the house, slamming and locking the door in place, as if that would keep darkness away.

“It’s here!” He announced as the entire house began to tremble and shake like there was an earthquake.

The fire began to simmer just as darkness clouded the windows and began to leak into the house.

Everything soon went completely dark.

….

Lila’s POV

“What are we supposed to do? Sit here and babysit?” One of the rogue guards asked as he made himself comfortable outside my cage.

“You heard the boss; we have to make sure nothing happens to her,” the other mumbled. “We are a few hours away from the ritual and she doesn’t want anything to happen.”

My heart was racing against my chest as I listened to these rogues speak about me like I wasn’t even there. I took a deep breath trying to steady myself, but to no prevail.

“What’s the plan for this ritual anyway?” One of the rogues asked, making conversation with the other.

“I think they are planning on draining this Volana of all her blood and having that other girl consume it,” the other rogue said, shrugging. “Something like that.”

“What is the point of creating another Volana?” The other one muttered. “Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?”

“Something about creating an ultimate weapon.”My stomach clenched upon hearing their words. I touched my stomach gently, knowing I had pups inside of me and if I didn’t do something quickly, they weren’t going to live to see the world.

I couldn’t let that happen.

“Did you even see the girl they are planning on turning into a Volana?” One of the rogues asked. “She looks like she’s about to die at any moment. She’s way too weak to be any kind of weapon.”

“Probably why she’s in the infirmary upstairs.”

I scrambled to my feet; Sarah was only upstairs in the infirmary?

There’s no way Sarah would go through with this if she knew what was happening. I had to get to her somehow.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to think of the best way to get to the infirmary.

“I might have an idea… but it’s risky,” Val whispered, uncertainty clear in her tone. She had been quiet for most of the day until this point, so hearing her voice startled me.

“What is it?” I asked quickly. “I’ll do it. I trust you, Val.”

She was quiet for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it. I could feel her unease, and it made me feel uneasy as well.

“Val…” I urged. “Talk to me. What is it?

“Okay, so bear with me on this plan…” she said softly. “I was left with a little bit of strength and energy. It’s the only way I’m able to fully shift and be here with you.”

“Okay?” I said, impatiently.

“We have to get to the infirmary, and I don’t think they will let us go unless something is seriously wrong.”

“Get to the point, please, Val…”

She was quiet for another moment before continuing.

“There is one way we can quickly be sure they take us to the infirmary,” she continued. “They have wolfsbane here… which means they probably have Starlight as well.”

My entire heart fell deep into my stomach.

“Val, I’m highly allergic to Starlight,” I reminded her. “I could die.”

“If they get you to the infirmary fast enough, they will save you,” she told me. “It would take a while for the Starlight to actually kill you.”

“I’m pregnant,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not risking the lives of our pups.”

“I can protect them,” she said quickly. “I can keep the Starlight from affecting them. That little bit of energy I have left, I can use to protect them. But it might put me in hibernation afterward. However, I’ll do it if means keeping them safe.”

“It’s too risky…” I said in return, still shaking my head. “I can’t—”

“We need to get to the infirmary, Lila,” she said, cutting off my words. “If we don’t, they will kill us, and that Vessel will be born. This is bigger than just us. The entire world is in jeopardy.”

“But our pups—”

“Will be fine,” she assured me. “As long as I channel all the energy, I have left into protecting them, no harm will come to them.”

I stared up at the rogue guards who were still engrossed in their conversation and had their backs turned toward me, not realizing I was having a conversation of my own.

“This might be our only way of getting out of this cell,” Val said slowly. “We have to trust that the doctor here can save us…”

My heart thudded violently, aching in my chest. Fear and worry bubbled in the pit of my stomach.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded. I didn’t know any other plan and Val seemed so sure she could keep our pups safe.

I had to try. I had to trust her.

Without another word to my wolf, I stepped toward the cell door and toward the guards. I slammed my fist against metal bars and yelled as loudly as I could.

“Let me out of here, you assholes, before I kill every one of you!!” I growled fiercely.

They both looked startled, but it was obvious they were trying hard not to show it.

“Strong words for someone locked in a cage,” one of them said, folding his arms across his chest and narrowing his eyes at me.

“You seriously think this cage can hold me?” I scoffed. “I’m the strongest Volana in the world. You can’t be serious.”

“What’s she talking about?” One of the rogues asked the other. “Jazzy said this cage can hold her. She said she isn’t strong enough to break out.”

“She’s bluffing,” the other one said, but his voice grew wary. “She can’t escape.”

A bitter smile appeared on my lips.

“Is that really a chance you want to take? I eat rogues like you for breakfast,” I growled, my voice echoing off the walls of the cage. “Although, you two are a little smaller than you’d like.”

“Shut the hell up or we will use Wolfsbane to shut you up,” one of the rogues yelled, shakily grabbing the syringe from his back pocket.

I forced out another laugh.

“As if Wolfbane is strong enough to actually sedate me” I scoffed. “I’ve been faking it.”

“You’re lying!” He growled.

I stepped closer to him, feeling the little bit of Val’s energy rising throughout my body as I growled fiercely.

Despite her energy rising through me, I knew she was busy protecting our pups.

This was all on me.

“Is that a chance you’d like to take?” I asked in a low and threatening tone. They both began to tremble wildly. “The only thing that can truly sedate a Volana wolf is Starlight,” I managed to sputter without breaking eye contact.

“Starlight?” One of the rogues asked, his tone shaky. He glanced at his partner. “There’s Starlight in the clinic. Get some with the syringe gun.”

The other rogue was too frozen to move; he just stood in place and stared at me with large and terrified eyes.

“Go, now!” The other rogue ordered.

He finally broke his eyes off me and ran as fast as he could out of the room. The rogue that stayed behind kept his eyes on me.

“Now you’re in for it,” he hissed. “Probably shouldn’t have told us that information.”

“Probably not,” I agreed.

I continued to growl and shake the cage, yelling profanities at the rogue left.

I was acting completely feral.

I channeled all the anger that I had inside of me to put on this performance. I should seriously get a reward for my acting skills.

The rogue guard returned moments later, breathless, and shaky as he held the syringe gun in his hands.

“Shoot her before she escapes!!” The other guard yelled.

The rogue trembled as he attempted to put the syringe into the gun.

“Hurry!”

I heard the syringe click into place and then he pointed the gun at me. I growled even louder, shaking the cage violently and giving it all my strength. I felt Val’s energy caging the inside of my stomach, protecting our pups.

I just hoped that it was enough.

“Trust me…” Val whispered.

As the Syringe shot through the air and in my direction, allowed myself to relax and close my eyes. I felt the harsh sting of the needle in my neck and the liquids draining into my body and into my veins.

Everything went cold and I soon couldn’t breathe.

The last thing I thought before everything went dark was, “These assholes better not let me die.”