Scar's POV
When we reached Dentrow, everything seemed so perfect.
Everyone was going on as if nothing were wrong, as if Talon and I hadn't abandoned our mates back in Felain. As if we weren't already feeling the effects of leaving them.
We shifted and clothed ourselves so as not to ruin the innocence of the children that roamed the streets.
As we made our way purposefully through the town, we were informed by our runner that the meeting had been set for just a little after noon.
I knew it was almost noon, though the sun was nonexistent through the dense clouds that signaled an incoming storm.
Talon and I hurried through the town and onto the trail.
When we reached the clearing the Vampyres were still there.
It was the same group as last time, minus Katherine. Her betrayed consort was there however.
Markov was sickly, obviously feeling the effects of his consort being gone from him. At this rate, he would likely not survive to the end of the month.
I stepped up to Henry and we eyed each other. I held out my arm before he slowly reached grasped it. "What do you know of Markov's consort? What of her disappearance?" He asked in a low voice.
I replied in the same tone "One of our own was killed in a ritual. Witchcraft was found to be the cause of death and we have reason to believe that his consort is behind it. May we speak in private?"
He pulled back, not showing any emotion and waving his men back.
I glanced at Talon and he nodded before turning and walking to the edge of the clearing.
Henry started again "Are you positive?"
I shook my head "We had the help of some scholars back in Felain. When the woman was found on our borders she was beaten, cut many times, and nailed to a tree. Upon further inspection we found the cause of death to be drowning. Our healer examined the body and determined that witchcraft was the cause. Our scholars went through many spell books and just happened to find it in one...belonging to a Katherine Markson."
Henry's jaw tightened "What was the spell for, Scar?"
I took a deep breath "It was to revive one's soul, Henry. She changed herself back from a Vampyre into a human."
Henry snarled "Damn it. I told Markov to wait!"
I frowned "Wait for what?"
Henry shook his head slowly "Markov found the young woman on the streets and within the first five minutes of finding her, he had her stripped and was rutting in and out of her. I could hear her screams throughout the town. Everyone could. In the next two sunrises she was already changed. She didn't take well to Markov or the change but he was convinced that she would grow out of it."
Henry looked disgusted "I told him to wait."
I realized how lucky some women were right then. The kind of pain Katherine had gone through, the trauma, would be enough to send anyone over the edge. What if I had snapped and done that to Vas?
I would end my own life before I ever even thought of doing that.
I sighed and spoke when my emotions were under control "I believe we've been ruled to long by our prejudices, Henry. I will be the first to apologize for my insolence. I wish to clean our slate and start anew so that our kind may intermingle with the humans wholly and safely."
He looked up sharply and slowly, I saw a smirk curve his lips "I will accept that apology and extend one of my own. I want nothing more than for the life of my consort to be safe and healthy."
I gave a little smile "I wish the same for my mate."
He raised a brow "I realize you did not bring along that strange boy with you this time..."
I shook my head, my smile falling from my face, taking my relief with it "Her name is Vas."
Henry coughed, as if choking, looking at me with wide, amber eyes "My God, man."
I rolled my eyes "Yeah."
He raised his brows "You didn't know she was a woman?"
I huffed "Well, dammit, did you?"
He scoffed "No, but she wasn't my mate."
Vasilisa's POV
We sat and stared at each other before Katherine stood fluidly and waltzed into the kitchen and took the kettle off the stove and poured the steaming water into a cup, and pulled out another cup, for who I assumed was for me.
She dipped identical tea bags in them and brought them over "Sugar?" She asked.
I blinked and replied flatly "No thank you."
She shrugged and pulled out two sugar cubes herself, popping them into the cup.
"So, why don't you tell me how you figured it out, Vasilisa? I'd very much like to know how you in particular found me out." She said, propping her elbows on the table and resting her chin on her interlaced fingers.
I fingered the rim of the delicate china "Kendra's body had many cuts all over it. Generally, for the spell you used, one would just as soon bite the victim rather than bleed her. Of course, that would be too obvious... so you took your time."
Katherine gave me a small smile and nodded as if encouraging me to go on "Our Healer looked her over and determined that it wasn't the beating, or the bleeding that killed her, but drowning. A threefold death, is it not?"
Her grin grew "Very nice, but how did you know it was me?"
She was wanting to play a game, and I complied "That came when I found your spell book."
I reached down and snagged it from the top of my bag and set it on the table "How it got from your town to mine, I have no idea, but really, when I realized it was you, I wanted to know why you would betray your mate."
She stiffened immediately "You wish to speak of that...disgusting, good for nothing, waste of undead flesh? Here..."
Before I could blink her hands were slammed on the sides of my head, throwing me into a dream world where everything was seen as if I were an apparition watching it from above.
Katherine runs among the chaos, unable to conjure anything in her fear and hysteria. Her skirt makes it harder, getting tangled up in her feet.
Markov chases her and he's catching up. He looks like he's possessed with an awful demon. One who's name just might be Lust.
Her tears keep coming as she runs harder than she ever has. She's desperate to get away from the monster chasing her.
Suddenly, he catches her, tackling her to the ground. She cries, pleading in a heartbreaking voice "No, please don't. Please..." She whimpers.
He cares not for her pleas as his mouth descends on hers and his hands rip at her dress.
She struggles against him in the midst of the midnight madness, trying with all her might to buck him off. Fires burn around them and the screams of villagers ring everywhere.
Her breasts are soon exposed and then the rest of her as Markov violently rips the dress from her before dropping his own trousers and taking her.
Her screams are the loudest as he rips her virginity from her so forcefully. He coaxes sounds out of her that only belong to those of haunted spirits wailing from the other side, and she is right, there was no mercy for her.
The images melt away as my surrounding come back to me.
Her cries of pain and agony still ring in my ears.
She is turned towards the window, staring out, but not really seeing what's there. She's still living in the past.
I tried to move, but I couldn't. "I enchanted your limbs so that they can't leave the chair." She spoke.
I swallowed heavily "Katherine...I'm sorry that happened to you."
Her face scrunched in pain and disgust "He ruined me. He and his kind deserve to die. They deserve to die painfully, to be humiliated and have every last sliver of humanity they have left ripped from their grasp."
She really didn't mean to attack that man in the woods, I realize.
"And you thought sicking the Lycanthropes on them was the best decision?" I asked incredulously.
She whipped around, looking very deranged at the moment "Like the Vampyres would have survived that..."
I took a deep breath, remembering I couldn't be condescending here. That would get me killed "Katherine, what about the humans? The ones that were also affected by their attack? You would just let them die in the crossfire?"
She curled her lip back in disgust "Like they don't deserve it either. They didn't do anything but comply to those beasts' whims and then they dare to come to like their stations."
She came up to me and leaned in so that her face was merely an inch from mine "Just like you've done for those mongrels..."
I gasp at the hostile tone she takes.
"You don't think I can't see that despicable mark on your neck? You think I can't sense how your life is almost connected to their leader? How his seed already stirs within you, forming what will soon be his heir? You're nothing but a brood mare for breeding, Vasilisa. You're blinded by their evil, their satanic evil. You've allowed their taint to stain you in a way that will never be forgiven...and so have I." She whispered the last part.
"I'll save us both." She said to herself as if it were this wonderful idea that jsut came to her.
I saw her sit in the chair across from me as I watched her in shock. Save the both of us? Scar's seed? I'm pregnant?
I felt sick. I felt very sick.
I struggled against the invisible restraints harder "Katherine, I don't want to be saved. I want to be released. Please, Katherine, release me." I pleaded with her softly.
She gave a mirthless laugh as she stood "Oh no. Pleading did nothing for me and it will do nothing for you either."
I saw her going around the kitchen, softly smiling.
Suddenly, flames erupted around the edges of the house.
She whispered "Flames purify even the most corrupted of souls."
She was going to burn us alive!
I looked around wildly, trying to make clear thoughts in my head, but nothing would come.
I managed to cry out "I may not be innocent but the life that's growing inside of me is. Don't punish it as well...not for my mistakes."
Katherine turned to me "Why, my dear, it is the very center of your contamination and will not be spared. I will see you in the afterlife, Vasilisa. I hope your ride is as pleasant as mine will be."
She sits in the seat across from me and crosses one leg over the other, propping her fingers on them. She was waiting patiently for the flames of her own creation to burn her alive and she was trying to take me down with her.