It was getting harder to breathe as I sat there stunned at what she just said, and to be quite honest I wasn't even supposed to be surprised considering that everyone knew Ares was cursed, but in the back of my mind I always thought it was a made up innuendo to get people to fear him. So hearing her confirm it was in fact true was completely and utterly frightening.
My body went shrill and even though my mind was still intact, I was unable to think clearly or even focus. I felt myself sway slightly, losing my equilibrium.
"But isn't that only a rumor?" I asked disoriented even though it came out more of a defeated statement as my voice trembled with trepidation.
In a way, I was sort of a hypocrite, because even though I was mated to a seemingly unworldly man, that was able to haul and pull darkness everywhere he went, I swallowed the bitter pill with a hard gulp and fought firmly to let it settle.
But this new piece of information, also came with another bitter pill and my mind and body was not ready to mingle with the idea, and even though it was painfully agonizing to admit, in the end I saw myself overdosed with unforeseen forthcomings.
Her back was facing me, and slowly and languidly, she twist her neck over her shoulder and pinned me with her gaze. A smile stretched across her face which shone like headlights over a broad ditch of water, and even though it was supposed to be pleasant, I found it enigmatic and uncanny.
"Rumors are based on the truth, and truth is the foundation where all, if not most rumors are erected. So if there wasn't a bedding would there be anything to even build on?" She asked, while answering my question with a question of her own. I realized that when she spoke, her words would lead me close to possibly providing answers of my own
"You have a point, but how do I know you're not lying, its obvious you don't realize you're in no position for me to trust anything that comes from your mouth" I said while narrowing my eyes at her suspiciously.
If she thought I was going to run with everything she said then she was in for something completely different.
"And you know what's funny, you knowing my name but I have no idea what your name is, and it doesn't help to know you're following me" I continued.
Initially, I must say it was quite stupid of me to even follow her, but I was merely blinded by frustration, and the need for cognitive empathy was eating me up after being locked up for so long. I guess Ares didn't lie when he said I had a tendency of acting without thinking.
She fully turned her frail body around so that she was facing me and entwined her fingers while tipping her head to the side. Her tongue moved across her bottom lip, in such a way that it looked like she was making a lubricant for the words that prepared to slide out her mouth.
"I am Anna, and I merely go where the wind directs me, but I must say, you amaze me Skyler,you're a strange and nebulous girl that seems to have this aura that draws danger to you everywhere you go and it fascinates me" she said in a calm, unhurried voice and I scoffed while rolling my eyes. She cannot be serious.
If I was strange then she was a rat with two tails that could talk, and that too with an annoying lisp. All in all, she was the only strange one here.
"And I am a witch after all, and nothing but the truth comes from our tongue, so when I said Ares is cursed I didn't lie, however what we hear, believe and accept are all different matters isn't it? She defended and I was forced to think there was an ambiguous meaning behind her message.
Just like how I heard Ares didn't have a mate but here I am.
I sat there uncomfortably getting strangled by my perplexing thoughts. If Ares was cursed, and that too by a witch then, oh my God. A slow crawling idea made its way up my leg then to my brain as my eyes widened with a sudden alarm and I flew up from my seat. Bitterness seeps into my voice as I said.
"You did it didn't you?!" I accused as I began to slowly back away from her. "I bet you want me to be a part of some sly mind games of yours, but sorry to break it to you, I'm not easily manipulated, you conniving witch" I hissed. Regardless of my acussation, whether right or wrong, it was a reasonable conjecture of my suspicion.
A deep throaty cackle erupted from her chest and the candles in the cave seemed to dance at its rhythm, nevertheless my eyes never wavered from the cunning snake in front of me. She finished off her disturbing laugh with an exaggerated sigh.
"Sit back down Skyler, and don't speak on matters you have no idea of, the witch that cursed him is dead, do you really think he would let her live after what she did to him?" she said coolly while holding back a cackle. I crossed my arms across my chest in annoyance yet my mind swarmed with intrigue.
She had a point.
I was aversely disinterested in the idea of even getting any closer to her as I was beginning to find her distrustful in a way, but she probably held the answers as to why Ares was always being a complete jerk towards me, nonetheless, I dragged my legs back to the stool I previously sat while apprehensively narrowing my eyes at her to show my disinclination.
This brought a huge smile to her face which stretched from ear to ear making her resemble a Cheshire cat. She lingered in her spot for a hot minute before she grabbed a stack of cards and stalked over to where I sat, sitting on a stool of her own.
Why the hell did she need cards?
"Where to start, where to start..." she mumbled happily to herself
"How about you start with who the witch was and why did she curse Ares" I stated in an annoyed tone, saving her the trouble.
"Her name was Mariposa-"
"Never heard of her" I cut her off snappily.
She looked at me amused and with both her brows raised in such a manner that said shut your mouth and let me talk, but to be sincere, a part of me was just scared about what she had to say and it was making me all giddy and anxious for what was to come.
"That's because she wasn't exactly a colossally powerful witch neither was she well known. Unlike werewolves, witches don't live in packs, instead we are a niche and are spread out across the earth, although, believe it or not, we don't like one another's company, but we did like to know where all other witches were, in case something happened, and that something was when we all heard of the brutal death of Mariposa and the curse she had bestowed upon this unknown wolf" she began to explain.
I listened with precision, to every word that she uttered so that no small detail passed.
"Wait, you said he was unknown, what do you mean by that, wasn't he cursed while being the Alpha?" I questioned, deeply confused.
"That's the thing, he was not an Alpha at that time, and if I said he came from a pack I'd be lying because no one knew such a werewolf as him existed, and the anonymity of how he came about was too complicated to comprehend. As far as I know he just popped up out of nowhere".
"As for the curse, only a limited amount of people truly know what it was and by limited I mean only Mariposa and Ares, but she's dead so the secret now lies with him alone. Call it reticence, but he didn't casually go about spreading what his curse was, however many felt the curse was directed to his animalistic side. " she finished off.
Her voice rendered me speechless after every word, however curiousity clawed at my throat.
"But that doesn't even make sense, if only two persons know about his curse then how do you know he was cursed in the first place, and why would he kill her without allowing her to reverse the spell" I interrogated with my eyebrows furrowed.
"Now that's where things get messy, driven by rage he took her life and when he realized what he had done, he went in search of other witches who could potentially undo the curse, but none of them were able to do it, it fueled his rage towards witches even more and he began to killed them. This caught the attention of many and soon rumors that he was cursed began to spread like a forest fire and over 150 witches died from his wrath"
My eyebrows shot up at her exposition. I knew Ares was a merciless killer, but this, this was unsettlingly tragic, yet I couldn't help but feel unsure about my future with him. I wonder how bad the curse was for him to react the way he did.
Deep down inside of me, I felt that he would never do something like that to me, but it was just a gut feeling, and those weren't always accurate.
But what was worst, was that I still couldn't conclude what form of connection there was between me, him and probably Mariposa.
"Still, I dont understand why they would make a wolf like him an Alpha, he was basically a tyrant?" I argued.
"I'm getting there- his actions had not only angered the Coven of Witches, it went against the Werewolf Court and with him on a rampage both Witches and Werewolves teamed up to get rid of him. But they could not..."
My heart beat accelerated, hearing the background story of Ares makes me falter a bit when I pondered about it. I got firsthand experience of him battling almost 50 wolves by himself, but a whole damn Coven of Witches along with the help of the Werewolf Court trying to handle him and failing just makes him seem too Godlike.
Just how powerful was he?
"It only led to more bloodshed and only added to the massacre of both werewolves and witches. He was too insurmountable, an indestructible maniac...and what people failed to realize was that when you stare too long at the abyss, the abyss starts staring back at you, and as for Ares, well, he was the unfathomable abyss".
"The Werewolf Court figured they couldn't fight fire with fire so they backed off since it wasn't them who cursed him, and in my opinion, offered that he be an Alpha, to you know, possibly take his mind off things since nothing could be done to reverse the curse. And as you can see, he accepted the position. Obviously it was unfair to the Coven of Witches but there was nothing they could do".
When you think about it, his cruelty was both cause and effect, so I couldn't really blame the guy for doing what he did, but that still didn't justify the killing of innocent witches and werewolves.
"All this mass murder took place during the week of the full moon, and due to all of the annihilating bloodbath, a theory was made that the moon itself began to bleed for all those lives lost, and that's why this pack was called the 'Blood Moon Pack' and him being the Alpha".
To anyone, the name of the pack would seem normal and regular, but right now I could see the spitefulness behind the title.
"I'm sure the moon shines blood red in other packs so what's the deal any way" I asked irately even though I was trembling with dread inside.
"You're right, but none shines as crimson as here" she answered, and her lips pulled back in a mystical smile.
I was glad she finished talking because if she uttered something else my brain would burst from all the information it was getting yet I still felt there was a lack of depth to the subject of matter.
It was quite funny how I have never heard a single utterance of this catastrophe taking place, but then again whatever happened in the werewolf world, us slaves were always kept in the dark.
My limbs began to feel paralyzed with fear at the thought of going back to his place and actually seeing him there but it was inevitable, I had to go back and I was bound to see him.
My heart was beating harshly against my ribcage and my breaths were feeling labored at the sense of an impending doom. Ares was both sorrow and sorry, and I didn't want to be one of the sorry one's.
Was it possible for a person to feel pity for themselves?
Reluctantly, I got up from the stool and turned to leave with a tightness in my chest, before the witch called after me.
"Wait!" she commanded and I stopped in my tracks. The crazy thing was I still couldn't see why this witch wanted anything to do with me, I was a nobody afterall.
A nobody that was mated to an inscrutable physcho.
"What is it now?" I asked annoyed. I just wanted to leave, can't a girl have peace? She began to shuffle the cards that she had taken up a while back and spread them out evenly amongst each other.
"Pick a card, any card" she encouraged and my mouth slackened as I gawked at her exasperatedly. I felt anger bubbling up in my veins but I grabbed one out of the stack randomly.
She gave a low chuckle as she rearranged the cards back into a pile.
"Ok what now, I don't have time to be playing your stupid games" I taunted.
"Look at it and tell me what you see" her voice came out low and sounded like a snake hiss. I turned the front of thin material to my face and studied it.
A pair of sharp scary fangs dripping blood was the illustration and I gazed at it appalled for a second. How odd
I turned the cards towards her unfazed by what I saw and dropped it in her palm. Her finger grazed the surface of the card tenderly before she gave out a stubby huff.
"I don't understand, what is that suppose to mean?" I said puzzled and my patience wearing thin. Compared to all the other smiles she was always wearing this one was completely different, it was almost inexplicable and queer. It was more of a smirk than a smile, one that shouted I know something you don't.
"It means just how it looks, as warm as the blood and as venomous as the fang-"
"Speak english please" I cut her off for the second time tonight.
" It means death awaits you Skyler, 'a bite of death' and a 'mark of life'" she prophesied and as much as I hated to admit it, a solid shiver ran down my spine.