Chapter 22: Chapter 22

[Nivera’s POV]

I stirred in my sleep, sweating profusely even though the air conditioner was on as I was busy having a terrible nightmare; one in which Lucien was the devil and I was being taken advantage of by him.

“You’ll forget about what happened here tonight. You’ll only remember falling asleep after having dinner,” he said to me, and like that, I woke up with a start.

I sat on the bed immediately my eyes flew open and began to gasp for air as the nightmare kept replaying in my head. Why had it all seemed like it was so real when it had only been something I had dreamed about?

I muttered a prayer to the Moon Goddess, then stood up and walked over to the window where I stood for several minutes, watching as the moon slowly disappeared into the sky, giving way for the sun to come out as morning was already upon us.

I don’t know how long I had slept, but it sure didn’t seem like a long time as my legs were sore and my body ached all over. Perhaps, I hadn’t slept in the right position. The right thing to do would be to gulp down a cup of hot coffee, and I made to go downstairs when it suddenly struck me that Lucien had asked me not to go down in the meantime without talking to him first about it.

The cellphone he had given to me was on my bedside table and I picked it up. I was about dialling his number when I heard a noise come from downstairs.

Somehow, I remembered hearing a noise like that a while ago. I shook my head, remembering that it had all been in my nightmare and it wasn’t real.

Then, I began to hear rumbling and snarling sounds, and as much as I tried to deny it, it felt like I was living the same thing all over again. Have you ever had a déjà vu that didn’t feel like a déjà vu, but like a vision you had foreseen that was all playing out? Well, that’s how this felt.

From what I could remember, I had walked through my bedroom door without bothering to call Lucien… and so, that’s what I did. I dropped the cellphone and walked with light steps out of my bedroom. Lucien was probably in the bathroom preparing to go to work, so I would have had time to investigate what was happening before he came down.

With each step I took, I remembered only doing so just a few hours ago. When I got downstairs, halfway across the chandelier which resembled a star, I pictured myself hanging from the air, held by the throat by none other than Lucien.

A terrible chill swept down my spine, and I shuddered.

I blinked repetitively, trying to tell myself that my imagination was running far too wild and I was being insane to even picture that kind of thing. However, it wasn’t just an image. It wasn’t just an illusion. It wasn’t just a nightmare. It was real… it all felt real, and once I touched that wall I was sure he had pushed me against, everything that had happened all came back to me flooding my memory all too quickly.

I sank to the floor, scared and worried. What if I was wrong? I remembered everything like the back of my hand, but if Lucien had truly compelled me to forget about what happened, how did I still have my memory intact?

Glancing towards the direction of the study room, I found my answer. Before passing out, I had a feeling that something was going on there. If there was truly something going on, it would be in there and I would be sure that I was in no way being delusional.

I heaved a sigh and picked myself up, then with slow steps, I walked towards the study room. I placed my hand on the handle, and just before I opened it, I heard a loud growl of what I was sure was a wolf come from where was undeniably the basement.

I bit my lip, wondering if I should go there or complete my investigation here.

I hadn’t finished thinking when my hand acted on its own will and opened up the door.

As soon as I did that, a foul stench hit my nose, but that wasn’t all. Something heavy which had been behind it from inside greeted me, and a loud scream escaped from my mouth when I found out what it was: lying just two inches away from me was the recognisable yet horrible snow-white lifeless corpse of Mrs Phil, the former housekeeper.

It was the most horrifying sight I had ever seen and in that moment, fear gripped me as several thoughts ran through my mind.

Lucien.

It all made sense. It was Lucien. Lucien killed her.

I couldn’t think straight and the next thing I knew, Lucien was right in front of me, fuming with rage and charging at me like he wanted to hurt me.

I moved backwards.

“Where do you think you’re going to? I can grab you now if I wanted to. Calm down and let me explain,” he said.

Tears welled up in my eyes and began to rain down softly on my cheeks. “Explain what? What do you want to explain? How you killed her?” I managed to ask, hurt from the betrayal.

He seemed annoyed and just stood on a spot. “Is that how low you think of me? That I would just kill someone who worked with me for years? Really?”

I was angry that he was still denying it. “Who then did it? Explain it to me, who killed her if not you?” I yelled, as the tears increased and grew hotter on my cheeks.

“She did it herself, I swear,” he said.

I laughed hysterically, like a maniac. “Is that the game you’re going to play? Lie and say that she killed herself because she was a lunatic? Is that it? I won’t believe you this time around though. She wasn’t a crazy woman. You are the crazy one. You are the psychopath. Somehow, you found out that she told me about how big of a nutcase you are and how you go around killing innocent people. You couldn’t stand the fact that I now knew your true colours and so, you shut her up by killing her. Then, you told me not to come down because you hadn’t disposed of her body yet. Am I wrong, Lucien? Tell me I am wrong!” I screamed on top of my voice, crying and hiccuping all at once.

A drop of tear fell from his eyes. “You are wrong. Please, calm down and believe me. I didn’t kill her. I don’t go around killing innocent people, I swear,” he said in a soft tone as he came closer to me.

A part of me wanted to believe him, but the other part knew that I would only be fooling myself, so I kept on moving backwards as he came closer. “You’re lying, and please, don’t come any closer. You just want to compel me to forget like you did a few hours ago. I won’t let you have your way,” I said.

He stopped and appeared taken aback. “You… you know I compelled you?” he was stunned.

I nodded my head in the affirmative. “I know, Lucien, I know,” I replied.

“You’re truly Eloise, then. She’s the only one that…”

“Oh, please. Enough with the Eloise talk already. Yes, she was your first love. Yes, you love her. Oh, yes, you miss her. But guess what, Lucien? No one cares. No one fucking does. She died a long time ago and she’s never coming back. Move on. I am not her and I never will be. Just move on,” I yelled angrily, furious and having had enough.

No words could explain the hurt and disappointment written on Lucien’s face that day. I had even almost felt sorry for him, when a loud thud sounded from the basement. We both looked towards the direction where the sound had come from.

My mouth went agape as I saw who I had least expected to see standing right behind me, bruised and battered from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet with so much blood dripping that I wondered why Lucien hadn’t ran off to suck it all up.

His curly blonde hair was in a mess and his pale skin had darkened up a bit. He had dry chapped lips, which formed a smile as though he was happy to see my face.

“Ni…Nivera, I searched all over for you and followed the mate pull. I got here but I have been held cap…captive by this man and a witch,” he said. The smile dried off from his lips and he began to cough out blood.

“Alpha Tyler,” I screamed, racing over to his side, stricken with fear.

He raised his hand and touched me softly on the face, looking at me with the kind of love I had never seen before. “Help me, Nivera, please. I… I need you,” he said, then collapsed on my fragile body.

I looked over at Lucien, not saying a word, but my eyes questioning his actions. He shed tears of anguish and looked back at me, acting like I had broken his heart when he had broken mine first. I had trusted him with my whole being, but he had trampled on my heart and broken my trust in more ways than one.