Evil Allure (20 page)

Chapter 21

"Don't struggle. You'll only hurt yourself."

I couldn't see what was going on. Everything was dark. I could only feel that I was in some type of vehicle. We drove for nearly an hour before it finally came to a stop.

"Let's go."

He pulled me by my arm out of the vehicle. Through my mess of hair that was hanging over my eyes I could barely make out my surroundings. It was a grassy open field. I looked around and there was nothing. In every direction, nothing but wide open fields. Then I looked directly in front of me and I finally saw it.

I blinked at first, unsure of what I was seeing but it was still there. The ancient structure in front of me made of carved stones and granite. Even from the outside, I knew I had seen it in my dreams. It stood alone among the plains, a monument created by those whose time had come and gone so long ago. I only saw castles in photographs and movies. I never thought I would see one in person.

My moment of awe was interrupted as I felt a cold iron suddenly wrapped around my neck.

"He's waiting. Come on."

My new necklace was connected to a long chain that one of the men held in his hand. I turned to look at how many of them were surrounding me now. They had reverted back to a form that I was more familiar with, the muscular beasts having disappeared.

“I said come on!”

He tugged on the chain and the rest of my head followed. I felt the clamps squeeze around my neck and the pain sent a jolt through my body. I started walking forward with the rest of the men now surrounding me. I was too distraught to think about anything else, the images still fresh in my head.

They led me into their ancient shrine. The smell of the beasts lingered in my nostrils. It was distinct and strong but something I couldn't describe. It was like nothing I had ever smelled before. Deeper inside of the labyrinth, the path was lit by flames on the walls. There were torches pinned up against the ancient stones that held the building together.

I walked through an opening that housed several smaller rooms within it. They were locked off by rusted iron bars. It looked like a jail cell. I had to restrain myself when I saw what was going on inside of the cell.

“Not so tough now, are you, Gold?”

Irvine was pinned against the wall, his wrists and ankles bound with metal cuffs. His suit had been ripped off of him. One of the men whipped him, creating a red lash on his body. I could see Irvine gritting his teeth as the man continued to force him to endure the horrific pain of being whipped.

In the next cell, they treated Sasha no better. She had been stripped down to her underwear and shackled all the same. But they weren’t whipping her. Two gathered around her and sniffed her, teasing her with their tongues like she was a piece of meat. I watched as their saliva dripped onto their flesh. Sasha shuddered as they continued to amuse themselves with her. Knowing what they had already done in the city, I feared the worst.

“Come along now! He won’t wait any longer!”

Even though I was already compliant, the man leading me tugged on the chain to remind me that I was still his captive. He led me down another hall and we eventually ended up in the main hall of the castle. There wasn’t anything to look at here though. It had been cleared out, the only scenery now the dozens of clan members who surrounded me. On the walls, there were beams of moonlight shining through. In addition to the flame torches on the walls, I could see through the darkness but not very clearly.

Sitting on a chair at the end of the room, on a raised podium above a small set of stairs, there he was. The man I had seen in my dreams.

He looked no different. His long brown hair cascaded past his face. His brown eyes had the same menacing stare. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, only a pair of pants and boots to keep him from being completely nude.

As he sat there, he stared at me while I was dragged closer toward him. I felt something strange stirring inside of me. It was a feeling that was bubbling in my stomach and spreading out. I couldn’t explain it but the closer I got to him, the stronger that feeling became. Eventually, I was led just in front of him.

I stood there nervously as all of the eyes in the room laid upon me. I looked down at the ground, exhausted, defeated and not wanting to accept whatever fate they had in store for me. I listened to the sound of the man getting up out of his chair then to the sound of his boots climbing down the steps. It was ringing in my ears, each step moving him closer to me.

His stench was powerful. It was like a cologne so strong that it was overwhelming all of my other senses. I tried to fight it but my instincts started to take over for some reason, and I turned my head up to look at him. He grinned at me, the smile belying something much more sinister.

“Interesting,” he said. “Very interesting.”

He paced back and forth in front of me as he thought to himself.

“I didn’t think we would be able to find you so quickly but here you are, right in front of me. It is indeed you…”

I stared at him as he continued to click his boots against the ground. He wrapped his arms around his back, every now and then taking a moment to observe me.

“What is your name, young one?”

I didn’t say anything to him. I fought through the trance his scent put me in and stared hard at him. I wanted to kill him right then and there. It was obvious that he was responsible for all of this.

“Answer him!”

The man holding my chain yanked on it and forced my head to jerk down the back. The metal pressing against my throat caused me to choke for a just a moment and I was once again reminded that I was in no position to make any demands.

He took a step closer to me and placed one of his hands upon my chin, raising my face up so that he could get a better look at me.

“It’s okay, young one,” he said. “Despite what you might think, my intentions for you are in your best interests. You have nothing to worry from me.”

I refused to answer. I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that I was going to be some kind of slave simply because he had me shackled before him.

“Ariel!” someone shouted from behind me. “Her name is Ariel. I heard it from one of her cohorts in the bar she works at.”

“Ariel…”

The man looked back into my eyes as he ran his index finger slowly along my chin. He then pulled his hand away and started to nod his head.

“Welcome to our home, Ariel,” he said. “I should remind you that this isn’t our permanent home but it will have to do for now. Until we get what’s coming to us. My name is Thorne.”

“What do you want from me?” I finally asked him.

“Ah. I can only imagine how confusing all of this must be for you. Let me again assure you Ariel that the intentions of our clan are nothing but pure.”

“Then why are you killing innocent people?”

“It couldn’t be helped. You see, Ariel, when you’re one of our kind, you see things differently. You see things clearly, actually. Those women we’ve killed. They were nothing but sluts. Whores. They were stains on your human society and they got what they deserved. There is no place for such foul behavior. Not among humans and certainly not among wolves.”

“So you killed them? You killed Summer because—”

“Because they have no value other than offering one a moment of meaningless pleasure. Now that they’re dead, will anybody notice?”

“Yes.”

“For now. But they offer nothing to society. Their existence would have been meaningless whether they continued to live their sinful lives or not.”

“What gives you the right to decide?”

I could feel the rage building up inside of me but at the same time, I knew that I was completely helpless. There was nothing I could do. The emotions would simply have to burn within me and do nothing else.

“I have every right,” Thorne sighed. “You see, most humans aren’t aware of us. They think werewolves don’t exist. But those who are aware of our existence, they don’t show us the respect they deserve. They treat us like we’re second-class and beneath them. They hunt us down like animals. They kill our innocents and shun us so that we’re left scavenging the remnants of the earth they’ve pillaged after they’ve depleted more than their fair share of resources.

“You can’t see it, Ariel, but I can. We all can. Our vision is much more keen. It’s clear to us that we must take the next step and take what’s rightfully ours.”

“That’s still no justification for taking innocent lives.”

“But it is. There’s only so much room. Consider this. You have two people. One is a human. A human who makes their way through life contributing nothing to society. They’re sinful. They’re gluttonous. They’re lustful. They’re apathetic. They only care about their own personal desires. They’re trying to get ahead while they leave everyone else behind.

“The other is a wolf. He’s proud and strong. He protects his loved ones. He takes care of the earth, only taking the resources he needs to continue living for another day and making sure that the next generation will have what he had tenfold.

“Which of these individuals deserves to live, Ariel? Which one deserves the only spot remaining?”

“No,” I said as I shook my head. “Everybody deserves to live. All life is valuable. What they do with it is their business. The individual isn’t important. It’s how we strive together.”

Thorne started to smirk at me. It was eventually joined with a chuckle. His laughter caused me to fume inside even more.

“Ah, I’m glad you said that, Ariel. It’s typical. You’re an idealist. But you have to understand that you’re not like most of your brethren. You understand that it’s just as important to give than to take. Now I can see even clearer what he saw in you…”

“Who?”

“Who else? Shadow, of course.”

“Shadow…”

“Oh, my mistake. What was he using… V-Vaughn?”

My eyes lit up and the smile on his face started to widen.

“Yes,” he continued smirking at me. “Vaughn. Shadow has quite the eye. You even had him thinking that what you had between the two of you was real.”

Thorne moved up closer to me and stared me hard in the eyes. Listening to him say that what Vaughn and I had wasn’t real broke my heart in two. From the look in Thorne’s eyes, he knew what I was feeling and he showed it with an amused look on his face.

“That’s right, Ariel. You see, we wolves have much better instincts than you humans. We can smell a person’s aura from a mile away and when we get them in our sights… well, it becomes even more obvious. There’s no mistaking why Shadow took an interest in you. I only wish that he had smelled you sooner. Then he wouldn’t have wasted your time and made you think that he actually liked you as anything more than what you are.”

“No…”

“Yes, Ariel. I’m sorry you had to hear it from me. But don’t worry. What’s in store for you is much greater than the simple love between a man and a woman you humans foolishly romanticize. I can offer you so much more than that.”

“I don’t want it.”

“But you haven’t even heard my offer, Ariel.”

“I don’t care what it is you have to give me. Even if you offered me the world…”

“It’s funny you should mention that…”

He placed his hands upon my shoulders and I instinctively shuddered for a second before I was jerked back into place by my iron leash. Thorne slowly started to turn me around, spinning me in my place. All of the men were staring back at me, the same expression upon their faces. It was a look of cold apathy. If you stared long enough, you would see something. Something that told you that they were just more than ordinary men.

“Look around you, Ariel,” he whispered into my ear. “Look at all of them. Our numbers are dwindling but we remain strong. We need someone with the strength to make the Rucai prosper once again.

“Among the denizens and jezebels, the sluts and the whores, something about you stood out, Ariel. It’s almost like you don’t belong in the city. You’re not from there. It’s easy to tell. But you came out for a reason. This is why you came out. This is your destiny. You are the alpha the Rucai have been searching for. Don’t fight it.”

“No. I don’t care. I’m a human. I… I don’t belong here. Let me go. Leave us alone.”

“I beg you to reconsider, Ariel. I’m offering you a place you will never be able to achieve otherwise. Your throne is waiting for you. These wolves are waiting to bow their heads to you.”

“No! I told you! I don’t care! I’ve seen what you’ve done. You kill mercilessly. You talk about taking only what’s necessary. You talk about respect for the earth. But you’re a hypocrite. All you care about is yourself. You’re so pompous and arrogant that you can’t even see that what you’re doing is evil. I want no part of it!”

I didn’t need to think about it. I had no interest in this. The Rucai were killers and Thorne’s attempt to sway my interest to see things his way didn’t work. Despite the feeling in my stomach and my suddenly changing instincts, I could see Thorne for what he really was. No facade he put on would fool me.

He turned me back around and when I looked at him, I could see the resignation on his face.

“Very well, Ariel,” he sighed. “It’s clear that you can’t see what’s best for you. I can’t blame you. Your laughable human instincts are still present in you. Let’s do something about that, shall we? Rucai!”