Chapter 8

Eugenia

I can’t believe that I became a woman in the arms of Alpha and that I felt pleasure in being with him, where I left my honor and my human essence? Totally transformed into a beast, he moved away from my body and I covered myself with the sheet, still embarrassed with total nudity. Alpha looked me in the eye and suddenly left the room.

— What did I do? — I asked myself, waiting for an answer that I know would not come.

I got up, went to the bathroom and washed myself. I didn’t know if that was the most beautiful or terrible moment of my life.

Alpha

Away from her, I regained consciousness and returned to my human form. What I felt left me for the first time in my existence, frightened, how can a human wield such power over me?

— I cannot show weakness, I am at the top of the food chain and I will remain in it. I went back to the room, smelled the blood on the sheet. Eugenia was in the bath, left wearing the remnants of the prom dress.

— Can I go to my room? — She asked me, embarrassed and without looking me in the eye.

— No, lie down here. You said I was tired.

She obeyed and laid her back to me, even after being in my arms and even begging for more, Eugenia could be proud and in this we have much in common. I hugged her body, smelling the skin off her neck.

— Can I ask you something?

— Of course, yes, my beauty. As long as it’s not the obvious!

— Why Father Jonas? — I heard his weeping contained in asking.

— I do not choose the victims of sacrifice, this is done by your village!

— No, no! The priest was a person without evil, whoever chose to take his life is a monster even worse than you.

I made her turn to me and look into my eyes.

— You should thank us for all these years of rapists, murderers and all the scum in your village serving us food. This is a form of justice Eugenia!

— You’re lying to me.

— Whoever brings them here is my General Zayon, he has the power to decide who lives or dies in his village. For years, I don’t care whose meat I eat.

— So I hate you, and I’ll hate you all my life. What kind of leader are you, Alpha, who can’t even be fair? I lay on her, forcing my hand on her chin.

— You don’t know anything about me, or who I am. Your job is to spread your legs whenever I ask, and if you don’t agree, go home!

— I would return, if I were sure that you are man or beast enough, to fulfill the promise you made to me in this bed.

Eugenia kissed me, once again managed to dominate me in her arms, and we made love all night.

Meanwhile, in the village…

The hunters of the village sought to find food in their traps, but ended up finding something terrifying.

— What a horrible smell. — Gabriel covered his nose and bent down to check where this odor came from, with his hand pushed away some bushes, his scream of horror caught the attention of others who came right behind him.

— What the hell is that? — Murmured Tony, but soon his question was answered by looking closer.

— It’s Father Jonas' arm, damn monsters!

— He tried to defend himself as he could, using his faith. How long will this cowardice keep happening? And poor Anthony’s daughter is still in Alpha’s clutches, they don’t even know if she’s still alive.

— Maybe the next corpse to be found could be hers!

In Sangria Jane wandered the streets, hungry, harassed by everyone in the pack. He needed to get out of that place, back to his village, after so many years of cloister, maybe he could find a way to delay the curse that rotted his body and consumed his soul little by little. The walls surrounding the castle and the dependencies of that kingdom were high, and she no longer had the strength to do so.

A butcher would go out and take the rotten remains out of town, Jane in a moment of inattention of him, managed to enter and cover himself with that putrified and fetid flesh, felt the larvae walk on his body. As soon as she was taken out of the gates of the city, they went for a few meters, and stopped in front of a large ditch that smelled like death.

The semi-monster began to throw the pieces into that hole, Jane shrank a little more not to be found. The creature heard footsteps breaking branches on the ground, his keen nose, even though still dominated by that smell of rotten flesh that hovered in the air, can still detect the presence of humans. But there was no time to surround the wagon, they carried weapons whose bullets were silver and he could smell that noble metal.

— What are you doing here, near the dependencies of our kingdom? — The monster asked, looking and detecting how many there were and the chances that he had to leave alive.

— I have come for my daughter, Eugenia.

— Your daughter is now Alpha’s concubine!

— Shoot this bastard at once. — Thor screamed.

— Take us inside, and I will spare your life, at least for now. — Anthony looked at the ditch full of bodies.

Jane joined the forces she had, and threw the remains over them all with the force of a bomb. Confusing them and letting the monster escape back to Sangria, she ran into the closed woods.

— Get the creature! — Anthony shouted, Thor ran as fast as he could. Jane was weak and couldn’t get very far, caught her foot on a branch and ended up falling. Thor, took a large stone, and you would put an end to the life of that horrible monster.

— Thor, how beautiful you look! — Jane made him paralyze with her phrase.

— Come on, are you going to stand there? — Anthony asked when he came running.

— She knows my name.

— Her? — Asked Anthony.

— It’s me, Jane. Gustave Prestes’s wife.

In the village, Elizabeth remained distressed by her daughter. Elizabeth

I can’t think for a second what might be happening to her, that monster whose face I never dared to see, must be enslaving her. Eugenia sacrificed herself for all of us, but nothing was worth her pain, this afternoon we will make a symbolic wake for what remains of poor Father Jonas. What will happen to her and to us from now on?

After washing the clothes in the river, I returned to the cabin, Anthony and Thor were not there. I know you’re plotting to seek our daughter in that cursed city, contrary to the promise you made to her.

— They can’t have gone there, they can’t!

I don’t know why, the memories of my past have been getting stronger. That night when I was touched by that strange stranger, the birth of Thor that until today makes me wonder about his origin, when I do not even know if it was real. All I ever tell him is that Anthony gave him affection and love from a father, but the two live an eternal struggle, full of hurt and pain. I walked into my daughter’s room, caught myself smelling her clothes. I can’t spend the rest of my life without seeing my little girl again, she’s strong and brave, but she’s still just a young girl.

Thor

This monster can serve as a bargaining chip for Eugenia’s life. Anthony, we can use it to bring Eugenia back. That creature started laughing, and the sound was scary.

— What are you laughing at, you pig? And tell us why you didn’t let us into Sangria, since you say you were from our village? — Thor asked.

— Look at me, boy, do you think they’d give your sister in exchange for me? I’m a newly freed prisoner, Eugenia pulled me out of that place. And you should thank me for the bath I gave you, inside that city you’d be wiped out in seconds!

— So, is my daughter alive? — Anthony asked, sighing with hope.

— Yes, she is our best chance to put an end to this hell. But it all depends on the choices she makes! Now let’s go home, I’m hungry!

The two looked at each other, Anthony knew who she was, but did not know if he could trust that monster and take her to the village where there were so many innocent people.

— What do we do, Anthony? — One of the hunters asked.

— We’ll take it, but if you show your teeth, we’ll pull it out one by one. Are we clear? — He approached Jane and she agreed.

— As long as you give me meat, you’ll be safe, and I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Thor tied both her hands and pulled out, as we made our way back.

Jane is not even the shadow of the woman who once was, I was enchanted by her beauty. Elizabeth never loved me and this emotional abandonment made me sometimes want to conquer Jane, but she married Gustave and I left this feeling locked away inside me, until now.

Elizabeth

I heard people screaming outside, ran out to see what it was. Thor was pulling a horrible creature by the arms, they were all filthy and smelling like rotten flesh. Anthony and other hunters were coming right after them.

— Why did you bring that thing? — I asked fasting.

— You look great Elizabeth!

— How does she know my name?

— Because she is Jane. — Anthony replied and everything made sense, so many years that it had been taken, that I thought it was already dead and devoured.

Poor Gustave almost went crazy when they took her and left, lost in the world, we never knew what happened to him.

— But she’s a monster, you can’t keep her between us!

— We need her, Jane has been in Sangria for many years. Master the magic and she will stay! — Anthony defended her, even converted into something that I dare not try to understand, he had hurry for her.

As in the past, her looks were for her, yet she lied to me every night swearing eternal love. I left irritated and went to church, all I had left was faith. Now without our spiritual guide, we needed to seek God, even without an intermediary. Everything was empty, it seems that I am still seeing Father Jonas in advising us to respect the curfew of the night, I made the sign of the cross and began to pray for his soul.

Thor

My mother was not wrong to fear the presence of a beast among us, but Anthony also has his reasons for allowing Jane to remain. I took her to our cabin, the dogs of the village all barked madly, and she showed the fangs silencing them, we entered the house. She looked at everything with great curiosity, but was just revisiting the past.

— I will get meat for you, you can count your ribs one by one! — Anthony said, and caught the beast, going out to hunt.

— Your mother won’t take me here, boy, you should have taken me to another corner.

— Here you are under our surveillance, I do not know what happened in the past, but all I care now is to get my sister out of that place!

She gave a strong smell in my direction and shook her head, denying, this monster knows too much.

Anthony

Jane back in town, how many more surprises will the past send us?

All I want is my daughter alive and back in my arms, knowing that at least she’s alive gives me the strength to get her. Thor began a confrontation even greater than what we had faced for so many years. I wonder what Walter will do when he returns from the expedition he made with the other men of the village in search of seeds, for the next planting.

I had secretly given him the hand of Eugenia and I know I should not have made this decision, alone, but he is a good boy and an excellent hunter, I did it even without consulting Elizabeth.

Furthermore, I thought it would ensure the safety of our daughter, but I failed, and I do not know how I will tell him everything that happened and that robbed her of her future. I see the story repeating itself in a cycle that seems to have no end, Thor still hates me for not having my blood. You live judging the way I treat you and comparing yourself to your sister, you don’t know how much sacrifice it was for me to accept the son of a man I don’t even know who he is.

— If he really loves her, he’ll agree to be with her even after everything. Just like I accomplished for Elizabeth, even though I wasted my life loving a woman who never, really was, mine! Was it worth it?

I saw a lynx behind the bushes, I aimed with dexterity the beast in its direction. I held my breath and released the arrow, unfortunately I lost it through the forest. I spent a few more hours waiting for another opportunity, until I managed to hit an unsuspecting jackal.

— You will serve, I hope Jane likes a sweeter meat!

I removed the skin that would serve us for many things and cleaned the meat to take it to the cabin.