Filed To Story: Falling for the Alpha As a Student Novel
She barked, whipping around to face me. I saw the tears in her eyes and how red and swollen they were.
My breathing got caught in my throat; I couldn’t speak.
“I’m not IN danger…”
she seethed through her teeth. “I AM danger.”
“I don’t understand…”
I said with a weakened voice. “Please explain that to me— I’m here to help you…”
Can’t you see? Nobody can help me…”
she said, laughing bitterly, almost crazily. A chill crept down the back of my neck and Val was feeling uneasy. She wanted to leave, but I couldn’t make my feet listen to me. “I’m way too far gone.”
“That’s not true…”
“Look at me, Lila! Do I seem normal to you? Have I seemed normal at all??”
I opened my mouth to speak, but then I saw it. Darkness. It was swirling around her feet and up her body. I saw it clouding her vision. Her green eyes began to turn black, and her lip curled up in disgust.
I stepped backward, my entire body trembling. I wanted to scream, but no sound came out of my lips.
“Oh, goddess…”
I breathed… finally realizing what she was saying. “It was you… you killed all those people…”
Third Person POV
The darkness that consumed Rachel fed off the fear that Lila was feeling. She tried her best to hide it, but even Rachel knew that Lila’s fear was evident. The color had completely drained from her perfect features and as much as she tried to blink them away, Rachel could see the moisture in her eyes.
She wanted to cry.
“It’s been you this whole time…”
Lila breathed, still trying to wrap her head around the facts.
Rachel didn’t have to confirm, Lila already knew the truth. Her intuition was telling her the truth. As much as Rachel wanted to go to her friend and comfort her, the darkness wouldn’t allow her. She was consumed by it. She felt all sorts of anger and hopelessness. She gave into the darkness long ago; even before it’s been conjured. She was an easy target for it to take as a vessel. She wasn’t surprised.
“Please say something…”
Lila whispered. Rachel could hear the desperation in her voice.
“What is there for me to say?”
Rachel asked, her voice emotionless and dry. It made Lila wince; she had never heard Rachel sound this way before and she didn’t like it.
“I want you to tell me it’s not true… that you didn’t kill those people. That you didn’t kill Scott.”
“I didn’t kill Scott,”
Rachel quipped. “But I would have if I could. I only framed him. I made him believe he was the one who killed those people.”
A stray tear escaped from Lila’s eye as she stared at Rachel.
“You were the one who sent him to jail…”
Lila said hoarsely. “Which means you were the one who killed him.”
Her voice had gone dry and bitter by the end of that sentence. Rachel couldn’t argue or deny those facts, so she remained quiet.
Lila was so wrapped up in her own thoughts, trying to process all that’s been exposed to her, replaying this past week in her mind, trying to figure out how she didn’t see what was right in front of her. She didn’t even notice the door of the bedroom had opened and Raymond, Rachel’s father, was standing behind her.
He was staring directly at the back of her head; his eyes trailing down her narrow back and across the nape of her neck. He held the syringe tightly in his grip as a glimmer of humor spread across his thin lips.
Rachel hadn’t meant to give him this idea, but she did. It was right after he tried to give her the syringe, hours before the banquet.
“Lila is smart, she will be able to see through me a mile away. I won’t be able to stick her with that thing,”
Rachel said, refusing to take the syringe.
This angered Raymond, but he had to agree with his daughter. He furiously paced back and forth, knowing that both of their lives were at stake.
But then he paused, and a smile snaked his lips. He looked at Rachel who was pale as a ghost and feeling sick to her stomach.
“Then you won’t be the one to inject her with this,”
he said, holding up the syringe. “You will be the distraction…and I will inject her.”
Rachel was brought back to the present moment when Lila let out a small sob.
“Rachel… whatever is going on… let me help you,”
she pleaded.
But Rachel knew there was no helping her right now.
She closed her eyes and looked away. Just as Lila was about to say something else, Raymond stabbed her as hard as she could in the neck with the syringe.
At first, Lila seemed to be consumed by shock. Her eyes grew large and round as she tried to process what had just happened. Then a gasp escaped her lips and her eyes flickered to Rachel.
Lila reached up to touch the syringe in her neck and at first, Rachel didn’t think the wolf’s bane was going to work. Maybe she was too strong of a Volana for it to take effect. Even her father began to look nervous.
Lila opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. And then, her body began to quiver uncontrollably, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head, shocking Rachel to the core.
Had they killed her?
The darkness was going to be pissed and probably kill them too. Not that it mattered anymore; Rachel didn’t deserve to live after everything she had done. Her thoughts might be her own, but her actions and words certainly aren’t. It’s like she’s standing on the outside, watching herself do these horrific things and she can’t do anything about it.
Lila fell to her knees; her eyes fluttered shut and then she fell to the ground.
Raymond looked relieved and let out a sigh.
“Is she alive?”
Rachel asked, her voice sounding unfamiliar and raw.
Raymond bent beside her to feel her pulse on the side of her neck and after a moment, he nodded.
“Her pulse is faint, but she’s alive.”
Before Rachel could say anything, she was stopped when the voice began to speak.
“You have done well,”
the voice said. It took a minute for Rachel to realize that she was speaking out loud so Raymond could hear her as well.
Ray tensed and stared at Rachel, confused. But Rachel couldn’t speak to explain what was happening. The darkness wouldn’t allow her to speak or move.
“We will handle the Volana from here,”
the voice continued.
Soon, darkness reined in through the cracks of the window, pooling in like a rapid river. It swirled around the floor and filled the room with its dark essence. It felt cold and gave Rachel a chill down her spine; she would have shivered if she could. But she couldn’t move a mussel.
Telling from her father, he couldn’t either.
The room was filled with dark smoke, but it didn’t smell or feel like smoke. It was just there, lingering around the room until it grew thicker and darker. Rachel had to strain herself to see what was happening, but that wasn’t good enough. She didn’t know what she was seeing. It almost looked like the darkness was swallowing Lila.
It didn’t take long for the darkness to be covering her completely and Rachel couldn’t see her friend at all.
Then, the darkness swirled around the room a final time before slithering its way to the window once again. Just as it came in, it used its cracks to disperse from the room. Rachel looked down at the place Lila once was, but she was no longer there.
Rachel and her father were left alone, staring at one another in disbelief. Then, her father was bold enough to speak first.
“What about my end of the deal?”
Raymond asked, staring at Rachel. He knew the darkness was still inside of her and whoever was controlling it was listening. “You promised that I’d get power once this is over. I want to use the vessel you create to get that power.”
Rachel let out a lowly laugh, but it wasn’t her. It was the voice.
“Silly bear,”
she spat. “Did you honestly think I was going to let you walk away with zero repercussions? You know far too much.”
“What?”
He seethed. “We had a deal, witch. I spy on your Volana, and you get me power. I used my own flesh and blood to fulfill that task.”