Chapter 836: 836-The Rightful Sacrifice
Helanie:
I began to cough blood. My body felt so light. The dagger was stabbed deep into my stomach. For a moment, everything was silent, until Norman let out a scream from outside. I could hear the tension in his voice and the pain in his tone. As I knelt down, my hand landed on the ground.
I watched Charlotte look at me with shock, then her eyes moved to Maximus. She intended to kill him, but I stepped in. It would have been difficult for me to stop her from the angle I was at, but it was easy to take the hit meant for him. Instead of stabbing him, she stabbed me when I jumped in front of him. Maximus glared silently at both of us, and then Charlotte began to whimper.
"Maximus, I am Helanie. See, I am your Helanie." I could tell she wanted to smile, but she was trying to maintain a certain tone. "You have done it, Maximus. You killed the wrong mate. The one who was never supposed to be with you. Now all you need to do is toss her into the well," She uttered.
"The well of sacrifices?" The way she spoke was deliberate, her words low and steady so he would understand her orders.
"That is it. All you need to do is toss her into the well, and everything will be over. Come on, pick her up and toss her," she said, instigating him. He lowered his head to look at me. I was lying flat, my hand gently touching the blade of the dagger, which was almost fully inside me, just an inch remaining outside.
My eyes were fixed on Maximus’s face. My body began to convulse. He lowered his body, hunching over me.
"Yes, pick her up and toss her into the well," Charlotte continued, hyping him up.
"Come on, do it. Just scoop her up. The well of sacrifice is not far, and you are much stronger. You can run there in half an hour," she said, smiling widely. Then she glanced around.
"But how will we shut down the laser beams" she muttered under her breath, a hand on her forehead.
Maximus had lowered his body. I expected him to scoop me up and follow her orders, to run into the laser beam as she wanted, but at this point, she had talked so much that I could barely stay awake.
However, as she wanted, he grabbed the dagger from my stomach and pulled it out, blood gushing. Charlotte’s eyes widened, then she smiled.
"Good, now stab her again, in the heart this time, and kill her so that you are the one who kills her," she said, her fist clenched excitedly.
"No, Maximus, what are you doing?" Norman screamed, panicking. I noticed he had finally found the switch to turn off the lasers. But it was too late. I watched Maximus swing his arm, then I closed my eyes.
I could not watch him do this to me. To be killed by my own mate after giving birth to his child, leaving behind my broken mates and my children, I was not ready for it.
A loud vibration hit the ground as Norman turned off the beam, then he ran toward me.
"No, Maximus!" But Maximus had already acted. He stabbed once, then twice, then a third time, right in the heart. Norman reached me and dropped to his knees beside my body. He lifted his head to look at his brother, tears streaming down his face.
"Maximus," he uttered. Maximus finally dropped the dagger and started to grunt, howling. Norman quickly carried me into his arms and held me. "It is alright, you will be fine. Just transition," he whispered.
Our eyes were on Charlotte. Maximus had stabbed her multiple times, and the stab to the heart killed her instantly. Even before she died, she looked in disbelief, having done everything to be with him, only for him to kill her.
And then Maximus stopped howling. He turned to look at me, grunted, and almost crawled on his fours to come near me. I watched him gently touch my feet, almost as if caressing them, before he looked back at Charlotte and growled.
Then he began to walk toward her. I watched him grab her lifeless body by the hair and start dragging her. It was terrifying, watching him in a thunderstorm, dragging her and leaving a trail of blood behind. His hand was stretched back, and he never turned to look at her.
"I think he is taking her to the well of sacrifices," Norman said, reminding me of what she had instructed him to do.
"Help me get up. I need to transition." I coughed. As soon as he nodded, I watched Norman start coughing with me.
"Are you making fun of me?" I joked as I got up and walked with difficulty, my hands on my wound.
"Okay, Cora, now it’s your turn," I said, letting her transition as quickly as possible so we could go back home.
The minute the transition began, my attention shifted to Norman in the back. I watched him hunch over, hands on the ground. When he lifted his head, blood was running from his nose and mouth. The transition had already started.
"No!" I screamed as my wolf took over. It was quick. The minute she transitioned, she ran toward Norman, rubbing her body around him. When she completed a full circle, I transitioned back, appearing in front of him in my full form. I knelt beside him and rubbed his back.
"Norman, what is going on? Tell me," I insisted. He shook his head, then pointed to his chest.
"My curse... Maximus and Emmet... curse." That was all he could say before his tongue rolled back into his mouth.
"No, no, no, no, no," I shook my head, looking around. Then I began tapping his pocket for a phone. Thankfully, he had one. I instantly dialed Kaye’s number.
"Kaye, you need to come here," I said, panicking. Thankfully, the rogue community had their receptions on to communicate with each other but outside of it, the connections were blocked.
"What is going on?" he asked.
"Just come. It’s Norman. He is..." I stopped as I realized Kaye was already on the way. We weren’t far from where this had happened, but it might be too late to help Norman if I delayed.