Chapter 72

• FIONA
• Why did I stop? I asked myself looking at the girl I was supposed to kill. My chimera had paused too because it sensed my hesitation. I did want to kill Lydia but that moment when she dropped to the floor and fetched Elliot's body shattered me. It brought back something I believed I could keep buried inside me for as long as I needed to. My humanity. Tears streamed down Loretta's face as Elliot breathed his last. Lydia remained rooted where she kneeled. She was cold and stiff as marble but beneath the surface, I could sense anger surging out of her frail little self like jolts of electricity consuming everything in its path. Her gaze rose from the body below her and she chuckled between gritted teeth. Eyes the color of a dark storm landed on me, twinkling with malice. I swore that the color of her irises altered. A menacing silver gleamed my way. I couldn't be seeing things because moments after Lydia Nightshade's irises turned ghost white. Her hair did too.
• "What the..." I tried to mutter but the words didn't even get a chance to leave my mouth as Lydia swung in to attack. She charged for me with her claws out. The smirk on her face informed me this was nothing but animalistic hunger. She meant what we said. "Attack!" I signaled my chimera and instantly came to my rescue. Anger was powerful adrenaline for werewolves. It was like a drug. Maddening and with enough burst to cause a werewolf to do damage but Lydiawas only a beast with claws. She had no gifts. The only motivation that stood behind her was the valid animosity. I was a witch. A descendant of Lorenzo Blossom, the warlock that consumed a stag relic. Unprecedented power flower in my bloodline. If Lydia had been asking for death, I was more than willing to give it to her. As my chimera swung for her throat, I wondered if Lydiawas panicking. Even when the smile on her face refused to vanish, I was sure she was afraid. I was certain she was seeing her entire pathetic life flash before her eyes and probably wondering why she didn't beg for my mercy. But there was just something about that menacing smile that didn't leave her face. Maybe it was because of the strange color her eyes now imbued and the hair but at the last moment, I had to eat back my own words. Before the hands of the monster I created could touch the skin of Loretta, she vanished. It was not speed. I saw it. A corner of darkness enveloped her body in whole and poof, Lydia simply did not exist in the space she once was. As if that wasn't enough, she appeared behind my dazed anomaly and sliced both his Achilles tendons with nothing but her claws before its instincts could even kick in. My chimera lost balance and fell to the ground immediately crying out for help. Its eyes traveled my way. I could feel its fear. It was pungent and almost overpowering. It stopped fighting and struggled to come to me. An action that Lydiaprevented by dragging it back to trampling on one of its exposed legs.