Episode 3: Meeting the Devil

Eric averted his gaze as he handed my chains to two massive soldiers wearing black armor.

He had made his choice.

He had chosen his master over his mate.

"Move," one of the guards barked shoving me hard from behind.

I didn't look back at the other girls but I could hear their soft collective sighs of relief.

As we moved down the torch lit corridors I noticed the air was freezing cold as well as thin ice crystals on the walls.

How was this possible when it wasn't even winter?

Finally we stopped in front of a pair of massive double doors carved with the horrifying images of wolves tearing men apart.

"Inside," the guard said pushing the doors open, he sounded terrified as though there was a demon within the room and before I could even brace myself he shoved me into the room, I tripped, falling hard into my knees

"No wait!" I shouted as the guard closed the door behind me.

I slowly stood up, rubbing my bruised knees and took a deep breath. It was a large room, easily the size of a great hall but it was dark and unnaturally cold.

Why was it so freezing in here?

I tightly crossed my arms over my chest shivering violently as my eyes immediately scanned the room searching for a weapon.

I needed a way out, or a way to kill the devil before he killed me. My eyes caught a knife sitting on a wooden table not quite far from where I stood.

I began to move toward it, "Keep your chin up," I told myself, forcing my panicked breathing to slow down.

I had faced death a hundred times on the orders of my uncle. I had taken lives, and I had nearly lost my own. There was nothing to fear.

"So," a voice boomed from behind the grand stone fireplace. "The little Aries hound has finally arrived. Who would have thought such a cold blooded killer could be so beautiful?"

"I am not afraid of you," I said trying to steady my trembling breath.

"Well, you shouldn't be, I don't bite," the voice murmured playfully stepping out of the shadows.

Immediately I gasped taken aback by how gorgeous he was.

This was Alpha Vergil the Blood Demon?

The rumors said he was over a hundred years old but he looked nothing less than a day over thirty.

He was taller than any man I had ever encountered with a broad muscular body frame draped in a luxurious, fur lined black cloak that swept the floor.

His hair was as white as winter snow falling sharply around a face that was, to my absolute horror, terrifyingly beautiful.

His skin was unnaturally pale but it was his eyes that made me freeze completely as they were entirely blood red irises.

I remembered the warning of the woman in black back in the hall "Never, ever look him in the eye."

But my pride wouldn't let me look down. I refused to bow.

I stared directly into those burning red irises, my jaw tightly clenched letting him see every ounce of the hatred I carried.

Vergil stopped a few feet away from me, a cruel, amused smile playing on the corner of his lips, revealing two sharp elongated fangs,

"You have courage little blondie or perhaps you are just remarkably stupid," he mused, tilting his head. "Usually, the sheep they send me are on their knees, wetting themselves and begging for a mercy I do not possess. But you... you look at me as if you want to skin me alive. You're definitely interesting."

"You killed my parents," I said, my voice steady, though every instinct in my body was screaming at me to turn and run. "You massacred my pack ten years ago. Why would I beg a monster like you?"

Vergil let out a loud chuckle that made him look divine.

why was he so beautiful? He was mesmerizing, possessing beauty that completely eclipsed Eric's.

"Ah, the Silvermoon pack," Vergil said, pacing slowly around me. "I remember your father. Derrick, wasn't it? He died quite loudly, actually. He spent his final breaths begging me to spare his children's lives. And your brother... Dante, what a pathetic, sniveling weak creature he has turned out to be. He practically wept with joy when my emissary offered him protection in exchange for a sacrifice. He couldn't give you away fast enough."

Dante's name sent a wave of blinding rage through my veins, pushing away the fear. "He is a coward," I hissed. "And you are a coward for hiding behind a curse to slaughter innocent women."

Vergil’s amused smile vanished in an instant and the temperature In the room dropped a few degrees.

He stepped closer, moving so fast he was suddenly right in front of me and brought his palm close to my face, hovering it just a single inch away from my cheek.

I instinctively flinched, closing my eyes and expecting a strike that never came.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. He moved his hand down, hovering it over the pulse point of my throat and then over my chained wrists.

He was tracing the exact outline of my body with his palm never letting his bare skin make actual contact with mine.

"Do you know why I don't touch you Genevieve?" he whispered, his red eyes boring into my soul.

"Because you're a freak," I spat, refusing to back down.

He laughed. "A freak? Perhaps. But I am a freak with the power to destroy everything you have ever known. Look over there, in the corner."

He nodded toward the darkest side of the room, near the curtains.

I turned my head following his line of sight and immediately I placed my hands over my mouth trying to muffle my screams.

At the end of the room were three statues, judging by the impossible detail I knew they weren't just made of stone, these were actual women.

One statue had its hands raised in a frozen eternal scream of terror, another was on her knees, her stone face covered in frozen, unmoving tears and the third was snapped cleanly at the waist, her stone torso cracked and broken on the floor like a discarded doll.

How did this happen? I thought, staring back at him in absolute horror.

Did he do this? I had lived among werewolves my entire life, and I had never heard of a wolf capable of turning people to stone.

"They were beautiful once," Vergil murmured, his voice dripping with a sick twisted sort of pride. "But thanks to me, they will never age. They will remain beautiful as stone, possessing an unfading beauty forever. Don't you think it's a wonderful gift?"

A cold sweat broke out across my forehead.

This was the dark secret of the castle. This was why no woman ever survived the night. It wasn't just that he tore them apart, his very touch literally turned them into lifeless rock.

"Every full moon, the curse burns me," Vergil continued, beginning to pace around me again like a predator circling a trapped deer.

"The pain inside my bones is excruciating, It feels like my blood is boiling and the only way to stop the agony is the warmth of blood on my lips and tonight little assassin... your warmth will soothe my pain."

"I am not going to become a statue in your bedroom," I growled pulling violently at my chains making them clang against each other.

"You think you have a choice Little bird?" Vergil mocked, stopping right in front of me again. "Look at you, sold by your twin brother. Dragged here like an animal and then, of course, there is Eric..."

My heart seized painfully at the mention of his name.

Vergil’s cruel smile returned, wider and more wicked than before. "Oh, yes. I know Little birdie. I knew the moment he brought you into the castle. You wouldn't shut up about the bond on the way here, my guards told me the whole thing. Tell me, how does it feel? To know that your fated mate, the one ordained by the heavens to protect you and cherish you, was the very man who wrapped you in chains and dragged you to my feet?"

"He is a coward, just like you," I whispered burying the pain in my heart.

"No, he is loyal," Vergil corrected with a mischievous smirk.

He turned his head, staring through the large glass window at the sky.

"The moon is rising, Genevieve," Vergil said falling to his knees, his hands gripping his head as his joints popped loudly.

I watched in absolute horror as his bones began to crack and shift violently beneath his flesh.

"No! No! No!" I began to tremble in fear.

The assassin in me vanished, replaced by a terrified girl who didn't want to end up like the others.

I didn't want to be a fucking statue.

I turned and ran over to the massive doors, grabbing the iron knob and twisting it with all my might but It wouldn't budge, It was locked firmly from the outside. I was trapped.

With a shaky breath, I turned around to find Vergil half transformed.

"Ahhh! It burns!" he screamed out, thrashing on the floor. I could see actual smoke oozing from his skin as though his entire body was being set on fire from the inside out.

"Give me your body, little birdie," he growled, his eyes completely blood red now glowing in the dark. "Give me your blood and soothe my pain!"

He lunged forward with terrifying speed and without hesitation I raised my hands, using the heavy iron chain stretched between my wrists as a weapon, swinging it with all my might, aiming directly for his face.

His lips burst open with the sudden impact and he stopped wiping the blood away with the back of his clawed hand, looking at the crimson stain on his skin.

Then, he looked back at me, a terrifying manic grin spreading across his deformed face.

"Yes!" he roared, the sheer volume of his voice shaking the glass windows. "Fight me! Fight for your life! It makes the feast so much sweeter when the meat is screaming!"

Before I could even think of raising my chains again, he moved with supernatural speed catching me by the throat.

"No! No!" I screamed out

He had touched me and in a matter of seconds I knew..

I would turn to stone.