Chapter 316: A Gift From A Mother I
Once again, alarm bells started to ring in my mind. What would my dear mother consider an appropriate gift to mend the distance between us after years of absence? I could think of nothing, which worried me immensely.
A car? A house? They were possible options, but they didn’t seem something my mother would deem worthy enough.
"There’s really no need though," I said warily. "I just want my phone back."
"You need to aim for better things, my dear." My mother tutted with mild disapproval. She then reached into her skirt pocket and dangled a bunch of keys in front of me.
Maybe I was indeed going to get a house. My heart raced― if it was a house, we would have to leave this tower. I could learn more about this new city and make plans to leave.
"Come on, time’s ticking. Let me bring you to your new gift," she said cheerfully, and I followed her out of the room, with Gus guarding my back, just in case I wanted to make any unwise escape attempts.
To my utter surprise, we weren’t leaving the tower, instead, she led me down several flights of stairs to another room with a silver door.
"Help yourself," she said, handing me the keys. "Your gift is beyond this door."
I took the keys, confusion clouding my features. "Mom, aren’t you giving me a house?" I asked, looking down at the keys. All my plans were slowly going up in smoke. "I thought..."
My mother laughed. "Oh my dear, a house can wait. For now, you can live here with me. Open the door, Harper. I hope you like the gift I prepared for you."
The hopeful glint in my mother’s eyes was impossible to ignore. I sighed quietly, slowly opening the door, half-expecting a new room, or perhaps a new weapon to better kill werewolves with.
Instead, the smell of dried blood hit my nose. I took a step back and flung the door wide open in shock.
"Surprise!" My mother beamed at me. "What do you think, Harper?" She stared expectantly at me, hoping to see elation in my eyes.
Instead, I could only stare blankly at the bound figure in the room, and then back at her in shock. My mother continued to beam, but her face slowly fell when all I did was swivel my head between my little gift and her.
"Do you... not like it?" she asked, pursing her lips in disappointment. "Don’t tell me I got the wrong werewolf?"
She definitely didn’t. I could barely believe my eyes.
"Are you insane?" I exclaimed. "How did you even catch her? We’ve been looking for her for weeks!"
How else was I meant to react to the sight of Dahlia Elrod in front of me, trussed up in silver chains as though she was a pig at the butchers meant for slaughter first thing in the morning?
No wonder the smell of dried blood was so strong. I fought the urge to gag as I caught sight of the way the chains dug themselves into Dahlia’s charred flesh, the skin around it burnt beyond recognition. The blood that had flowed out through the open wounds was cauterized thanks to the silver reacting to her body. The parts of the body that weren’t burnt or covered in dried blood were horrendously pale.
Somehow, I was reminded of Dahlia’s injuries when she tried to tear apart my necklace from the wedding. Yet the severity of her injuries now made the injuries she sustained then look like child’s play. Now, Dahlia’s arms and legs were also twisted painfully, giving me the impression that she was nothing more than a marionette with her limbs broken beyond repair.
"Is she even alive?" I had to ask, gingerly approaching Dahlia and holding a finger to her nose. I held my breath until I felt the softest, weakest puff of air on my finger.
Dahlia was indeed breathing. But only just. While there was no love lost between us― hell, there was nothing but oceans of hatred between us both, it still felt wrong to see Dahlia treated in such a blase, cruel manner. She was now barely conscious and hardly breathing. Even without the gag in her mouth, she wouldn’t have mustered enough energy to curse me to the high heavens.
But I knew that if the tables were turned, Dahlia would not hesitate to hurt me similarly. I stared at her, conflicted. No matter what, I didn’t want to be on the same level as Dahlia Elrod.
"Don’t be silly; of course she’s alive," my mother explained indulgently. "You have to thank Gus for this." My mother gestured to Gus, he gave a polite bow in acknowledgment, a pleased smile spreading on his face. "He was exceptional in reeling her in. That poor bitch didn’t know who she was dealing with."
"I am slightly sorry that I had to saddle you with this task, Gus. It can’t have been a fun experience dealing with such a haughty fallen heiress," my mother continued.
"The pleasure was mine, Madame," Gus said, "She really made things a bit too easy by speaking ill of Harper here."
Agustus. Gus. I closed my eyes, wanting to scream into my hands. Suddenly I felt like the biggest fool to walk the earth. How could I have missed this― the hint was right under my nose! I cursed under my breath.
"So you’re the mysterious Agustus," I growled. "We’ve been trying to find you all this while."
"And now you have!" Gus said cheerfully, spreading his arms out. "Come on, why do you look so hostile towards me? I’ve helped you subdue a huge threat! Dahlia Elrod had been plotting to kill you for weeks! Without me, Thunderstrike would still be running around like a headless chicken."
"She won’t be harming you any longer, my dear," my mother said consolingly, patting her hand on my cheek. "I know everything about what she did to you. You have suffered unduly under her hands― but now that I’m here, you have nothing to fear."
Her hands were still warm, but I felt a chill race down my spine at her display of affection. If my tongue was working properly, I would have told my mother that in my humble opinion, she was the scariest creature in the room, even when one factored in Gus, a fully-fledged vampire, into the equation.
Dahlia Elrod’s battered unconscious body lay a few feet away from us; how could my mother be so unbothered by it?
"Thanks, Mom, I think," I said faintly instead. "But why are you keeping her here? You should send her back to Thunderstrike so she can pay the price for her crimes!"
My mother cackled, as though I told a good joke.
"Harper, why would we do something like that, when we’ve been saving her for you?"
