"Ow, I think I should apply something on this," Marc said holding his forearm as his face scrunched in pain.
"What happened?"
"I think Marc got clawed by one of the crossbreeds and he was oblivious to it up till now," Sam said inspecting Marc’s arm which had blood stains on his light brown shirt.
"I think we need to consult a doctor," Sam suggested to which Marc rolled his eyes.
"And say what? That I got clawed by a supernatural creature?" Marc asked sarcastically to get a whack on his head, "Hey, I’m the injured person here," he protested.
"He’s right though," I said worried and heard the door of the store jingle as Luke stepped out of it. He raised his eyebrow in question to what was going on, "Marc got clawed by the crossbreed," his eyes narrowed instantly and went to Marc’s side. Luke tore the sleeve of his shirt in two uneven half to only reveal the wound to all of us. It didn’t look like any normal wound. The skin was turning reddish brown and it looked like his skin was getting infected with every second that ticked by. Before any of us could react to the wound Luke pulled out his gun, placing the nuzzle on Marc’s forehead.
"Luke, what are you doing?!" I asked him in panic.
"A crossbreed has its venom in its bite and claws. As Marc has been clawed there is ninety-nine percent of him turning into one of them."
"What about that one percent?? We can take him to Elvis and get it out," I said looking at Luke whose eyes were fixated on Marc. Suddenly Marc fell on his knees, heaving for air.
"I think I need water," he said softly and Rick left at the very second to get water.
"Don’t you see, Lillian? Taking out the venom is impossible as his body is reacting to it quickly. If I don’t kill him now, he’ll be one of them who’ll hunt or be hunted. He’ll have no knowledge of the life he had. Is that what you want?" Luke asked as his green eyes pierced mine. Sam rubbed Marc’s back as he coughed.
"How long does it take for the transition to complete?" Sam asked looking up at Luke.
"Less than a week," he replied. Rick got the bottle of water and handed it to Marc, "It’s the first time for a human to be infected by the crossbreeds so I can’t say if it’s going to fasten or reduce the process."
"Please don’t kill him, Luke. There should be something that will undo the transition before he transforms," I pleaded him as I walked up to him. He lowered his gun and I let out a sigh of relief. Luke and I moved away from the boys to talk.
"Lillian, no one in history has been able to stop the transition to a crossbreed. He’s going to be a threat. Remember...if he doesn’t recover, you’ll be the one to kill him," he said placing back his gun from where he took and began walking to the left side of the car, "Marc will be coming with us tomorrow morning, for now, he can go home and pack his things," Luke informed.
When we returned back to our room in the lounge neither Luke nor I spoke to each other more than a sentence. The atmosphere was awkward in the room. Luke wanted to kill Marc as he felt he couldn’t get back to his human self but I hoped and believed we could set the situation right. I felt grief and worry build up as what if’s popped in my mind. I was now sitting in front of the TV while Luke was on a call talking to Canrart about the crossbreeds.
"No, we are getting him with us...don’t I know that?!" Luke snapped irritated. From the corner of my eye, I could see him facing the window as one of his hand held the window sill, "Yes...yeah, we’ll be leaving before dawn..."
I wasn’t watching the TV but had turned it on to only fill the room with noise. Luke was angry that much I could say as he spoke on the phone, though he didn’t express it on me. As I sat there half eavesdropping and half thinking about what to do about Marc thoughts crept in, ones which I had been avoiding and ones I hadn’t realized until now.
People were getting harmed because of me. In my past life my mother died, Rose died saving while my mother almost died. Ace was dead because he wanted my soul and now Marc was going to transform to crossbreed and wouldn’t have memories of his human life but would only be filled with animal traits. Why? I asked myself. Was I an entity that only brought harm and death to people whom I cared about?
When I looked at Luke he was already looking at me while he spoke to Canrart. I knew the deep scar on his back had something to do with me. My father was back and we didn’t know, what if something happened to Luke? No matter how crazy he seemed he was one person I trusted the most out of the whole lot of people. When the thought crossed my mind I felt my heart rate drop down. Something wet fell on my hand and I looked down to see the drop of water on the back of my hand. Blinking quickly so that the tears vanished I turned away my face and heard Luke’s footsteps. The bed dipped next to me and he called my name,
"Lillian?" he turned my face towards him and asked me worried, "What’s wrong? Why are you crying?" I shook my head wiping the tears with my sleeve. He pulled me on his lap with ease as he rubbed my back soothingly.
"Nothing," I said looking down at my fingers.
"Do you want to go back to the kingdom?" he asked me and I shook my head again with a soft no. I didn’t know the reason to why I was crying. Maybe I was just sad and everything had been piling up inside, "It breaks my heart to see the tears roll down. Don’t cry, Lilly. Do you want to talk about it?" he asked me while I sat in silence.
"I’m scared," I said softly, "Everyone’s getting hurt because of my fate and you will too."
"Is that why your crying?" he asked tilting his head at me and brushed my cheek with his thumb, "Don’t underestimate me, Lillian, I’m much more than what I pose to be. I have survived all these years and I will protect you this time no matter what the cost is to be paid," his eyes looked straight into my without blinking.
"But I-" he shushed me with his finger, slowly grazing it.
"Don’t worry over trivial matters, Lillian. Didn’t I say you to trust me? That’s the only thing I ask of you," he said and for a fleet of seconds, I saw the tenderness in his eyes for me as if I was the only thing that mattered.
"What did you mean you’re more than what you pose to be?" I asked him changing the subject.
"You will know," he said as his lips curled, "Let’s just say that it’s too soon for me to show you my true colors. We don’t want you running to the hills, do we now?" he asked me with a grin on his face.
In the morning, before the sun could rise we had gone to pick Marc from his house who lived with his grandparents. He had told them he was going on a small trip and would be back in a week or two. I just hoped we could get Marc back into the human state, the wound on his arm looked worse than the previous night. The infection was spreading. When Marc was putting in his luggage in the trunk of the car Luke said to me,
"His infections are spreading faster than I assumed it to be. I know its hard but no one has been able to unwind the curse of crossbreeds. Don’t forget what I said last night, Lillian. He is your responsibility now," he started the ignition of the car as Marc got inside, "Let’s head back to sweet home now."
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