Chapter 237

Almara’s Pov

Delfino grabs the scroll and gives it to Edward who turns to a bat and darts out of the room. For a second, I think Zayne might grab Edward out of the air with one easy lift of the arm, but he doesn’t. He lets him zip past him and instead moves in closer to us.

“You’re a traitor,” Zayne says like this has never occurred to him before. I want to laugh and point out that werewolves had known this all along, but given the treaty we just signed, I decide not to.

“It’s you who has turned on us,” Delfino says no longer hiding the contempt in his voice. “The plan was to work together and overtake the wolves. You’ve instead made us foreigners in our own land,”

“You should be thanking us,” Zayne nearly laughs. “This is a wasteland,” Delfino’s eyes glow red.

“This is our home!” Delfino shows his fangs and the rest happens very quickly. Arthur and I take our fighting stances and prepare for the battle that plays out.

Delfino uses his speed to run circles around Zayne, preventing him from coming closer to us. Arthur uses his best judgment before he takes a leap and jumps squarely on Zayne, knocking him over.

Zayne tries to come up, and I think fast and bite down on his ankles, causing him to cry out in pain. His scream is almost enough to make me recoil, it’s a sound that scrapes your insides, still I keep my jaw down on his leg. Arthur keeps his weight on Zayne’s upper half, while Delfino tears into his neck.

It all ends very quickly, still by the end of it all three of us are panting. Even Cathy who’s hyperventilating by the wall. I think this is all too much for her.

Zayne lays on the floor. An image of Robert crosses my mind, and though they’re both dead bodies, they have nothing else in common. Zayne’s body looks alien, like it never was alive in the first place.

“We have to dispose of the body,” Delfino says. “No one can know about this yet, chaos will ensue,”

Delfino leaves to go get something to wrap and carry the body in, though I have no idea what considering the size of Zayne is unnaturally bigger than anyone else that I know.

When he leaves, we all sit in silence. We take the time to rest, catch our breathes, and most of all process what just happened and analyze the possibilities of what could be.

Time warps. What seems to be days later, Delfino finally returns. He lays out a tarp, the smell of plastic filling our nostrils. “We roll him up and leave him down here, for now.”

Even with all four of us using whatever strength we have left and working together, lugging Zayne’s lifeless body proves to be challenging and exhausting. I suffer through it, holding back my grunts and exasperated breaths.

When he’s finally on the mat, I fall back on my behind and place a hand on my belly. I can’t keep this up much longer.

Arthur gives me a worried look, but I assure him I’m fine or that at least I will be. I just need a break. I watch as the three of them roll Zayne up. Zayne’s body awkwardly tumbles at their aggressive shoves. Beads of sweat form above Arthur’s brow, making it evident that he’s carrying most of the weight.

When Zayne is wrapped up as best as he can be, Delfino shoves his body to the side, outside of plain view in the middle of the room. “I’ll go get you food and water,” Delfino says and leaves again without saying another word.

It dawns on me that it’s likely night time, though there’s no way of knowing for sure since there are no windows down here and it’s perpetually dark. My stomach growls loudly. Arthur pulls me into his chest that’s damp with sweat, but I don’t care. Being close to him soothes my aching body.

Suddenly, I begin to cry. I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the exhaustion, maybe it’s hormones, maybe it is grief for Robert, for being so close yet so far from my daughter. Maybe it’s all of it.

“I know,” Arthur says and strokes my head. “I know,”

I must’ve fallen asleep, because I’m stirred awake by the sweet smell of a raw steak. Just as my vision focuses, the slab of meat is placed down in front of me along with a mix of vegtables and potatoes.

“Where did you get this?” I hear Cathy asks and realize it’s the first time I’ve heard her spoken in hours. Delfino doesn’t seem to notice that she’s coming out of her shock as he continues passing out the plates.

“Some trusted colleagues are aware of the treaty and have worked to ensure our guests have what they need,” he meets our eyes and adds “if only to aid in their strength for the right,” he casually mentions.

I would have thought that eating with a dead body mere feet away would be enough to turn off my appetite, but nope. I sink my teeth into the meat, and while I’ve had much better steaks before, in this moment this is the best thing I’ve eaten.

We gnaw on our meat, licking the plate clean. Delfino watches us eat with disgust. “Very well,” he says when not a crumb is left on any of our plates.

“As I mentioned earlier, a few trusted vampires are made privy to our treaty,” He says and we listen carefully as it sounds like a problem is going to come to light. “A few familiars have asked where Zayne has went, it’s only a matter of time before they realize something is off,” He says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Once the familiars know one of their own is missing, they will all go in search of him. My colleagues and I will work to carry Zayne’s body to be burned, but it’ll be hard to get around the inquisitive nature of these familiars, surely one of them will piece together it’s Zayne’s body we’re carrying.”

I start to put together the point Delfino is making. “And when that realization comes, we need to be ready to fight,”

“Yes,” Delfino nods. “As we know, it takes two days travel time for your wolves to make it to our land. I don’t know if we have that kind of time on our side.”

“They’re already on their way,” Arthur says. Delfino raises his eyebrows at him.

“While I love your optimism, we have no confirmation of that. And if they are not, we need to signal for them to come and be prepared to fight alongside with us. I imagine relaying this message and winning them over will also take precious time that we don’t have,”

“They’ll do what we say,” Arthur says unbothered. Irritation flashes across Delfino’s face and he sits upright in a tightened posture.

“You better hope or remember the treaty is off and your wolves are walking towards their death,” Delfino hisses.

Arthur slowly turns his head toward Delfino, his eyes glossed over but his voice strong. “The familiars die tomorrow,”