The Crown's Obsession (WN)

Music Recommendation: Zoey's Theme by Brian Tyler

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Even though Madeline felt her chest hurt she used her wings to fly, seatching for Beth, and she didn't stop flying. The last thing she needed was to have Calhoun worry about her. She finally stopped to step on the ground when she found Beth in the middle of the forest.

"Beth!" Madeline called her sister's name loudly.

She ran towards Beth, where she was sitting on the ground. She caught sight of blood that was spilt on the ground. She made her way near her sister, and caught sight of Raphael who leaned against the tree as if he was sleeping.

"Maddie!" Beth whispered with a sense of relief in her voice. There were evident tears in her eyes, and the rim of her eyes had turned red and swollen because of continuous crying. Madeline hugged her sister to have Beth hug her back.

"I am so sorry," Beth apologized.

Madeline was glad that Beth was alright, and she patted her sister's back to soothe her. Seeing Raphael not move or open his eyes, she understood why Beth was crying right now.

"I-I didn't know. I didn't realize it," said Beth, pulling back from the hug to look at Madeline and she then looked at Raphael. "I hurt him when I was in my werewolf form. I killed him. Please do something," Beth turned to look back at Madeline pleadingly.

Madeline nodded her head, and she moved closer to Raphael. Calhoun and Vladimir who had followed Madeline closely stepped on the ground too. They took note of the bloodshed on the snow-covered ground, a mixture of red and black.

Calhoun's eyes fell on Beth and on seeing Raphael, he gritted his teeth.

"Fuck!" he cursed under his breath.

Calhoun took a closer look at Raphael who looked as if he was fast asleep with blood spilt all around him. By the look and colour of the demon's skin that had turned pale, it didn't have to be told out loud that Raphael was dead.

"Looks like another demon was here," Vladimir noted, seeing the black splash of liquid not too far away from where he stood.

On the other side, Calhoun didn't take note of it as his eyes were on Raphael. He saw Madeline check Raphael's pulse by placing her hand on the card reader's neck and then his wrist. She took a look at his eyes before she turned to look at Calhoun and shook her head with a sad expression.

Beth's hand moved up to her mouth to hide the sobs that escaped from the lips.

Just when Madeline was ready to place her hand on Raphael's chest, Calhoun said, "Don't even think about it."

Though he wasn't there inside the building when she was fighting with the other demons and the fallen angels, Calhoun could tell that Madeline had reached her limit by exhausting herself while fighting and healing people. If he was there at the castle, he would have forbidden her from using her ability to heal. Blood stuck on the side of her lips, and Calhoun knew it wasn't from Madeline sucking a person's blood. It was because she had spewed her own blood. She was already hurting inside, and he didn't want to lose her.

Calhoun stepped forward and he then sat down next to Raphael. He looked at the card reader's face that had a tranquil expression on it. When he had given the antidote to Raphael, he had given it knowing if there was someone who could handle the transformed werewolf, it was the demon himself. He hadn't imagined for the events to turn out this way.

Vladimir stood behind them with a passive look on his face.

Having witnessed many deaths in the past, Raphael's death meant nothing to the devil as he was surrounded by death. Vladimir's eyes then fell on the girl who was Madeline's sister. "The antidote seems to have worked," he commented.

Beth who heard this, her lips pursed and her eyebrows furrowed. She said, "I don't think it entirely worked."

"What do you mean?" asked Madeline.

Beth looked down at her human hands, and within a few seconds, her fingers transformed into claws, and her eyes turn to gold.

Vladimir stared at the girl, and his lips twisted in thought. "I don't think he gave every single drop of the liquid to her."

And it was the truth. In an effort to have Beth drink the liquid, the only opening that Raphael had found was when the werewolf had pierced its claws deep into his back from which he had lost a lot of blood. He had broken the glass vial in his hand before letting the drops of antidote fall into the beast's mouth, where some of the drops were lost on his hand.

Beth didn't care about it. She shook her head, "Is there no way to bring him back?" She doubted she would be able to live the future days in peace by thinking her life was granted by the cost of another person's life.

Madeline placed her hand on Beth's hand to comfort her. It was hard to say anything at the moment, when her sister was trying to be a better person. No, thought Madeline. Beth had already turned to a new leaf since they had last spoken and Beth was trying to do everything right.

Calhoun turned to Vladimir who stood behind them. When his eyes met the other pair of red eyes, the older vampire said, "There is one way to bring him back."

Beth's eyes brightened, "What is it?"

"Bring me an innocent's life, and I will grant this demon a second chance," said Vladimir.

Vladimir might have welcomed his grandson Calhoun and Madeline as his grandson's wife, but that didn't mean he had forgotten his ways. Vladimir was still a devil, and his offer was always hard to pay back. The price to pay was always a higher than the request or wish made.