Chapter 145: Death was only the beginning

Beatrice was now silent as she yanked the dagger out of her heart.

She straightened up to her full height, now staring at the corpse of her sister. Her eyes were almost emotionless and dark, blood still dripping from the hand she was using to hold the knife.

But behind that darkness, triumph sat comfortably.

Then her lips slowly parted, and a smile appeared.

Not the smug smile she usually wore, and not even the vicious grin the people who didn’t know her never saw.

This one was different. It was almost peaceful.

Beatrice felt almost weightless, and a tiny laugh escaped her. One so filled with the purest sound of joy, and another followed almost immediately.

Soon she was covering her mouth, shoulders trembling as she struggled to contain the laughter, "Finally," she whispered, sounding almost loving.

She was filled with intoxicating satisfaction.

She had won.

She had actually won.

No more Rotblood.

No more competition.

No more Della

She felt so relieved and victorious.

The dagger slipped from her hands and fell to the ground, next to Della’s head. Beatrice didn’t even bother wiping her hands, because how could she?

The feeling of Della’s cold blood on her hands was almost euphoric.

"Goodbye, big sister," She whispered, before turning around and walking away with her shoulders up high.

.

.

.

For several hours, nothing happened. Della’s body remained completely still on the cold forest ground.

The sound of distant howling could be heard in the night, and moving insects around also caught ears. A firefly slowly flew over the corpse in the middle of the forest, then landed atop her head.

The moment it felt something stirred inside of her, it took off and continued flying off.

It started with the smallest movement beneath her skin, making a faint pulse travel through her body. Then, another followed.

Something that sounded like a growl rumbled up her dead throat, but Della remained motionless. Her eyes were still wide open, still carrying the look from the command she had given before she had let go and let the darkness and pain take her away.

The broken bones in her arms and legs slowly shifted back into place with tiny, almost imperceptible movements. Cracks and fractures began sealing themselves as damaged bone knitted back together.

The torn flesh across her body followed not too long after, and that faint stir beneath her skin happened again.

Cuts that had been left open began closing from the inside out. Bruised tissue gradually faded, and every swollen skin in her body settled. The deep wounds left by the blade slowly pulled themselves together until there was nothing left but dried blood staining the surrounding skin.

Then came the burns all over her body. The charred, damaged skin began changing as dead tissue loosened and disappeared as healthy flesh formed beneath it.

The burns slowly receded across her arms, shoulders, back, legs and torso. Blistered skin smoothed over and raw patches closed. The terrible damage left by the flames vanished piece by piece, leaving newly healed skin beneath the blood and soot.

Her body continued repairing itself.

Every injury.

Every fracture.

Every tear.

Every bruise.

Every burn.

Every one of them was healed till her skin looked almost brand-new again.

Eventually, there was no visible wound left on her body. The only thing clinging to her naked skin was the surrounding blood that had left her chest, and the ones that still clung to every part of her body.

Then, the stirring beneath her skin moved across and travelled down to her chest. Something warm surrounded and gripped her cold heart....then it squeezed.

Again, and again!

And again.

THUMP!

Her heart beat once, and then the warm grip let go.

Thump.

A second heartbeat followed on its own, and blood rushed through her veins once again, now feeling more like liquid silver. Her skin picked up that glow again, and it began lifting itself off the floor.

Her fingers twitched by her sides, and then her lungs suddenly contracted.

Della’s body jerked violently as air rushed back into her lungs. She straightened up to her full length, hovering just an inch from the ground with her dead, still eyes unmoving.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her body desperately remembered how to breathe.

The sound of the night had quietened. The forest had become dangerously silent, and the wind seemed to have picked up.

Finally, her eyes twitched.

.

.

.

"You suddenly left for IronRidge. I hope the journey was too... strenuous,"

A side of Beatrice’s lips twitched, and she almost gave in to punching Selene standing next to her. But as usual, she retained that soft smile on her lips and kept staring at the large doors in front of her.

They were all standing in front of the door to the Hall of Ashes. Apparently, Alpha Malachi had summoned them all that night, and Beatrice was certainly pissed.

Because of this, she had to wash off the blood and change into a different set of clothes.

Glancing around, she also saw her brother and mother approaching, accompanied by a guard. Looks like she and Selene weren’t the only two that had been summoned by the Alpha tonight.

Even Moira was here, standing two steps behind Selene like a loyal dog.

"Why do you think he summoned us all?" Jaime whispered into her ear from behind, "Could it be because of Della?"

"Summoning everyone because of a rotblood to the Hall of Ashes? I highly doubt that. But whatever it is, it’s probably important,"

"Yeah, no kidding," Jaime whispered back, and Beatrice rolled her eyes.

The doors finally started to groan as two guards pulled them open from inside, revealing the grand meeting room of the Alphas and the elders again. The last time she and Selene had been in here was the day Malachi had rejected Della, so it pretty much carried a lot of good memories so far.

"I heard the Alpha ordered you to get out of his study the other day," Beatrice retorted softly, her lips curved as the doors were about to fully open, "That doesn’t sound to me like you’ve made any progress on your path to your long-life dream,"

Selene’s hand turned into tight fists, and it was her turn to fume.

The doors opened to the very end, and everyone started to walk in.