172 Dark knight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Leilani.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There were two options;\u00a0<\/p>\n
One: It is either that video was fake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Orrrr\u00a0<\/p>\n
The person in it wasn\u2019t me but Chalice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I slowly turned to face Agnes and sat up straighter, until my spine was as straight as a ruler and asked; \u201cHave you ever seen the said video before?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Agnes looked like she was embarrassed as soon as I asked that. She glanced away, her face coloring a bright shade of pink as she hissed; \u201cOh, yes I have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d I asked, my voice coming out colder than I had anticipated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She froze slightly, but it was the least of my concerns right now. Deep down, I wanted to know if it was also part of the reason she had stopped being my friend, well, besides the fact that Chalice and her minions had bullied her into it. And as I watched\u00a0<\/p>\n
her face become redder, I began to think that my suspicions were true. That she had seen it and thought the absolute worst of me just like everyone else did.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Something twisted in my chest at the thought and I blinked away the tears now pooling around the corners of my eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Agnes turned away to focus her attention on the window. She whispered; \u201cA long time ago, Abby and the rest of the mean girls at the pack literally tried to shove it down my throat because they knew I was friends with you\u2026 this event happened over six years ago, but it became a thing a year before you left the pack.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was five years ago?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you mean by \u2018it became a thing?\u201d I asked coldly, my voice shaking in\u2026 I don\u2019t\u00a0<\/p>\n
even know!\u00a0<\/p>\n
I couldn\u2019t say I was angry or disappointed or confused. And while I could swear that I felt all those emotions all at once, something else nagged viciously at the back of my\u00a0<\/p>\n
mind:\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:22\u00a0<\/p>\n
1\/6\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
172 Dark knight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fear.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I was scared. Not because of the video per say, but because of what it must have done to my reputation, and I didn\u2019t even know about it!\u00a0<\/p>\n
A shudder ran through my body at the thought and my hand soon began to tremble slightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As if noticing my discomfort, Agnes sat back down. She drawled; \u201cDo you remember Gary?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGary the menace?\u201d I asked and she nodded. \u201cWell, I remember him a bit. What\u2019s up with him?\u201d I asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She smiled softly, but I could see that it didn\u2019t quite reach her eyes. She muttered; \u201cHe threw a party on his 19th birthday and invited everyone\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
-I wasn\u2019t surprised that I never knew about that; I mean, no one invited me to their parties back then.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2026and at some point when the drinks had begun to kick in, someone played the video on the projector. The party was supposed to end as a movie night, but the video ended up playing instead of whatever movie we\u2019d been told would play.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I froze.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo everyone knew?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes,\u201d she whispered, \u201c\u2026and they all insulted you for it behind your back.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For me, that was all that I needed to hear. It was more than enough for me as it is, so I went silent, mulling over this new information and wondering what I could do with it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was no wonder why everyone called me a slut\u2026 why the triplets thought I was a whore.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Again, I shuddered, but pushing their opinions to the back of my mind, I turned to Agnes and flashed her a smile. \u201cThank you.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cLeilan-\u201d She began to say, but I cut her off by taking her hands in mine and squeezing them tight. Her gaze softened slightly and the frown creasing the corners of her face began to smoothen over.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Call me a manipulator but I knew that she still felt guilty about leaving me to fend for myself when everyone was against me\u2026 and that guilt\u2026 that guilt eating her up was\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:22\u00a0<\/p>\n
2\/6\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
172 Dark knight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
precisely what I intended to use to my advantage.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A small smile spread across my face as I squeezed her hands tighter, and with a small fake-vulnerable voice, I asked; \u201cCan you do something for me?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Agnes froze and I felt it in the way her fingers stiffened almost imperceptibly. However, before I could take back my words, seeing as it made her quite uncomfortable, she rasped;\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you need help with?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see the video.\u201d I said softly, coldly. \u201cI want to know what I am dealing with here. So when next you hear them talking about it\u2014 I mean Mrs Blackthorne and her daughter, Chalice, please inform me. And if you have any idea how you can get your hands on the video itself, also let me know.\u201d (\u00a0<\/p>\n
She nodded stiffly at me and I beamed another smile at her before letting go of her hand. I then sank into the bed, trying so hard but failing to ignore the way she stared at me. Her gaze was intense and scrutinizing as watched me carefully and muttered;\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFine then, I\u2019ll help you. I\u2019ll just ask my\u2014\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cDo not tell me about your man now!\u201d I snapped, jokingly, not missing the way her tense shoulders loosened immediately.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI won\u2019t. But I\u2019ll tell him about it and see if there\u2019s a way he could help me with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
We spent the next few minutes talking about everything and anything, and after a while, she glanced at her wristwatch and rushed to her feet. \u201cI have to get going now!\u201d She cried and I nodded.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll talk some other time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe definitely will!\u201d She exclaimed and rushed out of the room without another word.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And as I watched her leave, I couldn\u2019t help but think back to everything we had talked about. On my table, Darius\u2019 flowers still lay untouched, and that\u2026 coupled with this strange video straight from the pits of hell made me quite nervous,\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I knew that I needed to get to the root of the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sighing tiredly, I turned away from the table, shut off my iPad and went back to sleep.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Goddess, I was tired!\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:22\u00a0<\/p>\n
3\/6\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kael.\u00a0<\/p>\n
172 Dark knight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A couple more days passed and Caclum was still not responding to treatments. According to the doctors, this was because the silver bullet had pierced a vital organ in his body- that and the fact that it was heavily coated with mercury.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And I wanted to know why.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Why that crazy girl would go that far, why she would try to hurt Leilani with such a powerful weapon even Alphas should be scared of.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Anger and confusion coiled tight at the base of my stomach and due to my annoyance, my body trembled slightly.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShould we inform mother about it?\u201d Zevran asked, snapping me out of my train of thoughts and I turned to him with downcast eyes, shaking my head immediately as I whispered; \u201cNo.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s still in mourning. We may have lost our father but she lost her mate.\u201d I answered.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Zevran fell silent but then I couldn\u2019t miss the way he would turn to glance at me every now and then. His eyes seemed troubled. I frowned and asked; \u201cWhat is the matter?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHuh?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look like you have something to say to me.\u201d I drawled quietly, half-expecting him to brush me off, but to my utmost surprise, he didn\u2019t. Instead, he turned to me and whispered;\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Leilani is in trouble.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart plummeted. \u201cHuh?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst it\u2019s that girl who tried to kill her with silver, then two nights ago, I saw a guy standing outside her door and peeking into her room.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAlpha Frostclaw?\u201d I snorted, already hating myself for feeling jealous at the mere mention of his name; But Zevran shook his head and glanced away, his expression\u00a0<\/p>\n
serious.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t Alpha Frostclaw. Goddess I do not even know who he was but-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou didn\u2019t try to find out?!\u201d I snapped angrily. \u201cYou didn\u2019t approach him?!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:22\u00a0<\/p>\n
4\/6\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\u00a0<\/p>\n
172 Dark knight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At my outburst, he sighed and hissed. \u201cI tried but I couldn\u2019t move. I couldn\u2019t even speak until he was long gone\u2026 I felt compelled.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A couple of seconds passed between us before the realization of what his words meant dawned on me and I froze as my heart soon began to hammer against my chest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou felt compelled?\u201d I asked quietly, almost afraid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cGoddess!\u201d I screamed, causing Zevran\u2019s eyes to widen as he turned to glare at me. \u201cI think\u2026 I think you saw a dark knight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought about that\u2026 but-\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut what?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat business does a dark knight have with Leilani?\u201d He asked, and as soon as he did, I discovered that I could no longer speak. That I was too drained to.\u00a0<\/p>\n
My chest felt tight as I thought about it, and at the realization that Leilani may be in a worse kind of danger than what I initially thought, my knees became weak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And so, I slumped into a chair nearby and buried my face in my hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
14:22\u00a0<\/p>\n
5\/6\u00a0<\/p>\n
Healing Slowly But Surely By R. Joseph 172 172 Dark knight.\u00a0 Leilani.\u00a0 There were two options;\u00a0 One: It is either […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chosen-by-none-feared-by-all"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23375\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}