Kai's POV
I don't know what it was, but Damien telling me that Elaine really wanted to see me made me realize how much I'd missed her while trying to find myself. He had given specific instructions like I should get close to her physically; however, I decided to take it as him being jealous.
I packed my books and everything I used in studying how I could attain redemption from this sick curse of mine, which was limiting me in ways that I wished it didn't. Fixing my hair and grabbing my jacket, I left my home to meet Elaine in hers.
Turning her doorknob, I was braced by a presence I'd swear I never saw coming. My damsel was held by Luca, and the fact that I couldn't even save her from him drove me mad. He vanished with her into thin air before I could even reach for a hair on her head.
Sprinting down the spiral staircase in bloodshot rage, I almost hit Cordelia, who was now looking at me with a worried look.
"Did someone step into this place after Damien left?" I asked her hurriedly.
"N-n-nobody did, Mr. Kai," she answered back with fright in her voice.
"Look, I need your one hundred percent honesty here. Did someone else show up here to see Elaine aside from me and Damien?"
I think hearing Elaine's name frightened her even more to the point where she could no longer speak properly. Carefully pushing her to the side, I headed straight for the door, realizing how foolish I was for asking those dumb questions as if I didn't know what Luca was capable of.
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me to Damien's place because winning against Luca wasn't a thing I could do on my own, especially with certain restrictions of being cursed.
"Damien!" I thundered the moment I was on the premises of his home.
"How dare you barge into my house like that and—"
"Elaine has been taken, Damien. Luca took her before I could even get to her."
My words struck him so hard that he fell quiet instantly. He hurried to bring me into his sitting room, and I was thankful that he understood the urgency of the situation enough to not offer a seat or wine.
"What do you mean, Luca? The sly fae hasn't shown up in years, and all of a sudden, he's into Elaine?" he questioned in disbelief.
"Actually, he just played us dirty. The green-eyed figure, the letter asking me to send her back, the hypnosis…" I trailed off, unable to find my clues in my head. "They all make sense now."
"Meaning that he was just trying to distract us, make us focus on him while he focuses on Elaine," he completed.
It hurt me that Elaine had to be taken by him for everything to make sense. I didn't know how to reach them, though, but I could swear with my last breath that I was going to bring her back.
"We need to start looking somewhere," I pushed further.
"Do you have a better plan to help get it done?" he asked sarcastically. "Look, Luca is not like us. He has magic, and the fun fact is that even if he were here, there'd be no way for us to know because his magic is a great disadvantage to us. Plus, you don't expect him to run off with Elaine to somewhere we can easily find him," he shrugged.
"We also can't sit here and do nothing," I argued back.
"If we must do this, I think we'd have to rekindle some old bonds. We need powerful allies that can at least help us break through the walls of his magic."
I nodded in response, seeing the point he had in his decision. I watched as he grabbed his jacket, his car key, and a small book from his shelf before he gestured for me to leave.
He was following behind me until we almost got to his car. Then and there, I began to feel strange. My bones felt so numb, and my heartbeat sped up. I felt a throbbing pain in my chest, which sent me to the ground… I couldn't keep my eyes open steadily because shutting them helped the pain in a very subtle way, though.
"What's wrong, Kai?" Damien almost panicked beside me.
Dark veins were starting to pop up under my skin, and the intensity of the pain in my chest worsened. Aside from during the full moon, this experience only happened once, which was a short while after I was cursed.
I tried to push Damien away, forcing him to run since I knew what came next, but he didn't budge. He grew his fangs and sank them into his wrist, putting it directly to my mouth. I refused to open my mouth, though. I knew he was trying to save me, but it was only going to make matters worse.
Pushing him abruptly, which sent him landing hard against his car, I tried to warn him.
"Thirst! Blood!"
Those were the last moments of my sanity as I no longer had control over everything that happened—including me shifting. I aimed for Damien, who was still trying to recover from the crash. I had one thing in mind—Kill. Hunt. Destroy.
My first attack was very futile. He was faster than I thought, or maybe I was slower than normal. I felt a rough tap behind me, which made me turn. I raised my hand again, this time with high hopes that I'd tear him to shreds, but he moved faster again, pulling a silver dagger and stabbing me countless times in my chest.
I didn't know how he was able to do it without letting his blade pierce my heart, but I felt indebted to him that he did. My eyes caught the regret in his while I collapsed to the floor. I saw his mouth moving, but I couldn't hear anything until all my senses were submerged in darkness.
***
"I think he is awake," I heard a soft feminine voice echo in my head, although it wasn't the voice I wanted to hear so badly.
I tried to get my eyes to open, which finally happened after multiple attempts.
"He is awake now," Damien agreed with whoever it was.
"Where's Elaine?" I blurted out, wanting nothing else than to see her and know rhat she was okay.
"Take a look at yourself and try to remember that you almost killed me. Kai, even if I have found her, do you seriously think I'd let her near you?"
His question struck me hard, making me look at his shirt and how truly in a mess I was.
"I'm sorry," I lowered my voice, while trying to recall everything the way it had happened, Damien's bloody shirt, my strong instinct to kill. Honestly, it made me grateful that Elaine wasn't anywhere near there. It also made sad at the possibilities of hurting Elaine if something like that happens when she's close to me.
"I am Sarah, and I learned that you are Kai—well, a cursed lycan…" she trailed off, pointing a teacup of steaming liquid close to me.
"Do you have any idea what that was?" She wasn't specific with her question, but I could tell where she was driving at. Damien had his eyes fixed to mine also anticipating a response from me.
"Maybe it has something to do with the curse because the full moon isn't anywhere close yet."
"Come with me if you don't mind," she asked Damien.
Soon, I was left alone in the small room to think about my fate. This was my first time seeing her, and even though I doubted that she could help me with my predicament, I had to stay put. Not because I wanted to, but because I had to in order to be strong enough to bring back Elaine.
I was so engrossed in my thoughts about what could be happening between her and Luca until both of them resurfaced.
"Your curse is bound to an ancient power, and aside from the pros and cons to it, things like this can happen when you do a particular thing wrong," Sarah started explaining.
"Have you been on a search to find redemption?" Damien asked from behind her.
"What am I supposed to do? Sit and get wasted?"
"Look, I don't mean to be cocky, okay? It's just very possible that you're doing things wrong in order to free yourself from the curse," he shrugged, hurting my pride.
"Your temperature is rising. Please calm down a bit…"
Again, the thought of wanting to be strong for Elaine made me succumb to her instruction.
"Your very source of redemption could kill you as much as it can save you."
I found my mind drifting to Elaine. But if not her—what else could be my redemption?