The LED light in the hallway that led towards Phil’s room flickered as an ominous silence blanketed the area.
"Who did it?" Ava uttered. Her voice was so low it sounded like a whisper.
"Right now, both witches and shifters are suspects. We pinpointed it to... Covens. But then the de Cene family used hybrids against you in that building. So, there is a possibility that one of the noble families was involved in the experiments too." Baba answered her. "Matthew is already on his way."
"Is he— I mean my brother. Is he going to turn back into..." she gulped. " A human?"
"That is hard to say. Now that we knew he is infected with some sort of a shifter condition we can perform experiments and try to turn him back. But it is highly likely that he would stay like this or... completely become a hybrid."
"And by hybrid, you mean those mindless fools who just kill everyone they see?"
"We cannot be sure. We have not caught any living hybrids and the bodies that we did find were all practically useless."
"But why did he become like this? What was the trigger?" Shaman Gaas spoke. "He has not taken any medicine, his food and water were monitored since he stayed here. What happened? What changed."
"I believe it could be stress. He was fine this morning. Then... he heard the news about his wife’s condition and the fact that she might stay like this for a few days or years despite the advancements of both technology and our healers."
"Then he started acting weird?"
"He said he was hungry," Dr. Orbach, one of Matthew’s specialists, said. "We gave him food. He said he wanted something else. So we gave him something else. Then... he said he didn’t like the smell. So one of my associates brought him to the canteen and instead of choosing something, he went to the kitchen and started eating the raw chicken."
Dr. Orbach looked at Ava’s eyes. "Shifters... at least some of the ones that I knew prefer raw meat than cooked ones."
Ava nodded. "Then what are we going to do?" she was staring at her brother, who was excitedly eating a chicken... leg. Raw leg.
"We tried talking to him. But he doesn’t talk to us. The moment he started eating, he just... stopped talking."
"I will try it," Ava said.
"Ava..."
"It’s okay Baba, I can protect myself."
Without waiting for their response, she walked inside the room. She steadied herself and calmed herself down. Despite her racing heart, Ava was logical enough to know that one mistake could anger Phil and an angry shifter who has... lost the ability to think, is a very dangerous shifter.
"Phil?" she said in a gentle voice.
In response, her brother lifted his head and stared at her.
She immediately faked a smile.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
However, Phil just kept staring at her without saying anything.
"Phil? Can you hear me?" she slowly approached him and tried to ignore the blood on his face. "I— I just came here to tell you that Gabi is... sleeping."
At the mention of Gabi, Phil frowned. But still, he said nothing.
"Phil?"
Unknowingly, tears pooled in Ava’s eyes. She thought about the past. She thought of their mother who raised them, she thought of Phil who grew up with her. She had a family. They were her family. The thing that she wanted the most since her father died.
"Phil?" Ava’s voice shook. Then she bit her lower lips and cleared her throat. Without saying anything Ava walked out of the room.
.....
Two hours later
Matthew Graydon’s Mansion
"Phil would never have volunteered," Ava said when Matthew asked her about the possibility that Phil knew what was happening all along. "No. He wanted a family. He wanted a wife, a kid, and a normal job. He would never partake in something that could possibly kill him."
"So far, there is only one name that comes up when we try to connect the dots," Matthew answered. Just like Ava, he also had a serious expression on his face.
"Trillium," Ava nodded. "Samuel Sutton."
"You think..."
"No. Samuel isn’t like that. He’s my mother’s friend. He— he sent me here despite knowing that it would be against Trillium’s law. He knew that once caught... he would be reprimanded."
"But they sent him to Cuba not because he sent you here."
This made Ava silent.
"You told me Samuel Sutton already knew that something was going to happen and that might be the reason why they sent him away."
Ava nodded. She thought about the last call that she had with Samuel. "Samuel wanted me to be here. He wanted... me to meet you. He had connections with the Lycan Council." Then Jude came here for Samuel’s position and Trillium tried to frame her brother for Romeo’s crimes.
"They wanted to silence Phil," Ava uttered. "Phil was a failed experiment so they want me to deal with him. They thought... they thought they could use my anger to kill my own brother."
Ava snorted. "Those fucking people played me like a damn ball."
"And you can’t even touch them... without implicating yourself," Matthew added.
Of course, Ava knew that Matthew’s words were right. If she complained or did something against them, they could easily release her files and maybe send her current whereabouts to the people who hated her for killing someone they knew.
Damnit.
Ava could only curse inwardly.
Those people treated her like a dog. And they thought they could manipulate her emotions.
Those people used her from the start.
"Do you think... Samuel was in on it too?" Matthew said.
"I don’t know." Right now? Ava wasn’t sure anymore. She trusted the man. Hell, she trusted him with her life!
And now this!?
Ava smiled. Then she let out a low chuckle. freewebnøvel_com
"I was so dumb..." Well... she knew she wasn’t very bright from the start but realizing that those people were just playing with her like a toy was enough to give a bruise to her ego. So much for her powerful magick, huh.
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