Chapter 18

Hattie's phone rang again, she groaned in frustration as she took the cellphone out of her bag. It was Bella calling for the 5th time now. She was still at Daphne's house and Daphne was preparing lunch in the kitchen. She held the phone to her ear after answering it.

"hello Bella, I am fine, you did not need to worry about me, I was just about coming home now" she blurted out.

"Hattie, where are you?

"I'm at a friend's house, I stopped by after coming back from the hospital"

"A friend's house? Do you realise how dangerous that could be?"

"I know, I wasn't planning on spending the night there. I will come home as soon as possible" Hattie said rolling her eyes.

"Where are you? let me come and pick you up" 

"You don't need to bother, I am not a baby, I can make it home by myself"

"No Hattie you don't realise how dangerous this situation has become. Javier would have my head if I let anything bad happen to you"

"I know, nothing is going to happen to me I'm just at a friend's house"

"And I'm telling you to come back home now or I will come and get you myself"

"What are you so tensed up about?"

"Hattie, you do not realise how complicated this situation is. Javier said you were stubborn, I did not believe it but now I am really starting to believe it.

Daphne who was in the kitchen came out as a result of all the fuse. She gave Hattie a confused look in an attempt to ask her who she was talking to and why she was so tensed up. Hattie signalled Daphne to keep her voice down as she resumed her call. 

"Bella stop acting like a Mum, I'll be on my way right now"

"I am not trying to act like a Mum, I am just trying to protect you Hattie"

"Of course" Hattie said sarcastically

"Whatever, just make it home on time" Bella said as she ended the call.

Hattie held the phone away from her ears and held it in front of her.

"So this is what my life has become?" Hattie signed

"Who was that?" Daphne asked

"Javier's sister, I Wonder Why both of them are so bossy, it's almost as if it runs in their blood" Hattie said which made Daphne  chuckle.

"I guess I have to be going now" Hattie added 

"She said you should come over?"

"Yes that was what we were arguing about"

"Wow ok but I was really making lunch for the both of us"

"I'm sorry I can't stay I have to be going now but I'll be sure to visit you next week" 

"Ok sure bye"

"Bye" Hattie said as she headed to the door. She sighed as she exited Daphne's house.

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"Bella am finally home, why did you want me to come home so badly?" Hattie said as she entered through the front door.

 Bella came downstairs as a result of the noise. She stood hands akimbo like a mother ready to spank a child as she looked at Hattie.

"Where did you go?"

"I already told you I went to a friend's house"

"You know you shouldn't be going out like that"

"And you know you can't keep me here forever. I would even like to leave next week because I'm getting much better and I can't continue to run forever"

"Hopefully we'll think of a solution before that time but for now you need to stay indoors"

"You guys are just so impossible" Hattie said as he walked past Bella with anger. 

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Javier gulped the last cup of alcohol as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. He was totally himself and he couldn't seem to remember what had happen. That was how it was for lashedta, they do terrible things when in season and afterwards, they loose all the memories. Javier knew his season wasn't over but he thanked heavens that he was himself again. He wondered what had happened when he was in season and he really hoped it wasn't that bad. He stood up from where he was seated as he staggered toward his room, under the influence of alchohol. He got to his room as he unbotten his shirt and laid on his bed, shirtless as he waited for sleep to take control. Suddenly He felt hot, very hot, hotter than usual. He tilted to the other side, he hoped and prayed that it wasn't what He thought it was. It could be his beast trying to take control of his body again. He felt his breathing accelerate again, not again, he thought. Beads of sweat gathered In his forehead as he stood up from the bed, he knew what was coming. He groaned In pain as he felt his bones twisting. He fell on his knees in agony as he tried to fight the pain. 

'Dont fight it, don't fight it, don't fight' the voices kept lingering in his head. He held his ears as he fell to the floor in agony. His hair and cloths were already drenched In sweat because of the heat he felt within. He couldn't fight it anymore, he finally gave in.

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Hattie got down from her bed as she stretched her arms, relieving all the gathered blood. She yawned tireldly. She felt thirsty and needed some water to drink. She walked out of her room as she headed downstairs. She dragged her feet through the stairs, it was still night so she still felt a little dizzy from sleep. She got to the end of the stairs and her eyes met a room, just opposite the stairs. It was slightly opened. Curious Hattie always wondered what was behind the ever closed door of that room. She had noticed how Bella was very cautious and ever so secretive when it came to that room. She once told Hattie that it was just where she kept business documents and all but Hattie knew there was more to it. Hattie looked at the room which was peach dark judging from the slight opening of the door. Hattie ached to know what was in the room as she looked at it. She stood at the stair, hands akimbo still in thoughts whether she should go in or not. As if the room was calling her, she couldn't resist, she really needed to find out what was in this room. She braced herself as she walked towards the room. Bella was fast asleep so she wouldn't find out, Hattie thought. She walked to the room as she slipped her tiny body through the slight opening on the door, she didn't want to open the door any further for fear of it making any noise. Hattie walked into the room and was greeted by darkness, she ran her hands through the wall in search of a light swich, she found one and flicked it on. The light was really bad as it kept blinking rapidly, giving off little amount of light. Hattie sighed, she could manage anyway. She looked at the room she was standing on. It was quite plain, didn't look like a room at all. The room had absolutely nothing on it, but it did have a stairs that lead all the way to the buttom of where Hattie did not know of. Hattie found the scene rather creepy. What would anyone think about flicking lights and a stairs, that was perfect horror  scene. Her instinct told her to leave but her other curious self was bent on staying. She listened to her curious self as she braced herself and headed towards the stairs, she was barely seeing where she was going but she managed. She reached the end of the stairs, she turned around and her eyes met a table. She walked towards the table and there were alot of pictures on it, some where pasted to the wall while some just layed on the table, scattered. Hattie wondered why there where so many picture, she didn't recognise any person in the photos. She picked up a picture  and held it up as it was hard to see anything due to the flickering light. A picture of a lady, Hattie couldn't recognise this woman, she noticed some writings below the picture and she squinted her eyes to read it. " MARKED " the writing read. This made Hattie kind of confused because she also saw the same writing on the painting she saw in Javier's house. She wondered what it meant and why it was on the picture. Hattie was about dropping the picture when her attention caught a picture laying not too far from the others. She picked the pic up and she gasped, She couldn't believe her eyes, what was this, why was this picture here? she kept on asking herself as she looked at the picture. What the hell was her mother's picture doing in Bella's house. She looked down on the writing on the picture and is also said 'marked'. Cold shiver ran down her spine. She suddenly felt scared she did not know what to think anymore. I mean what should she think when she just saw her mother's picture in a stranger's secret room. She had a lot of questions but she wasn't going to ask Bella, she was going to ask someone who knew her very well and it was Javier. She picked up the picture and rushed up the stairs. The light still flickering and the silence in the room made her very scared. she was going to get out of this house this night and she didn't care about the consequences. She would just go to Javier's house and stay there, rather than staying in this strange place. She made her way out of the room slowly, shutting the door, carefully not to make any sound. She held her mother's pic in her arms as she made her way to the front door. She really needed a lot of explanation. She searched for the keys to the front door, thankfully, she found it and she quickly exited the house. She felt the wind hit her soft skin as she shivered as a result of the cold, she didn't care, she just needed to get out of there. She ran barefooted as the cold ground went hard against her foot. Javier's house wasn't too far from Bella's. Her intentions was going to Javier's house, at least she would feel much safer there and she will hopefully get answers to all this. She kept on running. One of the reason she ran was, she did not want the incidents that happened last night to repeat itself so she wanted to get to Javier's house as soon as possible. Another reason she ran was, she was scared after just seeing her mother's pic in Bella's house. How did Bella even know her mum, she asked herself. There was more to this than she thought and she was going to find out that. She stopped Midway as she tried to catch her breath. She was really running too fast and she knew that she wasn't properly healed  but she still had to run though, she couldn't go back and most definitely couldn't stop. She braced herself as she continued to run. No matter how far Javier's house was, she made up of mind that she was going to get there. And she would.

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The lashedta smirked as he heard the doorbell ring. How wonderful was it when a prey walked directly to a Predator. He walked towards the door and he saw her, How lovely, he smiled in satisfaction. She looked so fragile and he liked it that way. He opened the door and smiled at her as he gave way for her to enter. She looked really worried but that wasn't his concern. He was going to kill her because he suddenly felt the urge to kill somebody.

Javier looked at the girl in front of him talking and gasping for breath. There was something strange about her that he couldn't seem to put his finger on. He felt a strange aura around her and he couldn't decipher what.

"I just found something very shocking at your sister's house" She held a crumbled picture towards him. The lashedta didn't even know what she was talking about and he certainly did not know who she was. He felt agitated and needed to kill her and hurt her so badly. He felt his blood begin to boil as he squeezed his fist tightly. He looked at the prey in front of him and he smiled. He walked towards her slowly, she seems to be talking about something but the lashedta didn't care about that. He walked slowly to her, on getting to her, he pushed her aggressively on the wall, pinning her to the wall. His strong hands wrapped around her neck as he squeezed life out of her to his satisfaction. He smiled as he watched her struggle for her life.

Hattie tried to wiggle away out of his grip. She was so surprised at how he reacted . was he trying to kill her? She was really losing her breath as she held onto his hands that was wrapped tightly around her neck. She looked into his eyes as she managed to whisper.

"Javier, it's me Hattie " she said hardly as she was already loosing her breath. She wondered what had come over him this night.

Just like a magic word, that name had a lot of effect on Javier as he started calming down. He looked at the girl in front of him then he suddenly realised that it was his darling Hattie. He slowly removed his hand from her neck as he fell to the floor. What was he doing? he almost killed Hattie. He was very weak as his energy was already drained. He had always hated himself but the hatred he felt right now was different. He almost killed her. He was still kind of confused how he was able to stop himself. A lashedta can never be stopped in season . It was almost as if they were on another world. They wouldn't be able to recognise anybody and anybody they see would be considered as a prey. Javier felt a hand on his back, he looked up as he saw Hattie kneeling down just opposite him. She placed her right palm on his back as she rubbed on it in an attempt to calm him down. She had this confused look in her face but Javier was more confused, why wasn't she running away? After just experiencing an almost death situation. Javier looked into her eyes, he could see fear but he still wondered why she still stayed. His vision became blurry, his head began to spin, his energy was all gone, he couldn't even lift a finger, his head fell on her shoulder as Darkness overshadowed him.