VERMILLION: The fall of Zaleon

Chapter 23

‘How close are we to killing the immortal pair?’ Questioned Daraz as he faced his sister. There were very few times when Daraz had the courage to face his sister with questions, and this one was one of the few moments he did, given the fact that the heartbreak of losing Amana still stuck with him like glue. He had wanted to terminate the immortal pair more than ever, just to prove to the woman that they were right, and hope to win her back somehow through that. His memory of their kiss had been vivid, though to him it came through a completely different perspective than it actually was. Amana had remembered the kiss to be a forceful, pressing and possessive kiss with no feelings whatsoever. It was a sloppy mouth to mouth that she detested more than anything in the world, especially now that she had found her mate and experienced what real intimacy was like. Though to him that kiss meant the world, it was the most passionate thing he had ever done, and he sure as hell wanted to experience it again with her. He knew not his plans, just that he was striving to get her back somehow, and that began with getting her away from the immortal couple that she fancied so very much. Perhaps if the war ended she would realise the mistake she had made and rushed back to him, and he would take her in with open arms. Or he would protect her when the immortal couple really began to do them harm, knowing that their true intentions were to kill each other. Somehow, one way or another he wanted the couple dead, and in his desperate state he reached out to the mastermind of plans, his sister, to figure out exactly what was going on and piece together how they were going to get to the finish line. 

‘Watch your tone with me, Daraz. I don’t see you contributing to finding a solution’ she snapped back, and it only angered the man more, more than he usually was. 

‘Well I don’t see you finding a solution! So much for Elize, the mastermind of plans, when in reality she can’t do anything!’ He yelled, and the female Witch found herself confused at the man’s intentions. She looked into his eyes, surprised that he had raised his voice with her, and began wondering what truly was wrong with him. Frowning, she stood up to go face him. 

‘What’s wrong with you?’ She asked him calmly, hoping he would just reveal his truth, and maybe even have the breakdown he needed to have. Albeit Daraz kept himself together, ready to respond with snappy, snarky comments to get to the bottom of his problems, and that was going to be a problem with Elize. 

‘What’s wrong with you, Elize? Why do you take charge when you don’t know what to do anyways? We are no closer to destroying the immortal pair than we were when we found out we’re doomed! Maybe you should let someone else do the thinking for you since your small brain refuses to work in situations where you pretend like it will!’ He shouted, and this time Elize decided she was not having it. She lifted her brother off the ground using her magic, choking him slightly as she allowed the anger to take over. Though it didn’t last long, and Daraz unhooked himself using his own magic, and backed his sister into the wall, his hand on her neck, ready to choke her. ‘You think you can kill me? Try again’ he whispered to her angrily, shaking as he let her go and walked back. 

‘What had gotten into you Daraz? You’re losing it!’ She exclaimed, now having had enough of her brother’s behaviour.

‘You’ve had enough of me, have you? Well guess what, Elize, I think everyone else has had enough of you and your bullshit! You said you would find a way to terminate the immortal pair, you took charge, and yet here we are, nowhere close to killing them! It’s typical of you, you take charge and then you fail in your missions’ he repeated to anger her further, and she glared at him with everything she had. 

‘Oh really, I always fail at everything do I? Must I remind you that it was I that took revenge for our father! It was I that planned on-’

‘On what Elize? Killing our actual parents? Well done, we murdered our parents, aren’t we just the most amazing people. What are we going to do now? Because as far as my vision goes, our parents are dead, we succeeded in that mission, but we’re getting nowhere with this mission, and it’s because you want to be the leader all on your own!’ he spat, making a great mistake. Elize had taken his comment lightly, knowing that his words were true and unaware of the fact that Stregov and Dregov stood right outside the door, listening in on the conversation they had been having. Stregov gasped to himself hearing the truth, and Dregov’s eyes widened as they moved back, thinking back to her words. 

Daraz and Elize had murdered their parents that night. Stregov remembered that night vividly, how he had held Elize in his arms all night, how he had protected her, supported her and been there for her when he had thought that their parents had been taken by the flame. He had thought that she had just gone through something terrible, but in fact, the psycho woman had done it upon herself, and she was not ashamed of it. He wondered why she had done it and why she had never told him before, feeling pain blossom through him as he wondered if she truly loved him at all if she was lying to him and keeping a secret this massive. 

The siblings had not realised their presence outside and kept talking. 

‘I took revenge for our father, and now I will take revenge on the flame, because when it comes to revenge I’m the best person to play that game. Don’t you worry about it, brother, I will find a way of terminating the immortal couple, because I despise the flame. You may despise me right now but that isn’t going to help us solve this issue, so I recommend that whatever issue you have right now, you put it away and focus on helping me find a way to kill them’ she responded, getting calmer by the minute as she realised how futile it would be to fight with her own brother. She had nothing against him, though she saw absolutely no reason to be complete best friends with him either. They had never been that close, despite sharing a massive secret, and they didn’t plan on changing that lifestyle now. 

Daraz calmed down visibly too, taking a deep breath and listening to her words, putting behind his frustration to actually think of a solution to their problems. 

‘Why can’t we get into their heads?’ He asked, his frustration now evident as he kicked the chair closest to him. 

‘I don’t know, but we will find out, Daraz. Just be patient, I’m working on something, and hopefully I’ll have a solution soon. In the meantime I recommend we capture them somehow. We may not be able to kill them, but we can still hurt them and harm them. They can’t escape our grasps if we keep them locked up somewhere. We just need to gather everyone and find the right time to do it. Especially because Amana and Dregov are getting too close to them, and things are starting to look suspicious. We need to act soon’ she revealed, bringing a ray of hope into his life, one that he really needed. The thought of Amana realising how wrong she was flooded his head, and he took pleasure in the image that played in his mind, one of her rushing to him once her plans would fail, and all would be chaos. 

‘Let’s do it then, let’s capture them and find a way to kill them’ he spoke, anger laced in his voice. 

At this point Stregov and Dregov had heard more than necessary, and when the door flashed open by Elize, and she noticed Stregov standing behind it, looking at her with disgust and shame, she knew he had heard it all, even the stuff she had kept a secret from him for too long. He didn’t even bother looking at her for long enough before he ran away into the distance, and she followed behind, entering her own panic mode. 

‘Stregov wait!’ She yelled chasing after him, not knowing what to do or say. How was she supposed to explain herself to him. She knew that perhaps if he knew the truth he might understand her, and her only option now had been to explain the truth to him. 

‘Go away Elize’ he said to her for the first time, though she wasn’t having it. She watched him barge into their bed room and ran inside before he could shut the door on her face, shutting it behind her and locking it so he couldn’t go anywhere. 

‘You don’t understand’ she began but he cut her off. 

‘I don’t care Elize, I don’t want to know why you murdered-’

‘My mother was having an affair!’ She exclaimed, interrupting him and silencing him all in one. 

‘What?’ Was all he could say as she looked at him desperately, and she continued. 

‘My mother, she was having an affair with my uncle. I found out when I was really young, and I told my father and brother about it, they saw it too. My father begged my brother and I to remain silent about it, and we did for his sake. Though he was miserable. We could see it in his eyes. Our uncle, who is actually our father, loved us but he and my mother lied right to our faces for years. They could have just told my father the truth, and we could have all had a normal life where my uncle would have just been proclaimed my father from the start, but they didn’t. They lied, and they made all of our lives hell. My father wasn’t happy about being alive, and eventually the flame took him. That’s the day we confronted our parents, and they confessed to us the truth, that they had been lying to us all along because the truth was that they were in love way before my mother met my father, and her mother forced her to marry him because she knew that she was in love with my uncle. It didn’t matter to Daraz and I at the time because we were so hurt to have been raised in a broken family. We were devastated when my father passed away, and more than anything we were raging about my mother and her lies. So we killed them. I know it’s terrible but we truly just acted out of anger. Please try to understand’ she pleaded, looking straight into his eyes and trying to hold his hands or touch him. Though he pushed away, trying to keep it together and get some space. Perhaps it was the build up of emotions or the earlier harsh words of his sister, but he had had enough, and just wanted a moment to himself, to pick himself back up. 

‘Elize, I understand that you must have been livid, but you murdered your parents! That isn’t normal. The worst part is you hid it from me for so long! I have shared everything about my life to you, about how my father abandoned us, and still I support him, but you, you lied to me all this time, kept this massive secret from me’ he explained, and the pained woman knew that she had messed up big time. 

‘I know, but how was I supposed to tell you something like this? I can’t just say “oh by the way I killed my parents” now can I?’ The Witch tried to convince, though he seemed as unconvinced as ever.  

‘No. you didn’t have to say that. You could have started off with the story of your mother’s affair, and escalated your way up to that. Instead, you lied to me, hid this massive thing from me. I just can’t believe it. I need some time Elize. I need some time to think’ he mentioned, attempting to kick her out. She resisted, tears now fully streaming down her face as she attempted to hang onto the one person who had been loyal beyond belief to her. It had all dawned upon her in that moment how much he cared for her despite not being her mate, and as she tried to stay in that room her mother’s last words rang in her ears like a haunting memory: “One day you’ll know the meaning of true love, and that love will be taken away from you. You will hurt, and I will not be there to hold you and help you. One day you will understand all that I did, and when you do, it will be too late to change anything” In that moment she felt the pain her mother had talked about, and wondered if that was what the pain of true love felt like. Though in reality Elize had no idea what true love meant, because despite being willing to give it to her, the woman had never truly accepted it into her own life, she had never truly given it away. The only thing in the hearts of Elize and Daraz Vermillion was hatred and resentment, for anything and everything around them, but mainly the flame. Years later the siblings still couldn’t get over their upbringing, and it was now going to haunt them in a way they never expected it to. 

Would Elize and Daraz ever learn to love, who knew, perhaps by the time they would it would be too late for them, but only time would tell. 

‘Please, Stregov, I’m sorry, I love you, please don’t hate me’ she begged, sobbing her eyes out now. She had been as desperate as Daraz, and could only hope that her loyal man would remain whipped and take her back within an instant. But for the first time in his life, Stregov Doirekh decided to do things the hard way, and pushed her away just slightly. 

‘I love you too, I just need some time. Please leave’ he ordered, and the wide eyed woman remained speechless as he closed the door on her after making her leave. Tears streamed down her face silently, and despite feeling pain, she let anger take over as she usually did, to cover up for the pain that really had conquered her system throughout the years. She had never learnt to appreciate all that she had, and now she was going to learn the value of it and pay the price. 

Stregov walked to the corner of his room, intaking all that he had heard, and thought hard about what he wanted to do. Should he return to the woman who had lied to him so badly, or side with his sister for once, taking her words into account. He had no way of making that decision inside the mansion that hunted him with the memories of everything with everything that he looked at, and so she opened the window and took off into the distance in his dragon form, needing the air more than usual. 

Dregov had realised the truth too, and had rushed to Amana’s room instantly, making sure that neither Daraz nor Elize had been following him. The woman opened her door instantly, and he walked in tentatively, grabbing his phone and texting Eliana and Razaar to rush inside so he could publicly reveal what had happened. 

‘Dregov, what’s wrong?’ She asked, waiting for the grand reveal as she watched him smirk and wait for the immortal pair. 

‘Let’s wait for Eliana and Razaar, they should be here any minute’ sure enough, right after his words, two snakes slid under the door frame, changing into their human forms within seconds. 

‘What’s going on? What’s the emergency?’ Asked Eliana, ensuring that Liem had not been around as she did. Once the coast was clear, she allowed him to proceed. 

‘I just found out something. Something big. Elize and Daraz murdered their parents’ he began, and gasps erupted all over. ‘Turns out Elize’s mother was having an affair with their uncle, who actually happens to be the father, and after the passing of their father -who is actually their uncle- the devastated children murdered their parents’ he revealed, and everyone looked at each other with wide eyes and in complete shock. None of them had anything to say, not having expected such great news to come out at all, though the best was yet to come. ‘That’s not even the best part. Stregov overheard, and he’s fuming. He walked out of Elize and kicked her out saying he needed space. The woman is in tears, and Stregov has taken off’ he elaborated, and the first person to smile at this was Amana. 

‘Does this mean he’s on our side?’ She asked promptly, and despite his answer the immortal couple had begun having doubts of their own. They had no reason to doubt the other two whatsoever, knowing their intentions were pure, though Stregov was only angry with Elize, and probably momentarily. Eliana and Razaar looked between each other, both knowing what the other was thinking, but let Amana continue anyways.

‘No, I don’t think so. Well, I don’t know. He looks vulnerable. Maybe if we tried to get him on our side now, he would come?’ He pondered, though doubted it more than he believed it. 

‘Look, I respect you trying to get your brother to your side, but think about this really well. Do you really think Stregov is going to abandonne Elize or hurt her? He might be against her but ask yourself if he’s willing to hurt her. It’s too much of a risk letting him in on the plan, especially when his loyalties are so tied with the Vermillion Witch. I don’t think this is a great idea, with all due respect’ Razaar interrupted, and the whole room turned silent. 

Eliana sensed the discomfort in Amana’s chest, and reached out to hold onto her hand. 

‘Look, I understand the pain you must be going through right now, but we’ve all worked too hard to get to this point, and the war is still at large. Think of Remo, and Clea before you make any decisions, please’ she reinforced in the best way possible, and immediately Dregov straightened up, agreeing.

‘They’re right Amana. As much as I want to try and appeal to him, I know he’s far too gone. I don’t think this will work. Stregov will never be on our side’ he tried to explain, knowing the outcome already. Though Amana had higher hopes, and for once saw an image of her family getting back together the way she always had imagined. 

‘I know, but maybe I can try to. Just let me talk to him. I won’t utter a word of this, I promise, and I won’t let my emotions get the best of me, because I know that I have something in my life I care way too much about now to let it go. Just let me talk to him to see where his head is at and we can discuss it and go from there’ she pleaded, and Eliana and Razaar had no idea what to say. 

‘Look, it’s not really up to us either, we need to ask the commander-’

‘No please, I don’t want to involve her in this just yet. Look, like I said, just let me talk to him. If I feel like it’s going well we can consult her before taking any more steps, if I see he’s a lost cause I’ll let it go. Like I said, I won’t reveal anything. I care about Remo too much to let him go, but I also am going to try if I can get my family back together. Just please try to understand me’ she asked again, and the Hybrid leader couldn’t say no to the woman she had come to trust with her life. 

‘Alright, just talk to him, but don’t reveal a thing. Just check where his head is at and if anything, we will write to Paulina to let her know the situation’ she responded, and a smile took over Amana’s face and she nodded eagerly, seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.  

‘Thank you. I promise I won’t let this get in the way of our plans. I still want them all dead, including my brother if he is one of them’