Chapter Forty-Three
1365 Words
“Alpha!” the familiar voice calls out like a siren’s song. It’s the voice of my dead mate—Amber Howell, but how? She’s dead. She’s been dead for twelve years.
“Alpha!” I heard it again. My feet can not help but go towards it. The costumed students multiply in my vision, bringing on the blurriness again. I stumble to and fro again like a drunk, blending in with the party-ers around me. The music blaring from the DJ throbs in my ears. My head feels like it wants to explode from the sudden pressure. The flashing lights help the crowd move hypnotically to the rhythm of the music.
“Alpha!” I hear her voice and then I see it. The dark auburn hair. I smell her scent of vanilla and roses. “Alpha!” I hear her voice above the maddening noise.
“Alpha!” It continues to call to me. I’m suddenly lost in the tsunami of Halloween party-ers. There are many wolves, witches, vampires, zombies, you name it, they are sure to be there. My vision keeps getting worse. I can hardly tell where I am going. Spots of colors suddenly flash and pop before my eyes, sending me backwards into the crowd. They just think that I am one of them and help me back up on my feet. Everyone bumps into each other and most really don’t care. Their laughter and merriment just add to this labyrinth of chaos I find myself in.
“Alpha!” The pull of her voice is powerful. I can not escape it no matter how hard I try. “Alpha!” She giggles just how I remember. So young, so innocent. I think I’m suddenly in one of the fraternity houses. The smell of beer and other alcohol, food, pot, a collage of all kinds of perfumes and colognes, and s*x fill the air, but strangely, I can only smell the vanilla and roses. I’m beginning to loathe those scents. I feel like a fool leaving George behind. George! I remember him. Tiffeny...
“Alpha!” It calls out to me again. My wobbly legs keep moving onward to wherever the voice and scent decide to take me. I am merciless under this mysterious power it has over me. But still, I must try to fight this. Onward and ever-moving I go. In one fraternity house and out to another, falling onto drunk students who don’t care. I’m trying to recall how many times I’ve had beer spilled on me. “Alpha!” My legs can’t seem to go on. I’m getting winded again. Why can’t I stop chasing after this ghost? “Alpha!” I still painfully travel on this course.
Back at the Biology building...
A frantic George is dumbfounded by what has happened to his Sergeant. He all of a sudden disappeared into the mass of students. He remembered that Roger was on campus too. He quickly gave him a call.
“Roger, we have a situation,” George rushed out, getting to the point.
“Uh, okay, what kind of situation,” Roger inquired. He was sent here for a specific job. He wants to make his senior officers proud of his sleuthing skills.
“The Sergeant suddenly went MIA,” George muttered.
“Sergeant went what?! You sure,” Roger said, wanting to laugh off the ridiculousness of the statement.
“I’m serious Oren. It’s like he just upped and disappeared. Stop whatever you’re doing and help me find him, please,” George commanded his old patrol partner. “His health isn’t top-notch.”
“Okay, I’ll help, obviously,” Roger’s voice couldn’t help but have just a hint of sarcasm in it. “Tell me, what exactly happened?”
“The Sergeant didn’t start to act funny until he opened the package that you brought him,” George explained.
“It said URGENT. What else was I to do with it? The Captain said to give it to him. He thought it might be case-related. So, was he fine until he opened it?”
“Yeah, I was curious. I urged him to open it up,” George guiltily confessed.
“Okay, so where was the last area you saw him,” Roger asked his old partner.
“In between the Biology Building and the greenhouse.”
“Okay, start there. I’ll start here. Maybe he found his way over here by sheer dumb luck,” Roger suggested.
Somewhere on campus...
“Alpha!” It lures me deep within the bowels of the campus. I still try to fight its pull. But glimpses of her here and there. Is it truly her? Her scent engulfs my nostrils, almost causing them to burn. Yeah, from here on out, I absolutely hate vanilla and roses! Woof! But yet, that scent draws me. Why the hell is this happening to me, and why, of all reasons, is it happening now?!
“Sergeant Black!” I heard another voice. I recognize it. It’s George! I want to respond, but I can’t. I have no control over my body at present. I continue to move, weaving in and out from among the costumed students thrashing their bodies around like idiots.
“Alpha!” I must follow the voice which, strangely, I used to love to hear. Now I’m loathing it just like the damned scent invading my nose! “Alpha, come to me, my love.” Ooh, that made my skin crawl. When will this nightmare end?
“Sergeant Black!” I heard Roger’s voice this time. I want to scream, “I’m over here!” But I can not.
“Alpha!” It continues to hearken to me.
“Sergeant!” George’s voice rang out. He found the box with the rifle cartridge that I must have dropped.
“Sergeant!” Some of the college students started to yell out too, thinking that it must be a new version of Marco Polo.
“Alpha! It’s only me you want and love.” It viciously reminds me. I see her a little more clearly. She’s still the same teenager I remember her as being. But, something isn’t right with her appearance. She moves like a wisp, darting to and fro effortlessly. My eyes can’t keep up with her movements. I’m dizzy with all of this nonsense. I’m ready to collapse.
“Moon G-ddess, someone, anyone, please help me,” I internally screamed. “I can’t take much more of this madness.” Fear and hate battle for dominance over my current state. It’s a draw.
“Alpha, you promised me we would be together forever.” It’s using my own damned words against me. I’m rattled to the point of anxiety.
“Did my Alpha lie? No, you wouldn’t do that to me, now would you?” How I loathe this thing! But my body still responds to its beckoning. Moving forward, it presses me past the edge of the campus. A row of picnic tables is there, scantily filled by students and faculty. Passing by one, I recognized two people. Hanna Grimm and her wonderful cousin Tiffeny. It’s then, briefly, that I caught the whiff of the most wonderful smell ever—orange blossoms, soft musk, and ginger. Somehow, in all this madness, it’s confirmed that Tiffeny is my second-chance mate. Thank the Moon!
“Now please, Moon G-ddess, get me out of this hell, I beg you!”
“Alpha!” The damned voice refuses to let me go. The wisp of my dead mate blows the horrid fragrance in my direction, attacking my nose once again. Still keeping me under its spell. It is no “mate-bond” that is driving me toward this nightmare. This is witchcraft!
The voice, with help from the rancid scent of vanilla and roses, led me away from the immediate grounds of the campus. I suddenly find myself on a trail stranded, g-ddess knows where. All of my faculties are back. I’m in control of my body once more. But before I could even take a step of my own choosing, I heard the sound from my reoccurring nightmares.
BANG!!!
- Writer
