Chapter 3: I Dreamed That Damien Killed Me
1133 Words
Chapter 3: I Dreamed That Damien Killed Me
(Seraphina's POV)
After a celebrating party for my regained freedom, I helped heavily intoxicated Talia stumble to her home. Since it was too late, I chose to slept at Blackwood Manor for safety.
Sleep came fitfully that first night after my rebirth. Dreams crashed over me in waves, each one more vivid than the last.
I was sixteen again, standing at the Shadowpine Academy Training Grounds. Damien dribbled the basketball, sweat glistening on his forehead.
When he spotted me waiting with a water bottle, his face lit up. "Sera! You didn't have to wait."
But I always did. We walked home together every day, our shadows stretching behind us.
The dream shifted. I was seventeen, mortified as warmth spread down my legs during class. Damien noticed immediately, his face flushing red.
Without a word, he stripped off his jacket and tied it around my waist. "Come on. I'll walk you to the nurse."
His kindness back then felt so genuine. So real.
Another memory surfaced. My eighteenth birthday. At that day I shifted, and our wolves first recognized each other as fated mate. Damien had disappeared for weeks, claiming pack duties kept him busy.
Then he appeared with a handmade wooden jewelry box, carved with wolf designs. "I've been working on this for three months. Happy birthday, Sera."
Those early years were beautiful. We were inseparable, everyone assuming we'd be mates someday.
But then everything changed.
The dream darkened as the Omega Elara, entered the scene. A scholarship student from a remote mountain village, arriving for university.
She visited Volkov Manor to thank the family for sponsorship. She was plain then, rustic in simple clothes.
Damien barely glanced at her. "She's so awkward. I don't know why my parents insisted on sponsoring her."
But two years passed like a fast-forwarded film. Elara transformed before my eyes.
Her skin grew fairer, her figure more graceful. Her speech became refined, her movements elegant.
And Damien noticed.
I watched helplessly as he took her to Crimson Moon Restaurant. He bought her clothes at Blackwood Galleria, expensive dresses he never bought for me.
He accompanied her to classes, carried her books, celebrated her birthday. Everything he used to do for me, he now did for her.
The rumors reached me quickly. "Damien is smitten with that scholarship girl." "Poor Seraphina, doesn't she know?"
I confronted him, my voice shaking. "What about us, Damien? What about our future?"
His response was cold. "Sera, you're being dramatic. Elara is just a friend."
But his eyes told a different story. They held warmth for her that had vanished when he looked at me.
During our first engagement ceremony, Elara called. Damien glanced at his phone, conflict clear on his face.
"I have to take this," he said, moving toward the door.
"Damien, we're in the middle of our engagement!"
He paused. "It's important, Sera. Elara needs me."
And he left. He actually left our engagement ceremony for her.
Later, he came to me with determination. "Sera, I want to break our engagement."
My world shattered. "Why?"
"Because I love Elara. I want to be with her, to mate with her."
But Magnus and Cassandra had other plans. They valued pack status above all else.
"Absolutely not!" Magnus roared. "You will not disgrace this family!"
"I don't care about family honor!" Damien shot back. "I love her!"
The arguments were vicious. Damien threatened to take his own life if they forced him away from Elara. Damien was unmovable. His love for Elara consumed everything else.
The dream shifted, showing Cassandra's tear-stained face as she came to me for help.
"Seraphina, please. You're the only one who can reason with that girl. Make her leave Damien alone."
I wanted to refuse. Every fiber of my being screamed against helping them.
But at that time Cassandra was like a second mother to me. Her tears broke my heart.
"What do you want me to do?" I asked quietly.
Cassandra handed me The Check, written for twenty million dollars. "Convince her to take this and leave. We'll pay for her education abroad."
The meeting at Thornwood Cafe lasted three hours. Elara listened with calculating eyes, weighing her options like a businesswoman.
"Twenty million," she mused, fingering the check. "And full education expenses?"
"Yes," I confirmed, hating myself for every word.
Elara smiled then, cold and triumphant. "Damien will be heartbroken."
After what felt like an eternity, she nodded. "Fine. I accept."
Cassandra arranged everything quickly. Elara's flight to The Western Territories was booked within days.
Before the plane took off, Elara sent Damien a breakup text as agreed.
Perhaps out of resentment, or perhaps out of revenge, she mentioned my name in the text, implying through her words that she was willing to facilitate the pack arranged marriage between me and Damien.
But no one could have imagined that the plane would crash.
The news hit like a thunderbolt. All passengers lost, no survivors. Elara Vance was dead.
Damien's grief was terrifying. He stormed into Thorne Manor like a man possessed, his eyes wild with rage.
"You killed her!" he screamed, his hands closing around my throat. "Elara is dead because of you!"
I couldn't breathe. Black spots danced in my vision as his grip tightened.
My father and mother pulled him off me. Damien's hatred burned in his eyes like hellfire.
I thought that was the end. But a month later, Damien returned. He was calm, composed, carrying gifts and apologies.
"Sera, I'm sorry. I was out of my mind with grief. Can you forgive me?"
Guilt ate at me. Elara was dead, and I had played a part in sending her away.
"Of course," I whispered. "I understand."
Life resumed its normal rhythm. We planned our engagement, our mating ceremony.
Damien seemed like his old self again, attentive and loving. I thought we could be happy.
How wrong I was.
The dream shifted to our mating ceremony. I stood in my white dress, radiant with joy as we exchanged vows.
"I take you as my mate," Damien said.
"And I take you as mine," I replied.
But as we sealed our bond, the world warped around us. The beautiful ceremony dissolved into nightmare.
Fire erupted everywhere. Shadowmere Manor became an inferno, flames licking at the walls.
Damien's face transformed into something demonic, twisted with hatred.
"If it weren't for you, Elara wouldn't have died!" he screamed.
I tried to run, but he caught me, his hands brutal and unforgiving.
"You deserve to go to The Hell!" he roared, kicking me back into the flames.
The fire consumed me, searing my flesh, burning away everything I was. My skin blistered and charred, and my face was ruined by the flames.
I was truly in hell.
- Writer
