Kasia's eyes fluttered open; the flickering light from the candles made the shadows dance across the walls. The softness of the couch beneath her felt all too familiar, stirring a sense of unease deep within her. Kasia jerked upwards because this was not the same room in Amdis' castle. Her heart pounded in her chest as she began searching the reaches of her mind. Kasia searched for that connection, but there was only silence.
"Deva?" Kasia called out within herself, but there was still no response from Deva. Where was she? Why could she not feel her? Why does she feel so ordinary now?
Kasia felt vulnerable without her. She felt normal, which in itself seemed odd after not being human for so long.
She felt...human, painfully normal, and the sensation terrified her. "Calm down," she muttered under her breath. "You were human for most of your life. There's nothing to fear."
But the words rang hollow. There was everything to fear. Without Deva, without her connection, Kasia was just Kasia- fragile, broken, incomplete.
Kasia looked around. The bedroom looked like a memory from a distant past, one that should have been locked away forever. It made her whole body tremble. She couldn't recall how she had ended up here; the last thing she remembered was fussing with Deva about allowing Amdis to lock them in the room. When she tried to think about what happened after that, it caused her severe pain.
"What is going on?" she muttered, forcing herself to stand.
Her legs wobbled, and she gripped the armrest to steady herself. Stepping out into the hallway, she scanned the walls, her hazel eyes catching sight of a row of framed pictures. The breath caught in her throat as she recognized the smiling faces staring back at her.
"Me and Lana," she whispered, reaching out to touch the glass. "But...how?"
Kasia's mind whirled as she moved down the hallway. Every detail of the house came rushing back- the familiar creak of the floorboards beneath her feet, the soft hum of the wind outside, even the faint scent of anise her mother had loved so much. Her hand slid over the polished wooden banister on the stairs, the same one her father had built with his bare hands.
None of this made sense. The house had been falling apart when Lana and she had left. How could it be so perfectly preserved now?
"Is this even real? Am I dreaming?" Kasia asked herself.
Her eyes locked onto the large mirror in the foyer, reflecting her image from the candlelight. She stepped closer, desperate for some kind of confirmation that this was a dream, a trick of the mind. She hoped- prayed, even- that she would see her younger self staring back. Maybe everything she'd gone through had been some twisted nightmare, and she'd wake up as the carefree girl she used to be.
But as she peered into the mirror, her heart sank. Staring back at her was the woman she had become- battle-worn, exhausted, her eyes of someone had seen too much too soon. She was still Kasia, but not the young girl from those pictures.
"Damn it," she muttered under her breath, her fingers curling into fists. A bitter laugh escaped her lips, harsh and cold. "I was stupid to hope."
With a heavy sigh, Kasia turned away from the mirror and continued through the house. Her footsteps echoed in the silence as she approached the den, the memories of that fateful night returning full force.
"Get it together, Kasia," she muttered to herself, taking a deep breath as she tried to push those dark thoughts aside. But as the door to the den loomed before her, she couldn't hold back any longer.
The scene played out vividly in her mind- her father's gurgling gasps as he fought to breathe, and his body sprawled across the floor. Lana's terrified sobs filled the room as she buried her face into her back. The air was filled with the smell of blood and wet fur. Kasia's stomach flipped violently, her hand flying to cover her mouth as bile rose in her throat.
"Why? Why am I being forced to relive this?" she whispered, tears streaming down her face as she leaned against the wall for support.
"I…I can't do this again," she choked out, but then she wondered was there a reason for all of this. Was there a reason her mind was making her relive this? Did she miss something in the past?
Kasia pushed the door open and stepped into the den. To her relief, the room was just like she remembered before her world was torn apart- no bloodstains, no broken furniture, no trace of the murder that had occurred. But in her mind, she could still see her father's pleading eyes as he attempted to tell them to flee. All the hate she felt for werewolves came flooding back.
"Those bastards took everything from us," Kasia thought.
The self-loathing crept in, the shame of what she had become- a lycan. The very thing that had destroyed her family. But she couldn't afford to think like that. Not now. She had hunted them down one by one. She had gotten revenge, and she did it as a human. She was not powerless. She could release this hatred.
"Do you like what we did to the place? Does it bring back fond memories of your youth?" A voice from behind her, dripping with sinister amusement, echoed through the silent house.
Kasia whipped around and saw a man standing in the entrance doorway. She couldn't make out his features, but the way his eyes glowed in the darkness sent a wave of panic through her. Kasia stepped back as fear gripped her.
Those eyes.
It was those same eyes- those haunting, menacing eyes- that had haunted her dreams for years.
Those were the same eyes that she remembered seeing consuming her mother on the kitchen counter before she picked up Lana and fled their home so many years ago.