Payment To the Alpha
Chapter 50

Avery's POV

"Hide," She whispered a cold chill reaching down my spine, making every hair on my body rise.

And then came the scream again. This time, it was louder. It was deadlier. Natasha's eyes closed once more, and she squeezed herself as far into the railing as she could.

I rubbed her knee with my hand, trying my best to calm her. My heart was racing in my chest. Is this a dream? She's sitting right there, petrified a five-year-old Natasha.

I looked past her and up the stairs, seeing a light shine from the left side of the hall. It wasn't a lamp. This light moved in waves. Holy shit, it wasn't a light. It was a fire.

I quickly stood and ran past Natasha up the stairs. But before I could reach further, I felt a small hand grab onto mine. I turned around and saw her big eyes staring up at me. She was trembling. Her entire little body was trembling in fear. Her hand shook as she held on as tight as she could.

"You can't go up there," She said in the most broken voice I had ever heard.

"Sweetheart, I'm only going up there quickly, okay? I need to check on your mom. I promise I'll be back." I said as I cupped her cheek with my hand.

She shook her head violently before taking her other hand and standing up. She placed her hand in the air in front of me, two steps up. Her hand didn't move further. A glistening light was made where her hand touched. It was a barrier. "Mommy made me promise to stay," she said.

"She put this here to protect me," Natasha's mom put the barrier up because she knew what Crow was going to do to her. She wanted to protect her child.

I put my hands on the barrier, pounding on it. Another scream was heard, cracking my heart into pieces. She was dying...

That menacing laugh followed the scream, and I felt my stomach turn.

I pounded harder onto the wall in front of me.

"NO!" I screamed in frustration when I couldn't get through.

"AAAAAHHH!!" Another scream was heard, and this one was louder. I felt my fear shifting into a rage and my face going red. The heat was exuding from my body, and I so badly wanted to kill that fucker.

I took my hand and laid it flat on the invisible wall. Pushing it harder and harder. It felt as though I was setting my hand on fire with every inch that it moved further through the barrier.

"ARGH!" I yelled as the final inch was reached, and the barrier was broken. I fell forwards onto the steps, panting. I turned around quickly to Natasha and grabbed her hand. She looked at me in shock, her mouth slightly open.

"I'll be right back, okay? I need you to stay right here. Do not come up regardless of what you hear. Stay here until I return." I scanned her face and waited patiently for a reply. I couldn't risk her seeing her mother being harmed or worse.

And I definitely couldn't risk her getting hurt. She nodded her head slowly, and I ran up the stairs.

I ran over to the door that the fire was burning in and burst the door open. There she was.

Floating in the air, flames surrounding her, burning her slowly from top to bottom. Her flesh and been burnt off, and the flames had come of her waist. She was screaming in agony.

Crow was standing in the middle of the room. His hands moving. I saw that he decided when the flames move and stop. He was torturing her. I ran over to him, intending on knocking him down, breaking his focus. But as I reached him and threw myself at him, I went straight through.

He was a ghost. He didn't realize I was here. I laid on the floor and looked up at Natasha's mother. Her eyes looked lifeless. To my surprise, her head turns, and she locks eyes with me.

"You need to kill him!" She yelled, and I looked at her in shock.

Crow's eyes were focused on her. A sickening smile laying on his lips. He was enjoying himself. He was torturing his wife, the mother of his child, and he was feeling no remorse. I gasped and looked back at the woman in the air, engulfed in flames. I couldn't attack Crow; I couldn't save her.

She was going to die.

"You need to kill him, Avery! You are our only hope. The fate of our kind lays in your hands!" She yelled again, this time louder. Her eyes were turning black. Her head-turning more and more.

"How!?" I yelled back. Feeling more confused than ever by the events that are occurring. And my heart breaking more, every passing second that she's being burnt alive.

"You are connected! He is in your mind, Avery! With the magic he is using, it is not only your mind that he has occupied. It is your entire being! He and you share the same lifeline!"

I swallowed the words that were about to come out. She just told me how to kill Crow.

Her eyes were now completely blacked out, and her face turned serious. The pain was still visible, but the anger covered it.

"KILL HIM!!" She flew towards me, the flames following her, and I covered my face and screamed in fear.

"AVERY, WAKE UP!" I heard a booming loud voice ringing through my head. My eyes shot open, and I sat up quickly in the bed. Panting for air as the sweat dripped down my body.

"Avery, what happened?!" Natasha asked me. Panic and worry evident in her voice. I looked at her in shock and wrapped my arms around her tightly.

"I'm so sorry, Natasha...I'm sorry you heard that!" I blurted out. The air slowly leaving my lungs. I couldn't breathe. It was as if the world was closing in on me, and everything was getting tighter and tighter.

Natasha pushed me back. Her hands holding onto my shoulders.

"Avery, breath!" She told me. I shook my head furiously, unable to grant her what she's asking for.

"Look at me, Avery, you're awake, it was a dream, and now you're awake. I'm right here, dear." I looked down at my wrist and saw that Natasha had let go of my shoulder and grabbed onto my hand. She held my wrist, and I held hers. Feeling her pulse. I felt the slow and steady beats and closed my eyes. Feeling the calmness of her pulse relaxing me. My breathing soon becoming slower and steadier. I opened up my eyes and saw Natasha smiling at me.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Avery, I need you to tell me about your dream." Natasha said slowly. My eyes shot open, and I couldn't replace the words to speak.

Natasha looked at me in shock. Her hand cupping my face and her eyes scanning mine.

"You heard your mother die," I said in a hushed tone. My voice was raspy and quiet. The words I want to speak, I do not want to speak in volume. They aren't words you speak like any other.

Natasha raised her eyebrows, and she looked at me with pity. She wrapped her hands around me, and I pushed myself deeper into the hug.

"So did you, sweetheart, and I'm sorry for that." She whispered.

"I saw you, Natasha. You weren't older than five years. You were sitting on the staircase, pushing against the railing and squeezing your eyes shut. You were crying.

I heard screams, and I saw the shadow of a fire. I was running upstairs, but you stopped me. There was an invisible wall put up, meant to keep you from walking up there. But when I heard her screams, her agony, I pushed through it. I broke the barrier." Natasha looked at me, terrified. I decided to continue before I let her speak.

"I ran upstairs and into the room. I saw him, the man, he was," I didn't know if this part should be told. I advised against it.

"She looked at, she saw me. But he didn't. She told me that he needs to die." I stopped, realizing that this next part will reveal something that both of us know, but neither of us had told the other.

"He was the wizard that has been controlling me," Natasha gulped hard before averting her eyes and looking down at the bed.

"She told me that he needs to die, and then she told me how." When I said the last part, Natasha's head flew back up, and she stared at me. She shook her head slowly, unable to comprehend what I had just told her.

"What did you see in the room?" She asked me carefully. Neither her voice nor her eyes told me that she wants to know. She heard her mother dying, but thanks to the barrier, she didn't see it. And I don't believe that she needs to know.

"She was lying on the floor peacefully when I walked in. The fire surrounded her in a circle," I lied. I couldn't tell the truth about how her mother was burnt alive, held in the air, and the flames slowly eating at her flesh.

"Avery?" I snapped back from the horrific memory to see Natasha looking at me with her brows furrowed.

"You're lying, aren't you?" She asked me. A small smile tugging at her lips.

"Yes, but that is what I am sticking with. Sorry Natasha, but I'm not going to tell you what I saw," I was careful with my words. All I saw in front of me right now was that five-year-old little girl. And I'm not going to tell her anything horrific. She doesn't deserve to remember her mother like that.

With what the images are doing to me, I can only imagine what they would do to her.

"I understand," She said, nodding her head. I could see that there was something else she wanted to tell me, but she held back. The war is coming soon. We will all stand face to face with Crow and risk our lives. The truth shows itself when it is ready to be discovered.

I looked at Natasha and put my hands on my knees. Biting my bottom lip.

"I know that you're my sister." I said.