CHAPTER 222: The Clock Tower

CHAPTER 222: The Clock Tower

Inside the clock tower, the atmosphere was tense and hurried.

Selene and Joe were busy covering the windows with old boards and pieces of rusted metal. The night wind slipped through the cracks while the structure creaked with each gust. The main door was secured with a crossbeam, and the echo of the blow resonated throughout the interior.

In a corner, next to a wall of damp stone, were Lucian and Fenix. The dim light entering from above barely illuminated their faces.

Lucian broke the silence.

—Do you remember anything from what happened during these twelve years?

Fenix took a few seconds to respond.

—Vague memories —he said—. Fragments. People, places… pain. But not much more.

Lucian nodded slowly.

—I spent them in a sewer —he added without drama—. Living as a turtle. Hidden, waiting for everything to end… or for someone to come back.

Fenix looked at him, surprised, but said nothing.

—Tell me one thing —Lucian continued—. Have your wounds closed yet?

Fenix flexed his hand, then his neck, as if checking his own body.

—Yes. They've healed. If necessary, I can transform again.

Lucian's expression changed completely. A hard smile, charged with contained rage, appeared on his face.

—Good —he said—. Because if Enid shows up again, you won't have mercy. I'll turn you into your uber lycan form and you'll finish her. This time for real.

There was a brief silence.

—Right? —Lucian finished.

Fenix lowered his gaze.

—I don't know if I could do it —he murmured.

Lucian frowned.

—Why?

Fenix breathed deeply, without raising his eyes.

—Because, even though all this has happened… —he said in a low voice— I think I still…

He did not finish the sentence.

Lucian watched him in silence, understanding all too well what Fenix did not dare to say, while the old clock of the tower marked the passage of time with a grave and constant echo.

Lucian took a step forward, standing in front of Fenix.

—I don't understand —he said in a firm voice—. I don't understand why Enid is so obsessed with you. With you, Fenix. As if you were the only thing that exists in her world.

He continued, without raising his voice, but with undeniable hardness.

—I saw her change. Day after day. At first I thought it was fear, then ambition… but no. Hers is something else. It's possession. She doesn't see you as a person, she sees you as something that belongs to her. As an idea she cannot lose.

Lucian shook his head.

—No matter how much you run, how much you hide, or how much you try to save what was. For her the past no longer exists. Only her version of the world exists, and in that version you are the center. The anchor. The trophy.

He raised his gaze, fixing it on Fenix.

—That's why there's no going back. You can't reason with someone like that. You can't negotiate, or hope she'll change. Every minute she stays alive she will come looking for us again, she will destroy everything in her path and she will turn more people into monsters like she did with us.

His voice grew deeper.

—The only way to end all this is to kill her. Not for revenge. Not out of hatred. But because it's the only way out. If we don't do it, this will never end.

Lucian took a step back, breathing deeply.

—Sometimes, the only way to save what little remains… is to accept that there is no going back.

A dry, metallic noise resonated from the top of the clock tower.

Selene tensed immediately.

—Did you hear that? —she murmured.

Without waiting for an answer, she began climbing the stone stairs, narrow and spiral. Fenix followed her, a few steps behind, attentive to every sound, every shadow projected by the weak light entering through the cracks.

The ascent became eternal. Their steps rumbled too loudly in the silence.

When they reached the top of the tower, the space opened up. The clock mechanism was there, motionless, covered in dust. The night wind entered through the broken windows.

There was no one.

Selene slowly spun around.

—There's no one here, Fenix… —she said, lowering her guard a little.

At that instant, a shadow materialized behind her.

An arm closed around her neck with brutal force.

Selene gasped, bringing her hands to the wrist that held her, while her feet barely lifted off the ground.

—Selene —Fenix growled—. Let her go!

Enid emerged from the darkness, her face inches from Selene's, with a crooked smile and eyes gleaming in a sickly way.

—Easy, Fenix… —she said in a soft, almost affectionate voice—. We're just talking.

She squeezed a little more. Selene coughed, struggling to breathe.

—Now I understand everything —Enid continued, tilting her head—. I see it clearly now. You —she looked Selene up and down— want to steal my boyfriend.

Fenix took a step forward, full of rage.

—You're sick! Let her go right now!

Enid let out a brief, sharp, unstable laugh.

—Steal him? —she repeated—. After everything I did for him… after everything I sacrificed… do you really think I'm going to let someone like you get in the way?

Selene tried to speak, but barely managed a choked sound.

—You're all the same —Enid went on, without stopping smiling—. You look at Fenix as if he were free. As if he could choose. But he is mine. He always has been.

—I never have been! —Fenix shouted—. And I could never be with a monster like you!

Enid's smile tensed. Her eyes darkened.

—Be careful what you say… —she whispered—. Because even so… you're still mine.

The wind whipped the tower, and the clock mechanism creaked, as if something were about to break.

Selene reacted purely by instinct.

With the little strength she had left, she raised her leg and threw a direct kick at Enid's abdomen. The impact was not devastating, but it was enough to break the grip. Selene fell to the floor and rolled several meters, moving away as best she could, breathing with difficulty.