Chapter 1
Vuduarus: The Beginning
Thick brick walls couldn’t muffle the screams.
Screams of protest—tearing from deep within.
Her voice was steady, but her heart pounded louder than ever with fear.
She wanted to appear fearless.
But her trembling hands told a different story.
A small, slender figure raced through the narrow, sterile corridors, leaving behind a trail of destruction on an inhuman scale.
Wide brown eyes darted from side to side, searching for an exit.
For salvation.
She should have stayed calm.
But Illariana Arden never gave up.
It wasn’t her choice.
It was her nature.
“Stop! No one is going to hurt you!”
Several people in white lab coats chased after her.
“We just need to examine you!” a red-haired woman shouted, her face flushed—whether from anger or breathlessness.
“I don’t care!” Illariana shouted back.
Betrayal tightened around her lungs like a vice.
A turn.
She remembered her parents’ smiling faces as they waved goodbye, watching their daughter being strapped to a hospital bed.
They had betrayed her.
Again.
Another turn.
And a dead end.
Like a lump rising in her throat.
Illariana spun around sharply.
Her body was already preparing to run back—to take another path.
But it was too late.
“Damn it,” slipped from her lips.
Five figures blocked her way.
The same staff members from the psychiatric ward.
“Well?” the redhead smirked.
“How far did you think you’d get?”
The girl took a step back.
Illariana’s gaze swept across the room.
A couch.
A bookshelf.
A coffee table.
A large panoramic window framed by long, floor-length curtains.
Someone had tried to make the place feel comfortable.
Pointless.
Everything here was soaked in destruction—
quietly hidden beneath the guise of help.
She took a heavy breath.
Her mind had to work. It had to find a way out.
The redhead’s cunning, almost rat-like eyes burned with anticipation.
She wanted to be part of uncovering the anomaly.
And Illariana—
Illariana was the kind of prize every scientist dreamed of.
Another breath.
Something inside her screamed: Act.
The girl fought to control the panic surging through her—
spreading faster than lightning across the sky.
Illariana Arden was used to hiding her true nature behind a mask of arrogance.
Used to acting on instinct—on emotion.
Improvisation had always been her strength.
But not this time.
“You say you won’t hurt me,” she said, her voice steady.
“And yet you’re chasing me like a mob—cornering me like some small rodent that suddenly grew fangs.”
Step by step, she edged closer to the window.
It was slightly open—tilted outward.
A glance at the world beyond.
Second floor.
Her lips pressed together as her fingertips brushed against the curtains.
“You’re afraid of me.”
She gave a small shrug—and the moment her fingers tightened around the fabric, she yanked the curtains down with all her strength.
The curtain rod snapped.
Heavy fabric crashed to the floor.
Metal clanged sharply.
A brief pause.
Illariana grabbed the fabric, wrapping it tightly around herself.
Then she began walking slowly toward the doctors.
Their expressions were changing.
Relaxing.
“And you know what?”
A soft smile curved across her small, round face.
“You should be.”
Then she turned—fast.
No hesitation.
She sprinted toward the window.
Straight for the opening.
The metal gave way.
The frame snapped outward—
and she went with it.
The world tilted.
The fabric slipped from her hands, falling away.
A scream echoed somewhere above—cut off by a dull impact.
Another hit.
Branches scraped against her skin.
Something hard slammed into her side.
The air was knocked from her lungs.
Pain followed instantly.
Dull.
Spreading.
She forced herself to ignore it.
One second of hesitation could cost her everything.
Her teeth clenched as she forced her body to move—
clawing through wet soil and tangled branches, trying to free herself from the cage of bushes.
A breath—
deep.
Shaky.
Pull yourself together.
Don’t fall apart.
Not here.
Not now.
Lifting her head, she prepared to take a step toward absolute freedom.
And froze.
On the lawn stood a group of figures dressed in black—something resembling military uniforms.
And her heart skipped another beat.
“What the hell is this?” she whispered.
She counted them at a glance.
Ten.
“One step closer,” she said, “and you’re dead.”
She raised her hands in warning.
Her mind raced, searching for a way out.
Illariana didn’t want to hurt anyone with the anomaly living inside her.
But getting captured wasn’t an option either.
Her will to live could break through anything.
And if she had to use her power to survive—
she would.
“Let’s hope you’re smart enough not to do anything stupid, Illariana.”
Three figures stepped forward from the group.
Two men.
The first was tall and thin, his pallor almost unnatural—far removed from anything human.
His snow-white hair only reinforced the impression.
His eyes were hidden behind oval glasses.
She didn’t trust him.
Not even a little.
The second man was much shorter.
Broad-shouldered, with a wrinkled face and streaks of gray in his hair and beard, he carried the warmth of a kindly old man.
He looked like Santa Claus.
His blue eyes radiated quiet kindness.
The third figure was a woman.
Tall, brunette, her hair tied back, she studied Illariana with open curiosity.
Illariana didn’t like that at all.
It was the same look the doctors had given her—
as if she were a goldmine.
An anomaly to be studied.
She didn’t deny it.
She had stopped seeing herself as human long ago.
And now she saw it reflected in the faces of others.
“Unfortunately for you, I’m stupid as hell,” Illariana said, not taking her eyes off them as she slipped a hand into the front pocket of her red leather jacket.
Her fingers closed around the cold handle of a folding knife.
If her damn powers didn’t kick in—
she’d have to rely on something else.
“If I can’t burn all of you,” she added, her voice steady, “I’ll make sure you never see anything again.”
She forced herself not to doubt her own words.
The need to escape helped.
To survive.
To disappear somewhere no one would ever find her.
Except her friends.
“You’re seeing enemies where there are none, Illariana,” the woman said, her yellow eyes with their narrow, oval pupils never leaving her.
Illariana noticed them immediately.
“Of course,” she said with a faint smile.
“That’s why my saviors are standing here with weapons pointed at me.”
She gestured briefly toward the people in black surrounding them.
Every single one of them was armed.
She knew a knife stood no chance against several guns—
but she believed in her power until the very end.
“That’s just for safety,” the older man explained.
“Oh, safety is wonderful,” Illariana Arden said lightly.
“So how about you actually stick to it... and let me through?”
The tall man’s eyes narrowed behind his glasses, irritation flickering within them.
“Miss Arden, either start using your head—
or we’ll take you by force.”
There wasn’t a trace of doubt in his voice.
“Eugene, what are you saying?” a softer, slightly concerned voice cut in.
The older man’s gaze swept over her, and the lower half of his face softened into a smile, partly hidden by his mustache.
“Forgive my colleague,” he added.
He looked sincere.
Illariana would have sworn it.
But she had always been too trusting—
and had paid for it more than once.
She’d had enough of believing in good people.
“What is this—good cop, bad cop?” she asked, tightening her grip on the knife.
With her free hand, she tucked a strand of her overgrown bangs behind her ear, revealing her face.
“Just let me go, and no one gets hurt.”
Anger was rising now.
“Illariana, we don’t have much time to get you out of here,” the woman said, pressing her lips together.
“I’m Angela Maisie. And I’m very familiar with people like you.”
“People like me?” Illariana smiled mockingly.
“What, the crazy ones? Is that what you mean?”
Ever since she was old enough to understand herself, Illariana had believed exactly that.
Truly believed it.
Until one day, fate revealed the truth behind her madness—
in front of two people.
“No, Illariana,” the older man said, shaking his head.
“How do you even know my name?” she snapped.
“And since when do psychiatric facilities call in entire squads to restrain someone?”
“She’s right,” the white-haired man said suddenly, ignoring her question.
“I could’ve handled her alone.”
His voice still carried absolute confidence.
“Eugene, she’s not supposed to see us as enemies,” the shorter man said with a frown, his thick brows drawing together.
“Who cares,” Eugene scoffed.
His gaze locked onto her.
A surge pulsed through her body—
tightening with the rising energy inside her.
“Enough. Just take her,” the woman said coldly.
Illariana’s body tensed, shifting into a defensive stance.
“I really hate—” the woman began, then abruptly stopped.
Her body froze.
And every pair of eyes behind her shifted—
staring in horror at something behind her.
******
Illariana’s POV
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the blood—
running down Angela’s forehead.
One second.
Then her body collapsed onto the lawn—
twisted—
unnaturally.
A quiet scream caught in my throat.
I had never been this close to death.
And never had a dead person’s eyes looked straight at me.
Those snake-like pupils—
it felt as though they would burn themselves into my memory forever.
“What the hell is that—?!”
In the same instant, heat flooded through my cold body—
sharp, violent—
stabbing into my wrists.
The knife slipped from my fingers.
Another wave of fear crashed over me.
I knew what was happening.
But I didn’t want it.
Not now.
My fingertips began to spark.
And I screamed—
the pain unbearable.
A sharp breath.
Then fire burst from my hands.
So violently that it surrounded me at once.
A cage formed around me.
Dangerous.
Burning.
Unpredictable.
I couldn’t see anything beyond it.
Only hear the screams—
on the other side of the flames.
“Damn it! We were supposed to get her out before they arrived!”
The voice was sharp.
“This is what your hesitation gets us!”
Then—
more screams.
Tearing through the air.
What if it’s my fire—
what if it’s killing them right now?
“No—”
I shook my hands, trying to put it out.
I tried to force it down.
But every movement only made it worse.
I felt the wall of fire grow thicker.
The screams grew louder—closer.
“No, no—no. I don’t want this. I don’t—”
I was helpless.
So helpless that tears filled my eyes.
I tried to hold my mind together.
Tried to smother the emotions.
But the fire was rising inside me too.
Like an executioner.
Like it was punishing me—
for hiding it.
For fearing it.
“Illariana.”
A voice.
Male.
“I didn’t mean to! I don’t want this!”
I screamed.
My eyes darted—
from the flames to my hands and back again.
“I don’t know how to stop it!”
One wrong move—
and the fire turned on me.
Onto my jacket.
Onto me.
The heat darkened my vision.
A raw cry ripped from my chest.
I tried to tear the jacket off as fast as I could—
tried to push through the pain.
“You need to pull yourself together and calm down!”
A second voice—
sharper, stronger, commanding.
“How the hell am I supposed to calm down right now?!”
Another surge of power ripped through me.
“Damn it!”
I cried out.
Ignoring the burns, I crossed my arms—
trying to hold them still.
Trying to stop it.
I didn’t notice right away.
The screaming suddenly stopped.
My heart nearly stopped with it.
They didn’t burn… did they?
No. No. No.
I don’t want that.
I don’t want that to happen.
“Illariana, help is on the way. Just calm down—you’re only making this worse.”
This time, the voice was softer.
Like Santa’s.
That old man with the beard.
“I... I... did I kill someone?”
The emotions took over.
I didn’t want to hurt anyone.
I thought I could just hurt them—
scare them.
Get away.
But I never wanted to become a killer.
Another spark.
This time, the fire clung to my skin—
eating through it.
I screamed.
It hurt.
Hellishly.
Unbearably.
Stars burst behind my eyes.
Then darkness.
Then stars again.
As if they were playing with me.
I was burning.
No—
I was burning alive.
The anomaly that had once felt like a gift...
was killing me.
And at some point—
my body simply stopped fighting.