Blood Of The Luna

Chapter 11

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Damian’s POV

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He didn’t say anything. His mouth was set in a thin line, and I had seen that look enough times to know that he was extremely pissed off. The fangs sent the message, and the slow but rhythmic tapping of his claws on his thigh meant that he was trying to restrain himself from a calamitous outburst.

His eyes slowly shifted from me to the house behind, and I was sure that he could smell the fear which lingered over them like a disease. It was no doubt fuelled by Alyssa’s seizure, but even then I knew that something sinister was hanging over the house. It was like an evil shadow which clung to the walls, infesting the very air they were breathing. I had never felt anything like this before, and I was only just realising that the shadow wasn’t there when I first came here.

“You’ve been busy,” father said with a slight raising of his eyebrow. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I held my peace and simply stared at him.

“What did you do to the girl?” he asked, finally turning his gaze on me and narrowing his eyes to slits.

“Nothing,” I replied. “She was having a seizure, and I was around so I decided to help.”

“A seizure?” he raised the eyebrow even higher, curiosity written all over his face. I just wanted to get away from him, and find some peace and quiet. I had endured enough of today, and I really needed to be alone for a very long time.

His eyes glazed over suddenly, and I felt a dull buzzing in my head as he began to read my thoughts. He had done the exact same thing yesterday when I returned home, and that was how he found out that I had a fight with Alyssa. The consequences had been severe, and I could have sworn that I still felt the bruises in my ribs even now.

Don’t think about how much you hate her. Don’t think about how much you hate her. Don’t think about how much you hate her.

It was incredibly hard to keep my thoughts away from him, especially when he didn’t ask for permission before he began to read my thoughts. For over seventeen years now, he had taken the liberty to read my thoughts anytime he desired, which had led to some pretty awful encounters whenever I let my thoughts stray.

He was trying to figure out if anything happened between Alyssa and I. To keep his focus away from the other things, I chose to focus instead on the brief talk we had by the window. She had seemed genuinely interested in me then, and the attraction which she no doubt felt had been translated in her eyes. If he saw that, then he would assume that all was well.

And indeed, he fell for it. Relief washed over me as his eyes turned back to normal, and he straightened up with a bored expression now on his face. He seemed satisfied with what he had seen, which meant I was off the hook.

For now, at least.

“Have you apologised like I told you to?” he asked.

“It’s the reason why I came here,” I replied.

“And did she accept your apology, or was it another incompetent attempt which will serve no purpose in the end?”

I could hear the disappointment dripping on every single word of his. You’d think I would have gotten used to it by now. But every time they got to me, I would still feel that stabbing sensation of betrayal, and I would feel dejection covering me like a warm cold and harsh blanket. Criticism was nothing new to me, and yet I always felt cheapened by it. I could never boast to have known what fatherly love felt like, or understand what it was like to know that you had someone who cared about you. I had grown up with no one to look out for me, and the ones who were supposed to fill that role were the ones who took every opportunity to stab me in the back.

But I had learned to live with it. If not for anything, then for what I had in mind for the future.

“She accepted, of course,” I said. “Otherwise I would never have been allowed into the house.”

A low growl escaped his mouth, and he leaned forward so that I could smell the garlic in his breath. “Are you lying to me, boy?”

“Why would I lie to you?” I asked. “I’ve told you already, and it’s nothing but the truth. If I hadn’t patched things up with her, then why would I be allowed to go into the house and help her? Would I still be standing here if I hadn’t done what you asked?”

He didn’t believe a single word I said evidently. He wasn’t really that hard to read, even though he would like to think that he was. I had been on the receiving end of his anger enough times to know exactly what was going through his mind at every moment without even having to go through his thoughts. He was like an open book, and countless times I had used that to my advantage just so I could get what I wanted.

Not in this situation though. Not when he placed so much importance on making sure that I married the girl. He didn’t care that she wasn’t my mate. Neither did he care that I probably had other things I planned on doing with my life. To him, all that mattered was the pack. And if he could use me to get what he wanted, then he was going to do exactly that.

“Your brother is waiting for you at the lake,” he said. “I’ve given him instructions on what you are to do. You will meet him before midnight and execute the plan to perfection.”

He turned around without even waiting for a word of acknowledgment, because he knew I would do it; I always did what he asked for.

He shifted once he crossed the street, and the great black wolf who had haunted my nightmares for several years now stood in front of me. He charged away before I could even blink, and I was left standing alone in the middle of the street, with the cold air causing my breath to rise like a thick cloud in front of me. I pushed my hair back as I sighed, sucking in a cold breath with gave me the jolt that I needed.

After one last look at the McCormack residence, and a brief moment where I considered climbing in through the window and slashing her throat in the night, I decided to leave. There was no use being here if I wasn’t going to do it.

The lake was not too far from the Bloodhound’s territory, so I didn’t feel the need to shift. I walked all the way there, and when I saw Bill standing at the other end of the lake with my pitiful excuse of a stepmother on his arm. They both looked up as I approached, and before I could even blink, they had leapt all the way across the lake and were now standing in front of me.

“You’re late,” Bill said.

“Now-now, William,” Ana said, “you don’t need to shout at him. I’m sure Damian had a very good excuse for being late, don’t you?”

“It’s none of your business,” I snapped at both of them. “Just tell me why I’m here so that I can leave as soon as possible.”

Bill growled at me, but when I looked him dead in the eye, he was forced to take a step back. He wouldn’t dare to challenge me, even though he was the older one. Unlike me, his strength only showed when father was around. On his own, he was nothing more than a pathetic weakling who couldn’t even stand on his own feet.

If he knew what I had in store for him, then he wouldn’t dare to challenge me.

He wasn’t nearly as tall as I was, nor was he as well-built. He was a thin and short fellow with long blonde hair which fell to his shoulders. He was nearly as short as Ana, who stood at over a foot shorter than I was. They were closer in age as well, with nearly a twenty year gap between her and father. How he ever ended up with her was a mystery to me. Her red hair was tied in a ponytail, making her look even younger than she really was. Looking at her, one could easily be led to believe that she was Bill’s partner instead of father’s.

“There has been a tip from one of your father’s spies,” Ana said. “They heard of an attempt to sneak into the territory and kill him, so he wants us to deal with the problem before it gets out of hand. Whatever the problem may be, I’m sure the three of us can handle it.”

Of course he would use us to handle his dirty work. Everyone seemed to ignore the fact that the last time he had actually been in a battle was at least five years ago. Every time he got himself in some trouble, we were always the ones bailing his ass.

“And what are you supposed to be doing here?” I asked her, since she would be more of a liability than any real help.

“I’m here to make sure you don’t mess this up,” she replied. “And I should warn you, the woman we are about to face is not any ordinary woman. She is an old mage, so do not think it will be as easy as you think. She will put up a fight, and we will have to work together to defeat her.”

“You lost me at working together,” I said. “Both of you can hold hands and work together as much as you want. But I work alone. So stay out of my way.”

Ana shook her head, and she chuckled slightly in a way that made me want to gouge her eyes out and feed them to strays. I hated whenever she spoke with a condescending tone, like I was a child she had looked after his whole life even though I had barely known her for a month. She was a complete stranger, and yet both father and Bill seemed to have accepted her with open arms. The ring on her finger was a clear sign of that.

“Since when does father need our help to deal with some woman?” Bill grunted. “Is she really that much of a threat?”

“Once you’ve faced her, you will not be so quick to judge,” Ana said. “I’ve only ever heard about her, but from what I’ve heard, she is a terrifying sorceress beyond comprehension, and she could destroy us all with a simple look. We will have to work together; it’s the only way we can succeed.”

I was about to reply when I felt something shift in the trees behind. Bill felt it as well, and he was the first to turn. Ana was still staring at me, and it was clear that she hadn’t heard what we heard. Even if she hadn’t, then couldn’t she smell them as well?

A foul odour hung in the air, and I felt the tiny hairs on my neck and arms stand on end. The air was charged with electricity, so thick that I could almost taste it in the air. Something was shifting through the trees, and it was casting its evil eye on us. I tried to use my enhanced eyesight to find out what exactly it was, but it was near impossible to figure it out. It kept shifting from one place to another, and as I stepped forward to take a closer look, Bill did the same so that Ana was behind us.

But then the explosion came from behind us, and light flooded the lakeside. It was brighter than the sun, and the deafening sound was unlike anything I had ever heard.

And then, just like that, everything went dark.

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