“You fear me brother. You always have.” He felt this and more. He knew of his blood thirst, but that was not the reason he came after him all of those years ago. He learned about his existence and knew what he could do. He also knew that he loved a woman, as their father had. He loved a human. He made a half Walker and half-human life.
Devish laughed hard with this.
Kalima heard the hollowness in his chest.
The laugh didn’t last. “Why would I fear you?”
Kalima knew this too. Inside his mind, he could see his mother standing at the fire. It was so obvious to him right at that moment that it almost made his own mind split into two halves. It felt this intense.
“You wanted him back. You wanted our father back again.” This also meant something else and it made the sting of everything he felt feel that much worse. “It was you.” It made complete sense. “You killed our father.” It explained the guilt he felt from him. It explained his hatred—yes hatred, Devish felt it in spades against himself—that reeked through his flesh. It also explained why, with everything he had done and intended to do, he still wanted him back at his side. He wanted to repay that guilt back to the only person that could have it—him, his father’s other son.
Tears—actual tears—now spilled down Devish’s face. With his eyes flaring to their normal red color, it made them even glow in red.
“I…,” Kalima cut him off.
“You killed him for loving a woman—a human. You took him back the only way you knew how. You came to find me after learning about me through that Seer to get him, our father back at your side.” He paused to pity this all-powerful creature that was now in his mind nothing more than a weak and feeble addict of a child. He was nothing to him now. When the pity turned to anger, he continued with everything he had already known. “You sent the wolves to test me, to test my strength. In the process, I was run out of my village and lost my human parents forever. You sent the wolves to my home in the trees to bring the humans to me, knowing full well what they would do to one like me when they saw what I was. It was you that ordered the attack on the human camp, knowing full well what they would do to defend themselves. It was you that hid my daughter from me for all of these years.” He paused and looked at Rana, saw her face as nothing of what she used to be, felt tears swelling up in his own eyes because of it, so he turned back to Devish—the one that had caused all of his pain. For him, he felt nothing but hate. He felt nothing but anger. It made the eyes at the back of his mind begin to move. They were now inching closer to his own. “You did everything just to quench the regret for what you had done to our father.”
Devish felt his mind beginning to be torn in to two. He felt his heart racing, and his chest grow cold. He felt the same things for his father and brother. He felt cold for them, but he also felt the racing of heat. He felt everything, and with it, he now needed a drink. He would do anything to taste the salty sweetness of warm human blood. He knew it would calm his mind. He knew it would take away these feelings, these feelings that always seemed to torture his very being. He now wanted the taste, more than ever.
Kalima now saw the eyes.
Devish watched his brother’s eyes turn to an overpowering yellow color that looked as bright as the brightest sun. Seeing them, he blinked his.
“I did not mean for that to happen. I did not intend to kill him, but he would not listen to me. He would not leave her. He would not come home.” His bottom lip started shaking and with it, the rest of his body began right along with it. He was now shaking head to toe. “I just wanted him back at my side.”
Kalima felt himself slipping. He felt the eyes move forward. Just before they clenched his mind, he growled to his brother for everything he had done. “You destroyed my entire life!”
Devish watched the eyes blare. He watched the whiteness of his face turn to the color of an ashen black. He watched his snout form. He watched his ears turn pointed and tall. He watched as a deep black fur spread out all over his face and body. He watched him grow tall. He watched everything as the black wolf formed.
Even with all of this, he just stood there as still as a stone. He couldn’t even bring himself to try to move an inch.
“Brother, this is not what I wanted.” Instead, he just continued to cry. In fact, he was now sobbing.
Kalima roared once he was fully formed.
Rana watched all of this, and feared what it meant. She feared for her master. She feared for his life. She let her blue eyes flow.
Inside her mind, she saw him there and grabbed him in her thoughts.
He stepped. His paws thudded on the floor. He didn’t stop.
She blinked. I have never been held back like this before. I cannot stop him. I cannot control him. I cannot help in this fight. She had never had this happen before. In all of her life, she could control anyone, even her brother was not immune to her powers, but now, watching the black wolf doing just that, fighting her power, she now feared for herself. She would be helpless if he came after her next.
Devish watched him come to him. He watched Rana run past him and head to the door. He watched everything that he had worked so hard for suddenly vanish just as fast.
Kalima rumbled right up to him and stopped right at his face.
Devish looked up to him. He couldn’t believe that it had come to this. He would do anything to make it all right again, but now, as the black wolf, his brother, reached down with his right claw to his throat, all of these thoughts faded with the pain he now felt. All of his dreams came crashing down with it.
Kalima gripped him with his large right hand and squeezed. With him firmly in his hand, he lifted him up to his face. He wanted to see his eyes as he killed him. He wanted to watch him die.
Devish saw his eyes. He saw the yellow of their color shine. That was all he needed to see to wake up from his hesitant daze. When he killed his father, he saw his red eyes fade. He saw their ruby color dim. This animal had yellow eyes. He was not like his father. He was not like him. He woke up.
“No!” he screamed as his voice turned into a high-pitched hissing sound. Inside his clearing mind, he found his real eyes staring back at him through the void. He called on them to come forward.
Kalima watched his human face turn pale. He saw the red eyes sparkle to a brightened flare. He saw his nose curl oval and pointed at the ridge. He saw the fangs. He saw the oval face curl. He saw the ears turn pointed, and a small snout form. Before he could snarl another burst, Devish formed into his half wolf, half bat self.
Kalima roared out a bellow that sounded like deep trumpets blaring in a small confined room.
Devish’s paws grew down until they were once again touching the floor. In this form, he now matched the wolf’s size some. He was still a little bit bigger than he was, but it was better than being in his human form. It gave him an equal fight.
Being in this form also gave him even more than that. He was now not only strong but also cunning. A wolf would fight him with instinct. He would fight him like the animal he was. This was his advantage. He would be defeated, as any other wolf ever would be in a fight with him. Or so he thought. He wasn’t entirely sure of this. He had never fought against his brother, stride for stride before so he didn’t know what to expect. He of course knew of his strength, and as far as he was concerned about it, it was time to find out if he was or not.
With him standing again, he reached up and grabbed his fur-covered right hand with his left. He squeezed. He pulled. He did get his hand off his throat.
Kalima tried to fight him, but was not able to maintain his grip. Feeling this, he reached up with his left hand to try to free his right.
Devish saw this and did the same thing until they were now gripping each other hand to wrist. Their arms were outstretched. They were straight. Like this firmly, Devish pushed out with his arms.
The wolf’s arms did give some. He pushed back and found his strength equal to his own, maybe even a little stronger than his. He did manage
to find a balance between the two.
Devish noticed this too and was not able to pull him any further. He felt pleased with feeling this. His brother was stronger than he knew he would be, but that only added to some of his remaining fears. Brute force against brute force wasn’t going to be enough. He would have to outthink him. He would have to outplay him. He was going to have to rely on something that wolf shouldn’t have—his wits.
Kalima showed him his teeth. Drool flowed out from them and filled his mouth, forming a stream that streaked out from both sides of his massive jaws.
Seeing the teeth, and how close they were to his face, Devish knew he had to do something to prevent them from getting any closer, so he reached up with his left leg and kicked.
Like all Blood Walkers before him, his legs looked just like a wolf’s paws. They moved on their toes, but unlike a wolf, their claws could be retracted like those of a large cat. With this ability, he could even extend them, which he now did when they smacked the wolf’s belly, near the dead center of his chest, and dug down to his hips.
Kalima bellowed a whimpering hum when he felt the gashes flare down his front.
With the nails imbedding through his tender flesh, Devish then pushed with everything he had from the same leg.
Kalima felt his own paws give out and then slide.
He slid back as Devish let go of his wrists, lost his toes, and fell hard to the stonewall behind him, near the door.
He struck it so hard that the wall even cracked. One stone shattered. The sound bounced, sounding like a pang as stone cracked against stone.
Free to do so, Kalima reached up with his left clawed human looking hand and clasped the wound. He then pulled it away and noticed the blood—his blood—as it covered his entire palm. Through his fingers, he saw Devish stand in the center of the room with pride written all over his face. Seeing it, feeling his weakness of what had just happened, he snarled. His nose curled. His canine fangs glistened.
Devish again just stood there and admired him. He had chosen him well. Gods did he need to have him back at his side.
“As you can see Kalima, there is no beating me. Submit and return back to my side.” Maybe now he would listen to this. He truly wasn’t sure if he could bring himself to kill him, and a part of him didn’t want to have to find out if he was right or not. Another side of him wanted to do it, if only to prove to him that he could. It felt like a tug of war that he knew he was going to have to choose between the two. It wasn’t going to be him doing it either. His brother would never give him the choice.
Kalima felt the heat across his belly vanish rather quickly. He felt the gashes close. The pain was gone with them. He then gathered himself and stood back up to his hind paws. He snarled the entire time.
Devish regretted the decision and it vexed his heart. He was right. He made the choice for him.
Kalima watched his smugness. He watched his arrogance. Seeing it, feeling it emanated from him like a bad smell rots through one’s nose, he knew it was time. It was time to make the call. He took one single step, and then stopped. He had to get away from the wall so his voice would carry. When he was, he lifted his head and howled a lonely bellow that permeated through the walls.
It carried down the hallways.
It flew down the stairs.
It sounded like it even shook the very world.
Devish even had to clasp his pointed bat’s ears with both hands to deafen the sound.
As for the howl, he had no idea why he would make it. He had never heard it before.
30
The howl came. The call singled.
Rochie turned back to Kenar. “It is time.”
He knew this too. This was the sign that the wolf would use when he was in combat against Devish. It was their sign to commence the attack.
Jameson nodded with both of them. He turned from them and looked back at Donte who was on horseback behind the Calvary lined up just inside the trees. Their line stretched out as far as the night would allow them to see it.
Donte drew his sword. “Remember my brothers and sisters, remove their heads. It is the safest way to assure their deaths.” He looked back to his king.
Jameson gave him a forceful and powerful nod. It was time to start this.
For Donte, he only hoped that it was the last time he would have to do this. It was time to end the fighting. He didn’t agree with this, he didn’t agree with his king’s decisions, but none of that mattered anymore. One way or the other, whether they win or die, it would surely end tonight.
He looked back to his line of soldiers. He shouted one word as he looked across the fields towards the walls of Devish’s lavishly large castle. In front of the walls, he could see hundreds of wolves all gathered and ready. Behind them, he could see the red of the vampire’s eyes shining against the walls. Above them, circling, the Shades were ready to swoop down on top of them all.
Watching this, seeing them, knowing what was about to happen, he screamed, “Charge!”
31
Rana ran out to the hallway but didn’t stop there. She continued down the stairs, but stopped hallway down them when she heard two separate voices and they stopped her in her tracks. From there, she could see Sharlia the great Walker Elder of the Southern Continent speaking with Michael Gorhan the Elder of the North. Instantly, she didn’t like what she heard.
“I am telling you Michael this is our only way. We must do this. We cannot let him continue with this war.” Sharlia had this discussion with him once before. Back then, he was more than willing to follow her, but now something had changed. He seemed more than just hesitant, but now he acted scared. He reeked of fear. He looked paler than normal. Devish must have gotten to him. I am going to have to make this argument all over again. She didn’t like this thought—not when there was a fight about to happen. She had given her word to the humans, and she couldn’t fail to keep it. Too much was riding on this for all of their sakes.
“I am not sure anymore Sharlia. Devish knows too much. He probably even knows that we are speaking now.” Michael knew how she felt, but he was no longer convinced about the black wolf. And now with Rana back at his side, everything seemed beaten down inside of him. He felt weak. He felt bruised. He felt all of this in droves.
Sharlia was not about to take no for an answer, so she forced this—she had to force him. “I understand your fears my friend. I also understand what really happened to your maker. I know what happened to the one named Gorhan.” This felt like the best time to tell him everything she knew from the Seer. He needed to know. When she told her the truth, she knew right then how far she needed to go with taking him down herself. If he could destroy an Elder, another Blood Walker at that too, then he could do anything. No one was safe. They all needed to have the blackness that Devish has placed over this world lifted off it and have everyone facing the light again too.
He did have his head down, but it came up fast when he heard his father’s name. His eyes were as wide as ever too. He was ready to hear this. In fact, being a mind reader like his father helped him to learn everything just as fast. He saw it inside her mind with just the mere mentioning of his name; he saw the truth, as she knew it.
He saw Devish confront him at the door to his bedchamber all of those years ago. He saw the dagger with the golden blade in his hand as he brought it out from behind his back. His father saw none of this. He didn’t see inside his mind. He didn’t see his own death coming. He saw Devish plunge the blade through his chest. He saw him then burn away to nothing but a lump of lifeless flesh as the gold burned through his body, as the sun would do if exposed in its heat for days. He felt his father’s death. He felt his shock with Devish’s deceit. He saw his lies. He saw everything. He saw it all just as if he were standing there and watching it with his own eyes. Seeing everything and now knowing the full truth, it brought tears into his dark eyes.
“He killed my father for seeing what he was intending to do.” He spoke this out, as the tears s
trewn down his face.
She felt for him with knowing all of this. She had the same thing happen to her when she was finally able to see her own mother’s fate at the end of her life. Her mother, the first Sharlia the Blood Walker, died during the Great Walker Dying. She, like all of the female Blood Walkers, needed a great deal of blood in order to survive. When the precursors to the humans, the Northern Woodsmen of the ancient age died out that blood died with them. When Permona, Satar’s wife, Devish’s mother, became pregnant with him, Sharlia the Great gave her body’s blood to her to keep her alive to carry the child. It turned out they were the best of friends, and sisters in so many ways other than blood. She in fact sacrificed herself so that Devish could be born. A sacrifice she regretted that her mother ever made, but at the same time, she honored her for it too. It proved to her the woman’s true character. She loved her more for it.
“I know this is difficult for you my lord, but it is the truth. I saw it through the eyes of the past. I saw it as truth. I believe it as real.”
He didn’t doubt her at all. They were never told about how their father had died. He always knew it didn’t sound like him, leaving out when the war was about to begin, and fleeing back south to head home. They told him that he was attacked on his way and that he lost his life to the humans. Devish told him this. Of course he did. He now felt justified in believing what he thought then. It was a lie. He knew it was but didn’t have the proof. Well, he had it now.
Sharlia didn’t have to read his thoughts to see what he was thinking. She could see the rage light up his face. She could sense his anger blazing through his heart. She needed to see and feel this. She needed him and his massive family, which was the largest of the Walker world other than Devish’s brood, to fight with her few surviving members side by side. Other than this, she also needed his strength. She needed his honor and his good word. Many Walkers respected him like no other, so she knew that they would follow him. She had to have all of this on her side.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 67
