Chapter 43: Darkside
Angel began his walk to the forest of wolves. It wasn’t much farther till he was once again by Raven’s side. This time, he didn’t have to leave it. At long last he could be with Raven. He didn’t have to return to Blaire or focus on his role as Future King. All of that was now behind him.
However, he stopped in the middle of the forest. Now that he was out in the open and everyone knows of his relationship with Raven. There was nothing stopping him from visiting a certain werewolf who was well overdue for an ass whooping. The Nightshade campsite wasn’t that far from their secret cave. It would only be a slight detour. No, he couldn’t. Raven told him she’d handle it. If he jumped in and got involved it’s only-
Angel could see images of that bastard bending Raven over his bed and forcing himself on her. His girlfriend being defiled by that good for nothing Prince. His Raven used to feed his lust. The mere thought of him having sex with Raven infuriated him to no end. He couldn’t just walk away and let Lycan get away with treating Raven like an object.
Angel had the opportunity to do something about it and. He stood over a hill overlooking the Nightshade campsite. He was going to. Raven will just have to forgive him for this later. It’s time he put Lycan in his place. His eyes wandered to the nearby stream. The Nightshade Beta, Alejandro was alone bathing in the stream. He was resting peacefully.
There was no sign of the other pack members. But Angel couldn’t just swoop in and attack Lycan. Fighting Lycan alone he could manage but if he had any help from the other pack members. He would not walk out of that fight alive.
Angel had to make sure the other pack members weren’t around. If he was lucky Alejandro would sleep through the whole thing. He crouched down, remaining in the bushes as he approached the Nightshade campsite. There wasn’t anyone outside of the tents all that was there was a piece of paper. The wind blew the paper with the current causing the paper to fly past Angel. He caught the paper and read it.
Dear Alejandro,
During the incident with those vampires. It has come to my attention that your sons. Jay and Jayson have both awakened their spiritual energy. Now reaching as I like to call werewolf maturity. So I have taken your boys to the elemental guard campsite to train them in the art of spirit. I will be coming to collect them daily for training for a few hours each day. I understand they have duties to fulfill for Nightshade as well and feel this is a fair compromise. It occurs to me that this is the first time since you raised those boys that you’ve had time to yourself. So as your father figure I suggest you enjoy it . As a father myself, I can tell you these days do not come often. Take care and get some rest. You’ve earned it.
Love,
Nikan
Ps. I stole my daughter for training too. Which I told Lycan I’d do even if she’s in his pack. If he has a problem with it just pick up a pebble he’ll know what it means.
“Wait a second,” Angel raised his brow. Raven’s in the secret cave with Claire. Jay, Jayson and Alexis were all with the elemental guard right now. Which means, Lycan and Alejandro are the only two people in Nightshade right now. With Alejandro sleeping, this is just too good of an opportunity for him to pass up. “Okay Lycan,” Angel punched his palm. “It’s time you and I had a little one on one time.” He opened the front door to Lycan’s cabin and took a quiet step inside. He gently pushed the door to a mere crack. Being careful not to make any noise. He could hear the shower water running. The noise combined with the shampoo made this the perfect setup for an ambush.
Thanks to the running water, Lycan couldn’t hear him. The body wash and shampoo made it so he couldn’t smell Angel’s scent. The perks to being a werewolf enhanced senses. The downside, the closer the scent is. The harder it is to focus on other scents. Angel snuck up to the bathroom door and pressed his back against it. He counted down in his head from three. Once the count was over.
Angel rushed in and grabbed Lycan’s towel off the rack. He put the black towel over Lycan’s head and punched him right in the face as hard as he could. Lycan’s body hit the bathtub floor. He quickly grabbed Lycan’s toothbrush and stabbed him in the leg with it. Right after, Angel began repeatedly punching him in the face. The water was soaking his hair, his shirtless body, his ripped jeans but Angel didn’t care. He was going to make Lycan pay for hurting Raven. He grabbed the ends of Lycan’s towel and hurled him through the wall, breaking him through it. Lycan’s naked body rolled down a hill and into a pile of mud.
“Who the-,” Lycan ripped the towel off his head and saw Angel walking up to him. His fists clenched his eyes full of rage. “So you must be the bastard who fucked my wife. Well, it appears I might have killed the wrong guy.”
“Looks like it.” Angel smirked. “After all that you’ve done to Raven.” He pointed his finger at Lycan. “You have no right to call her, your anything. She doesn’t belong to you and she never did. ” He glared into Lycan’s eyes. “She told me everything. She told me, you raped her.” Angel appeared in front of Lycan and punched him right in the jaw with enough force to knock the werewolf prince on his ass. While Lycan was the floor, Angel began punching him in the face. “You like abusing your power as Prince, you like forcing your rank on people making them follow your stupid pack rules. Where are all those rules now? Where’s all that spoiled rotten power now? Your Daddy,” Angel pulled a knife out his back pocket. “Can’t save you from me.” He tried to stab Lycan in the throat but he grabbed Angel’s forearm preventing the blade from going down. Angel tried using both hands to force the blade down but Lycan was too strong. He couldn’t overpower him.
“He doesn’t need to, I can handle you myself.” Lycan struck Angel in the nose with a headbutt. Blood rushed out of Angel’s nose while he was recovering. Lycan grabbed Angel and pinned him down. He tried to stab Angel with his own knife but he dodged it barely. The blade was stabbed into the ground inches from his head.
Angel kicked Lycan off him, then kicked him in the face breaking his nose. He jumped to his feet dodging a left hook, a right hook. Lycan lunged at him and Angel did front flip over him. Lycan dug his claws into the dirt using the leverage to turn and face Angel’s back. Once he came to a full turn, he caught Angel in a headlock, Angel caught Lycan’s arm and flipped over his shoulder. Lycan landed on all fours and hit Angel with a drop kick. The impact knocked Angel to the floor.
“You’ve got skills, I’ll admit.” Lycan began walking toward Angel. “But it doesn’t change the fact I’ve been training my whole life for this war. I’ve killed hundreds of vampires. What this means is.” He crouched down getting eye level with Angel. “No matter how strong you get. My experience will always outweigh your strength and your abilities, meaning. I’ll always be superior. You thought you could walk into my campsite and kill me. Bitch, if it was that easy to kill me. I’d already be dead. They don’t call me the prince of werewolves for nothing.”
“So, you can walk in daylight. That means you’re either using that sun repellent pill or and I’m pretty sure. I’m right about this theory.” Lycan grinned. “You’re using spirit to protect your skin from the sun. Here’s how I know you're doing that. A werewolf knows spirit when they see it. They can feel the energy flowing off the person's body long before it’s being used. Some of us struggle with sensing it. But I,” He laughed. “I was taught by Nikan who is a master in the art of spirit. There’s no way you'd be able to pull something like that off without me knowing it. Which means,” He grinned. “I knew you were coming. I knew you’d be ballsy enough to attack me to attack me while my pack members are gone. That’s why I let Nikan take the twins, that’s why Alejandro hasn’t done anything yet. This is all a trap to see just how stupid you really are. You fell for it and to make matters worse. You thought you could fight me using spirit.” Lycan busted out laughing.
“Werewolves invented the art of using spirit, it was passed down to us by Kami. Not that I like giving credit to our good for nothing Elder. But,” Lycan shrugged. “It’s part of us, we all use it. It’s just that some of us don’t know we’re using it. The only vampire who’s ever succeeded in fighting a werewolf using spirit is Sozin and you’re not him. Not even close,” He popped his knuckles. “It’s almost sad how easy it’s going to be for me to kill you. I thought you’d at least put up a better fight.”
“The fight isn’t even close to over,” Angel forced himself to stand. He had burns on his chest from being hit by a drop kick that had been infused with spirit. “Regardless of what you say, I know you’re lying. This wasn’t a trap, you couldn’t have planned for this. It’s impossible. Explain the note.”
“Oh, that, I told Nikan to add that, Ps. Part. Just so you’d think I wouldn’t know most of my pack is gone. I told him to leave the note in the middle of the campsite. Just so you’d find it.” Lycan explained.
“You planned for me to attack you in the shower? I find that hard to believe.” Angel glared at him.
“I’m a werewolf,” Lycan reminded him. “Naked, not naked, it doesn't matter to me besides. Why would I risk tearing up a perfectly good pair of pants over one vampire.” He added. “I didn’t know how strong you were. I felt it was better to fight you nude in case I needed to transform in my wolf form. It all makes perfect sense to me. Turns out I won’t be needing my wolf form. You’re too weak for that.”
“Too weak,” Angel raised his brow. “We will see how weak you think I am.” He pulled his knife out of the ground. “After I kick your ass for what you did to Raven.” He swung the knife at Lycan. He caught his wrist. Angel kicked him in the ribs. He punched him in the jaw. Lycan swung his claws at him. Angel ducked his claws and caught him with a quick leg sweep. While Lycan was falling. Angel jammed his knife in Lycan’s shoulder, forcing him down. While the knife was in his shoulder, Angel twisted it. “Hurts doesn’t it,” He ripped the knife out of Lycan’s shoulder and tried to stab his throat.
Lycan rolled over on top of Angel. He struck him with a punch to the face. He pulled his fist back charging it with spirit. “Time to die,” Angel quickly slashed him in the side of the face with his knife. Lycan covered as blood gushed out of it. “Mother, you son of a-, my fucking eye, you cut it.”
“Good, I hope it hurts,” Angel kicked Lycan off him and rose to his feet. “So what if you use spirit, so what if this is a trap. It makes no difference to me. I’ll still kick your ass.” He kicked Lycan in the ribs as hard as he could. He began stomping on his ribs relentlessly. Just as he was about to crush Lycan’s ribs. Lycan rolled out of the way. Once Angel’s foot hit the ground, it made a small crater.
Lycan jumped and slashed Angel’s chest with his claws. Right after, he punched Angel in the stomach. Steam covered his stomach as Lycan’s spirit burned him. He grabbed Angel’s throat and lifted him up using his right arm. Once he had him, he threw him clear across the forest causing him to break through several trees.
Angel fought to get up but as he was doing so. Lycan appeared above him. Angel jumped out of the way only to be blasted back by the shockwave behind Lycan’s attack. The size of the crater created by Lycan’s one punch was at least four times the size of Angel’s crater. There’s no mistaking it, in terms of a spirit Lycan was far superior. He couldn’t beat him using spirit which means it was time for some curses.
Angel rushed forward and touched Lycan’s chest. Lycan eyes glanced down realizing Angel just touched his nipple. Angel removed his hand confused as to why a curse didn’t appear. Lycan grabbed Angel by the throat and lifted him in the air with one arm. “I’m not into that gay shit, so keep your dirty hands off me you sick pervert.” He slammed Angels back into the side of a mountain. “Touch my nipple again and I’ll rip your damn head off.”
“What the,” Angel touched Lycan’s chest again, still not a single curse appeared. “This doesn’t make sense why aren’t my-,” That’s right, his whole body is shielded from the sunlight by use of spirit which is what he uses to dispel curses. Meaning, he can’t use them unless he got rid of the layer of spirit. He was using it to protect himself from the sun. If he got rid of that, the sun would kill him. He needed sun repellent otherwise he was fucked. He faked a laugh as he remembered where his hand was. Once again touching Lycan’s nipple.
Lycan growled and jammed his claws into Angel’s stomach. He ripped his claws out and struck Angel with a powerful backhand knocking him to the floor. “I told you, I’m not into that gay shit,” He kicked Angel in the stomach. “Stop touching my nipple, you sick freak,”
Angel began crawling across the floor. Wait a sec, his bag, it had a bottle of sun repellant in it. But he left it at the castle when that old man dragged him away with those damn prayer beads. Luckily he was smart enough to put a curse on the bag. The question is could he still activate it when he’s cloaked in spirit. It was time for him to find out. He activated the curse, Lycan was just about stomp on his ribs. But a bag fell from the sky and landed in Lycan’s hands.
“What the hell is this?” Lycan held up Angel’s bag. Whoops, he forgot the teleportation curse teleports thing to the last place where he wants it to be. That place being in Lycan’s hands. Regardless, he could work with this.
“A well placed distraction,” Angel punched Lycan as hard as he could in the jaw. Lycan hit the floor, spitting out a canine. While he was down. Angel began digging through his bag looking for the sun repellant he stole from Blaire’s room.
“Found it,” Angel took the pill bottle out of his bag. “I guess my days of using this aren’t completely over.” He opened the pill bottle taking a pill out of it. “Here’s to another foul taste in my mouth.” He put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it. He shook off the foul taste of chalk and powder. If only Patience gave these pills some flavor. It wouldn’t be so bad. He removed the spiritual layer from his skin as the sun repellant naturally protected him from the sun.
“Now this should be more of a fair fight,” Angel popped his knuckles. Lycan rose to his feet wiping blood off his lip. “Let’s finish this,” He struck Lycan with a palm strike. The impact pushed Lycan. Wait, where’s the curse? Angel used one on him. He checked his palm and the curse was gone. “Still?” Angel’s eyes widened as Lycan’s foot struck him in the face. He pressed his foot against Angel’s cheek, grinding his face into the dirt.
“So that’s all to your power,” Lycan kicked Angel in the ribs. “Raven chose you over me and you’re this weak. Now that I think about it, weren’t you the guy who was married to Blaire? I do recall seeing you at the wedding. Figures, Blaire would pick a weak,” He kicked Angel in the stomach. “Spineless,” He kicked him again. “Good for nothing Prince like you. I mean it makes sense. In our world, a man who lets a woman rule over him is seen as weak. Not even a man really. So of course for Blaire to find a husband who’d let her rule the vampires. The man would have to be pathetic. Let’s face it, you have the proper parts to be a man. But you’re not, that’s why you resorted to dating a married werewolf. Because it only shows just how pathetic you really are.”
“If I’m so pathetic then what does that make you?” Angel glared at Lycan. “Your wife, not that Raven ever considered you a husband because she didn’t. But the fact remains, she chose me over you. So how pathetic are you if I’m the guy who stole her from you. That makes you worse than me right?” He asked.”, Lycan growled. “So Lycan I must ask, where are your balls? Because for you to lose out to me. You must not have any. Besides,” Angel picked up his knife.
“I’m a lot stronger than you think.” Angel did a quick dive at Lycan and slashed him across the chest. He checked his knife, the black edging was gone. “It worked.” Lycan began screaming as black ink began entering through the cut. “This is for Raven,” He created a blood curse inside Lycan’s body causing him to bleed out from his mouth and his nose. He began twisting his hand when he did. He twisted Lycan’s insides. Lycan continued screaming in pain. “Hurts doesn’t it.” He started closing his hand, gripping Lycan’s heart with the curse.
“You bastard, what have you done to me?” Lycan coughed up more blood.
“You raped Raven and for that I’ll never forgive you. You tortured her, you beat her, you treated her like an object. For this reason, I’m going to make you beg for your life.” Angel gripped tighter on Lycan’s heart. He screamed out in pain as Angel tried to rip it out of his chest. “See at first, you were winning. At first, I couldn’t figure out how to put a curse on you. But then I thought to myself.” Angel got eye level with Lycan. “How is it, you are immune to my curses. But see, then I remembered I used sprit to shield myself from the sun. Who’s to say a werewolf can’t use it as armor. Much like I did. So, that’s when it came to me. How do I bypass that armor that naturally repels my curses. The answer is simple, I use this.” He held his knife to Lycan’s throat. “I cut through your skin and put a special kind of curse on you. A blood curse. It’s taboo but for you,” He smirked. “I’ll make an exception.”
“After all,” Angel glared deep into Lycan’s eyes. “You raped my girlfriend.” He used the curse to grip tighter on Lycan’s heart. Lycan screamed out in pain.“There’s something you should know about me.” Lycan began shaking in fear. “I’m a really friendly, nice guy. I usually do the right thing. But when you fuck with Raven, the one thing I cherish most in this world.” He smiled. “That’s when I become you’re worst fucking nightmare. Because then, I’ll stop at nothing to make sure you regret everything you’ve done to her. I’ll hunt you down and I won’t stop until you beg for your life. Because I’m not trying to be the good guy anymore. No, I want to make sure you suffer. By the time I’m done, you’re going to wish I killed you.” He glared deep into Lycan’s eyes.
“No, wait,” Lycan began shaking. Angel’s curse was acting like virus spreading throughout Lycan’s body. With each passing second, more Lycan’s body was under Angel’s control. He could snap bones, rip out organs, Lycan’s insides were becoming his personal playground. Just a little more and he could turn Lycan’s body inside out. “Don’t do this, we can negotiate.”
“Negotiate what?” Angel tilted his head. How I’m going to kill you?” He smirked. “I think I’ve got that part figured out. How does it feel having someone else inside your body, toying with your insides. I bet you feel violated, just like Raven did. When you raped her.” Lycan coughed up more blood.
“Wait, don’t kill me, I can help you,” Lycan offered. “You’re being hunted for dating a werewolf. It breaks the contract. But, I can make Raven human again. If I do that, there will be no need to hunt either of you down. You can be with her. I can do this. I’ll do even better than that.”
“I’m listening,” Angel kept a firm grip on Lycan’s heart.
“Raven used to be famous. As a human she was living her dream right?” Lycan began. “She chose that dream over you. It’s why you two parted ways correct? What if I gave all of it back to her, everything she lost. I can fix it all. She chose it once. She’ll choose it again. I can give it to her. But, I require your life in exchange. She’ll get everything she’s ever wanted in exchange for your life. You want her to be happy right, give her everything she dreams of. This is your chance. Take it, release me, sign a contract and I’ll make it happen. You have my word.
“You could do that, make her human, give her everything she had before she was turned. She’d get it all back, you swear.” Angel began to consider Lycan’s deal. Raven chose fame over him before. This is what she wants even more than him. At least that’s what he thought. But Raven told him she wanted him. She told him right after she had that nightmare.
Somehow, Raven predicted that Lycan would make this deal with him. Perhaps in the dream Angel took the deal just as he was about to now. Because of this, she lost him. That’s why she told him she wanted him so he wouldn’t take the deal. She doesn’t want her old life back, she just wants him.
“I’m not making any deals with you. Instead, I’ll just kill you.” Angel could feel Lycan’s body succumbing to his curse. He began pulling at Lycan’s inside trying to turn his body inside out. Just a bit more, Lycan began screaming out in pain. Lycan’s blood kept spilling out on the floor.
“Don’t do this,” -That voice!- He felt her warm hands touch his arm moving it aside. Those unmistakable navy blue eyes were looking directly into his. “You have to stop this, this isn’t you.”
Angel took another look at Lycan. His skin was starting to peel back as if it were being turned inside out. He was doing this, with his curses he was doing this to him. Yes, he hated Lycan. He wanted nothing more than to kill him. But this, to do this to him. This was too much.
“You promised you’d let me deal with Lycan. So let me,” Raven ran her fingers across his cheek. “Don’t do this, you’re better than this, than him so don’t stoop to his level.”
“Okay,” Angel pulled the blood curse out of Lycan’s body through his mouth. The curse hovered in Angel’s palm. Right before his eyes, he saw the curse change taking the shape of a dark figure.
This figure, His body was the same shape as his. His eyes were the exact same color as his. Everything identical to himself. almost as if he were looking into a mirror. “Stop trying to deny who you are, you knew from the moment you got those teeth what you were. Stop pretending to be the good guy, the hero, when you know that’s not you. You’re a monster, embrace it.” The figure raised his arms like he were some kind of god. “Embrace me.”
Angel began to see flashes of Lycan screaming out in pain. His body exploding right in front of him leaving a bloody mess all over his face. The idea of killing, felt correct, felt good even. But Raven, she’d never forgive him if he did. But what is this figure and why was it trying to change his mind. He kept seeing images of Lycan dying and the many ways he could kill him.
“Stop it, stop showing me this.” Angel gripped his head as the images kept moving faster and faster. Each one. Brought him pleasure just the thought of ending Lycan’s life for what he did to Raven. It was becoming harder to pass up. How easy it would be to-
“Enough,” Angel yelled at the top of his lungs. He struck the figure. It dissipated into a cloud of black smoke laughing menacingly as it faded. “I won’t do it, I won’t,”
“Great, I lost to a guy who’s out of his mind. Figures, she’d date a nut case.” Lycan laughed to himself. The blood curse was gone and Lycan’s body was beginning to heal.
“Shut up,” Angel punched Lycan in the nose, breaking it. “The only reason, I’m not killing you for what you did. Is because Raven asked me not to. So if I were you, I’d be fucking glad she told me that. Otherwise, I would have. She’ll deal with you herself. I’m not sure how but she will. Count on that.” He started to walk away but stopped himself. “Just so you don’t get any ideas.” He stomped on Lycan’s back as hard as he could, breaking his spine. “I can’t have you following me.” He walked away leaving Lycan lying there on his stomach in pain.
Alejandro walked up to Lycan. He crossed his arms. His eyes judging him for losing to a vampire.
“I brought ice cream,” Jay held up two ice cream cones. He had traces of ice cream on his lips. He had a couple of bruises. “Nikan felt bad for going too rough on us and he gave us ice cream. Right, Jayson?”
“It hardly makes up for it,” Jayson held an ice pack to his jaw. “All I asked is if it was possible to put spirit on my balls. So I can knock someone out with my balls. That’s all I asked. He punched me in the jaw and knocked my tooth out. Something is seriously wrong with that guy.”
“Something is seriously wrong with you.” Alexis scolded him. “My father should have known that just because you’ve reached what he calls “Werewolf Maturity.” Doesn’t make you mature. In fact putting you and the word maturity in the same sentence should be considered a crime. So much so, It needs to be added to the werewolf handbook.” She glanced over at Lycan. “Okay what the hell happened to you? Also, where’s that bitch Claire at?” She held up a photo of Claire and Jay together at the Lunar Ball. “I got words for her. Take your damn picture before I rip it.” She shoved it at Jay.
“Look, it’s just one picture. I don’t see what the big deal is.” Jay argued. “I thought you said you were over it.”
“Jay,” Alexis rolled her eyes at him. “I grabbed you by the balls and twisted em. I’m pretty sure that means I’m not over it. I want to kick that bitches ass again. Now, where the hell is she?”
“I don’t know but I know she knows where her sister’s been hiding.” Lycan grinned. “We’ll wait for her to come back and she does. Be sure to bring her to my cabin.”
“Before or after I kick her ass,” Alexis asked.
“Before, you can have her if she doesn’t tell me where her sister is. Hell, you can even kill her if you want. Doesn’t matter to me.” Lycan was helped up by Alejandro. He leaned over on the Beta’s shoulder. “Take me back to my cabin.” He nodded and began carrying Lycan.
“Hear that, Lycan just gave me full permission to kill her. Today’s going to be a good day.” Alexis walked off.
“Oh, come on, it’s just one picture.” Jay followed her. “You’re overreacting.” He dodged as a fireball flew past him. “Hey there’s no need for that, I thought we agreed. No more using fire in the forest.” She kept walking away from him. “Alexis, babe, you know I love you right.”
“Tell that to the picture asshole,” Alexis flipped him off and kept walking.
“Jays in the doghouse,” Jayson hitched a laugh. Nikan glared at him. “So about that ball question,” Nikan picked up a pebble. “I’ll just ugh be in my tent.” He ran off.
“I have a headache,” Nikan rubbed his temples. “I thought I’d be able to handle it. But those boys, they make my head hurt. Can I put spirit on my balls? Who the hell asks that kind of question.” He let out a sigh. “ Alejandro, I don’t see how you raise those boys. Here I thought mine were a handful. Oh, Kami, please give me patience to train these boys and not kill them.” Nikan walked away.