Prince Darrius

Chapter 24

“Death cannot happen on this meadow, you know this,” Maximus says.

“Any death or violence that happens with malicious intent? No it cannot happen here. We’d all die from the witches curse cast upon this ground. But this is different. This is justice, there is no malicious intent involved. It is also an opportunity to see if her blood really is a poison,” Christian explains, “Do you have a problem with what we ask?” 

“Jennifer?” Maximus asks me, and I’m surprised for a moment. Finally, I had some say it what was going on. I smile, happy that I finally have some power. 

“Yes, I’ll do it. But is that all you want?” I ask. 

“He won’t be getting anything else,” Darrius growls behind me. Christian looks amused as he glances over at Darrius.

“He is very protective of you, why?” He asks me. This I did not expect and I knew it was not a part of the plans to reveal that Darrius was the one bonded to me through the prophecy. 

“He, uh, he is just a little… uh –” I struggle to find a way out of it but John saves me. He walks up to my side and puts a hand on my shoulder.

“She’s very strong-willed, you see,” John explains for me, “I’m Prince Johnathan, by the way. Nice to meet you,” The ‘nice to meet you’ part doesn’t come out very convincingly but Christian just shrugs, “Darrius, my brother hasn’t fed all day. I’m trying to teach him control by uh, not feeding. Jennifer is often under his protection and Darrius isn’t use to human’s who try and assert their independence. He is just a little grumpy, that’s all.” I hear Darrius growl behind us in response and Christian shrugs.

“Okay then, let’s get on with it,” Christian says, looking back to me with interest.

“Maximus, you do it,” John says and Maximus nods, coming over with the same knife he used to get some of my blood in the car. I hold out my wrist for him, the werewolf kneeling at my feet starts shaking in fear and I hesitate for a moment. 

“You don’t have a choice,” Maximus gruffly mutters to me, grabbing my elbow and making a quick little knick in my wrist once more. I bite my lower lip from the pain and shakily hold my arm over the werewolf. I watch as a couple of drops of blood fall from my skin and hit the werewolf’s cheek and forehead. I quickly pull my wrist back and cover the wound with my hand, gaping when I see the blood start sizzling through his skin, then through bone, then through – 

I look away, tears coming to my eyes. The werewolf doesn’t scream, he just silently accepts his death, falling onto the ground. He starts convulsing, bumps start appearing all over his body. A reaction to the poison. I look reluctantly back around to see Christian’s eyes have glazed over and there is a tick in his cheek, he doesn’t like what he sees happening before him either. Justice or no, the man was now dead, lying still on the ground. 

Maximus sighs next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, giving me some comfort. John does the same on my other shoulder.

“It’s over now,” John mutters to me. I nod, reluctantly and then glance back to Christian. 

“So it is true,” Christian mutters, the smile lost from his face. He doesn’t look too happy to see me anymore. His welcoming aura dissipates into nothing, like it didn’t exist in the first place. I frown in response. 

“Darrius,” I hear Claudia hiss behind me and before I know it, Darrius has me by the arm.

“You got what you came for,” Darrius hisses at the werewolves, “Don’t dare to threaten my family again, next time we won’t be so diplomatic,” he starts dragging me backwards away from Maximus and Johnathan. I turn around and walk quickly beside him to keep pace with his quick strides. Maximus, Claudia and Johnathan follow behind us, saying goodbye to the werewolves. A few more steps and Darrius suddenly halts. I halt too, looking up at him worriedly. He had a dark look in his eye, he was beyond pissed… he comes closer and leans down, he puts an arm around my waist, one behind my knees, picking me up.