Demon Blood: Chains of Fate

Chapter 25

"As a Demon Lord, I must take any future Demon Lord and present them before the King for judgment. But it seem that Shadow here," Evelyne motioned to me, "has a Mark of his own. As such, I had to present him to the King above all else. Although I couldn't for the past five years..." her voice gets lower.

"He has a Mark of his own? How... wait, is it possible that..." Richard says.

"What? Possible that what?!" Evelyne quickens her pace.

"No, never mind, it's nothing... back to what you said though. Why five years? Could you not find him?" He stops. Evelyne slows down.

"Actually... he's been dead for five years..." Evelyne has completely stopped and stares at the ground. Richard seems troubled.

"If what you say is true then... DAMN IT!!!" He stomps hard on the ground, leaving a large crack in it. Evelyne somehow doesn't notice it.

"I don't know how he died or even how he is alive now... I'm just glad that he is alive..." She said.

"Evelyne," She looks up at Richard, "come with me for a second. I need to speak with you in private..." he walks off to my left and Evelyne goes with him. I wonder what he wants to talk to her about...

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Evelyne

I silently follow him out of earshot of Shadow and further. I've never seen him this serious before. Usually he messes around and is rarely serious, but even when he is it's only a little. This time he doesn't crack a joke or initiate any small talk. No, he is deathly silent and looks beyond troubled... he's afraid of something...

He stops when we can't see Shadow anymore. He breaks the silence, his voice void of its usual cheerful tone.

"There's something you should know about that boy..." he says.

"That boy? You act as if he's some stranger, isn't he your brother?" I ask.

"He isn't, never was." He turns towards me. I look into his eyes with disbelief. I try to search for any hint of a lie. Nothing. He's not lying, he's being serious...

"Then why..."

"Because I was asked to, by my sister Ashlie." I can't believe what I'm hearing. If what he says is the truth... then that means that all his life, Shadow has been lied to...

"Why would you lie to him..." I ask in a low voice as I look at my feet, my fists clenched, "WHY WOULD YOU LIE TO HIM?!?!"

"Because I had to." His expression doesn't change, still void of anything.

"Because you had to? What was so important that you had to pretend to be his family?!" Tears run down my face. Why do I care this much about him to cry on his behalf?

"Because it was important to my sister..." he looks up at the sky, "I did it because she asked me to. At first I didn't like the idea. She just walks up to me with a small baby in her arms and asks me to help raise it," He lets out a small chuckle, "Who would have thought that I'd become so attached to that little devil! We bought a small house that bordered a forest and I had two of my servants act as his parents. A few years pass, that child was an interesting one all right," He looks at me, "do you remember how a Demi-Human acquires their magic for the first time?" I think back to when I first acquired my power.

It was a life or death situation, I got lost in a forest during a camping trip. It was pitch black and I could barely see three inches in front of me. The original reason I went out was to relieve myself but it soon turned to trying to find my way back to the camp. I wasn't too afraid of the dark as I was 13 years old, but the noises scared me more than anything else. From every direction I could hear howling, growls, snapping, and many other noises. Eventually a pack of wild wolves found me, I ran and ran and ran as fast as I could. Not caring where I was going, only thinking about getting away from the wolves. After running for what seemed to be hours, I collapsed on the ground. The wolves circled around me before finally going in for the kill. I remember the pain so clearly, where their teeth sunk into my flesh, where their claws cut my skin like a warm knife through butter. I remember them tearing the flesh from my body. It was so painful, I wanted it to end so badly... then it did. I didn't feel anymore pain, I didn't hear the wolves anymore, just a drop every once in a while. When I looked around me, I saw the wolves, roots had skewered through their bodies. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, I looked over my body, completely healed. This is when my power only started to grow with each passing day. Eventually leading to the day I had to disappear...leaving my older brother all alone...