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Chapter Twenty-Nine
"I'm sure you're all wondering why I called for a meeting tonight on such short notice," Raine said, "but I've called you here because of good news." He turned to smile at Finn and Violet, nodding his head encouragingly.
They took a brave step forward and looked each person in the eye, preparing themselves for mixed reactions. Finn cleared his throat and gave a small smile, "Violet and I are married." He wrapped an arm around Violet's waist and smiled at her lovingly.
There was a moment of complete silence before King Clovis found his voice. "Preposterous!" he blustered.
"It's true," Violet confirmed happily.
Ingrid and Tamsin jumped up from the couch and pulled her into a fierce hug. "Congratulations!" they squealed. "We knew it!"
"This is impossible!" King Clovis screamed angrily. He pounded a fist on the couch and stood up, glaring at Finn and Violet. "I will not have any more of this nonsense. Violet you are engaged to Sage, we have a contract that can only be dissolved by me."
Violet looked at Sage who had been strangely silent throughout the ordeal. He was watching everything unfold with a glimmer of satisfaction in his eyes. She questioned his calm behavior, wondering why he didn't have more of a predictable reaction. She expected shock and possibly hurt or even relief, but she never would have predicted he would sit there and observe everything with a relaxed air.
"Violet are you listening to me?" he father roared.
She sighed and returned her focus to him, "I am legally married to Finn. I haven't shrunk or experienced any pain. I would hope you would have enough respect to recognize the legal contract and I ask as your daughter that you support us."
"No," King Clovis growled. A vein throbbed in his forehead and his face was a mottled color, "my daughter never would have gone behind my back and defied my judgment. Besides, I still doubt your so called 'marriage' was legal."
Violet's mouth fell open in shock. She had expected anger from her father, but no insults. The fact that he dared to doubt their marriage was enough to make her want to go into a rage. The wings in her back threatened to break free and her fingers ached to elongate into claws.
Raine took a step forward and let out a warning growl. "Their marriage is legal. They performed Splynutí duší, the marriage rite of the panthers. Under this contract they are legally wed. I have given my permission and Violet is a part of our family. There is nothing you can do about it, except for accept it and support them."
Clovis looked even more angered by this revelation and was at a loss for words. The most surprising reaction came from Sage though. He leapt to his feet and had his hand wrapped around Finn's throat before anyone could breathe.
"No Sage!" Violet cried, taking a step forward.
"No one move or he dies," Sage snarled angrily. He pressed Finn against the wall and sneered at him. "Stupid panther, you had to ruin everything didn't you?"
Finn struggled in Sage's strong grip, knowing that he was ready and willing to kill him if prompted to do so. "You don't love her," he gasped sharply.
Sage cocked his head eerily and chuckled, "Of course not. Love has nothing to do with this. However, she was a vital piece to the entire plan and you ruined it." He tightened his grip, finding satisfaction in Finn's pain.
"Sage, what plan?" Violet whispered. She just wanted him to let go of Finn. She hoped to distract him and somehow keep Finn in one piece, but there was something about the way Sage was talking that was off. She didn't understand why he had suddenly leapt of the couch and attacked Finn. Was it because he finally realized their marriage was legal? Or had something else happened to anger him?
He turned his head to look at her and hissed, "Wouldn't you like to know."
"What is wrong with you?" she asked worriedly. Ignoring the protests of everyone, she took a step towards Sage and narrowed her eyes, trying to figure out what was so different about him. She noticed a flicker of red in the pupil of his eyes before he turned away from her again, focusing on Finn.
"Now, what shall I do with you?" His fingers elongated into sharp claws as he pressed the tip of his thumb into Finn's jugular, drawing a drop of blood. He licked his lips and hissed, revealing fangs.
"Sage!" Violet cried, "What are you doing? You aren't acting like yourself!"
Sage gave a frustrated growl and glared at Violet, "You are mine. I am eliminating the threat to solve the problem."
"I don't want you," she said stubbornly. "Please," she begged, "please don't do this. The Sage I knew would never act this way." He seemed to waver visibly before slamming a cold mask over his face.
"I have changed, just as you have."
Raine watched the whole exchange with narrowed eyes, taking in Sage's reactions and Violet's words. He didn't know Sage as well as Violet, but he also could see that something was off with Sage. Could he possibly be the one possessed? It would explain his erratic behavior. It wouldn't hurt to test and see.
He focused his attention on Sage and called upon his Alpha side when he called out, "Daemonium declaro." Sage screeched painfully and jolted when the Latin words reached him, wrapping their power around him. He loosed his grip on Finn and glowered balefully at Raine.
"Emorior," he hissed, wishing death upon his enemy.
Raine took a step forward and pointed a finger, commanding sternly, "Abeo!" Sage shook with rage and let go of Finn, choosing to fight Raine instead. He seemed to be experiencing an inner struggle as well as fighting off the power of Raine's words. Behind Raine, everyone else had stood up and watched the proceedings with wide eyes. Noelle clutched Delilah next to her and bit her lip painfully. This couldn't end well. She was afraid to watch, afraid to see Raine get hurt.
No one noticed Theo grimacing and holding his head painfully.
Raine feinted to the left and quickly grabbed Sage from the right. He held him by the throat and shook him roughly, "Abeo!" Sage let out another unearthly howl before chuckling madly.
"You can't win, pardus. The Vessel is ours." Sage's eyes rolled into the back of his head as his body started jerking painfully.
"No!" Raine roared, trying to stop the convulsions, "Abeo, Daemonium, abeo!" But Sage and his demon were too far-gone. A mad chuckle echoed throughout the room before Sage's body went limp in Raine's grip. He let out a curse and dropped Sage's body, letting it fall in an ungraceful heap on the floor.
"Sage?" Violet whimpered. She ran over to his side and fell on the ground next to him, brushing his hair out of his eyes. A trickle of blood was in the corner of his mouth, and his skin was deathly pale. He was gone. She felt tears start to stream down her cheeks. Even if she hadn't wanted to marry him, she still loved him as a friend and it hurt like hell to lose him. "What happened?" she asked Raine, demanding to know what went wrong.
Raine rubbed his forehead, giving a frustrated sigh. But before he could say anything, Theo took a couple steps forward and kicked Sage in the side, "Idiot," he muttered.
"Sage wasn't an idiot!" Violet snarled, pushing Theo's foot away.
Theo gave her a mocking look, "I know, I was referring to Hadrian."
Violet gave him an odd look before understanding dawned, "Oh no," she whispered backing away quickly.
"Oh yes," Theo whispered evilly. In the blink of an eye he threw Raine across the room and grabbed Noelle's wrist. "Hello Vessel," he hissed.
"NO!" Raine roared, picking himself up from the ground and charging towards the possessed Theo. "ABEO!"
Theo laughed raspily and smiled at Noelle, "It was so nice visiting you last night. Don't worry though, I'll see you again soon. Hopefully before your dream becomes a reality." With that he pressed a kiss to her wrist and bit her painfully. Noelle cried out and tried to jerk her wrist from his grip, but he held on tightly and whispered a foreign word. The demon let go of her arm and fell to the ground, convulsing in the same manner that Sage had done. Theo's body stilled and lay limply on the ground, contorted much as Sage's was.
"NO!" Delilah screamed, tripping over herself in her haste to reach Theo's side. "Theo? Please baby, talk to me. Make a noise, something! Please, Theo," she cried. He was unresponsive to her words, his body only a shell. "No," she whimpered, wrapping her arms around him. Over and over again she begged him to come back, but it was no use. Theo was gone.
Paxton let out an anguished howl and dropped to the ground next to his twin. "Theo," he said hoarsely, touching his brother's cold hand. Ingrid walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder but he shrugged her off coldly, not wanting to touch anyone. Hurt, she turned to Delilah and opened her arms. Delilah wept softly, taking small comfort in Ingrid's arms. But the pain was too fresh to wipe out completely.
"What just happened?" Finn rasped, rubbing his neck. He was holding Violet behind him and staring at Theo.
Raine leaned his head back and let out a loud panther scream that had everyone covering their ears. When he brought his head back down, his green eyes were tinged red. How had this happened? He had been prepared to fight the demon, but apparently not prepared enough. No demon should be able to resist the Alpha command in the Latin language. Not one, but two demons had. Why were there two demons in the first place? Shaking his head in frustration he let out a soft growl and eyed the lifeless body of Theo.
"Raine?" Noelle's soft voice broke through the haze of anger, "Can you explain to us what's going on?"
He took a deep breath to calm down and said in a low voice, "They were each possessed by a demon and I tried to call the demon out. But as you can see," he pointed out bitterly, "it didn't work as well as I had planned. No demon should have been able to resist the Alpha call, it doesn't make sense. The demons are gone, but they took Sage and Theo's soul with them in the process. I was trying to prevent that from happening, but they were stronger than I thought."
"Was it Ayumu?" Noelle whispered.
Raine nodded painfully. "Yes, Theo was possessed by Ayumu. And from what I'm deducing, Sage was possessed by a lower demon, Hadrian. I've never heard of him before, so I don't know what part he played."
"Wait," Paxton growled. He stood to his feet and faced Raine angrily, "Are you telling me that you knew we had demons on our estate and you didn't tell any of us?"
"I couldn't tell you in case you were the one possessed," Raine growled warningly.
Paxton cursed and clenched his fists. "My brother is dead because you didn't have the balls to tell us there was a threat!"
"Paxton," Ingrid said warily.
"Shut up," he growled, ignoring her completely. He didn't see the shock and anger on her face as she tried to hold back the tears.
Raine snarled and took a step towards Paxton, "You will watch your tone with me. I made the best decision I could regarding the situation. If you have a problem with that you can challenge my position as Alpha."
Paxton took a step back, glowering, unwilling to test Raine's right to be in power. He was angry and hurt, lashing out at whoever was with him. He leaned down and picked up Theo's body, pushing Delilah to the side. With one last look in the room, he stalked out angrily, taking the body with him.
Ingrid watched him walk away then looked back at Delilah. She struggled with what decision to make, and came to the conclusion that Paxton needed her more than Delilah did. Regardless of how much he pushed her away, she was going to be persistent and prove that she was there for him no matter what. She left the room after him, following him down the hallway.
"Are there any more demons?" King Clovis suddenly asked, eyeing everyone in the room warily.
"I don't think so, but I don't know for sure," Raine sighed. "I only knew about Ayumu; I wasn't expecting another demon."
"It'll be okay," Noelle murmured, linking her fingers with his, "We'll get through this, for now we need to take care of arranging a funeral for Sage and Theo."
King Clovis scoffed, "I'm leaving after the funeral and taking Clover and Basil with me, we are not staying here when danger is imminent." Clover opened her mouth to argue, but Noelle cut her off with a shake of her head.
"We'll worry about everything later," Raine said coldly, "for now everyone should return to their rooms and rest. I'll work on getting a small ceremony together for our two men. After that I will be more than willing to discuss whatever you want." With the warning issued he motioned for everyone to leave the room.
Tamsin pulled Delilah to her feet and led her out of the room, pushing Fletcher away with a muttered excuse about helping Delilah. Violet and Finn were the last to leave, trying to offer their help with the funeral. Finally Raine gave in, allowing them to take care of the proceedings.
Noelle led him out of the room, strangely quiet. He realized something was bothering her and stopped her in the middle of the hallway. "Noelle, what's wrong?"
She gave him a pained look and held up her arm, "This."
Raine realized she was pointing to where Ayumu/Theo had bit her. Instead of teeth marks, on her wrist was a black X. The surrounding skin was red and irritated, making the X look like it was pulsing. "Shit," he muttered, "he's marked you."
"What does that mean?" Noelle asked, dreading the answer.
"Ayumu can visit you whenever he wants now."
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