"Venom"
By: Eminem
&
"Rootless Tree"
By: Damien Rice
I felt the wave of power before it hit, and next thing I knew the floor rocked and rolled, disintegrating beneath my feet.
Half a second ago Calista and her "council" of morons had been balls deep inside her declared speech of why she loathed Camille, and next bodies were flying through the air, splinters of wood and sharp debris sailing over and through our bodies. My back hit the wall which such force that I careened right through it and into the neighboring room, which so happened to be the remnants of what used to be a bathroom.
Pissed off and too wired to feel any pain, I crassly determined I was not badly injured and emerged through the rubble, immediately seeking out Elizabeth, each breath heaving with anxiety. My fear only tripled when I ran smack into Kore's mental block. Her mind was impenetrable, a deep gold barrier so strong I doubt even she could break through it.
I felt nothing from her, just a looming sense of deep insufferable grief.
However jaw-dropping, my fear wasn't of her defenses, it was the mass of all-consuming darkness slithering on the other side. Pure undiluted and unbelievably dark power lurked there, so much stronger than I'd ever felt before, not to mention depthless. The stark realization that there was nothing in this world or the next that would ever bring her back from this ruthless power if the darkness pulled her under, crippled me. This was a power so ancient it was born before there was a world that I now walked on, a power that formed galaxies and shaped planets.
No, not even I would be able to save her.
Shaking my mind free of my turbulent thoughts, the floor rolled threateningly once more, and I stumbled, barely managing to grip the doorframe. Dust and mold caught in my eyes and nose, dulling my senses. I coughed, spitting out a weak yell, calling Camille's name. My heartbeat thundered in my chest, knocking painfully against my ribs, but my fear eased a fraction when she suddenly appeared in front of me. A deep scratch marred one pale cheekbone, and her red cloak and dress were torn and bloody. Her hair blew back from her face like a wind-blown river of red, fitting as a roar of rage and pain blasted through the air around us, the sound slightly muted through the walls but no less terrifying.
It was Kore.
We were too late.
I looked at Camille with wide eyes and the answering look of dread on her face had blood rushing to my head. She caught me as my knees gave out and hauled me up, her grip tight around my forearms and she mercilessly shook me, her mouth moving but I couldn't hear a word she said. My consciousness wavered and spots danced behind my eyelids, the world beginning to darken around me, yet for the first time I didn't care.
If Elizabeth and Kore were gone, I had no reason to live.
A sharp sting tore through my cheek just then, and gripped with sudden rage I turned, my elongated canines barely missing the skin of her throat before she shoved me away. With the pain my mind cleared some and I gasped in horror, overwhelmed with the self-destructive path my mind had taken. Forcing every suffocating thought and feeling into a tight ball, I buried it all deep in my mind, locking the door and throwing away the key on my way out.
I had everything to live for.
I met Camille's panicked eyes with renewed sight, my jaw clenching in determination. I nodded sharply, letting her know I was somewhat sane.
"What is happening!?" I shouted over the ringing in my ears and desolation around us.
Screams came from everywhere, assaulting my eardrums with every sharp wail of pain and misery. My heart clenched as I thought of my family, praying that they were safe. I squinted through the dust and cupped a shaking hand over my mouth as the room came into view. Where the far wall had been, a huge section of wall was missing, blown apart and all but disintegrated. One wall leaned threateningly, and as I looked around, noting the prone bodies and missing limbs, I knew we had to get out of here before the entire building came down. Pushing past the sights and smells, I lunged for the bodies, checking for pulses. To my relief, many of them were still breathing.
Injured badly, but alive.
Camille met me on the floor, tightening a tourniquet around my upper thigh, and it was only then that I felt the extent of the injuries to my leg and upper left arm. Sucking in great gasps of air, my breath was ragged as I tried to push past the pain. Warmth infused the injuries and I sighed as the agony eased some. She tapped the side of her head and a moment later her scatterbrained mind barged into mine.
"I don't know! I've only felt power like this once before, the power of an ascension. Kore must've ascended into her full power. We have to get down there." Her panicked gaze met mine. "Azalea.....Michael, your......family, they're all targets."
I opened my mouth to scream that I had no idea what she fucking meant by any of that, when a body suddenly rose from the chaos, her dark skin littered with scratches and once regal clothes bloody.
Calista's rage-red eyes burned through me and her canines elongated.
"What is the meaning of this?! I swear Camille, if you are behind this I will personally-," I stopped her with a snarl, my voice rippling with authority.
"Now is not the time. I have a thousand pack members to attend to and a mate that has gone unexpectedly bonkers. I suggest you find within your however minimal capabilities to care for someone other than yourself for once, or I might as well remove your head from you shoulders before the goddess of hell can do so." The burst of uncontrollable rage that gave me courage to say such words burned through my body as fast as it had initially hit me. But I meant every single anxiety tinged syllable of it. It was taking everything in me to not dissolve into a mess of screaming and rocking back and forth, and I did not have time for her petty bullshit. Camille looked less than inclined to disagree with me and pursed her lips.
Wisely, Calista backed down but her body practically vibrated with anger as she surveyed the scene, stalking away to check on her advisers.
Thankfully most of her emissary had started to rise again, and I was once again beyond grateful that Camille and I had been the only two of our massive party present. Dismissing them, I sifted through the rubble until I neared the missing section of house, rubble sliding from beneath my feet and my balance slipping. Camille snatched my arm and hauled me back in, sending me a cautionary glare.
Turning from her, I tried to peer through the smoke, but besides a few panicked fleeing blobs, I couldn't see much. Swearing and partially mad with fear for my mate, I ripped free of Camille and leapt into the haze, the shrill scream of my name echoing behind me. Pain tore through me along with the wind, it rushed through my hair a fraction of a second before I hit the ground, my wolf's body realigning perfectly and sturdily on the cracked pavement.
Power rippled through me wave after wave, the air pulsing with it. Unable to fight the call of Kore's power, the body pulled tight. I turned that final corner, my body leading me on, terrified humans and scrambled vampires dashing and diving out of my way as I weaved in and out, barely able to feel the blacktop beneath my paws. Had I been able to think logically, I would've noted that she hadn't been this far away just moments ago. But then a sharp pain lanced across the right side of my back, like someone had taken a hot knife and split either sides of my shoulder blades open, diagonally down to my lower back.
I stumbled and tripped over a stray lump of concrete, flipping nose over tail. My right foreleg snapped on impact and I howled in pain, scrambling back up on three legs. The pain in my back had already faded, but my leg was definitely out of commission. A foreboding sense of desperation gripped me that I couldn't ignore. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't think of anything else but getting to her. My body weak from rapid blood loss and what was no doubt a nasty concussion, blurry shapes wizzed across my eyes, confirming that should I keep going I would definitely lose consciousness.
Panicked and afraid, I forced myself onward, my mind straining to her, ramming everything I had against the wall barricading the inside of her. She was never meant to share such power alone. The dust cleared and my heart seized to beat when she finally came into view. I couldn't grasp what I was seeing, I couldn't grasp the heavenly color of her wings and hair, so rich and bright a gold they glowed with pure light. In my shock I noted that she was taller, and her features were more "heart shaped" than Elizabeth's, yet no less filed to perfection. Her body curved in ways that were clearly meant for lethal seduction, and I could see in that moment why Hade's had wanted her.
My body was not my own as my wolf receded, reeling with fear, unable to comprehend what she had become. I cradled my broken arm to my chest and staggered forward, gasping for breath.
This was Hell's Queen, in the flesh.
"KORE!"
The sudden urge to cry out overcame me and I reacted without thinking, the word mentally and physically screaming from my mouth, The world slowed to a near halt when she looked right at me, and Elizabeth's familiar black gaze and lethal fangs stole another sucker punch to my gut.
Wings the color of the evening sunset suddenly unfurled, nearing a twenty foot span from end to end. Dread sent my stomach into knots when I realized she was preparing to flee, her depthless eyes deceived and unseeing in their perusal of me, but a sudden burst of anxiety wafted off her that had her consciousness wavering, but then her body lowered into a crouch and I went cold down to my soul. Her mind wavered once more, and a headache split my skull as visions flashed behind my eyes.
I saw Adrian, spinning a knife in his fingers and laughing, but it was a laugh of pure evil. He dug at her with threats of Hades, striking deep into the soul of the goddess.
I watched as she grew mad with the rage and pain of such memories, succumbing to her power. Her body split at the seams, and her wings birthed anew, her hair a river of sunlight, the true daughter of Demeter.
I watched when the voice that was not mine and yet was screamed for her, and I watched as she lost herself in fear when Adrian winked out of sight. Her mind was lost but deep in the bowels a secondary soul wailed of deception.
I jerked back to my body just as every cell threatened to cave in, and it was only the will of my wolf that forbade it.
I wasn't going to make it!
I screamed in desperation, then in rage as an unrelenting grip suddenly wrapped around my un-injured arm, yanking me back into a familiar body, pulling me away from her. Too weak to break her hold I twisted, desperately trying to catch Kore's gaze again, but whatever moment of clarity that had allowed me into her mind had left her. She leapt into the air, the powerful beat of her wings bowing the trees themselves back, in their wake.
Camille wrapped me in her arms as a piece of me broke then, watching her go, for the first time realizing she was truly out of my reach. But then red-hot rage snuffed out the fear and and pain, running so hot my skin felt like bursting. Never before could I remember being as angry as I was right then, fighting the urge to go feral. My eyes shot to the ruined building I'd only moments ago vacated, my gaze snapping to a certain bitchy vampire. I locked eyes with Calista, knowing without a doubt that she was involved in this, and then locked eyes with Camille.
Her gaze was hard and unrelenting, yet she followed the path my eyes had taken, a look of grim understanding on her face. I didn't scream when she abruptly snapped my bone back into place, healing the injury as much as she could.
"Do what you have to." She whispered aloud, releasing me. "I am here."
Numbness spread through my limbs, thick and heavy. The world dimmed around me, and I could focus on little more than revenge for what she had done to Kore. I nodded to her and turned my gaze to the one who owed me answers, the breath in my lungs searing icily at the open expression of smugness on her face, only solidifying my desire to enact the truly horrible things I had planned for her.
I would do whatever it took to find my mate, even if it would cost me my soul.
Enjoy! 😘