Chapter 4
Damon jumps off the bed angrily as he throws on a robe. He snaps the neck of the attendant at the door on his way out, leaving Cami gaping at the scene and out of breath. The first time he had actually enjoyed sex with a woman there had to be an emergency.
"I'm definitely ripping apart the head of whoever caused this." He mumbled to himself as he walked down to the tower.
“What the hell happened here?” Damon barks seeing the commotion in the tower. The tower was where they kept prisoners. Apparently, the members of the rumored revolution caught earlier had managed to escape. He grabs the neck of the nearest guard. “You better tell me whatever the fuck happened here or I feed your head to the prisoners”
“Calm down Damon,” Alfred shouts. “He isn’t the guard in charge, come with me.” He says as he tries to release his grip on the guard’s neck. Damon releases the guard who choked on the air. He walks after Alfred taking in a mouthful of air in a bid to calm his wolf as his eyes had changed. “It looks like the revolution isn’t just a rumor and we’ve underestimated their power.”
“What do you mean? No one stands against me and lives. It looks like you’re the one underestimating me” He growls as his eyes transform.
“They have a witch.” Alfred stutters with his hands in the air.
The air around Damon becomes suddenly stiff. Witches had once attacked their pack and it was how his grandfather and mentor died. His grandfather’s death was what pushed his father over the edge. He had held a grudge against witches since then but never thought he would have had to face one. He had learned to be terrified of them from his grandfather’s stories. The elders in the pack still talked about the terror of the witches and told kids the story. But that was old history to the new Damon.
“Nothing is formidable as far as its head and neck can be cut off. We just have to cut them down.” Damon replies as he shrugs off the initial fear that had crept on him.
“It’s what I thought until I saw this. They left you a message, Damon.” Alfred says as he looks at Damon with a sweaty face. Damon opens the door to the room where the guard was kept and walks towards the almost lifeless guard. His head suddenly felt heavy, from the corner of his eyes he could see Alfred being thrown out of the room by an invisible force. The room began to spin and he saw himself in a forest with a woman in white walking towards him.
“Arghh.” He grunts as he tries to attack her but couldn’t move.
“This is my domain, Mr. Blood Alpha.” She says with contempt in her voice. “hahaha, even the so-called strongest alpha is nothing in my world.” She shouts with a spooky laugh. “The only reason you’re still breathing is that the ancestors still have a use for you. Once they’re done with you, I’ll be free to feed you to my babies” She said as two Dragons came out from behind her.
Damon, who is struck with fear, could do nothing but stare as the dragons’ hot breath roasted his neck.
“One more thing. A group of people is going to ask to be withdrawn from your pack. You will release them and if any of your men go after them, you die. Do you understand?” She shouts. “Your life's on the line so I trust that you will do the right thing.” She laughs and shows him a memory or rather a vision before releasing him from the trance.
Damon hits the floor hard as he is thrown back into the room. The almost lifeless guard was already dead. Alfred runs in with the pack’s priest and doctor.
“What did you see in there?” Alfred hastily asks Damon.
“It’s none of your business and how did you know it was a trance?” Damon asks with an angry look on his face.
By the look on Damon’s face, Alfred knew he saw something terrifying and he wasn’t easily terrified. “Because she pulled me in, it’s how I knew to call you. She said the message was for you alone. That’s why I was thrown out of the room.” He replies. “Some of our bled out of their eyes and nose trying to get in and I could only get in once”
“It’s an Imbrulus. ” The priest said. “This is a serious threat. Only a few witches can do this in each generation and the last time we faced one, your grandfather died.” He continued when he had everyone’s attention. Damon walks out of the room angrily; If only he could acquire greater power he would be feared by even the witches and not controlled by one. He thought about the vision or memory he saw before he was thrown out.
In the vision he saw himself burning on a crossed stake, the face on the stake shifted between an older version of him and his grandfather. He wasn’t sure if it was a vision or a memory of hers.
“One way or another, I’ll make that witch pay.” He growls.
“We should handle this with care Damon,” Alfred shouts after him. “Listen to me please.”
“I’m not going to listen to anything you have to say. You called the revolution a fucking rumor, how did that turn out? Huh?” Damon barks.
“I know I fucked up but we’re going up against something we know nothing about.” Alfred pleads.
“I give you two days to prepare the warriors. Call a meeting with the elders immediately; we’ll gather whatever information we can from them. They’ve faced them so they should know something.” Damon says. “We attack when the moon is high, it gives us an advantage.”
“As you say Alpha” Alfred bows as he walks out.
“Why do you always attack at night when fighting non-wolf enemies?” Young Damon asks with eyes full of curiosity.
“The wolves are stronger when the moon is high because we get our powers from the Moon Goddess through her blessings. Attacking enemies of the day at night is a strategic move. It gives us an advantage over them.” His Grandfather replies. “We can’t attack witches on certain nights though and definitely not vampires.”
“Why can’t we attack witches on certain nights?” Damon asks.
“The witches perform rituals on certain nights when their ancestors are brought back to life and they are granted an enormous amount of magical power for days.” His Grandfather says. “You don’t need to worry about witches though; they haven’t troubled us for years.”
“Ahhh” The screams of the people reached them.
“Hide under the bush Damon!” Edward, his Grandfather shouts as he shifts. “Grrr” Edward growls as he is surrounded by 10 witches. It was the night of “The Ten Ritual”. A night when the ten most vicious witches get to live from midnight till dawn. The ten ravage whatever they can whenever they’re resurrected to fill their soul for the next fifty years.
“Don’t even try to fight us, wolf.” One of the witches says with a laugh.
“Oh no Sarah, I’d love it if he does. There’s something about their face when they realize they’re losing” Another says licking her fingers.
Edward growls and pounces towards the witches.
“Infinium ivunorum, Infenum ivunorum” The witches casted repeatedly as the bones in Edward’s body broke and he was forced into shifting back to human.
“You can’t win against us wolf, gives up.” Another one of the witches said.
“I’m not going down without a fight!” Edward cries as he runs toward the witches with a knife in hand.
“Come to your death, love. I’d make it quick.” The same witch replied by casting a spell, suspending him in mid-air as his screams drowned in the air.
“Don’t kill him.” The one who looks like their leader says pushing her hand down and keeping Edward in some kind of bubble. “We would let the young ones finish him.” She added beckoning to a young witch. “Deal with him as you wish.”
The young witch binds Edward to a crossed stake with a spell; she drains his blood from every hole in his body. She mixed the blood with salt and created a boundary around the stake before setting him on fire. No one or anything could get in the circle. The witches gave a spooky laugh as they faded into the air.
“Grandpa, Grandpa!” Damon cried as the boundary spell threw him backward. His parents and the surviving members of the pack all broke down at the sight. His mother carried him away with tears in his eyes. His mentor just got killed before his very eyes and he couldn’t do anything to save him.
Edward sighs as he stands up from his chair, pushing away his worst memory. He walks to his room only to meet Cami waiting for him.
“Alpha.” She greeted him.
“You should leave at once; I’m not in the mood.” He says, slamming his fist on the table. He walks over to his shelf looking over old photos. He had sworn never to lose anyone to witches again but here he was, obeying a witch’s order. He was going to teach the witches not to touch the ones he loved one way or another. He thought squeezing the frame in his hand so hard the glass cut him.
“Knock, knock” He pushed the glass away before making his way to the door.
“The elders are gathered in the packhouse as you requested Alpha” The attendant.