***
Jager smiled, scratching behind one of his Wraith-wolves’ ears. Everything was going as planned. Pryde had served his purpose, Rathe was gone for good, Alexandra and her crew were barred from the castle, and Rafe was on his way. It’s almost too easy.
***
Rafe reached the top of the last flight of stairs faster than he thought possible. For such a large castle, it was fairly easy to get through to the top. It’s almost like this place wants me up here… he thought to himself, changing back to human as he got to the door leading to Jager’s chambers. He put his hands on the frozen metal and pushed. The doors groaned as they slowly slid open, it was as if they hadn’t been used since they were first built. A voice called out to him from the opposite end of the room.
“It’s been a long time Child,” Jager said lazily, leaning back in his throne.
“Not long enough if you ask me,” Rafe replied.
“Come now, is that any way to speak to your father? I believe it’s customary these days to greet one’s family after such a long time apart.”
“Can it, you’re not my family!” Rafe narrowed his eyes and strode into the room. It was the same size as Alexandra’s throne room, larger even, maybe. One of the Wraith-wolves snarled at him, that eerie flame that was the Tolti’iq trademark issued from between its teeth.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Jager scolded the creature. “The child is entitled to his opinion.” He turned his attention back on the boy. “You’ve grown since the last time I saw you-.”
“You mean when you killed my mother and tossed me out of the castle into the ocean?”
“She and I didn’t see eye to eye on certain things.” Jager waved his hand dismissively. “She couldn’t understand my ideals, and she even tried to stop me from my work.”
“So you killed her?”
“She stood in my way; all I did was remove an obstacle. If she had her way, none of this would be happening! You would be rotting in the ground! She couldn’t see that as a human you were weak, useless, nothing but filth!”
“At least I’d have been normal, not some undead freak like you!”
The look Jager shot him at that chilled him to the bone; if he didn’t know better he’d have thought his body was as frozen as everything else on this island. It brought back memories, nightmares, from what little he remembered of his childhood here. Memories of cowering under his bed, of hiding behind his mother’s legs. Jager was as coldblooded as they came, even Atticus paled in comparison.
“I’d advise you to watch your mouth, boy, lest you join the same fate your mother had.”
Rafe felt a bead of sweat trickle down his spine. Jager didn’t make empty threats.
“When she tried to keep you from me, to keep me from making you more than human, that was the last straw. And then you had the gall to try to escape!” A crunch came from the Wraith-wolf he had his hand on as he crushed its skull in anger.
“And you acted like a normal father and chucked me out of a window to land in the ocean?! Left me to drown?”
“You were weak! A disgrace to your family!”
“You don’t even have any idea what ‘family’ means! What kind of family tries to kill their own flesh and blood? What kind of parent takes away every memory their child has and leaves them to die? Us, family? You have to be joking. We never were a family!”
“What makes you think you know what you’re talking about Child!” Jager shot back, crushing the other Wraith-wolf’s skull. “You talk as if you think you had one after that! I am your only family!”
“A family looks out for each other, raises the weak to become strong, cares for each other even though some have trouble showing it! My true family came to me on the shores of Tuura when Alexandra and Vladimir found me! Vladimir raised me like a son, Alasteir looked after me like an uncle, and Alexandra watched over me like a mother! When I came out of that coma and wandered into Labrynthia’s forest, even more people joined my family! Kairi, Kayla, Mary-Ann, and Hisa have been like sisters! Rathe and Reko are like my brothers! Kyuu was too before he died, even though I knew him for a little time. Victor is too. And Louve-…” His voice caught in his throat as he said her name. “Louve is… She’s… she’s the girl I love and can’t live without! All of them, they’re my real family!” Rafe glared at Jager, his body shifting as he changed into his Lycan state. “And anyone who harms them, who threatens my family, is dead meat!” Fast as lightning, he shot at Jager, slamming his fist down at the man’s head.
Jager tilted his head aside as Rafe’s fist crashed into the back of the throne right where his head had been seconds ago. “You’re as naive as your mother. Who do you think gave you the gift that’s allowed you to live long enough to even meet them? The one who ordered the attack by the Werewolf who bit you, or the Vampire who made you what you are today? Do you think you would have met your precious ‘family’ if you had stayed a human? You would be six feet under by now, nothing but bones and dust if I hadn’t had those two creatures make you what you are! You owe me your very life!” Jager reached up and grabbed Rafe’s wrist, his own body rippling as his change into his own Lycan form took place. Gripping it tightly, he swung the boy’s arm aside, throwing him into the wall ten feet away.
Rafe grunted as he hit the wall, the force of the impact caused part of it to collapse onto him. He pushed the rubble off him and snarled at Jager. “You? You’re the one that made me a monster?”
Jager laughed. “Monster? I merely made you like myself!”
“Shut up!” Rafe replied, leaping at his father. “I am nothing like you!” He brought his fist down, smashing the throne to pieces as the man dodged his attack.
Jager ran forward and grabbed the back of Rafe’s skull, slamming him into the ground. “You’re more like me than you know. The Wraith blood that flows through you thanks to that insect Rathe isn’t the only thing that ties you to me.” He picked the boy up by the head and flung him into another wall.
Rafe slammed into the wall with a grunt and fell to his knees. He glared up at Jager, forcing himself to his feet and ran at him again. Jager reached up to grab him again, but Rafe ducked, switching to his wolf form, and slammed into Jager’s chest, knocking the man back. As they flew toward the wall behind Jager, Rafe switched back to his Lycan state and grabbed Jager by the throat, planting his feet on the ground, and threw Jager up in the air, springing up after him. He raised his leg then brought it crashing down on the man’s back, sending him straight back to the ground. He grabbed the wall next to him, skidding almost to a stop as he went up it, and sprang back to the ground, landing before Jager reached it. He slammed his fist into his father’s chin, sending Jager once again into the air with the force of the uppercut. Yet again Rafe shot up above Jager, this time he brought his hands together, lifting them above his head before smashing them down on Jager’s head. Jager shot back down, crashing into the ground hard. Rafe landed neatly behind him and started to rush forward, but a dozen Wraith-Wolves formed around him in a ring. The undead beasts growled at him, slowly moving closer as more of them appeared behind them, cutting him off from Jager. Rafe snarled at the creatures, but they kept advancing. With a snarl, one of the wolves behind him leapt at him. Rafe swung around, knocking the creature away with his fist. As if on cue, the other undead howled and attacked. He lashed out at them, smashing some into the ground, crushing others’ skulls with his hands, smashing a few into each other, and even ripped others in half, but more and more kept coming, and the ones he had already beaten reformed themselves and joined back into the fray. Their jaws clamped down onto his arms and legs, they torn at him with their nails and teeth, burying him beneath them as they piled on. Rafe grabbed at them, pushing himself up to his feet, tearing them apart. He threw each one he could grab crashing out one of the windows in the room. He heard someone snap their fingers and the rest of the wolves backed off, slowly vanishing. He turned to face Jager, his body going back to human to lessen the strain it was taking from the wounds. Blood matted his shirt and jeans; he shuddered as some of the less serious wounds closed up, the others slowly going fixing themselves as the Wraith blood in his body started to activate the Wraith’s regenerative process. So long as he wasn’t missing any limbs his body would treat itself as a Wraith, fixing and restoring its strength.
“Aren’t you glad that your body is now part Wraith?” Jager said. “You’d be on your knees bleeding to death otherwise.”
Rafe narrowed his eyes and said nothing. The last of his wounds finished healing and shifted back to Lycan, rushing at his father. Jager didn’t bother to dodge, instead he grabbed Rafe’s head and smashed him back into the ground before lifting him back up and tossing him into the air. As Rafe fell back down, Jager swung his leg around, knocking Rafe into a wall with a roundhouse kick. The wind left him as he hit the wall. Already dazed from being smashed into the ground, Rafe’s vision swam as he struggled to his knees. He cried out as a foot was slammed down onto his back, knocking him back to the floor, and again when Jager brought his elbow smashing onto his head. He barely made out Jager’s laughter, his ears were ringing so much and his head hurt so badly.
TAKE OVER? came a voice in his head, the voice of the beast within him. PREY MINE NOW?
Yeah, Prey yours now. No play, no eat.
NO EAT PREY? The beast sounded disappointed.
No. Prey poison, eat and Prey kills you
PREY POISON? PREY KILL ME?
Not if you kill Prey without eating. Kill Prey, no eat, no play, just kill.
KILL PREY!
Rafe almost chuckled, letting the beast take over. Leathery wings burst out of his back and his eyes turned pure white, sending everything in his vision into a sort of black lighting that still allowed him to see what was around him as things were coated in wavy aura shades. He brought his head back and roared. PREY!!!!
The room shuddered with the force of the roar, some of the stalactites fell and shattered on the ground or over his wings, which could take a blast from an RPG and come out unscathed, as in his fight with the Hunter, Jerico. Lowering his head, he looked around for the Prey. There was something that was moving, but there was no light coming from it. It was similar to the Wraith-Prey he had encountered, but unlike those, which had no light in their auras, this one seemed to be pulling in the light from everything around it like a black hole.
Jager tilted his head as he heard the beast’s roar, and its words in his head. “Interesting. Mindspeech, huh. Very amusing. So you can’t speak when in that form yet? It seems that blow to your head all those years ago has stunted your growth.”
PREY TALKS TOO MUCH. NO LIKE TALKY PREY!
“Hmph, reduced mentality in that form; you can’t even form more than basic sentences.”
Rafe roared and swiped his claws at the Prey, black blades shot out and headed at it, gouging deep gashes into the floor. The Prey dodged and the blades hit the wall behind it, smashing a large hole in it. He whirled around to face the creature, and was welcomed with a foot slammed into his face. The blow knocked him aside so that he landed on his wings painfully. He roared in anger and rolled over before bringing his wings together, causing a powerful gust of wind to issue forth. Several of the stone pillars in the room began to crack and more of the stalactites crashed to the ground from its force. The Prey jumped out of the way of the attack, and Rafe snarled loudly. STAY STILL SO I CAN KILL YOU!!
“Not very bright are you? But your power in this form is impressive,” Jager commented, ducking under one of Rafe’s wings as the boy tried to sever his head with it. He jumped up when Rafe swept a claw at him, landing on the boy’s back. “Still, you’re nothing more than a simple beast when it comes down to it.”
HOLD STILL! Rafe jumped up, using his wings to send him flying upwards in one move, and crashed into the ceiling.
“Down here!” Jager said, looking up from the ground.
Rafe snapped. With a roar that brought the last of the stalactites crashing down, he lunged at his Prey, slamming him into the ground. The force of the attack caused the two to crash through the ground and continue smashing down, floor after floor, until they landed on the first floor in an impact that shook the entire castle. Rafe grabbed his Prey’s head and lifted him up before throwing him into one of the pillars in the entrance hall. The pillar was reduced to rubble, chunks of stone falling down onto the Prey’s body. For several moments nothing happened. Rafe tilted his head. PREY DEAD? NO FUN!
Shut up! I told you to kill him, not play with him!
KILL NO FUN IF NO PLAY WITH PREY…
This isn’t supposed to be fun! If we don’t kill him soon, there will be no more Prey anywhere on this planet!
NO PREY?
No Prey. Creatures will come and take away all Prey, leaving us as the only Prey left!
NOT PREY! PREY WEAK, PREY NOT STRONG! I NOT PREY! I ALPHA!
“Will you never cease your imbecilic ramblings!”
Rafe looked at the pile of rubble where the Prey was. Something was moving under the rubble. Suddenly, the chunks exploded outward. Rafe had to shield himself with his wings to avoid most of the pain. A roar issued from where the stones were flying, and Rafe lowered his wings slightly. He snarled at what he saw.
Jager stood on his hind legs, black wings erupted out of his back. He turned his gaze on the beast in front of him. “I told you,” he said, bringing the wings back, “that there was more between us than you knew!” He brought his wings together, the gust that came from them knocked Rafe back into the wall behind him. He dashed forward and slammed his head into the boy’s chest and the two of them smashed through the wall and landed outside.
They latched onto each other, rolling over the ground in a fury of claws and teeth, tearing at anything they could reach. Rafe dug his claws into Jager’s arms, pushing his beast side back to retake control of the body. He snarled as Jager ripped a gash in his chest and retaliated by gouging several lines into the man’s cheek before clamping his jaws down on his shoulder. Jager roared and kicked Rafe off of him, sending him flying into one of the frozen trees that lined the castle. Without pausing, he rushed forward to tear the brat’s head off, only to be blasted into the air as Rafe brought his wings together. Rafe leapt into the air and slammed into Jager, knocking him back into the castle. He stayed in midair, his wings beating to keep him airborne as he sniffed the air to see if Jager was dead. His answer came as Jager smashed through the wall, shooting straight at him. He barely managed to dodge by shooting up into the air. Jager snarled and shot after him. Rafe retreated higher until he reached the top of the castle. He flew to one of the towers and felt Jager slam into his back. Jager tore at his back before slamming his jaws shut on one of his wings. He yanked hard, snarling, until with a sickening riiip he tore the wing free. Rafe roared in agony as his wing was ripped off, crashing down onto the roof of one of the towers. He dug his claws into it to keep from falling off, but it was hard to concentrate against the pain and he found himself starting to slip. Jager discarded the wing, tossing it into the air to land somewhere on the ground, and shot at Rafe, intent on tearing the other wing off this weakling. Rafe’s grip slipped and he slid down several feet before he could regain his hold on the stone. Fortunately this caused him to avoid the attack, but only served to enrage Jager further as he collided with the roof. Rafe forced himself to revert to his Lycan form, his remaining wing retreating into his body, but his back still continued to bleed badly, the wound refusing to heal as the transformation ended. The pain was still there, but to his surprise, it had intensified rather than lessen. He didn’t have long to ponder this. The stone tiles lining the roof of the tower broke free and he found himself sliding down the side of it. Steeling himself, he pushed off of the tower. He wasn’t sure how, but he managed to grab a hold of the edge of the castle’s roof several feet below and avoided falling to his death. He swung himself over the top and landed on his back, panting hard. He felt his body change back to human, biting back a howl of agony as the pain in his back grew worse. Dammit, not now!
Jager looked down at the boy, who had changed back into his human state and laughed. “So this is how it ends, Child?” his voice echoed to the ground so that the insects the boy called ‘family’ could hear. “On your back, a weak, defenseless human, bleeding to death? Where’s all that defiance you showed earlier!” He leapt off the tower and landed next to the boy. He bent down and grabbed the child by his head and held him up in the air. “This is all you’ve got?” he roared down at the maggots below. “This is the best you can do to stop me?” He tossed the boy back on the roof roughly.
Rafe winced as he hit the stone rooftop. He heard Jager walking over and opened his eyes. The man was changing back to his Lycan form. “Don’t… don’t get cocky…” he grunted, rolling onto his stomach as he struggled to stand. “I’m not… done yet… There’s still… three minutes left before… the moon is completely eclipsed…”
Jager kicked the boy in the gut, sending him skidding across the floor. “I’m going to enjoy killing you,” he said as he strode over to Rafe’s body. “I’m going to go nice, and slow. No need to rush, I have all the time in the world.” He stood over the boy’s body and raised his hackles in a wolfish sneer. “First, I’m going to break every bone in your body,” he raised his foot over one of the boy’s legs, “one,” he slammed it down, enjoying the crunch of the bone as it snapped, “by one.” He repeated the action on the other leg, the sneer growing as the boy yelled in pain. “I’ll be sure not to break your neck, after all, I don’t want you to die too soon. After I’m done, I’ll rip your limbs off slowly, leaving you alive and able to feel all the pain.” He kicked Rafe hard, snapping a few of his left ribs. Rafe was howling in agony by now. “Then, when you beg for the sweet release with your last, ragged breaths, only then will I finish you off.” He brought his foot down onto Rafe’s chest, snapping the other ribs on his right side.
I can’t take this! Rafe thought, coughing up some blood. Why! Why won’t he just kill me! He coughed again and felt something press into his lower back. The gun Rathe had given to him!
“Now listen up Damn Pup. I’m only going to say this once. This thing is the only weapon that can kill that Damn Wraith, apart from you tearing off his head. There’s only one bullet left in here so don’t you dare miss!”
Rathe’s last words to him came back. He saw Jager raise his leg to try and break his arms. Ignoring the pain, he rolled over and dodged the blow. Remembering one of Rathe’s old tricks, he flung a knife hidden in his sleeve at Jager. His throw went wide, cutting the man’s shoulder as it flew by rather than landing in his arm like he had planned, but it did the trick. Jager snarled and grabbed him by the throat, lifting him into the air.
“That’s the last straw. I was going to have some fun watching the life drain out of you, but now you’ve pissed me off!” Jager held the brat over the side of the roof, squeezing tightly.
Rafe choked a little but reached up and grabbed Jager’s arm, grinning weakly. “Gotcha.” He pulled out the gun with his other hand and pointed it at his father’s head.
Jager blinked. Then laughed. “A gun? All this for something that won’t even-.” He stopped when he saw the engravings on it. “Impossible… Where did you-.”
“A gift from an old a*****e I knew,” Rafe replied, flipping off the safety and tightened his finger on the trigger.
Jager snarled and let go of his throat, intending to watch the boy fall to his death, but the boy’s grip on his arm almost caused HIM to fall too. He caught himself, bracing against the edge of the roof. He was bent over, having to use his other arm to steady himself.
Rafe kept his grip on the gun, but almost fired it when Jager let go. He managed to keep a hold on his father’s arm, so falling down wasn’t immediately on the agenda. He brought the gun back up and aimed at Jager’s forehead.
“If you kill me, you’ll be dead before you hit the ground!” Jager shouted. “I am the father of all Wraiths, the life force that keeps them going! If I die, they all go too! You have Wraith blood flowing through you; that makes you just like them!”
Rafe looked up at the moon, the earth’s shadow was almost completely covering its blood-red color. Less than a minute! He braced himself, tightening his finger on the trigger. “If I die, so be it. At least I’ll keep you from killing anyone else.” He pulled the trigger. The gun fired the bullet into Jager’s skull. Rafe’s grip slipped and he fell down, watching as Jager followed him, his body dissolving slowly into dust. He felt his heart stop, and knew Jager was dead, and that he would follow him soon. He closed his eyes. Jager’s dead, he thought, letting his words out in Mindspeech so that his friends could hear. His little ritual won’t work now, and all the Wraiths that have been made, even the natural ones, are all going to die soon too. I wanted to say thanks to you all, you’ve all been my family and I couldn’t have got this far without any of you. This is goodbye, if I don’t die from the fall, the Wraith blood in me will do the job. Without Jager, none of the Wraiths can live, that includes me. I’ll miss you all. Rafe then focused his thoughts on Louve and spoke only to her. Louve… I’m sorry I lied, but I couldn’t let you get killed if you came with me. You’ve been the best thing to ever happen to me, so please forgive me. And… always remember this… I love you… Rafe let death take him then, the image of Louve in his mind was the last thing he ever saw…
***
Rafe’s body fell through the sky, heading face first to the ground. Before it could hit, Victor jumped up and caught him. He landed back down, cradling the boy in his arms, and walked back to Hisakata and the others. He stopped in front of the young wolf named Louve, cleaning off the boy’s face before laying him down before her. He stepped back, keeping his head down as he searched for the right words. “I’m sorry…” was all he could come up with. “He’s smiling though… He must have been thinking of you when…” His voice caught in his throat, and he stopped talking. He bowed towards Rafe’s body in mourning and respect for the boy. And so ends another chapter in this land’s story… he thought.
