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This is a total work of fiction. All characters belong to their respective creators.
“Why do you hate me so?!” Pandora screamed at Crescent as he struggled to rise from the ground. Vampires surrounded her and Rayvn knelt in fear by Crescent’s side while Shitsubo stood in front, his flames flaring nervously. Crescent gasped as he tried to drag the silver tipped arrow from his leg, the pain dull despite everything as his rage smothered everything else. His eyes, glazed by rage and pain, met Pandora’s and she took a step back in fear, a vampire touching her gently to encourage her “You –“ he wheezed, shoving at Rayvn as she tried to restrain him “You took her.. you took my Kallize…you took her from me!” Pandora stared at him in confusion. Rayvn tried in vain to pull the arrow from his leg while he was distracted but the silver burned her hands and she whimpered. Crescent clenched a fist “You…and your blasted spawn!” his nails, black and curved as he struggled to maintain a single form, dug into his palm and blood spilled from the fingers. Shitsubo, standing with his body between Pandora’s horde and his lord, chanced a glance back at Crescent, confusion on his face ‘Who is Kallize?’ he thought and he could see that same question echoed on Rayvn’s face. Crescent couldn’t keep himself up and he collapsed on his stomach, tears finally pushing their way forward “My beautiful Kallize…” he sobbed as grief finally set in after thousands of years of repression. The pain was echoed in the low howl he released as he mourned her. Pandora swallowed and raised a hand to back her vampires away as she stepped forward. Her dress, a black ball gown with dark red trimmings, swirled around her delicately clad feet as she clutched her stomach nervously. A thought had pushed its way into her mind and rooted itself in her chest, a heavy black stain that was spreading. ‘Wolves mated for life.’ Wolves and werewolves followed much the same paths. It was not uncommon for a werewolf who has lost its mate to mourn the body, standing over it to chase off scavengers, until it too died. Nor was it uncommon to hear of werewolves wandering the earth, forever tortured with the last death image of their mate until they either threw themselves to death or starved. “Kallize…she was your mate?” Pandora whispered and then jerked back as Crescent snarled at her, blood spilling from his lips as he shouted “SHE WAS MY EVERYTHING! MY LIFE! MY WILL TO EXIST!” Rayvn jerked back is if taking a physical blow from Crescent though he didn’t touch her. Even Shitsubo seemed stunned, unable to stop him as Crescent surged past him to grasp Pandora by the wrist. He didn’t attack though, couldn’t even stand without his grip on her. Blood came from the wound to his hip, the arrow lodged firmly in the bone, and many more wounds had opened up since this standoff had started. His throat had been healing form the slash but now it bled in a slow leak as did more cuts to his stomach and chest. He gasped, his head down as he gripped Pandora’s wrist “I…I didn’t take her life!” Pandora cried, unable to tear her arm away from what had once been her most feared enemy. His eyes lifted, filled with the pain, the hatred and the grief of a death he had never fully mourned “You opened the box.” He rasped and she stiffened, horrified realization dawning on her face “You brought the vampires into existence! You!” Crescent jerked his head up to snarl in her face, blood spattering her pale cheeks “She was protecting a human and my star…my little star…” his anger failed him again and with it his strength as he collapsed once more, dragging Pandora to her knees as he fell “My child…she was murdered in front of my child! And then…your spawn, he,” his voice failed him as he struggled to remain alive, struggled to bring an end to this hated monster. He raised his head, wheezing “He took my child…to kill my child…” Pandora shivered in terror, unable to tear her eyes from Crescent’s gaze “Do you…do you know what that did to me?! To find my mate…my beloved Kallize…ripped to pieces…soaked in her own blood and the blood of a child?!” he shouted, his eyes wild now as he forced Pandora closer, his grip on her wrist impossible to break. Only her mental control was keeping the raging vampires at her control from attacking. She had to hear this…had to find out what had driven this beast to live so long “It drove me insane. My pack…my brothers and sisters were the finest wolves of our land…we wanted nothing to do with this war! We wanted to stay in our valley! Our snow covered mountains and tall trees that shimmered in the evening sun…our beautiful town full of stupid humans who treated us like gods…who left us goats and other things. Our little human children that had no idea what we were and yet never feared us…” he wheezed again and coughed, the blood staining Pandora’s pale face and chest as he leaned in “We searched…we searched in a ravenous terror. Anything that got in our way…human….wolf…anything…we ravaged it. Ripped it to shreds in our insanity.” Shitsubo and Rayvn, almost going to him, stood in silence behind Crescent, their bodies numb. He had never spoken about his past life before, Crescent had never seemed to care nor seemed to want anything. He was cold and grumpy and uncaring but now…here and now…this Crescent that was so wracked with terror and guilt seemed like a stranger. Rayvn’s hands covered her mouth as tears came down her face, her body leaning into Shitsubo for comfort and he holding her with shaking hands. “We found him in the town. He had my child…MY CHILD, YOU WRETCH!” Crescent shouted in Pandora’s face, his rage consuming him once more in a wave “We ripped him to pieces. Tore into bone as he screamed and reveled in it! To this day, I do not regret that insanity. I take comfort in that memory…” Pandora shook and took a deep breath before speaking “Have you no pride…?” She whispered and Crescent stared at her blankly, his eyes devoid of everything “You loved your mate, I know. But unnecessary slaughter… have you no pride or pity for th-” she came to a halt as Crescent’s eyes light again “Pride? Pity? My pack…they could not handle the madness I forced on them! They hunted vampires with a lust that even I could not stop…I destroyed them and the trap a vampire set ended their lives. And I…I was destroyed by fear. Fear for my child. For if I could not protect my mate, how could I protect him?!” he gripped her tighter and his eyes sought a vampire he knew very well “And my pride…my pride is dead…was dead the moment I accepted the help of one of your kind! Your kind…I will destroy them all! I swore this…” he hissed “But no matter how many I killed, they kept coming. That was when I heard of you, oh great and vile Pandora, and of your deed. The box you opened that unleashed that monster on my beloved. I swore then that I would kill you. With that… you would die and your wretched race with you!” Crescent’s body spasmed badly and he collapsed into her, wheezing blood “But that will not happen now… I can’t kill you…but I will make you feel the pain of what you have done…every day for the rest of your immortal life!” and before the others, Shitsubo, Rayvn or the vampires, could stop him, Crescent reared up and shifted. The great white wolf, blood staining the fur like rust on iron, howled as it pinned the vampire queen to the ground. Its claws surged forward and Pandora screamed, pain and terror, as they bit into her face and down her throat. His muzzle stained with blood breathed into her face “They will never heal fully…you will always be deformed by my rage and every time you see them…you will see me…and you will know that you are the true monster!” and he turned, lunging into the forest as the vampires surged forward and Shitsubo took Rayvn, running with her. Crescent slid through the forest like a ghost as screams echoed behind him. He panted, leaving blood everywhere as he went to where his little star waited. He could hear Shistubo and Rayvn following him and he forced himself on. They had to follow him and find his little star, protect his little star ‘Stelline…’ he thought as his eyes clouded. But he was there, so close. He could smell him, the cinnamon and snow of his child and with a push he burst into the clearing. Stelline leapt to his feet as his father appeared, the boy crying out in despair at the sight of his father ‘He is safe…he will always…be safe…always’ Crescent thought as he collapsed, his body hitting the ground even as Stelline caught the massive head. Blood spilled into his lap, a thick pool and Stelline paled “No…Father!” he cried, clutching the wolfs head to his chest as tears spilled freely from his eyes. The green/yellow eyes sought his and Stelline met them, seeing the resignation and calm overtake the rage and pain “Please…don’t leave me alone…” Shitsubo and Rayvn burst into the clearing and Rayvn wailed at the sight of Crescent, falling to her knees as Shitsubo struggled to comprehend the image. Crescent had been forever a rival, a private fight in his chest to beat Crescent and prove himself. And now… ‘now he lies dying…’ the thought staggered him and Shitsubo sagged into a tree as Rayvn cried, sobs shaking her body. Crescent couldn’t hear anymore and his sight was going but he kept his eyes on his child, his only remain of the woman he’d loved so fiercely. He kept his eyes on him even as the dark filled them.
Stelline wailed as his father’s eyes emptied of the life he’d finally been able to admit, finally able to grieve. Beyond him were two strangers, both mourning with him as he reached out to grip the fur, blood sticky under his fingers “FATHER!” he cried out and wept as he hadn’t since his mother’s death, grief rocking his body so hard that he collapsed on the great body. The smell was intoxicating and drove him to howls, a heavy tang mixed with the sick sweetness of blood…
 astrasinthewild · Sat Feb 12, 2011 @ 05:39am · 1 Comments |
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