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Chapter 9

Kaizen

Willow slept like a pup, while I sat on our bed.

Not the one I imagined snuggling on for the first time … but she didn’t mind. She was taking this much better than I thought she would….

The leaky faucet in the tub was going to make me rip it out the wall, being part of why I couldn’t sleep. This was a Very cheap, ratty motel that didn’t ask for my ID, and let me pay cash….

It was also a benefit that they had this last room available… I couldn’t risk being too far away. She was a mortal after all, still under the control of a Vampire Lord of his caliber…. Honestly, he might have his influence on her up to 72 hours, but I didn’t want to scare her more… fear makes it last longer.

Holding half the marking would likely help her purge it faster than that.

My phone rang. It was my brother.

[Come home.] Tyson snarled in wolf speech. He was so mad he couldn’t speak words.

“I will not.” I said firmly in English.

[You are my brother, but the crimes you committed must be brought to justice.] He growled. [Their mates still weep… their pups are without fathers… You Will have a fair trial. I swear that.]

“You will behead me. Even now, you cannot speak mortal tongue.” I said… much more calmly than I thought I could.

He sighed. “I’m not out to kill you, but death is the penalty for murdering pack…. And Running makes you look More guilty. I am King; I cannot and Will not play favorites. If I do, Everything our ancestors fought for would be for Nothing.”

“I Know…. I won’t lie and say that you’re wrong… Even before you called I Still feel guilty… but brother… I don’t know what to do… All my life I have lived in your shadow… Grace is gone, so am I.”

“You aren’t gone…But this must be righted. You and that mortal need to come to the Council.”

“You will Leave my mate Out of this.” I hissed.

“We both know that neither grandparent would give us a Mortal.” He scoffed.

“.... do not call again. We have nothing more to say.” I said hanging up.

He texted me, and I blocked him.

I didn’t even see what he’d said…. And I still didn’t believe it either, but there she was… small… mortal… a possible target Because of her natural weakness….

There was a pain in my chest….

What would they do to her? She’s so tiny…

Kill her… Offer her as meat in the Deli… so the wolves left could have some kind of vengeance…

How did everything get so fucked up? Tonight should be joyous, yet here I am worried for her sake and mourning that I will never see my family… That eventually I will have to fight them for her sake…

He was my older brother by a few seconds… We were born together, and I thought we would die together too…. There was nothing that we didn’t do together, no shenanigan too small…. even when we were pups without human forms, we did everything….

The three of us…

Everything together.

That word… it made my chest hurt….

This was actually my first time apart from him Like This…., and the last time we spoke, it ended in a fight.

If my grandparents look down and see me out here in the human world, would they hate me too? How disappointed my father must be… I know my mother as a council member had to publicly denounce me…. Her youngest son….

I have brought Shame on my people… for my mate…. I wasn’t Thinking. I don’t even remember what I did… not fully….

I felt more that I was in mourning than on the run….

If she doesn’t mark me…. I will watch her grow old. It’s only fair.

After that I’ll turn myself in and get beheaded.

She didn’t ask for this… but I want her to mark me back… but I want her to choose me too… why do I keep going back and forth like this?

“My goddess… Lulliba, the Pale Lady hear the prayer of your fallen son… I never meant to kill anyone… I’m going to Hell for betrayal… I killed my own pack, my own squad for a human….” I said putting my hands on my face. “A Fucking Mortal…. For Meat…. for meat that will turn to rotted flesh in less than a century if she does not choose me…someone so small I may accidently break if she does…someone I already bring fear… Though she hides it well…. And my touch does bring her peace…”

Frustration...

About now, I’d be about to turn in for the night after patrol, but I wasn’t sleepy… However, I had to keep moving.

That’s what Rogues do.

…I am the very thing I protect my pack from… I may never see any of them again, but I will never go back after remembering how they looked at me….

…They saw me for the monster I was truly …. The grandson of the Adversary… the Son of Bryson the Beast…. The Son of Birrai’shivaal, his true name, God of Justice…. And of Retribution….

Fucking ironic…

“Are you alright…” She said crying … I got up, wiping a tear. I thought she was still asleep… For her question, I knew she didn’t hear anything though.

It felt tingly….

“no.” I said almost as a whisper. The room gently lit from the flickering flame between my horns … but I guess I felt bad enough to accidently summon it. I initially thought it was streetlights or the waning, but fullish moon…

“It’s alright master.” She said soothingly, but she was confused as to why she’d called me that. “Master.” She said again. She couldn’t even Think my name.

“That is the difference between a vampire… and a Vampire Lord. It angers me that he did this to you, but it will wear off… I am just feeling sorry for myself though. Go back to bed.” I commanded.

I left out that he must have woven his best bewitchment he could think of on her… one that grew as it lingered.

“I don’t wan-” She passed out, falling into my arms.

Tingles….

Tingles to every part of my body, including something that had not been aroused by a female before… at least not like this…

What the Literal Fuck was that?!

I put her back in bed, and went outside…. Usually when things confused me, I’d take a run break… I can’t do that here. This was a human ran hotel, but I did at least like looking at the pool in the moonlight. The gas station across the street was open, being 24 hours.

What the fuck was that? I looked at my hands. It took a while to retract my claws….

I figured why not have a smoke. It doesn’t affect my lungs at all, nor do I get a buzz from it. Its purpose however, was to have something to breathe fire and puff on without looking like an idiot.

Like anyone would See though. It was 3am… I might buy an extra day. It was Risky to stay in one place now, but I was tired as I was hungry.

I didn’t use my Royal account money, since that was a group account with most of the royal family on it…. I had my own funds though. I was the Beta of a large pack. I served on the Council with mother, I had the wages from that, the birthday gifts from my uncle, the All King, and I had a savings account, about 29.95. Enough to live a quiet life a few centuries, or one Really Good century.

The only ‘expensive’ thing I’d bought was the Hellcat…. I didn’t spend money, since most things didn’t hold value to me to be fair….

The Rexxon’s t-rex logo wasn’t working, but inside, it looked like everything else did. I made a cappuccino in the machine, the hot chocolate one, and a pack of Dromedary cigarettes…

The old human smelled of wild onion with garlic, and I knew that meant he was probably of a Headhunter bloodline. That was just the scent they carried on their skin. No one could explain why that was the case either, of why they smelled like pre-seasoned beef stew…. He wouldn’t be able to kill me…. It isn’t that I Can’t die; it’s that the horns would make me get right back up come sundown the next day….

Headhunters were made illegal a while ago… but some humans still knew the old remedies that could kill us… and some still had secret groups. The Blak Market for supernatural parts was also shut down, yet… I’d hear about them finding one every now and again.

“That’ll be $23.98 includin’ the cigs.” He said ringing me up. I used cash. “Keep the change.”

“Have a good one.” He said with a knowing look…. It was obvious I wasn’t human. I really wasn’t trying to hide it, other than my height and the horns.

“I don’t get it.” I said out loud, kind of not meaning to.

“What?” He asked.

“You’re the first hunter I’ve encountered.” I said bluntly.

“Yeah, and I rightly don’t fuck around with that. My daddy was one: He’s dead. So was my grandpappy: He’s dead too. When the state took me, they let me be adopted by a minotaur, and a human when I was 13. That minotaur made me a Real Man.” He put a badge that had an X cut into it on the table. It was one for the Secret Police, though he was retired. He kept it probably for times like this…. “Real Men don’t stick their nose in other people’s business… but I will tell ya this much: The Vamps Run this Truckstop Poe’dunk town. Keep driving Rogue.”

“I know the man you speak of, his name’s-”

“Jerold, the Half-Beast King.” He said shooing me out… He had no fear, and didn’t care who I was. “Your coffee will either get cold, or the vamps they leave to watch me will start askin’ things. Go on, get.” He shooed. “But come back with the girl… They won’t care if I talk to another human.”

“…How do you know about Willow?” I asked, snorting ashes.

“Oh, you’re one of those.” He said surprised. “I saw you when you pulled in…. I can tell by how short she is, that she isn’t supernatural. I see everything that goes on in this town, but fuck knows I don’t dip my toes in any shit that don’t involve me. Not anymore.” He grumbled. “Not since the vamps took over both the stations.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I said leaving.

If the vampires ran the police stations And the Meat market here… whatever they were doing was probably not regulated. However, I wouldn’t snitch on the people who just helped me. I’d leave them to it, and if they get cocky or stupid enough, eventually, they’ll tell it on themselves.

Outside the moon was a Dark orange suddenly… not red, but it was obvious grandmother was pissed. Probably that she asked to interfere like any grandma, and she was denied….. It isn’t that I didn’t want her involved…. It was that I didn’t want her in trouble for my sake…

I also didn’t want her to worry about me….

“Grandmother… I am Stressed, but I will be Fine…” I mumbled silently…. The moon was like this yesterday too…I was not a good grandson…. “I have Money… and I am Powerful. None could best me, and I cannot be killed… please do not cry for me.” There were no humans out at this hour….but the moon did slowly become white again…

She didn’t come down here often, but I knew her well enough… I made even her upset about all this, but I made my choice… the dumbest choice…. But it was Mine.

I drank my coffee. It was boiling hot, but as a Charred One, and a Horned Wolf who can summon Hell’s flame…. I was fine. I could breathe fire after all…. It made me really hungry afterwards, but I Could.

I listened to the crickets while I smoked…. It was the end of the summer… Lunarween would be next month…. It was a holiday that was originally shunned harshly. I wasn’t born when the Church ruled that they would not excommunicate people who worshiped the Horned One, but rather, send them to ‘conversion therapy’.

That was my grandfather, the Wolf King’s doing… He worked Hard to get that done, since one of my aunts was an adopted witch.... He’d lifted the ban on all Dark gods in reality, which allowed supernaturals like the dragons, witches, demons, and vampires to make small altars for them in their name.

/Who’s my Wee-Woo-Willow?!/ said what had to be her mother…

/I am-I am!/ She said, being probably 4 or 5….

I could hear her dreams.

She’ll probably wake up in tears. She dreamt she was at home making cookies with her mother. She dreamt of their smell, and for me that was much too sweet, but humans liked sweet things…. Maybe I should get her a pack of doughnuts for breakfast.

Maybe when she gets her free will back, I’ll ask. I didn’t want to make her mad at me if she didn’t like them, but had to eat them. I didn’t really Know how it worked, but to my understanding, mesmerizing, bewitching, and beguiling was Easy to put on a human. Non-hunters had no magic resistance.

I just Needed Air right now. I had too many thoughts and feelings to deal with.

Like how I was hard…. Her scent was driving me wild….

To be Away from that girl’s scent. I could smell it from here.

What was that… Heat?

Shit

She was about to go into heat…. My sister had those, but hers were about once a decade…

Fuck me.

Someone out there has a sick sense of humor.

I’d never… I’d never wanted sex so bad…

I almost snarled.

I went across the street again for pads…. But this time I had company.

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