*“Man is the cruelest animal.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche*
***Kiya***
That cold, callous voice viciously popped our sweet bubble of paradise.
The voice that once awoke the demons of my nightmares with a single whisper.
The warm sun couldn’t fight against the rapid chill that encircled Neron and me like a saw-scaled viper. The heat from his lips and the taste of my essence vanished with the sweetness of our date. For a split second, I saw genuine fear cross Neron’s eyes like a child cowering away from a raised hand.
Our picnic blanket twisted when we scrambled off one another, rising to our knees with our backs against the river. The waterfall’s perfume waned from the indescribable, foul stench encasing the air. Even the trees cowered in the trespasser's presence, almost curving away from the pathway the monster took. Heavy footsteps cracked against the ground, dropping more and more bricks of fear over my heart.
Neron pushed me behind him, shielding my smaller frame with his muscled back. He donned a mask of bravery, but I didn’t miss the tremors rippling under his shirt. “Stay behind me, Kiya.”
I splayed a hand on the blanket and the other on his shaking arm. Chills caressed my bare skin like a killer’s touch, forcing a shutter from my lips. I swallowed the lump in my throat as the figure between the trees, followed by a cloak of darkness, emerged into the light where he didn’t belong.
He still had the mass of dark auburn hair he failed to pass to his children, casting a shadow over his eyes. His skin long lost the gentle tan Neron inherited, now sickly pale, as if he was drained of all blood. A detailed snake emblem with rubies for eyes coiled around his neck in a tattoo that tattoo-enthusiasts couldn’t mimic, not without the needle of evil. The out-of-touch outfit he wore heightened the cruel demeanor hovering around him, looking like he just walked out of a business meeting. Black and red seemed to be the color scheme he was working.
I guess if you’re going to ruin people’s lives, you might as well look good at doing it.
When the sunlight hit his eyes, my breath hitched in my throat. Milky blue was delineated with a thick band of red, but that wasn’t what scared me the most. It was the hollowness. Empty like a soul no longer existed behind them. Yet, they speared into mine with expert position and I felt my fear take the reins of control.
My concern tempted me to turn my gaze to Neron, but I couldn’t. If I moved, like a predator waiting for an opening, he will strike a killing blow.
Jonathan Prince was alive and stood several feet away from our picnic blanket. The blades of grass surrounding his spiffy shoes curled inward, shriveled into a dingy brown, and withered away. Mother Gaia’s verdant earth feared the beast walking upon her.
Jonathan’s lips curled into a sinister grin, exposing his pearly whites and sharpened canines itching to sink into flesh. “Did you miss me, brats?” His eyes shot to Neron. “Hello again, son. You look good.”
“I’m not your fucking son. You don’t deserve to call me that ever.” Neron spat with venom dripping from every syllable. Underneath his fear, I could feel the rage of a bruised predator burning like lava.
“You’ll always be my son, Neron. I flow in you. Nothing can’t ever change that.” Chuckling, he pressed his lips together and took a deep whiff through his nostrils. “Love is in the air on this lovely afternoon. It’s a shame the stench of sex from a whore tainted the sweet scent of Mother Gaia.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but Neron beat me to it. “How the fuck did you get here?”
“I was in the area.” Jonathan answered calmly, pacing around his spot. “I wanted to surprise my only son with my arrival, but it wasn’t hard to find you since the screams of a used harlot guided us here.”
“You watch what you say about her.”
“I don’t think I will.”
My eyes darted to the darkness fluttering between the tree-barks like a summoned audience witnessing the spectacle of a lifetime. Chills gripped my spine when I felt eyes on us. Not one. Not two. *Multiple*.
Neron and I were surrounded.
“**Stay alert, Kiya**.” Artemis warned me, her presence like a warm blanket. “**I’m beside you, always**.”
Anger rushes through me as I zeroed in back on the bastard in the suit, walking around as if he owned the place. I know what he wants. He wants us to be scared. He wants us to shit in our pants at the prospect of what he’ll do to us after what went down three years ago.
I refuse to cower to him. He’s not getting a dose of power from me.
“Was it necessary to bring reinforcements when it’s just the three of us? I thought we were having a simple conversation.” Moon energy tickles my fingers, beckoning me to summon it. I could end this shit here and now. I’m the avatar and he’s a zombie Apophis revived to fuck with us.
I stayed at Onyx Moon to protect Neron, and I’m not backing out of my promise.
Jonathan scrunched his face in annoyance at the sound of my voice, hurtling all the hatred he held in his eyes toward me. It felt like bricks hitting my face, but I schooled my features to let him know he didn’t intimidate me.
“Why the hell are you here?”
“For my family.” He turned to Neron again. “Where are my wife and daughter, Neron? Surely, you don’t want me to turn your sordid imitation pack into ruins, do you?”
“Mom and Nuria are safe and away from you.” He declared. “You have no right to stand there and act as if you have any claim over them. Not after what you’ve done to us.”
“I made you cry a couple of times and you want to act like the world’s most distraught victim.” The bastard rolled his eyes and jammed his hands in his pockets. “You’re still as weak as I remember; hard of hearing and unwilling to accept my guidance. Do you know how life would’ve been so easy for you if you did as you were told?”
“To be fair, your parenting skills were pretty lackluster.”
Jonathan’s body undulated with the type of fury where his authority was questioned by someone who was supposed to be beneath him. Neron, his own son, was beneath him. The patriarchal structure of father and son was challenged by the very person he tried to mold so hard into what he wanted him to be, completely ignoring the parts of Neron that made him unique.
The parts that made him special.
The parts that I treasured.
The parts Jonathan tried his hardest to erase because it didn’t fit in the mold he carved for his son.
And there’s no doubt he’ll try to do so again just to keep Neron under his heel, disguising it as a father’s love.
Their quarrel was filtered out when the vibrations of my powers whirred in my ears. I looked down at my hand to see silver and blue wisps winding and rotating around my fingers, kissing the golden stream of sunlight touching the back of my hand. The eyes of the shadows poked my skin like needles, and the heaviness only seemed to grow with time.
I didn’t want to attack impulsively. I couldn’t leap forward without a plan. Neron wanted to protect me, but the power differential between him and his dad would only hurt him.
“You’ll never stop being a failure, will you?”
*And I’ll be the one to obliterate that power difference into pieces*.
Something snapped inside my chest. I thought back to the times where Neron confided in me about his dad’s favorite insult; images of his forlorn face and the hurt in his eyes ignited my fury more. I shot up to my feet, my innate powers flowing to and pooling at the palm of my right hand.
“I won’t sit here and listen to you insult him! You should’ve stayed buried!” I hissed, raising my vibrating palm toward him. “I’m ending this shit right now!”
Neron grabbed my leg to tell me to sit back down behind him, but Jonathan’s sinister smirk stopped me in my tracks.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you, little bitch.”
Thick ropes of black slithered through the grass, pooling beside Jonathan’s shoes. Dark mist rose into the air and danced across the atmosphere, drawing its companions from all angles to form a big blot a few inches above his head. My stomach tumbled like a washing machine while watching. Neron rose to his feet, shielding half of my body with his again because I couldn’t stop poking out from behind him.
The blot trembled with the interior clearing into a colorful blur, almost like what I’d see inside of one of Phoebe’s crystal balls.
My hand slapped over my mouth to contain the scream tearing through my throat. Neron gasped and growled, every inch of his form priming for an attack. When the colorful blur cleared into an image, it was like we were watching a horror movie live.
“**Oh, Sweet Selene**. **This man is diabolical**.”
The image showed Raina and Lorelai out with the children at the park, armed with bowls of frozen yogurt. Alana and Aiyana were smiling with spoons in their mouths, poking at Adonis, who was rolling his eyes, but smiling along with them.
“No…” I whispered.
“A beautiful bunch, aren’t they?” Jonathan asked, angling his head upward. “Raina and Lorelai made beautiful pups, as expected, but I’m more curious about the two anomalies.” He faced us, crossing his arms over his wide chest. “Did you two pluck them fresh out of the trash or were you that desperate to have pups because you’re too cowardly to have your own?”
Neron growled. “I swear to Selene, if you hurt them—!”
“I won’t unless you give me a reason to. If the little bitch doesn’t stand down, those two brats won’t be the only ones who’ll die. You don’t want to tell Valerian and Kwame that you killed their wives and children too, hmm?”
“You’re bluffing.”
“Am I? The darkness has eyes everywhere. We have an audience here, but with the snap of my fingers, I can command those watching them to strike. And I’m sure you wouldn’t want a live demonstration of what I can do.”
All of my organs turned to stone. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the scene playing like a motion picture in a movie theater. Two patrollers flanked the group, but that wouldn’t be enough. My hand still reverberated with my powers, building up for an attack, but I couldn’t bring myself to launch it. Not when he’s threatening innocent lives.
And Neron knew it, too. His father’s threat was aimed at me, but it was also aimed at him solely by association.
I never back down from a fight, but I can’t risk Alana and Aiyana like this. They’re innocent in this and I can’t let them get hurt again.
Neron let out a snarl. “You fucking bastard. They did nothing to you! What kind of man are you?!”
I felt two presences creeping in from behind us, but when I turned my head, I saw nothing.
“A man with nothing to lose, but a lot to gain.”
As if that was the trigger, a violent punch to my right cheek blindsided me. The impact burned into my skin, like I was hit with silver, and sent me straight toward the ground, carelessly landing on my left arm. A thud and yell from Neron echoed in front of me. Through the blur, I saw his body on the blanket, too.
Before I could react, my back was kicked forward, and my arms were grabbed and twisted behind me. My boyfriend and I put up a fight against our captives, but in the end, we were subdued. We were on our stomachs next to each other with a foot pressed against the back of our heads, forcing our faces into the fabric.
“Ugh, Jonathan, can I stab her face already?”
I froze. *That voice*. *It couldn’t be*!
I tried to pick my head up, but the foot on the back of my head pushed me down harder.
“Patience, vengeful pixie. We’ll all get our little dose of revenge soon enough.”
*Who the fuck is that*?! *And why have I heard her voice before*?!
“Silence, girls.” Jonathan commanded. The voices above us went mute. Footsteps drew closer before stopping in the space between us. Fear drenched the air between us, and I tried my best to not let it affect me, even when my world was black and painful.
I knew I didn’t need any additional bravery, even when Neron’s hand gripped mine. Warm and big, it swallowed my smaller one. He was trying to pour some of his courage into me or trying to siphon some of mine into him.
At this moment, with the enemy flanking us at all angles, I needed to feel him. I needed to know that I could still touch him when I couldn’t see him. My heart wouldn’t rest without it.
“You have a choice to make, Neron. Let us hope you make the right choice, this time.”
My heart thudded in the memory of the moments leading to Jonathan’s death.
“I will find Celeste and Nuria, whether or not you tell me.” He hissed. “I will have my family again, so either you willingly stand by my side, like a dutiful son should, or…”
Something cold and sharp pressed against my neck, too close to my carotid artery.
“I’ll snuff your bitch’s life out faster than you can blink.”
I held my breath.
Neron squeezed my hand so tight that it might break.
Silence deafened the air.
Until the magnificent roar from the furious alpha shook the ground.
My world was exposed to light once the weight pressing down my back was removed, or rather, thrown off me. Pushing myself off the ground, my eyes traveled from the pulsating veins, practically jumping off Neron’s muscles and neck, to his face donning the mask of fury. His canines were out, and gold flashed across his blues.
Onyx was here, too.
Their beast was out.
“You will not touch her!” Neron and Onyx shouted in unison before surging forward, tackling Jonathan to the ground like a football player.
Survival instincts fluttered in my veins, forcing my body to its feet as Neron pummeled his dad’s face. I turned around just in time to see someone launching toward me with a blade held high in her hands. My hand reached out and grappled at the weapon-bound wrist and the other, now pushing against the force she delivered.
I noticed the gross amalgamation of dead tissue and dried blood encircling her neck like a choker. It made me sick.
“You’ll pay for what you did to me!” She declared, our arms buckling from our stalemate. “You don’t deserve to live the good life forgetting this shit!”
“Get off me, Odessa!” I pivoted forward on my heels and used my body weight to throw the woman off of me. Auburn strands clung to her face, and around her almost-sunken eyes delineated in crimson. Odessa was reborn anew, molded together by the malevolent hand of the deity who wishes for my death. She looked crazed, soaring off the thirst for retribution and punishment as she stood back on her feet with her blade held high.
A puppet to darkness. Déjà vu hit me like a truck when I saw glimpses of myself when she rushed forward. We fought again, tumbling to the ground where she barely nicked the side of my neck before I flung her away like she weighed nothing.
How many more? How many awful people from the past did Apophis bring back to fuck with the balance?
Was this my karma?
I heard a loud crack and a roar of pain behind me. Twisting on my heels, I found Neron on his back several feet from me, clutching his arm with a gash on his chest, staining his oxford shirt red. Since Jonathan’s arrival, panic coursed through me for the first time. Adrenaline took the reins of my legs and propelled forward to him, ready to protect him—
Until a blinding force hit me from the side, launching me into a nearby tree head-first. I blacked out for a second before sliding down on my ass, my vision swirling and head pounding like a jackhammer to concrete.
Everything hurt so *badly*.
“**Kiya**!” Artemis shouted. “**Are you alright**?”
“*Art, I can’t see*! *I’m not okay*!”
The air had shifted, slowly sucked into a place I couldn’t see, but only feel. My lungs worked overtime to help me breathe because I felt like I was being choked. Thoughts about Neron and the girls buzzed madly in my head as I heard the crackle of electricity humming beside me.
I needed to get up.
I needed to fight.
I needed to protect those who I love.
But someone beat me too it.
Because he wanted to protect me.
A wall of heat jumped in front of me and yanked me into its arms. The touch alone let me know it was Neron, even though I couldn’t see his face. Through the distortion of colors and sounds, there was one thing I could see clear as day.
A flash of vivid red.
You know how there were particular sounds that people hate? That they wish they would never hear again? There wasn’t a sound I could place in that category, but the strangled noise that escaped Neron’s lips was *that* sound.
When his arms slipped off me, my vision snapped clear. Neron slumped to the ground on his back, grunting and writhing in absolute pain. The hem of his shirt rid upward, revealing some of his torso.
Black crawled under his flesh like the legs of a spider.
Artemis screamed. I screamed.
*No*! *No, no, no*!
“Neron!” I scrambled to my knees and pulled his body as close as I could to me. Pain continued to radiate throughout my head, but that didn’t compare to seeing Neron so hurt and vulnerable. He lifted a trembling hand, and I grasped it as hard as I could, using my other one to caress his hair. “Neron…”
“Help is coming, K-Kiya.” Neron whispered, his eyes unfocused. “Love, save yourself, please.”
“No, I’m not leaving you!” I whispered, my own eyes blurring with tears. “W-why did you…”
“Save. Yourself.” He insisted, squeezing my hand tighter. “R-run. Don’t let…Dad touch you.”
I wish Neron understood the odds against us. I wish he understood that choice was never given to me.
Because two pairs of hands tore me from him, and he was too weak to pull me back into him.
A sharp thrust impaling me from the back through my belly cut my screaming and begging for him short. Artemis’ pained wails echoed in my head as pain brushed violently against every nerve in my body. Sandwiched between two bodies, I lifted my head upward to find a pair of menacing purples and equally menacing fangs.
*Familiar* menacing purples.
“Scared, little white mutt?” The violet-eyed woman asked, showing off her sharp smile. Odessa was behind me, breathing down my neck, but my focus wasn’t on her.
For the first time in years, my heart shattered from the hammer of betrayal.
“P-Phoebe?”
‘Phoebe’ grabbed my neck and hoisted me up from the ground, grinning maniacally. “Finish the job, pixie.”
My back became the victim of a rapid succession of stabs. By the third one, blood was painting my long skirt red. Once again, I allowed myself to be weak because Jonathan, the gigantic monster, threatened to kill my girls, my sister, and my nieces and nephews.
He used my family against me, and I’m paying the consequences.
“Toss out the garbage.” I heard Jonathan say. “We have bigger fish to fry, and I need to hold my wife again.”
Neron’s screams for me were the last thing I heard before I was tossed callously into the river. The chill of the water shocked my body, rendering my limbs boneless. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move, and the water muffled my hearing.
Yet, Neron’s screams blitz through the waves until falling into utter silence.
And my world faded into black.
*Neron*…