Chapter 12 Call me Ezriel!
Daevir POV
I've never trembled.
Not when I killed my first werewolf. Not when I faced off 10-foot werewolves on the Southern coast at twelve.
Not when I faced pure evil magic with my bare fist and sword.
I never trembled, not even once.
But I did tonight.
I guess that's one of the perks of being a monster. You begin to feel fear in ways you could never imagine.
The look in her eyes tonight was the height of it.
Amarien.
She looked at me like the monster that I really am.
I deserved it.
She could have been killed because of a forbidden being like me. The only way I can stop her from hurting herself is to show her the type of monster that I am.
The kind of monster that shares blood with Alpha Theron.
Rage boiled in my chest. How could Father do this to me?! Theron was my brother all these years, and no one said a word to me about it.
Theron, the Alpha I planned all my life to kill.
The Alpha who killed my people. Who killed my mother!
Yes, my mother Queen Jade was one of his victims when she went on her visits to see her people across the seas.
She was killed while I was just a boy. I swore that day I would go to battle to hunt the Alpha who was responsible.
When I had the chance to face off with Theron. All I wanted was his head. And all he wanted was mine.
I could have killed him.
I wished I did!
And now what?! He is my brother! I share blood with a monster!
I deserved all the woe and death. I deserved to be locked up, confined, caged with silver, far away from good people. People like Amarien!
Something shifted in my flesh. An odd rage consumed me so much that I fell on the wall of the passageway that led out of the outer courts.
“Not here!” I told myself. But it wasn't up to me. My limbs twisted, and my flesh began to tear apart. A growl escaped my mouth. I fell to the floor.
My gaze caught the full moon orb watching me quietly in the skies.
“No…no….no.” I whispered. “Not here.”
But it was too late.
I was shifting!
I growled in pain, clenching my fist to pull myself back together. But my flesh only revealed silver fur, I felt my eyes glow with reddened rage.
“It's not up to you, Daevir!” A growl escaped my throat.
Who is that?!
He sniggered ominously. “Who do you think?! Call me Ezriel. I'm your wolf, Prince Daevir! Ready to serve and destroy!”
“No, you won't!” I cried out, my body aching with pain and straining. Fighting my wolf felt like hanging off a cliff with a finger. Yet I held on.
“You can stop me, Daevir. You can stop being who you are. You can't stop who you've always been!”
My hands were now covered in fur, and my face…?I stumbled forward to a mirror to see the most beastly sight of a wolf. A wolf I've never seen in all my battles with werewolves.
“Who goes there?!” A voice escaped the darkness.
I turned, and standing there were guards clad in weapons, who looked just as shocked to see me as I was to see them.
“Dinner!” Ezriel growled.
“No!” I snapped back.
“A wolf! In the palace!!!” The guards screeched.
Everything in me wanted to snap them all to pieces. But I pulled back. I couldn't. They were my people!
(They are not!)
Shut up, Ezriel!
Quickly, I lunged out of the passage, hoping to put a solid distance between myself and them.
But I hoped wrong.
The alarm bell of the palace blared out. The guards in the passage gave a war cry and began pursuing me!
What are they doing? I'm going to kill them if they get any closer! I'm fighting hard to stop my impulse from attacking.
But they didn't care. All they saw was a wolf that they must kill.
As I sprinted faster and faster, I could hear Ezriel laughing so hard at me.
“Let them get closer, Daevir! Let them get a taste of my claw in their flesh!”
“Shut up.” I screeched as I held my head. I wish I could shut him out of my head.
Just as I did a silver spare shutout, lunging right into my arm. My growl blazed through the palace walls.
The guards were lunging at me with weapons!
Silver arrows shut out.
“Get him!” The guards cried out with maniacal fervour.
“Get them!” Ezriel cried in return.
Suddenly, I found myself growing larger and larger, my limbs swelling, and my senses sharpening. I was still shifting. Ezriel was getting the upper hand. The moment he does this, the palace will be flattened.
I had to get out of here.
I burst out of the passage wall, running on all fours as I crawled up the high walls linked with guards who had their silver arrows set on me.
“In one, two…” the voice of their commander rang out in my ears.
“You have to kill them before they kill you!” Ezriel cried out.
“Fire!”
In a flash, rains of silver arrows poured down on me as I climbed through. I couldn't hold it back anymore. My hands slipped through the wall, and I felt myself crashing down.
It felt like slow motion. Like my life flashing before my eyes.
Yet all I saw was Amarien.
Soft
Tender
Frail.
Scared.
I wanted to protect her from my father. I want to protect her from myself. Yet, I can't help but fight this intensity, this jealousy I felt towards her. The hatred for anything that will hurt her. Hatred even for my father.
That's why I ensured his drink is continually spiked with the red moon potion. A potion that keeps one in perpetual illness, so he is unable to function the way he wants.
I didn't plan to poison my father. Not until I met Amarien. I promised myself no one, not even Father, would touch her against her will. Father will never get the chance, not while he is still subjected to my portion.
Everything went blurry until I felt my limbs move against their will. Sharp, long claws extended out of my hand and grabbed the wall I was falling from. It held on to it till all the silver arrows passed.
This isn't me. It was Ezriel.
“Take the back seat and watch me, Daevir.” With a single swing, Ezriel blew up a giant hole in the wall with his fist.
With a new batch of silver arrows raining down, we crawled through the hole and lunged out into the forest.
We escaped!
As we raced through the forest, I fought to regain control. But Ezriel is very stubborn.
“Relax, Daevir. Let me have more fun!” he spat.
We got to an open field, and I felt myself grunting and grunting wearily until I raised my head to a full moon orb and gave a loud howl.
It felt deeply satisfying and liberating. Like I was finally embracing a part of myself that I had held back for so long. A part of me that held so much power and magic.
My limbs twitched, my giant muscle crawled with silver fur. My giant claw digs into the ground.
My howl got louder and louder. The more I growled, the more I felt the power build up in me, the more I felt myself lose control. The more Ezriel became powerful. The more I craved violence and destruction.
I can’t stop myself.
How could I?! When I feel like I have all the powers in the world!
And then I smelt blood. My prey! A little human. My eyes blaze with bloodthirsty flair. And my nose caught her scent.
Her scent…
I turned, and she was there.
Amarien, bundled in bandages. Her flowing gown flows in the breeze. Tears in her eyes, and a crumpled rose in her hand.