Chapter 115 : Help
THEO.
I can’t shift fully in the narrow hallway. I know my movements would be limited and the Alpha Supreme would kill me the first chance.
But I just shift my hands into claws, tipped with the sharpest nails I have ever summoned. I swipe at his face, hoping to tear it into ribbons, but he just ducks and retaliates with a punch in the gut.
He’s not young anymore, and he’s wearing a suit that should be restricting his movements. But the Alpha Supreme is faster and more agile than anyone I have ever fought. He swerves and backs away from my attacks like they’re nothing, giving back the smoothest and lightest jabs as though he’s just teasing me and messing with my mind. I know that this is just his method to make me angrier so I would make more mistakes, but I can’t help but fall for it.
The image of Ajax lying there with pleading eyes in my head is making it worse. I run and run and run, making the same old attacks that he parries with complete ease now.
But then, what I don’t realize is that he’s leading me to another network underground, to another cavern in the dungeons.
This one looks more like a cathedral, with an impossibly high ceiling and a floor that dips a few steps below. Everything is carved in the natural rock under the house, but everything is also covered in a thick film of mold and slime.
The Alpha Supreme stops, positioning himself at the mouth of the cavern. “You still want to fight me? Do it here.”
It’s surely a trick on his part, but the anger and injustice of it all are getting in my head. I shift fully given the ample space, then I leap at him to pin him down on the ground under me and bite his head off.
But of course, his agility is very much present. He easily leaps out of the way.
I land on the cavern, and that's when it occurs to me why he led me here and why he urged me to fight.
The floor is unstable, the rock shifting under my feet and seemingly resonating with a yawning abyss below. Soon enough, I find my feet sinking into the rocks, which continue to roll and fall into a space below while taking me with it.
“We could have run the packs,” the Alpha Supreme tells me. “You have always been my rightful heir, and I can’t accept this disgrace.”
I continue to slide down, lower and lower until I can feel the coldness on the soles of my feet. I can almost see the darkness waiting for me below. Unknown depths. Unknown end.
In a desperate attempt to sink slower or at least fight the pull, I shift back to my Human form. It makes the gravity below fade a little, but I’m not sinking any slower. The pull is just lighter. I try to climb on the rocks to get to the surface, to no avail. It just feels like I’m trying to bury myself with more rocks.
The Alpha Supreme stays on the edge, crouching at me and giving me a pretend sad smile. “It’s a shame, Theodore. It really is.”
With that, he gets up and watches as the rocks start to swallow me whole.
* * *
MAXINE.
I brush the small specks of frost and skin off me, wincing at the squishy sensation from some of them that thawed out against the heat of my body.
I take the fallen knife off the floor and head out of the dungeons, expecting soldiers to be lining the front and ready to fight me. But for some reason, there isn’t any of them around. I also thought I would be out into the first floor of the house with just one flight of stairs but I find myself in a maze of some sorts, still made from the natural rock under the house.
I can hear people and footsteps overhead. Many whispers and urgent orders. Perhaps it’s good that I’m still here. Maybe it can lead me to where the Alpha Supreme is….
The hallways are narrow. The smells of mold and decay are way too strong for me to track any other scent, but as I continue to walk down the straight path, I start to sense a weak presence somewhere beyond. The air is changing too, becoming more metallic and sharp. I can hear soft groans, sounds of struggle echoing, as though the space beyond me is much bigger than any place here.
I wait, but then I catch a whiff of something familiar. Someone familiar.
Ajax.
I run fast, my heart beating in my ears. I arrive at a huge space that has a higher ceiling and curved walls. Ajax is right there, lying on his side with a huge axe lodged into the middle of his body.
He’s weak. His aura is barely even there. Before I can get close enough, I can already see how pale he is. There is so much blood pooled around his body.
Above us, more and more footsteps echo. More and more voices are calling out. Chaos is erupting above us, making dust rain down on his body.
“Ajax,” I whisper, putting my hand on his cold cheek. “Oh god, Ajax….”
“I’ll be okay,” he manages to say, his eyes meeting mine. “You need to find Theo. My father….”
He trails off. He doesn’t need to say anymore.
And it also looks like he can’t say any more.
There’s barely life in him, and I can feel it. Tears are running down my cheeks. But I know that I would never leave him like this. I would never let him die.
“I’m going to do something.” I push his slick hair off his face. “To buy us some time. To buy you some time. I will—”
The rest of my words get cut off when suddenly, two sets of footsteps echo from behind me. I turn around, getting to my feet ready to fight, but my knees get weak when I see that it’s Bianca and Vivienne.
“We found Jonathan and he told all of us to come here,” Bianca says. “All the Unclaimed are here, and we’re here to help.”