Chapter 180

Chapter 180
RYDEN

Lucius rubbed the sigil on his neck. 

My instinct told me it was a warning sign, and he failed to inform us about it. It wasn’t there before. Suddenly, it appeared when he was in danger. Was that how he survived being hunted all these years? I could see now the dreaded look in his eyes.

“What did Margaret do over there?” I couldn’t figure out what she did earlier than casting a spell, and I was hoping it would be useful.

“Trap spell.” He didn’t explain further, but Lucius seemed to know what he was doing.

I learned to trust him. He had more honor, humility, and integrity than most alphas. In fact, he was better than me in so many ways. I had tons of respect for him as the Alpha King.

“Ask Amelia for her sword?”

Confused, I asked, “Why?” Then I saw his sigil lit up in the color of a fire that terrified me, not his sigil, but what was about to happen. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Calm down. Just act normal.” He walked along with me to the pack house.

“Lucius.” I gritted my teeth as I gripped his arm. My wolf stirred. I could feel the fire inside me rolling.

“Just do what I said. Trust me on this.” He looked at my grip on his arm.

“Then tell me, asshole.”

“Fine, Punch me?”

“Are you out of your fucking mind?” I narrowed my eyes at him. What was he up to?”

“Louder. Make a scene.”

I stared at him for a moment until I decided to play along with his stupid game. I pushed him on the chest. “I shouldn’t have trusted you, asshole!”

“Well, you’re a moron to trust me in the first place!” He pushed me back on the shoulder. I staggered and fell on my back.

“You’re dead, Lucius!” My wolf growled. Pushing him back to control my anger, I got up on my feet. “You’re fucking dead!”

We finally got the attention of everyone around, even Drak and Lucius’ men went on full alert, but I could sense he was communicating with them. 

At the corner of my eye, I watched the other guy walk away.

Breathing hard, I clenched my fist and punched him in the face, enough to make our acting believable. “Too much?”

“No. That’s good.” He was quick to throw a punch at my face. Instead, he hit me in my nose.

“Not my fucking nose,” I said through gritted teeth as I gripped him on the shoulders pushing him off of me. He grabbed me on my shoulders, too, making it look like we were wrestling, fighting to win Amelia.

“That’s not Amelia.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I stared at him in shock, pushing him hard. He landed on his ass on the ground and I came on top of him. My knee on his chest, enough it wouldn’t break his ribcage. I punched him. My fist landed on his eye. “Asshole!”

“That’s enough!” Zeph came and tried to come between us.

“Stay out of this, Hayes. I have an unfinished business with this motherfucker!”

“Not my eye. Seriously?” He narrowed at me. “You’re an asshole! She’s mine first, and you know that!”

“News flash, dickhead. You’re her past!” I wrung my fingers around his neck. “She’s mine now!”

“She’s just standing there, smiling at us. Don’t look. Ask for the sword.”

Grasping for his collar, I slammed his body against the ground.

“What the hell is going on?” I heard Margaret behind us.

“This son of a bitch! I’m so tired of seeing his face. Amelia, give me your sword, let me end this motherfucker right now!” I raised my hand, waiting for her to hand me the sword. “Amelia?” I looked over my shoulder, and she just stood there.

Dread almost broke my heart. Lucius was right. She could have come to stop us or cursed the hell out of us and warned us if we wouldn’t stop fighting. Instead, she looked like she was even enjoying watching us kill each other.

“Angel, don’t give him the sword. He doesn’t deserve it!”

“Stop this nonsense, boys!” Margaret yelled. “Amelia, come with me. Leave them to kill themselves. Maybe they will learn a thing or two.”

“Get off of me, asshole!” While I was preoccupied, Lucius pushed me on the chest, throwing me off him. I fell to the ground while he tumbled to stand up, showing off his skill.

Still horrified, the blood in my veins froze. If this was not Amelia, then where was she?

“I will kill you.” Lucius wrapped his arm around my neck and blocked me with another arm. “Margaret, you know what to do!”

Margaret pushed Amelia away. She seemed to have caught Amelia off guard. She then raised her hands in the air and began her incantation. The blue fire lit up from the ground, trapping Amelia inside.

“Let me go,” I told Lucius. “What the fuck?”

Once he released me, I marched toward Amelia. With my heart felt like crushing in my chest, I stared at this person who had Amelia’s face, wearing the same clothes. “Who’s this?”

“Meet, Arakiel, but I doubt if he’s Arakiel,” Lucius told me, holding his sigil.

The Arakiel had my Amelia’s face smirked. The evil smirked, making the hair at the back of my neck stand. 

“Aren’t you clever? How did you figure it out?”

“Where’s Amelia, demon?” I asked her, and she just laughed at me.

“You’re not Arakiel, are you?” Lucius asked. “You used your father’s name, who owned the wings at the tower?”

He faced Lucius, leaning towards him, looking at him eye-to-eye. Her eyes were dark as an abyss. “You know for a fact that this is not Arakiel or his son anymore. I’ve been trying to kill you all these years, and you managed to escape and stay alive. I’m impressed Alexander, or do you prefer me to call you Lucius.”

“Where’s my mate?” I summoned the fire, forming a fireball in my palm.

She only laughed. “I’m made from fire. So you think a small fireball can scare me? It won’t even blow my hair. And your mate is gone, long gone. She’s dead by now, Ryden.”

“Fuck you. If you think you can kill her, try again. She’s stronger and smarter than you think.” My eyes glowed with fury. This motherfucker knew how to get into my nerve quickly.

“So the director has been a demon all this time,” Lucius said calmly. “How did you kill him?”

“Nah. He’s still him. I mean, it’s still me.” She chuckled. “Gosh, I’m confused. Well, let’s say, I’m Amelia right now, but I’m still the director slash demon, slash half-angel. The director, I mean, I’m a greedy little Nephilim. Scratch that. I’m not even a Nephilim. I drank blood to gain strength and called out for demons to march with me. Lucky me, the demon me escaped from hell. While I was weak, my demon side has taken over the host. And you know what? It feels so good to have a stronger body that doesn’t have the conscience to kill. And a greater demon, by the way.”

“You can’t even explain yourself. Demon or not, you don’t belong here.”

“Let’s put it this way. I’m consumed with what you call darkness, a dark energy. Call me demon, evil, sinister, vile, wicked, malevolent, monster. I don’t care. And you’re right, I don’t belong here or anywhere anymore. I’m cursed to live down there for eternity, but I like it here on earth. People are greedy and corrupt, and I love watching them kill each other for money and power. It makes me even stronger.”

“Just so I understand, let me just sum up everything you’ve told me. You’re a half-Nephilim who chose the dark side so you could manipulate people for your own personal gain. Dude, that’s just so, well, dark.” I snorted as I remembered the wings. “Or daddy issues much?” 

“I will kill you,” Lucius growled at the demon, his eyes glowing.

“You know for a fact that there’s only one person that can kill me. With the body of a Nephilim that I possessed, I will kill you first.” She laughed again. This time stronger.

It was followed by red lighting and thunder. The entire expanse darkened, spreading and drowning the bright blue sky, forming raging dark clouds cast over the horizon, reminding me of what was supposed to be Amelia had said earlier.

When a phenomenon occurred, a dark entity arose, like Cyrius. The same thing happened right now. The earth cried for help. The balance between good and evil was disrupted.

I stared at the dark sky in horror. A huge storm began to form, creating a dark shadow on the ground. From a warm afternoon daylight instantly changed to a chilling windy terrifying day.

Everyone came outside, staring at the storm. When the lightning zipped up across the sky, red flames flickered, and a fury of vengeful thunder crashed a howling roar.

“When I thought it was a volcano that roars,” Lucius mumbled as a realization hit him. 

“It was the sky,” I told him in silence.

The demon continued laughing catching back our attention. She grinned and looked up at the sky before her gaze landed back on Margaret. “Do you think you can trap me with your little spell and flame, little witch?”

When she stepped out of the blue flame, I knew at that moment this was our end game.