Heart of Darkness

Skender’s visions turned almost black from rage. He tore apart the shades yet the blood spilled was not enough to lighten his vision. They had intended to hurt his mate. To take away from him a person he cared for again. He would not allow it! He would shred every last one of them to pieces. He would bring an end to their race and then he would feast on their flesh and blood. Ughh…he growled with rage. More blood! More death! Who sent them? It was the only thing he could think about.

Constantine.

That man was dead! He had broken his part of the deal to keep the shades away. He would die. Skender would drain him of blood excruciatingly slow and he would make sure to enjoy it.

Wait! Where they already dead?

Where was the rest so he could satiate his hunger for revenge? He could still kill them, even if dead. He would tear them apart. He would make them unrecognizable and then he would sleep in this bed of torn flesh or maybe he would deliver it to their master.

All the ideas of revenge got him carried away. He hadn’t even saved one of them to torture for eternity and he forgot what he looked like because Roxana was still there. Her wild heartbeat and the smell of strong fear made him pause for a moment. He forced himself to see through the rage.

She stood with her back pressed against the tree, completely still. She wasn’t even breathing and her face soon turned pale from the lack of oxygen. She would faint and she didn’t make it easier for herself when she looked around at the slaughter he had caused.

What had he done?

He could see that she began to feel sick as well. He couldn’t blame her. He had covered the ground with blood, flesh, and organs. Her eyes slowly lifted and he could see his reflection in them. He looked like a monster in her eyes.

He was covered in blood, his mouth and fangs stained red. He looked like a beast who had just fed. He did partly. This was him when he lost control and he never lost this much control. It was because of her. Because he couldn’t imagine losing her. Just the thought made him lose his sanity.

Skender stood still too, not knowing how to explain this situation that got out of hand. This wasn’t how he wished to explain and tell her about his identity. Now he wouldn’t be rejected only because he was a demon. Now she was terrified. Her mind was blank as she tried to form a thought but after having lost so much oxygen she began to fade away. He was quickly beside her to catch her before she fell, staining her white dress with blood as well.

Skender teleported them to the river nearby and placed her down carefully. Before waking her, he thought of at least cleaning himself up a little so he would look less frightening. Not that he thought it would help after all she had witnessed. He washed his hands, face and mouth and before he could try to wake her up, he already sensed her coming back to consciousness. She was only confused for a moment but then quickly became alarmed.

Roxana sat up, her hand already reaching for something to protect herself with. She grabbed a rock and he only needed to shift for her to yell at him to stop and crawl back, despite the distance between them.

“Don’t move.” She held out the rock.

Her hand shook slightly. Skender couldn’t even be angry or hurt right now. She didn’t understand what she was fighting and she certainly didn’t think a rock would save her. She was only reacting to her fear of the unknown. Normal reaction.

He tried to remain calm and not move for her to feel safe. His wings and horns were in control but his fangs and claws were yet visible. He was still too angry for them to retreat. He still wanted to leave quickly and finish off those shades but Roxana needed him.

“What- what did you do…to Alexander?”

Oh well, except for the fact that he scared his mate away? Nothing much.

“I AM Alexander.”

“Don’t lie! You are the one from the night before. You told me you would bring Alexander back but you would also be back and …”

She was putting pieces together but they were also all fumbled and she couldn’t make sense of them.

“The one the night before was I. It has always been I, me, and myself and it still is that way.” He told her firmly.

“But… you acted differently.”

“Sometimes I lose control and I am not myself completely.” He explained.

“I don’t believe you.”

“You already do. You just don’t want to because it doesn’t make sense.”

“It doesn’t.” She agreed. “This all, it doesn’t make any sense.”

He could see that she was close to losing her mind.

“You…” She looked at his mouth thinking back of how he savagely bit off those animals. The images in her head looked terrifying. “You are a predator. Do you… prey on humans?”

Skender weighed different options in his head and decided to do all the scaring right now. He was in the pit of snakes anyway. “Yes.”

Her eyes widened and she fought the urge to crawl away further.

“It is not in the sense that you think. I don’t kill them but I need blood from time to time.” He was putting it all out there. If it got worse then so be it. He was on the battlefield already so he just had to keep fighting. Either he would win or die.

Now she crawled away.

“Do you… want to… prey on me?”

“Yes.”

That was how she was going to see it so why not just let her know. God! He was going to scare the hell out of her. He was going to make her insane but he was going to trust her. She would accept him at last. She had to or his heart would seize to beat.

“I won’t unless you want me to.” He assured. “I have no intentions of hurting you.”

She watched him for a long moment. He knew she sensed it deep down, that she knew in her heart he wouldn’t hurt her.

“Why would I want that?”

“I don’t know. Time will tell.” He didn’t want to answer why a human would ever want to be bitten and have their blood consumed because he didn’t know the process they went through and how they felt. He couldn’t say that it was simply out of love and to be bonded when they could do so without it.

She dropped her hand slowly, her eyes darting with confusion. She looked lost. If she would only allow him to hold her.

“Roxana. Look at me. I am still me.”

She looked up at him,  her eyes searching his. She became calm for a brief moment giving him hope before certain memories made her panic again. “What are you?” She asked.

She was confused between the drinking blood and monstrous behavior, and the horns and calling himself a demon.

“I am a demon.”

She watched him closely, her thoughts going to a place he hadn’t imagined yet but should have suspected. “You are here to torture me. You are here to take me to hell?!”

He would have laughed if not for the serious situation. He suddenly looked like the devil in her eyes.

“I am not taking you to hell.”

“Then why… why are you here? With me?”

He stood up frustrated and she flinched. “Because I love you for God’s sake. Is that a reason enough?”

A tear fell down her cheek. Oh great.

“It is not possible. You can’t.” Another tear fell. “Because you shouldn’t even look like this. Demons don’t have a physical form so you can’t…you can’t..” She cried in her hands feeling like she lost him, just like she lost her father. Like he had suddenly become the non-physical demon she believed in.

Skender became rather sad than angry. He hated to see her like this. Walking over, he crouched beside her, and this time she didn’t flinch away when he took her hands away from her face. He held them in his clawed ones. “I am real and I am here. Don’t make me nonexisting because I have been feeling like that for so long.”

While still crying, she touched his hand, making sure it wasn’t a nightmare. Making sure he was real. “I don’t understand, Alexander.”

“You won’t. You can’t use your mind in this situation. You will be confused and exhausted. Use your heart.”

“I believe in God.” She said.

“And I am not here to stand between you and God.”

“But you are a demon.”

“You said demons don’t have a physical form. You believe they are evil. They make us sin.”

She nodded.

“You said we all have our demons.”

She nodded again.

“I just have a bigger one. My kind has bigger demons, which is why we call ourselves so. We are more prone to sin. We are drawn to the darkness. We also have our inner battles of good and bad and just like you we can win and do good or we could lose.”

She began to listen and cry less.

“Which is why what you believe to be a demon and the kind that I am are different as you see. My existence does not diminish your belief. I too believe we all have our demons.”

Roxana was quiet for a long moment, her mind processing what he told her. But she was stuck overwhelmed by too many things. When the demon thing settled, her mind showed her another problem.

“You still prey on humans.” She said at last. “And you have claws, and fangs, and… wings? You have wings for god’s sake? Can you fly?”

He was about to reply but she went on rambling.

“And horns. And you just carried those animals like they weighed nothing. You-you tore them, you…I don’t even know.” She was panicking again but then she looked at the hand that she held. She stared at his claws. She found them too long and sharp but didn’t hesitate to touch them. Almost examining them.

Alexander wanted to examine her mind. Hearing her thoughts wasn’t helping him understand at all. She was afraid yet not.

“No!” She said standing up. “I need to go home. I need to think.”

She avoided looking at his mouth because she didn’t want to think of him preying on humans and blood.

“Your home won’t be safe now. Those animals were not ordinary. They are shifters.”

“Shifters?”

“You are their target. They want to hurt you because they want to hurt me.”

“Why?”

“Our kind are enemies.”

She looked at him defeated. “So those animals will be after me. They will try to kill me?”

“I will…” He stopped, remembering how he told Ramona he would protect her, and failed. It was all happening again. An image of Roxana, tortured and killed and left at his doorstep flashed through his mind. He felt sick.

“Are you alright?” Roxana looked at him concerned.

“Let me protect you. I don’t want to lose you.” He pleaded. He held his hand out for her. “I will take you to a safe place.”

She looked at his hand, remembering all the times he held his hand out for her. How she had trusted him each time. Would she trust him now?

Carefully, she put her hand in his and he drew her closer. After everything she had seen and since she trusted him, maybe teleporting her would not cause her to faint again.

Skender teleported them to Rayven’s home where he knew the shades couldn’t get inside.

Roxana looked around utterly confused. “How…how did…No! Don’t even tell me. Not yet! I don’t want to know.” She said.

He grabbed her arms, “Roxana!” He waited for her to look at him. “It will be alright. I want you to stay here for a while. This place is safe for you and Lord Rayven and Angelica will take well care of you.”

As if sensing their presence, Rayven and Angelica came walking outside. Angelica seemed to be in slight pain and Rayven helped her walk. From what he caught from Rayven’s mind, It was suspected that she could give birth soon. They had already called a demon midwife who suggested she should take a little walk.

Both of them looked at him surprised, wondering what happened with all the blood.

“What happened?” Angelica asked.

Skender explained very shortly that they were attacked by shades and asked them if Roxana could stay with them while he took care of the matter.

“You shouldn’t go alone,” Angelica said looking over at Rayven.

“I can’t leave you,” Rayven said.

“No. Stay!” Skender insisted. “I will be fine and I will be back soon. Don’t worry.”

He mind linked with Rayven and asked to look after Roxana. The demon gave him a reassuring nod. Then he turned to Roxana who was still confused.

“Please, stay here until I come back.” He told her.

To his surprise, she grasped his shirt when he tried to leave. “Don’t go!” She almost whispered. She was afraid he would get hurt by the shades. She didn’t want to lose anyone again. This confused her because she had still not processed what he was.

“I will be back soon,” he promised.

Hesitantly, she let go of his sleeve. Then she remembered, “Uncle Ben. Fanny.”

“I will make sure they are safe.”