Heart of Darkness

She got up quickly to fight, her body already covered with injuries. She hurried to assist Lazarus who was being torn apart. Now she couldn\'t even fly because the damned creatures always attacked her wings and destroyed them.

After fighting off the shades the witched came to them. Lucrezia threw Lazarus away so he wouldn\'t be choked by the witches by now it was too late for her to run away. She prepared for a fight when she realized they weren\'t after her. They were focused on Skender.

Oh no. They couldn\'t choke him with whatever that was. As the black magic, or power left their fingertips and now even their mouths she sprinted forward to push Skender away but he slapped her away with his wings. She flew away and landed on her back with a growl.

Pain shot through her back and skull, but she forced herself to get up. Why was he attacking her? And he was still hovering over them as they reached for him with their dark powers.

No!

To her surprise, he opened his mouth, sucking in the dark vapor as if he was hungry for it. It seeped in through his mouth and he tilted his head back taking it all in. He sucked it in a neverending stream that made it look like he was sucking the power out of them as well.

They let out strangled cries, as the vapor left their mouths and their skin turned ashy, their bodies withering and then they fell to the ground.

Dear devil. What the hell?

This couldn\'t be happening. Would they have to fight him now?

His head fell forward again as if he just finished a delicious meal, but there was still hunger in his eyes. His wings stretched as if waking up and he flew threw the distance, not differentiating between demons or shades. He took whoever he could grab and fed on them as if he couldn\'t even bother fighting.

"Retreat!" Lucrezia called. The demons teleported away, but the shades had to fight.

Skender scooped them in his wings like helpless children and crushed them in groups of two or three in each wing, before feasting on them. It was as if he had been starved of blood for centuries. Even then, a demon didn\'t need that much blood.

His eyes were dark with bloodthirst. With revenge. His grandmother must have noticed the change. She came flying to him.

Oh no! She would not advise her to do that. He was clearly not in his right mind. Wherever he came from and whatever he consumed was making him very dangerous.

Just like she guessed, he attacked his grandmother as well. She was shocked and hesitant to fight him but he went full force and they flew up together in a fight. Lucrezia waited for her damned wing to grow back but when she took notice of Raphael fighting a demon. His brother?

Whoever the brother was, seemed to have an advantage of power. Probably some shady witch things involved.

Lucrezia didn\'t care about them. Whoever died would be good for her but Rapahels demons returned to help him of course, while his brother\'s army were mostly dead.

She looked up as Skender\'s grandma was thrown down, and fell crashing into the ground.

Lucrezia hurried to reach for Acheron and told him to bring Roxana. Raphael would try something and reach for the arch if he saw an uncontrollable Skender and they would try to kill him.

His grandma quickly rose, healing so fast as if she was never hurt. Well, maybe Lucrezia would stay out of this because his grandma might survive his rage but she wouldn\'t. But before she could hide, his grandma took a hold of her and teleported them to a faraway hill.

"Something is wrong with him," she said as she turned to watch the scene of the brothers fighting.

Skender came down again, but somehow he seemed to be able to differentiate between people after all. He interrupted the brothers\' fight, grabbing the shade creator, and they got into a wing and fist fight. Raphael took a step back, noticing Skender\'s rage. This wasn\'t good.

"Stay here!" The grandma told him and went to help Skender.

Lucrezia watched as the two defenders... no defender family with one being something else right now tear the shade creator apart. The grandma held him down and Skender ripped his heart out.

He looked at it beating in his hands for a moment and then lifted it to his mouth. He ate it.

The demons looked at him shocked. Lucrezia was shocked. Alright. This wasn\'t a good sign at the moment. Or any moment. He was going back to when demons ate raw meat? What was happening?

When he finished, his eyes looked at the other demons.

No!

Lucrezia teleported back but his grandma was there to stop him before her. "Alexander! Stop!"

But he wasn\'t listening. Raphael took the hint quickly and told his demons to attack. His grandma was stuck between fighting them and fighting him.

"Stop them!" Lucrezia told Raphael.

"I can\'t. He needs to stop!"

"He just helped you!"

"He is uncontrollable."

"Yes. Nothing that can\'t be fixed. The witches did something to him. He isn\'t harmful." She said but saw how he tore at Raphael\'s demons.

"I need to call for help!" He said.

"No!" She grabbed his arm. "Please! I will fix it!"

Where the hell was Acheron?

"Alexander!"

Finally! Lucrezia could breathe. Roxana was here.

"His mate is here. It will be fine." Lucrezia said squeezing his arm.

She looked over at Roxana who seemed more horrified at the sight. Acheron stood beside her to offer some support.

Skender wasn\'t listening and was still busy with the fight.

"Alex!" She called louder, her voice laced with terror when he was about to sink his teeth into the demon. He paused, his eyes searching the area while his grandma fought off the demons trying to attack him.

"Stop them now!" Lucrezia told Raphael.

Raphael signaled for his army to retreat but the one in Skender\'s hold couldn\'t get away.

Roxana walked closer to him as his eyes settled on her. Still dark. Still vengeful.

"Let him go." She said carefully.

He didn\'t. He just stared at her.

"Alex? Do you hear me?" She continued to step closer.

Now all of them watched the scene, tense about what would happen next. Would he stop or was he not there enough to care? Roxana was truly brave because he was covered in blood. It dripped from his mouth down his throat and body, but she continued to step closer little by little.

"It is over now. Come with me." She said holding her hand out.

His face hardened as if refusing.

"I have been waiting. I have been scared without you." She continued to walk closer but this time she took firm steps. "Release him now, Alexander."

It wasn\'t a plea. She almost ordered him, staring directly into his eyes.

Without tearing his eyes from her, he tossed the demon aside.

"Good," she smiled.

Suddenly his wing wrapped around her and he drew her close. They all stiffened.

Oh, Lord. She was human. Don\'t squeeze. But that wasn\'t what he wanted. He brought her close to drink from her.

Roxana was smart to act fast. She wriggled her arms out of the wings and then grabbed his face. She kissed him.

He was surprised but slowly, his eyes fluttered close and he wrapped her with his wings.

Romantic except for all the blood...? She grimaced and smiled at the same time.

"Isn\'t it romantic what a mate can do?" She asked Raphael.

He sighed and looked at his dead army. His arm came around her waist. "You owe me a lot!" he whispered next to her ear. "A lot, my sweet."

She tried not to show her repulsion as he released her. "I will wait for you," he smirked and then nodded for his demons to follow him.

Lucrezia sighed once they left and as she returned to the lovely couple Skender collapsed.