We have just learned of something, something that has shined a very bright light on to our very dark world. We have learned that the Seer of Golan has escaped from Devish and is now living on a small island out in the middle of the Great Northern Sea. If we can find her, we can hope to discover the hold Devish has on the black wolf. We are also hopeful that she will help us find his daughter. It is all that we have left. Again, it is a chance that we have to take.
We are heading there now. We can only hope it is worth it. We are about to find out.
1
“They are here my lord. The gifts of loyalty from the humans have arrived.” Elizabeth kept the very large grin on her red painted lips as she came into the room. Her pale face sparkled beneath her deep black hair. It made her entire face look as painted as her lips. The look suited her, especially now. She felt completely giddy with everything. She loved this time of the month. She loved the giving of gifts. The fifteen young humans looked good enough to eat. She would have eaten every one of them, if they were not for all of the Elders. The food was for them too.
Devish stayed seated on his chair. His pale white hands were shaking and his mind was already becoming a mix of haze and confusion. His thirst had grown again. It grew bitter. It froze his mind. He hated this time of the month. Ever since taking over this godforsaken little island, the island the humans have called Britannia, he has had to keep to the honor of the deal he made with the other Elders. Their ways were back again. Their ways of dealing with the humans—their ways of dealing with the bounty of all of the food—was causing this, he was sure of it. He couldn’t help himself with feeling this way. He hated rules. He should have never agreed with them—with this. He was proving this yet again.
She saw the look on his white flushed face. She saw the pain in his dark brown eyes. It told her only one thing. The blood thirst was hitting him hard again.
“My lord, the human chiefs have come with their offerings.” She hoped this would make it ease his mind. She had never had the thirst before. She didn’t know what it felt like. Seeing him like this, she hoped that she never would. He always looked like this and acted like this when he needed his fix. It looked painful, and more than likely, it was.
He stared down at his own hands. He watched them trembling from fingertip to his wrists. He watched them bob above his lap. He couldn’t stop them even if he tried.
“My lord?” She lost the grin. At times like these, she didn’t know what he would do. It made him unpredictable. It made him sad. It made him angry. It made him downright dangerous. She feared him the most like this. “There is no need to feel this way. I have brought you gifts.”
He looked up, as he heard, as he smelled, their freshness walk into the room. He saw Kalima and Rana escort the fifteen young men and women into his banquet room, just off the main foyer of his castle’s Keep. He watched the group then lined up against the wall on his left. This hall was where he welcomed his guests. This was where the Elders would come and collect their share of the gifts that the humans gave them. Seeing their youth, smelling their fresh hearts pouring blood throughout every part of their flesh, he felt his mind explode. They looked just as fresh as they smelled. They looked just as young as their scents. They looked beyond good enough to eat. He could feed on all of them. He wouldn’t stop until he finished every drop.
You must not do that. The Elders will be expecting their offerings. You do not wish to offend them.
He hated his rational side. Sometimes, he wished it would just shut up for good. It never seemed to help him with what he wanted any way. It didn’t seem to be helping him now.
Do not do it. You must keep to the balance.
His hands shook harder than before.
The young people all did what their leaders told them to do. They kept their eyes down. They of course knew why they were there. They were their village’s sacrifice to their Walker overlords. Each human village made one to their new gods, as they saw the Walkers again. It was their way of keeping the peace, and keeping their villages, their families, and their very lives from being destroyed by their gods. Walkers kept to the bargain, as they did in the past before the great human awakening. It was a horrific deal, but one that most humans had to strike. They couldn’t fight them. They couldn’t defeat them. They did what they had to do to survive.
“Lords Gorhan and Veranna are both on their way my lord Devish. They will arrive here soon.” Rana must have heard his thoughts, as only she could. She did and more.
She could see his hunger in his eyes. She could see his pain. She felt his needs, but this was not the time to break their agreement with the others. When they subjugated the humans again on this island, the council of all of the Elders of the Walker world agreed to share in their bounty. They agreed to follow Devish as long as he went back to the old ways of the balance. He agreed with them to reform the old families and again to share the blood. Seeing the look on his face and seeing what was roaming around inside his thoughts, she knew that he would never do such a thing. He couldn’t help himself, even if he wanted to. The blood lust, the blood thirst was worse than any drug addiction the humans could even endure. It poisoned the mind. It ravaged the soul, even though he didn’t possess either of both.
He hated her at times like these. “I know they are on their way.” He stood up from the chair, his bronze plated wooden throne, and moved out to the center of the room. He held his breaths as he stepped in front of the line of youth. He did try to fight the hunger. If he had breathed them in any more than he already had, he felt sure that he would lose such a fight. He was so close to losing it already.
Rana wasn’t convinced. “My lord,” She moved in front of him, in between the young humans and him. “You must adhere to the deal you struck.” She knew him all too well. “Lord Michael fears your thirst.” She felt the need to point this out to him. He needed all of the Elders to maintain his power within the Walkers. Too many of them have already begun to doubt his leadership of the council. Some of them have even discussed a possible change in such leadership. They have all struggled hard in this fight to gain what they have, and none of them wanted to go back again to the point of where all seemed lost. The humans could always regain the upper hand in this war. They all knew it, and so did Devish. At least he should know it any way. The hunger made him forget too many things, and this should never be one of them. She had to keep him balanced. She owed him only this, and nothing more. She kept her loyalty very simple, and this was one of those times.
He grimaced with hearing this. “I know my dear Rana. I know.” He knew she was right, but he also knew that he didn’t have to like it. He was growing tired of the whining of the Elders. They should feel thankful for everything he has done, and is doing for them, but she was right. He needed them more than they needed him. He knew it more than they did. He feared it more than they did too.
Kalima listened to all of this, and just bowed his head. Since coming there, since joining with the Walkers, he found himself caring less and less every year about them. He no longer concerned himself with any of this. Since the deaths of his wife and daughter, he cared about nothing. Well nothing was then—he did care about something now. In fact, he loved it. He knew he did, but didn’t know what it meant. As for this nonsense, he only did what he had to do, so he did nothing. He said nothing. He stayed out of everything.
Devish looked right at him. “Kalima, the Elders will also be coming to get what they need, other than human blood. Have you prepared yourself for this?” He stared his brother down. He realized that if he concentrated on something else it lessened the hunger, so now it was time to do it again.
Kalima knew what he meant. “I have.” This one little thing, this one little chore he did for him, also bothered him. He hated having to do it, but like all other things, he did it anyway. He just wasn’t concerned about that either.
Devish gave him a subtle grin and looked back to Rana.
She watched him closely. She always did when
it came to Devish and his brother. Yes, she knew who he was. She learned it not that long ago and understood everything about it. She also understood something else about it too. Something she knew that she would have to confide in him about soon enough, but didn’t know how to do it. She just knew that she owed it to Kalima more than she ever did with Devish. He was so much more than he ever was.
Devish turned to her next. “Please see to it that the human leaders are given our assurance of peace for this fine offering.” He looked back to the line of humans. Without thinking, he took a deep breath and caught their scent just as strongly as he ever did. It immediately caused his stomach to clench and his mind to flare. His heart even started racing and bounded inside his chest.
Rana gave him a simple nod. She still watched him while doing it. She didn’t trust him at all, and she knew it. She also knew that he knew it too.
“I will inform them of this, my lord. They are still in the courtyard, and I will pass to them your gratitude.” She turned, and looked back to Kalima, still on her left side.
He returned to her a very gracious smile.
She saw the look and knew what it meant. She agreed with it whole-heartedly too.
Devish looked back to Elizabeth as his red eyes now sparkled like rubies. His long fangs now came out over his bottom lip. The hunger inside him only grew stronger. His thoughts now turned to a blanketed haze that seemed to envelope his entire face. It made everything go just as blank.
She saw both, and knew what he now intended to do. She also knew that Kalima and Rana couldn’t see him do it, so she turned to them after seeing them.
“I will stand here with our Lord Devish and wait for our Lords Gorhan to arrive and see to their needs.” She also knew that they had other plans too. She has known about them for a while now. How Devish had not seen it, she would never know, but she knew that she would have to tell him about them soon enough. He deserved to know everything that the black wolf has done to him. Ever since he came along with them, she has never trusted him. She hated the place that Devish has given him—a place that she deserved to have for everything she has done for him, so it was time to set that right again too. She just had to figure out how to do it. She had to find the right time to say it. However, the time was coming. She could feel it. It was almost there, it just wasn’t now. She would know it when it was.
After seeing Kalima’s face and the look in his eyes, Rana no longer cared about Devish. She had more important things to do. She didn’t mind leaving him there alone. Why would she care about anything else?
Together, both her and Kalima turned and left the room. They headed back out through the front foyer and went outside. They went to the humans that had given the offering, and showed them out through the gate. With their jobs done, they walked together, and headed to the trees when they were alone. They stayed calm the entire time. They took their time. They didn’t hurry, at least until they reached the trees. When that happened, time seemed to have stopped. Everything else happened as it always did.
Devish waited for both of them to leave, and as soon as the door closed, he turned back to Elizabeth. He could barely even do this. The hunger was to the point of wanting to explode.
“See to it that my lords Gorhan are well attended to my dear.” He forced this out too. It was even hard to talk.
She nodded. She blinked.
In between the blinks, he flashed. She watched him fling himself to the line of humans, and just as quickly, he pounced along the line. One after the other, the young humans fell. Their throats were gashed. Their heads were torn from their bodies. They fell just as fast.
She watched him as he then gorged himself on their blood. She watched him do it so perfectly that she even felt amazed by his speed. He didn’t leave one single drop, and when he finished, she just stood there in complete and total aw.
With fifteen bodies now lifeless at his feet, scattered about the floor like cords of wood, he stood back up straight. He even straightened his long purple overcoat and fixed his undershirt with even hands. They no longer shook. He felt better instantly. Only then, did he turn and face her.
“Are you better now my lord?” She saw the look of pain now replaced with a total and complete ease.
He just watched as a new set of images now flashed inside his mind. He saw them walking through the gate at the front of the castle. He saw them moving to the front steps of his rebuilt home. He saw them moving through the door and heading in to the foyer. He watched them as they stepped into the room behind her.
Michael Gorhan stopped with Vincent just behind him at the door. He saw the bodies. He saw the paleness. He saw enough.
“What the hell is this?” he had to ask. He felt surprised, but at the same time, he wasn’t. He expected this much from Devish, especially when there was food involved. The need to quench his blood thirst would have it no other way. He didn’t know which to hate more. The one who lived it or the one that made it happen. In the end, he hated both.
Devish looked at him with soft eyes. “My lords.” He couldn’t even look him in the eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to do it.
He looked guilty, almost as a schoolchild would look, who had just been caught taking something from the teacher. Michael saw this, but didn’t believe it. Devish never felt guilty for anything in his life, and he doubted that he would ever feel that way now. It just wasn’t in his nature.
“You just could not help yourself, could you lord Devish?” Michael stepped to Elizabeth’s side, just to her left. He looked down at the lifeless corpses and just felt disgusted by everything. It just turned his stomach. “How selfish can you be? How am I going to explain this to the others?”
Devish just gave him a playful grin. “I am terribly sorry my lords. I do apologize for this.” He truly meant this, even though he didn’t.
Michael felt more than just ashamed, he also felt angry. He was losing his patience. This had to end.
Devish read this in his thoughts without him needing to tell him anything. “I do not have to answer to you or to the other Elders Michael. I am the leader of this world.” He too was growing angry with all of this. How dare they question me about anything? It is not their place to do such things. “I am the only Blood Walker left roaming this world. I am stronger than all of you combined.” I should not have to remind them of this. I am the reason they live the life they now do. I did that. It was me and no one else.
Michael didn’t agree. Devish was not the only one who could read one’s thoughts. “You are not above our rules my lord. You are not above him.” He stressed the him. He knew he was right in doing it too.
Devish knew instantly of whom he was referring to and just the thought of it made his mind fly into a deeper set of rage. He was now feeling like he was losing his control again.
“He will stand with me over you any time Michael. You should never question such a thing.” He turned and faced him head on. His eyes were once again blaring with their deepest red color. His fangs were once again showing too.
Michael did not back down. Again, he knew that he was right about this. They all knew it, not just him. “I and the others are aware that he is not here for you my lord. Kalima is hollow. He is shallow. He is not here with loyalty to you.”
His mouth now began to shake some. The anger inside him wanted to explode out, but he held it back. His brother was blocking him; he couldn’t see his thoughts so he wasn’t sure if what Michael said was right or not. Without it, he couldn’t lose his control. He had to stay calm. He had to keep himself together.
Michael agreed with him without having to see his thoughts. He just watched his eyes turn back to brown, and saw his fangs disappear back behind his lips.
Devish saw him relax. He felt himself continue to do it too. “I will gather some new humans for the others.” He turned and looked back to Elizabeth. “Prepare a raiding party to set out tonight and gather up some humans for them.” He looked at the floor, saw all of the flesh, and looked back
up to her. “Tell the wolves that they have some flesh to devour too before the hunt. They deserve it.”
Michael listened to him carefully, and watched Elizabeth leave them. When she was gone, he turned back to Vincent, saw the same look on his face that he felt inside himself, and it made him look back to Devish.
“You cannot keep raiding the human villages and keep expecting them to pay their tribute to us Devish. They will stand against that kind of brutality sooner rather than later, and you know it.” Who could ever forget the times before the black wolf came? They all knew how Devish had regained his power again. It was only after the wolf came that everything changed. He was the one that gave Devish what he needed, even if they didn’t know what that was, they all knew he was the power behind the throne. He was the true leader of their world. Devish was nothing but a weak and feeble addicted wretch without him.
Devish heard some of this, he was having trouble hearing everything lately, and he didn’t know why, but that was for another time, and it made him have to stay cautious. It still made him angry again at it too.
“I will do what I must do Michael. You keep your place.” He growled.
Michael bowed his head. “Of course.” He knew that he was no match to challenge Devish, so he didn’t have the choice but to back down. Only one had such a power, and as far as he knew about it, it was only the matter of time before he knew it too. For now, he would continue to play his game. He would stand his ground. He would wait for the right time to do what he planned to do.
Devish did finally breathe. He turned from them, and moved back to his throne. He took a heavy seat.
Michael watched him, turned and headed back to Vincent. He gave him a subtle nod, and together they turned and headed back out to the foyer. They left Devish alone.
A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3) Page 50