Chapter 4 Control #3
Edward and Ieuwan gathered the families and ushered them out the doors at Xander’s command, whilst the leaders prepared to fight to protect their people.
Deion and Nicolai stood before the remaining Lupus Court leaders, knowing that the old folk wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight, whilst Norman and Kadeem guarded Striga and Divina.
Xander drew in his shadows, ready to unleash them upon Caligo, when he felt Malefica’s power cut through his chest.
A ringing vibrated through his ears in the horrifying vacuum that had replaced the air he breathed.
His lungs began to scream in protest, a burning emptiness where the oxygen was drawn out of him within seconds.
He clawed at his throat as he gasped and choked on nothing, his knees threatening to give out.
Through the growing haze in his vision, he saw his brothers collapse to the floor, their hands scratching at their own necks and their eyes bloodshot.
Xander watched Thomas step over Nicolai’s hunched body on the ground to reach Striga as she began to restore the air around the Lamiae, but Malefica got to him first. With one hand, she grabbed his shoulder and pulled him close to face her, tilting her head to give Striga a dark smile.
“I told you not to fall in love, sister.”
Thomas fell back away from her, his body hitting the floor with a dull thud, and a dagger protruding from his chest.
A sound tore through the silence, the same scream that Xander had heard in Divina’s vision. Only this time it wasn’t a phantom sound in his mind. It was real, emanating from Striga’s frail form as she collapsed to her knees beside Thomas.
The air crackled, the scent of burning sharp in his nostrils as tendrils of raw electricity erupted from her, lashing out at Malefica and Caligo. The blast slammed into them, streaks of bright white energy searing into the air, hurling them backwards against the wall.
Xander coughed and spluttered as a gust whooshed through the room, abruptly returning the air in his chest with a brute force.
As his lungs gratefully expanded, he lunged for Malefica, grasping her neck in one hand as he delved into her mind.
Just as he’d expected, he found Lilith watching everything through the evil Incantrix’s eyes.
Xander’s control, usually a carefully cultivated shield, shattered under the weight of everything.
The raw agony radiating from Striga set his blood boiling, the terror from the Lupi made his teeth chatter, the anger and disbelief from his brothers felt like a punch to the stomach.
It all coalesced into a burning fury that demanded release, and he couldn’t contain it, not even if he’d wanted to.
His power stormed within him and surged outward, the shadows in the room writhing in response and rushing to cloak him in impenetrable darkness.
He couldn’t tell which feelings were his own, or Striga’s, or his brothers’, or Thomas’ as he lay on the ground taking his last breaths.
He couldn’t tell if he was staring at Malefica or Lilith herself, and he didn’t care.
Not as his talons extended from his fingers and sunk deep into the side of her neck.
Not as he pulled away, leaving her throat completely torn open.
Malefica fell to the floor, spluttering on her own blood, her vocal chords dangling from Xander’s hand. He stared down at her, feeling a twisted sense of satisfaction knowing that Lilith was watching him kill her favoured daughter.
Her eyes, wide with shock and horror, locked onto Xander’s shadowed figure as a strangled gurgle escaped her lips.
She tried to call for her brother, but Xander could sense a shift in the darkness as Caligo summoned the Intermundum’s shadows to take him home, leaving her there to die.
And then her body spasmed once, twice, until she went completely still.
The glorious satisfaction that bloomed in his chest dulled the burning within him momentarily, but it only rose again as he turned back to the group and watched as they all stood in silence, allowing Striga’s sobs to fill the room.
She cradled Thomas’ head in her lap, stroking his grey hair away from his face, begging him not to leave her. Deion was beside her, his palms pressed against Thomas’ chest as he tried to heal him, but the look on his face told Xander all he needed to know. There was no fixing this.
Thomas’ gaze flitted to Xander. “Take care of them,” he stuttered, his breaths ragged and sharp as he struggled to hold on. “Promise me, you will take care of my family.”
Xander nodded, not trusting his own voice to not break and opting instead to speak into his mind. I swear it, my friend. I will keep them safe.
He stepped away to allow Striga privacy in her husband’s last breath, to allow her to say goodbye to the man she loved, the man who saved her from an eternity of slavery to Lilith.
If it weren’t for Thomas, Xander would never have created the Courts in the first place, Striga and Divina would never have lived their long happy lives, and the world would have been destroyed long ago.
The Daemons stood still as Thomas’ chest stopped moving, his heart stopped beating, and Striga’s cries became roars of anguish. Xander had lost so many over the years, but he had never experienced a loss quite like this.
The sight of Striga’s body collapsing, the broken screams that ripped through her—it was like a physical blow straight through Xander’s chest. It was her pain, unfiltered and immediate, flooding his senses as if it were his own.
He tried to put a damper on his Manipuli power, tried to pull back from the screaming chorus of emotions that assailed him, but then a new sensation erupted.
It wasn’t emotional, but a sharp and brutal piercing through his skull. The agony eclipsed everything, even the intensity of Striga’s pain. His vision was blinded, his ears ringing, and he collapsed to his knees on the floor, growling and clawing at his head.
Traitor.
The word rang clear in his mind.
You betrayed me. You defied me.
It was a voice. Her voice.
You thought you were free? You thought you could keep them safe?
One by one, Lilith’s claws sank into his mind, attaching his body to a set of strings that she held in her hands. He saw his friends surround him as he thrashed on the floor, concern and worry evident upon their faces, but none of that mattered.
He wanted to kill. He wanted to destroy. He wanted to feed.
So he did.
Xander tilted his head sideways as he heard the hatch door open, bringing his mind back to the present. Deion and Edward came down first, before they helped Striga climb down after them. Edward slowly approached Xander, his hands stretched out before him, ready to attempt to put him to sleep.
Xander waved his free hand towards them in greeting, showing them he was back to his human form. The two Lamiae quickly untied him from the table and helped him sit up. Striga remained lurking in the corner of the room, watching him carefully, as if waiting for his control to slip again.
“I am myself,” Xander tried to reassure them. “Please, do not worry. I am in control of myself again.”
As he spoke, he could taste the bitterness of the lie on his tongue. She was still there, she was always there. She just wasn’t holding the reins right now.
But she had. Only hours before she had rendered him useless to her control again, and he had done exactly as she had demanded all those years ago. He had destroyed.
He destroyed six lives, killed six mortals.
He had preyed on them from the shadows, warped their minds to come to him, and drunk from their necks.
And there would have been more, if Deion had not followed him and torn him back from a young woman walking alone through the nearby village.
If Edward had not used his Somnum abilities to slow his body down in an attempt to put him to sleep.
If Nicolai had not used his Portalis ability and threw him through the gate he opened that led to outside Amara House so they could throw him into the cellar.
Striga stepped towards him. Her tears from earlier had dried, and he could feel her pain had evolved into a torturous sadness. Though he had experienced it for a moment, Xander could not imagine the constant pain of losing one’s true love.
“You are not yourself,” she told him. “She is still there, in your mind, hiding. Now that she has broken through, she will be able to sink her claws in you again. And this time, I do not think your Manipuli power alone will be enough to control your own mind. You killed Malefica, boy, and she will not be forgiving.”
Xander lowered his gaze to the floor. He had feared this day would come, the day when he would no longer hold the reins to his mind, to his life, and be a risk to everyone around him once again. Just like when he was first reborn.
“Do what you must,” he told her.
Striga let out a soft sigh. “Oh, Xander. I will not kill you, my friend. You must play an important role in the wars to come as Divina foretold. I will help you, I can channel my powers to you to counter the curse Lilith placed on you today. It will not be enough to remove her, unfortunately, but it will prevent you from returning to a frenzied state like a newborn—”
“I cannot ask that of you,” Xander interrupted. “You have lost so much today, Striga. I cannot ask you to lose any more.”
Striga took his hands in hers, giving him a stern look.
“I knew what was coming today, we both did, Thomas and I. Divina told us both that he… that Thomas would…” She could not say it out loud, not yet.
She could not admit that her husband was gone.
“We knew what would happen, we knew it was inevitable. I am only sorry she could not foresee what would happen to you. But you and I both know what will happen if I do not help you.”
Xander felt a warmth rush through his hands that spread across his body, relaxing his muscles and soothing the burning ache. The pressure in his head disappeared completely, Striga’s counter curse of light acting like an antidote to Lilith’s dark poison.
“Thank you,” he whispered.
Striga smiled at him, tears lining her eyes. She needed to be alone, to grieve Thomas in her own way. Xander understood; he didn’t need his Manipuli ability to know she wanted them to leave, so he brought Deion and Edward outside where Nicolai was waiting for them with a portal gate.
“Xander, wait!” He turned to see Striga running after them.
“I will not be around forever, you can already see I am an old woman. When I die, my power will die with me, and you will not have anything to stop Lilith from taking full control of you again. You must find another way to keep her out. You must find your strength.”
Xander nodded, before stepping through the gate and leaving her in the darkness. Alone, without Thomas.