Defiant Destiny Ch. 12

Without thinking I ducked underneath Samuel's outstretched arm and raked my claws along any unarmored bit of his legs that I could reach. Samuel's momentum caused him to rush past me, sounding a painful roar as he stumbled.

My demon roared in my mind and in a heartbeat I turned around, leaping in the air to pounce him. However, the moment my feet launched me in the air, I saw that loathsome golden sheen cover Samuel's body and he nimbly spun on his fully healed feet. With a maniacal chuckle he pointed his crackling sword at me for a counterattack I couldn't dodge. In a desperate attempt to get away, I strongly beat my wings to change my trajectory and fly away, but I already knew it was futile. A searing pain like nothing I had ever felt scorched my right wing. It made me lose my balance, though I did manage to land on my feet. Wincing from the severe fucking pain in my wing I retreated as far into the shadows as fast I could.

Unrelenting, Samuel dove after me, hounding me as I tried to hide in the darkness. While I did manage to lose him for the moment, I knew I couldn't outrun him forever. I could clearly hear his frustrated cries as he angrily scoured the other side of the dimension for me. I flexed my wounded wing and silently hissed - fuck that hurt! Slowly - far too slowly - my wing began to heal, but whatever angelic energy that sword was infused with, it really messed up my demonic body.

Samuel roared in frustration and inadvertently swerved my way during his search. I felt the hairs in my neck stand up and a fearful shudder clutch my spine as he headed right for me. As silent as possible, I tried to avoid him, but the light from his sword approached me quicker than I managed to move away. Suddenly a mighty triumphant roar reached my ears that left no room for interpretation.

I didn't hear him swoop down, but I sure felt the heat from his flames as he dove in for an attack. He didn't hit me. Not this time. Yet what followed was nothing short of a massacre - each and every wound Samuel managed to inflict upon me scorched my body with pain I had never experienced before.

Each and every wound I managed to inflict upon him in return was healed with a river of golden sparkles - each and every fucking time! My claws were drenched with his blood, bits of flesh and tendons dangled from them, but Samuel's skin kept being restored to that smooth, unblemished state over and fucking over again! It was maddeningly futile!

Meanwhile the scent of my own charred flesh all but nauseated me. The sand and dirt clinging to the bloody and sticky areas of my skin chafed and irritated me, but the pain... the immense pain from those wounds... it crippled and impaired me to a point I could barely evade his attacks anymore.

I was a dead man.

We both knew it.

It would only be a matter of time, of long and painful minutes before my body would succumb to the unrelenting angelic onslaught that rained down upon me. The grunts that spilled from my mouth weren't solely of pain or exhaustion, but also of grief - with every passing second, every cut inflicted upon me, my hopes of coming out of this alive withered. My chest contracted painfully with each panicked heave, my heart felt like a black hole of agony, for I knew I would never hold my ladies again. Never bathe myself in their wonderful scent.

More and more cuts pierced my armored skin, but the physical pain was dwarfed by this immense feeling of loss that dominated my soul. Even my demon cried in agony, for he knew there was no way we could win this. I too knew it wouldn't take long until I would fall, until I would never see my ladies again, until I couldn't protect them anymore...

Until he fucked up.

When I had all but acquiesced to my impending doom, Samuel sounded a particularly venomous roar and jabbed his sword at my heart.

But he missed.

I didn't know if it was sheer luck or skill, but I managed to wrap my tail around his outstretched arm midair and apply enough force to hear the most satisfying sound I had heard all evening - the breaking of his bones. That, followed by a rather painful, yet equally satisfying, roar of anguish.

As if it happened in slow motion, Samuel's grip on his sword faltered and it slipped from his straining grip. With an almost peaceful serenity, the flaming sword silently succumbed to gravity and spiraled gracefully to the ground leaving a gorgeous spiral of sparks in its wake. As that vile weapon fell further down, becoming smaller and smaller, an unexpected feeling of hope arose within me, quickly melting away my despair like snow in the morning sun. With all the strength I could muster, I crushed Samuel's broken arm even further with my tail, pushed him off of me and flew down after the sword as fast as my wounded body allowed. The flaming sword fell to the ground with a loud metallic clang and lay gently flickering below amidst the dirt, almost beckoning me.

The immense pain shooting through my damaged body was crippling, but I ruthlessly suppressed it - this was my only chance to survive. The wind surged past my ears, the air stung my eyes, Samuel's hounding cry of despair sending my muscles into overdrive. I had to reach it before he did! I had to...

As soon as I was able to, I smashed the large spike at the end of my tail into the weapon with a mighty crash, delivering a crushing blow with all the force I could muster. The impact brought forth an incredibly loud crackling sound and my surroundings briefly lit up in a fiery flash. Even though my wounded wings protested painfully, I swerved away just before hitting the ground and disappeared into the darkness.

I landed ungracefully near the foggy edge of the dimension, heavily heaving from pain and exertion. Craning my neck, I saw Samuel descend to his broken weapon that lay fizzling on the ground, weakly sputtering like a futile firecracker. The once so mighty Gatekeeper's labored breath warped into disbelieving whines as he landed softly next to his broken sword. His wounded arm hung limply next to his body, blood seeping out from wounds where his broken bones pierced his own skin.

Wincing with pain I turned around and stared cruelly at the helpless Gatekeeper. My exhausted breath rushed out of my open mouth, burst out through flared nostrils as I stared hard at Samuel. Every labored breath widened my chest and painfully pulled at the many wounds that the blasted sword had inflicted upon my body. Every sag of my wings to the rhythm of my breath caused the night air to burn and sting the charred lacerations on my wing. The immense despair of my imminent death moments ago still lingered in my system and made my heart race in my chest. I was heavily wounded - all but broken.

But I was alive.

I watched with dark glee how Samuel reached down to pick up his destroyed sword with a trembling hand. My almighty adversary took the now useless weapon in his undamaged hand and tried to fire it up. The weapon sputtered loudly in protest and only managed a few unimpressive sparks. No golden sheen. No fiery flare. No instantly healed wounds.

I released the deep breath I had apparently been holding and instantly winced at the way it painfully contracted the wounds on my chest.

Despite the pain, despite the wounds, a sinister grin formed on my face - a grin that quickly turned dark and vicious. Without his toy he couldn't see me, could hardly hurt me.

Without his toy, he was helpless...

Maybe it was the adrenaline that still surged through me unrelentingly, or the many many agonizing wounds that still stung my body and seared my skin. Perhaps it was the sheer fucking karma of it all - I didn't know, and I sure as hell didn't care - now that the tables were turned, a torrid and unforgiving anger boiled up from deep within me. I felt it both warm and tense my muscles, unhindered by the searing pain that still wracked my body. I glared at Samuel, wanting nothing more than to rain down my revenge on him, to make it painfully clear to him that his rigid ways were wrong.

Only when Samuel's head whipped towards me in the pitch dark did I realize I was growling. He couldn't see me though, not with my gray eyes looking back at him, not without his sword lighting the way. He couldn't see the unbridled rage etched on my face, couldn't distinguish my claws violently flexing in the dark. Without his toy to aid him, he was blind.

And utterly fucking helpless.

Samuel was angry, livid even - spittle flying from his mouth as he seethed in my general direction.

However, for that tiny split of a second, for that unmistakable moment - he was afraid. His eyes widened ever so subtly. His jaw twitched nervously. His stance turned a tad defensive.

He was afraid of me.

Like a red rag to a bull, seeing him fear me snapped something inside of me. Like a whirlwind my anger and disdain swirled through my body and mind, numbing the pain from my wounds, clouding my soul. I dashed at Samuel, claws at the ready, fangs bared - he was going to pay for what he did, for all of it!

A menacing snarl erupted from my jaws as I lunged at him, uncaring he could hear my approach. I effortlessly evaded his blind preemptive punch from his undamaged fist and crashed into his body at full force, knocking him backwards. He skidded across the dry desert ground, his metallic armor noisily screaming as it scraped along the rocky surface.

I knew I shouldn't...

I knew I had to stop...

That it was over now I had the upper hand.

I stared hard at Samuel as he tried to regain his footing. My labored breath was reduced to hideous growls. His blood seeped from multiple shallow cuts on his unarmored flesh, ominously highlighted by my now blazing eyes. The scent of it was overwhelming. Delicious... As if smelling it for the first time tonight, it lured my fangs from their hiding place and brought forth a hungry growl from my chest.

I knew I should resist this...wonderfully liberating anger and mouth watering vengeance - revenge for Alexis, for Aurora, for everything. I knew I should be rational, be above that vile desire to kill, to be the steadfast protector I had always believed myself to be and not succumb to that...intoxicating drive for revenge that so deliciously encased my soul.

I knew it threatened to take over...

I knew I would regret it if it did...

I just did not want to stop it anymore.

Samuel clambered back on his feet using his unbroken arm. He was still strong and nimble, but those painful little grunts, that straining and wincing grimace on his face - it was so immensely satisfying to see the fucker wasn't invincible anymore, so immensely satisfying to see him hurt and stagger.

A dark grin spread across my face - he was going to get a whole lot more of it.

Before Samuel had a chance to fully regain his footing, I leapt on his back with a venomous snarl, mercilessly shoving him back into the dirt with a loud clang as his armor hit the ground. He screamed in pain as his broken arm got trapped underneath his body, further smushed into the ground with my weight bearing down upon his back. Samuel's wings twitched and spasmed with each painful scream spilling from his mouth. I rammed my wings into his, shoving them deep down in the rocky ground, grinning viciously when I heard them snap.

My growling breath had warped into vicious snarls. With fangs bared, dripping with saliva I glared down at the bloodied butcher I had crushed into the ground. My own seething eyes glared back at me in the jagged reflection of his ruined armor. I couldn't think anymore, couldn't remember. My body still screamed in pain from the wounds he inflicted, lingering doom tightening my chest from when he almost killed me. The sounds of his helpless cries, the smell of his blood... Delicious...

I leaned into his face, seeing his shiny armor fog up from my heated, angry breath. He struggled fiercely for a moment, but yelped loudly in pain and stilled his protests.

My ferocious growls caressed his face as I drew closer, salivating from the strong smell of blood drifting up from underneath him. My growls grew louder with each breath I took, turning feral each whiff of his blood as it caressed my nostrils and teased my fangs.

"Dante..." a low, gravelly voice sounded softly somewhere in the back of my mind, but I ignored it - my prey's panicked pulse all I could see and hear.

The closer I got to the angel's throat, the louder his heartbeat became. I snarled against his throat and dragged my fangs along his sweaty skin, dangerously teasing the both of us. My prey's breath was panicked. He was unable to move because of the pain, unable to stop me. I was drunk on my own bloodlust, high on his helplessness, when I scented it - his fear.

"You will ROT in your own circle of Hell! You vile, despica...." the angel seethed, but I ruthlessly cut him off by sinking my fangs deep in his throat.

His warm blood bathed my tongue and I hungrily swallowed one mouthful after the other. It was so potent, so powerful, so incredibly delicious! My eyes rolled into the back of my head from the sheer intense energy contained within his blood - its power surged through my body, boiling and swirling within me.

I released his throat with a mighty and victorious roar, panting from the sheer amount of energy surging through me, almost deafened by the sound of my own heartbeat as it thundered in my chest. A powerful warmth surged through my body, strengthening me to levels I had never experienced before. The wounds on my body burned away, healing instantly.

With a trembling hand I wiped my mouth, heaving heavily from the sheer power that now flowed through my bloodstream and stared at the fresh wound in my prey's neck. I was overcome by a strange form of vindication, utterly transfixed by the way that delicious blood dribbled from the gaping hole in his throat, titillated by his pained whimpers, tantalized by the strong and heady scent of his fear. I wanted more, though I couldn't remember why. I wanted to hurt him, needed to hurt him because... because...

I snarled loudly at my prey, angry at him for not being able to remember!

Then I eyed his crooked wings.

"Dante... Stop..." that low voice sounded again in my mind. It was heavily muffled, though I could clearly distinguish the urgency that laced it.

Not that I cared.

I pushed myself upright from my prey, briefly grinning at the loud hiss of pain from further crushing his broken arm below us, and found myself transfixed by his golden wings. I didn't know where the idea came from, but I suddenly longed to rip off one of his wings. I couldn't remember how or why, but it felt so intensely right and...justified to rip it off.

A dark chuckle rolled over my tongue as I reached out to graze my prey's wing with my claws. However, my arm did not move the way I wanted it to - my muscles felt strangely sluggish, paralyzed almost.

A fierce and low growl that was not my own echoed somewhere in my mind. I ignored it and fiercely flexed my arm, shaking the alien resistance in my body until I could move properly again and forcefully grabbed the angel's wing despite my defiant muscles.

My prey bucked fiercely beneath me, suddenly wondrously unhindered by his dire injuries, as I tightly grasped the thick bone at the base of his wing. My grin turned vicious, exposing my fangs as I pushed through another one of those protesting, muscular twitches and dug my claws deep into the feathery surface. I stopped caring why, but I knew with visceral certainty that he somehow deserved this, that it was revenge for something.

And that I would deeply enjoy this.

Pushing through yet another utterly obnoxious muscular resistance, I clenched my claws around the thick bone. In serene rapture did I listen to the cracking of the bone and accompanying scream of pain, when a fierce and ferocious roar echoed in my mind. Suddenly, my body twitched so hard that my prey's wing slipped from my grip. The most alien feeling washed over my body and I felt my wings beat strongly out of their own accord, lifting me up in the air. Before I knew it, I landed several paces away from my prey.

"NO, Dante! Do NOT become him!" my demon's words blasted in my mind.

I roared in anger, seething growls bursting from my chest, but my muscles might as well have solidified into unyielding stone for I could not move my limbs at all. I snarled and shook my head, twitching it sharply, trying to violently shake and regain control over my body, but I couldn't. My prey lay broken on the ground, a mere leap away from receiving exactly what he deserved - from making it all right - but I couldn't finish him off.

"YOU! You stopped me!" I roared furiously at my demon, seething in this prison of paralysis. "You betrayed me AGAIN!"

My body did not yield to my will, did not exact the murderous revenge I so desperately craved.

"I did not betray you... I stopped you from betraying YOURSELF..." my demon sneered and jaggedly spun my body around to center my murderous gaze on Alexis who still lay on the same spot he collapsed earlier.

My demon was ruthless - he kept my eyes mercilessly pinned on my dying friend, forcing me to watch, ruthlessly paralyzing my murderous desires and resisting my attempts to regain control over my own body. My demon did not yield. He forced me to focus on Alexis and the way his chest rose and fell weakly, how his loss of blood gave him a sickly pale complexion.

Slowly but surely, the feral growls that spilled from my mouth died down, the murderous tension in my muscles weakened as my eyes glided over my friend's destroyed body. I knew it was too dark for his angelic eyes to distinguish anything in this darkness, but I knew he saw me - saw my golden eyes burst with rage as I gazed upon him, saw my bared fangs glint in the blaze from my eyes, saw Samuel's blood eerily reflected off my dripping claws.

Saw a monster.

I tore my eyes away from my friend and stared hard at my blood soaked claws, seeing Samuel's coagulating blood glisten under the blaze from my eyes.

I swallowed hard as my murderous desires lessened with each breath, as my rational mind remembered what I did. This time I did not merely lose control due to overwhelming emotions. No, this time I knowingly let go... I craved to give in, longed to unleash.

And I loved it. There was no denying that...

I almost fully surrendered to it, almost satisfied that dark and irrevocable urge with Samuel, but... "You stopped me... You..." I whispered weakly.

I rubbed my face in agony, hardly noticing I had control over my own body again.

"I protected you..." my demon simply replied. "You were not yourself..."

A wry and hollow chuckle weakly wormed itself out of the depths of my soul and escaped through my mouth.

"Are you sure?" I asked him with a trembling voice, as I wiped the sticky splatters of Samuel's blood from my face. My gaze went from Alexis' broken body to Samuel's slaughtered one. The similarities between the two were downright horrifying.

"I'm beginning to believe I actually am a monster..." I whispered with a broken voice, diverting my eyes away from these fallen angels and staring at my blood covered, trembling hands.

My demon burst out laughing, making my eyes flare up and eerily highlight my bloodied hands. His amused laughter clashed immensely with that feeling of self disgust and shame I had hoped to never feel again.

"You are far too righteous for a demon... Far too caring for others' misery and injustice to be evil..." my demon mumbled, and I could almost feel him roll his eyes at me. "You are a protector, not a monster..."