The Reluctant Cougar (Rise of the Alpha King's Heir)

Dark Creatures and the Alpha King's Heir

It had been many years since Eileen had last laid eyes on a dark creature, but the blood still froze in her veins. Images, memories, smells, and primal fear speared through her as her body remembered what these creatures had done to her growing up.

"Ms. Grau?"

Ginny's fearful voice cut through the chaos of her mind, allowing Eileen to grip onto the present and not fall into the pit of her past.

"We'll be okay," Eileen vowed, watching as creature after creature materialized through the metal doors only to scream in pain and disintegrate when the powerful UV lights hit their bodies.

Ben, Dustin, and Tim Marshall were already in their Demi-forms, crouched and ready to spring if a creature somehow survived the intense lights.

After a few minutes, the flow of dark creatures stopped, and only ash remained from those that had attempted to infiltrate the room.

"How are they getting down here?" Mr. Marshall hissed. "They told us the stairwell was covered in UV too, top and bottom."

Overhead the lights flickered twice before going out, and as the people around her screamed, Eileen's stomach dropped. Of course. That first wave had been pawns sent to check out the defenses. At least one of them must have used the others as cover and returned to report.

Silence crept through the room along with tension as everyone waited for what they knew would come. Without the UV lights, sitting well below the reach of the sun, they were in the dark creatures' domain now.

As Eileen's eyes quickly adjusted, she saw vapor spilling into the room: darker, thicker, inkier than the gloom surrounding them.

"Here we go, boys," Tim Marshall called, claws extending. "As soon as they take shape, attack them. We can't damage them in their vapor-form."

Ben and Dustin nodded, claws extending, determination on their faces as well as--excitement?

If it had been any other situation Eileen might have laughed at the anticipation on both young men's faces; they looked like they were getting ready to walk into an amusement park, not face danger, violence, and gore.

"Wait," Tim Marshall instructed quietly. "Wait..."

The creatures seemed to be taking their time turning corporeal, leading Eileen to wonder if they were taking stock of the environment first. If so, these weren't young dark creatures. They presented themselves as older, wiser, and had a level of self-awareness that was uncommon. Or it was supposed to be uncommon. The twenty-odd misty-voids in the darkness would beg otherwise.

Slowly the figures began taking shape. Some were animalistic, shadow beasts with intelligent red eyes blazing in the darkness: felines, wolves, snakes, giant spiders, and creatures that no longer roamed earth. It was the half-dozen standing in front of those, however, that made the hair on Eileen's neck rise. They were humanoid with blazing red eyes, talon-like fingers, and mouths made from gashes of a darkness rimmed with dagger-like teeth.

"Gep'dere," she whispered. They were among the most powerful of all dark creatures, rivaled only by Derecha. Both were born with souls, but the Gep'dere surrendered everything to the darkness, bargaining their souls for more power. It allowed them to become the perfect weapon of their swarm queen: obedient without question and willing to act with extreme calculation and cruelty at their mistress' command.

Then, even more terrifyingly, one turned his eyes towards her, and she recognized him. Rox. 

No.

"Kara Errr'la," Rox rasped, calling her by a name she had left behind years ago.

He was the one she'd been given to, the one she'd run from, the one that still invaded her dreams, blurring them into nightmares.