Unmasked | Book 1 in "Dark Descendants" (Editing)

Chapter 24

Bulgaria: 1546

You're nothing.

Ivailo squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to acknowledge the second voice that echoed in his ears. He was like a second person trapped inside his body, tormenting him to a point where it was unbearable.

Everyone knows why you're never his first choice: you mean nothing to him.

No.

The voice chuckled darkly: a deep, velvety sound that rose the hairs on the back of his neck. No? Boy, you really need to come to reality. You're a monster.

No, you're a monster!

I'm you. And let's face it—I'm better than you. Ivailo could see him now: an older, mid-twenties version of his fifteen-year-old self right now, with his once obsidian eyes now a crimson and black. Demons don't grow. But it pained him to know that his human part did, and because of that he was going to look exactly like that one day. 

Ivailo growled. I will destroy you, even if I die in the crossfire.

Ooh, I'm threatening myself. I'm so terrified.

"I am not you!" Ivailo screamed out loud, barely controlling himself from shooting up from the chair and-and...

Do God knows what.

His knuckles turned white from gripping the wood so hard.

But you are. This is why your father can't even look at you—you're a disgrace to him. You killed your own mother. It's quite the comical scene. So much blood.

No.

Yes. You know why you did it? Because you're a monster, an unworthy abomination. She knew that the moment you were born and couldn't stand the embarrassing thought of raising someone like you!

"Shut up." His eyes closed. "Please."

But the demon went on: She knew what you were, so she didn't bother fighting for her life. If she were here right now, she would kill herself just so she wouldn't have to deal with you. If you asked me, I'd say that she'd think you deserve all those beatings from him.

No.

His eyes were beginning to change.

...NO!

He growled and surged up from the chair, flipping it over. The wood splintered and cracked, breaking from the impact. A snarl rippled through him and his eyes flashed their true colors before he backhanded delicate artifacts off a table. They shattered against the wall.

He could hear the demon inside laughing maniacally.

Furious, he started turning the whole room upside down—antiques were destroyed, chairs were broken, glass was shattered, paintings were torn, there were even deep claw marks on the walls.

Ivailo had completely lost it. His eyes lacked their human touch now.

Someone barged into the room. "Ivailo, enough!"

All he could see was red. Without thinking, he grasped the man's throat and slammed him against the wall with inhuman strength. The muscles flexed in his biceps.

The man growled at him, his own eyes now on the brink of turning identical to the boys. He grabbed his wrist and flung him off, turning around so that Ivailo was now against the wall.

"Control it, or I will make you," he growled at him.

Ivailo snarled back—that was Radko's cue to throw him across the room. He hit the other wall but landed on his feet. He hissed, upper and lower canines lengthening.

Radko was in front of him in an instant and he slapped his cheek. "Control it!"

He received another hiss and a punch to his jaw. Then a knee in the face and an elbow to the back of the head once it was lowered enough.

Radko fell to the floor, face down. He tried to get up instantly, but then fell back down when the fifteen-year-old pushed his head back down with his boot. His face dug into the floor boards as Ivailo applied more pressure.

The feeling of defeat started to creep into Radko's veins, then frustration rose within him and caused him to snap. He refused to be defeated, much less by this boy.

At once, he was back on his feet and was wrestling with Ivailo again. He threw punch after punch to his cheekbone, causing red to drip down his cheek. Their eyes were now identical.

He shoved him back into another—surprisingly—untouched chair. It cracked from the impact. Ivailo rose from the pile of splintered wood and ran at him, only to be knocked onto his back as Radko's arm shot out at the last split second.

He hit ground hard. He tried to lift himself up, but Radko was there again, holding his jaw in a tight grip, his elbow tilted so that his forearm rested  vertically on Ivailo's chest, holding him down. He held himself up with his other arm. Ivailo's own hands shot to the man's wrist.

He lowered his head to the boys destructive eyes, furious. "I said, control it!"

Now shining in the light from the slight perspiring and one side of his face covered with blood, Ivailo struggled to regain control. The demon had surprisingly gave in easily, but then he guessed it was because he had already made him do the damage he desired. And Ivailo would suffer the consequences.

Opening his eyes that were now back to normal and staring into his father's angry ones, Ivailo suddenly felt fear strike him. But he refused to show it. "Father, I—"

"You," he interrupted, "are a disgrace to me."

"I'm sorry." He surprised himself from being so calm.

"I told you to control it, didn't I?" His father yelled the last two words in his face, slamming his head back into the ground. Ivailo cried out in pain, but his head movement was restricted from the firm grip on his jaw Radko still had. Averting his gaze from his father's angry, disappointed one was completely out of the question.

"I-I tried."

"You damn well didn't!  You let it control you, you enjoyed being a monster."

"Father—"

"And that's just what you are." Silence hung in the air. Ivailo's black eyes finally showed an emotion: disbelief.

"Please," he whispered. His hold on Radko's wrist slackened.

"You and him want the same thing. You're both monsters." And with that, he shoved himself away from his son and onto his feet. He stared down in disappointment, slowly shaking his head at him before he left.

Ivailo still laid on the floor, the warm blood trickling down the side of his face. He closed his eyes, sighing deeply.

He gave up on me...

The demon was right. And it infuriated him to know that. It was bad enough he never got to see his mother, but then his father disowning him like that...

He was just a boy. A young, emotionally crippled child.

"Why, father?" His eyes welled up.