Mated to the Wizard

The Heart - 21

*WARNING* I wrote this at one in the morning the other night; there are some disturbing images during the flashback. Don't read it if you can't – it's not that important to the plot.

Everest's P.O.V

The beer drifts down my throat like air. Alcohol seems to be my best enemy for these past few days because it numbs my wolf. Makes him drowsy. I like him like that; when his emotions don't push through like tidal waves.

Ben's at school. I dropped him off a half hour ago – not even ten in the morning and I'm already drinking.

The reason?

Well, the reason's obvious. Avery has been playing on my mind. The way I should've marked and killed her when I first met her. But I didn't, and now it's come back to haunt me, because those gorgeous waves of dark hair and bright green eyes are everything I see when I close my eyes, even to blink. The guilt. And then I imagine those dark locks sprawled around her heart shaped face in a coffin, and those perfect emerald irises staring dead up at the sky, skin a sickly pale colour, a deep gash along her jugular, cleaned by crying family as they clothed her in a dress to match her eyes, that was the right size three weeks ago when she bought it for her sister's wedding, but is now three sizes too big.

So I turn to Julie's wine cabinet that she inherited from her late Grandma, and that just makes it ten times worse.

Dad has been keeping a distance. I bet my life he'll be here by Sunday, asking where she is so he can rob her of her life. And you know what? I'll just nod, tell him her address and drive the hearse while he flips the sliver knife between his fingers in the passenger seat.

*Flashback*

"Listen, Son, do you see me crying?" he asked, pointing the knife at his dry eyes. I shook my head and wiped away the tears from mine, facing the wall while another scream decorated the air. "Scream louder, Lydia, our son has to learn how to kill!" he shouted, mum's cries of pain becoming louder with every passing second. Tears of saltwater and blood leaked from her eyes. I'll never wipe that from my memory.

Bloody hands grabbed my face, turning it to look down at my mother's mangled corpse on the floor. I fought to keep the sobs down, but it was near impossible. He forced me to keep watching as he plunged the knife deeper into her arm.

"Silver. Harmful to werewolves, but not deadly unless used in the heart. We use it to prolong the torture. Their pathetic little wolves can't help but work on healing them. But it doesn't kill them, just hurts like a bitch." He said, showing me the blade. The metal wasn't even visible through all the blood anymore. "You know what is deadly to werewolves?" he questioned. I didn't answer. I didn't know. I didn't want to know.

Dad took my silence for an answer and stood up from the basement floor. He walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a vile of clear liquid and a syringe, stalking back over to mum's dying body and kneeling down before it.

"Wolf's bane. Great stuff, this. Kills em nice and slow unless used in the heart." He turned his attention back to mum's closing eyes and slapped her cheeks hard a couple of times. "Come on, Lydia, the lesson isn't over yet." He pulled the knife out of her arm and slammed it into her stomach. Her blood pooled around my knees. I wanted to throw up.

He managed to get some of the liquid into the syringe by holding the canister of poison up, then squirted some out the top.

"Now, we are going to say goodbye to your momma, Everest. Slowly, of course." A sinister smirk made its way onto his face and he stabbed the needle into her side. She screamed, loud enough to break an eardrum. "White hot fire burning through her veins. Boils the blood, quite literally." He continued to stab the needle randomly around her body, humming through her pain and smiling. "Women are only useful for offspring. I have you now, and mountains are strong. You'll grow up to be strong. So we can dispose of her. Obviously, we can't let a good life go to waste. You should be taking notes. You'll be the conductor of the weapon in due time, son."