Howling Fury (Book 1) (Being Edited)

Chapter 32

Ester’s POV

Valentine’s dead. The man who had haunted me since my parent’s death was finally nothing more than a lump of bloody flesh on the ground. He can’t hurt me or anyone I care about anymore. But that doesn’t stop my grief for Lucas from bursting into my head. He is dead. Valentine killed him and I couldn’t protect him. How will I look at my friends? Knowing that I should have been there to prevent what happened. How will I ever look at Yale when he realises that it’s my fault that his new found mate is dead? I wasn’t fast enough to stop Valentine from making me feel pain and sorrow for one final time.

I can feel anger churning around inside of me. Valentine may be dead but Garbaroth is not. It’s his fault that Lucas is dead. It’s his fault that my parents are dead. How can a man I have never met be responsible for so much heartache in my life?

“It’s not your fault you know,” Mark says to me softly. I turn my head to look at him as we run through the trees. His sad eyes bore into mine and I can’t look away. In his eyes I can see a reflection of my own thoughts and feelings. He feels just as guilty as I do about Lucas’ death. “We’ll get him. That damn dragon. I’m not afraid of him or his allies. We’ll find him and we’ll make him suffer for everything he has done. Both to you and this pack.”

I look away. It’s my fault that these things are happening to the pack. If I hadn’t of come here, Garbaroth would never have followed and Lucas would still be alive. “Please child. Mark is right. It isn’t your fault. What’s done is done, all we can do is look to the future. Lucas’ soul would have travelled to heaven where all the good souls go. He’ll be happy there waiting for Yale to come and join him. The angels will look after him.”

I skid to a stop and Mark whines in surprise. He stops a few meters away and walks cautiously back to me. “Ester? Are you alright?” he asks gently. My eyes meet his again and I take a deep breath.

“Taini said that the angels will be watching over Lucas now that he’s…” I swallow. “The angels have the power to heal. What if they were to heal Lucas and return his soul to his body? They can do that can they not?” I pose the question to both Mark and Taini.

Mark looks at me with hopeful eyes and I can feel Taini’s sadness. “The angels will not do such a thing. Once a soul is in heaven, it remains there. To return a soul to a body after the soul has experienced such happiness, I cannot pretend to know what the consequences would be. He would never thank you for it. In heaven there is no pain, no anger and no resentment. This place is overflowing with such things and the soul could become damaged beyond repair. I doubt he would even remember who he is if he was returned. He would likely become twisted and become pretty close to being pure evil.”

I grind my teeth together in frustration. If the angels are all powerful beings then why did any of this ever happen? “They do not like interfering in the world. They feel that whenever they do, they only make matters worse. Which is true. I helped to create the shape shifters because I wanted to prove to my father that he wasn’t the only one who could create life and now look at what’s happened. The dragons are running riot and the shifters fight amongst themselves.”

My ears crop up at the mention of her father. She couldn’t possible mean… “Yes I do. ‘God’ as you people call him. That is just the name people gave him but it means nothing. He is just a being who just so happened to create life on this planet. He didn’t even mean to do it, it just sort of happened.” I notice the venom in her words. She must bare resentment towards him or something. She sighs. “I don’t resent him. At least not wholly. I haven’t seen him for centuries. I feel anger towards him because he doesn’t care anymore. He created mankind and lost interest in them. When I confronted him, he dared me to do better so I tried. I failed as he knew I would and now this entire mess is happening because I was a stubborn child who refused to adhere to her father’s advice.”