The Cruel Prince of Wolves

16

Servants scrambled as they got out of the way. Some were scared enough to turn back around and hide from the fury of the Alpha. Anger lit Val's thundering strides as he made his way through the long and lavish halls of the palace making his way up to the chamber wing. His talk with Renin didn't exactly pan out the way he wanted to. He meant to reprimand Renin for his feckless attitude towards Ramona's safety but Renin obviously could care less about his lack of care. He paused. Something had distracted him bad enough to pull him away from his thoughts. Slowly he turned over his shoulder, it felt like someone was stalking him. He searched the walls and sharpened his ears, looking for anyone but his eyes detected nothing and his nose could not pick up a strange scent that does not belong in the palace. After a moment, Val turned to resume his walk when a faint sound of laughter echoed within the walls. It was a mocking laughter, insulting, a familiar laughter that has haunted him for years. He knew exactly who it belonged to.

The sound was coming from the dark end of the tower where the lighting couldn't reach. Val came closer wanting to investigate, he picked up his feet and slowed his footsteps enough to keep from making sounds giving him away. But he had a feeling the intruder was watching him behind the shadows anyway. "Enough with the games, Midnight."

There was no chasing or playing around this time. A shadow in the shape of man stepped forward solidifying to engage the other man. "Is that what you think I was doing, Valerian? I thought I was merely enjoying what is mine." The shadow smiled, white teeth gleamed in odds with the shade of darkness. "But of course, you have to ruin my fun."

A threatening growl escaped Val's chest. "Leave before I shred you into pieces."

Midnight gave an amused laugh. "As if you can get your claws within an inch of me."

"I'm sure you would want to find out." There's nothing more Val would want that to rip the arrogance in him.

Midnight studied his fingernails. "So much talk for such a wounded puppy."

There might have been a time when he was young and careless. And Midnight certainly took advantage of it, causing him to suffer ever since. But he is not that young anymore and he knew he could hold his against a demon who is hundreds of years his senior. "I'm not a pup anymore, you can't intimidate me like you did."

Val charged Midnight. Midnight tensed, bracing himself but remained calm without taking his eyes off the other man. Magic permeated in the air and the wall behind Midnight began to move like mud being stirred round and round until a big gaping dark hole opened up behind him. Val heard shrieks and moans coming from the other side, they sounded dark and menacing, getting louder and nearer before a swarm of twilights burst from the other side like a portal from hell opened releasing the demons that inhabited it. The sound of stampeding and shrieking twilights enveloped the hall. There were too many of them but Val only narrowed his eyes without hesitation. He clawed through the hoard of assailing twilights slashing and tearing, turning one by one into ash. So much for fighting Midnight one on one, he knew he couldn't trust the demon prince to fight fair. He had always used magic and dirty tricks.

"Fight me, you coward!" Val hissed.

"Are you blind? Can't you see I'm fighting you!"

"What's happening?"

Suddenly everything stopped. Val stalled and so did Midnight hearing the sound of Ramona's voice. The last thing he wanted was for her to see Midnight. She will ask questions, and he would not be able to answer any of them. The bedchamber is just around the end of the other hall, she must have heard all the noises.

"Ramona!" Val shouted. "Don't come here!" But he has a feeling she would not listen, torn between controlling this chaos or running for her. Lucian, I need your help!

The insurging twilights remained their assault. Val cursed, suddenly overwhelmed. He slashed his hand killing three at once followed by the other clawing out two this time. Thick fog of ash clouding the hall by now. It made it harder to see, but it did not hold Val back from striking and eradicating the incoming hordes of them. And then, someone else joined him. Lucian was already in his gray wolf form when he came and launched into action without a second to lose. This is why he had been the head of palace security and the only one Val trusted to watch his back. Lucian is extraordinarily good. Perhaps, some of his grandfather's blessings from the moon goddess were transferred to him after all. Lucian is a noble blood, grandson to a prince, the king's nephew, and Val and Renin's second cousin.

Lucian tore through the rest of the twilights with such ease that made Val looked lazy and inexperienced.

The hall turned into mayhem, but with Lucian's arrival, Val was able to turn his attention to Midnight. For as long as he could remember, Midnight has always outmaneuvered and outsmarted him. The demon seemed to be always a step ahead of Val no matter how hard he tried to outsmart him. He put the blame on the hundreds of years of gap between their ages. Midnight has centuries of experience and time to refine his skills. Midnight is an opportunist, wildly creative and manipulative.

Midnight has escaped the mayhem taking advantage of Val's distraction, taking the portal with him. A tide of panic rose in Val's chest as he thought of Ramona being left alone by herself. He rushed down the hall to get to her, fearing Midnight would have taken the opportunity to come after her. He hurried, knowing cannot let Midnight in, no matter what, to get close to her again. Relief found him when he saw her safe. Ramona stood by the stone wall, she wore a lilac dress and not a nightgown much to his relief.

Her eyes were huge and bright when he saw her. "What happened? You're covered with ash."

"Twilights." He said, catching his breath. "A bunch of them in the hall." He threw his arms around her to usher her to safety, away from the halls and into a place he knew he could protect her best. Their bedchamber.

Val led her back to their bedchamber, slamming the doors behind them. He threw the lock and made sure no one else could open the doors from the other side.

Ramona noticed the thick ashes that clung to his skin, and the tension on his shoulders as he held onto the doors leaning his weight on it and breathing heavily.

"How can there be so many twilights in the palace? I thought there's safety barriers around?"

There is but they are not exactly marching from outside. They came in from a portal with a very powerful demon prince who can break most wards against him to let them in. "The wards must have come down." He said, since he couldn't tell her the truth, he lied.

"How could that happen? It's been there for the longest time."

"Just like any ward, it was erected a long time ago and must be weakening." Besides, it never worked on Midnight. He was able to slip in and out of the Wolf palace whenever he wanted.

Ramona looked around the room darting her eyes to the dark spaces, looking for twilights. She didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "We have to do something, people will panic."

"Lucian is on it." Val was certain he had killed most of them.

That gave Ramona a form of relief, stepping forward to lay her hand gently on Val's shoulder. "You should get cleaned up."

He nodded to her but waited another minute until he's certain that there's nothing coming for them in and out of the bedchamber before he turned to her and they both together.