Chasing Snow – Chapter 16
Demetrius
That night I dreamt for the first time in years. I was running through the woods without knowing where I was going by myself. The woods looked familiar but I couldn’t tell where I was. I came upon a statue in the middle of the woods of a woman holding a scale, on one side was a black orb, on the other was a white orb that seemed to glow. The scale was evenly balanced. I walked up to the statue and placed my hands against the pedestal and the scale began to move and the statue changed. The scale tipped all the way to the side of the black orb and the woman had changed into a demon as a large stone serpent wrapped itself around her.
I pulled back my hand and I turned to see a battle front of demons charging at me. I looked around and saw the leaders of the Ythan, Cilius, and Indum standing alongside Adam, Lucas and Justin and other men who were werewolves. I could only guess that the men were alphas of other packs. We ran to meet the charging demons and before I could strike one my vision shifted. I was now watching myself fight as if it were a movie. I watched as the demons cut behind me and killed of many men. Including Justin. I was surrounded by demons and I had trouble keeping them off. For some reason I wasn’t using my powers as the Lord of Shadows and I wanted to scream at myself. It was too late, I watched as one of them ran there wicked blade through my stomach. I dropped to my knees and black mist began to pour out of me instead of blood. My face twisted in a gruesome smile and my body looked up at me with his now yellow eyes with fangs hanging from my mouth and horns spouting out of my head. He let loose a laugh that sent shivers down my spine and the mist contracted around him in a tight sphere and it exploded.
When the shadows disappeared I was in a different scene on my knees looking at a black marble floor that had white veins running through it. I looked at my reflection and was terrified by what I saw. I was a demon. I mean I was still me, but my body had changed into a demon like what I saw from the war. I had piercing yellow eyes, horns sticking out of my head, and fangs that hung over my lip. I had large black bat-like wings that stuck out my back and a spade ended tail. I was dressed in black armor that covered my chest and arms and left yet left my midriff open revealing my dark red skin. I looked up and saw a man covered in shadow sitting upon a throne of bones. ‘You have finally arrived, my dear Demetrius.’ He said. ‘Welcome to the underworld. Don’t worry I have not harmed your wife and child. I believe they can become like you as well.’ I looked around and saw Ivry, Payton, Blade, and Lily hanging from chains that extended towards the ceiling far above me. I wanted to leap out, but when I did everything disappeared like mist and I fell through the darkness.
I woke up with a start and felt Lucas sitting on my stomach holding down my arms. I was sweating and disoriented and looked around confused. I didn’t see Ivry and I tasted blood. “G-get off of me,” I snarled at Lucas. He got up and said, “You were thrashing around in your sleep and you started changing. I held you down as best I could to see if that would help.”
“Changing, what do you mean changing?” I asked him as I sat up. My whole body hurt and it felt like I had fallen off of a cliff. “It was like… I don’t know. I came by to see if you were awake, but when I got to your door I saw your dark mist thing or whatever coming out the crack beneath the door. I ran in and saw you thrashing in your bed and you horns coming from your head and your fangs had grown and your skin was turning blood red and your nails had become like claws. You were screaming and the only thing I could think to do was to hold you down before you hurt yourself.”
“Oh god,” I said as I looked up at him. He had scratches all across his face and his shirt was torn to shreds and stained with blood. I heard a dripping against the wood floor and saw he was hiding his arms. I sat up all the way and said, “Let me see your arms.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m fine,” he laughed nervously. I stared him down with no intention of backing off and said, “Show them to me.” He submitted and held out his arms to me. All over his forearm were holes and bite marks and scratches that bled profusely. “Oh my god did I do that?” I asked shocked. “I mean it wasn’t really you. You were dreaming so you couldn’t control yourself.” I cursed at myself and drew upon my power and summoned mist to wrap around Lucas’s arms and cuts. I was able to heal all the scratches on his face and some on his arm but my power failed me before long. “I can’t heal the worst of them all right now,” I said as I ripped up the bed sheet into strips. “Give me your arm, Lucas.”
I took hold of his arm and began to wrap his forearms in the strips of cloth tightly. I tied them in a knot and said, “Sorry for the attack. Thanks for your help, son. I have a feeling it could have been much worse if you hadn’t have done anything. I can’t use that power anymore. It is too much of a risk.”
“But we need your strength in the war,” Lucas protested. “I’m sure you will be able to control it when it is desperate.”
“No,” I said hopelessly. “I can feel how close I am to changing into something much worse than a demon. I am not sure if I will still be me when that does happen, nor will I risk it. I will have to rely on my own strength.” Lucas fell silent then I remembered that Ivry wasn’t here. “Do you know where Ivry is? I was going to talk with her about the underworld.”
Lucas shifted uncomfortably. “Actually,” he said slowly. “I do know.”
“Well where is she then? Spit it out,” I laughed. The look in his eyes told me that something was wrong and I became serious. “Where is she, Lucas?”
“Well… um… Lily left a note under my door and it said that they had left to go to the underworld to retrieve Payton and that they would be back soon and to head back to the castle with the Ythan clan.”
“What the hell do you mean they left to go to the underworld? She shouldn’t have left without me!” I thundered as I paced angrily around the room collecting my things. “We have to go after them.”
Lucas grabbed my arm and said, “We can’t, Demetrius. Portals only open on the full moon, last night was the last night of this full moon. We have to wait a month to go after them.”
“A whole month,” I said as I fell onto my bed and ran my hand through my hair. “I can’t wait a whole month. The war is coming. I don’t know what they will do to Ivry in there. My baby girl is still down there. I can’t do this.” Lucas sat next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. I had no idea what I was going to do. “Time in the underworld flows slower than it does here,” Lucas said. It could be entirely possible that one day there means a week, a month, or even a year here. We don’t know for sure. To her it won’t be very long. What we have to do until the next full moon is prepare for the battle.”
I nodded knowing that Lucas was right. My dream flashed through my head as my red face and piercing yellow eyes seemed to stare into my soul even now. I knew that I would have to tell him of my dream because I had no idea what it meant. The lady and the scales, the battle, the king of the underworld. “Let’s get ready to go to that meeting thing. It’s going to happen soon,” Lucas said as he got up and walked towards the door.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you there.” I said to him as I began to go through my clothes.
“See you later, dad.” Lucas said as he walked into the halls.
