Chasing Wolves (completed)

Chapter 33 Isadora

Chapter 33

Isadora

He comes at me with his super-speed but I easily dodge, my even greater speed, coupled with my smaller frame, making me a hard target to hit. As he whizzes past I lash out and kick him squarely in the gut. As he staggers I take in his expression, relishing in the breathless surprise, before speaking.

"You know, Royce, you're rather stupid." At his confusion I continue, "the fact that you actually thought that I would just let you kill me, let you kill my family, shows just how misinformed your sources are. If you knew anything about me, anything at all, you'd know that I'm stronger than you and that I'd never let someone harm my family. Taking Kate alone was enough warrant for me to kill you without feeling guilty, but then you had to go and threaten everyone else I care about."

He opens his mouth to argue but I beat him to it. "Don't even bother denying it. I know you did something to signal your men to kill them. It's funny, really, if I know Seth like I think I do, he's already unstrapped everyone and your men are all dead by now."

Finally having his breath back, he chuckles before lunging at me again, this time trying to connect any of the punches he throws my way. As I'm dodging he's talking, "you know, all these years that I've been experimenting on Shifters, I've experimented on myself, with some... interesting results."

He grins as he strikes a particularly vicious punch at me. Too caught up with staring at his mouth, I don't dodge fast enough and his fist clips my shoulder, causing me to hiss in pain as I stare at his mouth a moment longer. I receive a few more hits that my brain barely registers as it takes over and dodges on autopilot. His teeth, formerly the two small fangs indicative of my family, now are hundreds of razors similar to that of a snake's.

He's been experimenting on himself.

As that information slowly sinks in my panic rises; who knows what else he's done to himself?

Finally fully coming back to reality, I decide he's had his fun. Catching the next fist he swing my way, I pull him towards me, pulling him off balance and I connect our foreheads with a solid, resounding crack. He stumbles backwards once again; apparently he doesn't have healing abilities quite like mine.

I've already healed, my forehead barely stinging anymore, and my skull healed if it'd even cracked in the first place. After all this time of fighting and training, my body's just gotten so used to pain that it barely even bothers to register anymore. When I'd first started, everything hurt like heck for a few moments until it healed, whereas now my body just gives me a little 'hey, you're being hurt, stop whatever you're doing' twinge. Easily ignorable. All of this, unfortunately, only kicks in once my body fully realizes I'm in fight mode; until then it feels pain normally, like with that punch earlier.

I zoom around him, taking advantage of his still-dazed state, and wrap my hands around the bottom of his skull. Miraculously (for him, at least), he moves just before I would have snapped his neck, flipping my over him in one swift move. Mid-air, I pull off my necklace and release the blade, striking it down into whatever body part of his is closest as soon as I land.

I zoom away from him as I gauge his reaction, a satisfied smirk twisting my lips as he hisses in pain and clutches at his arm. Blood's dripping to the floor, telling me it hasn't healed yet. Hmm... his healing really is slow. The gold seems to be affecting him, luckily, and I quickly move back behind him, dragging the blade quickly across the base of his chin.

He hisses and I smile, knowing it must be excruciating but not caring, actually relishing my revenge for him even threatening to hurt my family. It isn't fatal; the blade too small, the cut nowhere near an artery, and he'll heal too fast for him to bleed to death.

He's fallen to his knees, the gold surprisingly affecting him more than I thought it would (leading me to wonder if he'd experimented on himself with vampire stuff too, maybe he'd gotten even more allergic to gold than I am. Then again, gold doesn't affect me at all, so any pain would be more than mine).

Taking the obvious invitation, I circle him slowly, watching him as he eyes me warily, and stand behind him, blade hovering above his carotid. "Any last words?"

He hisses again, turning his head to spit at me, and I touch the blade to his skin and inwardly smirk as he stiffens. "Rot in hell."

"Maybe, who knows. But before you do, I'd just like to clear one thing up. Earlier, when I said I wanted power, I was lying. I have all the power I need- the power to protect my family. And I'm using that power right now. Goodbye, Royce, no one will miss you." With this I press it into the spot, savoring to arterial spurt as it coats my hand and sprays against the floor and nearby wall, filling the air with its luscious scent.

I leave him there, barely able to gasp for breath, and slowly make my way towards the door as I listen to his heart slowly falter to a stop. I'd usually feel some sort of remorse or grief, but not this time.

Threaten my family and you get what's coming to you.