Diabolus: The Lost Phoenix

Chapter Twenty Eight

KAI WOODS

"Kai!"

A shout behind me; silent, but enough for me to hear, makes me stop from walking and turn around. Beverly comes running to us, her eyes widened, her face as white as chalk.

Something is wrong. I can sense that.

"What's going on?"

"We have to make a different plan. Avery told me, that every Caden's weapon is soaked in snake's poison. One cut, and we're dead."

For a moment, my breathing stopped, before my brain could work enough to accept this information. Before I feel my blood starting to boil. That's when my anger comes, unleashed without thought of consequence. I turn my eyes to Daryl, the rage, pounding in my temples, I feel the heat drying my skin.

"You f*cking lying rat."

As if my anger was controlling my every movement, my hand immediately raises up and suddenly, I feel his neck between my fingers. Squeezing it, holding the knife in my other hand with thoughts about using it; Daryl grabs my arm, choking, spitting, his face turning red like a ripe tomato.

"No... I didn't..."

"You're trying to get us all into the trap, aren't you!?"

"Kai, no!"

With a corner of my eye, I see how everyone just freeze on their spots, watching me, strangling Daryl, his face turning blue with every moment. His fingers on my arm, trying to push me away to fight for his life; yet when I get that rage, I know I'm stronger than I am without it. Until I feel a gentle touch on my shoulders; Beverly's tiny fingers, placed on my body, as if they were sucking the rage out of my veins.

"He didn't know, Avery said he didn't know. It's not his fault."

It's like a vexing of the soul, and what I feel, is not human, it's twisted and distorted, but it's something strong that keep me being the person I am today. My fingers, still holding on Daryl's neck, his nails, digging into my skin and leaving bruises; but the only thing I can feel is Beverly's touch, and how my mind, my body is calming down.

The only way for me to control myself. The only way that makes me more a human than a monster, is Beverly's energy, Beverly's touch, Beverly's voice. It's calming down the storms inside me, like a rise of the spring after the coldest winter.

"And why I should believe that Avery knows the truth?"

"She had been with Caden for thirteen years! And I know she knows a lot more than all of you do!"

"Come on, Kai, let go of him!"

Everyone kept silent, except Kevin; who took a step closer to me, and his voice, for the first time, was angry and overbearing. For the first time, my brother isn't asking. He makes sure to show me that this time, I'm the one that's wrong, and I shouldn't be doing this to Daryl. After all, he got the weapons for us. He made sure we got into the right place. And if he actually hid something from us...

...he'll be my next victim.

Each passing moment only leads me to rest, my muscles slowly relaxing, my fingers loosen around Daryl's neck. When my skin releases his, in an instant, he bends over and starts coughing as if there was something stuck in his throat, before lifting his reddened eyes back at me.

"I didn't know, I swear. Caden is not the one that would share a secret like this."

"You better not be lying, Daryl."

He clears his throat before straightening himself and being at the same confident posture, with a cocky look on his face that he usually has.

"But I must say, the things I've heard about you, were nothing but true."