Storm of Shadows Ch. 06

He had laid hands on her...and he sought to lay hands on the child. There was only one outcome to the situation. The vampire would scream his suffering for the world to hear. Agony ignored the stabs of pain he felt at his back, using his innate abilities to quickly heal all wounds he received. They closed as soon as they were given, the vampires at his rear nothing but a minor annoyance.

Grabbing the coven leader by the scruff of the neck, Agony flew across the clearing with his prize, his talons sinking deep within the other male's torso, the sound of screaming permeating the air. He stopped long enough to hack the limbs off a dead vampire, dropping the coven leader long enough to scrape flesh from the limbs to leave the bones uncovered. He casually knocked aside another attacking male, before he reached for the wounded vampire at his feet, raising him high enough for their faces to be level.

"I will be back in a moment," he promised, a split second before he drove a thigh bone through the vampire's torn chest, impaling him to an ancient oak tree. As the male cried out in pain, he quickly speared the other bones into his chest and shoulders, applying so much pressure; it would take another Vârcolac to release him from his captivity.

Agony spun around, satisfied with his work, and turned his attention back to the remaining vampires. One tried to run, but she was far too late in realising the imminent danger coming their way. No one would leave this place alive...no one.

Agony threw his head back and bellowed loudly. A faint word whispered through his mind...control...control, but he had no concept of what that word meant. All he had was his bloodlust, and the fire in his veins, a raging inferno that screamed for release that he would no longer deny. Jagged incisions rent down his arms and his face, dark red blood oozing from the wounds, his black T-shirt becoming wet and sticky from the hidden scores to his chest. His eyes pulsed crimson red...a swirling maelstrom that changed to silver, a split second before a shaft of pure energy burst forth and incinerated the fleeing female.

"Run...run...try to run..." he crooned, as the last of the coven screamed in terror and darted off in different directions. His deadly gaze tracked each one of them, cold fire vaporising them as they tried to flee. One...two...three...the last one...they were all gone now apart from their leader, but he was going nowhere.

A movement to the north of the campground had his attention turning in that direction. Two more male vampires were there, and a female. She was a wolf...no, she was a vampire...no, she was both, and she was familiar. It would appear Dara had finally found them, but to what end was her pursuit?

His friend stood there, surveying the scene before them, her expression one of abject horror. He failed to see what she found so horrific though, a slight frown marring his brow. All the vampires were dead and the wolf pup was safe. He had achieved his goal...well, he still had to torture the male behind him, but for the most part, he had succeeded in his task. What exactly was Dara's problem? He met her gaze silently, waiting for her to speak.

*****

Dara fought to hold down her last meal, but it was hard...oh so very hard. Her stomach heaved, her eyes watered, and she couldn't move as she surveyed the carnage in front of her. There was blood and body parts everywhere, wolves and vampires, the stench of death sickening. On top of that was the scent of charred remains, and the sounds of the last remaining vampire moaning in agony where he was impaled on the tree.

Arriving at the end of the battle, and seeing the terrifying power that Kothari unleashed on the fleeing vampires had been bad enough, however adding the additional slaughter of the other vampires...there were just no words to describe it, there were no words to describe him!

Oh sweet Jesus, what had he done? What had Kothari done, and what had he become?

Her friend was staring at her unmoving, his clothes soaked in blood, his eyes no longer silver bolts of energy but swirling masses of red fire. She didn't know what to do so she remained as still as he was, checking the rest of the campground as she whispered to the two stunned vampires at her side. "Whatever you do, do not move, or speak, not until I tell you it is safe to do so. I mean it, Dante...Mila is not mortally wounded so please heed me or she will watch you die."

To her left there was a weeping she-wolf, with Mila lying close beside her. Not too far away was an unconscious human girl, and she could scent a child inside the tent. The wolf required immediate attention or she would likely die, but Mila did appear to be slowly healing. Dara had no idea if the human girl was mortally wounded without checking her over, but her heartbeat sounded good and strong so she presumed she was merely unconscious.

Kothari didn't appear to want to hurt the females still alive, and Dara could only hope to that he felt the same about her. Taking a deep breath, she began to walk through the carnage, heading over to her friend, and trying to work out the best way to deal with the situation. She needed him to see her, to recognise her as being pack. That really left only one way to handle the stranger in front of her. Dara stopped before him, and prayed that Kothi was somewhere inside, and not totally subjugated by Agony.

"What the hell do you think you're playing at, Kothari?" she demanded, lacing her tone with a liberal dose of irritation, exactly what her friend would expect from her. "You have the pack in turmoil, and Rafe spitting nails that you masked his Alpha bond and disappeared. You know how he reacted when Lily did similar...you are in so much trouble when we get home. And just what made you think that it was smart to head off to Europe on your own to search for you parents? You should have come to us, Kothi. You know we would have helped you. We are pack after all."

Dara ignored the annoyance that crept across his face, letting out a weary sigh as if she was dealing with a petulant child who had tested her patience to the limits. She had no idea if this tack was working, but for the most part, he remained motionless; though he was alert to her every movement. "As if that isn't bad enough you've had me running around Europe trying to track you down, and now I find you knee deep in blood and gore with a vampire impaled to a tree with bones! Put that male out of his misery now and help me see to the wounded over there. Your medic skills are better than mine, and I'm reasonably certain that female has just lost her mate. If we don't so something right now, she's going to go rogue."

He remained still for a moment longer and then he leaned down to her height and pinned her with his fiery gaze. "Have a care how you speak to me, Dara Romanov. Kothari is not here right now, and I don't think you will like who is in residence if you test my patience." There was more than a hint of menace in his tone, but she held her ground, refusing to show any weakness.

"Oh, I know it's you who has dominance at the moment, Agony. I have Kothi's journal so I know all about you. If you think I am afraid of you because of what I have just seen you do, then you're sadly mistaken. You see, it doesn't matter who has dominance. It doesn't matter how badass you think you are, or how much destruction you can rain down on all of our heads. Nothing will ever change the fact that you, Agony, as well as Kothari, are not only pack, but are also Vârcolac. That makes me yours to protect and it makes you mine to protect. Therefore, you can threaten all you like, but I know you will never hurt me. You may not need physical protection from me, but you sure as hell need psychological protection, so that's what I am going to do for you, my friend, whether you like it or not. Now, stop pissing about with that vampire and fucking help me, idiot!"

Dara turned her back on him, frantically employing calming techniques in her mind to stop her legs from shaking and to help keep her breathing as even as possible. Truth be told, Agony scared her witless, but she couldn't show it, couldn't allow him to see that fear. She had to keep him engaged until he accepted her presence as a non-threat to his mission. It was difficult walking away without looking backwards, but she kept putting one foot in front of the other, motioning to Dante and Louis who had thankfully heeded her words and stayed where she left them.

"Dante, check on Mila. I will be over to donate a little blood to help with her healing if she requires it. Louis, can you start clearing up some of this mess before the human girl wakes up, the gore might be a bit hard for her to cope with even if she does run with a pack. Kothi, when you're ready, I could use your help with the she-wolf."

She watched the vampires move, Dante speeding to his friend, and cradling her gently in his arms. A half smile tilted her lips as she heard his opening words to the other woman.

"When you've healed, you and I are going to have a very long talk about the definition of NOT putting yourself in any danger, woman."

"Don't be mad at me, dear Dante. I saved the girl, didn't I? She is safe...isn't she? She wasn't hurt?" Mila tried to twist around to see where the girl was, but Dante held her too tightly, a finger trailing down one cheek.

"Her heartbeat is steady," he sighed with a resigned smile. "And yes, you did save her. Lie still and heal just now, Mila. I will check on the girl and give you an update in a moment."

Louis nodded to Dara, keeping half an eye on Agony on the other side of the clearing. "I'm going to call in some of my coven to help sanitise the area. Do you think he will have an issue with that?"

"Probably, but as long as they stay to the tasks you assign them and don't approach the tent or any of the females, everything should be fine. Just make sure they all fully understand that. He can't perceive them as a threat in any way or the killing will start again." Dara hoped what she was saying was true. She was going by gut instinct alone, but so far, everything appeared to be working out okay.

Dropping down beside the weeping she-wolf, Dara extricated her from her fallen mate as gently as she could. The female fought her, struggling to hold onto the dead male, but Dara persisted until she had the distraught woman in her arms. "He's gone, lovely. There is nothing you can do for him anymore," she whispered softly. "I'm so sorry for your loss, brave wolf, but we need you here with us. There are others you need to care for; little ones who need a strong, brave wolf such as yourself. Stay with us, lovely. Don't give into the grief and loss."

Her words fell on deaf ears, the wolf too distraught, the first signs of madness beginning to appear in the depths of her eyes. She was going rogue, and Dara didn't have the experience or know how to prevent it. She wanted to weep at the loss and suffering done to this small pack. Her heart broke for the loss of life, and she also didn't want to be responsible for ending the she-wolf's life if they couldn't pull her back. She needed Kothi at her side, needed him to help her try to pull the she-wolf back from the brink of madness, but he remained where she left him, silently watching them move around the campground with an expressionless face.

*****

Agony couldn't work out whether he wanted to kick Dara's ass or kiss her. The way she spoke to him, as if he were some kind of errant child, irritated him greatly, and yet there was a familiarity about it too, a feeling of belonging that usually only Kothari experienced with her. For so long he had been hidden from the pack, a guilty secret that must remain untold, for fear that he, that they would be rejected and cast out.

Now, his pack mate had seen him, seen what he was capable of, and instead of rejecting him, she had castigated him as she usually would Kothari, treating him as no different to his other half. It was annoying, and yet it was comforting too, to know that there was one person who had looked upon his face, and still wanted to know him. Perhaps he was less of a monster than he thought? Looking around the blood-soaked clearing, he knew that was wishful thinking on his part.

"Are you just going to stand there?" Dara called, a hint of concern in her eyes as they met his. "I'm losing her, Kothi...or Agony, or whatever you want to call yourself. I need help here."

He continued to stare at the scene around him, and then he spun quickly and sliced the head off the wounded vampire behind him, pulling out the bones and dragging the carcass over to the pile one of the vampires was building with the other corpses. Dropping it on without a word, he met Louis' gaze, and the handful of other vampires that had appeared at his call. Judging them not a threat, he turned towards Dara, and the reason he was here in the first place.

"The wolf pup is safe?" He phrased it as a question, though he could sense the child still hidden inside the tent, her pulse erratic but her fear the normal fear of a child, with no scent of hurt or blood around her.

"It's best that she remains inside for now, away from all this death, but she is safe," Dara answered, relief dancing across her face as he knelt down beside her. "I can't reach her, Kothi. I'm not Cassia or Mallen, my healing skills are not up to their level. I wish Aaron were here. He would know what to do. He has the best success rate at keeping wolves from going rogue."

She was alluding to the pack's second in command, Rafe's head beta, a male respected as highly as their Alpha. Agony agreed with her sentiment, if Aaron were here then there was a chance the she-wolf could be saved, however he wasn't, and that meant there was no real hope for the woman.

"She should be put out of her misery before everything she is has been lost forever," he said coldly, acknowledging the instant denial in the other Vârcolac's eyes, but knowing it needed to be done for the good of all innocents the rogue wolf might encounter when they moved on.

"We have to try, Kothi..."

"It will be a mercy, Dara," he countered reaching to take the woman from her arms. "I will do what is necessary. Go now, and succour the other wounded while I do."

He would take no pleasure from this killing, not as he had taken from the others. He was merely better equipped to deal with the problem than Dara was. It cost him nothing to take the she-wolf's life, he would lose no sleep over the mercy kill, though his fellow Vârcolac would.

A shrill scream from behind them blasted the air, and then a ringing blow hit the back of Agony's head. It took a faction of a second for him to realise that he'd just been hit with a piece of wood, and then his anger sparked that someone would dare do this and he spun around to find himself face to face with the human girl who was clutching at her arms as if they hurt.

Seriously? A pathetic human girl thought she could strike him and live to tell the tale? He would make her writhe in agony...he would detach her limbs with surgical precision and cauterise her wounds so she remained alive as long as possible. She would regret ever hitting him with a baseball bat by the time he was finished with her.

A memory tugged at the back of his mind, something so nebulous he couldn't grasp what it was. He pushed it aside as inconsequential, taloned hands reaching for the girl.

"Kothi, no!" Dara screamed, throwing her arms around him and barrelling him to the ground.

He roared in fury, head-butting Dara to disorientate her enough to break free. He didn't want to mortally wound his pack mate, but he would do what was necessary to reach his target.

"Kothari!" Dara groaned, rising as quickly as she could, as Agony reached once more for the girl. "Kothari...remember! Please...remember! I need you!"

Dara did the only thing she could think of, she shifted to wolf form and ran between the girl and the Vârcolac. "Remember, Kothari...remember that day in the forest." She pressed her large wolf's body against his legs, using the touch of her wolf to try to reach him.

"Dara...Dara," Kothari chanted deep within his mind, savouring the feel and sound of her name. He could smell her scent; feel the softness of her fur brushing against his legs. She was here, his beautiful angel, the very reason for his sanity and he wanted to be with her, wanted to talk with her.

"No! " Agony hissed inside their mind, pushing down the boy as he tried to rise. "This is my time, not yours. You had your chance and you let out parents be kidnapped. Get out of my way, Kothari, before I remove your very existence forever. Do not test me on this, boy. You know I have that power!"

"Kothi, remember...you have to remember..." Dara's words echoed in counterbalance to Agony's, stressing the word remember as if it had some special connotation. What did he need to remember? What was so important that Dara repeated the word? He cast his mind back to that day in the forest...that day when he had placed his hands on his angel...when she had shifted to wolf form to reach him and he had...

"NO!" Agony screamed, his talons swiping wildly, catching Dara in the neck in his fury. She howled and shifted back to human form, wrapping a hand around the wound to try to stem the blood flow.

"You lose, Agony...you lose," Kothari whispered, and then he did what he hadn't done since that day. The air shimmered around him, and he called forth the being that his monster hadn't paid any attention to, the one he hadn't locked down as securely as he had his human side.

Kothari shifted into animal form, the beautiful black panther sailing over the head of the human girl to land behind her before spinning around to face his friend on the forest floor.

She was bleeding! He had hurt her! The panther stared at his angel in misery, self-loathing flooding through him. He had hurt her...he had...another had laid hands on her. The odd thought that crept into his mind confused him and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. That didn't make sense, no one had touched Dara apart from himself, and yet, a memory was fighting to be heard, and he was afraid of what that memory might do to him.

"Dara...I'm so sorry. Please...forgive me."

"Kothi? You're back? He's gone?" Dara was pulling herself back to her feet, moving to place herself between the panther and the girl, clearly unsure of just who was in control. She deliberately spoke out aloud, to help the others know what was happening, but also because she didn't want to be inside Agony's head should he return.

As she saw the reason within his eyes, her posture relaxed and she knelt before the animal. "Everything is okay, Kothi. I'm fine. Look, I'm completely healed. Kallum would kick my ass for allowing myself to be caught off guard so easily anyway. So, I won't tell if you don't?"

Dara was safe, the words kept resounding in Kothari's mind, his relief rising as they slowly sank in. Agony was also gone for now, but he didn't know how long that would last, or if he had the strength to keep him at bay. What had he done? What had he allowed to happen by his weakness, his pathological need for his parents to be safe and well? The human girl had her arms wrapped around the she-wolf, calling to her mother...to the woman he had been a hairsbreadth away from terminating.

The strange memory returned in a flash of pain, the coven leader striking the girl as she fought to protect her mother. Rage...fury so deep it burned his soul blossomed in the pit of his stomach and he hissed out that rage, his eyes whirling dangerously. He had laid hands on her! He had hurt the girl...this strange, brave human girl who fought for those she loved. The coven leader had laid hands on the girl and Agony had lost all reason from that point onwards.