Filed to story: Sorry Alpha I Am Wolfless Novel
“You have played right into our hands, finally.” Someone near the back and out of sight spoke up, but their voice was no less loud and could be heard easily.
“Why have you attached yourselves to me, you heathens.”
“Heathens? Us? No, Father,” another sneer, “you are the heathen. You are the one who takes pride in destruction.”
“You are the one who has plotted the destruction and downfall of not only your own flesh and blood but also the world.” They all spoke in unison and I could swear I heard the voices of Thoth and Nehalennia mixed in among them. The God and Goddess must be aiding the children of Edmond.
There was nothing for me to do for the time being. I just needed to listen and watch the show around me.
“You were all my tools, my experiments. You wouldn’t have lived if it wasn’t for me.” He tried claiming that stupid logic again.
“And none of our deaths would have occurred if not for you either. You are nothing more than a blight on society, and it is time for you to be eliminated.” They were continuing to speak in unison, their voices sounding eerie, but powerful.
“You can’t! You won’t! I won’t let you!” Edmond was screaming now, frantic with fear. I guess he truly was capable of that emotion too.
“It’s time to face the music Edmond. Time for you to atone for your sins.” I told him as I finally joined my siblings in this conversation. “You have been judged by those who you sought to destroy, and you have been found guilty. There will be no second chances or escapes. It all ends here and now.”
“No! I won’t let you.” He continued to try and change the minds of us all. But it was to no avail. His fate was sealed.
“Prepare to die, Edmond.” Those were the last words that I spoke before I called my magic to me. I reached out with a phantom hand, the same type I had used with Joaquin. I reached out until I felt his throat under my phantom limb.
When I felt the steady, yet rapid, beat of his pulse I knew I was in position. I was ready to do what needed to be done. I hardened the magic of my invisible, phantom hand. Once the magic was stronger and harder, I swiped with it, one quick motion, right across his throat. The spray of blood was instantaneous as the cut nearly severed his head. Once more swipe, this one going in the opposite direction, and his head had been removed.
Almost at the exact same time that I had made my first swipe, the children of Edmond had descended. They had already torn his limbs from his body before I had fully removed him of the burden of his head.
I pulled the bloody, dripping head to me with the phantom hand as my long dead siblings clawed and ripped Edmond to shreds. I just stood there, watching the bloody mess form before my eyes. There was no recognizing that pile of red goo as Edmond, nothing of the previous shape remained.
When they were done, they all turned to look at me. The rage and anger leaving their bodies. Those emotions had instead been replaced with a sense of contented happiness. They were finally at peace.
“How did you find us here?” I asked them, curious to know how they had been able to follow us from the real world.
“This is the land of shadows. We ghosts live among the shadows and rarely make it to the land of the living.” They all spoke once again, like in death all children of Edmond were the same.
“Did Edmond know that?”
“No, he did not. But it was to our advantage that he did not know.” There seemed to be a hint of laughter in that response.
“So you followed him, waiting for your chance to kill him?”
“We would not have been able to kill him without you, sister. It was your conversation with him that gave us form. The negative emotions fed us into being able to attack. Even among the shadows, ghosts are nothing more than a conscious shadow. We could no more hurt him that you could catch the wind.” I laughed at that, because I had actually caught the wind, so to speak, but they didn’t need to know that.
“So was it just our words, or my magic that you needed?” I asked them, for clarity purposes.
“Both. You are the only one of us to survive, and now there will be no more. Please, sister, use your gifts wisely.” As they all spoke this time I noticed a slight glowing around their edges.
“What’s happening now?” I asked them, scared as they all seemed to be disappearing.
“We have nothing to tether us to the shadows now, it’s time for us to move on and find peace.” They seemed to be smiling, all of them were. “Be strong, and be brave dear sister. You are the last of our kind and we will always watch over you from the great beyond.” And with those words they all began to quickly fade away.
“Thank you for your help. I will never forget you all, ever.”
“Thank you.” They spoke again, but it seemed so far away now, like they had traveled a great distance while still looking at me. “Goodbye.” With that final word they were gone. I was now alone in the field with a bloody mess in front of me and a head held in my hand.
There was one thing I knew for sure though, Edmond was finally dead.
****
Riviana
****
I gripped the bloody, dripping head in my left hand. The face that was frozen on it was filled with awe and fear. Even in the end, he couldn’t accept what was happening to him. He never did accept that I was better than him.
But, it wasn’t worth my time to think about it too much. What I needed to do now was get home. I had to get out of this shadow land filled with gray, gray and more gray. The only relief in the color I saw was the bloody mess that was Edmond. Looking at that gooey puddle that used to be a person made my stomach roil again. I had seen way too many disgusting sights today and my stomach just couldn’t handle it.
“I need to get home.” I said to myself out loud. Once those words were spoken, once the eerie quiet of the clearing was broken, it was like the illusion of this place was destroyed. The air around me became blurry, like I was trying to look at something through a thick hazy fog.
I didn’t move, didn’t take a step, but I once again felt like I was moving somewhere. Air rushed past my face and I could feel the dropping of my stomach that meant I was travelling at a high rate of speed. This feeling was disorienting and disconcerting, but also a little exciting. It reminded me of how I felt when I travelled on a vortex of wind.
Once the wind began to die down and the sensation of moving was ebbing away I could finally see color returning around me. I had kept my eyes open this time. I had seen everything that had happened, which didn’t amount to much. The scene around me never changed but I felt like I was moving. All that happened was the color began to slowly return to the images that I saw. And once the color was back, the people and carnage was back as well.
“Riviana!” I heard Joaquin’s voice as he shouted my name. It took me less than half a second to turn to face him but he had already reached me and wrapped his arms around me with a crushing force. I was enveloped in his warmth, his strength, his love. He was there to protect me once again. And his relief at seeing me was palpable. Goddess, but I had missed him in that short time that I was away from him.
“Joaquin.” I said his name in a sigh as I buried my face against his naked chest. That was when I realized he was standing there, holding me with absolutely no clothes on. “Joaquin!” I exclaimed as I looked around us. “Why are you naked?”
