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The second I said this it took Keira the time to mutter,
“Oh shit,” before Dom exploded into rage, bursting free from her hold with little effort as her energy was spent and his demon was too strong. Which meant that once again I found myself up against a bookshelf with a fist in my face and for once, it was a series of blows I allowed to happen.
The reason for this was because this time, I knew he needed it and, as much as I hated to admit it, right at that very moment I welcomed the pain. Because it was one I felt as though I deserved. My gut had told me for far too long that I had dealt with this all wrong. That no matter how or when I had told her father, the outcome would have most likely remained the same...but that didn’t change facts now.
“DOM, NO!” Keira screamed behind him as I allowed him to rain blow after blow on my face, even as she tried to pry his arm back, he merely roared down at me,
“FIGHT BACK!” But again, I simply took it, knowing that if we were ever to move past this, then he needed to get it out. So, I calmly said,
“No.”
“Fight, damn you! Fucking fight back!”
“Dom please, stop it! Just stop it!” Keira tried when he shrugged off her hold, snarling back at her,
“You betrayed me!” She took a step back, holding her chest as if he had delivered the next blow to her instead of me.
“No...I...I...” she started to stammer weakly.
“You fucking knew!” he threw back at her and just as she whispered his name in a plea to get him to understand, he turned his back to her,
“Enough, I will deal with you later!” At this she found her anger and was about to speak when something finally penetrated my whole entire being.
I could no longer feel Amelia.
Meaning she was no longer inside the building!
This was when the second Dom’s fist came at me again, I caught it in my hold and allowed my true nature to take back control, telling him,
“That’s the last one you are going to get, now get the fuck out of my way!” Then I forced him back, using my grasp on his fist to do so, letting my true nature ripple through me. The blood dripping down my face started to be absorbed back into my skin as the Venom of God darkened my veins. The cuts, bruises and breaks he had caused, healing instantly this time as my demon rumbled dangerously beneath my vessel wanting to break free and chase down what was rightfully ours.
“Why, so I can just let you run after my daughter, I don’t fucking think so!” he shouted back and this time when he tried to swing for me, I moved with deadly calm, ducking out of the way of his throw, causing his fist to embed into the shelves behind me.
“You are never to see my daughter ever again, do you understand me, Luc, I will fucking kill you, so help me, by the Gods I will end you!” Dom roared at me the second I started to walk away.
“I don’t need your fucking approval!” I snarled over my shoulder and just as I was making it out of the library, he made it clear he wasn’t finished with me. I was grabbed from behind and pushed face first up against the wall next to the door. My face quickly became part of the plaster as it now had the side of my face imprinted there.
“She’s my daughter!” he roared next to my head and I had finally hit my limit, doing something I had once vowed never to do again, not since the last time. And I started by elbowing him back in the face, spinning the moment he loosened his hold so I could face him. Then, just as he was bringing forth his blades one more time, I knew now was the time to end this. So, using the power of my will against him, one that not even he was strong enough to fight against, I forced him to drop to his knees. Then I willed his arms to cross, embedding his blades into the floor to keep them there.
“ARRGH, DAMN YOU!” he thundered in anger, or should I say his demon did, for his vessel was under my control, whether he liked it or not and he was about to find out why. As there was something I had come to understand. It was a fundamental rule that he himself had taught me once. One I had to learn the hard way and one that was a lesson I would now be giving back to him.
For you never got in between a King and his Chosen One.
“Lucius, release him!” Keira shouted making me look back up at her and say,
“Not this time. Not when he stands in my way.” Then I took the few steps needed towards him and looked down at him.
“She may be your daughter, Dom...” I told him, pausing before I could then lean down slightly, getting closer so I could tell him the truth of it all.
“...but she is my Chosen One.”
Dom’s gasp of shock was one I ignored as I walked towards the door, doing so with purpose, stopping briefly when Keira asked me,
“What are you going to do?”
“I am going to right a wrong...once and for all,” I told her with a certainty I felt in my bones.
“It can’t be...it can’t be true! You can’t...Luc, I forbid it, she is my...!” Dom tried to say one last time, but with a slash of my hand I cut him off by force. Then, when I looked down over my shoulder, no longer granting him my expression for only my words of promise were needed,
“She is yours no longer, for she belongs to me now...and you should know, Dom...nothing gets in the way of me claiming what is mine!” Then after this, I allowed his roar of anger to become the background echo to my journey while running to her room. It was the last place I felt her presence, so I was hoping... no, more like fucking praying that she was still in there! That the ache in my heart had been wrong. That pit in my gut that she left was nothing more than misplaced dread. That it was a mistake and she had not left me. For her heart might be damaged but at the very least it was still in the building ready for me to fix!
But the more I ran and the closer I got the less and less that hope held power, for I knew what I would find the second I opened that door.
“Amelia!” I shouted as I burst inside only to find the start of my nightmare playing out.
She was gone.
The moment I saw this I allowed my hands to curl into fists morphing the pain into a controlled anger that I dared not let loose inside this room for fear of destroying her things. Besides, I knew that if I did give into my demon’s urge to break free that I would then be no use to anyone, the very least of all to myself.
For starters, I argued the fact that she couldn’t have got far, as she didn’t even have a car here...or did she? Would she have taken one...could she? These were things I needed to know, so without another thought I ran back to the library, knowing that I would find Dom released of his mental bonds and unsurprisingly I found him arguing with his wife, shouting about her deception.
“Amelia is gone!” I snapped the moment I made it back through the door and just at the sight of me, Dom was about to act when I held up a hand and warned,
“Don’t make me put you on the floor again, Dom, my Chosen One is fucking missing and could be in danger, now you either help me find her or I will fucking put you on your knees and force your help! Now where the fuck would she go?!” I all but roared this at him making him take pause and think twice now that my words had taken the time to sink in. As, thankfully, the most important part was what he chose in that moment to focus on,
“She is missing?!”
“Oh, God,” Keira said covering her mouth, the tears running down her cheeks starting afresh once more. I snarled at them both,
“I don’t have fucking time for this! Now, where would she go!?”
“Draven, did she say anything when she saw you?” Keira asked, making me grateful that finally someone was asking the right fucking questions! Dom frowned down at the floor as if recalling the moment before he had flown inside here with the sole intent on killing me for supposedly kissing his wife. Something I assumed Amelia had told him as a way of a diversion, as it had certainly kept me busy enough for her to make her escape.
“No, but it would be easy for her to take one of the cars and...” I didn’t listen to the rest as I was already out the door and travelling with unnatural speed down to the lower levels of Afterlife and where I knew Dom kept his car collection. Hell, when I got there under any other circumstances, I would have scoffed at the sight of his Ferraris all lined up. But instead it took me no time at all to see an empty space closest to what I knew was an automatic door that would have been on a sensor.
The second I knew Dom had turned up next to me, I snapped out my question,
“What car is missing?!”
“Ferrari SF90 Stradale,” he answered quickly.
“Tracking?” I finally looked to Dom and he dragged a hand through his hair and snapped,
“What do you fucking think, Luc, no one is insane enough to steal from me?!”
“No one other than your daughter!” I snapped back making Keira come running inside with a phone in hand, holding it out to Dom, telling him,
“It’s our pilot, he wants to know if he has authorization for the new flight plan to London Gatwick or not...it must be Faith!” Dom grabbed the phone and started telling him,
“No, you fucking...”
“Wait!” I told him, quickly cutting him off.
“Hold on, Curt,” Dom said lowering the phone.
“Tell him yes, but to stall the flight.”
“But why would he...” Keira was cut off when Dom held up his hand as he understood where my thoughts could potentially lead us to.
“Yes, Curt the flight is approved, but I need you to stall, tell my daughter that due to the last minute flight plan you are just waiting for the ground crew checks to be approved before you’re allowed to fly.” Dom waited for his pilot to agree, before I snapped,
“Don’t let him leave before I fucking get there!” Dom nodded and relayed the order as I went back to scan the extensive garage, having no fucking time to waste.
“I need a car,” I told him, making Dom walk towards a panel on the wall that housed all the keys before he grabbed a set. But then, instead of throwing them to me like I was about to demand he do, he walked to the closest car, a Ferrari Roma. A car that, even if I wasn’t a fan of the brand, I had to admit was a good-looking car. Of course, it was an opinion I wouldn’t be voicing anytime soon.
Dom walked to the driver’s side and I frowned asking,
“What are you doing?”
“What the fuck does it look like I am doing, I’m driving, dickhead. Now, get in the fucking car before I change my mind!” he said before nodding for Keira to go to him. The second she did, he gripped her chin, and forced her gaze up to his before he growled down at her,
“First I get our daughter back, then you and I are going to have a very long talk, one that I have a feeling will start some years ago.” She nodded letting the tears slip down her cheeks and I tore my eyes from the sight, hearing him whisper to her,
“Don’t worry, I will bring her back to us.”
“She is going to hate me.” I heard her heartbroken admission and I could stand it no longer and got in the car, wishing in that moment I could have just wrestled the keys from his hold and sped off. I ignored his reply to this but instead snapped impatiently,
“We don’t have time for this!” I heard Dom’s growl in response, but my words rang true as he folded himself in the car and started the engine, watching his wife’s small frame, arms wrapped around herself, in the rearview mirror until she went out of sight.
“Please tell me married life hasn’t made you fucking soft on the accelerator?” I asked, as if the past fifteen minutes of trying to kill each other hadn’t just happened, he looked to me and grinned before telling me,
“What the fuck do you think?” Then, as if to prove his point, he floored the pedal and forced the car to use all its six hundred plus horsepower. After this I was then forced to sit, unable to do more than just wait until we arrived, so I could claim my girl, her father be damned!
“How long, Luc?” His question suddenly cut through the silence. One I had hoped would have lasted until we arrived. No such luck.
“Seriously, you want to do this now?” I asked rubbing a hand at the back of my neck in frustration.
“I am driving you to the fucking airport to get my daughter back, Luc, so what do you think?!” he snapped making his point.
“For all I know you’re planning to drive me off a fucking cliff and pray locking the doors will help you succeed.” He scoffed a laugh.
“As tempting as that would be right now, I think we both know that I can’t kill you without risking the life of my Chosen One...besides, I like this car.” At this I couldn’t refrain from commenting,
“Singing a different tune now I see.”
“If I had wanted you dead, then you would be dead, Luc!” he snapped making me laugh.
“Yes, well, being as you are my Chosen One’s father and I am pretty sure killing you first would present me with a lifetime of headaches, then right back at you, Dom.” At this he held a hand up and said,
“Do me a favour, Luc, let’s just stop talking about who you say my daughter is to you...or that cliff might find itself becoming a destination after all.” I rolled my eyes and told him,
“Whatever suits and aids me in getting to this fucking plane of yours quicker.” After this I continued to watch the world travelling past at a far slower speed than I would have liked, even though Dom was pushing the car as fast as we were physically able to go. Hell, he wasn’t just breaking every speed limit, he was no doubt setting new records for speeds driven on these roads.
Of course, his silence also didn’t last as he hit out at the steering wheel and growled,
“Fuck me! But I should have seen it sooner!” Naturally this didn’t take a high IQ like Amelia possessed to know what he was referring to.
“I thought you didn’t want to do this now?” I reminded him, something he ignored when he said,
“Gods, just how fucking blind have I been?!”
“I guess we are doing this now then,” I muttered dryly under my breath as he continued to rant.
“I should have known it in my office, I should have fucking known it was you!”
“Yeah, well, what can I say, Dom, it wasn’t exactly the time, or at least that is what the woman in your life kept telling me,” I told him with the sarcasm more than evident in my tone.
“Oh, so you wanted to tell me but didn’t and why, because a woman told you not to...? Yeah, because that sounds like you!” he commented derisively before adding,
“When is it that you let anyone dictate to you what you can or cannot do, let alone a woman?”
“I don’t know, Dom, when was it that you found yourself afflicted with the same burden?” I asked knowing that I had made my point when he growled. I then released an exasperated sigh and told him,
“Amelia didn’t know how to tell you and feared your reaction, and all things considered, I think she had a right to that, despite how I argued her decision... along with that of your wife’s, I may add,” I confessed making him bark,
“You should have fucking told me!”
“Yes, well I didn’t! No, instead I went against my own wishes and was forced to watch as my Chosen One acted as if I meant little to her and allowed everyone to believe I had no rights to my claim,” I bit back angrily, letting him know the toll which this had taken on me.
“A claim I still dispute, I will add!” he said making me growl,
“Dispute it all you want, Dom, but as you know the Fates cannot be denied, nor can they lie, which is why Keira knows and has for some time.”
“How long?” he asked quickly.
“That is not my place and you fucking know it!” I told him in return, as the very last place I wanted to be right then was between a married couple who unfortunately happened to be the ones who birthed my Electus! Talk about fucked up!
“The least you can do is give me that!” he argued.
“I don’t owe you shit, Dom! For the way I see it, if you had been the type of father and husband that had made it easier for the two women in your life to speak freely of the truth, doing so without them knowing for certain what your reaction would be, then none of this would have fucking happened!” I said giving him a bit of fucking reality.
“You’re blaming me for this!?” I shook my head and sighed before telling him,
“Look, I was never fucking expecting a pat on the back and a welcome to the family, Dom, but seeing as you tried to rearrange my face, then yeah, I am blaming you for being their reason to keep this a fucking secret in the first place!” Dom thought on this before nearly destroying the wheel, being forced to ease his grip before he did.
“How long, Luc?”
“Does it fucking matter?” I asked making him shoot me a twisted look of betrayal before he snarled,
“How long has my wife known?”
“And I told you to ask...”
“It is the fucking least you could give me!” he interrupted and in that moment I decided instead of telling him to go fuck himself like I wanted to, I gave him what he asked, seeing as it was the lesser of two evils.
“My understanding is that she has known longer than even I have.”
“Lucius,” he said my name in warning before gritting out again,
“I asked how long?”
“Since the day she was born,” I told him making him curse,
“Fuck!”
“And she kept it from me...all this fucking time!”
“Yes, and ask yourself why that is, old friend,” I said rolling my eyes and looking out the window taking note that we were at least getting there a lot quicker than we had done when first arriving.
“Oh, I know why, because I would have done everything in my fucking power to keep you from her, that’s why!” he admitted with ease.
“Exactly and in doing so you would have also been committing the biggest sin as a King that you could, which is fucking with the Fates’ plan...or are you forgetting the last time you tried to fight destiny in regard to your own wife? Something that, if I recall, had you been successful at then Amelia wouldn’t have even been born!” I said reminding him of his past and making him frown in frustration.
“And since when did you become so willing to accept the Fates’ plans, huh? Only if memory serves, Luc, you have spent a great deal longer singing a very different fucking tune these past few thousand years.” I gritted my teeth against the reminder of my own past and threw my own point back at him, being the next one to lash out in this verbal battle of ours.
“Yeah, well, you wanna know what happened?”
“Divine intervention?” he asked sarcastically.
“Your daughter happened, Dom, that’s what!” I said making him growl my way, which I ignored and continued,
“But hey, lucky for you when you met your Chosen One you didn’t have anyone but your own self getting in the way or holding you back.”
“Oh no, I think I recall having someone in my way, Luc, or are you forgetting the Triple Goddess where my wife nearly lost her life too.” I shook my head at his version of the past and told him,
“Yeah, well, go right ahead and call this even then, if that is what it takes, Dom, but the fact of the matter remains that I am not going anywhere! I am in your daughter’s life and all that is left to discover is if you want to be in it also!”
“Exactly what are you threatening me with here, Luc?” he asked in a dangerous tone I ignored because it meant shit to me.
“Exactly what it sounds like, Dom. You want to try and get between me and my Chosen One, then fucking think again. She is mine and...”
“Oh no she fucking isn’t!” he roared back making the car jerk suddenly into the other lane. An action he corrected before he had a head on collision and crashed before we could get there.
“Oh right, I forgot that you have a long list of people lined up ready to extend her life the way her Chosen One can by making her immortal, something you and I both know is only accepted by the Gods if it is fated to be,” I reminded him contemptuously, making him tense as he knew I was right.
“Which explains the conversation in my office that night,” he muttered to himself.
“I was merely trying to open your eyes to facts, Dom, just as I do now. She is mortal but doesn’t need to stay that way and she won’t, not by my side as my Queen,” I said thinking this was the best way of reminding him that, despite his initial anger, once thought was applied, then really, how bad did he see our union to be. Especially when it meant granting him something he had wanted since discovering his daughter was mortal?
“I swear Luc, that if you start the next sentence by you have already claimed my daughter, I will drive this fucking car into a tree and hope it impales you!”
“Believe what you want, Dom, it won’t change a fucking thing!” I snapped back at his narrowmindedness and inability to admit that I was right.
“No, maybe not, but your actions today most certainly might have.”
“Make your fucking point, Dom!”
“I think you are missing that the biggest obstacle in your way is no longer me. For have you considered that after what she believes happened between you and Keira today, that she won’t want you anymore?” he argued and I swear I wished in that moment I could have knocked him out, left his vessel on the side of the road and driven the car there myself.
“I will make her see the truth,” I told him in a firm unyielding tone that nearly cracked my teeth.
“Umm, yes because that is so easily achieved,” he muttered mockingly.
“What?” I found myself asking in annoyance.
“I think I have a little more experience in this than you, Luc, you know, seeing as I have been dealing with both my own Chosen One and my daughter’s personalities a lot longer than you to know that with all the will of the Gods, you can try and make them see what you want them to...but achieving it is another matter entirely.” Unfortunately, that was a point made that I couldn’t ignore.
“Yes, well for your sake and hers, I hope that you are wrong,” I told him making him foolishly ask,
“Why is that?”
“Because now is not the time for her to disappear through that stubbornness, as she needs as much protection right now that she can get...from both of us!” I added this last part on an exasperated growl, seeing as I hated the fact about as much as I knew Dom did.
We both may hate it, but we also had no choice but to work together.
Again.
The moment we turned up at the private hanger, I knew instantly that something was wrong, even if the plane was still there and seemingly waiting to leave.
“Stop the fucking car!” I snapped and the second he did, I was out of it with a moment later, the sound of his question not lost behind me,
“What’s wrong?”
“The Ferrari isn’t here,” I told him on a growl pushing past that fucking weight in the pit of my stomach that told me the worst of my fears weren’t yet at an end but instead...
Only just beginning.
I ignored Dom’s hiss of anger behind me and stormed towards the plane, finding myself up its steps in less than a second of time. Then I saw her, and it was if my heart stopped dead at just the sight. She sat with her back to me wearing what she’d had on earlier, the scent of her blood filling my nostrils and easing my panic.
“Amelia.” I whispered her name like a fucking prayer on the wind. I released a deep and regretful sigh the second she purposely didn’t turn to face me, and it was only when I made it within reach of her that the truth of those scents started to infiltrate through the lies. Her hair, her skin, and even the blood that coursed around her body...
It was all wrong.
The blood on her sweater was old and the only piece about the figure sat before me now that belonged to her. I reached out and just before I could touch her, the imposter turned around to face me.
“She gave me money.” I let my hand drop, forming a fist at my side on a snarl of anger.
“Get out!”
“Excuse...”
“I SAID GET THE FUCK OUT!” I roared making her cry out in fear before getting up and running out of the plane, pushing past Dom as he entered, the sight speaking for itself.
“Gods, no...tell me she didn’t...”
“Deceive us all...Yes, Dom, yes she fucking did!” I snapped walking past him myself and back towards the car, doing so with purpose. Because it looked like my girl had given me the slip and run from me, slipping right through my fingers.
Meaning that once again it was time for this King to go...
Hunting.