Damien - The Beginning

Chapter 7 - A Wolf Without a Leader

Hayes stared into the pitch black darkness, blinking as he lay on the cold stone floor. A warm tear escaped his eye, and slipped down the side of his face. He was tired. Too tired to make his eyes gleam and provide light. Too tired to use his wolf vision in order to see in the darkness. 

He had been lying there for a while now, and he had now lost the track of time completely. All he knew was, it had been a long time, long enough for them to kill his parents. The thought made another hot tear escape his eye, and he sniffed, wiping it away. All he felt in that moment was helplessness. And weakness. He was too weak to protect his mother, too weak to save her from his father's sins. She had always tried her best to protect him from his father, but when it was his turn, he was once again locked up in the dark, too weak to fight his way out. 

Suddenly, the lights were turned on, blinding him, and Hayes narrowed his eyes to adjust his vision. The heavy door opened with a loud, irritating creak, and Hayes sat up, wiping his face to remove the stains of tears. 

"Get up," James ordered him, and he quietly obliged. "Hands behind your back."

Hayes did as he was told, and Sadler put heavy metal cuffs onto his wrists, binding his hands together. Heavy chains were also tied to his feet, so that it would be impossible for him to break them and run. 

"James," Hayes said softly, looking at him. 

"Yeah?" 

"Is..." Hayes gulped. "Is my mother dead?" He asked. 

James looked down on the ground, before shaking his head. 

"No. No she's isn't. Both your parents are alive at the moment," James replied, and a sigh of relief escaped Hayes's mouth. "We need you to co-operate with us here. We will be injecting you with Wolfsbane to make you weak. Just in case you get any ideas," he instructed. 

Hayes nodded, feeling too weak anyway. 

"How long have I been here?" He asked, licking his lips. 

"Two days or so," James replied. 

"What?" Hayes asked in disbelief. "It's been that long?"

"Yeah," Sadler spoke up this time. "Now stay quiet. We're not supposed to be talking to you."

"Sorry," Hayes muttered. No wonder he felt so weak. He had been surviving without food and water for over two days. If he were a human being, he would have passed out by then. But being a werewolf, he could handle it. 

"Now stay still."

Sadler placed the needle of the syringe against the vein in his neck, before he pushed it inside. Hayes screamed in pain as he felt the liquid burning into his body, and within seconds, he felt as if half the energy that had been left in his body, had already drained out. He leaned onto James for support, and then they dragged him out, and up the stairs, out of the dungeon. Hayes's enhanced hearing had stopped working, and he realized that he did not even have the energy to shift. He could still grow his claws and his teeth, but he knew it was of no use when his body lacked the strength to fight. 

Hayes was dragged into the main hall of their pack house, and pushed down on his knees beside his mother. The whole pack was present there, staring at them with looks full of disgust and hatred. He could not believe it. How easily all the people who he thought were his friends had turned against him. Just because of his father. His damned father. 

"Hayes," he heard Selene whisper softly, and he looked at her, his eyes barely open. "My Son. My beautiful baby. Are you alright?"

"I'm..." He spoke, blinking a couple of times to see her properly. His vision was slightly blur, but as soon as it got clearer, his eyes widened. There were small cuts all over his mother's face. Cuts on a werewolf that had not healed. Which meant they were made using a weapon dipped in their mate's blood. 

"They tortured you?" Hayes asked in disbelief, as tears rolled down his cheeks. 

"It's okay, it's okay, I'm fine." She shook her head. "It's your father I'm worried about, Hayes. Our cells are right beside each other's, and they've put us in ones that aren't soundproof. I could... I could hear him screaming all day and night. I don't know what they did to him. They'd collect my blood through these cuts, and take it away. They're hurting him," she sobbed, as tears rolled down her cheeks. 

"Don't cry Mom, please," Hayes begged, his voice cracking. "Please just don't cry," he shook his head. He wanted to reach out to her, to wrap his arms around her and comfort her. Tell her that everything would be fine. Just as she used to do to him when he was a child. But Hayes's hands were bound by heavy, metal chains. Chains that made it too painful for him to move. "I'll... I'll get us out of here, Mama. Don't worry. I'll do something," Hayes whispered. 

"Don't make false promises to a dying woman, Hayes. I thought you were better than that," Alpha Craig said loudly, as he entered the ceremonial hall, followed by his Luna, Clarence. Everyone bowed their heads in respect, except for Hayes and Selene. They both had lost every ounce of respect they had for the man. 

"Alpha, we have done no wrong. It's my father who committed the crime. Not us. Let us go," Hayes said loudly, looking up at him. 

"Your father is being punished for his crimes, don't worry. But his only real punishment is execution, and your mother will die with him because of her mate bond. She will not be able to survive the heart break, Hayes. And we cannot forgive your father for her sake. You, on the other hand, will be be excused and allowed to live," Craig declared, and Hayes let out a growl. 

"Why are we here right now?" He asked, his eyes gleaming a bright blue.

"Ooh, the anger, the rage. Defying your Alpha!" Craig said, his tone getting louder and louder with every word. "You and your mother will be shunned from the pack, and turned into rogues. You, because you dared to break the blood oath to your Alpha, and her, because it is against the rules to kill a pack member's mate."

"So you kick her out and then kill her mate, causing her death as collateral damage," Hayes let out a humorless chuckle. "You're a pathetic excuse of an Alpha anyway, Craig. You were supposed to be our protector!"

"And that is exactly what I am doing!" Craig yelled back. "If I do not kill your father, each and every werewolf pack in the country will come to war against us. The blood of my innocent pack members will be shed, and I will not have that! So yes, I am protecting my pack just as I am supposed to. I am eliminating the threat of war."

Hayes clenched his jaw, looking Craig straight in the eye. The only thing he wanted at that moment, was to rip him apart and pull his heart out of his chest. But he did not have the power to do that. Not at the moment at least. 

"Begin the ceremony," Craig announced. 

Four wolves walked over to the both of them, as drums started to play in the hall. Hayes looked around, confused about what was happening. He had never witnessed a Rogue ceremony, and thus he had no idea about what they were going to do to them. The wolves first targeted his mother, two of them dragging her up to her feet, while the other two grabbed her wrists. 

"Leave her alone! What are you doing to her?!" Hayes yelled, as one of the werewolves drew a dagger. "Let her go!" Hayes yelled as loud as he could, but it seemed it his cries were being drowned by the beating of the drums. "Please! Help, someone!" He yelled as tears rolled down his cheeks. The werewolf made her unclench her fists, before he made huge cuts on both her palms. Hayes frowned, trying to run, or crawl towards her, but the chains were too heavy, and he was too weak. 

They pushed Selene down to the ground, while Hayes stared as tears fell from her eyes. They made her smear the blood from her palms onto her feet. And that is when Hayes understood. 

They were reversing the ritual. The ritual they would normally use to join a pack. The new member would cut his palm and smear his blood onto the Alpha and Luna's feet, as a sign of submission. By smearing their blood onto their own feet, they demonstrated that they only bow to themselves, like a wolf without a leader - a Rogue. 

Hayes felt his heart hammer in his chest, and his struggles became much more violent, as he thought of the other step of the ritual. A new member would drink the blood of the Alpha and the Luna. Reversing it could only mean one thing - get that blood out of their system. How? He did not know, nor did he want to find out. 

"Let her go!" Hayes screamed, louder than earlier. But so did the drums sounded, louder than earlier. 

Hayes watched as his mother was picked up, and one of the werewolves caught her by her hair. He pushed her face down, and removed the hair from the back of her neck. The dagger that was previously used to cut her palm, was now placed on the back of her neck. Hayes used all his strength to stand up from the ground, to run to her and save her, but all he managed to do was to was stand up on wobbly feet. 

"Let her go!" He yelled again, but before he even took another step forward, the blade of the dagger dug into her skin, making a huge cut on the back of her neck. She screamed in pain and tears escaped her eyes, as she fell to her knees, while pitch black blood oozed out from the cut. Hayes dropped to his knees too, feeling his heart shatter in his heart, as he watched his mother writhe in pain. 

"Leave her alone please," his voice was not above a whisper anymore. "Please," he begged, watching his mother scream and cry in pain, as they made the cut again after it had healed. Selene's claws surfaced, and her fangs grew out, while her eyes began to glow a bright blue. 

They kept making the cut over and over again, until black blood kept flowing from the wound created, while Selene felt as if her body was on flames. She could feel everything, the pain, the humiliation, and the devastation of being dishonorably shunned from a pack. 

And just as the blood flowing from her neck became a bright red, so did the glow of her eyes. It marked her identity as a Rogue, and the ritual was complete. They let go of her when that happened, and her limp, tired body completely collapsed onto the marble floor, the chains binding her rattling loudly in the process. She stared at her son with wide, red eyes, as she struggled to breathe properly, and as the glow of her eyes abated, Hayes felt his vision get more and more blur, until darkness enveloped him completely. 

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