Blood of The Beast: Revelations

The Heir of The Beast

Sam Smith- Pray 

Scylla: 

    When I first shifted, I never wanted to do it again. The pain was excruciating and my young teenage mind couldn't handle it. It literally felt like I was going insane and a part of me now recognizes that maybe I did. Maybe I am. When I found out that I was pregnant with Naloc. I cried. Not from happiness. I didn't want him to be like me. A sick part of me wanted to destroy what was growing in me. It was because of my father that I didn't terminate my pregnancy. The look of hope and pride in his eyes. 

    "You're going to be an amazing mother," he had whispered into my ear as I fell apart. 

    I didn't sleep knowing what will be happening today. Naloc is a lot like me. He likes to read. He likes to stay indoors but loves to be out in the woods with no one around for miles. To run free without the restrictions of our lives. After his first shift, he didn't want to shift again and I taught him how to keep his wolf at bay. Now it's time to let it out and I can't look away or he'll fail. 

    "You're not doing this to him," my father growled when I motioned Naloc to go outside. 

    "He's my son," I reminded him. "He chose this," 

    "You know better than anyone why this is not a good idea. You will destroy his mind. The way Brandon did to you," 

    "Brandon saved me," I shouted. "When everyone wanted me dead. He saved my life with this and now it's his turn. Like it or not, Naloc will be trained. There is a storm coming, old man. Can't you feel it? I will not have my boy running around helpless. Not when he can save himself with what hides inside of him," 

    "Scylla-" 

    "Enough," I stopped him. "This is hard enough. I don't need you in my f*****g ear, dad," 

    He didn't say anything else. He turned away and went back inside. I sighed. With the coldness in the air, my breath came out like a puff of smoke. I could go for something strong to numb what's about to happen but I need to see this through. I need my son to know that I am here with him even if it kills me. 

    "Mom?" he called out from behind me. 

    "During training, you will address me as alpha. You will follow orders as given. From this point on, there is no going back. There is no I want to stop. You chose this and you will see it through to the end. Do you understand?" 

    "Yes, alpha," he nodded. 

    "Four hours. That's all you need today," I nodded. 

    "Four hours of what?" he asked. 

    "Take your clothes off, Naloc. You won't be needing them. I will dress you when it's over," 

    "Yes, alpha,"

    His eyes met mine for a second. He understands what's going to happen now. He began to take his clothes off and handed them to me. Like his father, Naloc is beautiful. Perfectly carved by the gods themselves. It's his eyes that gives the demon in him away. The face of an angel with the soul of a devil. A beast. 

    "Shift," I commanded. "Do not fight the pain, Naloc. Give into it. Let it take over," 

    "Mom," he groaned and for split second I had to fight every instinct in me to go him. 

    "Shift," I shouted. 

    The sound of his bones breaking apart is echoing in the cold morning air. For those close enough to the barracks, fear is the only thing they will feel as they walk past the thick fog around us. He cried out for a few minutes before the beast surfaced. It took him half an hour to completely shift. Too long. We have to work on that. 

    "Shift back," I ordered. The beast whined. "Shift back," I shouted. "Now," 

    The sound was a lot worse. Giving in to the wolf is easier than taking it back. I remember the first time I did this with Brandon. Killian and some of the other wolves had to hold my father back. I can still hear the pain-filled howls my dad had sent out to me. 

    None of it mattered at the time. He could have cried all he wanted. All of them could have but it wouldn't have made a difference. I wouldn't have survived if I continued on the path I had been on. This might not be the same situation, but it's necessary. If Alastair and I can't make it. At the very least, our children can. A legacy neither of us wanted. One tainted by blood. One undeserving of the purity that is Naloc and Astra. They are the beasts we carry inside, but they are not the monsters we had to become. They're more than that. They are the future. 

    "Again," I ordered when my son's tear-filled eyes met mine. "Again!" 

    We did this for four hours. He withstood all four hours and finally shifted back before he passed out from the pain. I picked up his clothes and dressed him as promised. No one else will carry him back inside but me. I bathed him as the tears I had been holding back finally came. I tucked him into bed and covered him with a weighted blanket to help him stay still. 

    "You did that to him," my father accused as I made my way down the stairs. "He doesn't need to do this. He's just a boy," 

    "I was fourteen when Brandon found me," I didn't look back at him. I don't want anyone to see how much this hurts. "I'm alive because of him. He did what you were too weak to do and I will not stand by and watch either of my kids suffer the way I did. You and I have had to sacrifice a lot, dad. No more. Never again. This is the only way I can help him survive," 

    "Why are you tal-" he spun me around to face him. I didn't look away from him. It's hard to breathe in. Even harder to breathe out. I didn't know what pain was before all of this. "Scylla," 

    "I will not lose one of them again. If I have to endure this pain for their sake. I will. Every day for the rest of my life," 

    "Stupid girl," he growled pulling me into him. 

    Instinct had me wrap my arms around him. My hands gripped onto his shirt tightly as the deep angry growls I had been holding back roared to the surface. I pulled away knowing that I'm going to shift any second now. His concern followed as I backed away from him to get outside. 

    Without another glance back at him I let go and fully gave into my transformation. My paws hit the floor ferociously. I have to put distance between everyone and me. I need to be alone. A howl erupted out of me as I closed in on the outskirts of Rogue Creek. The birds and the animals around me fled. The only sound now is the clash of waves hitting the cliffs. 

    I had been here before. In this same condition. Crying out for a woman I never met. The woman who I thought had betrayed my father. She had, hadn't she? The man I had killed, the man I had hated, the man that had brought me nothing but despair turned out to be the man who created me. 

    I wanted to be better than that. I wanted to be the mother I always wanted and today, I broke that vow and I will continue breaking it until he is where he needs to be and if she were to choose this, I would do it to her. I wouldn't hesitate.

    "He did say you were always at your most beautiful when you cried," 

    The voice startled me. I hadn't felt a presence and I still don't. I turned around to look in the shadows of the trees behind me. He stepped out of the darkness and smiled at me. 

    "I thought you weren't allowed down here," I didn't realize I had shifted back until just now. He came over to me with a robe on his arm and offered it to me. I took it without hesitation. 

    "What the other gods can't see won't hurt them," he shrugged. 

    "What do you want, Prometheus?" I asked. 

    "Company, I guess," he sat down where I had been looking out towards the water. I sat with him. "It's difficult, huh? To see our greatest creations suffer as they are. To be the cause of their pain. To not have a choice," 

    "Yes," I choked out. 

    "Brandon is doing amazing now. However, there was a time when all he felt was pain. A time when he thought he would rather die than live on. I considered putting him out of his misery several times, but in that last instant, when I thought I had finally made my mind up, I couldn't do it. He's my son. f*****g ass hole that he is, that's my pride and joy. The first of his kind. 

    "I think he saw in you what I saw in him the night he found you. It was why he couldn't just kill you. It's different for you now because you already know what you are. How to control it. How to love it. He as to learn this way. The new generation is soft. They don't want a repeat of the past so they stoop to diplomacy and material-based resolutions. 

    "I'm not supposed to tell you this, war dog, but there's something coming and it's not just out for your head. Everyone and everything is in danger. The boy. The girl. The shadows all have to learn how to fight and they have to learn fast. The reapers are preparing for a m******e," 

    "What?" I asked looking over at him. "That only happens during plagues. When there are massive casualties," 

    "Exactly," he nodded. "Tell the boys that they must teach the young ones how to survive the same way you are teaching the next Rogue King," 

    His body faded away into smoke. I stood up and felt my energy drain. Shifting the way I did, took its toll on me since I haven't done it in a very long time. If what Prometheus said is true, I'm going to need to get back into fighting shape myself. 

    The walk back took way too long. It's dark out now and the wolves have been scattered. They're probably looking for me. Alastair and Astra are standing in the doorway waiting for me. Relief on their face. I probably look like hell. I feel it too. I hadn't fallen apart like this since I found out Naloc was growing inside of me. 

    "We have to talk," I greeted them. Alastair let out a heavy sigh. 

    "Mom?" Astra caught my attention. I smiled at her. 

    "Yes?" 

    "I'm sorry," she jumped into my arms and began to cry. I looked up at Alastair questioningly. 

    "What happened?" I asked. 

    "It was my fault. One of the lycans attacked," he lifted his button up to show me the bite wound on his arm. "She lost control and killed those who weren't able to get away. Including the guards that were with us," 

    "I couldn't stop," she cried gripping my shirt. "I couldn't. I didn't want to. I didn't want to," 

    "Hey," I pulled away from her and smiled. "It's okay. Come on. Let's get you to bed," 

    As we walked inside, I caught the way my dad and Lilith were looking at us. The worry in their eyes is evident. She's going to have trouble with all of this because she wasn't prepared to shift just yet. The hunger in her is a lot stronger than mine and Naloc's. It's closer to Alastair's who can kill a small town in one night if he were to deprive himself of blood. 

    "It's not okay," she cried as I turned the water one for her. 

    I filled the tub with warm water and dropped some lavender scented bath salt into it before motioning her to get in. She stripped down and did as she was told. I sat back, leaning against the tub. I remember when it was me in this tub and Alastair was trying to tell me that I wouldn't exist if I were wrong. How much have we grown?

    "Who told you it wasn't?" I asked. "To be what you are?" 

    "What?" she asked. 

    "Astra, you're a war wolf and you also carry the blood of a vampire born in the early Greek years. Back when Zeus was the big s**t," she giggled. "Have you ever seen anyone question Papa's feeders? Have you ever seen anyone tell grandpa he's wrong for being what he is?" 

    "No," she answered. She's calm now. 

    "That's because there's no shame in what we are. It's not just you, baby. It's all of us. Wolves, vampires, humans. We lose control and s**t happens. The difference between us and them is that there isn't a single person on this earth who can do anything to stop us," 

    "Mom," her playful scolding voice made me smiled and turn to face her.

    "With that being said, you're entitled to feel bad about what you do. It's called having a heart. I'm not saying that you should go around eating whoever and whatever you want. We don't that. We are beasts, but we don't have to the monster they make us out to be. For the most part," I shrugged. She laughed. 

    "How did he do?" she asked. 

    "As expected. You know your brother never lets us down," I swallowed back the knot in my throat. She smiled at me before settling back into the warm water. 

    "If I asked-" she paused. 

    "Yes, I would do the same for you," 

    "I can feel the pain in your soul. You know that right? I know how much this hurts you," 

    "I know you do, princess. But I can take the pain. I will always be able to take the pain so as long as you two live," 

    "Mom?" she called out to me as I made my way out. I looked back at her. 

    "Yes?" 

    "I love you," she smiled. "Forever," 

    "I love you too. Floss. You have wolve meet stuck in your teeth," I winked. She covered her mouth. 

    "Mom, why didn't you tell me? So gross," she got up and reached for her toothbrush. 

    "You were crying. I didn't want to make you feel worse," I laughed. 

    "You're so awkward, mom. Get out," 

    I laughed, feeling a little better about everything that's happened today. Alastair is watching Naloc sleep. I walked into the room to check his temperature to find that he's fine now. The vampire blood in him helps. I wish it was something I had when I was training. I had to heal the old werewolf way. Six days of sleep between each training session. 

    "How did he do?" he asked when I shut the door behind me. Tears filled my eyes again. 

    "Spectacular. Cut his time in half," I wrapped myself around him. He picked me up, wrapping my legs around his waist. 

    "I've tasted the boy's blood. Locating his mother will be simpler," he spoke into my neck. "Are you going to tell me what Prometheus said?" 

    "The robe?" I asked straightening up. He nodded. 

    "And the smell," he led us both into the bathroom and set me down on the toilet. He took his clothes off and then mine. 

    "He said the reapers are on the move," I finally said once we were under the spray of the shower. 

    "Are you sure that's what he said?" he asked sliding his hand between my legs. 

    "I'm sure," I gasped as he pinned me against the wall. 

    "Well, then. We're going to need to use the shelters you had built in every pack," he growled into my ear. 

    "Mhm," I moaned as he started with slow circular motions. 

    "No more crying, my love. You're doing great,"