A True Lifestory: Part 2 A Demon’s Obsession

Chapter 39 The Bargain

[..]

Jaze stared in horror, as he watched Armaros being knocked unconscious, while Stella was clearly in pain from whatever they were doing to her.

“Please, Nathan, think carefully about what you are doing right now, you're throwing everything away, and for what?” Jaze yelled, frustrated, as he tried to talk some sense into Nathan, but when he looked at him, he knew it was futile.

“You’re wrong, Jaze, I’ve already lost everything, I have nothing left.” He replied, as he grabbed hold of Stella, as she passed out. He then picked her up in his arms, but before Jaze was able to see what he planned to do, Dilan stepped in front of him.

“You can tell the Alpha, that if he wishes to see his daughter again – alive – he and the Council should officially announce that they will withdraw from their posts, and then quietly surrender themselves. Tell them they have one week to decide.” Dilan stated calmly, as Jaze frowned.

“Are you all gone mad!” Jaze asked in disbelief, as Dilan gave a firm nod to the one holding Jaze down, before looking back at him.

“One week, Jaze.” He repeated before he was knocked out as well.

----

Jaze woke from the same nightmare again. The last two days after it happened, he still wasn’t able to sleep properly. He headed to the bathroom to get some water and washed his face.

Stella was still missing and Armaros had left the tribe, and no one knew where he had gone to. He had just left the room, while Jaze was explaining everything to Chase and the rest of the Council.

He didn’t even bother to tell anyone where he had gone to. It bothered Jaze because he really had needed to talk to him, as Armaros was the only one beside him who knew what exactly had happened.

“Are you okay, man?” Kyan asked, as he was standing at the door to the bathroom.

“I’m fine, it’s just a headache.” He dismissed, as Kyan looked at him with a bored look.

“Are you really lying to me now? I’m your twin, you can’t lie.” Kyan replied as he hit his arm.

“Hey! Stop it, I’m not in the mood for that right now!” Jaze hissed.

“Oh, so you wanna go there now. Fine, I’ll be you this time then.” Kyan spoke, as he placed his arm around his neck.

“I mean it, Kyan, I’m not doing this with you!” He growled as he pushed him into the wall. Kyan was surprised by Jaze's sudden outburst because he had always been the more joking type, and now his mood had turned pitch black.

“Fine, I’m sorry, I'm just worried about you, that’s all. We all do, but you won’t talk to any of us.”

Kyan explained, as Jaze sighed.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to yell at you, I just.. I feel like this is all my fault, maybe if we had talked to him sooner or..” Jaze started, but Kyan grabbed hold of him.

“No, don’t you dare take responsibility for Nathan’s decisions, we all tried to talk to him, but he pushed everyone away, remember?” He clarified, as he looked at him seriously.

“I guess,” Jaze mumbled, but Kyan shook him.

“Jaze listen! He abandoned us, not the other way around. He didn’t want our help,” Kyan continued, as he kept eye contact.

“You hear me?” He added, as Jaze nodded.

“I do,” Jaze replied.

“Good. You are not to blame, I can assure you that, so try if you can’t at least get an hour of sleep, you're starting to look like a ghost.” Kyan exclaimed, as he hit Jaze’s shoulder and headed back to his room, making Jaze roll his eyes.

“Just so you know, you suck trying to be me!” Jaze stated, before heading back to his own room.

[Three days later]

“You are back?” Chase spoke as he raised an eyebrow, when Armaros stepped in to his office.

“I am.” He replied as he closed the door behind him.

“Who knew, when you just disappeared two days ago without a word?” Chase spoke coldly, as he sat down.

“I didn’t just disappear, I have been searching for Stella, did you expect me to just sit here and wait for you to decide, whether or not you want to do what they want?” Armaros exclaimed.

“Well, I got this yesterday morning.” Chase spoke as he placed a letter he had received on the table. Armaros picked it up, and realized it had all the given details of what they expected from Chase and the Council.

“Then, what do you plan to do?” Armaros asked, while Chase shook his head.

“I have to agree to their terms, I’ll talk to the Council, and we will have to make sure that our families are safe, and then we will surrender.” He stated as he got up from his seat.

“Are you just planning to give up? Don’t you have some kind of plan?” Armaros asked in disbelief.

“My plan is to get my daughter back alive!” Chase growled.

“And I get that, I want her back just as much as you do, but by giving up all power to them, and risking the safety and lives of everyone. How do you know they’re even planning on letting her walk free? They will have you in prison and complete power over the tribe!” Armaros shot back.

“I’m not taking advice from you anymore, Armaros, so shut up! I didn’t even ask you to come back here, so just stay out of it.” Chase warned him, as he looked at Drake, as he cleared his throat.

“What?” He hissed, as Drake took a step closer.

“I have to agree with Armaros on this, you can’t just bow down to an enemy like that,” Drake replied.

“Then what do you expect us to do? They are threatening to kill her, don’t you get it! And we have no idea how many there are left. They could be watching our every move.” He sneered, as he walked up to the door.

“Listen, I’m responsible for this, so I’ll handle it accordingly, as I’ll talk to the Council, so I demand you not to get involved anymore, Armaros, you have already created enough trouble.” Chase ordered, before he walked out of the room.

“I’m sorry Armaros, but when Chase sets his mind to something, he is not a pushover.” Drake spoke, as Armaros stared at the door.

“Neither am I.” He replied, before he walked out as well, and headed back to the house.

He walked directly to his room and smacked the door, before he sat on the bed and buried his face in his hands. He knew he was being blamed for what had happened, and maybe he deserved that.

He had possibly driven Nathan to madness. He only took Stella to get back at him for that, and that was the reason why he had used two days to try to solve it, but unfortunately without any luck.

“If I just had something to help me figure out where they are, I wouldn’t just sit here.” He hissed.

But when he picked up his phone, he realized he had received a message on his phone.

He frowned at the text, though he had gotten a lot of them lately as the others had constantly pestered him about his whereabouts, but this seemed different.

The text was from an unknown number, but as he read it, he immediately headed for the door.

“Dagon, I need your help!” He yelled as he pulled the door open.

----

Later that night, Armaros drove to an area 35 minutes from the tribe. The message he received had a map of the exact location where he needed to show up. It clearly stated he should show up alone, but as always, Armaros didn’t listen, so he brought Dagon.

“I don’t see anyone, are you certain this is the right place?” Dagon asked as both of them stepped out of the car and held on to their guns.

“Positive, or maybe someone is pulling a prank on me.” He growled, annoyed, as they continued to head further in to the dark landscape, covered with dense bushes and trees.

The sun had just set, so it was almost impossible to secure the area. But as he was turning his back to Dagon, he suddenly heard something fall to the ground with a big thud.

Armaros was surprised by the loud noise, and soon realized it came from Dagon, who was lying completely still.

The sudden attack surprised him because he didn’t even see or hear anyone. When he squatted down to check Dagon’s pulse, he heard a voice.

“Relax, he’s not dead, I just knocked him out.” It spoke, as Armaros then began to search in every direction, for the potential threat, but he was still unable to decipher its location.

“Who’s there?” He called out, but then his gun suddenly flew out of his hand, as he heard footsteps coming towards him.

“You really suck at following even the simplest instructions, don’t you? I specifically told you to come alone.” The voice stated as he heard the footsteps slow down.

“What can I say? I’m not a very trustful guy.” Armaros replied, as a shadow walked forward, into the moonlight, so he finally was able to see the face of the voice that somehow seemed familiar to him.

“You!” Armaros blurred out in, stunned when he realized it was Ezra.

“Yes, it’s me, what a surprise,” he stated sarcastically.

“You asked me to meet you, why?” Armaros asked, as Ezra stared at him plainly.

“To give you this.. It’s a magical device, it’s like a GPS, if you follow the location it’s pointing at, you will find what you are searching for.” He stated, as he placed it in Armaros’ hand.

“And what is it I’m searching for?” He asked suspiciously, not sure if he should trust anything he said.

“Those who took Stella.” He clarified, as Armaros' eyes widened, and his breath shortly hitched.

“She is still there with them, I have seen her. But they are clearly planning on making a deal with your father, so you should probably hurry. I’m not certain how long they intend to keep her.” He explained.

“And what do you need in return for this information?” Armaros asked hesitantly, making Ezra shake his head.

“Nothing. All I ask is, that you don’t reveal to anyone where you got it from. I won’t risk anything bad happening to my sister.” He spoke, as he began to walk away.

“Wait!” Armaros called, as Ezra paused, but he didn’t turn around nor say anything.

“Thank you for helping me.” Armaros stated, as Ezra finally turned around, as he glared at him.

“I’m not doing this for you, but for Stella. I do not wish for her to end up like my sister, or anyone else Damon has got his filthy hands on. For some of us, other people’s lives actually do matter.” Ezra hissed at him.

Armaros didn’t blame him for that because he understood his contempt against him. The truth was, that he hadn’t cared about anyone, not before he met Stella, so he had no one but himself to blame.

“I know, you probably hate me for what I did, but I mean it when I say, I truly am sorry for what I did to you, and for what happened to your sister.” Armaros revealed, as Ezra frowned.

“I don’t care if you are sorry, your apology means nothing to me! If you wanna make up for what you have done in the past, then prove it through actions, not with meaningless words.” Ezra stated before he disappeared.

[..]

When Dagon woke up, Armaros had left him at the tribe clinic with a small note stating they all had gone away without him, which made him growl annoyed.

“Seriously! What a d**k move, Armaros! You're just going to leave me in a sick bed, not even telling me what happened,” He grumbled to himself, not realizing someone was sitting on his left side.

“You probably should stay in bed, you got yourself a pretty nasty hit to the head,” a voice stated, making him jump slightly, when he was about to step out of bed.

When he turned around he realized it was Bella, who he hadn’t been speaking to, or let alone seen close up, since everything had happened back when he and Morax had locked them up.

“What are you doing here?” Dagon asked, confused, as she just sat there quietly.

“I’m working part-time at the clinic. After all those incidences lately, you could say I’m getting pretty good at treating head injuries. Now sit down, so I can look at it,” She ordered, as he looked skeptically at her, but decided to do as she said.

She began cleaning the wound on his head, as he observed her while she did so.

“If you wanna say something, then just say it, I won’t bite,” She suddenly spoke without ever taking her eyes off the wound.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” He asked, as she finally looked at him with a puzzled look.

“I’m not sure that I follow?” She stated, while a small cough left her lips.

“You know who I am, and what I did, and still, you're sitting here in the middle of the night treating me, and small talking, like nothing happened between us, why?” He asked, as she paused and looked at him.

“You want me to run away screaming or yell at you? Is that what you think I should do?” she asked him, as he shrugged.

“I don’t know, maybe, something like that,” he spoke.

“Okay, let me ask you another way, do you wish to hurt me right now?” She spoke, as he frowned.

“No, of course not, but back then I.. Shouldn’t you hate me?” He spoke confused, as she smiled.

“And what would I gain from hating you?” She asked, as she turned her attention back to his wound, but then he took a hold on her hands.

“Why do you keep answering my questions with new questions?” He asked, slightly frustrated, making her face turn more serious.

“‘Cause I do not have an answer to your question, Dagon, I can’t tell you why I don’t hate you, I just.. Don’t,” she replied. For a moment, he just observed her, before he let out a heavy sigh.

“May I get my hands back, so I can finish fixing your wound?” She asked, as he realized, he didn’t let go.

“Oh, right I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” he blurred out, as he let go, and she picked up where she had left.

“Here you go, all fixed and good to go!” She spoke.

“Thanks for the treatment,” Dagon stated in a low voice as she smiled.

“You’re welcome,” She replied, before heading to the door, but then she paused.

“Can I ask you a favor?” Bella questioned, as he looked at her and nodded.

“Of course, what is it?” He asked as she looked outside the hall, making sure no one listened.

“Promise me you won’t keep blaming yourself for silly mistakes, okay? You actually seem like a pretty decent guy when you want to,” She spoke, before she walked out the door. Leaving Dagon slightly confused.

[..]

Armaros left the tribe with all his men. He left in the middle of the night to make sure no one saw them, even though it meant he had to leave Dagon behind.

He had no idea who was working with the group, so he wasn’t going to risk them alerting Nathan and the rest, who were keeping a hold on Stella. He needed her back and every minute that passed by, without her being by his side, felt like torture.

“Are you really just gonna trust this guy? Aren’t you the least worried that he might just be setting you up?” Corson asked. Of course, the thought had crossed his mind, but for some reason he knew this wasn’t a setup. Ezra might have hated him, but his hate for Damon seemed bigger.

“Well, you know what they say, your enemy’s enemy is your friend.” Armaros stated, as Corson, and Baal frowned.

“Are you sure they didn’t hit your head too hard the other day? Cause you sure start to sound like you got some kind of brain damage.” Baal asked.

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” Armaros assured them.

----

“Don’t kill anyone unless it’s necessary!” Armaros stated before they headed into the area.

“Fück, what the hell are they doing here?” Someone yelled, as some started running and others began defending themselves.

Armaros knocked out a few who tried to attack him, but when his eyes fell on a familiar face, he shot him in the leg.

“Don’t try anything stupid!” Armaros growled, at Dilan, as he was holding on to his bleeding leg.

“Baal, see if you can find Stella!” Armaros yelled, as he didn’t take his eyes off Dilan. He held him at gunpoint, but what annoyed him the most was that Dilan just grinned as he shook his head.

“You really can’t follow rules, can you?” He asked.

“Like I said before, I don’t follow rules, I break them,” Armaros stated coldly.

“Well, I hope you will love the result of that.” He chuckled, making Armaros knit his eyebrows, not getting what he was trying to say.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He hissed, but Dilan just shook his head.

“I guess you’ll see for yourself soon enough.” He stated, as it was clear to Armaros, he was mocking him.

“I’m done listening to your shít.” He growled before he cuffed him and forced him into the van.

Normally, in these kinds of situations, he didn’t take hostages, but in this case, he decided it would be best.