Chapter 158: Chapter 158

158 Chapter 158 : Labors of love

The man was tall, lean yet well built, he had a full head of lush red mid length hair and a pair of bi- colored wings. His skin was smooth yet slightly pale and his forehead was fitted with a pair of small horns. It was clear the stranger was of a nosferatu decent, but not like any Gareth had ever seen.

The woman who was standing defensively by the man’s side was not any less perplexing as him. Her slightly pointy ears and fangs indicated she too was a nosferatu, a wingless one. But regardless of this fact, her feet hovered slightly above the ground. That was some sort of magic wasn’t it? Gareth knew that the nosferatu had one or two abilities each, at most three, but they weren’t equivalent to magic. Only the nosferatu of royal blood had some magical abilities, like how Melissa could control shadows. Were these people of nosferatu royalty? Could they be Melissa’s relatives?

“Who are you?” Gareth questioned the man next to him.

“Are you really going to start asking me questions now?” Aiden responded as he flared his large powerful wings open, “have you forgotten that we are in a rather compromising situation?”

The roar of the monster pulled Gareth’s attention from Aiden, he was right, this was no time to interrogate him. That would be done later after they had killed this monstrosity.

“Light magic..” Aiden spoke as his wings flapped and carried him from the ground, “have you mastered it yet?”

“Light magic?” Gareth had never used it, he actually had never even thought about it. He had only manage to control the plants around him and once he controlled water, but never light.

“It can be just as potent and as deadly as any other magic you can use,” Aiden explained, “we’re going against a beast of darkness, light magic is the only thing that can kill it.”

The monster jumped towards the men unexpectedly, Gods, if the men didn’t move in time it was going to crush them with its massive limbs. Aiden turned towards Gareth’s allies and flapped his wings vigorously, forming a powerful gust of wind that pushed them backwards. The creature landed not too far from where they had been standing, cracking the ground with its immense weight.

.....

“Move!” Gareth yelled at his men, “get to safety, we can take care of things here!”

Finwe looked up at the winged man and the woman by his side, and then shifted his eyes back to Gareth, “but brother...!”

“Move Finwe!” Gareth yelled as he took a firm battle stance, “now!”

Zander grabbed Finwe by the hand and pulled him, “Let’s go, we’ll only get in the way.” He smiled warmly at the blonde prince, “he’s got this, he’s more powerful than you think.”

When the men had all moved to a safe distance from what was about to be a battlefield, Aiden nodded at Theodora who zipped through the air towards the monster’s face. She closed her eyes and began to chant some words in an unknown language while moving her right hand in a circular motion. And out of nowhere large black chains erupted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the creature’s neck and limbs.

“Now elven prince!” Theodora called out to Gareth, “I can only hold it for a little while! Use light magic!”

Gareth looked down at his hands and then back up at the creature, how was he going to use something he had never used before. No, he had to try, he had used other types of magic before so this shouldn’t be so hard. Besides, he had no choice, if he failed they were as good as dead.

The dark haired elven prince spotted a pool of light that was pouring in through a crack in the canopy of trees and began walking towards it. If he could somehow collect, control and weaponize the light, he would be able to end this.

Gareth halted at the center of the pool of light and drew in a breath, he was a high elf, he could do this, he had to, for his men, and for Melissa. The dark Aztec signs on Gareth’s forehead started spreading, moving down his neck and flaring down his hands and legs, his eyes went completely purple and an eerie glow emitted from them.

Zander who was watching everything from afar gasped and took a step back, that power, he had never seen it being used before.

Gareth placed his palms together, the gesture causing the light around him to begin swirling like a whirl of bright air currents. With three fingers folded like a peace hand sign, he directed the light toward the chained monster. The light rays moved at an incredible speed, changing their shape from whisps of light to large sharp luminous blades.

Aiden moved back as the blades of light skewered through the creature causing splatters of blood to be thrown everywhere. The creature released a high pitched screech and Gareth twisted his hands making the blades twist as well.

Aiden then rose from the ground and flew towards the creature. When he inched closer to its head, he extended his red wing and dragged it across the monster’s throat.

The men who were watching all looked away from the gruesome site and flinched when they heard something big and heavy land on the ground. When they turned to see what was going on, they saw Gareth who was covered in dark markings from head to toe, with flaring purple eyes, Aiden who had horns, wings and was covered in a whole lot of blood, and Theodora who too was covered in blood. The three stood in front of the decapitated head of the monster with bone chilling smiles on their faces. It was at that moment that the men felt the gap of power between them and these three beings.

A little black raven that was perched in a tree not too far from the seen fluttered it’s wings and flew toward some hills at a distance. Oh what an incredible thing it had just witnessed, this was going to make for an excellent song to sing to its master’s ears.

*

Melissa turned to the door that had just opened and smiled at the red haired woman who had just walked in.

“Mother good afternoon,” she spoke with a smile.

Marceline pulled a chair and sat next to her daughter who was sitting comfortably in a sofa by the window. “How are you feeling honey?” The woman asked as she cupped her daughter’s chin, “you seem stressed, stress is not good for the-” the nosferatu queen stopped herself before she revealed more than she should. She cleared her throat and gently stroked Melissa’s chin, “stress is not good for you, you’ll get wrinkles.”

“Wrinkles are the least of my worries mother,” Melissa responded as she closed the book she had been reading and placed it down on the sofa.

“What’s bothering you?”

“I don’t know how long I can live like this mother,” Melissa muttered sorrowfully, “Elric is going to run me mad. One minute he is loving and wants to build me libraries, and the next he is angry and asking me why our attraction is falling out.” Melissa placed her hands on her lap and sighed, “I can’t tell wether he is still in love with me or he hates me, I never know which Elric to expect when comes to lie next to me at night, it’s exhausting. And it’s bad enough that-” Melissa paused and looked to the side.

Marceline cupped her daughter’s cheek and gently stroked it with her thumb, “it’s bad enough that you don’t love him?”

“Don’t say it so casually mother,” Melissa whispered as she looked back at the door, “what if someone hears you.”

“Well it’s no secret that your heart belongs to Gareth honey,” Marceline spoke softly, “he is your blood half is he not?”

Melissa gasped and then pursed her lips, he was. Gareth was her half and she was going mad without him, “even if that is the case, there’s nothing I can do. Elric has leverage on me, if I try to leave or Gareth comes here to take me, Elric will kill us all.”

Marceline moved to sit beside Melissa and pulled her daughter into her embrace, “one thing I can tell you honey, is that the bond of a blood half surpasses all bonds. I can assure you that Gareth is doing everything in his power to reunite with you.”

“You think so?”

“If you think the lycan law of mates is a big deal,” Marceline explained with a smile, “you’ll be surprised to what lengths halves would go for each other.” The red haired queen brought her hand to Melissa’s belly, “especially when there’s new life involved.”

Melissa furrowed her brows and looked up at her mother, “what do you mean by that.”

Marceline let go of Melissa and stood up, “oh nothing, I’m just trying to sound wise.” She then reached for her daughter’s hand and gestured her to stand up, “come now, there’s two women I sense approaching that you will love to see again.”