Beyond Beta's Rejection

Elias

I watched the scenery rush past as I stared out of the passenger window. We were back in the car, and had been for the last half an hour. Harper had been eager to get to this witch as quickly as possible. I could see the frustration on her face as Drake insisted on showing her how to seek out and identify the Divine grace, or whatever it was. It had taken her a couple of hours before she suddenly seemed to feel something. The expression of excitement on her face as she said she could feel the other warrior was almost infectious.

Almost. I wanted to be happy for this newfound strength of hers, and I was happy. I didn’t like how she had been struggling over the past six months. The exhaustion from using her angel blade was getting worse, and I had been worried that she would burn out, for good this time. Drake assured me that now that Harper had fully accepted her place within the Divine Order that there would be no energy drain anymore. But I wasn’t sure if I liked that this meant that the demon master, which was what my demon unsettlingly referred to him as, had easier access to Harper in her dreams.

“So where are we going, exactly?” Katie asked Harper from the backseat. She and Marcus had joined us on the Journey. Katie had stated that she was bored with all the books, which Aaron had apologised with a bashful look on his face. While Marcus was refusing to leave Harper’s side, especially with recent developments. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. I was happy that Marcus wanted to protect Harper, it was his job as my Gamma, being that Harper was my Luna, even if she avoided the title. But there was also a part of me that felt a little resentful. Marcus had been loyal to me for years, and he still was, but was he now more loyal to Harper, and was this an issue. I looked over to see Harper glancing in the rear-view mirror with a grin on her face, before returning her eyes to the road. She had told me she would drive as it would be easier than trying to navigate.

“I dunno,” she said, “It’s not like a GPS where you get a location or anything. It’s just a feeling, like a light.”

“So you’re following the light?” Katie asked and Harper nodded.

“Yeah, pretty much.” Drake had explained that the Divine Warriors were connected by their grace. It was part of a whole and the need to reconnect in one form was strong enough that they could feel each other, even from afar. Up close, they each had a shimmer to them. I had of course noticed the shimmer in her fur when Harper shifted into her wolf but Harper said that she could see the same light around both Drake and Brighid. She said it was stronger on Drake, which Drake had explained that it was because her connection ran through Drake, He was the one to guide her through the initial process and, as such was her mentor. When Harper used the grace in her combat against the demon bloods, it would be Drake that she would draw the energy from. He said this was why it needed to be Harper that guided the witch through the same process, so that the distribution of drain was balanced between all four of them. And that it would take all four of them, and their ability to cycle the energy to gain the required power to shut down the seal again.

I personally didn’t understand any of it. I had been unofficially working with the Order for several years, but had never known the vast amount of resources, or significance that they held in this ongoing battle. I assumed that was by design and wondered if my contacts had known all along that I was a demon b***d.

I still had so many questions about who I was and what it meant. Not to mention the obvious fact that for some reason my demon was different to others. They had all seemed power hungry, and single-minded over their goal of bringing their masters to the surface. Not him though, he seemed happy as long as I was around Harper. In fact, he seemed actively against the idea of his master escaping hell.

The demon in question grunted in the background of my racing thoughts. I knew he could hear my thoughts, and I knew he was vocal on them too. The last six months had been a transition for me too. Before meeting Harper I had not only not known what it was that I was dealing with, but I had rarely, if ever, had any sort of communication with him. When I got angry, he would be able to push forward and then I would blink and the room would be destroyed, or someone would be in a crumpled heap against a wall, and I would have lost anywhere from half an hour to days of time from my life. But now he was ever present in my mind. Almost to the point that my own wolf, Jax, was invisible. It had been so long since I had been able to shift and go for a run. Harper had mentioned something similar. It wasn’t that Maia had disappeared, but that she had taken a major backseat in their shared consciousness.

“It’s for your own good,” the demon grunted. “Your weak human body wouldn’t survive if all three of us were fighting for dominance all the time.” I scoffed in return.

“Sure, my weak human side is the dominant here,” I said.

“Only because I allow it,” he replied with a growl, “It might take some effort, but I could take over that body.” I shook my head and looked over at Harper. She glanced my way for a second and smiled. She took her hand from the steering wheel to rub my arm affectionately before focusing on her driving again. It was only brief, but her touch was amazing. It was like she soothed something inside me, helping me to think.

“It is her, you know,” my demon said. “She’s the reason that we are so strong, and she is the reason that I don’t fight you for dominance. It’s safer for her that way.”

“How is it safer?” I asked with a glance at Harper, making sure I was asking in my head and not out loud again. “Are you a danger to her?” The demon scoffed in return.

“Not me,” he grunted, “but master is. He wants to not only rule over Heaven and Hell and everything in between, but he wants to consume her most of all. His need for conquering is strong and by the very essence of who they are, he sees her as a challenge. If he gets his own way, he will see her on her knees at his feet.”

“Well, that isn’t going to happen,” I said, and he grunted again.

“As long as we keep ourselves in check, and don’t let his hunger for violence and domination consume us then we can protect her.”

“Violence and domination?” I didn’t like the sound of that, or more, how the very words sent a shiver of excitement down my spine.

“Do you really think that your desire to hold on to the packs that you took from the Circle is for their benefit?” the demon grunted. “No, my weak friend, you are just acting out the influence of the b***d of our master.” Then quieter, “We both are.” The shame in his tone piqued my interest.

“You don’t like your master?” I asked.

“Our master,” he grunted again, “Much like you, I don’t like to be controlled and I feel his influence, and stronger each day.” I felt a stirring in my head, much like the demon was pacing in there. We lapsed into silence as the frustration and worry swirled around me.

“It’s easier when we are with her,” he finally said, breaking the silence. “It’s like a calm comes across me. Like I can think for myself, and not for him.” I understood what he was saying. I felt the calm around Harper. Even the lightest and fleeting touches sent a ripple of calm through me. Like I had been at war my whole life and she allowed me to rest and begin to heal the wounds that all these years had created. The demon chuckled.

“That is an apt description,” he said, “at war.” He chuckled again, and I felt like I was missing some sort of inside joke. Then his tone sobered up.

“I’m trying to resist him, but he is strong and determined.” he said, “Now that she is fully in her power, our connection is so much stronger, which means so is his. I don’t know how much longer I can fight him, and he is angry with me for doing so.” The concern in his voice was clear and echoed my own concerns, enough that I wondered if we were more alike than I thought. What if the thing that fuelled us both, was the one thing we were trying to resist the most?

I was pulled from my thoughts by a hand on my arm. I didn’t need to look to see who it was, as the calming balm worked its way through my soul. Even the demon sighed as I looked around and saw Harper smiling at me. I hadn’t realised that the car had stopped.

“We are here,” she said. I smiled and nodded as I unbuckled my seatbelt and jumped out of the car. Immediately, the fresh crisp sea air hit me and I was greeted with a view of a grey blue expanse of sea. I looked around for Harper and saw her talking to Marcus.

“If I fail, human,” the demon grunted again, “If I can’t hold on for much longer, then you have to promise to protect our angel, be ready to sacrifice all that you are to stop her from coming to harm. Will you do that, human?” I nodded at the urgency in his voice.

“I promise.”