Dark Moon (ManxMan)

Colson wasn't fine.

Colson wasn't fucking fine.

They hadn't been able to find her. And now that he knows Aetos was aging back, he was noticing little changes here and there.

It has been days but he still hasn't lost hope. Isn't that funny? Back then his hope had been flickering and now it's just there, certain and strong like how we go to sleep knowing the sun will still rise.

It's been days and he hasn't seen the bitch witch. He has taken to sitting with Aetos and just being around him. His boyfriend was getting worse by the day. Sometimes he'd go to the pack house to see Cobie who was getting closer and closer, his tummy looking bigger each day.

It was going to suck if he gets killed before he got to see the twins. He was pretty sure they were going to name the boy twin Colson.

That was another reason to fight. Colson has been making this list in his head, giving himself reasons to fight and not give up. Number one on that list was Aetos.

Today, Aetos had his speakers on, phone connected to it. Trampoline by Shaed and Zayn playing through the speakers. The curtains were drawn and Aetos was seated, elbow on his thighs and face in his hands, skin an alarming yellow color. Colson wants to write something but he'd get really weak two words or letters in. So he settles for being beside his boyfriend.

He doesn't know how long he sits there. He's startled out of watching Aetos when he hears a knock on the door and Pytor comes in.

"Aetos..."

Aetos could hardly raise his head. Pytor appears beside him in a flash and gently lays him on the bed. Colson had his finger in his mouth, teeth biting at the nails.

Colson crawls up the bed, watching Aetos with worried eyes. He tries to place his hand on Aetos' but like always he could not touch. He watched Pytor pull out his phone from his pocket and called someone.

He wasn't listening though. He was just staring at Aetos who was blinking slowly. Colson remembers Aetos drinking blood a couple nights ago. He shouldn't be this weak. Oh fuck!

"It's sad isn't it?" A familiar voice said and Colson looks at her. She looked like she had emerged from the shadows.

"YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" Colson screamed at her.

"I'm doing no such thing. You are the one killing him." The woman said and Colson glared at her. She was in her usual black attire. Only today, it was a gown, it was black jeans and a black long sleeved shirt, her large hat on her head, obscuring half of her face.

"Why is he like this? I saw him feed like a couple days ago!"

"I think you mean a month ago." The bitch witch said, walking over to where Pytor was standing. What! That couldn't be right? He had been here a few days ago. He had written on the wall a few days ago, he had seen Aetos drink from his flask then. What the hell is she saying.

"You're lying."

"I don't have time for lies. It's been a month since he has drank anything." The bitch witch said. "He's becoming human so blood wouldn't fill him up anymore. He has to eat and drink."

The door to the room was pushed open and Erik walked in. Colson silently hoped Toby came with.

Oh god. If what she was true, then Cobie was eight months along. He really might miss the birth of the twins. Colson gets off the bed and lunged at the bitch witch.

It catches her by surprise, judging my the loud gasp she had let out and the way her head snapped to the side when he slapped her. He had been raised not to hit women. But this thing, this lady beside him wasn't a woman. She was just evil. "You want me! You can have me but leave him alone!" Colson said, gripping the witch by the shoulder, her cap shifting a bit.

He's sent flying backwards when she grips his hand and pushed. He hits the floor with a groan but gets to his feet quickly.

"You never listen! I'm not doing anything. You are."

"You said I offended you. Fine, you can punish me! Just let me return to him, if I'm by his side, if he can touch me he would feel better!"

The bitch witch lets out a cackle, hand going underneath her hat as she wiped her face.

"I told you, you were going to feel the same thing I did when I lost my mate. This is your punishment."

"You are sick!" Colson reaches for her again, his fist connecting to her stomach. She double over with a groan but still gets back up. If he needed this to work, he was going to have to pull off the fucking hat.

"It's rude to hit a woman."

"You are not a woman." Colson snarls at her The bitch witch laughed. "You annoy me, little fish."

"It's not my fault you're an ugly piece of shit." Colson snapped back. The woman scoffed and snapped her fingers, her lips pulled into a smirk.

Colson's hands move by themselves. Hitting him right in the eyes. He had seen something like this once on the tv and had found it hilarious. But it isn't. It hurts like a bitch.

"Don't make me angry! You don't know what I'll do!" She said and I scoffed. My eyes was throbbing, so was my knuckle but at least I could control my limbs again.

"You know, I never knew why you referred to yourself as Baba Yaga. Wasn't the woman an ugly bi- oh. I see why now."

The witch snarled at Colson. She was suddenly in front of him, hands around his neck.

"Maybe that's why he left you. He knew there was no other way to escape you, so he chose to die." Colson said, in a bored tone, head tilted a bit to the side. He was thrown across the room for the second time, his head hitting the wall harshly. "You don't know what you're talking about!"

Colson shrugged. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. Shit. It hurt like hell. He could see like tiny stars with his eyes closed. He could hear Erik saying something.

He blinks his eyes open when the bitch witch comes to stand in front of him. Colson was actually impressed with her hat. It had budged all this while. It still sat perfectly on her head. He wondered where she got it from. "Why did you kill all those people? You could have just come and taken me. Why all the games?" Colson asked her, his head lolling to the side a bit.

"It wouldn't have been fun would it? You were already weak, it wouldn't have been fun just killing you. So I had to make it fun. I had to make it hurt. Starting out with Michel. I don't know what you ever saw in that one." Colson winced. He remembered being beaten up in the forest by Michel, he remembered being called a used condom, he remembered the fear from not being able to tell anyone who had made him all black and blue. He had blamed an innocent man for something he didn't do. And it was all thanks to this manipulative bitch.

"You fucking suck!" Colson said, his head snapping to the side by the hard slap he got from the bitch witch.

"Don't tell me you still like that dog?"

"It's none of your business."

The bitch witch squats, looking at him through the black veil on her hat. "It's my business though. I want to make it hurt! I want you to feel a thousand times more than the pain I felt when my mate died!"

"It must suck to be in your shoes. I know that I would go crazy if something happens to Aetos. I understand you pain. I k-"

"You know nothing." She snapped, nails digging into my jeans. "He died because of you and all your family's drama. Prophecy my ass."

Colson had to take deep breaths, he was in so much pain.

"I tried playing with Cobie. His took a lot of strength and magic and all it got was for him to be a little hostile to Gabriel. That's all I got. He was too strong but once you're dead and he's stricken with grief, it would be easy to manipulate. Maybe I'll make him kill Erik. Maybe I'll show up in front of him, looking like you. I'd keep telling him it was his fault you died. Maybe that would kill the little shits he has in his stomach."

"DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH THEM!"

"You don't tell me what to do!" The bitch witch snapped, her nails digging more and more into Colson's legs.

"You suck. Fuck! I hate you so much."

"All I'm hearing is a whining bitch."

Colson wanted to roll his eyes at this woman. He had heard tales of people losing their minds after losing their mates. But that wasn't possible. Cobie and Erik were the first mates in hundreds of years. So this bitch witch must have lost her mind.

She had lost her husband or boyfriend. The love of her life. He could understand her thinking they were mates. Colson looks over at Aetos.

His boyfriend was lying on the bed, Pytor and Erik on either side of him. Colson watched the subtle rise and fall of his chest. Colson wanted to hold him, to fall asleep to the beat of Aetos' heart.

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Colson lets out a loud groan when he's slapped again, her nails dragging down his cheek. It hurt. Fuck, did it hurt.

"You can't help him."

"Thank you, captain obvious." Colson replied with a loud groan.

The bitch witch wrapped her hands around Colson's throat, her teeth bared. Colson had to blink several times so his vision wasn't blurry. It was harder than they had planned. But he had to go through this. He had to go through the pain. "What if he could see you now? Your mate? What would he say to you?" Colson asked, his voice coming out croak like. Talking hurt. The grip she had on his throat tightened.

"Would he love you?" Colson asked and the bitch witch dropped her hands. It seemed like had gotten to her, she looked shook. Her hands were still held out in front of her and Colson could finally breathe properly. "You know nothing."

"You're going to kill me, you might as well tell me." Colson said. "Who am I going to tell? Jesus? The moon goddess?"

"You talk too much." The bitch witch snapped at him and Colson, too weak to talk, trying to muster up enough energy, shrugged his shoulders, wincing a bit at the pain.

"It's one of my many charms."

"He would understand! He would still love me and because of you, he died!"

"Hey. I didn't ask him to come and save me. I still got out without his help."

Colson wasn't really surprised when she grabbed his ankle and snapped. Colson lets out a loud scream, his eyes squeezed shut as he tries to hold down the pain. When he finally opens his eyes, he looks down at his legs, fighting back the urge to cry when he sees his foot hanging at an awkward angle.

"Doing this won't bring him back."

"No it won't. I have tried that and it doesn't work."

"You failed." Colson laughed, the sound coming off in gasps. "It must be why you're hiding your face. You must be ugly. Maybe your mate ran into the fire so he wouldn't have to see your face ever again."

The bitch witch didn't say anything but Colson could see the tick in her jaw. He could see the twitch of her fingers.

"It's something I might do too. If Aetos wasn't my mate and he had this ugly personality that matched his face." Colson coughed. "Like ugh. I'd do what I can to be away."

"You want to see my face? Why? It's not like you could tell people to look for me, can you?" The bitch witch said and Colson snorts, letting out a silent gasp of pain afterwards. "You made me invisible. I walk through walls. You've beaten me up so bad and I have screamed and yet..." Colson trails off, moving his gaze to the bed where Aetos was.

"It's painful isn't it? You're here. You're dying. Your mate is there and he's dying too. His yellow skin makes me disgusted."

"To each their own. If you think Aetos isn't gorgeous then you must be dumb as fuck. Or blind. Can you even see? With that that blocking off your face? If Aetos is ugly to you, then your husband must have been the ugliest son of a bitch that has walked the eart-"

Colson's words were cut off when he's hit in the stomach. He hunched over, coughing. Everywhere ached. It would be easy to heal all this. He just had to soak himself in the bathtub.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING! MY MATE WAS AN EVEN BETTER LOOKING MAN THAT THE BLOOD DRINKER! MY MATE WAS A G-"

"You've forgotten that I grew up in that town. You've also forgotten that I saw him die. He was t that special. At best I would give him a six. Over ten. An extra mark for coming to try and save me."

The bitch witch lifts Colson up by his shirt and flung him across the room. Colson lets out a shout when he lands on his broken ankle. Fuck! It hurt. It hurt. His eyes sting with oncoming tears but he couldn't cry now. He wouldn't give her that satisfaction. He just has to take it. He just has to take it all.

"What was his name? Let me gues..." Colson took a deep breath "Elijah? Or was it Alex? Jebidiah? Constantine?"

The bitch witch wraps her hand around the ankle she had snapped and squeezed. Colson hits his head against the wall, eyes squeezed shut as he screamed in pain.

"You should stop talking before I do more than snap your ankle."

"Constantine and bitch with sitting on a tree. Fuckin-"

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Colson lets out a loud groan when he's punched again, his words dying in his throat. The hit was harder than the last time. His face was red, the veins in his neck straining.

"Do you.... what if he ran into the house because he had been in love with our mother and wanted to save her and not me?" Colson gasped, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "Did you ever think about that? Our mother was so beautiful. Her long brown hair, her smooth skin, her beautiful blue eyes. She was perfect but you....tsk tsk tsk""

The bitch witch tears off the hat. "Your mother was nothing compared to my beauty. I, Bridget, was the most beautiful woman in that village."

The bitch with had dark hair that was pulled tight to the back in a low ponytail, she was pale, skinny, her pupils were pitch black and she had thin lips. Colson couldn't help but snort again.

She had given up both her name and appearance.

Plus. She was no one close to his mother's beauty.

"Put the hat back on, you look like Casper the ghost." Colson wheezed out. The bitch witch looked she had enough, she was about to reach for his neck when she's stopped suddenly.

There's a hand holding her neck.

Aetos was holding her by the neck.

Colson couldn't belive it. He couldn't stop staring. Before the bitch witch could do more than blink, Aetos dug his fingers into her eyes and pulled them out. Bridget let out a blood curling scream as she crumbles to the floor. Aetos was looking around the room. So were Erik and Pytor.

"WHERE IS HE?" Aetos snapped, fingers coming up to press at something in his ear. Colson couldn't help but smirk. It had worked.

They got her.

Everything was beginning to rush forward, all the pain. Colson wanted to sleep. He was tired. They had been playing this game for too long and being an annoying shit took more from him than usual.

Aetos was yelling, so was the bitch witch. Erik held her down while Pytor drew a symbol on her forehead that made her pass out. No one was looking their way. They couldn't see him.

The second phase of the plan didn't work then.

Colson finally let go. He finally cried. He lets out body racking sobs, tears streaming down his face. It hurts to cry. It hurts to breathe. It hurt to watch Aetos. But that was all he had to do. That was all he wanted to do.

Aetos was yelling something but Colson couldn't hear it. It sounded muffled to him. He leaned his head forward and cried. The crying turns into painful wheezing. She must have fractured something inside when she punched him. Bridget was a bitch witch with the strength of a wolf.

He needed to sleep.

Colson blinks once.

The door to the room was burst open and Toby ran in.

Colson blinks twice.

Toby was pointing at him.

Colson blinks three times and falls to the ground, hitting his head against the ground. His lips part as he struggled to breathe through his mouth.

Colson blinks one more time.

And he feels it. He feels Aetos' hands on his shoulder. He tries to open his eyes, to show Aetos that he was fine. But he couldn't. Maybe he should just sleep. All the screaming and yelling hurt.

Aetos was safe. Cobie and the pups were safe. His friends were safe.

It was time to sleep.

So he does.