Defiance: The Hybrid's Tale

Nathan Underhill.

The doors of the chamber burst open as my mom, and aunts rushed into the room. Alex’s yells slashed the air. I flinched every time, biting down on my lips. He didn’t deserve this. None of us deserved my grandfather’s hatred, but I guessed some fuckers didn’t give a shit. They’d kill their own families off for the measly bit of power they could gather up into their nasty little clutches.

My aunt Aveny rushed up to my cousin and frantically man-handled him to see what was wrong with him. Alex didn’t look healthy in the slightest: his tanned complexion turned white, he broke out in a cold sweat and began hyperventilating. We had to clamp his limbs down onto the table to prevent him from hurting himself. It broke my heart to see my cousin like this.

“What happened to him!?” my aunt Aveny cried out, wiping his sweat-drenched hair out of his face.

Alex tried to yank his right arm out of my grasp, but I tightened my grip. “It’s blood magic,” I said with a grunt, and pointed to the black patch of skin on his chest.

“Goddess!” My aunt gasped while touching the affected area and then pulling away quickly, as if it burned her.

My mom inspected the wound. “We have to hurry. The longer he stays under the spell’s influence, the worse off he’ll be.”

Adam walked up to me with a frown etched on his handsome face. I pointed to Alex’s arm, and without a word needed, he took in my place, keeping my cousin’s arm restrained. I walked around the table and took my place above his head. Reaching down, I placed my hands on either side of his face.

“Nathan, what are you doing?” said my mom.

“We need to keep the spell from reaching his mind. Once they gain control of Alex’s mind, grandfather can control him like a puppet on a string. No doubt he already knows where we are.”

“How?” a sharp voice entered the fray. Lawrence, the Alpha, strutted into the chamber with my father and his gamma in tow.

“The spell is a scrying spell with a bloody twist,” my aunt Cassy said, rubbing my other aunt’s back. “A blood magic spell that seeks those who have fled into hiding by using their captured kin as an anchor.”

My breath froze in my throat while an icy shiver raked down my spine. It only meant one thing. My grandfather used my uncle as an anchor. And that meant he was probably not alive anymore. Fuck! How could my uncle have been so caught up in my grandfather’s schemes? He must have known that my grandfather didn’t give a fuck about his family and would have used him in any manner the old fuck deemed fit.

The spell was a sick bit of sorcery that used the heart of a bloodcaster’s victim as its source. When blood witches attacked their enemies, they kept their enemy’s next of kin alive if they were fortunate to escape. But even then, the bloodcasters could use the escapees’ family members as anchors to track them down.

“My grandfather must have killed my uncle... using his heart to solicit Alex’s whereabouts. The old geezer must have realized that Alex has fled with you.” I turned to my aunts. “He’s using the parental bond as a tracking device.”

Joshua took the opportunity to gloat. “See, Alpha. You looked in the wrong place for your mole. As I said, there are many ways for the lunatic to track them down and—”

“Not now, Joshua!” The Supreme made her presence known. “There’s a life at stake.”

Joshua bowed his head and muttered, “Sorry, mother.”

I had to agree with the Supreme. This wasn’t the time for gloating. Not while my cousin could die. Most likely, that was going to happen if we did nothing about it. Blood magic usually had a price, and a life was the cost. I gnawed on my teeth trying to find a means of saving Alex, but we were running out of time. What to do? What to do? I watched on helplessly as my aunts bickered back and forth, trying to come up with a solution. Even I was stumped. Eventually, the blood witches were able to break through the mental blocks I erected and when that happened...

No, there had to be a way.

“Overload the connection,” I said as the answer stumbled into my brain.

All the eyes in the room shifted toward me. “What?” said my mom.

“Overload the connection,” I repeated. It could work; it had to. “We force magic into the connection and overload the anchor—”

“But that’s dangerous, son. It could kill Alex.”

I shook my head. “Not if I cut the connection before it destabilizes.”

Aveny glanced between those present in the room and then gently caressed her son’s sweaty face. “Is it possible?”

The Supreme stepped up and said, “It is... but it’s also risky. One second out of sync and you could shatter your mind.” Her blue, knowing eyes held the truth of the dangers involved.

“You gotta be humping me,” shouted Adam, gripping my shoulder. “I won’t let you do this. It’s crazy!”

I slapped his hand away and said, “It’s not your decision. This is my cousin and I won’t let him die. There’s no way out of this.”

There wasn’t. If the spell ran its course, it would cost Alex’s life. He’d die and my grandfather would continue to exterminate the rest of my family in his sick game of revenge. I would not let that happen. I lost too much already. The face of my stepfather smiling back at me flashed before my eyes. I shook my head, trying to get my head back into the fight.

“But there has to be another way,” said Adam somberly. “I can’t lose you...” His words broke out into a whisper as he avoided my gaze.

“You won’t.” I walked up to him and wrapped him in my embrace before pecking him on the lips. “Trust me.”

***

“Ready?” asked my mom. Her raveled nerves bled through her lips.

I swallowed heavily while clutching down on Alex’s head. “I-I am.”

“Come on, Nate. You got this!” Fenrus growled, pacing round in my head. ”Let’s show the bastard who he’s dealing with.”

“Yeah, let’s get this party pumping.”

Fenrus shuddered and said, ”Don’t say that again. It’s embarrassing...”

I grumbled, ignoring the mutt’s insult, and returned to the task at hand.

This was it. There was no turning back to what we were about to do. Both of my aunts stood on either side of Alex while my mom stood at his feet. They began chanting. A shimmering white mist flowed out of their hands and sought out Alex’s heart. I closed my eyes and forced my way into my cousin’s dirty mind, hoping I didn’t stumble into one of his R rated memories.

I stood at the end of a long hallway before a red door. It was slightly ajar. Black slug seeped out into the hallway through the door, running across the spotless floor. The spell had nearly reached Alex’s mind. I focused on the door while channeling all the energy my aunts and mom generated into the palms of my hands. Flicking my fingers at the door, it burst open. I used the magical energy, creating a torrent of white flames that burned away the sludge.

Slowly, I made my way up to the door. I took one last deep breath and stepped through the door, into the unknown.

As I opened my eyes, I stood in a disgusting chamber lined with rusty and bloodied weapons, which my grandfather used to torture his unfortunate victims. I had to choke down my disgust. I wasn’t actually in the chamber physically, but mentally. My mind-link, bolstered with magic, allowed me to project myself to the anchor. Thank the goddess. Only an unhinged mind could find pleasure in living in such a disgusting environment. I would have fled the scene the second I entered the sickening place.

“Ha, ha, ha! Well done, Runt. I see you have a backbone after all,” said the dirty old man, who stood before me with a grin smeared on his face.

Now, one would ask how he saw me. It was simple; my grandfather was a part of the ritual. Most likely the ring leader. Three women sat around a bloody pentagram, chanting away. They were the ugliest witches I had ever seen. I wanted to tear my eyeballs out and wash them in bleach to get the images of their hideous faces out of my mind. At the center of the circle, laid my uncle. His brown eyes stared up at the soot-covered ceiling, dead to the world. His silent heart laid exposed to the world. My grandfather, most likely, had ripped open his ribcage, allowing the blood witches to access the source for their sinister ritual. I shook my head. Poor fucker, not the promotion he was hoping for.

“It’s sad, really...” My grandfather stared at my uncle’s corpse without a hint of remorse in them. “But I didn’t need him anymore. His death proved much more valuable,” said my grandfather with a grin on his wrinkled face.

I scoffed and said, “You really are one sick motherfucker.”

My grandfather’s eyes flashed red. “Curb your tongue, dog! You’ll soon follow suit.”

“I highly doubt that,” I said, scoffing at his words. The days of being afraid of him were over. “You’re a washed-up old man grasping at the fleeting ambers of the remaining power you have left. You lost the support of the Elder Council and now you’re slipping into the gutter. You’re swimming in the same shit as the blood casters you’re using to do the job you’re too spineless to do yourself.”

“Silence!!” My grandfather huffed, his nostrils flared. “I’ll kill the lot of you, and when I’m done, I’ll deal with the council.”

Geez, my grandfather was really deluded.

“I’ll call ahead and order a cell in the loony bin for him,” Fenrus chirped in.

I chuckled and replied to my grandfather’s empty threat, “Yeah... Well, you have to kill us first, so bring it on, Gramps.” I raised my hands over my head. “Now, let’s get this over with. If you think you’re going to use Alex and then kill him, you’re fucked in the head and sorely mistaken.” The expose heart in my uncle’s chest glowed bright red as I poured the access magic into the anchor.

Suddenly, the chant of the blood witches faltered. They backed away from the circle. So did my grandfather.

“What are you doing?!” the fool yelled. His ice-cold eyes bore into me.

I smirked, accelerating the flood of energy. “Just paying you back in kindness.” The chamber shook. “You’d better run, grandfather. Before you’re incinerated.”

Before a flashing light blinded me, my grandfather’s cloak disappeared around a corner as he fled the chamber. I withdrew my mental projection through the red door and slammed it shut, just before an explosion shook the door. I laughed as a wave of elation overtook me. I stepped back from the door. I watched as the scene dissolved before my eyes.

I opened my eyes once again to see my aunt clutching Alex in a tight hug while he flailed around, trying to escape her grasp. Adam ran up to me and hugged me. “Good job. You nearly scared the living daylights out of me for a second.”

Just as I wanted to laugh, a bolt of searing pain flashed across my skull. I crumbed to the floor, clutching my head while yelling at the top of my lungs. Through a teary lens, I watched as Adam dragged me to his chest while his frantic words drifted away from my ears. Black patches slowly crept across my vision until I fell unconscious.