Mathias (#1 The Chronicles of the Demon Wolf)

“No,” he shakes his head as he retreats backward.

He refuses to believe what his aunt has told him. There is no way Chelsea could transform into a demon wolf. They told him—they assured him that she was treated and that she wouldn’t become a demon wolf. Now, Amanda has spoken the hidden truth. Chelsea was never cured of his venom. Her DNA was compatible with his venom and that was why it didn’t kill her when he bit her. That’s the thing about a demon wolf’s venom. It only kills those who aren’t compatible with the venom. In Chelsea’s case, it didn’t kill her like it was supposed to. To have someone with a compatible DNA to the demon wolf’s venom is like finding a needle in a haystack. For as long as he could remember, not even his mother ever met one who was compatible with her demon wolf’s venom. She even denied the possibility that her brother who used to drink her blood transformed into a demon wolf.

“I was supposed to administer another dosage of the antidote to her about an hour ago,” Amanda continues. “Now that Arthur kidnapped her, there is a high chance it would be too late to reverse the transformation.”

“Are you saying she would become one of us? A demon wolf?” Ryker asks for clarification.

“She won’t be like one of you.” she looks at Mathias dead in the eyes. “She’d be much more brutal than all of you combined.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Because...” Mira steps into the meeting room with her mate. “when a demon wolf is born without love, it would grow with hatred and rage just like I did.”

“Mama...” Mathias walks to her but halts when she signals him to stop. He lowers his head perfectly knowing he has disappointed her. “Mama, I’m sorry.”

“A dysfunctional family could contribute so much to a child’s mind.” She glances to Alpha Owen and his mate. “Chelsea is a victim of a perfect family that in reality is dysfunctional. I know what a dysfunctional family could do to someone. Maybe you spoilt her. Maybe you were disappointed at her because she didn’t turn out to be the daughter you’ve expected her to be. Expectations are always disappointing. One thing I learned about being raised in a dysfunctional family where my brother wanted to create me as his greatest weapon, it is hard to pull out from the temptation to destroy the world and make them regret they ever exist.” Mira stands in front of her son. “When she comes as a demon wolf, she’s coming for you because you’ve created blood ties with her when you bit her. Know this, my boy, a newly transformed demon wolf will be much more monstrous and it will do anything to break that ties because it will want to control its host completely.”

“Help me, Mama. Help me how to fix this. Dad, please.”

“The only way to make sure she will stay sane is to keep the blood ties going for as long as it would take until it is time to break it without breaking her sanity,” Cohen answers.

“But, Mama broke her blood ties before. She didn’t lose her mind.”

“It’s different for her case. She survived on her own and learned to control her mind before she broke the blood ties. Chelsea is quite far from controlling her own mind.”

“Breaking that blood ties means killing Mathias?” Tango finally asks the million dollars question. “Because that’s the only way to break the ties.”

“No,” Mira disagrees. “He will have to mate with her and Mark her. That Mark will replace the blood ties.”

Something in Mathias’ heart shatters. He doesn’t know why he feels like mating and marking the woman he hasn’t learn to love would be such a bad idea. But, Chelsea is in this because of him. If he had better control of himself, he wouldn’t have to put both of them in this situation.

A sacrifice is needed to save a life.

“I’ll do it,” Mathias speaks. “After all, she’s my mate.”

Gasps echo in the meeting room. Nobody has cracked the code just yet. Maybe not everyone. Mathias saw the look on his mother’s face. She knows all along. She knows there is something between him and Chelsea.

“Yes, I know she’s your mate.” her voice echoes in his mind link. “I’ve almost killed your father many times before my demon wolf decided to accept him.”

“My demon wolf still refuses her.”

“Or maybe it is your heart that refuses her.” She gives him a faint smile. “Remember, Mathias. We share the same mind with our demon wolf. It knows everything about its host just as much as we know about it. When the host rejects something, the demon wolf will follow.”

“I’m going to check the defense, love.” Cohen pecks a kiss on Mira’s lips.

“Eww dad, seriously?” Bonnie scrunches her nose. “In front of all of us? At this time?”

“Remember if it wasn’t started by a kiss with your mother, neither of you would be standing in this room right now.” Cohen points out before heading out of the room.

“Oh old man, I Stan!” Tanto hollers, pumping his fists to the air.

Cynthia enters the room, putting her cellphone away. “I couldn’t get a hold on Enzo. We’re going to need the whole team for this if we’re bringing the fight to Arthur.”

Mira pats her daughter’s shoulder in assurance. “He’d know if we really need him. Just have faith in your brother.”

Then, a loud explosion could be heard coming from outside before the emergency siren blaring out of the building. All of them rush out of the meeting room to check what happens on the Council’s land. The Kane siblings—Arielle, Luna, Silas, and Adam are creating a large diamond dome above the Council’s ground especially on a heavily populated area. Something dives from the sky and hit the diamond dome before it explodes, reducing the integrity of the dome. Everyone else is trying to help each other evacuating the affected area.

“Explosive ravens.” Rinzler points out. “I’d never thought I’d see one.”

“He’s always has a trick up his sleeves,” Mathias mumbles.

Mathias just past Arthur’s bedroom when he stopped. The young Daemon boy had his back facing the door when Mathias entered. Glancing over his shoulder, Mathias saw Arthur was putting something inside the body of a dead raven.

“What are you doing, Arthur?” He asked as he confused why his friend would do such a thing. “It’s dead. Opening it up wouldn’t bring it back to life.”

Arthur laughed. “But it would be fun. Trust me.”

He stitched the raven’s belly with a satisfied grin on his face. At such a young age, Mathias never questioned his friend’s doing. Arthur was just going through a phase to deal with the truth about his father. He stroke the dead raven’s head three times before its eyes blinked repeatedly. As if it wasn’t dead earlier, the raven’s wings flapped and it rose in the air. Arthur murmured some ancient Daemon words that Mathias couldn’t understand. It flew out of the window, heading to the vineyard where Stefano’s staffs were harvesting the grapes. Then, the raven exploded a few meters above them, sending panic across the field while Arthur laughed as if this was just some sort of sick jokes.

“Look at their face!” He laughed, clutching to his stomach. “Wow, that was so good.”

Mathias shook his head. “You shouldn’t do that. Someone could get killed, you know.”

“Well, did anyone die though?” he grinned. “I guess not.”

That wasn’t the first time he ever did it. Mathias could recall how many tricks Arthur pulled around Stefano’s staffs until the older Daemon felt like Arthur was a threat to his staffs. Since a young age, Arthur already displayed some disturbing behaviors but Stefano was hoping he would change once he grew up with love. One day, Arthur got one of the staffs killed by his sick trick. The Daemon woman was just in her early twenties and just gotten married a year before. She was pregnant of her first child when Mathias found her strapped on Arthur’s bed with her belly wide opened. Her unborn child was preserved inside a glass jar next to the bed as if it was a souvenir for his hard work. That was when the battle began. Mathias picked the fight to him because he had enough of Arthur’s dark intentions. War broke in the De Lucca castle. Arthur laughed and kept on laughing as Mathias slashes his claws on him. Stefano tried to break the fight but Arthur’s hidden power prevented him. He temporarily paralyzed the Daemon High Lord with his mind.

Unintentionally, Mathias grabbed the blade forged in hell which was stored safely inside a locked box with ancient spells. Well, what spell could withstand a demon wolf’s rage?

Mathias stabbed the blade through Arthur’s chest, draining his immortality out. Before Arthur could retaliate, Mathias slashes his own palm and let his blood dripped into Arthur’s wound before he enchanted the spell that blasted Arthur into the time loop. That was the last time Mathias saw him.

Arthur was his friend. One of the reasons why he couldn’t kill Arthur even when the latter gave him a thousand reasons to do so.

No matter how many loves were poured down into Arthur’s life, he would always hold the grudge. Arthur was just a living corpse. There was no humanity or heart in him. He’s not capable to feel love. The ironic part, his power is to make people love him.

Mathias takes a few steps back. This all happened because he failed to kill Arthur. He was so determined to see the good in that Daemon boy. Without a second thought, Mathias runs into the woods into the direction he knows where Arthur would be waiting for him. He heard his siblings were calling for his name as he runs as fast as he could.

He doesn’t know how long he has been running but he knows Ryker and Tanto are following him. Then, Mathias comes to a halt.

There he is. Arthur De Vicenzo, standing on the cliff right where their first training was conducted. Eva and Chelsea are kept in a separate cage. Neither of them looks in good condition. Chelsea looks like she’s burning up. Her skin is reddish and sweaty. Her breathing is heavy while her heartbeat is way too erratic. The transformation is about to pass phase one. Amanda once told him that there are three phases someone has to go through to become a demon wolf. Burning up temperature, erratic heartbeat and sweating profusely are one of the symptoms of phase one. Phase 2 begins once all of those return to normal. A normal level for a demon wolf. Then, the bones would start to shift and rearranging. The host would still in a human form. The final phase begins when the bones shift to take the form of a demon wolf.

“You don’t look good,” Mathias points out.

Arthur is slumping on his chair. His skin is wrinkled. Time passes faster in the void. Arthur could be a lot older than his actual age because of the time he spent in the void as his sentence. Now, his age is catching up with his body. He’s going to die soon but Mathias needs to get Chelsea and Eva out. Chelsea needs the antidote to reverse the transformation before she enters phase two.

“Oh, Mathias. How I missed you,” he cackles. “I stuck in the time loop while you’re out here having the time of your life.”

“I guess you haven’t gotten the blade.”

“Please, not interruption!” Arthur roars.

Ryker and Tango drop to the floor as if the gravity pulls them a lot greater than usual. It’s not gravity. It’s Arthur’s paralyzing power.

“I have the blade though.”

Suddenly his old appearance changes to a younger appearance. Mathias’ fists clench.

“It’s good to be back in this form, you know.” Arthur smiles, getting up from his chair. “So what’s it going to be, Mathias? Have you made up your mind?”

His followers drag Eva and Chelsea out of the cages and force them to stand to look at Mathias.

“Eva Blake, the beautiful lady you’re in love with? Or Chelsea Rhody, the woman who is destined to be your mate?”

“Don’t do this, Arthur.” Mathias tries to persuade him.

“For a future Alpha, you’re still naive, Mathias. You have a lot to learn.” Arthur stands in between the two girls. “Choose carefully, Alpha.”

“Choose her, Mathias!” Eva shouts with tears stream down her face. “Choose your mate. She comes above all.”

Mathias wants to yell to her not to put anyone above herself but he couldn’t voice it out. What’s it going to be? Losing the woman he loves or the woman who was destined to be his mate? Eva keeps begging him to choose Chelsea.

“It’s okay...” Eva says softly. “Death in a battle is a noble honor for a warrior. Choose her, Mathias.”

“I choose you...” he forces the name out. “Eva Blake.”

But the horror comes after turns his life upside down. Arthur’s hand punctures through Eva’s chest.