Defiant Destiny

Alright, here it is - finally - the showdown I've been hinting at for quite some time now. This chapter turned out a lot longer, a lot bloodier and far more violent than I had planned, but hey - it's a boss fight, it's allowed to be dramatic ;)

Once again I want to express a wonderful thank you to LiterKnight for helping me edit this chapter. Your linguistic aid and refreshing ideas are a blessing <3

Enjoy!

***Dante***

I sighed. Again. I had heard the shower turn off at least ten minutes ago, yet none of my ladies were downstairs with me in the club. I stared hard at the bathroom door, where my lovely Cyrea was taking an awfully long time to towel herself dry after her shower, only to shift my glare towards the bedroom door where Layla and Aurora had retreated to for the insurmountably difficult task of figuring out what to wear.

"We're going to the

desert

, ladies! Not clubbing! Find something comfortable to wear, please!" I yelled upstairs in their general direction, not sensing any of my ladies moving. "And hurry up, please!" I added with yet another sigh.

My annoyed glare shifted to the large stained windows in the factory hall so I could - yet again - conclude that the sun had set quite a while ago.

I was too annoyed to marvel at the beautiful stained glass windows. Too impatient to appreciate the wonderful wooden carvings on the big bar where I usually enjoyed discovering tiny details I hadn't noticed before. No, my mind was aggravatingly occupied with my immortal female entourage that couldn't decide what to wear to a freaking desert.

Feeling Layla's lust stir was the last thing we needed. With a loud, irritated growl I leapt up the stairs and stormed into the bedroom where I found Layla passionately kissing Aurora.

"Enough! Break it up you two!" I growled, staring angrily at them. "We are late enough as it is. We were supposed to meet Alexis and Eir in the desert over half an hour ago."

Both ladies giggled shyly, their cheeks burning with a slight blush.

"We're sorry, Dante..." Aurora's light voice quipped as she licked her lips. "We got distracted..." she apologized and glanced mischievously at a grinning Layla. I swallowed my frustrated growl and resisted rolling my eyes. At least they were clothed and ready to go.

I suppressed another sigh and wanted to turn around and drag Cyrea from the bathroom - naked if needed - when sheer sudden terror froze me to the spot. My demon roared in terror as the undiluted ferocity of this dreadful feeling made me stumble backwards from its intensity. A burning coldness seared down my spine, wrapping itself around me, making me sweat and shiver at the same time. Panic pressed down hard on my chest and gripped my throat, immense dread made my heart race, only drowned out by my demon's ferocious roars.

An omen.

The worst I'd ever felt.

Fuck!

Fuck!

I looked around, my eyes darting over the shocked faces of Layla and Aurora and I stretched my senses wide, but nothing seemed to be wrong in my direct vicinity. Cyrea burst into the bedroom - miraculously fully clothed - and seemed to be fine too.

My ladies were fine.

They were fine...

So why did this knowledge not lessen the horrendous ferocity of my omen as it plowed through my body? My heart thundered in my chest, dread and agony were still clenching my throat and that dark coldness smothered my heart with each rapid beat.

My head snapped up, sudden realization making goosebumps burst out all over my body and made my demon roar in anguish - Eir and Alexis!

"We need to go

NOW

!" I roared, not succeeding in keeping the panic out of my voice.

Eir and Alexis... They must be in

tremendous

danger for such a severe omen, but...

They were halfway across the fucking desert...

Without waiting for my ladies I dashed towards the fire escape, ripping off my shirt and bashing open the fire escape door. Before I even reached the roof my wings burst from my back and I leapt high into the sky flying straight towards the desert.

The cold wind stung my eyes and numbed my skin as I flew as fast as my wings could carry me. Fear rushed through my veins instead of blood, desperation painfully cramped my muscles. In a matter of moments I had cut across the illuminated ant hive of the city and reached the pitch black nothingness of the desert outskirts. I feverishly stretched my senses, desperately trying to pick up Eir's and Alexis's presence in this wasteland.

My eyes proved more efficient in locating them than trying to sense them - in the dark distance I could see Eir's blue light shimmering, like a beautiful blue gem in a sea of darkness. But... hers wasn't the only light.

She wasn't alone. Something flanked her.

...Yellow lights?

Each beat of my wings brought me closer, allowed me to see more.

No, not they were not yellow, but...golden lights.

Flickering,

fiery

golden lights.

My demon's ferocious roar burst out of my chest - angelic flames!

Eir had taken the soul of an angel. She had restored the wings and immortality to Heaven's sinning Gatekeeper. Her mere existence had to be a blight to every pious angel out there.

"They will kill her..."

my demon snarled loudly in my mind, hissing venomously at the angelic sword wielders.

"We MUST protect her!"

he roared.

The closer I got towards those abhorrent, flickering flames, the more desperate I willed my eyes to see something my senses couldn't pick up: Alexis. A panicked roar simmered in my chest, held down by the terror that gripped my heart - I could now clearly sense at least ten angels surrounding the blue orb that was Eir, but none of them were Alexis...

The vicious roar that burst free from my chest was unrecognisably warped by fear - where the

FUCK

was Alexis?!

Was I too late?

...Had they killed him?

My demon's panicked cries voiced the terror I felt in my soul, tightened the darkness that smothered my heart. His ferocious demands for violent action were like a tsunami that crashed through my rationality and dragged me along with it, warping my protective instincts into a feral rage.

Something snapped within me - no more raging roars, no more thundering growls, but a deeply feral yet deceptively soothing fury spread through my veins and gorged my muscles. I didn't even hear the tearing sound of cloth, barely registered my tail now carving through the cold, dead air behind me, or the oh so subtle whooshing sound of my sharp claws cutting the night sky.

With every beat from my wings, my demon's murderous cries merged with my thoughts, his deadly desires gloriously blending with my own. The closer I got to my enemies, the stronger my focused rage became. All I could see were the sword wielding angels and their blighted swords pointed at my friend, all I could hear was the sound of their heartbeats that would soon end. All I could think of was the sweet promise of bloodshed.

With the momentum from my flight, I swooped down and crashed into two of the angels, my claws viciously rending their flesh and shoving them into the ground into their own personal bloody crater. The oh so soothing sounds of bones breaking and bloody gurgles from their throats was like an aphrodisiac that begged for more.

Whether they were dead or dying was of no concern to my rage filled mind and I dashed onwards to take out the next sword wielding blight to the rhythm of my deathly snarls. A sharp, seething pain seared through my chest as one of their fiery swords slashed my skin, but I hardly noticed - I slashed and struck any angel within range and within moments my claws were lathered with the delectable smell of angelic blood.

With each angel that fell, each splatter of their warm blood on my skin, that visceral bloodlust soared to all-consuming heights - it was all I felt, all that mattered - my reasons for this lavish massacre long forgotten. The sounds of bones breaking, flesh torn apart, horrified screams, my own elated growls... It was the glorious melody of this danse macabre I was performing, teetering on the balance of my sanity. It almost felt serene in its savage intensity.

And it was glorious.

One by one angels fell around me in bloody golden heaps. Some managed to wound me, but their struggles were futile. My labored breath had warped into a horrendous cacophony of growls and snarls as I greedily gazed at the glorious and bloody carnage on the ground, the delectable scent of angelic blood making me salivate. Between my own thundering heartbeat and my brutal roars I could not hear any heartbeat coming from my victims. A sinister sense of satisfaction made me roar in rapture.

"You vile demon!" shrieked a high pitched, panic stricken voice. The sound was vaguely familiar in this blurry haze of violence that my mind had succumbed to.

I turned to the last angel standing, fangs bared, claws lushly dripping with angelic blood and roared venomously at her. The last angel standing with the poofy wings stumbled backwards with a terrorized look that brought a vicious grin to my face.

Through the mouthwatering perfume of angelic blood that surrounded me, the tiniest whiff of fear reached my nose.

Her

fear. It was both barely noticeable and the most potent I had ever scented before - so excruciatingly intense and so overwhelmingly...delicious. I inhaled sharply, letting the scent of her fear roll over my tongue and savored it in my lungs. It made my lips tremble eagerly, my saliva dripping from my fangs. My eyes bore into her terrified ones.

I wanted more.

With dripping claws I stalked towards her, my eyes greedily traveling along her still living form, my fanged grin widening when I saw her stumble backwards.

This angel... She did something...

Something...evil to my...friends.

I couldn't remember...

The sound of a female voice behind me reached my ears, but couldn't quite pierce the dark haziness of my mind, couldn't overpower the primal urges that surged through me. The angel's fear was far too scrumptious, her blood would taste so very,

very

delicious as it would pour down my throat and spill out of my mouth, the sound of her neck breaking by my hands would be so brutally satisfying.

Again that voice... Followed by the tiniest of nudges in my mind, barely discernible. I growled and twitched my head in annoyance. Nothing could break my focus, nothing could distract me from the delectable angel trembling before me.

"Kill her..."

my demon urged me eagerly, riled by this newfound ferocity in my soul. The sound of his voice surprised me - I had not felt his presence anymore since this glorious bloodshed began.

My wings twitched, my claws trembled and oh so eagerly flexed as I stalked my terrorized prey, moving in for the kill and salivating at the prospect.

"Yes..." I growled.

The female voice behind me screamed, but its message was drowned out by my vicious growl as I dashed forward and tackled the screeching, fleeing angel. My tail coiled around her scrawny flailing body. The large spike at the end heavily dragged across her thin skin, rewarding me with the mouth watering, delicious blood that seeped out of her wounds. The feel of her blood seeping over my armored skin filled me with savage serenity and I wrapped my tail tightly around her, sadistically savoring the sound of her wings snapping and her painful screams as my tail coiled tightly around her measly body. Details or memories were too hazy for me, but I knew that

she

somehow was the cause of much misery. She had to die.

The sound of running footsteps behind me pierced through the hazy bloodlust in my mind. With a vicious growl I spun around, ready to attack anyone who'd approach me. This was

MY

kill! I swiped my tail holding the crushed angel to my back, spreading my wings wide to prevent any and all fools to try and take my kill away from me.

In front of me stood a beautiful winged woman. Deep red, tangled curls framed her frightened face.

"...Dante?" she whispered and took a step back, her face a mask of fearful horror.

Why was she so surprised... Why was she so afraid?

...Why was it important?

I didn't understand... But I should've...

My prey weakly wiggled in my grip, but I smothered her movements with a powerful tightening of my tail - clutching it closer around her, hearing more bones crack and bloody gurgles escape my prey's throat.

The woman in front of me gasped. Her face was dripping with an emotion I should recognize, that I

should

know, but didn't. Her wide eyes and trembling gasps did something to me - it caused a deeply unsettling and irritating feeling to surface in my soul, making me dizzy and antsy.

The red haired woman walked up to me, her wide eyes gliding over me, her movements cautious. Despite the nauseating confusion in my body, I growled at her, a clear warning not to come any closer when I again felt that smallest possible nudge in my mind. I deepened my growl, not understanding what it was, but knowing she must have done it. A dark part of me wanted to escape, to flee this scene and devour my kill in peace, but I was too transfixed by this beautiful succubus and a nagging feeling I couldn't shake.

The woman halted her movements and her pretty eyes shimmered.

"Dante? It's me, Cyrea... Come back to me, my love..." she half whispered, half begged as she stood before me, trembling with wide eyes and a pained look on her face.

The scent of the red haired woman's fear drifted up my nose.

It hit me like a wrecking ball and I snarled in terror.

Her fear was appalling, foul!

Horrible!

That gruesome scent of her fear pierced my soul with the most searing pain imaginable, as the look in her eyes made me want to drop to my knees in despair.

She feared me.

She was appalled by me.

A loud and high pitched ringing echoed in my ears, drowning out everything else but my thundering heart and my screaming demon. My wings sagged to the ground in crushed defeat, my tail's lethal grip on the angel loosened.

Her eyes, her gorgeous blue eyes were shimmering with fear. That horrendous gaze of hers hurt me down to my very core. With a painful, gut wrenching whine I tore my gaze away from hers. It made me unable to look at her...

Yet what I discovered in their stead, what my eyes found when they focused again made me cry out in agony.

The bodies... the blood... the gruesome carnage around me...

It was just as horrifying as her eyes.

The high pitched ringing in my ears slowly faded, making way for the gut wrenching sounds of heaving, groaning and painfully gurgling angels. Their broken and bleeding bodies lay strewn about the rocky ground. Some had gotten up and limped away, others lay still in deathly, sickening silence as blood slowly pulsed from their motionless bodies.

The dry desert ground was absolutely permeated with blood. Puddles of the bloody mud and clusters of golden feathers were ominously lit up by the moon's cold rays, dotting this horrendous warzone with revolting highlights.

My gaze went from the bodies to my trembling blooddrenched hands.

Did...I do this?

"Dante...?"

Trembling, I tore my eyes away from my bloody claws and turned to the source of that frightened whisper. Each tear that streamed from that gorgeous face felt like a knife stabbing me in the heart.

Like flicking on a switch, I instantly remembered what happened these last few measly minutes - the bloodshed, the slaughter...

How eagerly I indulged in it...

I felt sick.

"Cyrea..." I croaked, my demon's anguished cries rendering my voice an unstable mess.

A throaty and deeply relieved gasp burst from her pale face, and she ran up to me, wrapping my trembling body in her shaking embrace. My tense arms remained plastered to my side for as much as I wanted to hold her, I was loath to smear the revolting bloody result of my atrocious actions on her beautiful skin.

Cyrea's touches on my skin were both tentative yet desperate, her arms trembling as she held me. The horrid and abysmal stench of her fear lessened with each caress of her soft fingers on my tainted body, though the stickiness with which her fingers jaggedly clung to my skin made me want to drop to my knees in shame and disgust.

With every racing heartbeat in my chest, with every lifeless angel I saw around me, horrendous reality wiped away the intense bloodlust that had taken over, making me drown in my own self-inflicted pool of shame.

"I lost control..." I whispered breathlessly.

Cyrea's breath hitched.

"It's okay... You're back now..." she whispered softly and clutched me tighter. Slowly I felt her emotions flow into my mind through our bond that I had no idea had been muted. While immense relief seeped through our bond it was still heavily laced with fear, making me cringe in her embrace.

"What have I done..." I choked.

Ever since I had become a demon, I had felt that delicious desire to give in to the evil that hid somewhere in my soul. I had always resisted it -

always

. The thought of it taking over appalled me like nothing else. Yet in these past few minutes, I gave in so easily, so...greedily.

It both sickened and terrified me.

My mate let me go and took my face into her soft, warm hands. Her thumbs diligently wiped away the tears that kept leaking onto my cheeks and tried to smooth the creases of my painful grimace. I cast my eyes down in shame.

"You betrayed me!"

I yelled at my demon, trembling in my mate's soft grasp.

"You knew I would NEVER kill these angels out of my own accord!"

My demon had been silently anguished ever since our mate's fear snapped us out of whatever it was, but my accusation made him growl and snarl viciously at me, angrily pushing back against me trying to suppress him.

"NO! I did not betray you... I helped you protect!"

he roared in anger.

I looked at the bodies around me. Most lay in gurgling, bloody heaps, their piercing death rattles bombarding my mind like gunshots. I couldn't hear the heart beats of half of them...

"No... Not like this! I would have found a different way to protect... I would've..."

I protested in despair, but I couldn't think... I couldn't form coherent sentences, let alone finish my thoughts. Reality was too much, too painful... I winced my eyes shut, clasping my hands tightly over my ears, desperately trying to drown out the death that surrounded me.

"We must kill to protect!"

my demon roared.

"NO!" I roared at him, both vocally and mentally, shoving him deep down into my mind until I almost couldn't feel him anymore.

Convulsing in agony, I stumbled away out of my mate's warm hands, wincing my eyes shut and collapsed to my knees. My wings sagged down in defeat, my tail weakly falling to the ground - finally freeing Isabel's broken body from my grip and feeling it slump to the ground behind me. I doubled over and dug my fingers deeper into my scalp in despair, not daring to turn around to look at her, for I was terrified that I had inadvertently killed her...

All I wanted was to hide and shrivel away, to wake up from this terrible nightmare. I raised my wings and folded them around me, barring me from the massacre outside, shielding me from my own atrocities. Soft steps hurried towards me, Cyrea's scent signaling her arrival as she ducked underneath my winged shield before it closed. My mate knelt down in front of me and softly folded her hands on top of mine, gently pulling my head against her chest, her fingers stroking my cramped ones digging into my scalp. Her wonderful scent enveloped me and I heaved heavily as it filled my lungs. How I longed for her scent and her touches to calm me, but I didn't let it...

I didn't deserve to be soothed.