Power Struggle

“How many are coming?” a frantic voice said.

“ I think it’s only two,” another voice said calmly.

“Well they wouldn’t be sending them to attack us then,” a third voice said confidently.

“Don’t be so sure. Depending on how old they are, they could be a lot stronger.” Their frantic complaining was starting to annoy me. Why must they choose to do this? Then, my groggy, sleep deprived head came to realization.

“Who is coming?!” I shouted, shooting up from my bed. I ran to the door, swinging it open to see my father with two other lackeys. My father just gave me a black stare.

“Not you as well,” my father said, peering at me with those dark black eyes. My father was the alpha of our pack, the Ulfric. He was an amazing werewolf. He had been fighting for many years and knew this land inside and out. His confidence in us being able to handle these vampires was very uncomfortable because he had a tendency to get us into close calls.

“There are only two of them. Both are Sun Warriors. I am certain they won't be too strong,” he said, emitting that same confidence he always had.

“But father, what if they are older vampires? We should at least scout them out.” I tried arguing, but no success was made.

“My son, our Fenrir, one of these days you will take command and see why I do what I do. But if it makes you feel safer I will go look for them myself.” The other two, who I had forgotten were there, quickly cut him off.

“Master Alex, you can’t go by yourself you will-”

“Shut up!” my father interrupted him. “What have I told you about speaking when you are spoken to?” My father was a very scary person when angry. “Now I will return. But if I am not back in a half an hour, come looking for me."

“25 minutes. Where is he?” I wondered to myself. “He couldn’t have taken that long. When he says a half an hour, he normally means about 10 minutes.” I started panicking. “ What if he is hurt, or worse, if they captured him! Or he could even be-”

“Shut up Luke,” Faith said to me, “ you’re only making things worse.”

She is right, I thought to myself. Faith was my mate. I had been with her for about a year. She was a beautiful dark haired girl with golden brown eyes. She had been there for me through all of the changes in my life since becoming Fenrir and I was thankful for it.

“You’re right. Father can take care of himself. I am just worried.” I put my head down, really wondering about why I was worried.

“Are you worried for your father or are you worried about being Ulfric?” I shot my head up and looked at her in surprise. Could this chick read my mind or something? I hated when she did that.

“Maybe a bit of both, but he is out there with no one to help him. If they see him-”

“Then go help him,” Faith interrupted. “Would your father not want you to show a little initiative?” She had this demanding attitude about her. Even though I was not enthralled by it, I did realize that she was right.

“Then I will go. If I am not back in a half an hour, send some of the pack mates after me,” I said, trying to sound as confident as I could.

“Just like your father,” Faith said with a chuckle to her voice. I smiled at this comment, gave her a quick peck and turned to get moving. I was down the stairs and out the door as fast as my legs could take me.

But where do I look? I thought to myself. I have no clue where I would…

Just then, the smell of blood filled my nostrils. I think I have in idea. Thinking to myself yet again, the blood smelled very familiar. I could only hope and pray that it wasn’t who I thought it was. Maybe my senses are just funky at the moment because I’m scared…yeah, that’s it. It has to be vampire blood or even human blood. Maybe he went for a snack. Yeah, that’s it. That’s got to be it. I kept talking to myself, trying to calm myself. But the more I tried, the harder it got.

I found myself running through trees as fast as I could, heart pounding. I didn’t want to shift if it was unnecessary though. I didn’t like solving these issues through shifting. It just drew attention towards me, which was something I never really wanted.

When I got to a break in the forest, it looked to be a giant bowl in the middle of the forest. It was a grassy plain field, but the sight quickly became horrid when I looked across the field and saw what I had been looking for.

My father was pinned up on a pole and was being torched by two males. I couldn’t make them out from the distance, but I knew that was my father. I could smell him, I could hear him. Screaming in agony, I knew I would regret my next actions.

I sped towards them, full speed, my heart pounding. I could feel it coming. The transformation. My stomach began to turn and my body began to morph. I could feel my bones shatter under the pressure of the transformation, but it didn’t hurt. The endorphins I had gotten from seeing my father had given me so much rage that I couldn’t feel anything but the sick desire to cause pain. And I knew whom I wanted.

I pounced in the air now, fully in wolf form and caught the back of the first murderer’s neck. I sent him to the ground. Quickly thinking, I pulled my head back and lunged in again, catching the top of his spinal cord. I could feel the bone between my teeth. I then yanked as hard as I could. I watched his spinal cord come flying out of his back, leaving the soulless monster unable to move. I then turned to the other man. He had just turned around in time to see what I had done. I sat there with his friend’s lengthy backbone in my mouth. He looked terrified. I spit it out and charged him. I leaped in the air at him, trying to go for his neck, but he sidestepped and grabbed my body. He spun to try and throw me, but in the middle of his swing, I made a split second decision to shift back in his arms. The momentum change knocked him off balance, throwing us both to the ground. Seeing my opportunity, I ran at him and kicked him in the face. I then turned and came down on him, sending my fingers right into his eyes. He put his hands on my wrists to try and stop my relentless attack but I was too much. I put my fingers behind his eye sockets and yanked as hard as I could. Sitting there watching him squirming on the ground yelling in pain was enjoyable. I could not believe the fun I was having. Then a thought came to mind.

He had not seen me in human form. He has no way of trailing us back. He could be useful. I went down and grabbed him by his shirt collar. I pulled him and put one hand over his mouth.

“Listen carefully, friend. I will let you live and that is only if you can find your way home, but if you so do then send this message to your superior, there will be no tolerance for you Sun Warriors. Not any more, not after killing my father, and Ramina. She will come to the earth again if it is the last thing I do.” I threw him on the ground with all my force and threw the spinal cord from his dead buddy at him. “And take that to your leader to show him we mean business. Let him know if he tries to stop us, he will feel a fate worse then death.”

I watched him jump up and scramble away. As soon as he was out of hearing distance, I looked up at where my father had been burning. He was gone! I had been too late. I had spent my time fighting instead of helping him. The rage just took me over. I fell to my hands and knees and started to cry.

“Father, why did you have to leave?” I had landed in a puddle of blood leftover from the fight and looked down into it. I noticed the sun starting to rise behind me. How long had I been gone? I could also see my face more clearly now. Blood splattered all over it, my dark hair in tangles. My normally blue eyes had gone black, just like my father’s were nearly all the time. Was this how he felt? This rage? What could have set him off into it? Then, in the blood’s reflection behind me, I saw Faith, her face looking down at me with remorse in her eyes. She could not say anything, not in this situation, so she just said the only thing that seemed appropriate.

“Congratulations Ulfric.”