The New World

David staggered into the house, losing strength by the second. He was fine when he left the fight, had quite the strength to him, but the closer he got to home, that’s what he figured this was now, the more his life seemed to ebb away. He walked over to Francis, who shot up in shock and caught him before he fell straight to the floor. He knew his Alpha didn’t see him as much but he sure hoped that whatever this man wanted with this blood was worth it. Francis was losing wolves by the dozens and he didn’t seem fazed by it.

“David?” Francis asked, holding him with ease. David had seen himself, seen the muscle he put on. So either he had lost that, or his Alpha was stronger than he had ever shown; he was going to believe it was a little of both.

“I found the vampire; I managed to catch her off guard.” He held the vile up and Francis nodded.

“You did well, my friend.” David wasn’t sure he had ever heard those words from the wolf before and he smiled as he shut his eyes. He hadn’t transformed back to his human state, which he found odd, but he didn’t mind, he actually liked being in his wolf form rather than a human.

“She was a pretty one, but a tough one. She got me good, but I didn’t go down.” At that moment, the man who had seemed to always stay around Francis rushed into the room. David glanced at the man, not sure what he was. He didn’t have the features of a wolf, nor the eyes of a vampire, and his powers were well beyond those of any witch, so David was going to conclude that he wasn’t from this world. And the parlor of his skin was more an ashy gray, a skin tone he had never seen before either.

“Get him into my lab right now. He’s dying on us and I can’t afford that.” Francis nodded at the man and David caught that. Francis neither nodded nor obeyed no one. So why this man? Why listen to this man? He wasn’t an Alpha, he wasn’t a leader. No, David concluded, he was something much stronger, more powerful, and if he was right then that would mean this man was some type of God.

“Yes Demonio,” Francis said and rushed David into another room, laying him on the table. ‘Demonio,’ he thought, ‘I know that name. God of the Dark Realm,’ he thought before he shut his eyes and gave in to the darkness that had been closing in on him.

-----

Demonio grabbed the blood, mixing half the vile. He hadn’t wanted to use that much, but the wolf was dying faster than he had thought he would. And a little bit of blood, at this point, wouldn’t be enough to help him. He shook it, seeing again the odd combination, and prayed that he was right in his thoughts. He wasn’t sure where he caught it, what part of the book, but he remembered seeing something about long-lasting. He had already discovered that Grayson’s blood was special, so he knew Fire’s would be. His hypothesis on this was that her blood gave long-lasting life. And this poor wolf was going to be his test subject.

“It’s okay,” he told Francis, “he’s not dead yet. Close, but not yet.” He poured the vial into the syringe and then plunged the needle into what he hoped was a decent vein. He hadn’t tried poking a wolf before but Francis didn’t correct him so he was going to say that he was correct.

“Do you know for sure that will save him?” Demonio looked back at the Alpha, surprised to see the look on his face. Francis cared which was odd to the God.

“Not 100 percent, no. My belief is it will, that Fire’s blood either has healing powers or gives longevity to the demons, but I have no proof. This was to be my proof,” the god said, shaking the half-empty vial now. “But I’m using more on him, hoping it helps. And why do you care? You have lost how many wolves and didn’t blink an eye.” Francis finally looked at Demonio and he saw the truth written in the depths. Francis may not admit it, but he wasn’t all cold-hearted. He cared, he just buried it. However, his wolf was struggling with losing so many of their pack. Tough luck! Demonio needed those wolves, and many more, and Francis was on board with him, he was just going to have to stamp down his wolf a lot more.

“What do we do now?” Demonio took the needle out and tossed it before locking up the vile. That blood, for the moment, was too precious and he needed it saved.

“Now we wait. There isn’t anything else we can do. Either her blood will work or it won’t. He was going to die anyway, even without her blood. The demons, if you haven’t noticed, don’t last long.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I need someone’s blood. Fire was created by a God, so her blood should be special, the problem is, I didn’t know that and overtime when I had the chance to do anything, I wouldn’t have known. Now that I’m creating my demons, I see there are things I need. I just did not, however, think to include more than Fire.”

“So, Grayson was created from a God?” Demonio laughed at the tone in Francis’s voice. He didn’t seem to like Fire’s mate before, he sure as hell didn’t seem to care for him now.

“I will say so. How though, is not one scene I can put together.” Demonio tilted his head, something pushing on his memory. “Look at the other wolf demons I have created. They were normal size, nothing massive. But did you see David when I gave him some of Grayson’s DNA? That’s what I got off the glass. Did you see how big he was, how strong he was? There was something special about Grayson, regardless if you like him or not.” Demonio turned to the door and waited for Francis to follow. “There’s nothing you can do for him at the moment. Come morning,” Demonio said, glancing out the window at the darkening sky, “we will see what has happened to him.”

“How do we fight against that? If they come from Gods, how do we win with the demons that die out within a few days? You can’t take over the world with that?”

“No, I can’t. Which is why I’m in search of certain things. The General’s blood gives them life, your blood gives them some strength, and I’m not sure that witches’ blood gives anything but I will try.”

“Do you have a family in mind?” Francis asked him. To the Alpha, nothing had been mentioned, but then again, he noticed the God didn’t mention a lot of things.

“Don’t worry about me, Francis, or what I have going on. This has been planned out long before you. It was just delayed in being put into motion. I won’t let you down and I won’t let you die, I promised you that.” Demonio watched Francis nod. There was nothing left to say or do. Francis gave him all control, even if he wasn’t certain what it meant at the time. Of course, Demonio wouldn’t go back on his word, he would make Francis a general in his army, he just wasn’t totally certain of the price that it was.

“Just not my wolves?”

“I already told you that. Go rest. You do me no good in the state you are in. And come the morning light, you will see things a lot more clearly.” Demonio watched the wolf walk away and he was starting to question if he had made a wrong choice. Where was the killer that cared so little for his pack? When did he get a heart and actually start to worry? None of that would be good for the God’s plans and he had to make sure that Francis stayed on the right side of this.

Demonio went back to the study, his thoughts twirling around and around as he tried to remember things but it was too vague. It was like looking through a haze of smoke and he just couldn’t push through. He sat down at the desk, pulling out the papers that had been translated, and once more wanted to scream in frustration. However, like he told Francis, in this state he wouldn’t be any good to anyone either.

He needed to rest and with that, he checked the time. If he slept now, he would have some time to check in on the wolf to make sure he was okay before he had to return to his own realm. He left the study and went to his quarters, laying down and hoping that something would jostle in his mind.

-----

He awoke the next morning and got ready. He checked the time and headed down to see David. He pushed the door into his lab and saw the wolf sitting up, alive and well. Yes! He knew it. Fire’s blood was unique and was the blood he needed to sustain his demons. But how the fuck was he going to be able to capture her to use it? And then his head snapped up and he turned to the door as The General walked in.

“I need Mariana now, get her now!”

“Yes sir.” Francis watched the exchange and looked at Demonio.

“Why do you need her?”

“I remembered what was so odd about Fire and Grayson, what I recalled from ages past. It’s three, the power of three. I need their third connection, whatever is and Mariana will know.”