Chapter 223 - Trinity - Showdown With My Father (VOLUME 2)
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Trinity
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There was a subtle shift in the air as Edmond drew his magic to himself. I could see the power begin to swirl around him. More of that purple fog swirled around him as he radiated with intense power.
The look in his eyes, along with the jaunty set to his chin it all said that he didn't view me as a threat. He thought he could kill me easily. He thought this would be like a walk in the park as he taunted and tortured me. But he had another thing coming.
If there was one thing that I knew, it was that he didn't know a single thing about me. He might be able to predict my actions to a certain degree, but he would never be able to know what I have put myself through. It was time to show him everything that I had at my disposal.
I felt the rush of power coming off him before the spell actually moved toward me. I shifted my weight and leapt into the air, using reflexes like a rabbit to escape his blast. The swirling black ball of magic he had aimed at me just soared off into the distance and dissipated after a while.
"Such an animal." He snapped angrily as I landed behind him. "This proved how much you've been tainted."
"If you only knew what I have become." I taunted him as I went on the offense this time.
I didn't want this taking forever, but I didn't know how easily it would be to destroy a man who had been gaining power for centuries. This would no doubt be a hard fight for me.
Sure enough, no sooner had I gone for the attack did he swing around with another blast ready to throw at me. I had to jump out of the way to avoid his attack once again.
"Come on, attack me. Didn't you say you were going to kill me? What are you waiting for?" I heard laughter in his voice as he beckoned me after him.
"I'm getting the lay of the land." I offered him in lieu of a defense, all the while watching and learning his movements.
"The land is the same as you're used to, you imbecile." He was shaking his head at me while he clearly thought I was being stupid.
"So it is." And he was right. I was used to fighting, and all I had to do was watch him for clues and indicators. It was no different than learning to fight with all the men back at the Sentinelle. I had been trained to fight in different styles for a reason.
I stopped hesitating, stopped holding myself back. It was time to fight him with everything I had. He thought I was nothing more than a mongrel mutt that would never be worthy of anything in my entire life. I'd show him what a mongrel like me was capable of.
I shifted, taking on my wolf form, something that Edmond hadn't seen since that night of my first shift. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of me but he didn't make a sound, didn't say a single word.
I leapt toward him, My claws ready to dig into him, but he was prepared for that. He shot a length of rope out at me as he countered my attack. The rope wrapped around me several times, very tightly. Tight enough to cut off circulation.
"I knew that was all you had." He laughed.
"You couldn't be more wrong." I laughed right back, drowning his voice with a chuckle of my own.
While he looked at me dumbfounded I shifted again. My mate's favorite form for me, the little brown rabbit, and while I did it I also summoned an illusion of more rabbits. In an instant at least a dozen little furry bunnies were hopping out of the ropes I was tied up with.
"What the hell is this?" Edmond seemed genuinely confused. "Since when could a shifter change into multiple forms? Was your mother even more of a mongrel that I thought? Disgusting."
"Don't talk about my mother you asshole." I said as I spun in place, rising above him in the form of a giant white elephant. In a bout of shock and surprise, to us both, I wrapped my trunk around him and threw him to the ground. Following that action I immediately stepped onto his chest, pressing down with great force.
"What kind of monster are you?" He asked me with shock filling his eyes.
"The kind you underestimated, that's what."
"What are you even talking about?" He actually seemed to be confused at that moment. Like it wasn't clear that he had been wrong this whole time.
"You don't know anything about me or what I am." I shifted again as I spoke, this time taking on the form of a bear, my front right paw holding him in place with long lethal claws poking into his chin.
"What else could you be but a severely mixed breed mongrel? It's clear your family wasn't made of pure wolves."
"That's where you're wrong, asshole." I snarled into his face as I summoned my own bindings for him.
In the blink of an eye and with the flash of my magic, Edmond was lying beneath me, bound with cords of every element. He wouldn't be able to move anytime soon, not unless he undid each individual binding. And before I would let that happen, I would just wrap more around him in an instant. He was going to shut up and listen to me. And so, I pulled myself off him and shifted into my human form, using my magic to form clothes that would cover me.
"If you had just left me alone, just ignored my existence, I probably wouldn't be what I am today. So in a way, I should thank you."
"And what exactly are you?" His sneering voice never failed to grate at my nerves. I just wanted to stop him from talking altogether, but he had to know what he had done.
"I am the Luna of my pack, the daughter of Wesley, Eve, and Lily. I am the mate of the Alpha, the leader of the Red Springs Wolf Pack. But above all that, more than anything else, I am the Luna Queen, the new incarnate of the Goddess Nehalennia, and I have been given the title of Warlock Queen, the chosen child of Thoth. I am so far above you and your paltry little antics that I do not need to justify anything to you, Edmond."
"That's impossible. There is no way that any of that is true." He spat the words into my face with a vehemence that was all too clear. "There is no way that a worthless little girl like you would be anything, let alone chosen by any of the celestials. You're lying to me."
"You only wish I was lying to you. Do these bindings not speak for themselves?" That was the first time I saw genuine fear in his eyes. He finally knew that I was telling the truth.
"But how? How did you get to be granted with so much power? How did you get what it is that all we warlocks want? How?" He was hyperventilating now, angrier than ever before.
"Because of you, Edmond. If it hadn't been for you playing at being a god, then there would never have been a need for me. So, as you see, I only exist because of you. You made me into what I am today. Aren't you just so proud of me?" I held a note of laughter in my voice as I spoke, knowing that it would make him angrier the longer I spoke.
"That's impossible. You should have been just a wolf or a witch, it's inconceivable that you would be so equally balanced in both. How did you manage to learn magic?" He was grasping at straws, trying to keep me talking more and more to buy him just a little more time.
"You may have destroyed the Aerie Convento, but you did not destroy the magic council. They accompanied me to train and teach me about my other side. I know all the histories of your people Edmond, because they are my people as well. I was granted the mark by Thoth himself." With those words I pointed to where the ankh mark was on my right shoulder.
"Thoth was a stupid man and is an even more stupid god, he is too sentimental and naive, that is why he was unable to accept Hektate's true nature." Edmond seemed to be rambling now, talking would buy him more time after all.
"Thoth was a kind and generous man, and a father that cared for his children, but the loss of his wife nearly destroyed him. Hektate was the one who caused it all, she should have been punished further for her actions but Thoth loved her too much for that."
"Shut up, you don't know what you're talking about. You're an idiotic little child, you know nothing."
"No, Edmond, you don't know what you're talking about, and I grow weary of your antics. It's time for me to end this."