49. Isolation
Nicholae stood before the council the second time that week. In total this would be his third summoning by the which council to question him about summoning Valentina against her will.
He wondered if they thought his answers would change with the repetition of the same damn questions.
'I do not believe I was successful as she did not come to me.'
They asked about the summoning yet again.
'So How did you find her body?'
'I went looking for her.'
'How is it that she was the only one who's body wasn't found at the base of the trees like the others.'
'I simply claimed the body of my wife.'
'With the intention of necromancy!'
'With the intent to mourn and preserve her. That is not a crime.'
'Why weren't we informed?'
'I'm a Tchkovsky and she's my wife.'
'You've already mentioned that.'
'You have the same questions.' He drenched his voice with polite sarcasm.
They had already investigated Valentina and from their frustrated faces Valentina hadn't given anything away.
Half an hour later, the Coven guards deposited Nicholae outside the gates of the council where he continued his journey to his shabby abode on foot.
In the last few days of residing in the abandoned two storeied excuse for shelter, the sight of it only caused him to feel sorry for himself.
Today, however, was different because greeting him was Osei, Malaki, Loki, Cayden and Fauna.
'What took you so long.' Cayden greeted him tastelessly pointing out his lack of transportation.
'I stopped to take in the sights and then I got to thinking...' Nicholae replied.
Nicholae went straight towards the black Loki and laid himself on his back before the great wolf.
'Loki do me a favor and just step on me. Or better yet kill me.'
Fauna looked horrified at his request, even Cayden looked confused.
Osei picked Nicholae up by the collar.
'You think you've got problems? At least yours there's a solution in sight. I have two women back at home who both want answers and promises I don't have.'
Osei put his hands on his waist in thought, and then he took Nicholae's former position.
'Loki, do the honors.' He said.
Malaki, the white wolf sat on Osei instead.
They enjoyed watching Osei struggle beneath the weight of the other wolf.
In that shared moment of laughter, It dawned on Nicholae that he did have friends in the people present with him today.
'I meant to thank you for getting the message to Valentina on time.' He said as he offered Osei a hand.
'It's nothing. Val is virtually family, we want what's best for her as well.'
Still Nicholae appreciated Osei working with him in this moment in the slumps.
'Give me one second, I need to change out of these and then we can go.'
They'd come to escort him to Osei's land so he could compel Jeffery to tell them the truth about the witch who was behind Osei's currents predicament.
Nicholae pulled off his top in the privacy of his room and changed into more comfortable clothes. Fauna let herself in.
'My Lord? I brought you something to feed on.' She said showing him the bottle that she wasn't supposed to have.
'It's alright. I don't need it.'
He remembered the rat he'd trapped earlier that morning. It was meant to be his snack because along with the exile Sonya declared, Nicholae was finding it hard to convince the humans in No man's land to give him blood out of the goodness of their hearts.
And he wasn't willing to take it by force, so he'd reached a compromise: animals.
To survive he fed on the animals he caught in his hunts and traps. He quickly learned that his body now preferred drinking blood from a live host. The prepackaged ones like the one Fauna has just offered, left him feeling sick and had him throwing up.
He pulled out the struggling creature from the box and bit into it.
A Tchkovsky was lowered to this.
Pathetic.
'I know it's....'
Nicholae stopped talking. That voice wasn't the one in his head nor the one which usually came from Fauna's throat.
He deliberately turned to face the ugly body of the man possessed by five demons. Now four but he didn't know that.
'It's been a while. We missed you.'
As they spoke with their nerve screeching voice, Nicholae inches towards his gun which he hid under his pillow.
Again why he didn't have it strapped to his side.... The council, that was why.
Well it wouldn't take a genius to figure out why the demons were after him.
So naturally several escape scenarios run through Nicholae's mind. Osei and the others wouldn't be able to make it quick enough into his room. His best bet was Fauna but he didn't want her putting her life on the line for his as she'd done back at Osei's place in Shepherd's Creek.
She looked stunned by what was before her.
Nicholae realized that, quite possibly, she'd never beheld a demon before.
'We didn't come here to fight.' They laughed.
'Well that wasn't our intention at first. But we don't mind killing your friends to get what we came for.'
'What is that?' Nicholae ears picked up on movement and if he could detect the intruders, so would Osei and the others.
Soon him and his friends would be among the malicious company.
And Nicholae had a lingering suspicion that they were demons as well.
'You. For a little while.'
Nicholae felt torn in mind and body. He wasn't blind to the way the demon kept glancing at Fauna who was slowly recovering from the shock of seeing a man possessed by five demons. He could only imagine how filthy their aura looked.
'We didn't come to kill. If you struggle we will have to start claiming heads starting with hers. Don't you know it's rude to stare witch!' He snapped at Fauna.
'I'm sorry. It's just that you have a face only the devil can love. Maybe even that's a stretch.'
Nicholae braced himself for what he planned next.
He lunged tackling the demon who went after Fauna.
Together, they rolled down the stairs and out the door.
He heard Osei's roar as he tore of his clothes and shifted at the sight of danger.
And bless Cayden who stood protectively before Fauna who, to Nicholae's dismay, wasn't paying attention to the imminent threat. Instead she stared wide eyed in his direction.
The demons pinned Nicholae beneath their impressive weight and began pounding away.
Malaki came to his rescue slamming into the creature. His aim to go for their jugular was halted by a swarm of weird looking stick men.
'Come here Lord. I'm tired of playing with you.' The demons went after Nicholae.
Nicholae leapt into his room through the window. There were already so much damages to the shack that he didn't care if he added one more.
He went straight for his gun and took a few shots which the demon swerved.
It was Nicholae's turn to go after the demons and he persecuted them as they did him the night he went to visit Tiana.
The night they'd killed Tiana.
Nicholae stopped in his tracks. In the heat of the moment, he realized been foolish.
He looked around and found that he was alone. He could still hear the others but now he was isolated.
He slowly backtracked and then the demons decided to rear their head.
Nicholae took aim and pulled the trigger, unfortunately his bullet strayed far from its target when someone smacked him with a blunt object from behind.
Nicholae rolled away from his new attacker.
'Guys, help.'
'Oh shut up.'
The demons had a stake in their hands.
This was it, Nicholae thought again.
This was how he was going to die.
All he could see was the silver tipped stake raised.
'Oh don't look so scared lord, we aren't going to kill you. You're more useful to us alive. So far you've done a good job.'
They patted him on the cheek like he was their friend.
Then the demons stabbed him in the gut, twisting and turning it about.
Nicholae tried not to scream, but how could he not? They were literally tearing at his insides.
Cayden entered the scene in a blur killing the two minions present.
'We'll see you later Lord.' The demons quickly tuck tail and fled the scene Cayden wanted to go after them but Osei must have ordered him to stay with Nicholae.
Soon Fauna was beside him pulling out the stake.
'What did they want from you?' Cayden asked once he was dressed and changed back.
'Why were they acting all chummy with you huh? You know them? Friends of yours?'
Nicholae would have laughed if his stomach didn't hurt just from the thought of it. Did Cayden not see the stake in his intestines?
'Does this look like a friendly meeting?' Fauna said in his defense.
'He was staked!'
'He isn't dead.' Cayden replied with a coldness in his voice that surprised Fauna.
She ignored him and helped Nicholae get to his feet. The whole time Osei only watched everything unfold.
'Cayden you're driving them. At the den you tell everything you think you saw and heard.'
Cayden nodded at his orders.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nicholae was sort of fine by the time they reached the den.
Fauna had done quick work by patching him up. The drive was tense with so much distrust and words left unsaid and it made Nicholae sad and bitter.
For so long he'd worked on his relationship with the pack and in one helping the demons had tried to destroy it with their stray words.
And it didn't help that Nicholae couldn't defend himself because in all honesty, he didn't feel like himself.
He hadn't been feeling like himself since the day he first encountered the five demons. And then there were his unexplained memory gaps which he'd tried to ignore.
He could see that even Fauna's attitude towards him had changed. She barely spoke two words to him and avoided eye contact. Even her responses to his questions about Valentina were clipped.
It was a while before they arrived at the den.
He soon discovered that Valentina wasn't there.
'Where did she go?' His voice portrayed all the worry he felt.
Semi sized him up and sighed at his reaction. He didn't blame her because she didn't understand, in that respect Osei had kept his word so far. But he let Valentina go.
'Look Nicholae, I don't want to be alone in this situation with both of you. She asked me not to tell you so I'll respect that.'
Nicholae looked to Osei who, turns out was listening the entire time.
'Semi...' He tried but Semi glared at him and walked away.
A black suv Nicholae recognized arrived at the scene. Nicholae couldn't explain the joy that filled his heart when his son stepped out of the vehicle.
Their eyes met but he looked right through him.
'Niko?'
An icy shard of pain stabbed his heart at the blatant disregard from his son.
Rex seemed to follow Niko's actions as well.
'Niko.' He tried again. But was suddenly stopped by a man he assumed to be Niko's driver.
'The young master is not to be bothered by you sir.' He told him with a hand on his shoulder. Scruffy brown hair blue eyes and a knowing smile that made Nicholae want to claw at his face. Even his touch sent a funny feeling through Nicholae.
Did Sonya manage to turn his son against him in a span of a week?
Nicholae finally analyzed the ground on which he stood, the position he was in.
There was no one in his side.
'Let's Get this over with.' He told Osei. Osei blocked his path keeping him from going to see Jeffery.
'You're not going anywhere near him until we figure out what Harris Logan was talking about.'
'That wasn't Harris Logan. That was five demons in one man.' Nicholae argued.
'The hell he wasn't. That was a man I thought I killed being chummy with you, talking about a good work done so far? I have every right to be suspicious of you.'
Nicholae nodded not really seeing anything.
Let's go for a walk.
'I'm going to get some air.' He was already starting to feel sick again.
'I'll be aimlessly wondering about should you finally decide what you want to do with me.'
He waved Fauna away when she attempted to leave Niko and follow him.
So he left everyone behind him and went the opposite direction to clear his mind.
He eventually sat down when the tiredness weighing on his mind was too heavy to leave alone.
It's okay. Rest.
'Who are you?' He finally asked the voice in his head. Finally acknowledging the fact that the voice wasn't his mind's.
No body. Now sleep.
Nicholae couldn't help himself, and so he did.
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