Eclipse Child

What is more unfair

than having to choose

between being a monster

or being a hero?

(-when you have to be both.)

When you learn that

the road to hell

is paved with more

than just good intentions

-you are not heads or tails; you are the coin| m.a.w.

I didn’t plan for this. I didn’t plan for this to happen at all.

My mistake comes slamming into my face, throwing me down with the air out of my body as I desperately try to keep up with the sudden turn of events.

Lilah stands by dad’s side, her eyes narrowed at the challenger.

We all watch as the wolf shifts.

My vision turns red as fur turns to skin.

Vincent has changed since I last saw him.

His face is haggard. His hair longer and showing an uneven cut. His brown eyes are restless, darting and landing on everyone who stands in front of him- never able to settle on one thing.

He is panting, out of breath- unable to regain it. For some reason, the hollow sunken in appearance of his stomach makes my mind flash back to when I first saw Orion in skin.

But that is not the main thing that catches my attention.

It’s his eyes.

His eyes hold a crazed maniac fire that unsurfaced some small fear in me.

What happened to Vincent, in the time that he was gone, to create such a look in those eyes?

Dad slowly steps down the porch, each sound of his foot colliding with the wood to create an impact of resonating power in all of us. He is not holding back his dominance.

For once, it was on full display.

I watch as some of the female warriors’ shiver, their eyes widening and mouths opening to take in the new sensation.

Mom is oblivious to it. Her hands are folded against her chest, worry etched into every surface of her skin.

Lilah and Uncle Mark have unconsciously moved to stand in front of her. I don’t think they were even aware of the change in their position.

“Vincent...” Dad’s voice comes out cautious like he is approaching a wild animal. That’s all I can see of Vincent though. He holds a different wild from the one Orion wears. Orion contains the wild of the forest. The woods and trees- nature and its beauty.

Vincent, however, held the wild of something unnatural. Still deadly, but unable to be contained in a word or place.

“Vincent, it’s been a while...where have you been?”

“Hey dad.” Vincent ignores dad’s question, his feet restlessly shuffling on the ground as his eyes continue to wander.

His gaze lands on mom and his smile widens, “mom, I missed you.”

A choked sob leaves mom’s mouth. Lilah moves closer, pressing against mom to hide her from view. Mom moves to the side. I hear her whisper, “Lilah, move. That’s my baby. Move.”

Lilah only growls at her words.

Mom is unable to smell what we all can scent off of Vincent.

Something was wrong with him. I feel Orion besides me as a low growl escapes his mouth. The noise catches Vincent’s attention as his eyes dart to land on him.

“Caught your mate little sis...” a bitter laugh leaves Vincent as he takes a step closer to me. His step creates a movement in the warriors as they shift with him.

He pauses, finally registering the atmosphere his presence has created. But he doesn’t acknowledge it. Instead, he turns, his eyes not stopping until they rest on Leo.

“Leo...I get it.”

They stare at each other, something silent passing between them as Leo’s wide eyes move to find me.

I step in front of him, blocking him from view.

Vincent only laughs. He spreads his hands out, looking now at dad. “Well, it’s obvious why I’m here...”

Dad is still, his body not moving as he stares at Vincent.

“I, Vincent of no pack, challenge you, Atlas, for Alpha leadership.”

Without thinking I jump off the porch, slipping through Orion’s outstretched hand and Leo’s whispered, “No Soraya!”

Now there is a triangle. Me, dad and Vincent.

Others from the pack are slowly coming, the display of power drawing them to the pack house, making them curious as to what is happening. They were unaware that a radical change was approaching. A shift in pack history would be made today. A shift in my history.

I turn back to Orion.

He stands in front of Leo, taking my place. He only nods, his hands clenched at his side as his grey eyes never leave me.

I turn to face dad. His eyes are wide in horror. He shakes his head, but I can’t stop the words from coming.

“I, Soraya of the Alba Rosa pack, challenge you, Atlas, for Alpha leadership.”

Vincent’s laugh catches both our attention.

“Always getting in the way,” he shakes his head, turning to face dad, “I initiated the challenge first. I should fight you first.”

Dad’s face looks as if it is breaking. His eyes go back and forth between the two of us. I growl at Vincent, as he meets my own challenge.

Slowly dad turns, his eyes rising to find mom.

She is crying.

I had not registered it now, but tears stream silently down her face as she nods at him.

He closes his eyes and whispers to us, “Vincent. Soraya. You will fight each other. Whoever wins will then have the right to challenge me.”

Vincent and I both pause.

“What’s this? What’s this fucked up rule? I challenged you first- I beat her to it yet you still are letting-,”

“Vincent.”

I close my eyes because I know that tone. I know that tone and I know those words. I know what dad is going to say next.

“If you are going to fight your sister, then do it fair and square.”

He steps back, crossing his arms. The pack knows what to do. The slowly make a circle around us. Those who stand on the porch join them. Mom stands next to dad. I watch as Grandjay and Grandma emerge from the woods. It comes to my mind then that someone from the pack must have called Grandjay. Someone from the pack made sure he knew that this was happening.

Grandjay moves to stand next to Orion. I feel instant relief that he is with him.

Just as I meet grey eyes, I feel a pain in my stomach.

“Pay attention little sis,” Vincent hisses the words at me, mercilessly beating his flesh into mine.

But I trained. I trained so hard for this.

And all the anger, all the hate and bitterness that I had built up since he left suddenly comes running down.

“It’s mine!” He shouts his words to me, dodging away from my kick.

“It was never yours!”

He catches my leg, using it to pull me to him as he laughs in my face, “wrong. It was always mine.”

I twist before his fist can collide with my face.

Neither of us shifts. Neither of us want to.

We both want the satisfaction of seeing the other fall. We both want the satisfaction of whispering those cruel words of victory into the other’s ear.

I’ve never fought dad before.

But Vincent.

Vincent, I’ve fought so many times, that it was almost repetitive.

I can see the small surprise on his face when he realizes it will not be as easy as he thought.

It won’t be like those other times.

“Hey little sis,” he grins at me, the maniac sight catching me off guard as he sweeps down, knocking my legs.

Air leaves me as I land on the ground. Vincent pins me down, whispering in my ear, “how’s the back?”

A scream rips from me. We both are wrestling then. I ignore the pain in my body. Ignore the pain that he has caused.

Nails elongate into claws, teeth descend to canines. We were mutating into wolfs without undergoing the full shift.

Soon Vincent and I are both covered in scratches, small cuts and slices that we have been able to gain upon the other.

It’s even. It’s obvious to see that something is wrong with Vincent, but I don’t think about it. Whatever it is, it is affecting him, making him weak.

“You’re pathetic.”

“Not as pathetic as you,” I growl.

“Always wanting what you can’t have,” his fist finally is able to make contact with my jaw. A sick crack sounds within the air. I cry out, my leg upon instinct firing to collide with his stomach.

He flies off me.

We both rise, circling around and staring at each other.

“I need this,” his words echo my own as we continue our standoff.

“You don’t.... You always get in my way...good Soraya...perfect Soraya.” He pauses to glare at dad. I move closer, using his distraction to gain ground but his eyes fall back on me.

“Soraya can’t do anything wrong can she? So determined. So ambitious...while we all look like wasted...”

I shake away his words. He was throwing them at me to distract. I couldn’t become caught and tangled in them. This was just a trap he was casting to try and ensnare me.

We both still. And then we jump at the same time, slamming into each other. I bring my forehead back, slamming it against his. His eyes become unfocused. It’s the chance I need.

I twist around, throwing him on the ground as my hand grips his neck. He chokes, air leaving him as my fingers dig into his windpipe.

I don’t give him the option of submitting.

He never gave me that.

His hands claw against me, his legs kicking out. My eyes are red, hazed over and forgetting all else. Instead, all I can hear is not the sound of his choking- but of my back cracking against the trunk of that tree. Of his crazed scream as he turned around and threw me. Of my own scream as the pain filtered through my body.

It’s not his body that I see, but my own. My own that sat on the forest floor for hours, awaiting death until Henry came and found me.

My own body that was unable to move for months while he trained and became stronger.

My hand tightens.

And then it’s off.

Dad stands over us, his breath coming out uneven as he looks down at me.

“Enough.”

Uncle Mark is dragging Vincent away. I vaguely question in my mind if he is gone. Some relief is felt in me until I hear Leo whisper that he was breathing.

I look up, meeting dad’s blue eyes. We both stare at each other in silence. There is no sound as the pack holds their breath. Waiting.

“Okay Soraya. Okay.”

Slowly dad steps back, turning to face mom. I’m sitting on the ground, my fingers curled as if they are still gripping flesh.

Dad stops and leans down, pulling both mom’s wrists to kiss them. The action holds more significance to me, now that I know what hides underneath.

He cups her face in his hands, whispering words that no one can hear as he wipes away her tears.

My eyes fall to Orion. Grandjay is holding him back. The sight is enough to make some feeling spread back into me. Enough to make me stand and face dad.

My whole body sags in exhaustion. It hits me then that this is really happening. This day that I’ve trained years for is happening now, and I’m covered in dirt and blood. My body hurts, my ears are ringing. I reach up and feel blood trickling down from my forehead.

I take a step forward and stagger.

Panic seeps into me.

I’m about to fight the Alpha, and I can barely stand.

Dad pulls back his shirt, turning to face me. My eyes widen. I’ve never trained with dad. I’ve never seen him bare because he never let me be around him. So, I’ve never seen his skin exposed.

In the middle of his chest is a black sun.

A sun that has been painted on to somehow stay.

I realize then that mom had marked dad. She had just done it in her own way.

“Are you ready Soraya?”

I stare at dad, watching as he moves closer and squares his shoulders back. He stands taller than me. Dominating. A true Alpha. Power comes out of him in fresh waves.

“I hate you.”

Dad only smiles at my words.

“Good. It’s easier to fight something you hate, isn’t it?”

I choke back my sob of frustration.

“I hate you so much.”

He smiles at me, his blue eyes shattering, “I know.”

I push my shoulders back. We both are waiting. Fear grips me, but I shove it down. He would be able to smell my fear. Instead, I let my rage and anger, consume me once again.

We both move at the same time.

The moment his fist hits my stomach, is the moment I know I will lose.

I’m glad I never fought dad. Because I know now, that if I had, I would never have been this foolish to challenge him for a title.

I would have never deluded myself into this death wish that he had forwarned me of.

I’m unable to make contact with him. It’s not fair. It’s not fair. It’s not fair how fast he is, how he is better prepared for a fight and rested. How he had to battle only once and not twice.

But I could hear his words, ringing into my mind. The life of an Alpha is not about being fair. It’s not about comfort and ease.

“Damn it,” I let slip my frustration, growling my anger for the world to hear. The pack silently watches- nervous eyes, anticipating eyes- eyes of fear and eyes of sorrow. All look and watch our fight.

I see Grandjay from the corner of my sight. He is no longer holding Orion back. Orion stares on at me, waiting like everyone else to see me fall.

Grandjay has an urgent look in his eyes.

I turn just in time to dodge dad’s leg. I fall to the ground, rolling away from him.

My lungs burn, the air pulling short from my body as I desperately try to keep up.

“Submit Soraya.”

I only growl at him, rolling further away.

I push myself up and run towards Vincent.

Leo is there, holding a knife as he cuts bandages. His eyes widen as he sees me rushing to him.

But none of them are aware.

None of them have grasped what I’m doing.

Mom stares at me, her face holding shock as she sits next to Vincent, yet at the same time watching the fight.

She yells when I grab her. Grab her and the knife Leo is holding.

The whole pack stiffens as I press the blade to her throat.

Dad stops.

I’ve seen many expressions on dad’s face.

But never this.

This was true horror. True complete and profound agony.

He reaches a hand out, as if he can grab mom away from me, even though we are a distance across.

“Lexie,” her name comes out as a strangled cry.

Silent tears fall down mom’s face, but she doesn’t cry out.

Instead, she grips my arm- the arm that cages her- clinging to me.

“Soraya, let her go. Now.”

Much like how dad approached Vincent, he now moves cautiously towards me. Like I’m a wild animal. Untamed. Savage. Something that will bite and lash out at the slightest movement.

“Submit.”

Dad freezes at my word.

His eyes turn calculating as he watches me, “you can’t do it. You won’t.” I think he is trying to convince himself as he shakes his head and continues whispering, “she’s your mother. You are her flesh- her blood. She protects you. Loves you. You can’t do it.”

I press the knife closer, listening to mom’s small whimper of pain as a thin red, trickles down her.

“Don’t forget that I’m also of your flesh. I’m of your blood to dad.”

I watch as his face morphs into realization. Horrible realization.

“Soraya.” Mom’s whispered word has my grip upon the knife tightening. She is shaking. Her whole body is shaking. “Soraya...I trust you.”

I keep my face blank, fighting against the war that was being fought within my mind.

Grandjay’s lesson had come to me.

Weak spots. If you’re attacked, go for weak spots.

And I found out dad’s the moment he pulled my hands off of Vincent.

I should have known it, after all those years he tried to stop me from this. From this moment.

Dad’s weak spot wasn’t a single person. It wasn’t mom, or me or even himself.

It was everyone.

Everyone was dad’s weakness.

Because his greatest fear is seeing the ones he loves, in pain.

And that fear becomes greater when he is the source for such agony.

Without any more thought, I slash the knife across.

A scream of anguish leaves Dad’s throat as he rushes to catch mom’s falling body.

Red soaks the ground.

He doesn’t even register my bleeding arm. The long dripping slice I’ve made.

He doesn’t register that the red is not covering mom’s front but her back.

He doesn’t even register the knife that is sticking out of his side.

Blue eyes that match my own look up at me in shock.

We both fall to the ground, dad’s face still holding his surprise as he looks up at me, his hands gripping my arm.

He laughs then.

A laugh of pure relief as he takes in mom’s uninjured body before his eyes flicker and close.

I wish it could be over. I wish it could all be over.

I made sure the knife wound was not deadly. I made sure it would be something he could recover from.

My hate had never been powerful enough for that.

Mom’s scream fills my ears as she and Leo rush towards dad.

It’s not over though.

I wish it could be over.

Lilah steps forward. Hatred is laced into every fiber of her being as she crosses her arms. Her eyes fall onto mom’s screaming figure as she cries over dad.

“I knew you were misfortune. I knew you would bring misery to your family. Everyone was worried about Vincent and Leo but I knew you were the real predator. You mastered the art of hunting long ago and were just waiting to corner your prey. I knew it. And I should have stopped it. But I can now. And I’m going to give you hell for that,” she points to mom.

“So wolfers,” Lilah raises her arm behind her head, stretching it and letting the joints crack, “choose your Beta.”