Chapter 71 : Innocent Demise 2

Selene

A new voice echoed through the cave, cunning and dangerous. "Eat the child, ugly wolf. Can't you feel how hungry we are? The other is not enough to satisfy us. Eat him!"

Selene looked around quickly, trying to determine where the voice came from. Was there another enemy? How could they not have seen him? Where was he hiding?

The ugly wolf whimpered pitifully and shook her head. "Please, don't... don't force me."

"We are hungry. Feel our hunger. Eat him, eat him!"

"Where are you, coward? Show yourself," Selene demanded, trying to keep one eye on the witch and the other on the cave around them, but she saw no one. Where did the other voice come from?

Again the witch whimpered, even cried, as her hair moved of its own accord, wrapping thick strands of black hair around the motionless child, lifting her from her now loosened grip and floating in the air above her head. Then she leaned forward, curling into a ball that revealed the back of her head. A gaping mouth with two rows of sharp teeth split the back of her skull, its slippery pink tongue jutting out toward the boy as it was lowered into the second mouth.

"No!" Joshua shouted, lunging forward too fast for it to follow.

Before he could break the bonds holding his son, strands of black hair flew toward him. He swung at the hairs to get rid of them, but they were harder than they looked. Like a sword, one spiky strand rebounded from his blow, cutting a long, bloody slash across his forearm, while another dug into his thigh until Selene could see it coming out from behind.

He backed away before more thorns flew toward him, intent on piercing his heart. Blood splattered on the ground as Joshua jumped back and then soared into the air to counterattack. Selene saw that the boy was about to be swallowed, so while he distracted her, she let go of her weapon. The weapon flew from her hand and connected with the hair that was entangling the boy, freeing him. As the boy fell toward the gaping mouth, Joshua ignored the danger to himself and let a few strands of hair pierce his flesh to grab the boy's arms and pull him to his chest. But he was trapped, unable to move as his own weight and his son's body forced him to fall further into the hole that pierced him. Blood spilled from his wounds, running like water down the black hair.

"Joshua!" She shouted, throwing her weapon again as more strands of hair came at the helpless man who refused to let go of his son to save himself.

Her weapon sliced through the hair, freeing him as he fell on top of the ugly she-wolf, who screamed from the impact. Joshua quickly jumped away from the tangle of the woman's hair, which seemed to be growing at a frightening rate.

"I need to eat!" the second mouth shouted.

The ugly, dark witch-wolf rose and knelt to glare at the two of them before turning her wrathful gaze on Joshua. "The boy is mine! I'll eat you instead and I won't have to hurt him."

She stood up and lunged at Joshua, her hair flying around her, reaching out to catch him again. Joshua unexpectedly wrapped his arms around Selene's waist and jumped several feet away from the ugly wolf.

The witch turned to clutch at him in anger and desperation.

"You can't have him! You don't understand. I need it more than you do. Ever since I was punished for neglecting my stepchild from my former mate's mating in favor of my own child and learning about evil magicians, everything has been taken from me! Because the child died of starvation, I was cursed with a second mouth on the back of my head, telling me to eat and eat. But it was not food it wanted, but living flesh, and I was forced to eat my children," she sobbed, raising her hand to cover her mouth as she recalled the horror. "Back then I couldn't accept a child that wasn't my own, now I know the error of my ways, but every time I tried to take one as my own... I..." She could not say the terrible truth that her listeners could understand.

"No... Edgar!? You ate it?" Joshua asked in a pained whisper.

A howl of pain erupted from him, filling the cave with his pain and grief.

At that moment, her heart broke. To lose a child... not even Selene knew the pain she felt. Selene had lost many things in her life, her own child was not one of them, for she did not have one. But she could understand the pain he was going through. They had both lost something precious to them at the hands of another.

She lifted her hand and rested it comfortably on his shoulder, not knowing what to do or say to ease his pain. As he felt her touch, Joshua turned his blue eyes toward her, and she saw the tears falling. They trickled down his angular cheeks until they fell off his chin. Her lungs tightened at the sight.

Then he handed his son over as they heard the ugly witch speak with a second mouth at the back of her head. "Take Kenny. Take care of him," he said hoarsely, his grief choking his throat.

Selene herself was moved to tears as she embraced the boy. To see such a proud and strong man crying was a heartbreaking sight, a sight she could not escape. She did not question him or ask him to help her fight. Joshua wanted revenge on the killer of his son. She would not stand in his way. She understood the urge, the need, to strike back at those who have hurt you.

Holding Kenny in her arms, she watched as he attacked the witch who seemed to have come out of her pain, countering his attack with a cry from both mouths to feed her. The witch may have been slow like a human, but her evil hair was not. The hair attacked Joshua, who dodged and moved toward the woman until he was close to her.

He swung his hand, aiming for the witch's face, but the hair was quicker and wrapped around his wrist. His legs swung, his thighs connecting with his ribs, the sound of bone echoing through the room. Selene flinched at the sound, just before the ugly woman screamed in pain. She winced and clutched her side as she fell to her knees in pain. Obviously, her body was still human, frail and weak. But her hair was a different story.

The black strands shot out and slammed into his chest like a hammer, sending him flying backwards and landing with a thud on the stone floor. Selene took a breath to call his name to see if he was all right, but he was already on his feet. Blood littered the ground where he had fallen, testifying to the injuries he had suffered earlier.

The wounds didn't seem to slow him down as he attacked again, dodging and leaping out of the steel-like hair, trying to get closer to the witch's body. Joshua cut strand by strand, parting the black hair until a pool of black hair surrounded him.

Then Joshua saw an opening and lunged, preparing to attack the person who had taken his son's life before killing him, when a wave of disjointed hair enveloped him, pushing him back. Selene watched in horror as Joshua was bound tightly, his hands forced to his sides, his legs unable to kick out, as he was lifted over the weeping woman, curled tightly into a ball on the cave floor, whimpering in pain.

"I will devour you!" the second mouth said loudly, bringing him closer to its gaping mouth.

"Joshua!" Selene screamed, stepping closer to the fighting pair, afraid that she would see him die and cause Kenny to lose the last member of his family.

Instead, water gushed from the pool only a few feet from the two fighters, submerging the ugly witch in the cold liquid. Just as the second mouth was about to take a chunk out of his flesh, ice froze over her, including the hair that bound her, and the woman on the ground suddenly cut off her screams as she turned to ice.

As he struggled against his bonds, Joshua shredded her hair in his violent struggle to gently touch the frozen form. What Selene saw next made her tense, her breath catching at the ferocity of his actions.

He attacked, slamming into the motionless figure. Shards of frozen flesh flew around him as he swung his fist down repeatedly. Each blow sounded like shattering glass in the cave. Slowly, Selene approached him. Standing to his left, Selene saw that he had crushed the ugly witch's skull and chest cavity to the floor of the cave. But his fists continued to strike relentlessly, shattering the rock beneath him. Joshua seemed oblivious to the fact that he was no longer hitting an ice-covered enemy, but the ground beneath him, blood flowing profusely from his bruised knuckles, yet he continued his attack as if possessed.

As she knelt beside him, placing his son's small body on his bent knees and an arm around his shoulders to hold him to her chest, Selene leaned forward and placed her hand on his back before he could strike again. Joshua stopped but didn't turn his head to look at her. Frightened and hurt, she whispered his name, hoping he would come out of his inner hell and return to her.

Joshua turned to her, all emotion gone from his expression. She was surprised by his lack of reaction, for he clearly didn't recognize her, his eyes distant. She raised her hand, cupping his cheek, and spoke to him, trying to summon him.

"Joshua, come back to me. The enemy is dead; you must return now. Your son needs you."

He blinked at her words, and a second later, reality flooded back into his beautiful eyes. Joshua glanced down at the wound he had inflicted on his enemy, then at his bloodied knuckles, before looking up at his son's sleeping face. His own face seemed to collapse instantly, and Selene saw more than heard his breathing.

Glazed eyes looked up at Selene and before she knew it, his arms were wrapped around her back. He rested his head on her shoulder, his breath panting against her exposed skin, the moist air blowing against the shallow wound on her chest as he held her tightly, his son trapped between them.

Selene couldn't move away, her heart unwilling to leave him in this moment of overwhelming grief as his shoulders heaved, sobs shaking his muscular body, shaking her with the force of his agony. Joshua tightened his embrace and threw his head back against her neck. Selene felt the warmth of his tears fall on her neck and all she could do was return his embrace. She wrapped her free arm around his back, his blood soaking her sleeve and mixing with her own, but she ignored it. Next, she rested her forehead on his broad shoulders and held him as he cried his heart out. But he wasn't alone, for her tears fell silently down her face as well.