Defiance: The Hybrid's Tale
Chapter 10: A Day at the Elder Court.

Cassandra Pope.

As I closed the seventh door on my bootlicking campaign to save my father’s worthless hide, my conscience, at that stage, felt like a dog that has been kicked to within an inch of its death. All of those lies I had to regurgitate repeatedly made me feel as if I was plunging the dagger deeper into the victims of my father. While he continued with his reign of terror. To the magical community at large, he was one of those famous warlocks everyone aspired to be, but it was all a show. He wanted a legacy that would engrave his name into the hearts of the generations to come. A noble goal for sure, but he had lost himself in his demented rise to eternal glory. He’d already proven that he’d do everything in his power to accomplish it. However, luckily for the world at large, there were people who stood in his way, people like the Elder Council.

As I made my way along the grand hallway of the Council’s headquarters, I had to fight the urge to glance at the irritating snake that slivered next to me - my brother. For most of the morning, he had accompanied me to the meetings I had with the various Council members. My father had sent him to make sure I did my job. Ethan probably enjoyed it as he saw me grovel.

“Why the long face, Sis?” Ethan mocked me as he strode next to me with a skip in his step.

He was happy about the fact that most of the members of the Council had swallowed my bullshit lies for honey.

I scoffed. “You may enjoy licking other people’s asses for a living brother, but I don’t. I’m glad that this farce will soon be over.” Just then, the last of my meetings came into view: the door of Elder Elderick Vance.

Elderick Vance was one of three councilors that despised my father. He saw through my old man’s facade for the cockroach he truly was, and this was my only shot at bringing the whole mess to an end. But one problem remained; my brother clung to my side all the time, making it impossible to get to the councilor’s ears without tipping my father off to my true intentions. This was my last shot. I had to send a discreet message to the councilor asking him to meet me privately. I didn’t even know if Elderick would even believe me. He was under the illusion that I was a part of my father’s inner circle. Time to change that. I had four people depending on me.

I knocked three times on the wooden door.

“Come in!” A harsh voice echoed through the door. I nervously pushed open the door and walked into the Elder’s office along with my brother close at my heels.

The office was long and narrow with bookshelves lining the inner right wall of the chamber. Four opened patio doors to my left allowed fresh mountain air and sunlight to flood into the room. I made my way over to an ornate wooden table at the end of the chamber where a middle-aged man sat signing a bunch of papers.

Without looking up, Elder Elderick spoke, “Don’t waste your time.” He then glanced up to look at my brother and then at me. His steel blue eyes cut into me with so much contempt in his eye, my blood froze in my veins. “I’ve already read through this,” he held up a blue file before throwing it on the floor in front of my feet. “So many lies twisted into convenient truths to avert the scornful gaze of the Elder Council from your scaly backs.”

The venomous words spewing from his mouth kicked my conscience further into the dirt. What have I become? How long could I continue with this before it consumed my soul completely? I did not want to end up like my brother. He was a remorseless scoundrel who would have killed a child in a heartbeat if it would earn the favor of my father.

I bent over and picked up the file, staring at the report riddled with many names of my former coven members. These were the names of those who chose to leave the coven when my father completely lost his mind. These people were once my friends and family, but in the end I condemned them. Because of me, the Shadowstalkers were hunting them for the crimes of ‘treason’ -- one of many convenient lies to cover my father’s attacks on his fellow witches and warlocks.

The Elder’s rant pulled me out of my stupor. “Your father must have gotten riled up with the Council finally taking action against him.”

“It’s all lies!” My brother spit at the Elder. “My father has done nothing to earn the scorn of the Council—”

The Elder slammed his hands down onto the table. Several strands of grey hair slipped from his man-bun, hanging from his forehead. “Enough! I will not allow you,” he glared at us both, ” to deafen my ears with your pitiful excuses.” He straightened up and ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve known your father before you two were even a scratch in his ball sack. Now leave and don’t bother me again!”

My brother stormed out of the chamber while the Elder returned to his work. “Cassandra, I said leave.”

I glanced down at the file in my hand and then gave into my gut feeling. I had only one chance. I muttered an incantation and then tapped the file before placing it back onto the table.

“Sorry for bothering you, Councilor... good day.” He didn’t even bother to greet me back before I walked out of the chamber. I had hardly crossed the threshold before the door slammed shut behind me, whipping my hair into my face.

That could have gone better, but who was I kidding? The councilor would never have listened to me. He and my father were rivals from the first day they met and despised each other with a passion to rival the gods.

“What are you waiting for?” My brother bitched out.

Oh, fuck off you twit!

He continued. “Father will want to hear from you how it turned out.”

I glared at him for a bit. “And here I thought you would have already run off to tell him yourself, since you have been nothing but a piece of wasted space. Make yourself useful for once and go bother someone else.”

I rushed off toward the atrium, trying to shake off the nervous feeling, swelling up from the pit of my stomach. I had just left a hidden message for the councilor to meet me at a restaurant far from the prying eyes of my father and brother. I just hoped that the Elder would take the bait and meet me there.

Adam Wick.

I sat in front of the nurse’s office with Maisie by my side while the nurse attended to Arno. I still couldn’t believe my eyes at what we saw. Who could have known squirrels could organize such an attack? Poor Arno. He’s been stuttering and shivering nonstop since I took him to see the nurse.

“What are we still doing here?” Maisie asked while playing on her cellphone. “We have a class in an hour and I don’t want to spend my free time loitering around the hallway.”

I sat up in my chair. “And what about Arno?”

“What about him?” She glanced up from her phone. “He’s no longer your responsibility, so stop acting like a love-sick puppy.”

I grumbled at her words. She was right. My and Arno’s relationship was over the minute I found him in bed with one of the college’s football players. I didn’t even know who it was and I didn’t even think Arno did either.

Maisie punched me on my shoulder and said, “Stop sulking over that idiot! He’s not worth it. Rather spend it on that hunk right there.”

At that moment, Joshua and Nathan approached us, whispering to each other. Both had guilt written over their faces. Nathan had a better poker face but just barely. Once they came to a stop in front of the nurse’s office, their eyes fell upon us. Nathan’s demeanor suddenly clamped up; his shoulders tightened and his eyes narrowed on us. It made Bane whine in my mind to see him tense up in our presence. I mean... we posed no threat to him; we weren’t planning on attacking him. It was the second time it happened, the first time at the Supreme’s herbal shop and now here. Maybe he had a nasty run-in with a bunch of rogues, or he was just uncomfortable around new people.

I got up from my seat and walked up to them. Their whispering faded into the wind.

“Hi.” I said. I gave them my award-winning smile, trying to break through Nathan’s standoffish nature. “You’re Nathan, right? Nice to meet you.” I extended my hand to him.

Nathan’s copper eyes darted at my hand for a moment before he hesitantly reached out to take my hand. Surprisingly, his hand fitted perfectly into mine. A wave of warmth spread through my body and settled in my nether region. Holy cum! Bane whirled around my mind barking like mad.

“I want him! He’s mine!” Bane howled.

“Get a grip! We don’t even know each other and you already want to jump him.”

“Why not! Look at him!” Bane began to pant, sending dirty images through my mind as to what he wanted to do with him. My pants tightened around my hips.

“Pull in the reins, Bane, before we scare him off.”

Much to my and Bane’s disappointment, Nathan quickly retracted his hand from ours. Did he hate touching me? I watched his reaction but it was far from hate. Nathan closed his eyes and shivered as goose bumps rippled throughout his body. He tried to hide his reaction by turning from us and glancing off into the distance as several students made their way to their classes.

He placed both of his hands into his hoodie’s pockets. “Adam, if I’m correct?” His smoky voice rolled over my ears, sending goosebumps down my neck. “Nice to meet you too.”

He still avoided my gaze. Before the silence became awkward with Joshua and Maisie analyzing our interaction, my beta came to my rescue. “Hello, I’m Maisie Hartington. We’ve met twice before.” She chirped along.

She reached out and shook his hand. Dillon interrupted us when he came barging in between us and pushed Nathan out of his way. Dillon disappeared into the Nurse’s office. I wanted to mind-link the oaf to ‘rip him a new one’ when, to my amazement, a growl escaped Nathan’s mouth. This, however, lasted only a second when Joshua elbowed him in the stomach.

“Uhh... Sorry we have to leave.” Joshua shot Nathan a ‘what the fuck’ stare before making up an excuse. “We have another class to attend and I told Nathan that I’d show him the library beforehand.”

He pulled Nathan with him toward the library as quickly as he could.

“Did he just growl at Dillon?” Maisie asked me through the mind-link. Her eyes were nearly bulging out of her eye sockets.

I watched as they disappeared around the corner. “Yah, he did. What’s going on? Humans don’t growl like that.”

“We definitely have to replace out what that guy is hiding. There’s something off about him.”

I nodded. “We should...”

What is he?