The Dark Side of Eleanor Warwick
WEAKNESS

Jessie throws herself across the room with reckless abandon. Alexander meets her charge. The two hellbloods slash and snarl at one another, grappling for position.

With a shouted word, Eleanor moves forward and explodes in size. She has to hunch slightly to not hit her head on the ceiling. Towering over them, she slams her fists down, aiming for Alexander.

At the last moment, Alexander plants a hard kick to Jessie’s chest, sending her sprawling away. He spells quickly, morphing into a raven. Smaller and faster, he flaps away from Eleanor’s attack just as she shatters the floor.

He swoops down towards Jessie. He transforms back into himself and lets his momentum drive his shoulder into the side of her head. Jessie spins and falls onto her face.

He turns to replace Eleanor back to her regular size and conjuring spinning discs of translucent light at her fingertips. Slinging her arms, she sends them flying towards him. He expects to deflect her spells as easily as he had at House Warwick. Much to his dismay, the simple gesture does not deter the discs. They slice right through the ripple of force he sends to meet them. He tries to twist away at the last moment, but the discs slice through his arm and side. Black blood slashes onto the floor.

Before he can heal himself, Jessie is on his back. She growls in fury, gouging at his face with her terrible claws. He shouts in pain. As Jessie gets closer and closer to ripping out his eyes, Alexander seizes her wrists. He slings her over his head and whips her down onto the floor.

He rears back to strike at her, but an ephemeral manacle slams shut around his wrist. A ghostly chain anchors him to the ground. He growls in frustration, glaring at Eleanor. His daughter provides a more immediate concern.

Jessie scrambles to her feet and drives her fist into his face. Black splatters from his nose. Jessie pummels him with years of pent-up fear and hatred. She shatters his rib cage with powerful body blows. Alexander tries to stagger back, but the chain pulls taut.

A slash of Jessie’s open hand gashes the side of his face. Eleanor comes behind him and conjures a blade in her palm. As Jessie slams her forearm into his face, Eleanor stabs the blade deep into his back. Alexander cries in agony. He slumps forward and drops to his knees. Broken and bleeding, he gasps for breath.

“Don’t think this is fucking over yet, you piece of shit!” Jessie grabs his hair and yanks his head back. “You’re going to answer some fucking questions and then I’ll consider putting you out of your fucking misery!”

Eleanor crosses her arms and circles. She eyes Alexander carefully. She and Jessie combined were a force to be reckoned with. Still, this feels a little too easy.

Jessie leans in and snarls. “What the fuck happened that night?”

Alexander opens one eye to look at her. The other was damaged by Jessie’s claws. It had returned to its natural color. “Exactly…what was said. I sacrificed…your mother…to create the perfect blood for the hellblood ritual.”

Jessie sneers hatefully. “You sick fuck. Why did you pin it on me?”

“I sacrificed my wife.”

Growling, Jessie strikes him hard across the face. “No shit, asshole! We know that already! Why blame me?”

He spits blood. “Both my sons. My heir. I sacrificed so much.” Slowly, he tilts his head up to look at her. “Do you think I did all of that to make myself some common animal like you?”

Eleanor’s eyes drift to Alexander’s back. Through the tattered strips of what was once an expensive dress shirt, she could swear something was moving beneath his skin. “Jessie, be careful.”

Jessie glances up at Eleanor. By the time she looks back down at her father, his face has mended, and dark black eyes stare back at her.

Alexander roars. Dark leathery wings burst forth from his back. The unfolding wings catch Eleanor in the midsection, tossing her back. Rising, Alexander rips free of the ghost chain. As he opens his mouth, his maw extends into his cheeks. His teeth sharpen little daggers. Blackness overwhelms his eyes. Droplets of black ooze from his eyes like dark tears.

Jessie steps back, her mouth agape.

“I am infinitely superior, you pathetic wretch.”

Lunging forward, he swipes at her. Jessie is able to turn away from it, his claws gashing into her shoulder. She stumbles back before setting her feet. She roars and leaps to the attack.

Alexander catches her by the head and drives her down to the floor. The flooring splits and cracks at the impact. Lifting her off the ground, he chuckles darkly at Jessie’s face, busted and bleeding, much as his own had been. Conjuring a spell, blue mist circles his fist. He strikes Jessie and the magic bursts. Shimmering blue light carries Jessie away at a high speed, crackling along her skin.

Just before she collides with the wall, the surface transforms into a wide net. The impact still takes the wind out of her, but she’s able to drop to the floor relatively unharmed.

Alexander turns to Eleanor. “You’re a curious creature, Warwick. You were not capable of this kind of magic mere hours ago. Something’s changed.”

Eleanor smirks. “Look who’s talking.”

He lets out a surprisingly boisterous laugh. “Fair enough.”

Jessie has no time for banter. She cries furiously and goes on the attack. Alexander spins and catches her with a backhand that tosses her against the wall.

Eleanor quickly summons more swirling discs and flings them toward his back. Alexander pulls his wings in. The discs sink into the thick leather hide, but they seem none the worse for wear. Undeterred, Eleanor calls forth a swirling mass of dark power. She throws her hands forward and the magic darts toward its target.

Alexander casually raises a wing to shield him. The mass strikes, but does not do what Alexander expects. Rather than explode, the mass splatters across the wing like black acid. He hisses in pain, flicking his wing as the spell eats away at his newly acquired appendage.

Jessie suddenly barrels into him from behind, driving her shoulder into his back. Eleanor motions her hands and nearby debris floats off the floor and gathers. She throws the collected mass.

Alexander disappears in a burst of dark smoke. Jessie curses as Eleanor’s attack strikes her instead. She tumbles back across the floor. “Watch what the fuck you’re doing, Warwick!” she shouts as she comes to her feet.

“Jessie!” Eleanor cries back.

Jessie spins to replace her father behind her. Before she can act, Alexander drives his claws into her stomach. Jessie lets out a pained groan as black blood drips to the floor. Alexander growls and lifts her off the ground. Taking a step forward, he hurls her across the room.

Eleanor easily catches her with unseen forces, but she has to drop her as Alexander leaps at her. Thinking quickly, Eleanor conjures the dark wisps and directs them forward. The wisps spin and swirl in tight circles. They fly forward in a spiral, forming a writhing drill. They catch Alexander in the chest and drive him backward at an angle. He bursts through the ceiling and disappears into the chambers beyond.

Eleanor hurries to Jessie and quickly casts a healing spell. Jessie sits up with a gasp. She clutches her midsection. “Fuck. Are we winning? It doesn’t feel like we’re winning.”

“We're doing alright,” Eleanor says casually, “but if this keeps up he’s definitely going to kill us.”

“Well, that’s fucking great. So what’s your big plan?”

“I’m sorry, plan?”

“Yeah. Your plan. You’ve always got plans.”

“What plans?”

“Oh, fuck off. I’ve never seen you beat anybody head-on. You sidestep them. You trick them. You replace their weakness. So what’s your plan?”

“There’s no plan, Jessie.”

Jessie stares at her. “So you just showed up here and thought you’d just beat him?”

“I…well, yes.”

“Fucking Christ!”

“I didn’t know he was going to be…that! And even if I did, what plan could there possibly be? He’s a wizard and a hellblood! And he’s not just a wizard, he’s one of the most powerful wizards in the world! And he’s not just a hellblood, he’s some kind of…apex hellblood! There’s no trickery! There’s no weakness!”

Jessie glances down at her hands. “Yes, there is.”

“What?”

“He may be a super hellblood, but he’s still a hellblood.”

“Yeah.”

Jessie’s face goes cold. “And hellbloods have a pretty big fucking weakness.”

The two stare at each other for a moment. Eleanor slowly nods as she begins to understand. “Right.”

“Can you do it?”

“I think so. You have to keep him busy. Three minutes and then lead him back here. If he catches on there’s no telling what he’ll do. He may run. He may go scorched earth.”

“Oh, he’ll have his hands full. Just don’t fuck it up.”

Eleanor watches as Jessie runs toward the smashed opening in the ceiling and leaps through.

The space beyond is in dark disrepair. Sheets of plastic hang about as renovation had begun but stalled. Jessie walks quietly through the shadows. She slowly pans around the room. There are no other punctures in the structure so his trip had to have ended there.

"Are you sure it's wise to press on alone?"

Jessie stiffens at his voice. Her lips peel back and she snarls. "Show your fucking face so I can rip it off."

"So much anger. So much hatred. Do you even know why you hate me so much, Jessica?"

"I fucking know!" she barks.

"I don't think you do. I think you know full well how little you actually understand about yourself. What do you really know about me? About your life before Carmadie? Warwick seems to think you were kept chained up in an attic."

"I was!"

Alexander's soft laugh seethes in Jessie's ears. "Think about that for a moment, will you please? Despite your apparent issues, you're a functioning adult. You have a job. You pay rent. You can drive a car. Do you think you could do any of those things if you lived like a caged animal your entire life?

"Yes, you were subjected to experiments. No, your mother was not particularly concerned with your comfort during said experiments. Yes, you were excluded from many things your siblings enjoyed. We never acknowledged you publicly and you were certainly not a part of our future plans."

Jessie shakes in rage. Her shoulders heave with heavy, furious breaths. "And you don't think that's enough to hate you!"

Alexander's voice takes on a harder tone. "No. You still had a life, Jessica. School, albeit public. Friends. Boys. It was more than you deserved. You are just an ungrateful child. You have no cause to hate me so much. "

Tears run down her cheeks. "You...killed...him," she says through gritted teeth.

"Who?"

With a howl of fury, Jessie charges in a random direction. She grabs a table and hurls it across the room at nothing. "Show your goddamn face!"

"Oh, you must mean the nobody at House Warwick."

Crying out, she charges in another direction, ripping down plastic sheets and casting sawhorses aside.

"I didn't kill him, Jessica."

Jessie is suddenly seized by the head and slammed against the wall. She grits her teeth as her father's claws dig into her scalp. He presses her face against the wall with thousands of pounds of force. Leaning down to her ear, he whispers callously, "You did."

For a moment, Jessie stops struggling. Her eyes go wide. She can't feel anything apart from her heart thundering in her chest. Her claws dig into the wall.

With a roar of hellish agony, Jessie pushes off the wall, sending Alexander stumbling in surprise. She grabs one of the sawhorses and spins, splintering the wood against his head. She drives herself into his midsection, slamming him to the floor. Mounting him, she swings her fists and claws in a frenzied rain of painful blows. Alexander is able to grab both wrists, but Jessie slams her head against his face with enough force to drive the back of his head into the ground.

An unseen force grabs Jessie by the hair and yanks her off him. As Alexander comes to his feet, Jessie breaks away and lunges at him. He shields himself with his one good wing. Jessie savagely rips into the appendage. She ignores his shout of pain and seizes the wing. Whipping him around, she slams him into the wall.

Planting a foot against his face, Jessie roars and pulls back with all her demonic might. Alexander howls as his wing is ripped free of his back.

With a desperate flick of his hand, Alexander sends a kinetic burst that knocks Jessie away. Both hellbloods scramble to their feet. Jessie charges but Alexander holds his ground. Casting, a shimmering glow surrounds him.

Jessie launches herself and drives her fist into his face. The magical sheen flicks. Alexander does not move an inch. He counters with a kick to her stomach. The field around him flicks again and Jessie shoots across the room like she was fired out of a cannon. She strikes the wall so hard, the windows burst outward.

Alexander casts again and his myriad injuries heal. "This new power is going to take some getting used to. I can see how easy it is to let my blood get the better of me."

Jessie growls weakly, charging again. She lands two body blows, but she is again met with a shimmering flicker and Alexander is again unharmed. He swats her away with a backhand. Again, the field flickers and she fires across the room, hitting the wall with a terrible impact.

"I tried to match your savagery. I couldn't help myself. Something compelled me."

Jessie rises off the wall, but staggers back against it. Her breaths are ragged. She looks around and sees a troubling amount of black blood splattered about.

"Sadly for you, I am capable of so much more than brutality."

Jessie wonders if it's been three minutes. It doesn't matter, she figures. This isn't going to last much longer regardless. It has to be now.

She spits blood. "So much power but you couldn't save her."

Alexander sighs. "She didn't need saving. She went willingly. It was her idea."

"I don't mean your whore, asshole." She smiles sadistically. "I mean that little cunt downstairs."

Pausing, Alexander has to focus a moment to recall who she means. When realization strikes, his face slackens. Madeline. His dearest Madeline. Did he...forget? Did he even stop and wonder if she was alive?

He knows the answer. He could have acted. Maybe she was already dead, maybe not. He didn't even bother to try and save her. He was too consumed with his battle. With his new power. A tear wells in his inky black eye.

A laugh brings him back to reality.

"She was surprisingly easy to kill," Jessie taunts.

Jessie sees the signs. She's been a hellblood long enough to know them. His face twists in a terrible scowl. His body shakes with fury as he unleashes a menacing roar.

He's not thinking now. His blood is in control. He wants violence and pain and no rational thought is going to deter him.

Alexander charges, swinging his claws wildly. Jessie rolls away as he gashes deep cuts across the wall. He's quicker than she expects. Or her injuries have slowed her. It doesn't matter much which it is. He slashes her across the back as she runs back to Warwick.

She lets out a cry but doesn't stop running. He's right behind her. She swears she can feel his breath. Jessie leaps through the wall and back down to the loft below.

Without a moment's hesitation, Alexander dives after her, hungry for blood. His rational mind returns just in time to be too late to save him. He replaces himself falling toward Eleanor Warwick.

Eleanor stands in a circle. Blue fire surrounds her. She reaches up and touches Alexander's temples as he lands at her feet.

"One and one," she chants.

"No!"

"Bound forever!"

Eleanor and Alexander throw their heads back in unison. Eleanor's eyes shift to the same inky black as his. Alexander's body stiffens. The blue flames jump up and twist around them.

The flames extinguish as Alexander collapses to his knees. Looking up at Eleanor, he growls. "What have you done?"

Eleanor stares down pitilessly. "You brought this on yourself. You only thought about the power, not the price. People like you never do."

He comes to his feet and rears back to strike at her. She stands her ground, staring at him. Gritting his teeth, he replaces himself unable to strike her. Unable to strike his master.

Roaring in fury, he paces away before quickly running back to her. He brings his face inches from hers. "You think you can do this to me! I'm Alexander Blackwell!"

The sounds of metal scraping against the floor draws both their attention. The look to the shadows of the loft. Jessie slowly emerges, dragging the Black Blade behind her.

A feeling creeps across Alexander that he is not accustomed to: fear.

Eleanor watches coldly, taking a step back as Jessie approaches. Jessie steps to her father and glares up at him. "Get down on your fucking knees."

Alexander begins to reply angrily, but Eleanor speaks. "Do it."

Without hesitation, he falls to his knees. He pounds his fists on the ground. "This is not the end! You hear me! This is not the end!"

"Not yet it isn't," Jessie answers. She grips the sword in her hands. "Tell me what happened that night. Why did you blame it all on me?"

"Answer her," Eleanor commands, her own curiosity piqued.

Groaning, Alexander's arms fall limply to his side. He closes his eyes. "I...I regretted it."

"What?"

"Everything! As soon as Anastacia was gone I was consumed with regret. I was consumed with...fear. Fear that nothing I gained from any of this would be worth it. Things I...never considered until...she was gone."

Tears run down his cheek, but neither Eleanor nor Jessie are moved in the slightest. "So what then?" Jessie asks.

"I fell into despair. Depression. The way the children looked at me. They judged me. They were in pain. I couldn't take it. So I had Madeline alter their memories. Redirected their hatred."

Jessie snarls. "To me."

"Yes."

"You goddamn coward! Did you fuck with my head too?"

"Not as much. The ritual left you in a disoriented mental state. You had very little memory of before the ritual and immediately after you were disoriented and very malleable. Anastacia predicted it. I dumped you at a hospital before you pulled out of it."

"So why come after her now?" Eleanor asks.

"The memory alteration worked perhaps too well. The boys wanted blood. Especially Adrian. Madeline went along with it. Like me, she had to stick to the story. The longer I went without acting, the more suspicious it seemed to them.

"As time passed and my grief faded, I began to view my initial reaction with contempt. I was weak and foolish. I had created a self-fulfilling prophecy. I was so afraid of her sacrifice being in vain, I made it so."

Taking a deep breath, Jessie looks over her shoulder at Eleanor. A simple nod is all she receives, but it's all she needs.

"Well, now your wife is fucking dead. Your daughter is fucking dead. Your sons are fucking dead. And you don't have one goddamn thing to show for it." Jessie leans in and spits in his face. "The only family that's going to outlive you is the one you fucking hate."

Alexander calmly reaches up and wipes the spit from his face. "Listen to me carefully, Jessica." He looks up and glares into her eyes. "This is not the end."

She leans in closer. "Fuck you."

Stepping back, Jessie swings the Black Blade.

Alexander Blackwell's head hits the ground and rolls away. His body follows soon after.