Chapter 90 - Star - Fighting The Demon Part 2
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Star
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I had heard Artem and Uncle Howard fighting after Artem had jumped forward. There was some scuffling and a loud banging thud. After that I heard Artem start to laugh so I guessed that he had the upper hand.
"I thought you would put up more of a challenge, Howard. This is going to be easy." Artem was still laughing when he spoke.
"You think so." Uncle Howard sneered. "I have not begun to fight back. You merely took me by surprise because most people do not have the nerve to come near me when I am in this form."
"You think you're stronger and scarier than you are, but you're nothing but a cowardly wimp."
"Don't call me cowardly." Uncle Howard roared angrily.
"You have a problem with coward but not wimp?" He laughed. "So I guess you really are a wimp then."
"I am not a fucking wimp or a coward you prick. I am the son of a great warlock and a demon. How could I ever be weak?"
"I don't know, you seem weak to me." I heard Artem laugh followed by a loud scream from Uncle Howard, after the scream came a thud across the room.
"I am going to kill you now, Howard. I am going to end you for having laid your filthy hands on my mate." Artem sounded like he was full of righteous fury.
"No, I will not let you ruin my plans. This is my time to shine, this is my plan. No, no, no." Uncle Howard whined
There was the sound of more scuffling and some grunting.
"Astraia, kill him. Don't stop trying to kill him even if it kills you." Uncle Howard screamed the words at me and I felt my body start to comply.
My body rose from the bed and turned to face them. I could see them then, Artem pinning Uncle Howard to the floor while they both looked at me. I could tell my body was readying itself for a fight.
'Don't do this, no!' I was screaming at myself even as my body started to move.
"Star, don't do this. You know me. You know who I am. You know that I love you. Star, I am your mate, you know that. Try to listen to your wolf, listen to what she is trying to say to you. You can break his hold on you, I know you can. You are strong, Star, you're so strong."
Listen to my wolf? I had never heard my wolf then but I knew she was in there. I had sensed her weeping in my mind before but that was all. How do I hear her? I wanted to figure that out right now. I fought hard to search my brain for the wolf that was hidden inside of me.
I felt myself moving in small little halting steps. I was fighting it but not enough, not yet.
"Come on Star, fight this." Artem called out to me again as I grabbed my head in pain.
"Stop hesitating, Astraia. Stop wasting time and just kill him already. He will not fight you, he will not stop you at all, just kill him." Uncle Howard's words and voice made it that much harder to fight the talisman's control over me.
"Fuck you Howard, you son of a bitch. You are a goddamn coward for using a woman, and my mate at that, to fight for you. You should be fighting me like a man, you piece of shit." I watched as Artem punched Uncle Howard then causing blood to begin spilling down his face near his eye.
"She is mine to command and use how I see fit. She is my wife, she took a vow to do as I said."
'NO! I will not let him control me. Not ever again. I will not listen to him.'
"The body may belong to you right now, Howard, but the mind is hers and hers alone. And no one, not me or you, will ever make decisions for her ever again." Artem's words gave me strength and power as his love for me overflowed.
"NO!" Uncle Howard roared. "She is mine. MINE! MINE! MINE!"
"Star, sweetheart, please sit back down on the bed, please break his control over you. Do what your wolf is telling you to do."
'I'm trying Artem. I'm really trying. I want to break his control. But how do I hear my wolf?'
At that moment, everything around me seemed to go dark and all I could hear was a near feral growling. It reminded me of the wolf Kent had shown me in the attic. All animal and no rational thought. But this wolf's growling sounded more like crying.
'Hello.' I thought in the direction of that growling and chuffing.
'Who is there? Are you Star? Are you me?' The animalistic voice seemed to answer me excitedly. 'Can you finally hear me?'
'Yes, I can hear you. Are you my wolf?'
'Yes, I am. I have been locked away for so long, the darkness is all around me and I have not seen the light since I was first released.'
'I have been imprisoned and so have you. I want to let you out but I don't know how.'
'Please, please let me out.'
'Can you sense our mate? Is he near? Is Artem our mate?'
'I can't smell unless you do it first. I am too far from the light to notice the scent without your help.'
I took a deep breath then, inhaling Artem's spicy scent and letting the wolf inside me smell what I smelled. There was a small flash of light then, so quick and so pale that I barely noticed it, but I saw the silhouette of a wolf hunched in a corner for just a moment with that flash of light.
'Yes, he is here. Our mate is here. And so is someone who doesn't smell right. Someone who makes me feel sick.'
'Yes, that is Uncle Howard, he is trying to make me kill Artem.'
'Artem is our mate. You cannot kill Artem. He is our one and only mate.'
'Help me.' I begged the wolf inside me. 'Give me the strength to break Uncle Howard's hold over me. Help me to save Artem.'
'All my strength is your strength.' And with her words I felt a rush of power.
Suddenly, it was like a heat was overflowing from my body and I fell to my knees. I still had my hands on my head and I realized then that I was screaming in pain. The screaming went on and on in one long breath. But there was one thing for sure, I didn't feel compelled to follow orders anymore.
I think I was finally free.