Chapter 8

I rush the beast at full speed and backhand it while preparing to dodge it's counter. As expected, the beast wildly lashed out. I evaded all it's attempts while landing my own when possible. I kicked it, knocking it over and onto its knees. I did not press my seeming perfect opportunity, oh no. I can't see it's hands form this angle and rushing in like that would be suicide.

The beast swung back with a burst of speed that was rather impressive. It tried to attack where it thought I would be had I pressed my advantage. Once it's arm passed by I kicked it in it's head knocking it onto it's back. It rose slowly, with ragged breaths. I knew it was over. That it had nothing left. It was finished and I had won. I had defeated this beast. One of the most powerful creatures in this world, and I defeated it alone.

I walked over to it using my foot to push it back onto it's back, then placing my foot on it's chest. I was not out of breath, I did not tire. But I could not stop the smile forming on my face. This was the hardest thing I had ever done. Where death was a real possibility and I loved it. Sure, I could have ended it far sooner. With much less effort. But I wanted a challenge, I wanted to test myself. To see who was the apex predator. I got my answer.

The beast began to change back into its human form. A man, he looks Scandinavian. I hear someone approaching and smile. "I told you to run, if it had a mate in the area then you would have died a foolish death." Tola reached my side but completely ignored the naked man at my feet. She ran her hands all over my chest, just feeling all the cracks. She ran her fingers across four distinctly prominent scars going across my chest. "Why?" I looked down at her and wondered what she meant. "What do you mean?" She reached up and grabbed my jaw with a hand looking me in the eyes.

I looked back at her bright red eyes, trying to discern what could be the problem. She said nothing, just stared straight into my eyes. We stood like that for a minute and as I was about to say something she spoke. "Did you enjoy yourself? Was all this," she gestured at the destruction around us while not taking her eyes from mine. "Was all this really worth it? Was it necessary?" I placed my hand over hers. "I was simply having fun. What is the problem?"

"The problem is you could have died. I know you have extraordinary powers, but that is not an excuse for such recklessness. What were you trying to prove? That you were stronger, that you did not need to take the fight seriously. Men have died because of their pride. Do you want to be one of them? To die because you were having fun. You were so engrossed in the fight that you didn't even notice the other one approaching from your blind-spot."

I widened my eyes at that and used my powers to find the other werewolf. Found it. I made to look at it but Tola held firmly on my jaw, preventing me from looking. "You did not notice it. You did not notice the beast leading you into a trap. Into the jaws of the one in hiding."

She was right, I did not notice the other one. I had to focus on the beast in front of me and lost track of my surroundings. If they timed it right I'm not sure I would have been able to survive. I cut off my powers to truly test myself. I wanted to see what I could do, what I was capable of. My hubris would have been the death of me. I got too excited with the events of the past couple days and thought myself invincible. If Tola had followed my orders, I would more than likely be dead. Torn apart by these beasts. No, not beasts. They made a plan without any form of communication that I could discern and were ready to execute. I am a fool, I have shamed myself and Tola. All my plans would have gone up in smoke because of my pride.

Leaning forward to place a kiss on her lips; she put up no resistance. The kiss was not lustful but tender, loving and filled with gratitude. "Thank you my Tola," I said giving her another kiss on her forehead. She turned to look at the man lying at our feet. "What are they?" I released her and we reverted back to the roles of Emperor and Emperor's hand. "They are called children of the moon, or more commonly known as a werewolf. Our kind are not the only powerful beings out there. While the others that I know of do not pose a significant threat but these. As you saw it was far stronger and faster than its size would lead you to believe."

She nodded at that, probably replaying the whole encounter in her head. "How did you manage to subdue the other one?" I was genuinely surprised that she did not outright die. "I am not sure, when it saw me I knew I would die. But I, I, I just reacted. The thing was far faster than me and I knew nothing I could do would stop it from killing me. Something just happened and I told it to stop, so it did. It just froze."

Listening to her explanation I feel I have an idea of what she has done. "Tola I want you to command me to jump. But you have to mean it, the same way you did with the werewolf." She looks at me with confusion but compiles. "Jump." My body moves on its own and I jump. When I land I am stunned. I thought that she attained the power of some kind of compulsion. Or even outright mind control. But the thing with powers of the mind is that I can feel the assault. I can resist any form of mental attack I believe. However, when Tola commanded me to jump my body obeyed without hesitation. Worse still, I felt no mental attack. No compulsion, she did not try to dominate my mind she just spoke and my body obeyed. Her power is not psychic in nature. At least that is what I believe.

This power is both amazing and frightening. Amazing because my closest follower, my second in command has such power. Frightening because I have no way to defend against it. No matter, I will keep her close to make sure no one is able to manipulate her mentally. I have looked into her mind and am certain of her loyalty. But if someone had the power to influence emotions, induce loyalty or anything like that then she naturally would have no defense against that.

"We will look further into this new power of yours later." She simply nods and I quickly scan her mind and relax after assuring her loyalty. "What do you plan to do with them?" she asks. "We will take them back to the castle. I want to use them to create more of their kind. They become wild when they turn but if I can find a way to help them stay sane during their transformation then they will become great servants. Just think, an entire squad of werewolves guarding the castle. Once I perform a few tests on these two I will pick the most loyal of my people and turn them. Then I will kill them as they will have served their purpose and lose their usefulness to me."

If I can accomplish this, which I believe I can, then it will be just like Underworld. I can create a group similar to my KG and Valkyries composed entirely of werewolves. I can already imagine Arro's face when he sees a group of werewolves standing at my side awaiting my orders. He'll be both frightened and jealous of my power.

"Come Tola, let's head back. Once we secure these two we should head back home. I have duties to attend to." She nods and I gather up all the broken off pieces of my body and fly off with Tola and the werewolves in tow. My body is already starting to knit itself back together. Today has been rather eventful. I have the means to create a new lethal force at my beck and call and a powerful follower such as Tola. The future is looking promising.