Chapter Seventeen: The Will To Fight

Victoria and Kara stare silenu across from one another. Neither one making the first move and not wanting give up their ground. Shawn stood in between them, waiting for the next attack. Despite his best efforts, there seem to be no calming either one of them down. They had too much pent up frustration and needed to settle this. Shawn, Of course knew that Gabriel would have already been broken this up. He would have never let them fight to begin with because he knew they would tear each other to shreds. And while Shawn wanted to help, he also wasn't cut out for this sort of thing.

" You know, you seem to have such a high opinion of yourself" Kara calls out to Victoria. " And yeah you're right, you do have a history with Gabriel but that doesn't mean shit. Because again, this is all about his choice. But let's be honest, you just don't like the thought of having any type of competition. Anything to stand in your way of getting what you want. Which I'm pretty sure at this point is just being acknowledged as a Queen. Do you for some reason think that being a Queen is somehow going to make your life more valuable and more important? Do you think that somehow by being next to Gabriel you are somehow going to seem more Appreciated? Because no matter what title you have and no matter who you stand next to, people are gonna judge you by the actions that you do. And I get the feeling that you are a wicked fucking asshole. So I'm pretty sure most people are not going to approve of you no matter what you do" Kara felt confident in these words. Though she had no proper proof of any of her accusations other than Victoria's attitude towards her..

She had felt this for so long about Victoria though. She knew there was something off about her even though she doesn't have viable proof. She felt like she would cause more harm to Gabriel than she would bring good to him.And she refused to let Gabriel get hurt.

" Are you fucking kidding me? I have done everything to keep the Kingdom from falling apart" Victoria snaps back. " I have stepped up to places that I never should have had to. I've had to do things that I never wanted to do. I have had to go without for so long" Victoria's words hold strong and she stands firm "And no, it's not about a title for me. I've been in love with Gabriel almost every since I met him. And being away from him only strengthened those feelings. He is my mate. And I don't know entirely that he will choose me. If you want the truth, he probably won't. But that doesn't make the love that I have for him any less real. And that doesn't make the fascination that you have with him somehow more important than my love for him. You have known him for a Long time. You got to spend years with him which is time that I have to make back up. You go on about how much of a friend he is to you. And how much of a friend you are to him. But he was my friend first. And he is my first and only love. And I've never gotten to tell him that. Because he was with you" Victoria growls as she prepares herself to lunge. " You make me fucking sick" Victoria jumps high into the air and comes down on Kara who gets knocked down hard.

She tries to fight back against Victoria who over powers her. Victoria smiles and laughs hysterically as she begins punching Kara repeatedly in the face. Over and over and over again. Dozens of times. Breaking her nose, brushing her eyes. Knocking Kara completely unconscious. Shawn steps foward and grabs Kara by her shirt and throws her back on the desert sand and snaps his fingers, teleporting Kara back home where Queen Aurora is pacing.

" OH MY GODS. WHAT HAPPENED? " She ran to Kara's side as Shawn explains what happened. " Well don't worry, I'm gonna make sure the Kara is okay. You need to go back and make sure that Gabriel is okay. And also let him know that I'm sorry, I was going to send aid to him tomorrow. Kara had talked to me and made me see reason." Shawn nodded and before he leaves her looks down at Aurora. " It is sad that an 18 year old had to teach a mother and a Queen how to do the right thing " and with that Shawn dissapears. Leaving Aurora to tend to Kara.

Whilst he would love to check on Gabriel, he promised that he wouldn't.. He knew Gabriel could handle himself and was more so concerned with the fact that he let the fight happen to begin with. Instead he would keep his promise as best as he could by watching our Victoria to make sure she didn't do anything else that was stupid. He arrived his back to where Victoria was originally during the fight with Kara but finds that she is gone. Though he can see her footprints in the sand and begins to follow them. This girl was all over the place and was Rowdy. a fire burned inside of her that would have probably consumed Kara alive if he had not stepped in.

Victoria runs as hard and as fast as she can. Overjoyed at the fact that she finally got to put Kara into her place. It had been a long time coming, And that release felt so good. Gabriel is probably going to be upset with her about this but right now she doesn't even care. All she cares about is the fact that Kara isn't gonna open her stupid mouth anymore. And if she does, Victoria will put her in her place again. There is nothing that is going to stand in the way of Victoria what she wants. She wants Gabriel. That's all she's ever really wanted. That's all she's ever really needed. She needs him more than anything. She loves him deeply. And she would do anything to protect him. She would do anything to keep him safe from harm. And she would do anything for their people. Yet for so long their people had suffered, at the hands of the witches. Not directly, but most definitely they had suffered. And Victoria had grown very tired of it. She had grown tired of the passive comments made by the witches. Get grown tired of the hatred they had in their hearts. She had grown tired of the disrespect that they had shown her people for so long. Her people were noble, her people were strong. They deserved to be treated with the utmost respect. They have existed for thousands of years, just as long as the witches. And the witches are somehow viewed as the higher beings. While the Lycans are viiewed as the lesser.

So of course she had strong opinions about Kara and Queen Aurora. And of course she had strong opinions about how things should be handled against them. But she felt completely justified in her feelings. They deserved to all suffer for everything that they had done. Every bit of pain that they had caused the Lycan Kingdom.

How dare Kara. How dare a witch think that she deserves the right to be with a King. A Lycan King. Victoria's only regret at this point was that she hadn't punched harder. That and that she hadn't ended Kara when she had the chance. If only Shawn had not intervened. If only she had had a few more seconds with Kara, she could have given her the level of suffering that she truly deserved. Some day though. Someday soon Victoria would be able to give Kara the beating of a lifetime.

Gabriel continues making his way to the castle. Daylight is fast approaching and and whilst it's relatively hard to tell that considering how dark the skies are here in the land of vampires, it's still possible for him to see it. He had given some more thought to Victoria's offer for marriage. He definitely was not in love with her. Though he couldn't say for certain as to whether he was in love with Kara either.

Love was not typically something that he thought about too often. But Kara was definitely the first person to make him think about it.

She was actually one of the first people to make him feel as though he could be. But then again Maybe that wasn't love, maybe that was just what friendship felt like.

Either way, there were vast differences between the way that he felt between the two. And he knew that more than likely, while he was not in love with Victoria, he would have to marry her. And they would have to continue the lineage of the Lycan royalty. They were both coming of age to find a mate now, so it made sense in some regards. Despite the fact that he wasn't exactly a fan of the idea of mating to begin with.

This was all part of the responsibility that was now upon his shoulders. And he knew somewhere deep down that Kara was also going to have to find a mate. He was pretty certain that witches didn't actually do arranged marriages Though he wasn't sure what the alternative was for them. Perhaps they got to select at their own free will. But why would he be concerned about that? Why would he care about who Kara it ends up within the long run? Why would that bother him as much as it does right now? Why does a bother him right now?

" What the hell is wrong with me" he continues to ask himself over and over again. " I can't stop thinking about her. Seeing her again..she was so..so beautiful and I...I fucked it" A small tear streams down his Fur from under his eyes. This is the 1st tear he had shed in so many years. This was the first time he had allowed himself to feel on this level. And because he felt so disconnected from his emotions, it made him more so uncomfortable than anything.

Back at the witch's Kingdom, Queen Aurora is taking the best care that she can of Kara. Though her body is damaged bruised and battered, Queen Aurora seems to think that she can heal the wounds. It's going to take a little bit of time but she gets to work right away. Waving her hand up-and-down Carol's body, taking her time In doing so so that she doesn't miss anything, she slowly begins to heal her beloved daughter.

Kara began to slowly Stir as Queen Aurora was healing her and is dealing her and Aurora quickly advised that Kara remained perfectly still until the healing process was complete. She had taken a lot of damage, especially to the head. And healing magic to the head is a lot more difficult than pretty much anywhere else on the body.

As Kara slowly began to regain consciousness, in the weakest of tones, called to her mother. " I failed him mom. I couldn't do it. I could get to him. She is stronger than me mom. She is the only one who can save him " Hearing these words broke Queen Aurora's heart. Her daughter had such a low opinion of herself and Queen Aurora couldn't help but blame herself for that.

" That isn't true sweetheart. She is not better than you. And while she is more experienced, that doesn't mean she's stronger than you either. She did do a number on you though. But that doesn't mean that she's the only one that can save him. If saving him is truly what you want to do, then I'm gonna do everything in my power to help you help him" Kara's eyes crack open as she glanced over to Aurora. " You...are going to...help me.." tears forming in her eyes both from the pain and also from the sadness she felt. " Of course sweetie. I'm going to do whatever I can to help. You are just as important to Gabriel as she is. She isn't better than you and Gabriel knows that. Don't lose faith in him. He is a hard head..but he is good and smart. He knows right from wrong and he will see the truth in time." Queen Aurora smiled as she brushed Kara's hair from her eyes. " I know you are going to go back out there. And if you insist on doing so, then please just be careful"

Suddenly, the doors burst open, Any thicker dressed in complete black clothing steps forward and up to both Queen Aurora and Kara. He removes his thick coat to reveal himself. " A vampire..."