I Was Free Once

Chapter 13

It was as if a wall was between my father and me. No matter how hard I threw a punch at him, my fist swung short of his face. No matter how hard I ran to tackle him, my body fell short of his. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t lay a finger on him.

He just stood there watching me.

“You’re weak!” he shouted. “You didn’t train at all, did you? You’re just like your mother: vulnerable.” He walked over towards me and kicked me in the stomach. “You piece of shit! No, I’m wrong. You’re worse than shit.”

I rolled over onto my knees and starting coughing. In the process of coughing I had coughed up some blood. He continued putting me down.

“I expected more from you than that. But, I should have known not to count on someone who isn’t even pure of blood!”

I stopped coughing and slowly looked up at him.

“What did you say?” I got to my feet with my fists clenched.

“You heard me.” He paused for a moment then let out a malicious laugh. “You actually thought you could be stronger than me?! Stronger than even him?!” He pointed to Sal. “Don’t you realize that you’d never amount to anything even remotely close to someone whose blood is pure?”

My mind flashed back to what he had told me as a child.

“When I was fifteen years old you told me I could become one of the strongest demons.”

“The key word there is demon. Since my black magic was stronger than your mother’s white magic, your black magic is also much stronger.” He paused for a moment and then walked over to me and grabbed me by my neck. “It’s too bad that you honed the wrong damn skills.”

I tried with all my might, but I just couldn’t escape from his grip. My father’s claw was starting to cut off my air supply and I was beginning to feel a bit light-headed. He slowly ran three of his nails across my chest, pushing them in deeper as he proceeded. I let out a scream of pain and rage. The next thing I knew, he had me pushed up against the cold, stone wall.

“Oh, how I wish I could kill you right now,” he hissed through gritted teeth. “But, I’ve got one more trick up my sleeve.” He let go of my neck but my body stayed pushed against the wall.

“Let me the hell down!” I screamed.

“You know what?” he asked, ignoring me. “Let’s get rid of the dead weight in this room! Having half an angel in here is bad enough.” He walked over to Sal and clawed at his face, leaving four bloody slashes on his right cheek.

“No,” I replied, “leave him be. Do what you want to me, but he’s not your problem, you asshole.”

“Oh he’s very much my problem, Darien. More than you know…” He pulled Sal’s head back by his hair. “Isn’t that right, Salvo?” He started to choke Sal.

“I’ll never regret what I did,” Sal replied, gagging. “You killed my sister. Was I just going to stand by and let her son die the same way?”

“If you know what’s good for you, you’ll shut your mouth!” My father then continued to punch Sal’s face twice. He dropped Sal and walked back to me. “I’ll bet you’re confused as hell. I’m sure he never told you that he was your uncle, did he?”

I was left speechless. After a moment’s pause, I finally shook my head.

“Darien, I meant to tell you—”

“You’ve said enough!” my father yelled. “Darien, doesn’t make you a bit upset, that he never told you? Doesn’t it ruin your trust in him?”

I thought for a moment, and then replied, “No.”

“Well, it should. Don’t you think if he truly cared for you he would have told you?”

“He does care for me. He didn’t tell me, because I wouldn’t have listened.” Then, I realized what I should have realized back at his house. “That’s the reason he bought me from this hellhole.” Sal looked at me at gave a slight nod, as to say that I finally understood.

“Alright, Darien,” my father said, “I’ve got a deal for you.” He broke the chain he had around his neck. “If you do me a favor and let your black magic shine, you can have this amulet.” He waved it in front of my face. The amulet was cross-shaped and in the middle was a sapphire blue stone.

“Wow,” I replied, sarcastically, “what a trade… I wouldn’t unleash that shit to save my own life.”

“But,” he continued, “would you ‘unleash that shit’ to save the life of another?” I gave no reply. “Do you even know what’s contained in this amulet?” he shouted, waving it in the air.

“Would I even care to know?” I spat back at him.
“Oh, you would care, Darien. And, do you know how I know?” He paused as if he was expecting me to answer his question. “Inside this amulet is the thing you cherished most in your entire life: the one soul you would have done anything to save, but couldn’t.”

My eyes widened. “No, it can’t be.”

“Well, believe or not, Darien, it’s her soul. And I know you care for her more than anything. She’s the only one you ever cried for.” He slapped me across the face with the back of his claw. “You didn’t even cry for your own damn mother.”

“You filthy bastard. All this time, her soul’s still here. You don’t deserve to even look at her. Let her go.”

“You know, she’s been closer to you these past few weeks than you knew or even imagined.” Noticing my confused expression, he put his head back and laughed. “Yes, yes, you were right when you said Shadow seemed to be more than just a dog. I was able to keep tabs on both of you while her soul resided in that dog.”

“You’ve been using her to do your dirty work?” I shouted. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who sinks as low as you do.”

He smiled. “Thank you. I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Let her soul go. You’ve used her five years too many.” I could feel loathing unlike any other flowing through my veins.

He had a malicious smile on his face. “I will if you show me your black magic.”

“How can I trust that you’d let her go even if I did what you asked of me?”

He began to walk towards Sal. “Let’s add a little more to this deal. Obviously, one life isn’t enough to change your mind. How about two?” He began to choke Sal again. “I’ll give you three chances to use your black magic. If you don’t by the third chance, you can kiss them both good bye.”

“Never.”

“That’s one.” He picked up a whip from the one side of the room and doused it in alcohol. I knew where this was going before I could react. He was doing exactly what had been done to me when I was kept there. He proceeded to light the whip on fire and violently strike Sal across his back. Sal winced with every lash. After my father was done with that, he splashed the remaining alcohol on Sal’s open wounds. Sal was having a hard time breathing, but I could tell he was refusing to scream. “You’re stronger than I thought, Salvo. You didn’t even cry out in pain.”

“I’ll never scream,” Sal said, through gritted teeth. “I won’t let you get your sick pleasure from me.” He was turning paler by the second.

“You sick son of a bitch!” I screamed, trying to get down from the wall.

“You can try to free yourself until you pass out, Darien,” my father stated. “That which is holding you up is impermeable to white magic…” He looked at Sal. “…even the best of it.” He smiled a sadistic grin.

“Darien,” Sal struggled to say, “don’t change. If you unleash that magic, then you’ll never—” My father gave him a swift kick.

“Did I say you could talk?” he yelled. “He’s a big boy now. He can make his own decisions.” He looked over to me. “So what’s it going to be?”

I looked at Sal, who was shaking his head. “No.”

“That’s two.” He came over next to me, grabbed a torch, and walked back towards Sal. “Remember this?” he asked me, setting Sal’s wings on fire.

“Not his wings!” I shouted. “Why are you doing this?!”

Sal didn’t even try to stop what was happening. He just sat there and took what my father dealt out. A cold chill ran done my spine when I saw him with nothing but bones left.

My father turned to me again. “One more chance, Darien.” He waved the amulet in the air another time. “It’s do or die, for him.” He turned to Sal and asked him, “Any last words, shit head?”

Sal looked at me. He thought for a moment and collected himself enough to talk. “You can out do him, Darien. Don’t give in. Please, Darien, do me that last favor and beat the shit out of him the right way.”

“I said words, not speech!” my father shouted back. “So what do you say, ‘son’?” He looked at me waiting for my answer.

I knew this was it. There was no turning back now.