90 86: Proof of unworthiness

(Anastasia POV)

It was this ecstasy that drove me. I was not proud of it but I did indeed love it. The thrill and the enjoyment that I got from this were out of the world. I loved fighting. And not with magic but with the type of physical fight that I was doing right now. Whenever I held blades in my hand, I forgot everything that was happening around me and only enjoyed the fight. And that was the thing I was doing right now. Although I was not an expert in using daggers like J but I was still using them. Although Grimlock was my strongest weapon yet I did not like using it. It was not the weapon itself that I hated. No, It was the creator. I did not like its origins. And I despised the fact that I had not been able to make a weapon of that caliber for myself or Nat. His swords were amazing, but Grimlock took the quality lead every time. It was the best weapon...… probably in a hundred years to be made in the Morningstar household. It was his masterpiece and he had given it to me. Up to this day, I still did not understand why.

(What was it that he had expected to gain from giving it to me.) I slashed another spider as I thought about all those things. We were in the nest and I had already slain countless spiders. The thing about nests was that they automatically created more of these things by devouring the magic in the air. So, it was an endless battle unless the mother was found. Lucky for us, we had J. And he was looking for the mother right now. This nest was not such a big deal for him. He could have dealt with the whole nest on his own. It was weak. But the problem was that firstly it was a spider nest. And secondly, there was a crack. He was no good with sealing magic and spiders were the worst matchup for him. So I came to help. He tried to slack because he also knew that with the both of us here there was not much to do around. His real plan was to stick and flirt with me. But I needed someone to look for the mother while I thinned their forces a little. And there was another thing I was sure of and that was when he found the mother, he would try and kill it alone. I was keeping tabs on him. I did not doubt that he could do it alone but still. I was worried. And then I noticed that J had found the mother.

(About time J.) I changed my direction. With daggers in both my hands, I ran in J's direction. Whatever came in my path I sliced it. All it took was one slash to kill these small fries. And in a minute I was at the place where J was fighting the mother. Well, it wasn't much of a fight from what I gathered. He simply merged with the shadows and appeared below the mother. And then using both his hands he slashed the abdomen of the creature. It was a simple swift attack that should not have been too deep. That was the disadvantage of the daggers. Their range was short but that did not matter for J. He was fast. Like fast. Out of the three of us, he was the fastest/ Probably in the whole household. But the thing that caught my attention was that the mother died just like that. With two shallow cuts in the abdomen, most of the high-ranking ones would not even budge but the mother just fell and started to disintegrate.

(The hell?)

I was so confused as to what was going on. The only problem was that J was not. He had let his guard down as soon as he had seen the mother dying. I mean seriously, what was I going to do with the two boys? All the spiders around the mother started to attack J and he was just slashing at them absentmindedly. That was even weirder. Because if the spiders were formed from the nest, then they should have died with the mother. And the veil should have also lifted following the death of the mother but neither happened. It was not possible...… unless….

"J….. JAC….. JACOB WATCH OUT." I shouted as I ran towards him, but my voice never made it. And considering my distance, it would have been plenty if I reached him before he died. All the hair on my body stood up as another mother, larger than the previous one appeared behind J. He had noticed. WHY? He is an assassin and a tracker, how would he not notice a mother behind him? And the spider rose its leg. I saw J trying to move. He had realized his folly. But it was too late. He had fallen into the trap. With one hit J was on the ground. And before he could move, the spider impaled him using its leg. Even from all this distance, I saw him coughing out blood. I tried to run even faster.

(Come on make it in time.) I urged myself.

The mother rose her other leg as well. It was aimed at the head. Vampire or not, he was not going to survive this one. And then the leg was brought down with insane accuracy, speed, and force. J covered his face with both his hands.

"No, you don't" I Slashed and with it, I took its leg. The spider screeched with an ugly and disturbing voice. I made a slash at its leg that was impaling J to the ground. But the dagger did not make through. The cut was only halfway. I had aimed to cut the leg all the way through.

(I can't let it go like this.)

And then I also used the other hand. Precisely striking the back of the already stuck dagger, I gave it an extra push and it sliced through. The leg got cut off.

*SCREEECH*

The spider screamed and backed off. As I returned to the ground, I immediately started to heal J using the magic that I had created. The magic started to flow out of my body. With a slight shift in my vision, I saw that J had woken.

"What would you ever do without me J." I teased him to lighten the mood. Although I was going to kill him later on but that did not matter right now.

"I would die obviously," he smirked back. Boy was he shameless or what.

"Well then. Isn't that nice for you?" I teased him some more.

The spider was getting ready to attack me again.

(The daggers will not be optimum here. I can beat it using them but why work hard when you can work awesome)

"COME TO ME... GRIMLOCK." I threw the daggers and shouted. Immediately a slime started to appear around my right hand. It covered my whole arm and then started to extend toward my hand. Then it formed a pole and a curved blade in front. All the hair on my body stood and I shuddered in anticipation as I felt the familiar weight of Grimlock in my hand. The spider attacked. It was probably feeling threatened. I had been told that once I held Grimlock I changed. I knew that. It was all because of the craze I had for fighting since I was little. Even now I was smiling hysterically.

The spider tried to cut me with one of its legs but I simply jumped.

(Your defense is nonexistent. I can see almost twenty-three surefire moves that can kill you in a single strike.)

And then it attacked me while I was in mid-air thinking it could get the better of me. I simply blocked the leg using the pole of my weapon and then using its leg as a foothold, I jumped toward its head. The spider sensed the danger and tried to attack me again. It stood on two legs, while two tried to attack me and two of them tried to protect its head.

"Futile," I whispered as I spun Grimlock. With all four of its leg, Grimlock sliced through its head as if a hot knife through butter. And then it was no more. Immediately the veil lifted and I landed down on the ground safely.

(That was easy.)

I placed Grimlock on my shoulder and turned to look at J.

"Well, it got beaten just like that. Damn you have gotten weak." I smiled at him.

He smiled back. His fangs, bloody with his own blood. "Seems as if I have." He stood up.

(Damn….. Vampires and their vitality.)

"So now what." He asked me.

"What?" I asked back.

"You tell me. I am not the one who is the head of the house." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh yeah, you are right." I thought. "First tell me something." I walked close to him. And then I punched him in the abdomen where there was a healing wound.

(this will hurt. Sorry J)

"AAAAHHHHH." And as expected he fell down.

(Sorry J but this had to be done. You are too arrogant, and this may cost you one day. You need to learn to be on guard all the time.)

"What was that for." He cried.

"You deserved that for letting your guard down." It was all true. J was arrogant. And a lot. He never fought using all his strength. I did not understand why but he never used his strengths to their fullest. Never. Even the Odin's eye was capable of so much more than what he used it for.

"I did not let my guard down it was...…." He tried to protest but.

"Yes, you did not let your guard down but this was all you could do at this level. Right?" I hit a sore spot.

"Not now Ann." His mood immediately turned for the worse and despite all his injuries he stood up. I could see his wounds healing at great speeds.

"Okay," I replied. This would have escalated if I did not step down. I turned around and walked toward the corpse of the mother spider. It was disintegrating.

(hmm as I thought.....)

There was something odd about the vanishing corpse. The creature should have been pitch black. But when I was fighting it, for a moment I thought that I saw something shimmering on its abdomen. And I was right. Even though all of it was gone but the small piece was still shimmering on its abdomen. And then it else disintegrated into the air like the rest of the body. I could not figure out what it was.

(Why am I having this bad feeling.)

"hey J" I called out to him.

"Hmm, what?" He looked back. Thank the heavens he was back to his old self.

"let's go seal the crack and return to our places." I gestured with Grimlock.

"After you milady." He bowed down like a gentleman which he was definitely not. The wound on his abdomen was gone now and there was just a gaping hole in his shirt. His midriff was showing. I could see his well-built muscles. All his body was as pale as dew. Feature of being a vampire. In all the ruckus his hair had come undone. And he was trying to tie it up again.

"Let's go." I turned around quickly and ran with Grimlock in my hand.

(Damn I am blushing.)

My cheeks were burning hot right now.

(Damn him and his....... Ugh) I was frustrated now.

(Let's just seal the crack and get away from him. Not that I want to but... ugh...….)

"So why not put it away….." He suddenly appeared beside me.

(AAAAHHHHH.) He almost scared me. Almost.

"I have a bad feeling." I was really good at controlling myself. So I think that he did not see me blush.

"Oh... but I don't think that anything bad will...… oh shit." And the both of us stopped.

"See that... that's what I was talking about," I replied sarcastically.

We were now in front of the crack. It looked just like its name. A crack that was formed due to the breaking of the space-time continuum. A crack in space that connected our world to another. It looked as if someone had just broken a picture and painted that area black. It was just like that.

"OH, MY GOD." But that was not what shocked J.

There were people standing in front of the crack. They were all wearing cloaks.

(Who???)

"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD," he held his head with both his hands. "LIKE I SAID." He shouted. "THERE THEY ARE." He shouted.

"Can you please not shout? I am right here." I said annoyed by his behavior.

"NO, I CAN NOT" he looked at me, with stars in his eyes.

"AND WHY IS IT THAT YOU CANT." This time I shouted back at him.

"Look who decided to join in." Our conversation was broken by this sentence as one of them walked towards us.

(I know this voice.)

And then he removed his hood.

"Hello Anastasia, Jacob." He bowed his head towards the both of us.

My eyes grew wider. I was not hoping to see him here.

"HAH, LIKE I FUCKING SAID." But J definitely was happy to see him.

"LIKE I FUCKING SAID, LIKE I FUCKING SAID, LIKE I FUCKING SAID" he started to circle around me while singing this obnoxious song.

"Will you shut the hell up?" I whispered.

"AS I FUCKING SAID." He stopped in front of me and said it to my face.

It was too much even for me to bear.

*Crack*

"AAAAHHHHH," I think I accidentally cracked his skull.

----------------------

(Jacob POV)

"AND NOW STAY DOWN," she shouted as I fell in front of her. But even then, I just had to say.

"But I really did say that." I made the best-crying face that I whimpered.

"YES YOU DID AND IF YOU MENTION IT ONE MORE TIME I WILL." she lifted her kick to attack me once more, but someone shouted.

"HOW DARE YOU TWO LAUGH LIKE THAT. YOU KILLED HIM AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING LIKE THAT IN FRONT OF ME." One of them shouted and tried to jump at us. Ann immediately backed up and grabbed Grimlock in a defensive position. I also did a backflip and stood guard beside her. Now, this was a voice that I had heard in recent days.

"Calm down Irene." The man in front of them grabbed her before she could lunge at us.

"Long time no see... Irene." I just had to tease her. I mean it would have been better if she attacked us in a rage like that. If she did it would be easier to kill her and that would mean one less person to worry about.

Even Ann smiled and considering her I think she knew what I was doing and I had to say that it was working like a charm.

"I WILL KILL YOU, YOU BASTARD..... CANNIBAL." And a spear appeared in her hand, It was also quite memorable. And then she jumped at me. I was still smirking. I knew for a fact that she was not a match for him. That is if I used my full strength. But I was not going to do that. This strength was a curse and I had vowed not to use it. So I was not ever going to use it.

"STOP IT IRENE." But before she could reach us, something grabbed her from behind and pulled her back. "Hold her." He ordered. And the rest held her.

"LET ME GO. I WILL KILL HIM. HE KILLED LEO. I WILL RIP HIM TO SHREDS." She started to throw a tantrum.

"I apologize for this unsightly display." He bowed down. And then with a gesture of his hand, a staff suddenly appeared in his hand. It was a wooden stick with a lantern-like structure on top of it. And it was glowing with a silver light.

(What is that.....)

I could not quite figure it out.

"We will have to leave right now but it was nice to see you again my niece." The man smiled at Ann.

(Oh shit... don't)

He was provoking her and I was sure that she knew it as well.

"Ann" I wanted to say that don't do anything stupid, but she was already gone.

"I TOLD YOU TO NEVER CALL ME THAT AGAIN." And I saw her appear in front of that man. And then she swings Grimlock in a giant ark. He simply rose his staff and an invisible dome appeared in front of him and Grimlock was stopped.

"Still impulsive. Still too emotional." He smirked. "You are unfit to be the head of the great house of Morningstar, my little niece."

"I said shut up." She swing it again but the barrier did not budge. "YOU LOST YOUR RIGHT TO CALL ME THAT AGES AGO."

"Oh my." He laughed and then he rose the staff again.

(Just what is that staff.)

I looked at it and......

"ANN GET OUT OF THERE." I ran towards Ann but it was already too late for that. She was hit with a crushing force.

"ANNNN" I shouted as I jumped behind her. Her body collided with mine and I tried to break the fall but the force behind the shot was too power full. We flew at least a few dozen meters before hitting the ground. I cushioned her with my body as best as I could.

*CRACK*

I literally heard my ribs crack as I held her while hitting the ground. And we rolled for another few meters before coming to a halt.

"We will be going now. It was never our aim to kill you kids or else we would have done it long ago." I heard his voice. And then I saw all of them disappear from my sight.

"Ann are you alri..." I tried to ask her but the words felt heavy in my throat as I saw tears trickling down her cheeks.

I immediately hugged her. "it's fine..... Everything going to be fine." Nothing was going to be fine. In that short encounter, he had proven just how strong he was. None of us could have done a single thing against him. Not me, not Nathan, not Anastasia. And he was just one of them.

*SOB SOB*

Ann was crying loudly in my arms. I started to gently stroke her head not caring for the fact that one of the broken bones was poking my lung. I had to take care of her or else it would be bad. After all, her uncle, Xeros Morningstar had just proven to her blood-related niece that she was unworthy of being the head of the house of Morningstar.