Chapter 54: Chapter 54

Phil's POV

"What?" I said baffled by her words.

"I can't kill him, I just met him and he's so loving." She said foolishly. What was wrong with Ava? It was obvious that she has been brainwashed just like her mother. The Ava I know, raised, and trained was not so trusting when it came to strangers. My words were what she always believed.

Before I could stop speaking, Skye went towards her, turned her around, and shook her in anger. "Are you nuts? Have you suddenly lost it? He's trying to kill you to remain alive!" He yelled angrily at her.

"Don't you think I know that?!" She said raising her voice at him.

"Then what the heck are you saying?" He asked her.

"Maybe I can talk to him, convince him. Maybe he'll change." She said with a lot of faith and hope in her eyes.

"He's a demon for bloody hell's sake Ava!" Skye yelled trying to shake some sense into her head.

"He loves me." She said foolishly once again. I couldn't blame her, she wanted the love of a father and it made me feel like I failed to fill that vacuum that was missing in her heart. I failed to play my role and the obligations Delilah gave me well.

"Then why hasn't he come for you all these while hmm?" Skye questioned.

"Uncle doesn't like him. Uncle wouldn't let him close to me." She said, her eyes brimming with tears.

"She's been brainwashed," I said. She looked so vulnerable in this state. Clark could easily have manipulated her. "I just met my father, I can't lose him without getting to know him." She said.

"What the hell are you thinking Ava? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!" Skye yelled angrily, shaking her again.

"Don't yell at me!" She said flinging his hands from her arm. "Do you know how it feels not to have the love of a father? Do you know how it feels to believe that you're an orphan when actually you're not? No, you don't," She said crying and my heart broke. "You've had the love of a father all through your life!" Huge tears cascaded down her cheeks.

Skye's look was expressionless. I could tell he was trying to mask his emotions but it was clear he was also breaking apart. I saw him take a step to console her but stopped.

"What about Phil? Is he not like a father figure to you?" He asked her and she looked at me and I could see all her emotions.

"Skye stop," I said to him. But he didn't. "Phil raised you and molded you into what you are today. He was there for you even before your mother died. Who watched you when you took your first step?" he questioned her and it brought in memories. I held her along with her mother when she took her first step. "He probably did and when you had no one to console you after your mother's death, who did him." He said pointing a finger at me. "That's the man you should consider and treat as a father, not just an uncle." He said and with that walked away.

Ava fell to the floor crying her eyes out. I was moved by her sobs. I walked up to her and bent down. "Clark is not what he seems to be," I said to her.

"Go." She said amidst her tears. I hesitated and she yelled. "Go!"

I placed a kiss on her forehead and walked away. She needed time to think this through but time wasn't on our side.

Skye's POV

I punched the olive tree hard and repeatedly in anger. I was frustrated and broke apart. For the first time, I saw Ava cry and it made my heart bleed. It hurt even more when I couldn't comfort her.

I kicked the sand into the ground and punched the tree again. Phil held my hand.

"Stop Skye, you're only hurting yourself." He said. My knuckles were bleeding profusely but I didn't care.

"Why is she being so adamant about this?" I asked him.

"It's not her fault. I failed to fill that vacuum in her heart." He said feeling downcast.

"No," I disagreed. "You didn't fail her. She failed you by not considering you as a father." I said to him.

"This is hard for her to take in. She needs time." He said to me. "I never expected Clark to come to her personally. He must be scheming something devilish." He said.

"You mentioned something about finding out the day the blood moon shall arise," I said.

He nodded. "After the full moon, the blood moon shall rise and that's when Clark would be at his weakest." He said.

"He knows this, that is why he met with Ava knowing fully well she won't be able to hurt her own father," I said to him. "I hate seeing her this way," I said looking away. He gave me a pat on my shoulder. "You need to get that treated before it gets infected." He said to me and walked away. I stared after his retreating figure. Did he forget that we were wolves and we heal quickly?

Phil's POV

I got out of the blood moon's territory and suddenly the sky darkened and a swirl of wind advanced toward me. I knew it was him.

"Show yourself, Clark," I said. The swirl of wind scattered.

"You still don't have the fear of me in you, Phil."

I heard his voice behind me and I turned sharply to see him walking casually with no fear in him. Why would he? He was the king of demons.

"And what makes you think I should now?" I asked him.

"I presume you haven't forgotten what happened the last time you didn't." He said with an evil smile on his face.

"If only Ava can see you for what you are," I said spitefully and he laughed. That laugh that could only sound from a heartless bastard like him. What did Delilah see him? After his looks, he was nothing but a monster.

"Ava my precious jewel. I'm her father after all. She'll choose me over you anytime. You must be seeing yourself as a failure now right? You could never replace me in her life and you know that." He said jeering at me.

"Ava will realize soon that killing you is the only way to free herself from the shackles of the false love you claim to have for her," I said to him and he laughed.

"Need I remind you that it's hard to be free when I start being manipulative? Delilah fell for it. That's why she never judged me when I took a feast from the crescents." He said smiling devilishly. I was beginning to think he was the devil himself.

"I knew Delilah was being manipulated. Your love from the start was fake. You claimed to love her so as to be close to the pack. You only showed affection when she had Ava and that affection died when the prophecy came." I said, everything finally coming to me.

He rolled his head backward in laughter. "Someone's finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together. You're not dumb after all."

"This will be over soon once the blood moon rises," I said confidently.

"Oh oh oh, I'm shaking. Can you see me shivering?" He said feigning fear and then roared into another peal of laughter. Maniac, I thought. "Yes, I'll be at my weakest then but, my precious daughter won't have the zeal to kill her sweet lost and found father." He said to me and with that disappeared. It hurt me to know someone like him was Ava's father.

••••• ••••• ••••• ••••• •••••

Ava's POV

I was in my room and Anna and Camila came in. I looked up from the pillow I laid my head on and saw them.

"Are you okay?" Camila asked. I nodded sniffing as I got up to a sitting position.

"It must be very hard for you right now," Anna said.

I felt awful. The words Skye said to me still haunted me. Uncle has been there for me and still was but it just didn't feel the same as a real father.

"I thought I never had a father. I believed everything I was told. No one knew exactly how I feel and no one still does." I said and the tears that had dried off my cheeks fell afresh again.

"It's okay," Camila said. "I understand how you feel." She said.

The door opened and Skye's dominating figure walked into the room.

"Leave us." He said arrogantly. They obeyed and left the room. I placed my head back on the pillow.

"We need to talk." He said.

"I'm in no mood for any conversations," I replied plainly.

"I don't have the time for this Ava, we need to talk." He said. He sounded like he was still angry. I raised my head from the pillow. "What do you want from me?" I demanded.

"The blood moon shall arise after the full moon that's when the demon king shall be at his weakest." He said.

I was infuriated and I stood up from the bed. "Didn't I make it clear to you that I will not murder my father?" I said to him.

"Why can't you see the clear writing on the wall? He's after your life Ava." He said and I could see he was trying to control his anger.

"He'd change!" I yelled at him.

"He's a demon!" He yelled back at me.

"That demon is my father! I'm his flesh!" I screamed at him.

"You don't want to kill him right? What about those he killed?" He asked me. "What about Luna's mother and the others? Answer me!" He demanded. "You saw that little girl cry her eyes out for her mother, will you let her suffer injustice just for your selfish reasons?" He asked me and the tears streamed down again.

Skye's POV

"You think I'm inhumane. That's what you take me as. Why don't you understand that he's my father and despite his wrongs, he's still my father!" She yelled amidst her tears.

"Stop, stop okay?" I said to her, my heart breaking as the tears dropped from her eyes.

"No! You don't want to listen to me. You don't know how it hurts to finally find your father and then find out he's the one after your life and you're the prophesied one to end him." She said, the tears flowing freely.

"I under..." She didn't let me finish when she yelled. "You don't understand! You don't know how I feel!" She yelled.

I kicked the bedstand in frustration. "Damn you, woman!"

Why was she making this difficult for me? She broke down more and I went towards her. "Stay away from me. Don't touch me." She said crying.

"Ava," I called her softly.

"Go away." She said as I wrapped my hands around her. She struggled to break free but I held her tight. Her tears weaken me. She crumbled to the floor and I went down with her, holding her as she held my arm in a tight grip, her body shaking as she sobbed freely in my arms. I sat there holding her in my arms hoping I wouldn't break. There and then, I realized she was my fundamental weakness.