Falling for the Beast Lord

December 9, 1981

The crescent moon shone brightly, the deafening noise outside the castle grew louder and more terrifying as she ran down the dark hollow corridor, the disposed crown princess in her arms.

A bloodthirsty roar made by hundreds of angry voices calling for the death of her and her kind.

Everyone who had tried to help and protect them were all dead.

This was the day her kind had dreaded for centuries, the day humankind would discover their existence and stand against them to wipe them from the face of the earth.

***

For centuries, the Were-breeds and Humans had been at war, a long, brutal and cold, never-ending war.

The humans were disgusted by the existence of were-breeds, a species of creatures that could transform into humans and animals, and they wanted to wipe them out.

In order to achieve their goal, the whole of the human army had been unified under one man, a young, brutal and bloodthirsty general, Odenus Naga.

He had created an army, a brutal one, composed of the best warriors the human race had to offer.

They killed anyone and anything on their part, leaving a trail of blood wherever they went. They were called the Red assassins, a name given to them because of the trail of blood they always left.

The human army attacked the Were Breeds, their attacks were brutal, leaving hundreds of Were Breeds dead and wounded.

The were-breeds always tried to fight back and hold their ground until Odenus Naga found out about the crescent moon, the weakness of the Were-breeds.

Whenever there was a crescent moon, the were-breeds lost all their powers and were as weak as normal men.

With his new-found knowledge, Odenus knew he already had the edge over the Were-breeds, and he would dedicate his entire life into wiping them all out.

The Were-breeds, on the other hand, were oblivious to Odenus Naga's new-found knowledge.

On the night of the next crescent moon, Odenus Naga and his army striked.

Thousands of Were-breeds fell, the streets and rivers were filled with blood, the Were-breed kingdom was thrown into chaos as they all wondered who leaked their secret.

The attack scattered the Were-breeds. Nobody trusted anybody.

The Cold War continued and more Were-breeds fell. Tribe after tribe, clan after clan, breed after breed, and soon they were few in number. It was only a matter of time before the human race and the Red assassins led by Odenus Naga would have a complete victory.

The Were-breeds had lost hope, and they were all waiting for their deaths.

Until the insurgence of Shinori Kahn, from the Werewolf clan.

Being so close to victory and seemingly happy that he had torn the enemy's kingdom into a million pieces, Odenus Naga had grown confident of his victory.

He had grown so confident, that he sent the majority of his Red assassins back home to base and the remainder of his troops were spread thin all over the Were-breeds land, with the orders to kill any were-breed they came across.

Shinori Khan had seen this opportunity as a miracle for his people, the Were-breeds.

He gathered twelve of his strongest soldiers, all who were great gray wolves, one of the strongest of the Werewolf clan. They patiently waited until the next full moon, when they knew they'd have the advantage over Odenus's men.

The next full moon came, bright as never before, as if it was expectant of the bloodshed that was to come.

Shinori Khan gathered his men, and together they moved silently from unit to unit, taking out the remainder of Odenus Naga's men, who were all normal soldiers only armed with a gun and little training.

The other clans of Were-breeds heard the news about what Shinori Khan was doing, and for the first time in decades, they unified against their common foe.

Odenus Naga and the remainder of his men had no chance of victory, as the red assassins had long been dispatched.

Shinori Khan led the Were-breeds to a flawless victory, with Odenus Naga managing to survive and escape.

The victory was short-lived as, not long after, Odenus had returned with hundreds of thousands of soldiers and tens of thousands of Red assassins.

But the Unified Were-breed forces under the command of Shinori Khan were not like before.

Shinori Khan led the Were-breeds to a series of victories against Odenus and the Red assassins. With each victory, the Were-breeds grew in number as he unified more isolated Were-breed tribes.

But no matter how many times Odenus was defeated, he kept on coming back with more men.

Shinori Kahn knew the war could go on forever, so he gathered all the elders of the other tribes of werebreeds, and together they moved away from humanity to create a new world for the were breeds.

That was the only way everyone could be safe. Having restored peace to the Were-breeds, the Were-breeds came together and formed a unified clan, which was called the Dabba Union. They needed a leader, and they crowned Shinori Kahn as their leader.

*

Years passed, and humanity and the Dabba Union experienced Decades of peace for the first time in centuries, many of humanity had begun to forget about the existence of the were breeds, however a dark cloud hovered over the Dabba Union, the kingdom of the Were-breeds.

Their Alpha, Shinori Kahn, had been killed and disposed by his first son, Mali Kahn.

Everything had started when his sons, Mali and Siji Khan were both introduced to be put through a series of tests as candidates for the throne, Mali in fear of losing the throne had ordered an assassination attempt against his brother.

The assassination attempt was futile, and the assassin was caught, after a series of grevious tortures, the assassin confessed that he was sent by Mali.

In anger, Shinori Kahn had banished his older son Mali Khan and crowned his younger son, Siji Khan, as the heir to the throne of the Dabba Union.

Mali, furious at his father's decision, had no choice but to leave, with hopes of coming back one day and taking his rightful place.

Siji Khan ruled Dabba with love and everyone loved him.

The land was happy until tragedy struck.

Siji Khan's wife, the queen, had gone into labor on a crescent moon.

The Were-breeds saw the crescent moon as a symbol of darkness.

Whenever there was a crescent moon, the were-breeds lose their powers, crops died and it was also a reminder of the thousands of werebreeds that had died during the war. Because of that, there was a sacred law that any child born under a crescent moon was to be killed immediately.

The kingdom was thrown into great sorrow as the news spread that the king's newborn child had to die.

As a custom, the Were-breeds were to all lock themselves indoors for twenty-four hours of mourning.

Seeing the kingdom was in disarray, Mali Khan took his chance.

He connived with the Red assassins, the remainder of the soldiers in Odenus Naga's army that fought against the were-breeds centuries ago.

Odenus Naga the leader of the Red assassins, the general who had lost to Shinori Kahn years ago during the Cold War. After his consecutive losses to Shinori, Odenus had lost his status. He was blamed for leading many of humankind to their deaths at the hands of the Were-beasts.

He was scorned everywhere, his family were seen as national traitors.

Odenus Naga and the Red assassins were soon considered outlaws, and they had to go into hiding.

The human race which Odenus had longed to protect, were now the ones making a mockery of him, but no matter how things changed, the Red Assassins stayed loyal to Odenus.

Willed by his immense hate for humanity and for Were-breeds, Odenus and the Red Assassins disappeared into the darkness, hoping for a chance when he would make the world pay for their crimes.

Days had turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into years, decades flew by, and the world had forgotten about Odenus Naga, the red assassins and the Were-breeds, everything had been buried away in the past.

But Odenus lived through it all. Fueled by anger and hate, he built a new army of red assassins, making them more dangerous and brutal, devoid of human emotions, waiting to unleash them upon the world, and now the time he had been waiting for had come.

He would join Mali Khan, he would conquer the Were-breeds and, after conquering them, he would use them as an army and bring humanity to its knees.

Odenus was happy to join forces with Mali. It was the dawn of a new age, a dark age.

Back to the present*

Kaya held the deposed crown princess tightly, the little baby had just watched her uncle kill her father. Her father, Siji Khan, had entrusted the baby princess to Kaya, along with his trusted old bodyguard.

Just before he died, he had made them promise to keep the princess safe, and now the task of getting the princess out of the palace safely rested on her shoulders.

The palace was surrounded by the red assassins, it was going to be a miracle if she managed to escape with the princess alive and unarmed.

Kaya looked over at the old royal guard by her side as he shivered again. He had been badly injured. A silverine bullet from the red assassins had lodged in his chest, silverine was the only substance that could kill a Werebreed.

Kaya slowly checked his wounds as her cold heart raced, they were fatal, beads of sweat filled his face as he looked at her weakly.

She struggled to hold the tears in her eyes as she turned her focus to his wounds. They were healing slowly, the crescent moon made them weaker.

The sound of more breaking glass shattered the tension in the room.

Another smoke alarm went off from down the hallway, signaling that the flames were spreading fast.

Already the smoke was thick enough to make their eyes sting, everything was starting to have an effect on her. She was badly injured.

"We have to get out of here, we have at-least a minute or two, before they find us," she whispered to the old man, the smoke choking her.

Rounds of silverine bullets started slamming into the window above them. The kind of silverine bullet that could send any of their kind to oblivion.

The silverine bullets rammed into the thick glass wall, creating long weird cracks.

Kaya grabbed the sleeping child and ducked instinctively when the glass shattered.

She hit the floor and covered their heads with her arms as pieces of broken glass rained down on them.

A split second later, another round of silverine bullets blasted into the upturned mahogany table opposite them, shattering it into a million bits of tiny wood. It had missed them by a few inches.

The noise outside had intensified.

Two smoke bombs and a grenade flew through one of the shattered windows, hit the floor and exploded into a wall of flame.

Kaya held the princess tighter, burying the girl's face in her chest. She didn't get a chance to hear what the old guard was whispering to her over the noise.

From the sudden rise in volume of that terrible noise, the noise from her kind as they met their ends at the hands of the enemy.

She knew the assassins had finally made it to the last layer of the castle wall and were about to storm the main castle where they hid.

They needed to leave while they still could, Her canines elongated as she managed to transform into half wolf form to reduce any scalds from the fire. The crescent moon hindered her from transforming any further.

She yanked a long roll of curtain from one of the scattered windows, using it to tie the baby princess to her back.

She was happy the baby princess had managed to sleep through all this.

As the fire increased, she moved back into a crouch and pushed the old guard behind her, using her left hand to lift and place him gently on her broad shoulders.

Fighting while injured was hard enough, but fighting while protecting the princess was going to be harder.

She waited as the loud noise rushed against her eardrums.

She could hear their footsteps, hundreds of them, running towards were they hid, their terrible smell strong against her nostrils.

They were about to be overrun and wiped from the face of the Earth.

Mali Khan's rebellion had already cost the lives of more than a hundred of her kind who had been caught in the bloody slaughter. They had no chance against the assassins and their silverine blades on a crescent night.

"Now!," Kaya shouted, grabbing the injured old guard and lifting him down from her shoulders. In a swift motion, she carried the princess, gently placing her into the old guard's hands.

She hauled the man towards the closest hallway, filled with darkish brown smoke from the fires.

In a running crouch Kaya sprinted across the corridor. A few yards into the hallway the smoke was already thicker, making her cough as she raced to find a stairway that would take them to the west gate of the castle.

She turned right and stopped short at the row of flames climbing up the walls and ceiling ahead of them, blocking their exit. Turning again, she ran blindly down another hallway just as the legion of assassins breached the castle.

Kaya could hear the shouts and pounding footsteps closing in on them, moving closer with every heartbeat.

Loud Shots rang out behind her, way too close. Whirling, she moved at the speed of light, running towards the shadowed passageway and tearing the men who stood in her way into pieces. She couldn't take them all at once, she was too weak.

She shredded three of them into shreds, before she jumped to her feet and raced down another corridor, avoiding the attention of the assassins as they appeared in the smoke down the corridor, right in front of her.

She was staying low to keep her sight and her breath from choking, toxic smoke.

As she ran down the corridor, the air began to clear slightly. She could just make out the huge mahogany doorway at the end of the hall.

She ran straight for it. But she wasn't fast enough.

More of the assassins spilled into the corridor behind them and opened fire.

A hail of silverine bullets smashed into the door next to Kaya's head.

She snarled angrily.

She quickly whipped around, moving at the speed of light, dodging the bullets as she tore through them, tearing them to shreds. Their screams rang through the dark passageway. She looked to her right and, slightly above her, she could hear the assassins' light footsteps as they rushed themselves toward the roof.

She chased after them, turning every few seconds to shred down the assassins who had been pursuing them.

The fire in the castle rose higher, the flames moved wildly against the wind, casting scary shadows everywhere.

She raced back to where she had hidden the old guard and the baby princess, placing them on her shoulders and racing towards the mahogany door.

Her lungs burned from the smoke, her heart slammed as she raced down the dark castle stairway.

First floor. Second. The legion of assassins were still coming after them.

At the third and last floor, she turned the corner on the stairs and came to a skidding stop when she saw a metal gate.

She clenched her fists as she hit the metal gate, she was too weak to transform.

She took multiple steps backwards before running into the cage, shoulder first, it didn't budge.

She pushed it again, but the gate didn't budge.

The old man whispered to her, his voice tense.

"Take the princess, get to the next floor and try the other gate."

"There is nowhere else to go. They're right behind us papa," Kaya warned.

"Go," he whispered sharply.

"I'll hold them off for as long as I can."

Kaya nodded, "I'll be back soon, papa."

Kaya carried the sleeping child on her back, as she turned and moved quickly, but at a human pace. She moved around the corner, through a door, and sprinted down another pathway that led to the opposite side of the castle.

Distant screams echoed up from above. In the blazing smoke her gaze locked on the metal gate at the end of the hall. Only steps away, her ears picked up the silent sound of the assassins coming.

Mali Khan must have leaked the blueprint of the castle to the assassins because they knew the in and out of the building, there was nowhere to hide from them.

Kaya listened carefully, she could hear the assassins getting nearer, they would be onto them any moment from now.

She dropped to her knees in an attacking position, gently placing the princess beside her. She had promised the late crown prince to keep her safe, she elongated her canines, fury in her eyes, as she waited patiently.

The moment the first man cleared the corner she moved at lightning speed, hitting him across the head and running her hand through his chest in quick succession.

The assassin flew at the impact, arms outstretched, knocking back the others behind him as his body hit the ground, a hole the size of a basketball was left in his chest, the place his heart had once been.

Kaya shredded the second man, running her hand through his head, she didn't pause to watch him hit the floor.

She sprang into the darkness of the passageway, taking the princess along with her as she made a desperate charge for the metal gate.

She ran into the door with a heavy push, the rusted bars bulged, putting the gate in an awkward position, another heavy push and the metal gate broke open to crash into the old musty passageway, leading to the west gate.

The passage to the last gate, and hopefully the west gate was clear.

The passageway beyond them was going to be full of these assassins any moment now.

As the clean air rushed past her, Kaya put the princess down, steadying her gently so as not to wake her.

The old guard was right beside her, he was already gaining his strength again.

She stood on one knee beside him, her whole body had transformed halfway.

She was too weak to transform fully, her gaze trained down the passageway where the assassins were about to rush in on them, when a gate suddenly scraped against the wall somewhere above them.

More of the assassins were coming up the stairs at them from the second floor.

"Leave this to me." he whispered, as he looked at her, his eyes burning with rage.

"I can't Papa, Let's go," Kaya shouted over the noise of the clanging of swords and horrifying screams of her kind being killed, the rising shouts from behind and beneath them.

"Papa, Come on!" she screamed.

The old guard was already too busy to respond. He grabbed the gate from its rusted hinges with inhuman strength, breaking it in half, he threw the bigger part in one direction, then swiveled and threw the other part to the stairwell that led to the second floor.

Kaya cursed and turned back.

She was halfway to the old man when he looked back at her with fury.

"Go! You've got the strength to escape here alive! Go! Keep the princess safe!"

The old man slowly opened his shirt, revealing a deep ghastly rotten hole in his chest.

"The silverine bullet was poisoned, it has already spread through my body and I can't heal, no matter how much I try." He whispered, his voice cracking as he tried to push back his tears.

"Even if I make it out of here alive, I would only slow you down." He continued.

"So go!" He whispered to her, fury in his eyes.

"No! Papa I can't, No!" She shouted, tears streaming down her face.

She couldn't dare leave him here. Growing up without parents had been tough on her, her parents had died in the Cold War, and the old guard had been the only person who took her in, Papa Gerad, as she had often called him, was a widower, who had lost his wife and kids in the Cold War, and he had taken her in and treated her like his own daughter, making sure she never lacked anything.

When the Dabba Union was formed, he had applied as a royal guard, to protect their kind, Kaya had been so proud of him that she trained hard to also be a royal guard like him.

The noise of the approaching assassins took her out of her thoughts, she quickly ran towards the old man.

The old man ended Kaya's teary approach with a fiery growl that commanded her to stop.

His voice was calm, his eyes burned with fury and compassion as he stared up at her.

"This is my last message to you Kaya ! Go! Survive! Protect the princess with your life! She's the last hope for our clan! The last royal blood!" A tear rolled down his wrinkled face.

"You're the best thing that ever happened to me." He whispered.

"I love you." His voice was lower than a whisper.

Kaya stood still, tears rolling down her cheeks, she could never leave Papa Gerad, but she knew he was right.

Her only duty was to protect the princess.

"Please, come back to me." She whispered.

Suddenly, the old man's head snapped around to face the corridor, he snarled as he lashed out at two assassins, tearing them in half midair.

Kaya turned, moving at inhuman speed, racing the whole stairs at once. at the end of the stairwell, she heard the old man grunt.

Kaya turned around in time to see him struggling to his knees, blood pouring out from beneath his huge hairy chest as he got rammed with another load of silver bullets.

Without hesitation, she ran blindly towards the old man.

"I said go!" the old man's eyes bored into hers, filled with fury.

Kaya stopped in her tracks, the noise stopping with her, all she could hear was her heart pounding in her chest.

She understood the message there.

The old man was prepared to give his life to save her, to save them.

He'd stay and protect them all, fight off the assassins until his last breath.