A MAZE OF GREED

"Ambrose... Ambrose, please listen to me darling. Let's calm down first and then-"

"NO! You stay out of this Aurora." He shrugged off her hand that tried holding him back.

Aurora could not just sit back and see her husband's wrath unleashing on her son. One should not get fooled by Ambrose's smiling face. His smile hide different meanings, and the most devious of them was his anger.

The door of Darius's bedroom was flung open by Ambrose as he marched confidently. Darius was not startled. He was doing push-ups as his daily morning routine.

No matter if you are a supernatural creature, that God-like body with toned abs does not come as an easy gift.

Darius paused and looked up at his parents. It took him no efforts to know why they were in his room when they should be enjoying their breakfast and the taste of each other's mouths.

"How dare you?" Ambrose asked in a bone-chilling hiss.

Ignoring his father's disturbing mood, Darius continued with his exercise. His upper body was bare, and the black slacks hung at his waist. His curls fell on his forehead when he went down, balancing his weight on the first two fingers of his hand.

"I do not know what you are talking about." Came his casual reply.

That only fueled Ambrose's anger. "You do know very well. Stop acting Darius!" His father roared.

"Darius, you should get up and answer your father." Aurora did not like her son's behaviour even though she loved him dearly.

"I said I do not know. Stop wasting my time both of you!" Darius was annoyed now.

He knew that this would happen sooner or later. The news of killing Edwin's spies would reach him, and then he would be angry.

So what?

Ambrose did not say a word for a minute. He let his anger open the gates for his monster. Darius, carefree of that, was utterly shocked when his body went flying in the air after a hard kick in his chest.

He collided with the wall behind him, making cracks in the stones and falling down on the floor.

"Ambrose!" Aurora shrieked in horror.

That was it! Darius could not take his father's shit anymore.

In a swift motion, he was back on his two feet. His fangs and claws displayed the face of his monster. His dark eyes reddened, and the lust of blood took over him.

He charged at his father and threw a punch in his way, which Ambrose dodged easily. That infuriated Darius more. With his vampire speed, he started throwing a series of punches at his father, the bottled up frustration of decades oozed out of the force of his every punch.

Unfortunately for Darius, Ambrose was not the leader of the Vampire breed for no reason. Centuries of experienced that he had gained, made him not only a shrewd strategist; but also a great warrior.

He shot up his hand and blocked Darius's punch before it landed on his face. Darius tried with his other hand, but Ambrose blocked it too.

Clenching his jaw, Ambrose applied pressure on Darius's hands and started twisting them, which made Darius throw his head back and scream in pain.

With a growl, Ambrose pushed Darius back with force to send him crashing into the couch behind. He yelled again, barring his fangs.

"Ambrose, stop!" Aurora finally dared to step in his way when she saw him marching towards groaning Darius.

"Move!", Came Ambrose's serrated voice.

"No. Stop this nonsense both of you! You are faher and son and not enemies! Stop acting like ones." She glared at her husband.

Ambrose's eyes left hers as he pushed her to the side and staggered back when Darius's punch landed in his chest.

Aurora watched in plain shock. Her son, who was obedient all his life and respected his parents, had dared to wound his own father!

Now stood two dominating male vampires facing each other, their powers at great heights and not the son and father duo.

They both charged at each other with a hiss, using their vampire speed, they were already at each other's throats. Although an alpha or a leader of the family was very strong, especially over other members, the one thing that made them great or cause their failure, was intolerance towards a challenge to their dominance.

Marcus ran inside after hearing noises of breaking furniture but was stopped by Aurora. He knew this time would come. Ambrose and Aurora could not keep Darius under their control for long.

The young Garfield was too notorious and self-centred to abide by their ways.

The fight began as the two vampires concentrated all their power and attention on the fight. The punches were thrown, and the claws tore the flesh. If their hearts were alive, then they would have been ruptured due to the immense pressure on their delicate cartilaginous walls.

While fighting, they reached the wide balcony of Darius's room. Aurora ran after Marcus in fright. Ambrose's one hard push made Darius lose his balance, and he staggered back with such force that the rim of the balcony broke when his back collided with it.

His feet lost the ground beneath them, and before he could comprehend, found himself hanging from the broken balcony. The depth was hundreds of feet as his eyes reached the valley down.

The wind made his curls waver along its direction. His shoulder pained where Ambrose's claws had drawn some of his flesh out. He did not know how this happened, but he knew his mother crying in horror.

Darius lifted his head to look up at The man who was his mentor, guide, his father glaring down at him with a victorious spark in his red eyes. Beside him stood Aurora and Marcus.

"Darius... my son!" Ambrose held onto his wife before she could help Darius.

Expecting help from Marcus was a joke.

Darius scrunched up his face when his hand seemed to slip from the platform he was holding onto.

Crouching down, Ambrose's red eyes stared at Darius tauntingly.

"You are my son, Darius. I was expecting better from you but cleary you disappointed me!"

"Father!"

"Let me clear one thing to you, Darius Garfield. Although you are next in line of being a leader of the Vampires, that time is yet to come. Right now, I am the leader.

And you should follow my orders. You have created a mess and have to clean it on your own. Make sure, to not disappoint me this time.

Are we clear?"

Ambrose did not look like the father Darius knew him as. He was only the leader of the Vampires and not his father to be partial towards him.

"Son, please!" Aurora pleaded.

Darius had no choice. Ambrose was right. He was yet to become the leader, and till then, he had to be careful.

Gulping down the spit of embarrassment, Darius nodded his head. Satisfied, Ambrose straightened up himself and dusting his suit, walked away.

Marcus bent down and offered his hand for Darius to take. Darius looked at it as if it would poison him, but he could not hold more as the pain in his shoulder intensified.

Darius apprehensively took his hand, and Marcus lifted him up. Darius fell to the ground, coughing as Aurora came to his side. He lay there looking at the clear sky above as Aurora recited how wrong Darius was to go against his father's orders.

A minute later, her words fell on his ears but stopped reaching his mind as numbness consumed him. Fifteen minutes later, he found himself in a bathtub. He could not feel his wounds or the pain caused by them.

All he felt was humiliation.

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Darius's eyes burned, and the familiar smiling face flashed in front of his eyes. All those memories and the guilt he had been burying deep in him, bubbled vigorously in an attempt of removing the lid of his self-restraint.

His ears caught the light sound of the padding footsteps. They were walking in his way.

The person would be there to reach his bathroom, especially after what happened between him and his father?

It was definitely not his mother. He was sure about that. She would never care for her son more than her husband. Then who-

Darius's eyes closed on their accord when a hand touched his shoulder from behind. He gulped down his spit as the warmth radiating from that hand made him feel like... home.

"Darius?"

Lisa's soft voice made him open his eyes.

"Wh-what happened?" She asked cluelessly.

She was locked up in the cell and had no idea of what had happened in this part of Garfield mansion.

"How did you come here?" Came Darius's question.

Lisa could not tell if he was angry. His tone came detached.

"Marcus." She replied in monosyllable.

Clenching his jaw, Darius asked, "What did he say?"

After a moment of pause, she said, "He did not say much except... except that you need me."

Why would Marcus think that? That man was unpredictable. But one thing Darius knew was that man could not be trusted.

"Do you... want me to go back?" Lisa asked after Darius fell silent.

She lifted her hand from his shoulder but stopped when Darius held it before she could retreat it completely.

"Stay!" He said while covering her small hand with his.

Lisa's eyes widened at the sight of bruises on his knuckles. It looked like he had punched a stone wall or something.

"Darius, this-"

When she looked up, her already shocked eyes immitted horror. Darius turned around, his lower body still submerged in the water.

Lisa's eyes scanned his form that was brutally beaten. Scars decorated his skin like climbers grown on a tree. The cuts at places were open and fresh. Some wounds still bled.

"What... what happened to you?" She whispered in shock.

"Are you worried, Lisa?" Something in her eyes compelled him to ask that question.

He was hopeful. For what?- he did not know.

She slowly nodded her head. "Yes. I am worried."

His hope gleamed brightly. But he regretted asking that question as her eyes turned cold and hard.

"I am woried that you might not make it till I have your life crushed under my feet." Her words burned him, his hopes and his wish of penance.

Would Grace have not cared for him too?

His throat tightened at her thought. Lisa, who reminded him much of Grace, looked at him unblinkingly. Darius knew that she hated him, and she should for he had feasted on the blood of her best friend in front of her eyes.

He had done unspeakable things with her without her consent. Why would she not hate him then?

But a part of him that was moaning for the absence of Grace, stupidly wanted to keep Lisa closer. Grace would never come back in his life.

But Lisa... she had to stay with him to remind him what a heartless monster he was.. To remind him that he did not deserve happiness because he himself had kicked it when it was offered on a gold platter.