Greykin Valley

| 27 | The River

⥐ ⋞ ☽ ⋟ ⥐

| Jackson |

There was something about the dark that unsettled Jackson lately. He knew it was better for the pack to travel at night to evade being spotted by the cadejo, but there could be others using the darkness to their advantage. Hunters, other wolves, and whatever creatures lived in these woods.

He tried to focus on the questions he needed to ask Sebastien. Now wasn't a good time, but once they found somewhere to rest, he wanted to pick his brain. There was so much he didn't know about his new demon form and the inimă; he wanted to learn to control it. It finally made him feel useful, and he wanted to continue being useful.

"How are you feeling?" Damon quietly asked Remus.

"I'm okay, Dad," his son replied.

"We're coming up on a river, chief," Alastor called.

Wesley sighed in relief. "Good, 'cause I'm about to die of thirst."

"How far are we from being back on course?" Wilson asked.

"A few more hours," Sebastien answered.

The pack followed the winged hound, whose wounds had healed very quickly. Vague scars clung to his skin where the silver chains had scathed him, but they were getting fainter with every passing hour.

Jackson had so many questions. Did demons heal faster than wolf walkers? Did being a demon mean his increased healing abilities were greater than both a demon's and a wolf walker's? When was he going to start craving blood again? What did being a demon give him? And could he learn to control both his demon form and the inimă? He didn't want to black out again and wake up surrounded by corpses, nor did he want to lose control like he did with his wolf.

Wilson frowned at him, walking beside him. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

"Just my demon form," he answered. "I wanna learn to control it."

"And you will," his friend said confidently.

"You knew I was a demon, right?" Jackson asked him.

"Yeah."

"So...what do you know about demons? Or asmodi."

Wilson exhaled deeply. "Well, I did my research, but I'm pretty sure I don't know nearly as much as Sebastien. Demons are really strong and fast, some need blood, others need sex."

"He isn't an incubus," Julian said with a scoff. But then they frowned. "Are you?"

"I...don't think so," Jackson said unsurely.

"If asmodi did possess the Zenith's incubus abilities, your Alpha would probably be dead," came Sebastien's voice.

Damon then snarled quietly. "Less talk, more walking."

But Jackson wanted to know what Sebastien meant. So, he left Damon's side and walked closer to the hound. "What do you mean, he'd be dead?"

"Incubi drain the ethos and energy from those they have sex with; even so much as kissing drains the other person. It takes a long time for incubi to learn to control themselves and how much they take from another person, and since you're a baby demon, you wouldn't have had any idea what was happening. You'd have drained everything out of him," he said, nodding at Damon, who rolled his eyes.

"Aren't incubi, like...super rare?" Alastor asked.

"Super rare," Wesley said with a nod.

"The Zenith was the very first one," Sebastien said matter-of-factly. "Then a few others popped up here and there. They're incredibly powerful, thus very dangerous, so the Nosferatu keeps tabs on them. There are currently only six of them including the Zenith."