Episode 6

"Who I am doesn't matter; I wanna help you," she said to him, ignoring his question.

"Help me?," he asked, trying not to laugh. Clearly, he considered her statement quite funny. She didn't look to him like one who could offer him the kind of help he wanted. He believed his life meant nothing if he didn't avenge the death of his pack. Only the head of Lord Zack, delivered in a pot of boiling water, would satisfy him. "You can't help me," he added, looking very angry.

"Damon," she said, her voice trembling slightly, "I need to know the truth. Who are you really?."

Damon hesitated for a moment, contemplating if she deserved to be told the truth or not. Even though she had dealt with him kindly, he wasn't sure he could trust her.

"Don't be fooled by kindness, for it is a weapon of destruction," his father, Lord Savage, had once warned him.

"Please, Damon, I need to know the truth," she said again, sounding desperate.

"I can't trust you with the truth," he just said, avoiding contact with her probing eyes.

"Everyone thinks you work for the enemy… everyone but me. You've got to trust me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm the only one you can trust."

“I’m not sure you’re ready to hear this,” he said, his eyes fixed on hers.

“Please,” Alicia begged. “I need to know.”

Damon took a deep breath. “Okay, but you have to promise me that you won’t freak out.”

She laughed briefly at the sound of that. Clearly, he had no idea who he stood before.

"Why are you laughing? What's funny?," he said, looking embarrassed.

“I promise,” Alicia said, as she stopped laughing.

Damon looked away for a moment before turning back to her. “I’m a werewolf,” he said quietly.

"I know that already," she just said, sounding casual.

"You know!? How!?." He looked so surprised at her revelation. He had expected her to react differently, but she was everything but.

"That shouldn't surprise you. Listen, Damon, you shouldn't be worried about how I found out. I wanna help you, but I can't do that if you don't let me. Right now, everyone thinks of you as an enemy, and my father has vowed to put an end to your misery, except I prove to him that you are innocent, and I only have less than a fortnight to do that. Now, would you be willing to help me save you?," she ended, looking directly at him. He looked gutted. For the first time since the attack, it felt like being alive made sense to him. Even though he wasn't sure about trusting her, he knew she was his only chance of being alive.

Sometimes, life leaves us with just a choice, and we must choose it.

Alicia, tired of waiting for him to speak, asked, "What can I do to help?.

Damon took a deep breath, and took a quick glance at her. "There is only one way you can help me," he began. Taking another breath, he continued: "The key, it is worth my life. If you can help me get it, then you have saved me."

"The key?," she asked, confused, as if she had not heard him the first time. "What key are you talking about?."

Damon had worn the key as a necklace after his father had handed it over to him, the night before the attack.

"This is yours now; keep it safe," Lord Savage had said to him.

Damon had initially refused to take it, but Lord Savage's will overwhelmed him.

"When the time comes, you will understand why I have given it to you."

He had it on him after he escaped from Lord Zack and his men, but he woke up in the cell to discover that it was missing. He was desperate to have it back.

He refused to tell her what the key meant to him. "It's just a key that my father left me before his death. It's the only piece of him I have. Help me find it; it's worth my life."

"Damon, I may not be able to find it, but I can save you from the alpha's wrath."

"Just the key, that's what matters to me. If you wanna save my life, help me find it."

Alicia nodded slowly. “Okay. I’ll help you find it, but if I don't, I'm getting you out of here, but you must promise to tell me what I must know."

"Just the key," again, he said.

"I gotta go now," she hurriedly said. She had not realized she had been talking with him for so long. Even the guard who had let her in had fallen deep asleep.

"Wait!," he said to her, just as she made to leave. "Thank you, Alicia," he said to her.

"Wait until I get you out of here," she said and quickly walked away.

*************************************************

"Where were you last night," Lord Cage began, wearing a gloomy look. Clearly, he wasn't impressed with her. He had walked into her, while she struggled between being awake and going for her combat with the girls.

"Right here, father," she said. His question had thrown her off the cliff, for she didn't expect him to know. Fidelis, who was the only one that saw her leave that night, had promised to watch her back.

"Why do you lie to me?," he said.

"I have never lied to…"

"Stop! Don't speak any further!," he yelled at her, finally losing his cool. "You don't have to deny it."

"I'm sorry, father," she said, disappointed that she had lied to him.

"Less than a fortnight, that's all you've got, remember." He walked away, leaving her angry.

She knew who had told him about the past night. Quickly, she got up, as she went in search of him.

"You gave me your word, Fidelis! Why did you tell father!," she yelled at him.

"Not every promise is meant to be kept, you should have known that. Besides, the alpha walked into my room last night, demanding to know where you were. I couldn't lie to him, and you know that."

"You could, and should have told him something else!," she shoved him, clearly not impressed.

"It doesn't matter now, or does it?," he said to her. "Father knows already, so what are you gonna do?."

"I don't know," she said and walked away, ignoring his calls.

Over the next few days, Alicia searched high and low for the key, even going as far as looking for it in Fidelis' room, but it felt like a fruitless exercise. Even his friends who had gone with him that night all claimed not to have noticed him wearing a necklace.

"Even if he had one on him, no one would even care to take it off him," Lucas said to him.

"It won't even be worth a poor man's wage," Tony added.

"I have not been able to find it," she said to him, having returned three days later.

"Then there's no use being alive," he just said. "You can't help me."

"Don't say that, Damon," she said. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to something on his forehead. Even though it was a scar like any other, it didn't feel like it to her. Curiously, she walked closer to him, while he looked on in confusion.

"What are you doing?," he asked.

"This scar, there's something different about it," she said, placing her right hand on it.

"Stop!," he quickly said, moving away from her. "Don't come any closer!," he trained to warn her, but she didn't seem to understand why he had said that. He could feel his power returning to him. He tried to resist the urge, but it was already too late. Right before her, Damon began to experience intense physical pain, as his bones began to shift and reshape. Angrily , he tried to attack her.

"Damon! Stop!," she shouted, scared, but he wouldn't. Just when he tried to bite her, Fidelis attacked him. He had just shown up at the right time. He hit Damon so hard that he fell down. Immediately, his fur receded and his claws retracted until he was once again human. Alicia breathed a sigh of relief as she watched him transform back into his old self.

Just then, Fidelis hit him again with the heavy metal he held firmly in his hand, this time, much harder. He tried to get up, but after staggering for some seconds, fell back down, looking lifeless.

"Damon!," Alicia rushed to his aid, scared that Fidelis had killed him. She tried to resuscitate him, but he didn't seem to have any life left in him. "What have you done to him!?," she yelled at Fidelis, furious.

"You should be grateful that I saved your ass," he said, stunned by her reaction. "Now get out of my way, let me finish what I started," he fumed at her.

"You would have to go through me to get to him," she said to him, as she stood up to him.

"Surely," he said. He tried to attack her, but she stood still, grabbing him by the neck, as she threw him to the ground.

"I will not think twice about killing you," she said to him. "He has done nothing to you or to anyone; just let him be. Please, just go," she said, gradually letting go of him.

"This is not the end of this," he said, as he dusted himself and walked away.

She quickly turned to him and helped him sit. She didn't care if he had tried to attack her, she just wanted to help him.

"Are you okay?," she said to him.

"Why? Why are you helping me? I almost killed you, but for him, yet you're still here. Just go, I don't wanna put you into more trouble than you already are because of me. Go, please!," he said, turning away from her.

"Fine! If that's what you want, I'll leave, and I will never return again. I hope you find peace in death." She stormed out, very angry.

She spent the night rolling from one side of her bed to the other; her mind traveled lengths her legs had never been to. She found it hard to understand why she cared so much about him. No one had gotten her heart that troubled the way he did. Even when she had threatened not to come back for him again, she knew she was lying to herself. She cared so much about him that she couldn't afford the thought of him dying, killed by her father.

The next day, as soon as the sun had risen, she left her room to see Fidelis. She knew she couldn't afford a fight with him; she had to get him on her side.

"I don't wanna see you, get the fuck out of my sight!," he yelled at her, still reeling from his fight with her.

"Hey, I'm sorry," she began, trying to find the right words to appease him. "You are right, he's just a stranger, and I should never have fought you over him. Please, forgive me."

Here’s a scene that might fit your request:

Lord Cage’s eyes blazed with fury as he looked down at the stranger, Damon, who had dared to attack his daughter, Alicia. The crowd had gathered around them, eager to see the punishment that would be meted out to the criminal.

“Bring me the whip,” Lord Cage commanded, his voice cold and hard.

Alicia tried to stop him, but he pushed her away roughly, causing her to fall to the ground. She looked up at her father in horror as he took the whip from one of his guards.

Damon was dragged forward, his hands tied behind his back. He was a tall man with dark hair and a rugged face, but now he looked pale and frightened.

Lord Cage raised the whip high and brought it down with a sharp crack. Damon cried out in pain as the leather strips cut into his flesh.

The crowd gasped in horror as Lord Cage continued to lash Damon with the whip. Blood began to flow from the wounds on Damon’s back, and he fell to his knees.

“Please,” he begged. “Have mercy.”

But Lord Cage was not finished yet. He raised the whip again and brought it down with all his strength. This time, Damon did not cry out. He lay still on the ground, his body broken.

Lord Cage looked down at him with cold satisfaction. “Let this be a lesson to all who would dare to harm my family,” he declared. “Damon has been judged and found guilty. His punishment is death.”

The crowd murmured in agreement as Lord Cage turned away from Damon’s lifeless body. Alicia lay on the ground beside him, tears streaming down her face."Tell me the truth, do you love him?," he asked, looking into her eyes.

"I don't even know. I just don't think he deserves to die."

"He almost killed you, Alicia. That's what all enemies do. They wait until we fall into their hands and then, boom, they strike. He's not a friend, don't you get it!?."

"I don't know what he is, but he doesn't deserve to die."

"Prove it and I will stand for him before the alpha. Can you do that?."

"No," she said, unsure what to say.

"Then death is his fate!"