"What did you do to them?" Daniel questioned the instant he noticed his friends disappear.
"They're safe" Jeffery assured, calming the enraged boy down with his words.
"Why are you doing this? Aren't you tired of these games?" Daniel questioned angrily while backing away from his approaching father. He was tired of this man's deceit and his falseness. Jeffery always managed to show up whenever he needed help, and act all Ideal and human like. But the next second, he would turn against them without a second thought.
He didn't like this side switching, if Jeffery truly wanted to be by their side then he should keep to it. But if he didn't want to stand by them, then he should also keep to that desicion too. Daniel wanted to know who his enemy was, and this incessant switching of sides was making things hard for him.
Jeffery stopped his movement. He had already noticed that the boy backed away with every forward step he took. Even though he loved people being scared of him he didn't want Daniel to see him as a monster.
They were more alike than the boy knew. Born with natural talent that remained untapped until their emotions triggered it. He didn't want to be a monster like his father and make his own child despise him. But what he was doing was for the betterment of everybody. He hadn't told them his goals yet, but he was sure the boy would be proud with it's outcome.
"What games?" Jeffery arched his brow, asked out of curiosity. He knew that he was stirring up mixed emotions within Daniel, but he wanted to hear it from him. He wanted to know if his son despised him or was still confused about his feelings.
"Why.... why do you keep hurting us?" Daniel asked, letting his rage loose only for a second before gaining control once more. He was confused, he didn't know if he hated his father, or was just lying to himself.
He wanted to hate him, but he couldn't just bring himself to hate him with his entire being, and it angered him. Anytime he felt that he had finally hated the man, Jeffery showed up and always shattered the hatred he had managed to build.
It was almost as if everything was intentional, as if Jeffery was trying to break him. But he wasn't going to fall for his tricks. He wasn't going to fall prey to the same trick twice. Jeffery Bruce never cared about anyone but himself. All this was just a facade that covered his true intentions.
"Hurt you? I am not hurting you Daniel. You're the one hurting yourself. Let your anger out and free yourself of its burden" Jeffery advised with an outstretched arm towards his son.
It was only a theory, but Jeffery suspected that anytime Daniel let's the curse take over him, the Maledictio Caelum et Infernium grew stronger. Perhaps as Daniel exhausted the curse that had built up in him, more was released from the Grimoire to refill the host.
He needed the boy to get angry, to hate him and lose control so that he could confirm his theory.
Jeffery was disappointed with his son's growth, why couldn't he recognize the power he had within him? Watching Daniel waste his latent potentials was not doing the two of them any good, so he was going to help Daniel gain more power by helping learn to control the Grimoire's curse, and use it to his advantage.
Emotions lead to more outpour of one's power, and negative emotions were always more powerful than the positive ones. All he needed to do was to make sure that Daniel's hatred for him supercedes the kindness in him. That way, he would truly unlock his true potentials.
The boy was powerful, a prodigy. The curse wasn't his main source of power, it merely amplified the stored up power that Daniel didn't want to use. And if he could manage to control this, then Daniel would be a more capable sorcerer than he was.
Daniel fought back, he could hear his father's voice ringing loudly in his head urging him to lose control and yield to the darkness in him, but he fought hard to resist the man. He could feel himself slowly losing control and letting the darkness overwhelm him even though he fought hard to contain it. He couldn't let this happen, he wouldn't. Losing control meant bending to his father's will.
'Get a hold of yourself he sang continuously to the consious part of himself, hoping the words would bring him back. And they did. He was slowly regaining himself, and it wasn't long before he was whole again.
It was just as he had expected, his father wasn't here to help him. Jeffery had come here to try and manipulate him into doing something that would probably benefit him. He didn't know what good it would do this man if he lost control and went berserk, but he could tell that Jeffery was definitely reaping something out of his unstable condition.
"Blood technique; acidic hail! Daniel chanted before sending forward a river of red fluid towards his smiling father. But Jeffery had easily cancelled out his attack. He didn't know what Jeffery's plans were, but he didn't want to be part of it. He wanted this man as far away from him as possible.
Jeffery was impressed Daniel managed to control himself. He was almost certain that the boy had lost control, but for some certain reason, his thoughts had been nullified by reality. He didn't understand why the boy had attacked him, but he didn't attack back. It wasn't as if Daniel stood a chance if they were to spar against each other.
"Impressive" Jeffery commended. He couldn't hide the astonishment within him. Daniel had completely gone beyond his expectations, and was even able to use the techniques of their clan. he was happy about it. He might not be able to confirm his theory about the book at the moment, but he was definitely contended with Daniel's improvement
"You've gotten strong" Jeffery added before walking up to his son who sat crippled on the burning earth.
Daniel tried to stand up from where he sat on the floor, but couldn't move. His father had already bound him to the floor and he couldn't break out.
"Aren't you tired of always running?" Jeffery questioned. He reached down for his bound up son and patted the boy on the head.
"If you want to stop me, then you'll have to stop running away from me, you'll have to hate me. You're still weak Daniel and I'm disappointed. You and I are much alike than you know, we're both prodigies who failed to understand the length of our abilities. But unlike you, I've started to rectify my mistakes" Jeffery spoke in a faint tone. His words almost a whisper.
"We're nothing alike. You're a monster!" Daniel cursed at his father who merely smiled even broadly at the boys insults.
This was the exact same way he saw his father when what the man was truly after was the latent potential embedded in him. Even though his father had taken it too far by murdering his children, he wasn't going to be as cruel as that.
He didn't deny the fact that he would have killed Alexander if Helen hadn't intervened. But that was only because the boy was also after his life. However his father had killed his brothers and sisters simply because he felt they weren't strong enough. Compared to that man, he was still a saint, and Daniel calling him a monster only made him laugh.
Daniel struggled even harder before finally breaking out of the spell. He pushed his father down the instant he rose from the ground and held his fist above the man's face. He was going to make this information very clear and understandable.
"The next time, you come near me or any of my friends, I will forget every bond we've ever shared, and I will kill you" Daniel threatened before climbing off his father's body. He was breathing heavily, and his body was fidgeting lightly, probably out of fear.
He didn't know why or what he just did, but he just felt it was good threatening his father-somebody who could easily erase him from existence if he wanted to. He wasn't afraid at all, he knew Jeffery still had use for him. He was the only one who could house the book's curse after all. Killing him would mean losing his source of power. And knowing how power lusted his father was, he wasn't going to lay a finger on him.
He didn't know how he did it, but he had somehow managed to cancel out the Forest of Death and had found himself in his old house, his father still on the floor beside him. He shot the man one last wicked stare before teleporting away from the place.
Once again, the boy had left him completely astonished. Even though it was easier to leave the forest than to summon it, it still required a certain level of skill before someone could erase reality, and this boy had just done it without any training at all.
Jeffery had just realized that controlling that darkness In him didn't only just make him strong emotionally and mentally, It might have also unlocked some of his untapped potentials. It wasn't much since he didn't feel any sudden increase in the boys power, but it was definitely something.
He could already see their future together, all he needed to do was push Daniel to unlock his full potentials, and then win him over to his side. With the Maledictio Caelum et Infernium and the curse amplifying Daniel's powers, they would be unstoppable together. With their combined powers, he was going to reshape the world in the way he dreamt of. A world where sorcerers ruled the masses.