"I invited you here so that we could get to know each other better. Try to be civil," she said, and Celeste's brow shot north.
"Sending Harpies to kidnap me in the middle of the night is your idea of an invitation?" She laughed, shaking her head. "Lady, I knew you were crazy; I didn't think you were stupid as well."
"As I was saying, I think we need to reconnect. Don't you see Celeste, with our combined power we can rule not only the Dark Fae but the Collective. You have the mark and soon, soon he will come and claim you as his own. The Daughter of War and Vengeance and the Destroyer of Gods... you will be infinite. We… could be infinite. Just think of it, we could have absolute power. And what a tableau, me with my white hair and skin, you with all your dark exotic beauty and your sister with her bright red-" Celeste frowned, staring at her with a slack jaw.
"Sister? Are you trying to tell me that Lilith-" Celeste felt queasy.
"Yes. The three of us could rule so well together. Just think of it, Celeste the power, the adoration and no one or nothing would be able to stand in our way. We could take back the human realm, we could be incredible. All you have to do is remember his name." As she spoke, Nemesis crossed the room, pausing mere inches from Celeste, her white eyes shining with excitement.
"Is this some kind of joke? Are you really trying to Darth Vader me?" she asked, too stunned to even laugh. Nemesis stared at her, confused by the reference. "Are you honestly trying to bring me over to the dark side? Nyx would never allow -" She clarified, only pausing when Nemesis smiled brightly at her, her eye dancing.
"Nyx?" Nemesis chuckled, "Sweetie, Nyx isn't going to stop this, she's the one who planned it." Celeste stared at her, trying to push her way into Nemesis' mind, but all she could come up with were emotions. Her mother was so joyous that it made Celeste feel sick and dizzy.
"You're lying," Celeste choked, swallowing hard to keep the bile from rising. She closed her eyes when tears clouded her vision and shook her head. When she opened them again, Nemesis was standing in front of her, her fingers toying with a lock of Celeste's hair.
"You know I'm not Celeste. Everything she has ever done has led to this. She knew that she needed to do something to bring all of that anger back but under control. Once you had the anger, once you could manage without exploding into violence, she knew that you were ready. Honey, why do you think she sent Karim and Lilith to the Collective in the first place?" Nemesis rested her hands on her shoulder and Celeste took a step back, breaking their contact.
She needed to sit now, her knees buckling at the thought of Karim being in on this entire scheme.
"Karim was not a part of this. He would never -”
"Of course he wouldn't. Not intentionally, but he would re-awaken those memories, those feelings … it was why he was sent back to you. Because he could break down that wall that you've built around yourself." She sighed. "Nyx figured if anyone could do that, to awaken those memories, it would be your precious Persian. I see that for once my mother was correct."
"You twisted maniac," she whispered. Everything made sense now, Karim's reappearance and Lilith's sudden defection to the Collective at the same time. It was because she was using them all, another one of Nyx's power plays had just taken Celeste down. Of course Nyx had known who the Dark Queen was, of course she knew Lilith's identity. She closed her eyes and mentally counted to ten to keep from exploding.
"We can be what we were meant to be, Celeste. We can rule every realm between heaven and hell, if you would just accept your fate and remember." Nemesis reached out to stroke Celeste's cheek only to have her hand savagely batted away.
"You are fucking batshit crazy." She tried to hold on to her temper, but it was becoming harder and harder to maintain. "You drag me away from my family, my dying mother to try to get me.”
"She is not your mother." Nemesis struggled to remain calm, but Celeste could see the rage rising in her. Beneath her cool demeanor, she was fuming.
"She is the only mother I have ever known. I will not be your puppet in whatever scheme you have conjured up. Now how the fuck do I get out of this nut house?" she yelled, trying her best to teleport the fuck out of this hell. It didn't work, of course it wouldn't.
Nemesis snarled, her teeth sharpening, her pale skin darkening and horns extended from her silvery mane as she showed Celeste her new true face, the face of the Dark Queen. It was a move meant to intimidate, a trick she'd utilize often enough to gain a reputation. It received no reaction from Celeste, though.
"You will not speak to your mother –"
Celeste leveled her with a searing gaze, her body vibrating with anger. She rose, her feet lifting off of the ground as a brilliant white light surrounded her. Electricity danced and crackled around her, her blue eyes a stark unblemished white as she spoke in a tone that was beyond anything either of them had ever heard.
"Do not test me or I will burn this place, this realm to cinders," she spat, angry tears flowing freely now. To prove her point the walls began to smolder, smoke filling the room. Nemesis’ eyes went wide, her mouth open and she clapped her hands with glee.
"Beautiful," Nemesis whispered, indicating the silver that streaked Celeste's hair. "She is absolutely beautiful," she said, in a low whisper. Before she could respond, Celeste felt a sharp prick in her arm. She turned to see Blueman with a syringe in his hand. He'd injected her with something and she felt her head get cloudy. Her feet settled on the carpet and she stared at them incredulously. She had done this on purpose, instigating a reaction to see just how strong Celeste had become over the years. She had felt this before, right before her body had been shoved into the Cyndun River centuries ago.
"What did you do? What did you do to me?" she asked, her speech slurring and her knees going weak. "You better hope I die because if I don't I'm going to fuck up your entire world." She slurred before slumping into the waiting arms of the man who'd injected her.
***
Remy was wheeled into the dim, quiet of Arbor's bedroom. His wounds bandaged, his body still bruised and broken, but he needed to see her. Needed to tell her how truly sorry he was. There were people silently moving around the room, checking her and making sure she was comfortable, some were familiar to him, most were not. This was bad, he knew that from the silence in the room, the whispers and intense conversations that were happening in clusters around him. Frederick rushed past him, pausing only to give him a tight sympathy smile. Arbor was dying and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
Nicky sat on the edge of the bed, kissing the back of a skeletal hand, tears in his eyes as he spoke in hushed tones to the woman who had taken him in as one of her own. She had nurtured him, encouraged him and loved him, she had given him a family. Arbor was their anchor, without her they would have floated away long ago. Nicky turned to see Gaston pushing Remy’s wheelchair into the room and stood. He kissed Arbor’s forehead and said something before rushing out of the room, tears streaming down his face. Remy looked up at his brother’s tightly pinched expression and nodded.
As they’d made their way to the master suite, Gaston had told him that there was nothing left to do, that she was only hanging on to say goodbye to him, to make sure her baby boy was found safe and returned to his family. She understood what was happening, she was told that it was Lilith, and she didn’t seem to be upset or even surprised. It was as if she’d known it was going to happen.
She had waited for her baby boy, the last of her children to say goodbye. Gaston moved Nicky’s chair as close to the bed as he could, then cleared the room to give them privacy.
She turned to look at him and Remy felt the tears immediately. She didn't look like his mother. She was shrunken, shriveled, her skin ashen and her eyes like saucers in an emaciated face. She gave him a small smile and reached for his hand. He grasped her fingers gently, feeling the bones beneath her thin skin and more tears came; he couldn't stop his sobs of anguish and held her hand to his lips.
"Shhh," she sighed, releasing his hand so
that she could stroke the soft curls that she'd always loved. "It’s okay,” she said, her voice weak and tiny.
"This is my fault. This is all my fault,” he repeated, and she cupped his cheek with a withered hand, shaking her bald head. She inhaled, trying to gather enough breath to speak to him.
"No, Remy, this is not your fault. None of this,” she assured him.
"I betrayed you all- I-"
"You did no such thing,” she said. "Do you think that I would ever believe that you would ever do anything to hurt this family? To hurt me? This was not your doing. This was what needed to happen. It’s just the beginning, my sweet boy. "
"I don't want you to go," he said. She smiled, a single tear sliding from the corner of her eye. She was hurting, but her sorrow wasn't for herself, it was for him, her baby boy.
"It's time. You have become such a smart, strong male and I am honored to have had you as my son. I will never leave you, Remy. I will not be on this plane, but I will always be a part of you. My blood flows through you, my essence is in your eye. You are truly the best thing that I have ever done in a long, long life. Do not ever forget that we share a heart, and as long as your heart beats, so will mine." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
"Mother," his voice was slightly panicked, and she smiled opening those soft brown eyes.
"Don't let what has happened ruin the love that you've found,” she breathed.
"You know about Briar?" he asked, sniffing away tears.
She managed a small chuckle.
"You’re my son, Remy. I know everything about you. He is good for you and he loves you like no one else can. Don't let anything ruin that. And remember, there will be bigger battles than this, my son. Protect those close to you as I have always and will always protect you. Remember Ragnarök." She whispered the last words as her eyes drifted closed.
Remy struggled to his feet and climbed into the bed, wrapping his arms around her, he kissed the top of her head. He was going to ask her what she meant, but her labored breathing stayed the question.
"This bald thing, it's a good look for you," he teased and she laughed.
"Je t'aime, mère," he whispered. She patted his arm and closed her eyes, her head cradled against his shoulder. She felt so tiny, so thin next to him, but as always she smelled of flowers, gardenias today.
"Je t'aime trop, Rémy," she whispered.
Those were the last words Arbor Kent would ever speak.
***
The storm came in the early hours of the morning, tearing through the city and bursting the levees with a force none had ever seen before. The damage was devastating and swift, wiping out the city, taking many lives and destroying families in one fatal swoop. The world watched the destruction with sadness and awe, some not understanding how truly horrendous it would become in the days that followed.
While the global news documented the human loss, the world weeping and praying for those left behind, starving and dying in the unrelenting heat that followed, no one knew of the private pain of a world just beyond that of human existence.
The death of Arbor Kent not only rippled through the human world, it shattered the Collective and Dark Fae alike. Remy had been holding Arbor in his arms when she'd taken her final breath, surrounded by family and those who loved her most. There was only one face missing in the sea of red eyes and dower expressions. One face that had been lost to them into the abyss and they wondered if she would ever be seen again.
***
In the darkness of a room that had become like a tomb to her, Celeste lay on the cold cement floor, her wrist and ankles shackled to a heavy chain that was bolted to the floor. She hadn't heard the news but she'd known. She'd felt the great loss, an emptiness, when Arbor had left the world. She rolled onto her side in the darkness, wrapping her arms around a naked and broken body and sobbed. Not from the pain of being beaten and tortured, she would survive these wounds and many more. She wept for the loss of her mother, a person who very much made the world a better place just by her being in it. She wept because she didn't get to say good bye. She knew that once she got over the hurt, the pain of such a devastating loss, she was going to make good on her promise.
She was going to burn this realm and everything in it, to ashes.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Icy water assaulted Celeste, startling her awake. She coughed, opening her eyes, silently lifting her head to look at her tormentor with her one good eye. The other had swollen shut some time ago, yet the beatings continued. She was chained to a chair that had been bolted to the floor in a room with dark walls and a concrete floor. She had been staring at the drain in the center of the floor, watching blood and water swirl before disappearing. She must have passed out, because the next thing she remembered was the water, stinging and icy cold, waking her.
She wore a thin white t-shirt and panties, the metal chair cold against her battered skin. Her hair hung in her face in wet bloody clumps, her mouth bled from a split lip. Several of her fingers had been broken and were now swollen, black sausages at the end of puffy red hands.
"Are you ready to give in?" She looked up into the face of Blueman, whose name she had learn, ironically was Azul. He sported an eye patch now after getting too close on one of these little "training" sessions and Celeste had gouged his eye out. That was before when she had been chained to the wall with some metal alloy that she’d easily broken. Those chains had been replaced by wrist and ankle shackles made titanium with a little dark magic added for good measure and secured to her chair.
This chair had also been a recent addition. When they had foolishly used a wooden chair, she'd simply broken the chair by throwing her body back with enough force to splinter the wood on the cement floor. That time, she'd speared her tormentor, a yellow eyed demon, through the throat with a piece of wood. As he lay choking on his own blood, she had stood, looking at the door, waiting for her mother to enter.
She never did. But she watched. Celeste knew that, she could feel her eyes on her from some hidden location where she monitored these sessions. Occasionally, she would hear her chastise the torturer of the hour outside of the door, but Nemesis had never set foot into this room. Not yet anyway.
She knew better.
"I'm speaking to you, Caelestis," he said her name as if it were a curse and she smiled.
"Fuck you," she said and was struck in the face before the words were out of her mouth. She spit blood and started to laugh. "You hit like a pussy," she spat and he struck her again and again only stopping when she spit teeth onto the ground.
"When I get out of this, you are going to be one of the first people I kill," she said. He shook his head before hitting her across the chest with his baton. She coughed, the wind knocked out of her, she was sure that was going to leave a bruise. Well another bruise, but that would heal. They all would heal, she thought. Azul leaned close, his face inches from hers as he spoke.
"We will continue this until you relent, Caelestis. Why not make this easy on yourself and relent.”
She looked at him, one brilliant blue eye to a deep red one and smiled a bloody smile.
"Why don't you suck my big, hairy dick?" she asked and began to chuckle. He turned his attention to something in the corner of the room and she followed his gaze to a tiny camera there. She hadn't noticed before, but now, she saw the thin black cord that disappeared into the ceiling, a tiny light shining in her direction.
Nemesis was somewhere nearby, she knew that. Nyx was with her, she could feel the two of them watching, waiting for her to give in, give up. She smirked and turned her attention back to Azul who eyed her warily. He wasn't succeeding, and knowing the power hungry heifers that were her mother and grandmother, there would be hell to pay. Good, she thought.
He seemed to be listening to something. Something only he could hear. Celeste was too far gone to try and listen into his mind. Besides, demons minds were like giant puzzle pieces, that didn't seem to connect in any real way.
"The Qu
een said relent or she will have to call in reinforcements. She has been in contact with an old friend of yours and he is desperate to see you after all of these years. Your former King or should I say master- has missed you very, very much."
She pursed her lips biting back a comment as cold fear went through her. She shot a glance towards the camera, her fury growing along with her fear and hatred. She needed to stay calm, showing any emotion other than flippant defiance would give Nemesis an edge. She would continue to dig, to poke at a wound if she thought it would get Celeste to react. She wanted to see how far she could push her, how long she would resist because breaking her was her goal. Breaking her would make it so much easier to control her.
"If she wants to bring that fucker here, she better do it soon. Because before I kill you, and after I kill him in the nastiest way I can come up with- I'm going to slit that bitch's throat and shit in the hole," she said laughing manically. Azul looked at her, then at the camera. He straightened, and leveled another blow to her already bruised and broken face and the world went dark again.
***
Remy hobbled down the hall, his wrists and throat still bandaged, his leg healing from a break that he hadn't known he'd had until his rescue. He hadn't been to his bedroom since they'd held Arbor's memorial the day before. It had been an eerie experience. The world outside was silent, with no birds or crickets chirping in the late summer afternoon, no color, as everything had taken on a gray tinge. There wasn't even a body because as an elemental, she reverted to her true state, a floral scented breeze that tore through the south in the form a hurricane.
He spent several nights sleeping in her bed, smelling her scent on the pillow and feeling her around him. Jonas had allowed it, lying beside his wounded son as he mourned his mother, and in some ways, his missing sister. Now he made his way up the stairs to the third floor to his own room that had been cleaned and freshened for their newest guest.
Mark of the Fallen: A Fallen Novel Page 28