by Ivy Carter
Chapter 20.
Ella
The first thing I see when I open my eyes is Jessa and Sebastian sitting around a table crowded with strangers. Most of the strangers are now sprouting fur, fangs, and claws. While the others are shouting in alarm, I catch Jessa’s eye roll and almost smile.
“Dudes, chill already!” Jessa jumps from her seat on Sebastian’s lap and vaults on top of the table while yelling. “This is the person we have been waiting on.” She looks back toward me and mouths, “idiots.” I almost laugh until I remember that Tristan is carrying my brother, who is still hurt.
Tristan walks slowly over to the couch in the sitting room, dropping Gavin onto it and making him comfortable. He looks back at me with his brow raised. “What?” I ask him.
“I don’t know these people.” I huff, making my friends laugh.
“Yeah, so here is the skinny. These lovely sexist men…” Sebastian nudges her, “Jessa.”
“Yeah, yeah. Well they deserve it for having so little female leadership.” She mutters, making a couple of the new comers laugh quietly. She shrugs and continues. “Anywho, they showed up out of nowhere, interrupted my sexy time, then demanded to see you. They are the leaders of a group of peeps that call themselves the Light Bringers.”
She runs out of steam, jumps down from the table, then snuggles right back into Sebastian’s lap. Tristan comes to stand beside me as I face an entire room of supernatural beings.
“Wow.” Is all I can think to mutter. Which makes Jess giggle, and Sebastian smirk kindly.
One of the men and one lone female stand and then kneel. I want to back up but Tristan is holding me in place. The guy that seems to be the leader of the group starts to address me…
“My lady, we have come to join you in facing the Darkness that threatens to swallow us all. Our number is vast, and we are willing to die for you and The Light. You will not find us lacking.” He nods to himself as if he is happy with his little speech, then they both rise as one.
I step forward and offer my hand. He kneels again and kisses my fingers. I shake my head at this weirdness. Of course, Jessa is laughing again.
“My name is Arabella, but everyone calls me Ella.” I tell him while trying to wrestle my fingers from his firm grip.
“My lady Ella, it is an honor to meet you. The daughter of the Triple Goddess, our Celios.” He speaks loudly, almost booming, over my fingers. “My name is Aaron. I am the leader of the Light Bringers.”
Aaron is a big man with russet hair. He stands at almost seven feet tall and he has a battle ax strapped to his wide back. Yeah, I can see why they would follow this giant.
My gaze follows his face as he straightens and finally lets my fingers free. My eyes widen when he smiles and shows me his wicked, thick fangs. They aren’t as delicate as Vampire fangs. They are completely different from Talia’s as well.
“Grizzly.” The lone female in the group answers my unasked question. She steps forward and nods respectfully at me.
“My name is Bria. I am Alpha to Black Panther Pride.” Bria states with confidence. When she smiles she shows me teeth exactly like Talia’s fangs.
I just nod and smile, trying not to think of the way Talia betrayed us. Or how I might have done the same thing to save the one I love. I mentally shrug and leave it for the moment.
I come out of my thoughts and realize that everyone around the table is making introductions. Tristan tightens his grip on my hand, so I start to pay attention.
“Leo, leader of the Lion Shifters.”
"Zander, dragon shifter, lone shifter.”
“Blake, leader of the Leopard Pride.”
“Cole, second in command of The Werewolves.”
“Aaron is the leader.” Jessa points out. When I give her a confused look, she just shrugs. I guess she doesn’t know why a Grizzly Shifter is Alpha either.
“Azazael. Demon-Dragon hybrid, son of Zander.”
“Klaudius. Vampire-Dragon hybrid, second son of Zander, and third in line to the dragon throne.”
As the introductions end, I try to save everyone to memory. I look at each person, meeting their eyes until they drop theirs. At first, I am not even aware I am doing it until Aaron growls.
“Lady, you must show them that you are the dominant. That you are the most powerful, or they won’t follow you.” The scribe whispers through my mind.
Stupid dominance games.
Tristan steps forward as his wings snap out from his back. They glitter and glow with black and green fire. When I taste his power level I realize that the spell that was muting who he is, is now gone. He is Death. When I see everyone in the room, aside from me, drop to their knees, I realize that he is truly a being to be feared.
“You aren’t going to smite me, are you gorgeous?” Jessa smirks when she asks Tristan. He chuckles lightly, then turns his attention back to the new people in our home.
“You will respect her, you will not challenge her, or you will die.” Tristan states simply, folding in his beautiful wings.
Jessa jumps up when Tristan mutes his powers a little. She runs over and starts to reach out to feel Tristan’s wings, a look of awe on her face. He folds them tighter to his back but that doesn’t stop her from running her fingers over his primary feathers. I am a little jealous since I haven’t even fondled his feathers yet.
I pull her hand back and snap, “Mine.”
She smirks at me, appreciating my reaction.
“So, you have finally ridden his pony?’ She asks me in a way only Jessa can.
The tension in the room is broken and everyone starts to laugh. I can feel my face burning as I stand there with my mouth gaping. Tristan pulls me to him, and I hide my face in his chest. I can feel the vibrations of his laughter as he hugs me tighter.
As I unlatch myself from Tristan, Bria steps closer, sniffing the air around me.
“Why are your powers locked behind a spell?” She asks. Shocking the shit out of me.
“I have been spelled?” I ask in utter confusion.
“There is a spell that is attached to your soul. My grandmother was a seer. I can sense curses and dark spells.” She walks around me, looking closely. This forces Tristan to take a step back. “It is old, very old and very dark.” She mutters to herself. “Much older than this body you now inhabit.” She turns to me, “How many times have you been reborn?”
“I don’t know.” I tell her simply. “My memories from my past lives still haven’t returned.” I feel Tristan step closer to my back.
Bria’s eyes go white, as if they are misted over.
“The curse was placed on your soul at conception.” She gasps out and reaches for my hand. The moment her skin touches mine I am sucked into a vision.
I look around and realize I am not inside my own mind.
“Jaxx.” The scribe whispers across my thoughts. I am inside Jaxx’s mind. But what am I doing here?
“Watch and listen. See the truth shrouded in lies.” I hear Bria inside my head as well.
Mist swirls around my boots as I am pulled into the realm of The In-between, the realm of The Triple Goddess Hekate, my mother. I feel powerless as I take in the wonder of my surroundings. That is when I see her, wrapped in white robes, stepping through the mists as they part for her like a living thing. I look up, trying to avoid her eyes, to hide my anger for just a moment longer. The sky above me is utterly black and full of brilliant stars.
The sound of clapping hands pulls my attention back to the power figure now standing not ten feet from me. She looks exactly like her daughter, me, yet older and more wicked somehow, like the veil of goodness that she has been wearing is beginning to slip.
Being inside Jaxx’s body, listening to his inner thoughts is disorienting, to say the least.
“Jaxxayne.” The power in her voice washes over me as it echoes with power throughout the Between. I fall to my knees under the pressure within her voice.
“Why have you called me to your realm, my Goddess?”
Jaxx and I ask.
“Because child, you are discontent. I can feel your anger even as you are on your knees before me with feigned respect.” The punishing accusation in her voice causes our vision to blur as the blood vessels running through them burst. Tears of blood rain down our face as the almost crippling pain causes me to fall the rest of the way to the ground.
“So, why are you angry with me my dear Jaxxayne?” She strolls around us almost as if she is bored by me. “Is it because my disappointment of a daughter is flirting at the idea of joining her life with Death himself? Or is it because you can’t stand the idea that your blonde, boyish looks and charming attributes aren’t working out in your favor for once in your life?” She laughs and it enrages Jaxx almost enough for us to forget about the pain exploding behind our eyes.
“I shall live up to my end of our bargain when you are able to devastate my dearest daughter enough to turn her against the light that flows inside her, mixing with all of that lovely rage.” She sneers at the mention of Ella.
“My Goddess, I have tried to eliminate the wraith, but he somehow swallowed my spell, ingesting it, instead of it destroying him as it was meant to.”
“Excuses!” She yells. “I am so tired of your excuses. Not even your betrayal of her with another has stirred her onto the path that I have chosen for her.” She kneels in front of me, pulling my head up by my hair, so I have to meet her eyes. “You once called the vision of my daughter a pale imitation of myself, does that still hold true?”
We consider her now faded jade green eyes and internally cringe as we must lie. Even though we have been here for but a short time, she has faded. Her black hair is streaked with silver and there are wrinkles framing her eyes and mouth.
“There is nothing in all the realms that surpasses your beauty or power, my Goddess.” We gasp out as she yanks on my hair painfully. A smile graces her face at my statement. She lets go of my hair and stands once more, looking down on me as we lie at her feet. She reaches out a hand and we grasp it as she pulls me to my feet with no effort at all.
“Come share my bed this night my golden knight, and if you continue to delight me, I will find a way to force a mating between you and my shadow, my daughter.” She giggles like the girl she is not.
We inwardly cringe once more as we follow in her wake. Hand in hand we walk as the mists swirling around us part and show us a giant bed crowned with gold and ivy. It is surrounded by dying flowers and malnourished fruit trees. It was once a bed fit for a Goddess, but now it fades as she does. Yet we follow obediently, not wanting to anger her and face her wrath.
It will be all worth it in the end. All the lies, all the dark deeds that we have subjected to… It will all be worth it when we have the power of the Celios under our thumb. When she is within our grasp and ours to control, we will rule all the realms. And there will be no one strong enough to stop us. Now that thought makes us smile.
Chapter 21 .
Ella
I suck in a deep breath and cringe at what I just witnessed. The cold kitchen floor is hard against my back. I open my tear-filled eyes and see Tristan’s confused and fearful gaze locked on mine.
It was all a lie. Everything that was said and done between us. It was all an illusion. A cruel trick of the heart to drive me, to control me and my powers. To press me down and mold me into something that I am not.
I scream out in pain and frustration.
All of it was false, everything that Jaxx and I shared was a lie. He was my mother’s willing puppet.
“It was all a lie.” I mutter out loud this time. I watch as confused faces fade in and out around me. Everyone is gathered around me and Bria. I can hear her retching somewhere to the left of where I am lying.
“What was a lie, Ella? Come on, talk to me.” Jessa demands with a voice full of worry.
I turn my head to look at her beautiful face and I realize that she has been touched by my mother’s games as well. I smile at her sadly and cringe at my own stupidity.
I wanted a mother, someone to love me so badly, that I followed and accepted her blindly. I willingly forgot all that the assholes that raised me taught me about parental love. You can’t trust it. You can’t blindly trust anyone. It must be earned. This isn’t a lesson that I will be forgetting again.
“Jaxx played me.” I tell her simply. When she stares at me in confusion, I reach out and show her what I have just seen. I use my mind to link with hers. I replay the scene, let her listen to every word, and when it’s finished, she is furious.
Sebastian and Tristan are looking on, waiting patiently for us to share. I just shake my head and bury my face in my folded arms. Hiding for just a moment. As I close my eyes and take deep breaths, I hear Jessa retell what she has just seen. Every gory detail. It makes me want to retch.
I let him touch me. He gave me my first kiss. When he told me that he loved me, I believed his every word. He glowed in my mind as he showed me a different world, a new way to live. It almost breaks me when I realize it was a lie.
I might not have chosen to bond with him, but I still loved who we might have been. Who we could have been together, if Selene and her games hadn’t ruined us.
When you realize something so profound is a lie, you must readjust your reality. So, I unbend and sit up. I once again force down the pain that Jaxx has caused me. But this time I don’t need a dampening spell to help me get through it. There is such a tempest of rage and anger burning through me, it is hard to feel anything else.
Tristan’s magic is glowing around him, swirling black with rage.
“You aren’t the only one your mother has manipulated.” Jessa chokes out through tears. “She was there when Moira and her lackeys hurt me. She was there and offered to dampen the pain, but she wouldn’t help me get away. She told me that it was necessary. I didn’t know what she was talking about at the time.” She takes a breath then forces herself to go on. “But now I know it was her behind everything. She is controlling Devon, Ella. She told him that she won’t let him live unless he helps to turn you dark as well.”
“Devon is alive?” I choke out. “How?”
“He came back as a Wraith. We were doing so good. He was learning to feed without hurting anyone. He was worried about you, but he was getting back to normal. He even flirted with Sebastian.” She chuckles sadly. “But then he used a spell that Jaxx threw at him to try to kill me, Ella.” I can see the raw pain in her eyes.
“We will get him back. We will kill everyone that has hurt us. Then we will fix it, we will fix all of it.” I promise Jessa as she dives into my waiting arms. I hug her tightly.
“How do you kill a Goddess?” I ask the room at large.
“I believe I can help with that.” Justice says as he and Orion step out from behind a curtain of Shadows. Everyone stiffens until Tristan starts to explain who they are and why they are here.
“Did you find Selene?” I ask Orion.
“Yes, Alexander has her locked away in the same dungeon that he kept you in while you were pregnant.” I cringe, remembering that dank, dark, little room.
“Wait? Selene? And When did you have a baby? Where is the baby?” Jessa is demanding.
“Raven is safe with Uncle Dan. Yes, I was pregnant for two whole days. Then she exploded out of me, painfully, in a ball of light.” Jessa looks gob smacked along with everyone else in the room, besides Tristan and the Shadow Guard.
“She is the most amazing little thing.” I can feel myself smiling, all the hate and worry slipping away. Just the thought of her makes me happy.
“Too much shit happens when we are apart.” Jessa pouts at me.
“Then I guess we are just going to have to stay together from now on.” I tell her.
“That might not be an option.” Justice points out from where he is leaning against the wall.
“What do you mean?” Jessa and I demand at the same time.
“You are going to have to journey back into the Fade, beyond the Veil.” I shudder as
I remember that desolate land. Everything there is just so empty. “You must journey there to speak with the Sister Fates. There, they will tell you how to kill a Goddess.” He states it as if it is the simplest thing in the world.
“No. Not happening.” Tristan rages.
“Will going there help Selene?” Gavin joins our conversation. He is now sitting up on the couch completely awake. He must have been listening for a while.
“They will answer all of your questions, for a price.” Orion chimes in with grave air.
“What price?” I ask.
“They will want you to offer up something precious. Nothing this important is ever free. The price will be steep. Don’t promise anything you can’t live without.” Justice tells us, just as grave as his friend.
“No!” Tristan and Jessa both yell at once.
“Yes.” I tell them. “You need to trust me. I can do this. I am stronger than you think. Please.” I plead with Tristan. He must understand. I don’t want to live in this limbo anymore. I want to end this. The war, the lies, the danger to the people I love. I want it over. No price is too steep, if it will help end this.
Tristan nods, reading my thoughts. Jessa looks at me with tears in her eyes. “You will come back.” She demands.
“I will always come back.” I tell them both.
Nothing is going to keep me away from the people I love. No one will take anyone else from me. I will destroy all the realms to protect the people I love.
I just hope that it doesn’t come to that.
Chapter 22.
Ella.
I step into the Fade, feeling the weight of this realm trying to swamp me with despair. I didn’t have to die to enter this realm this time. Thanks to the Shadow Guard and their donation of blood for the spell, it was like walking through an open door.
Now, I just need to find the Sister Fates. Yeah, that shouldn’t be hard at all.
“Look for the eye, and follow it to the red door.” Bunch of gibberish. Thank you very much, Justice.