by Ivy Carter
I need to get my head straight before I try to explain the nightmare to Sebastian. He is going to want very detailed information. While right now my head is literally overly baked mush. I push myself off the dresser and wobble around the room. After a couple of laps I start to get my balance back. But not before running into a few other pieces of furniture. That I plan on kicking later when I can lift my foot high enough without falling over.
My head starts to clear and I am starting to feel like myself again when I see my bedroom door open. Expecting it to be Tristan I am floored when I see that it is Jaxx. He is still in his sleep pants and T-shirt. But he doesn’t look like he has slept at all. Or if he has slept it wasn’t a good experience.
“What are you doing in my room?” I ask him in a bewildered tone.
“Someone visited me not long after you told me your story. The story about your fated mate.” He says in a drawn-out tone while shutting the door behind him.
“And that someone would be?” I ask him again in bewilderment because he is acting completely unlike the Jaxx that has returned. He hasn’t bowed or scraped or addressed me as ‘my lady’.
“Your Aunt. The Goddess of Chaos. She said her name was Morgana.” I raise a brow. Staying silent for once. A visit from the spaztastic Goddess doesn’t bode well for anyone of us.
“She gave me vision. You could very well say that she has opened my eyes to the way that things could have been.” He looks at me with confusion. “Or the way that things once were?” This time he is asking me a question out right.
“What did my dear aunt show you?” I ask Jaxx in an almost quivering voice. All my bravado wiped away. I back away when he tries to take a step toward me. I run my back into my damned dresser. This piece of furniture is seriously going to get blasted when I get the damned chance.
Jaxx raises his hands in a peaceful measure. He doesn’t try to take a step closer.
“It was confusing. It was like a moving picture show inside my mind. But every frame was full of love and emotion. Every picture was of myself and a woman that is not my bonded mate…” He stops as if he is expecting me to ask him who this mystery woman is. Well fuck that. I am staying mute. “The woman inside my mind when she gave me the visions was you. My lady.” Ahh there is the ‘my lady’ that I was waiting for. Now I know that he hasn’t remembered. My aunt is just playing games.
“She is called the Goddess of Chaos for a reason Jaxx. I wouldn’t worry about it. Focus on keeping your mate and your child safe for the present.” I enunciate hard on the word child. His face changes. Almost as if he looks lost. Then the hard façade is back. He turns without a word and leaves the room.
As Jaxx is leaving the room he opens the door and almost runs smack dab into Jessa. Well isn’t my room a damned popular place tonight. Or is it morning yet?
“Well. Well. Well.” Jessa practically sings as Jaxx scurries around her in his hurry to leave my bedroom.
She turns to me mimicking the same inquisitive look I used on Jaxx minutes before. Asking why the fuck is he in here? And what the hell happened without words.
“Sebastian is decent now. He can speak with you about this dream vision thingy that is so important.” She pouts at me.
“Interrupting something, Jessa?” I smirk at her. Sliding a wicked mask in place. Hiding how shaken I am from the visit from Jaxx. Hiding something from her for the first time in my life. I can only hope this doesn’t become a trend.
Sometimes when you think you are over someone or something. Those things show up right in front of you. Then you do a face plant. Remember why you had those feelings about the person in the first place. Feeling the echoes of not so old wounds. Feeling the echoes of not so old feelings. I shake myself internally. I’ll deal with Jaxx’s leftovers later. Right now, I need to focus.
I look up at Jessa. Not realizing I had been focusing on my feet while thinking inwardly. She is giving me a quizzical look. But soon moves on and starts to wiggle and jump from foot to foot in excitement.
“Tell me.” I demand with a giggle at Jess’s antics.
“Well Tristan asked if were done playing jungle romp.” I burst out laughing at not only Tristan’s words but his getting my phrase about them having sex wrong.
“Just let me tell you… That man is hung like a freaking horse! And I won.” She says smiling in triumph.
“You won what?” I ask laughing once more heading toward the door. Herding her towards the door as I go. We get out in the hallway before Jessa yells.
“I won!” I give her a weird look. “I won, I am queen of that jungle gym!” She hoots in laughter running and skipping head of me laughing all the way down the hall towards the stairs.
I follow along behind her just shaking my head. Laughing silently. Only Jessa would equate sex for the first time as a competition then call her man’s junk a jungle gym.
I follow Jessa’s skipping ass all the way down the stairs and into the front room. I look around for a place to sit. I see that Gavin is reclining back on the couch as if he doesn’t have a care in the world.
“Did you shampoo the sofa already, brother?” I smirk at his confused look.
“What in the hell happened to my couch? Why does it need to be cleaned?” Gavin demands as he looks around the room.
I smirk when Sebastian blushes. Jessa just starts to laugh loudly. They are now sitting snuggled together on a club chair close the now defiled couch. I walk over and lean against the wall not far from where Tristan is standing. Jaxx is sitting in the club chair adjacent to where Sebastian and Jess and wrapped up.
“Oh hell no. You two did not go at it on my couch then let me wallow in your watermarks!” Gavin jumps up off the sofa as if someone lit his ass on fire. Glowering at the couple that deflowered the poor couch.
Jessa just giggles while Sebastian blushes harder. Sebastian gruffly clears his throat then turns to me as if I am going to give him a way out. Ha! In his dreams. But I do butt in before Gavin can start up on a tirade of temper.
“I had a vision, last night. Or this morning. Anyways, it woke me up.” I look around the room. Staring everyone in the face. Everyone is present except for Selene. She must still be sleeping. “It frankly scared the hell out of me.” Admitting that to a room full of people. Now that shit is hard. Especially since I am supposed to be the strong one. Born to lead the light. Save our world and all that. Yeah.
“Most likely your dream was just that… a dream.” Sebastian says in the condescending way of his. “What we need to talk about is when we are going to be going to the Wandering. It started yesterday. We are late. Not a good first impression to introduce you to the True Witch populace as the new Celios.” He finishes his little speech and I feel like spitting nails.
“I don’t give a damn about the Wandering!” I snarl at Sebastian. “If the Witches want to meet me, they can come to me!” I finish pushing myself off the wall and start to pace. “Have you forgotten that Demon Lord has a piece of Devon in his filthy clutches? Not to mention that he has a link attached to me inside my head?” I finish breathing hard.
Jessa is staring at me wide eyed. As if she couldn’t imagine anyone talking to her Sebastian that way. Jaxx looks equally surprised. I don’t want to look at Tristan. I don’t want to have to lean on him for support.
“Now this is what we are going to do. I am going to describe the place I saw this filthy being. Then we are going to figure out how to reach it.” I look around to see if anyone has any objections. No one even makes a peep. Surprised that I would go against something Sebastian orders me to do. Well they are going to have to get used to it.
“Then tell us what you saw in this vision, dear Celios.” Sebastian all but hisses at me. Jessa turns around and smacks him in the chest causing his face to change from distain to utter surprise.
“Be nice.” Jess orders him with a sweet smile. Just looking at her makes his whole-body language change. He relaxes once more into the chair. Leaning back leisurely. Not at all tense like
he was readying himself for a fight like he was a moment ago.
I take a deep breath readying myself to describe what I saw in my dream. I look down at the floor, and then I begin…
“I remember walking through a narrow tunnel type cave. The floor of the tunnel was littered with things that crunched underneath my feet. So, I picked something big and round up to get a better look. It was a human skull.” I pause when Jess makes a retching sound of disgust. I look up at her and smile slightly. Remembering that in my dream I had that same reaction.
“I tossed the thing away and tried to wake myself up, but nothing worked. Usually I can pull myself out of dreams, except when they are connected to that nasty bastard.” I take yet another deep breath trying to dispel the nastiness going on inside my head.
“Let’s cut this story short. He had my uncle. He had chewed off two of his fingers. Blood coated everything. Then he stopped chewing and sucking on one of the dismembered fingers to tell me he was going to kill and taste everything that I love just to see if they taste as sweet as the first two!” I finish and feel like I have run a marathon. I am breathing hard. No, I take that back. I feel like I can’t breathe.
I basically speed walk back to the wall where I was originally standing and press my head against the cool plaster. Trying to calm my anxiety.
“Do you really think he has your uncle, Ella?” Jessa asks in a scared voice.
“Of course he doesn’t. He is baiting her. And look at her. It’s working. She is going to do something halfcocked and get herself killed. Forget what you are thinking Ella. Not even you can kill a High Demon Lord.” Sebastian has on his lecturing hat. He is preaching to the room at large. Not just talking to me.
Anger has always been the perfect cure for my anxiety. I take a couple of deep breathes and try to focus on the fact that after everything that Sebastian has seen me do…He still doubts me. He doubts that I can achieve this. The killing of this foul monster. I can still hear him preaching to the room.
“She is being childish. She may be infused with great power…But we must stay our course. We must attend the Wandering. We must, I repeat must, gather forces to our cause. Ella running wildly toward her death will help only those that side with the dark.”
I have learned that I thrive on showing those that don’t believe in me what exactly I can accomplish when I put my entire self into it. He can preach to his heart’s content. Everyone in this room that has stayed silent. The very people I call my family will see exactly what I am capable of when I bring the severed head of the Demon Lord and throw it at their feet.
Without a word I spin away from the wall on silent feet. I leave the bickering and planning behind. The sounds of various people putting forth opinions on what I should do or not do. I have plans of my own to make. No one controls my future but me. And in that very near future I will be the first person in history to kill a High Demon Lord. I have been given these extraordinary gifts for a reason. It’s time to find out just how extraordinary they are.
I make it to my room without anyone following me. Which seriously surprises me. I expected Tristan to be hot on my heels. Offering any kind of assistance within his power to give. But I guess even he thinks that I am off my rocker. I sit on the edge of my rumpled bed and catch my head in my hands. Then I start to pray to my mother for guidance.
“Mother, I don’t know if you can hear me. But I need you. You told me once that if I ever truly needed you, that you would be here. Well, I need you now. I need you to tell me if it is even possible to accomplish what I am determined to do.”
I feel a shift in the air in my room and look up. I see my mother, Goddess of The Three, standing in my small bedroom shining in all of her glory.
“You have called my daughter. So, I have come.” Her words tinkle through the air like tiny ringing bells.
I take a moment to look at my mother and to appreciate just how exquisite she truly is. My mother’s laugh rings out through the room.
“You sit there and stare, as if I am the most beautiful thing you have ever seen. Yet you see my likeness every time you look into a mirror, child.” She tells me with a sweet smile gracing her lips.
“I don’t think that it’s what you look like that captivates me. I think that it’s the fact that you are my mother. I grew up thinking that the person that gave birth to me hated me. Hated everything that that I am. Hated everything that I could become. Just to realize it was all a lie.” I take a deep breath then let it slowly out. Trying to starve off the anxiety that has been riding me the last few minutes.
“Mother, everything lately seems to be a lie.” I look up at her shining eyes with tears burning in my own. She reaches down and slides a soft gentle hand across my face. Catching and whipping away a tear that has fallen against my will.
“You are stronger than this my love. Not everything is as it seems. There are magics at work within your life. I am not allowed to intervene. I cannot alter what The Fates have set into motion. But I can tell you that you need to take everything that seems to me a lie at face value.” She removes her hand from my face and I automatically miss the simple touch.
“I don’t think that I understand.” I shake my head in confusion.
“All will become clear sooner than you may like. The truth can sometimes complicate the paths our lives have taken. Just remember that you are my daughter that you are capable of anything. Even when the people around you have doubt within their hearts. You must not let it taint your own. You must believe in yourself.” With that cryptic message my mother blinks out of existence as fast as she had come.
But she did answer my question. I can do what others are not able to do. I will kill the High Demon Lord. I will rescue my friend. Then I will take up the mantle that I was born to. I will lead the Light.
Now all I need is a plan. I have absorbed a great vault of knowledge. I look down at the rust colored scrolling marks marring my arms. Reminding me that I have all of the knowledge of the Goddess, of her Blood Scribe. Maybe if I sit and concentrate hard enough the answers that I seek will come to me.
I crawl to the center of my bed. Tossing pillows and lose coverings out of my way as I move across it. I close my eyes and pull into myself. Closing myself off from the outside world. I concentrate on finding out what I most want to know in the world. I will myself to force the information forth. When that doesn’t work, I start to meditate, to calm my mind like Sebastian taught me to do. Hoping that the information will come if I coax it. Instead of using force.
I focus inward, searching through bounds of information that no one person should know. Then after what seems like I have been searching my own mind for ages. I find what I am looking for. I am so excited that I almost break my trance like state to jump up and celebrate.
You can kill a High Demon Lord. You just have to trap him with five Goddess bless crystals. Then comes the hard part. You must drain him of his life blood. But the information flowing steadily into my psyche gives me the information on how to accomplish that as well. It seems all so simple now that I know how to do it. I simply have to will his life’s blood from his body. Syphoning it out of every orifice and pore.
Once the blood is free from the High Demon’s body. His earthly body will become like so much dust. It is a gruesome death. A slow and painful one. But this is better than he deserves. He deserves to die in a slow manner that will last for eons. Knowing that the pain will not stop. That his torture will continue for as long as I draw breath. But I will settle for what I can grasp.
New information keeps flowing into my mind without me asking for it. This is kind of weird and astonishing at the same time. I close my eyes tight trying to comprehend this foreign information flowing into my psyche. I will be able to make crystals out of the blood that I take from the High Demon. These crystals will enhance the wearer’s gifts tenfold.
Chapter 23.
I pry open my eyes and see Tristan leaning against the wall just looking at me. As if he expects something mirac
ulous to happen.
“I was just trying to pull the information forward on how to do what I want to do.” I tell him while looking into his melancholy eyes.
“So I assumed.” He responds in a monotone voice.
“What is wrong? Something isn’t right with you.” I ask him bluntly.
“I have come to care for you a great deal. I know you still have feelings for that snake that resides a few doors down. I can deal with that.” I want to stop him and shake my head in the negative. Tell him that I don’t still have residual feelings for Jaxx. But that would be a lie. So, I stay silent and let him finish what he has been waiting to say.
“I won’t watch you go to your death. But I will help you kill the monster that haunts your dreams. I have faith in your abilities. I don’t think there is anything in this world that you couldn’t do if you put your stubborn mind to it.” Tristan finishes his little speech. As he utters the last of his words something breaks and reshapes inside of me.
It feels good to have someone believe in you. To think that you can accomplish anything in this world, as long as you believe in yourself. It hurt when he didn’t speak up for me before. I just didn’t realize until this moment how much.
“It hurt when you stayed silent when we were downstairs. When you didn’t speak up.” I tell him with all the honesty that I can put into my voice.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you. I was astonished by their doubt in your abilities. You are daughter to our Goddess. With her life blood running through your veins. Yet they still doubt you. That blew me away.” Tristan explains patiently. Pleadingly.
I just nod. I don’t have words for what everyone’s doubting felt like. I don’t want to speak ill of my family. But if that freak of nature has my Uncle, I would die trying to get him back. Just like I would do for any one of them. The very people that try to order me around, the very people that doubt me.
