by Ivy Carter
I am walking down the narrow grey road again. This place is still devoid of life. It is like a mirror of our world, only on this side of the Veil, it’s worn and dingy. Dead. This world is dead. That is the only way to describe this place.
Dust clings to my boots as I walk down the long road. It feels like I have been in this realm for hours, when it has only been minutes. That is the curse of this place.
“Hello, child. Are you looking for me?” A giant eyeball pops up in front of me and seems to be speaking. I stumble back, landing on my ass, gaping up at the thing.
“Follow me, follow me, I know the way.” It squeals with glee and zips off toward the east.
I use my magic to speed my running so that I can keep up with the floating, laughing eye that I am following. I run to keep up with it until it suddenly stops and starts to dance in place. Bopping up and down, from side to side. A grey mist gathers in front of it, swirling and changing, until it solidifies into a solid red door.
Well fuck me, I guess he was telling the truth.
“Come, come. The sisters are waiting.” The thing squeals at me, its blue orb blinking or winking at me impatiently. “Knock, knock three times.” It trills at me.
I raise an eyebrow and step forward. I knock on the door three times. The red door shutters and then swings open. The door leads into a house, or what looks like a house. I step inside.
Inside the front room of the cottage there are three old crones rocking in three identical rocking chairs. They are knitting in sync, their needles clicking, clicking, clicking.
“Ohhh! She is here, she is here.” They giggle and speak together, as if they share the same voice box. “Our pet has brought you to us, finally.” They reprimand the floating eye. The eye shrinks in on itself. I almost feel bad for it.
“Yeah. I am here.” I mutter out, not knowing what to make of the bizarre scene in front of me. “I have come to ask a question.”
“We know, we know. But we will trade. We will give you the key to breaking your soul curse. Once your power is released, you will be able to defeat the Triple Goddess. In return, you will set us free.” All three nod their heads at once. Still click, clicking their needles.
I pause, remembering the warning. “What will you do once you are freed?” I ask.
“Why, we will kill the Triple Goddess for trapping us here.” They all smile, showing their needle-sharp teeth.
“So, to kill my mother, I have to free you. To free you, my curse has to be broken?” I repeat.
“Why yes.” They smile, cackle, knit, and rock in unison. This is either the weirdest shit I have ever experienced, or this is one kickass nightmare.
“How do I break my curse?” I ask, hoping that I will get a straight answer.
“You kill the Shadow Master.” They cackle at me again. Then they stand at once and snap their fingers in unison three times. Shadows gather into a cyclone in the middle of the room. I step back, trying to avoid whatever the hell is going on.
The cyclone clears and Alexander is on his knees, kneeling in the middle of the floor. Around him is a circle of shimmering sand. He tries to rise, but is forced to kneel once more by an unseen force.
“Let me out of here, Crones!” Alexander rages, shouting out, fighting whatever is keeping him on his knees.
“Tsk, Tsk. You broke the promise that you made when you struck our deal. To break a promise to The Sisters Three, a toll must be paid. The toll is death.” They hiss in unison. I take another step backward.
If they are powerful enough to incapacitate The Shadow Master, then why do they need me?
“Because we are bound here, child. We cannot kill the master of this realm. It is not allowed, it is not allowed.” They cackle and rock.
“I can’t kill him, he has my brother’s Fated Mate in his keeping.” I point out, hoping not to anger them.
They snap their fingers in unison and Selene is delivered. She lands at my feet, appearing dead to the world. I kneel next to her, feeling her throat for a pulse. I find one beating steadily.
The wood floor beneath Alexander’s knees begins to glow.
“You are running out of time. Drink his soul, eat his power, break your curse. Take your revenge!” The crones shout at me.
“How do I kill him?” I ask.
“What will you give, child? What will you give us in return for your greatest wish?” They hiss at me through their sharp teeth.
“What is my greatest wish?” I ask them. I don’t even know if I could choose just one thing.
“To destroy the darkness that preys on the ones that you love.” They cackle at me again as they continue to rock in unison.
“What do you want?” I ask them. I won’t give anything blindly.
“Everything that you are.” They hiss, much to my confusion.
“Simplify that, please.” I watch as they rock faster now, almost in excitement.
“You carry a secret, buried deeply inside your past. Someday we will ask you for this secret. A secret that you aren’t going to want to tell us. When we ask, you will answer. It is that simple.”
“Yes.” I agree.
The ground rocks beneath my feet, as Alexander screams out in agony. I watch as shadows attack their master inside the shimmering circle.
“Hurry child, pull him into yourself. Eat his soul.” They are rocking so fast now that they are almost a blur.
I turn to Alexander’s kneeling body and power up my hands. I shoot my magic into him and anchor it there. Once it is anchored inside him as deeply as I can reach, I begin to pull.
I syphon him through my magic and into myself. I pull at everything he is, everything that he has ever been, and everything that he might have been. I drink in his shadows. I eat the very essence of him. I pull and pull until the person kneeling inside the shimmering circle isn’t recognizable as the mighty Shadow Master. As I pull, he screams, begs, and rages against me.
It doesn’t matter how hard he fights, I keep devouring him. His resistance is annoying at most.
“You don’t know what you are doing. If you kill me, you kill all the people of this realm. You are sucking the life out of thousands.” Alexander yells at me.
His words break through the haze of power that I was lost in. Like a string snapping, it breaks my concentration and I am back. I try to pull back, to unhook my magic. But it doesn’t work. My power keeps feeding off him, like a parasite.
I look around the room, looking for something to help break me free of its grip. But there is nothing here except the crones and Selene.
Selene has woken up and scooted her way across the room to huddle against the far wall. She is looking at me in horror. That is when I notice the black veins running up my arms just under my skin. They are pulsing in time with the power that I am absorbing.
Alexander gives one last scream, a blinding light flashes, and the ground buckles and shakes.
“This world is dying. You must release us now.” The crones stand and speak as one.
I scream as something tears through my back, near my shoulder blades. Bones snap and tear through my skin. It feels as if something is clawing its way free of my back.
“So, it begins.” The crones breathe as one, standing and holding hands now.
“Finish it!” They screech at me, holding out their hands in front of them and shooting black tangles of magic at me. The magic hits me in the chest, causing my body to buckle.
Through the haze of pain, I feel something click inside me. A waterfall of memories wash through my mind. The curse is broken. I can feel that now.
I can remember everything. I was once great. I was once loved. I have died, I have lived, I have sacrificed, and I have killed. I have been everything and nothing. I have been good. I have been evil. I have been balance.
I will be balance again. At the core of my soul, that is who I am. Neither dark or light, good or evil. I am both.
I fight my way through the pain, straightening my body, standing tall. I flex the
shimmering silver wings at my back, enjoying the comfort of their familiar weight.
I am Death’s mistress, his mate, his fate. I temper and empower him. I am his opposite and his mirror image. He is mine and I am his, as we have always been.
Until Hekate took him from me. Locked him away and then scattered me to the winds of time. Cursing me to live and love him, yet never able to have him. Building on the pain and rage inside my soul, so that one day she could remake me in her image. So that she could control the darkness that lives inside me.
No more.
I straighten fully and face the crones as they look on in triumph.
“Hello Sisters Three, Fate’s Mistresses.” I smile at them. “Are you ready to be set free of the bonds that hold you to this realm?”
“Oh yes, please!” They bow their heads, smiling. I snap my fingers and the world holds its breath. The bonds of old age fall away from their bodies. Their tired, withered skin sheds itself and left behind are three timeless beauties.
A gasp reminds me that we aren’t alone in the cottage. I look at Selene dispassionately. She is a low pawn in a game that has been going on forever. She means next to nothing. She is not blameless, she has wanted what was not hers to have. But she has paid for her sins.
“You are now free.” I smile as the spells and enchantments that were buried deep within her begin to fade. She reaches out her hand tentatively, as if afraid to touch something so far above her.
The look of awe on her is what makes me realize what I have become. What I am once more.
I am a Goddess.
I am the monster and the light.
I am wrath and vengeance.
I am justice.
I am Balance.
Chapter 23.
Ella.
I fold matter around myself and Selene, transporting us both back to my brother’s cabin. When we seemingly step out of thin air, everyone in the front room gasps in surprise and shock. Jessa falls off the chair that she was sitting in, gaping at me like a fish.
“What the ever-living hell happened to you, Ella?”
“I have remembered.” I tell her simply while looking at my mate. My Tristan. My Hades. My Death.
“Aren’t you going to greet me, husband?” My voice is beautifully full of my magic. It sounds like tinkling bells, rushing water, and me all at once.
“Damn it, Ells. You can’t keep doing this shit. You keep getting into stuff without me, then I have to play catch up!” Jessa continues to bitch.
Sebastian and the Light Bringers are now kneeling before me. They aren’t just doing it out of respect because I am the Celios. They are doing it because I am now a Goddess in my own right.
That is when I notice that I look different as well. My skin is shimmering with opalescence. My hair is still black, just longer and curling where it was once straight. The black veins are still visible within my arms. But now they look like tattoos, powerful glyphs staining my skin. My wings flare out from my back, sparkling silver.
“Get up.” I sigh at the still-kneeling people in the room.
Tristan starts to cross the room, walking slowly toward me. Taking in all of differences.
“You look just as you did when we were first married.” He whispers against my lips, his fingers combing through my hair. “How your mother raged, thinking I had taken you from her against your will.”
“As if I could ever resist you.” I chuckle into his smiling mouth. Everyone else in the room fading away as I feel him next to me.
“I am different now. I am still Ella, but I am more. I remember who I was, who I am. But...” I trail off and shrug.
“You are perfect.” He whispers into my hair.
“Selene!” Gavin finally looks up and notices his mate. They race toward each other and embrace, clinging tightly to one another.
“So, what now?” Jessa asks as I pull out of Tristan’s embrace. I smile at her and know that it isn’t a pretty smile. It is a smile full of rage, anger, and revenge.
“We kill the Darkness that preys on the ones that we love. We get revenge on those who have harmed us. We rescue those who belong to us.” I take a deep breath and commit to what must be done.
“We kill a Goddess.” I tell them all while clinging to Tristan’s hand.
.
Here is a peek at another series of mine. I hope that you enjoy it.
Magic Borne
Prologue.
Eight years earlier…
“Do we have to hurt the girl?” I hear someone whispering from outside my door. The house is always quiet this time of night. No one is supposed to be moving about. Uncle makes sure of that. Lights out and the doors locked tight.
“Yes, you sniveling idiot! We have to hurt her. We have to make it look like an accident. So that all the money that my selfish brother left the little bitch comes straight to where it belongs. To ME!” Someone tries to open my door. I can hear the knob jiggling from my bed. But I have grown smart over these last horrid months.
I have a secret that only my daddy knew. I am just like my momma. I can hear what people don’t want others to know. I can hear the voices in their heads. My uncle is an evil, bad man. The voices in his head tell him to hurt me. Every time he looks at me he smiles a pretty smile at me. But I can hear what he is thinking. None of it is good.
The lawyers say that I have to live with him for a long time before I can leave again. They told me that no one else wanted me. But I remember my grandmamma telling my uncle that she wanted to take me home. I love my grandmamma. She is my momma’s momma. But the mean lawyers told her no too. They must be very powerful because no one has ever told my grandmamma no.
I hear the strange sounding man and my uncle outside my door again. I pressed a chair under the doorknob like I once saw in a movie. They are having trouble getting in. If I listen really hard I can hear their inside voices. But it works better when I am close to someone. Or even better when I am touching them.
“Are you sure we have to kill her Mr. Armstrong, sir?” Someone is banging really hard against the door now. It is loud and it is scaring me. I wish Daddy was here. He would protect me. He always said he would protect his princess. But he can’t because he left me too.
“Shut up and just open the door. And be quiet about it. I don’t want her to wake up and start making a fuss.” I hear heavy breathing from them trying to break down my bedroom door. “Crazy little bitch probably already knows we are here. I heard her telling that bitch of a harpy that she can hear my thoughts. That I was a bad man.” I can hear my uncle laugh really weirdly.
“Can she really,” asks the man with my uncle.
“No, you damned idiot. She was lying so that she wouldn’t have to stay here. Well her stay has come to an end. It is time to dispose of loose ends and be done with it.”
They almost have my door open now. I want to scream for help but there is no one to help me. I hurry out of my bed and run to the window across the room and climb into the window seat there. If I can get outside maybe they won’t be able to get me. My legs are shaking because I am so scared. I feel like I am going to wet my pants. I am scared. I am supposed to be a big girl. But I can’t help it as tears start to fall from my eyes.
I reach the window and push the curtains aside. I can still hear my uncle and the other bad man outside my door. I have to hurry because I know the chair won’t hold the door closed for long. It has already moved a tiny bit. I can see some light from the hallway and the screeching sound of the chair being shoved across the floor. I unlock the latch on the window and push it out. There is no screen. We live in an old house without screens on the windows.
I climb out the window just as I hear the chair crash across the room with a big bang. It must have hit a wall or my wardrobe. I forgot how high my window was from the ground. I land on my knees and try not to scream. I hurt so very bad. My knees burn where they landed on the gravel that is under my window. I can hear the bad men in my room now. Soon they will know I am gone
and not asleep in my bed. Uncle will be even madder then.
I make myself get up and start to run through the dark yard toward the Gate House. It is very far away. Like a million and a half yards. The maid and her husband live there. Maybe they will protect me from my uncle and the bad man.
“You get back here right now, you crazy little bitch! I knew there was something wrong with you! If there wasn’t you wouldn’t have known we were there!” I hear my uncle crash out my window. The glass doors slam and break against the sides of the house. “Oh, stop crossing yourself and get the little fiend!”
“If she can hear our thoughts then she is either a prophet or the devil! You are on your own, mon ami!” That was the house keeper’s husband. Why would he want to hurt me too?
I run as fast as my legs will let me. But my feet won’t stop slipping on the wet grass and my legs are short! I can hear my uncle’s feet pounding after me as he runs. I can tell he is getting closer because the sounds of his steps are getting louder. I can’t let him get me or he is going to send me to meet my mommy and daddy in Hell. I don’t know what Hell is. But that is what he is saying to himself inside his head.
I was right when I told the mean lawyer man that my uncle was evil. He wants to kill me. I am crying so hard now that I can barely run. Why doesn’t he love me? Family is supposed to love you. Aren’t they? I slip and fall on the wet grass right in front of the gate house. I can see the lights from the windows. Maria is home! She can help me.
Just as the front door opens and Maria steps out I feel someone grab my hair really hard. They yank my head back. I can see my uncle’s ugly, mean face. He is pulling my hair really hard and whispering in my ear.
“Don’t say a word or I will kill her too. Do you understand me you little nothing?”
I try to nod without screaming out in pain but it is impossible. I just widen my eyes as tears fall from them. Maria looks at us like she wants to help me. But my uncle is telling her something in Spanish. That is the language she always talks to me in. But my uncle doesn’t know that.
