Page 17

17

WHEN BLOOD IS SPILLED

ELLA

S aying goodbye to Jared was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. Because this wasn’t like it had been when jumping into the portal to save him. This wasn’t one of those split second decisions I had been forced to make.

This was planned.

It was the uncertainty. It was the unsure promise we made to each other. The way we gripped on to each other tighter, just for those few precious moments longer. It was the last bittersweet kiss goodbye, not knowing if we would ever get another. It was the last words of love uttered between the two of us.

It was the heartbreak we both had no choice but to endure.

“I will come for you, I swear this,” he had told me fervently, making me nod in his arms because I couldn’t stop my tears from falling. My hand held onto his as long as I could before I had no choice to let go as I was ushered to leave. The pain in our faces was easy to see by all as Koro told me gently,

“It’s time.”

So, I had let myself be led away, knowing I was doing the right thing, no matter how hard it was to leave him. And he knew it too. Because without his beast there to fight, the battle would have been near impossible to win.

Which brought us to now, as Koro led me and my sister to somewhere he knew would be safe and far from the battle, because the moment that Koro was seen fighting for the other side, then his cover would be blown. I had even asked him whether it looked odd with him not there to fight for Garmr. But he assured me that he had been sent on a mission to try and find my sister. This so as Garmr could once again use her to get me to do whatever he wanted me to. To use her as a tool to manipulate me. Because of course, he had been the one to hunt her down in the first place, assuring Garmr that he could do it again.

As for who else joined us on our journey, they agreed Asher and Koro’s sorceress, Sorina, would be enough.

As for Tyr, Jared convinced him that his skills at fighting would be needed in battle, something he was happy to hear, because well… he was the God of War after all. Which basically meant he was born for fighting.

The fight began not long after we left, and my worry only grew the second I caught sight of the army making their way towards the town. One I could see more clearly the further up the valley we travelled. It was like a shadow had fallen on the land and was floating across it as the thousands of HellHounds all ran as one.

As for us, we made for a mountain pass, leading us up toward a forest area, where Koro told us of a network of caves that we could hide in until the battle was over.

“I am sure he will be victorious,” Lerna said to me, putting her arm round me and making me lean into her. This was the first time we had spoken since our argument, one that seemed pointless now with what we currently faced.

I nodded in her hold, dreading the moment the trees swallowed us up and I lost sight of the town completely. Like my last connection to Jared would be severed. It was as if my body was just going through the motions as I left my heart behind.

So, with the forest only steps away, I looked back down to the valley below one last time, my panic taking hold the moment I saw the two sides finally collide. The sight of Cerberus being bigger than anything else on the battlefield at least gave me the hope and encouragement I needed to continue. To know that I had done the right thing. Because now he could fight without having to worry about me being there with him. He would have no distractions to do what he was born to do, and from the realm that powered his beast.

To protect. To guard. To fight.

“Come, for we have much ground to cover,” Koro said, making Lerna take my hand and pull me softly, gently forcing me to leave the sight behind. So, with tears in my eyes, I said,

“Soon, my HellBeast.”

They were the same words I had told him before leaving, along with making him promise to be safe. His answer being,

“Only if you do the same, my love.”

Of course, we said the words but neither of us knew the future. With one glance at Marcus and I knew the same could even be said for him, his face had been a mask of worry. Not a usual sight, which gave everyone cause to be anxious because it was clear he had no clue, for once, what the future held.

So, as we left the sight of the battle behind, stepping into the forest, the echoing sound of the fight also became ever more distant. Until soon, there was no trace of what we left behind at all.

“I am sorry about our fight,” Lerna said after long moments of silence, no doubt trying to keep my mind off the uncertainty I had.

I squeezed her hand and told her,

“I know, and I’m sorry for blaming you for not telling me. I understand now how hard it would have been.”

“That’s no excuse as I should have explained… it’s just… I wanted you to trust me, and you were so angry with me when you first appeared through the portal that I… I was afraid you would hate me,” she admitted, making me stop long enough to pull her in for a hug, one we both needed.

I then looked up to find Koro watching us, before nodding at me in what looked like appreciation. It was obvious he cared deeply for her, and it was like I had told Jared, I was glad that she had found a love of her own.

Because if seeing all those visions of the past had taught me anything, it was that Lerna also deserved to fly free. She deserved to live and love and see the world she didn’t know. She had lived in fear too long and what became obvious now, was lifetimes waiting for the chance to be with the man she loved. Something I knew would only come once the threat was over and Garmr was finally dead.

Something I could definitely relate with, because I knew that until Garmr was stopped once and for all, then Jared and I could never truly start our lives together. Ever since the beginning, it had been one thing after another. A constant threat looming over our heads. Making me wonder what life would finally be like once it was over. For starters…

We would have a baby.

“How are you feeling?” Lerna asked me, obviously knowing where my mind was at because I was subconsciously rubbing my belly.

“I’m okay, a little queasy every now and then but then I think it helped having Jared’s blood.”

“What did he think? Was he happy when you told him?” she asked, making me wince.

“You mean you didn’t tell him!” she exclaimed, making me shush her.

“Tell him what?” Koro asked as we had caught up with the three of them. Something that made us both say at the same time,

“Nothing.”

“Nothing.”

To which Koro smirked, then he walked away muttering lightheartedly,

“Twins.”

We both looked at one another and chuckled. Because I kept forgetting that not only did I have a sister, but a twin at that. Yet, I guess it was easy to forget, seeing as we were polar opposites, and not just in how we looked. Even her outfit was a pale grey to my jet black. Her hair near-white blonde to my flaming red. It would have been like looking at a good twin and a bad twin, and well, I guess I was the one who got us in to all this trouble to begin with.

And all for the love of a HellBeast.

Not that she blamed me, I knew this even without her saying it, which she had many times already. But it did make me wonder about Fate and whether everything that had happened so far was according to their plan. Or were we just making this shit up as we went along?

I didn’t know anymore.

“Oww!” I yelled, as I wasn’t looking where I was going and therefore got a nasty scratch on my hand from a thorn bush. I looked down to see the red line along the outside of my fingers, now dripping with blood and falling on the forest floor.

“What happened?!” Lerna asked, stopping me to have a look.

“It’s just a scratch,” I told her, making her sigh in relief, however the second she looked down and saw it on the floor, the next statement she made had me on edge.

“They keep finding you.”

I frowned in question. “Lerna?”

“How do they keep finding you?” She looked up at me and her face made dread start to coil in my belly.

“I… I… don’t know,” I admitted slowly.

“What is it?” Koro asked, coming back to us once he noticed we had stopped, my bleeding hand now held in her own.

“At the village of Ananke, did you bleed? Or in the camp we just left?” I shook my head, telling her no, but then a memory hit me.

“My shoes… they…”

“What, Ella, tell me?” she pressed, her voice strained and slightly panicked.

“My feet, they were in a bad way from walking so long. I started to bleed, and I guess, it could have soaked through to my shoes,” I told her, making her eyes grow wide.

“We have to go… Now!” she said desperately, her worried gaze going to Koro.

“But wait, I was scratched by one of the guards, in the woods just before you ran. Tyr saved me from him, but not before the demon scratched my skin,” I said, hoping this was ground enough to ease the worry she had.

“And the blood, did any of it fall to the ground?” she asked, making me tense before answering truthfully.

“I don’t know.”

“Think!” she shouted as alarm gripped her.

“It was on my shoulder, so I don’t think so,” I told her, this time making Koro’s features harden before he agreed with my sister.

“We need to run. Sorina, burn the blood.” The sorceress ran over to us, her long braided white hair swaying behind her.

Her demonic eyes began to glow as her white irises homed in on the blood. The strange red skin on her forehead looked darker under the canopy of the trees and became a stark contrast to the pale white on the other half of her face. A pair of crimson horns coiled around the sides of her head and the symbols that looked etched into her skin also started to glow. Doing so the moment she clicked her fingers, causing the place I had spilled my blood on the dry leaves to ignite in flames. Now burning it to ash in seconds before it was out again.

My hand was then taken by Koro, who used his bindings to snake out from under his sleeve and wipe the rest of the blood away. I would have flinched at the sight of them moving like they were alive, but it happened so fast, I didn’t have time to react. Besides, now was not the time to freak out.

No, we now had much bigger problems to deal with. Because I knew why trouble followed me wherever I went. Which meant, I was the cause of the battle happening now.

Garmr had followed my blood.

The spell he had put on me was still in place.

Meaning when a portal started to open up from behind us, I knew that I had, once again, led them straight to us! Which meant that I had no time to react other than to push Lerna away from me. Her scream of horror was too late to save me as she fell into Koro’s arms, at the same time I was grabbed from behind.

Because I couldn’t let them take her too.

So, I let myself fall backward into the weight of the person who held me, Lerna’s face the last thing I saw before…

My world went black.