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THE FATE OF SISTERS

“C ome again?” I asked dangerously, making her sigh as she continued to close the distance between us.

“Woman, what have you been smoking? Ain’t no way Ella’s your sister,” Orth said disbelievingly,

“What my brother said,” I snapped.

“I second that,” Marcus said, making her shake her head in exasperation. Before turning to Koro and accusing,

“You didn’t tell him?”

“The HellBeast wishes to rip my head off and doesn’t trust a word I say, so what do you think, heart of mine?”

I rolled my eyes and completely ignored her.

“Good point.”

“Someone get fucking talking, and now!” I yelled, making her expel a held breath before telling me the fucking unbelievable.

“Ella is my sister, the reincarnated soul of Anástasi.”

That name… The second she said that name, my demon reacted, suddenly howling enough that it had me doubling over, gripping my head in pain. It roared, bellowing its agony in my mind!

“J!” Orth shouted, making me shake a hand at him to tell him I was alright. Fuck me, but why had that name caused my HellBeast so much fucking pain? I shook it off before standing, my head still ringing like I had just had ten shits kicked out of me by a Berserker.

“That name…” I whispered with distrust.

“Aná…”

“Don’t! Don’t say it again,” I quickly warned, snapping the first word before forcing myself to calm enough not yell at her. Because I didn’t know how my HellBeast would react again.

“She is my sister, that is who she is to me, before she became your Ella.”

“How… how is this fucking possible?” my brother asked, beating me to it.

“This isn’t a conversation I wanted to have with an audience,” she said, looking to my brother and Marcus.

“Tough shit, you’re having it… now answer him, how is this possible?” I replied sternly, making her sigh before her shoulders slumped.

“Very well, we are the daughters of Hades.”

Marcus whistled, chuckling disbelievingly. “Now that’s a doozy.”

“Yeah, right, pull the other tail, love,” Orth said, whilst I just stared at her like she had two heads, not one.

“She speaks the truth, HellBeast,” Koro stated, folding his arms across his chest.

“Oh yeah, ‘cause I’m gonna believe the bastard in league with my fake wife,” I stated, making him look down to Lerna as if to say, ‘I told you so’.

“Alright, ask yourself, why would I even be telling you this now? What would I have to gain?”

Well, she had a pretty good point there.

“I came to you because I knew my sister was your fated,” she added, making me shake my head at that.

“And how did you know who I was? Your sister and I had never even met each other,” I pointed out, because I knew there was no chance I would have ever forgotten Ella.

“Not you… your, HellBeast,” she stated, making me fist a hand to my chest as the beast in me whined again.

“So, you really expect me to believe that you’re the daughters of Hades, the God my HellBeast was born to serve, and I would have no knowledge of this?” I asked incredulously.

“And why would you? Barely anyone even knows of our existence, and are you really going to stand there and try to tell me that your HellBeast didn’t feel something for Ella the very first second you saw her?” Lerna exclaimed, as clearly, she wasn’t stupid like I thought. Because my HellBeast had wanted me to claim her from the start. Hence why my brother punched me on the arm and gave me an annoying as fuck, ‘see I told you so’ look.

“But why? Why would no one know of you both?” I asked, making her sigh in exasperation before telling me,

“Long story short, because we don’t exactly have time to waste here, but Hades fell in love with our mother, Leuce. She was a water Nymph and daughter of the Titans, Oceanus and Tethys. From their love for each other came the birth to twins, Ella and myself. But from fear from his wife’s wrath and what Persephone may try and do to us all if she found out, he hid us.”

“Hid you where?” I asked, even as I tried to wrap my head around it all.

“He hid us in the Elysian Fields, where he had a secret temple built for us. One that borders closest to the Underworld and where we remained even long after our mother passed.”

“Elysian Fields?” I uttered, knowing the place was separate from the Underworld, despite it being ruled by Hades. It was like a paradise for the heroes of men. Or so I had been told, as naturally, it wasn’t a place the likes of any HellBeast had been.

“It was the only place no one could cross to. It was our safe haven, one untouchable by outsiders. That was, until your HellBeast started to call out to Aná…”

“Again, we don’t need names here,” I said, pausing her again, as I didn’t fancy knowing what a fucking HellBeast heart attack felt like.

“She left the safety of our home in search of you,” she told me, making me suck in a quick breath.

“And she found him?” Orth asked, as my mental capacity to absorb any more shocking news was failing me.

“Yes, and for a while, it was fine. But then another discovered her.”

“Garmr,” I snarled his name, already knowing this.

“Yes, our uncle,” she confirmed.

“And what exactly makes him your uncle? As I gather you mean more than just some family friend that wants to fuck up your lives?” Marcus asked this time.

“Garmr is my mother’s half-brother,” she said, her face one of hatred even speaking of him.

“How? He is of Norse decent?”

“Garmr was fathered by Loki, this is true, but what you don’t know is that Loki disguised himself as Oceanus’s husband and tricked her into sleeping with her.”

“Sounds like they did a lot more than sleeping,” Marcus muttered, making Lerna frown before continuing.

“From this she birthed a child, Garmr, who was born a HellHound. So, she gave him over to Loki as a child and cast him from the Olympian line. After which he grew up and was given to Hel, the queen of the underworld that neighbors my father’s own realm. I don’t know exactly what happened after that, only that at some point he was cast from the realm of Niflheim as well.”

“And has been hellbent on bringing about Ragnarok ever since,” I added with a growl of words. Her bright blue eyes widened before she agreed.

“Yes, and he wants to use my sister to do it, to do what he failed to do all those years ago.”

“But what happened to you both? What happened to make Ella’s soul reincarnate?” I asked, as this was what I wanted to know more than all else.

“Garmr discovered the power she possessed, that of our father. So, he devised a plan and kidnapped her. Only when she wouldn’t do as he commanded her to do, he knew he needed leverage. So, he had me kidnapped also, so as he could force her to do terrible things, things she did for fear of what he would do to me.” I felt my whole-body tense at that, my demonic hands curling into fists.

“But you escaped?” Marcus assumed.

“Koro, who was acting as his second in command, he was the one to kidnap me but we… well we…”

“Fell in love,” Koro affirmed, reminding me of what he had told me, about the innocent soul he had been forced to kidnap. Well now I knew who that innocent soul was.

“Yes, we did,” she said, looking up at him with the same love in her eyes, a love I would have wanted to curse to damnation only moments ago. As for now… it seemed as if I wasn’t so sure of anything anymore.

“I got her out and, together, we planned a way to free her sister,” Koro told us, and I swear I felt like my heart was going to pound its way out of my fucking chest hearing this!

“But in order to achieve it, we first needed to ensure her guardian was ready for her, when the time came,” he told me, making me assume,

“Hence where I came in.”

“Yes, the plan was to befriend you and lure you to the caves where you were to cross over but you didn’t trust me the first time,” Lerna said, causing me to jerk back a little before asking,

“The first time?”

“Your memory of our meeting wasn’t the first time we met. We had your mind wiped of the memory and next time, we met under different circumstances.”

I held up my hand and stopped her.

“Yeah, yeah, I get it… what next?” Clearly, I had no desire whatsoever to take a trip down that backstabbing memory lane.

“We comprised a plan that would get you to become one with your HellBeast without fighting against it. But the only way to get you to accept each other was with rage. To get you to embrace your true self and your destiny, you needed to feel ferociousness that matched that of your HellBeast. One who was living in agony without his Fated.”

“Yes, well I would say you achieved that,” I said dryly.

“It had to be enough that he would recognize you, knowing you were also a tortured soul, and given my connection to Ella, it was strong enough to work. I had you believe we had been married and far longer than what we had.”

At this I tensed, my jaw hating the idea that I had been played and manipulated into this. But how could I lash out now? Especially knowing why they needed me to become who I was always preordained to become in the eyes of the Gods. I may not have been able to argue their reasons, but I could certainly argue another point, one that would have saved me three hundred years of grief and self-loathing!

“Why didn’t you find me after…? Why didn’t you tell me all of this? Why did you just let me believe…” I asked but she was quick to interrupt.

“Because I had been gone too long. I needed to get back to where Garmr couldn’t reach me, and Koro couldn’t be suspected, or his cover would have crumbled. He took an oath to the Bloodstone Covenant, and he couldn’t break it.”

“And what of Ella?” I gritted out.

“We freed her from Garmr’s control, but there was only one way to hide her,” she replied, looking pained.

“In the mortal realm as a human,” Marcus guessed, causing her to nod before adding,

“Yes, but we had a problem.”

“Which was?” I asked in a hard tone, but nothing could have prepared me for what was coming next.

“Only death would bring life,” she replied, her tone close to breaking. The reason for which soon came to light when I pressed for more.

“Meaning what exactly?”

I wanted to know and at this, tears formed in her eyes as she told me,

“I had to kill her.”