Losing The Light Of The Moon

Dancing With The Devil

Chapter Six: Dancing With The Devil

AMELIA

Standing on the edge of the rocky cliff that led down to a vast blue sea below, my salt and pepper hair blowing in the wind, I stared at the rippling waters trying to calm the storm raging in my mind as the sun set against the now orange sky. I had waited many years to continue my quest to destroy Jace, thus finally completing my long journey to avenge my mother’s death. I even went as far as allowing everyone to believe the Crescent Moons had taken my life as part of my plan. 

I had been wronged in this life in the worst possible way—my closest confidant, the only person who truly loved me—my mother had been killed by Jace’s father, Julien. Mother had raised me on her own, working with rogues as needed to support us. As I grew, she trained me in our craft, eventually integrating me in what became ‘our’ work. That fateful day, however, we both had jobs to do…and Mother chose the wrong one. 

She had gone with a group of rogues to a small village in the Crescent Moon region to help them kidnap the leader’s daughter that they planned to hold for ransom. Unbeknownst to my mother, however, Alpha Aldric had been warned of their plan by an unknown witch who was apparently a close ally to him and had a vision of their planned attack. A trap was set—and they blindly walked right into it. As she and the other rogues tried to defend themselves from Aldric’s army, my mother killed one of the Crescent Moon warriors and in turn, Julien’s wolf charged forward and killed her, ripping her head off before her lifeless body fell to the ground. 

I had been waiting for her at home when I received the news—instantly crumbling under the weight of overwhelming devastation at the realization that without my mother, I was left with nothing and no one. Hatred flowed heavily through my veins, filling every pore and fiber of my being. Soon, the hatred started pounding inside me with every beat of my heart, hardening every inch of it along the way.

That day, my purpose in life became clear. I needed to avenge my mother and that included not only Julien, but his son, Jace. Their lives needed to be destroyed, then removed from existence, just like my life was destroyed when my mother was removed from my existence. 

Just as I began plotting my revenge against Julien, it seemed fate agreed that my mother and I had been severely wronged. Almost like it was working side by side with me to create the perfect plan, a she-wolf from the Crescent Moon pack, Callisto, showed up on my doorstep asking me to help her obtain the love of Jace’s father and like I had done to Jace years later, fool him into thinking she was his mate. 

It was obvious Callisto was unaware that Julien took the life of my mother, but as she stood before me, I received a vision that changed everything. A vision that revealed Julien’s impending death in a fire—another design by fate that brought much delight to me—a vision that enabled me to clearly see what needed to be done as far as his son. 

In order to fulfill my desire for Jace to suffer the same heartbreaking destruction of unfathomable loss, I gave Callisto her greatest wish. But with the help of a few of my well-paid fellow misguided witches, I added my own little caveat. I made everyone, including Julien and Jace, believe that she was his biological mother instead of Julien’s true mate, who apparently died in childbirth according to the weak lovestruck woman. In her desperation, Callisto didn’t care about that part of my plan. Her only desire was for Julien to be her mate. For me, making him not only forget his true mate, but live out his life in a lie with a woman who deviously tricked him for seven unlucky years satisfied the destruction part of my punishment where he was concerned.  Of course, I left Callisto unaware of Julien’s pending demise.

Just as I hoped, Callisto reactively blamed Jace for her loss, torturing him viciously with her tirades before casting him out of their home, eventually shunning everyone as her anger turned to immense guilt over her betrayal of all of them. Over the years, it took its toll on her, eventually ending her life as she took her secret with her to the grave with another little caveat I added to the spell. 

I was pleased my plan worked, hardening Jace’s heart during those years, but thanks to Nicholas, his mother, and all his friends, Jace seemed to recover slightly, which provoked me to step in once more to make him believe I was his mate. But I underestimated Nicholas’ intelligence and foresight that day—he saw through me immediately, which is why I was forced into exile to wait until fate opened another door—Roman’s death.

Following the day Nicholas and Beast forced me off the edge of a cliff much like this one not far from where I resided deep in the forest in secret now, I considered contacting Roman again, but as I had felt used and betrayed by him in the past, I decided against it. As it turned out, that was something that proved to be wise on my part, as I soon saw the vision of his inevitable demise. Granted, it took much longer than I anticipated, but fortunately, I was a very patient witch…

However, the day of Roman’s demise also delivered something unexpected—memories about the extremely powerful Mystic Fire pack. I was stunned to learn of Roman’s involvement in that battle, apparently working with Miranda, a witch I had been acquaintances with back in the day. To make things more shocking, it turned out that the secretive and anonymous heroes known as the Rogue Eight were in fact the daughters of the Mystic Fire’s inner-circle—she-wolves!

At first, I was overjoyed with the knowledge that fate had assisted me in my revenge—not only was Jace robbed of the memory of their existence, but he had been forced apart from his beloved childhood friends for fourteen years.  

My joy was short-lived, however, as they were all happy and together again and Jace had unjustly been gifted his destined mate by the Moon Goddess—a member of the self-righteous Rogue Eight, no less—a beautiful blonde she-wolf by the name of Constance.  Someone I had no doubt brought Jace great joy, which meant she was someone who went against everything Jace deserved after what his father had done to my mother.

As all the pieces fit back together after Raven and her Firebird Phoenix restored everyone’s memories, however, the timing of what happened after the Mystic Fire battle felt so odd to me.   The way everything fell into place perfectly with Callisto and Julien. It had given me such hope at the time with regards to Jace, but then it seems he received a slight reprieve from fate.  But now, the time had come to complete what I had started fourteen years ago. 

After Roman’s Blood Horizon empire fell, somehow, some of his higher ranking and experienced warriors, including the Beta he had outcast, skillfully escaped The Council’s clutches—and fell right into my hands.  At first, I was elated. But unfortunately, it soon became clear that our alliance was not going to be easy. Intense distrust of me thanks to Raven and Loa’s actions against them and the arrogance of Kristoff, Luscious, and Arturo made my relationship with them and the rogue army they had gathered rather contentious. 

The one thing we all could agree on?  We needed one another even with the unfortunate distrust and discord between us or all the plans against our common enemy would unravel quickly.  I knew deep inside, however, I had to be both cunning and smart, treading carefully and protecting myself in this little alliance of mine. Though right now, following Kristoff’s news about the newest Crescent Moon additions, I was struggling to maintain my fury, which meant they all needed to tread carefully…

“So, have you finally calmed down, witchy-woman?” Kristoff harshly called out to me, “Or do you plan to set your house on fire next?”

“I would not advise calling me that right now, Kristoff,” I coolly replied, “You may end up very much like the crisp black daisies lining the pathway.”

Standing next to me now, Kristoff angrily countered back, “So, the rumors are true—Nicholas and The Council have obtained the services of additional witches. And yes, apparently, Nicholas and The Council are not allowing the lower ranks to know much information about them, which means we know nothing about them. Believe me, Amelia, that doesn’t settle well with any of us.”

“I can’t see them in my visions,” I murmured under my breath, “I should be able to see them.”

Kristoff heavily exhaled out, “Regardless of who they are, that makes it five against one in the witch department. We all know Raven is the strongest and needs to be avoided at all costs in these plans of ours. But this is getting more complicated by the day, witchy—sorry, I mean, Amelia.”

“I realize that Kristoff,” I irritatingly returned, hating that he was right, but knowing I had to do something to bring a renewed confidence to everyone in order to keep them focused on our mission, “Perhaps we should dip our toes in the water, so to speak.”

His dark eyebrows slowly lifting, Kristoff curiously asked, “How so?”

“I still feel that our strike against the Crescent Moons has to be done while Raven is regenerating her powers giving us greater odds for success,” I thought out loud, “But, perhaps we can start with the little test run you, Luscious, and Arturo desired a few days ago.”

A satisfied grin crossed Kristoff’s face as he smugly agreed, “Fine. We will get the men ready.”

“Good,” I sneered, “Now leave me, please. I need time to think.”

After Kristoff stormed off, I looked back out onto the water trying to conjure up a vision of the three new complications in our plan against the Crescent Moons and The Council.  I was still getting nothing in return, a fact that angered me to my core. At least the three impatient Blood Horizons and their small army would be appeased while I continued my attempts for more information. 

I needed to be sure what I was dealing with—no matter who had been brought in to assist the Crescent Moons, nothing was going to stop me from finally handing Jace total destruction in his life before joining his father in his inevitable death.

*********

KRISTOFF

Slamming the door as I re-entered the house, I quickly made my way up the stairs to Arturo’s room, excitedly pounding on the door until he finally opened it up.  As expected—although I didn’t care—his expression was angry as Arturo stood before me shirtless in a pair of black nylon shorts. 

“What, Kristoff?” he barked at me, “I thought we had an agreement! No interruptions after dinner!”

Pushing my way into the room, I glared at the Arturo’s pretty little toy, Jillian, who was sitting up, holding the bedsheet up to her chin to cover her young quivering naked body, “Today’s your lucky day, Jillian! Get back to the kitchen!”

“Don’t you dare move, Jillian,” Arturo spat out in a deadly tone, his hardened blue eyes remaining on me as I watched the girl’s light blue gaze fill with fear as they moved slowly between us.

“I’ve just talked with Amelia and Luscious is on his way,” I harshly told him, “So satisfying your insatiable hunger and distracting yourself from the painful loss of Nora will have to wait for now.  Send the poor little orphan back to the kitchen to help with clean-up, Arturo.”

His jaw locking hard, Arturo finally looked over at the girl, “Do as he says, but be back here in an hour, understand?”

Without saying a word, Jillian quickly nodded then reached down to grab her clothes that had been discarded onto the floor, scurrying under the sheets to redress before running from the room barefoot, clutching her shoes to her chest. 

“She listens quite well,” I mused as she shut the door behind her, “I suppose as she is only eighteen and incredibly naïve, she is easy for you to overpower and control.”

“Jillian is none of your concern,” Arturo angrily replied, “You still have your mate, remember? How I deal with the loss of mine is my business.”

Just then, Luscious entered the room, a humored grin on his round face, “Looks like Kristoff has disturbed both our after-dinner plans this evening.”  Looking over at me, he continued, “So, we are moving forward with our test run?”

“We are,” I grinned before continuing in frustration, “If nothing else, perhaps the arrival of the three witches has opened Amelia’s eyes to the fact that we need to expedite our plans before Nicholas and his allies have a chance to incorporate them fully into this integrated army of his. Although, it still leaves me concerned about Amelia’s use to us. Dealing with Loa and Raven was going to be hard enough, but now there are five witches and she seems pretty on edge about it.”

“If it gets to be too much for her,” Lucious snickered, “We’ll just send her into to the wolves!”

“Look, we have all doubted her use since we arrived,” Arturo exasperated out, “But let’s face it, Amelia has kept all of us hidden, sheltered, and fed. I still don’t fully trust her, but she has at least given us time to prepare the men for what is to come. We are not the vast army we once were, which means our task is all that more difficult. We need the witch if we want to succeed.”

“Oh, I agree with you on that,” I deviously chuckled, “But I also agree with Luscious—if it comes down to it, we use our little witchy-woman as bait!”

*************

JILLIAN

As soon as I reached the kitchen, I hurriedly pulled my shoes on and grabbed a dry towel to help dry the dishes. The plate I picked up steadily shook in my hand as I attempted to dry it with my other shaking hand.  Within seconds, Mrs. Dottie carefully retrieved the plate, tenderly urging me, “Go sit down, Jillie. Catch your breath for a moment.”

I did as she asked, sitting down in a chair directly behind her, my eyes shamefully never leaving the ground below as I nervously clasped my fingers into a giant fist. Mrs. Dottie and I were chosen by Kristoff to clean and run the kitchen at the main house, cooking for everyone in makeshift camp and making sure he and the others were taken care of in Amelia’s home.

I take it you were fortunate enough for Arturo to be unexpectedly called away this evening?  Mrs. Dottie’s question filtered in my mind.

I have to go back up in an hour, I answered back, Kristoff barged in.

I see, Mrs. Dottie reluctantly replied, I’m sorry, Jillie.

Taking in a deep breath, I stood back up, my hand a bit steadier as I picked up another dish, quietly assuring the kind woman, I know what you promised my mother, but you can’t protect me from them. It’s not your fault Arturo picked me. You did everything you could, including trying to hide me in here.

What he has taken from you— Mrs. Dottie brokenly started.

Doesn’t matter, I steadfastly interrupted, I’m his as far as anyone else around here is concerned. Even if a mate were to magically appear, they wouldn’t dare admit it, especially to him! They would end up dead, which is what I’m trying not to end up! Although I would probably be better off.

Don’t you dare think or say that! Mrs. Dottie harshly returned, I am still holding out hope that he finds some other she-wolf to satisfy him.

Me too, I downheartedly replied, Or better yet, finding a way to get into that bag of his to find a bean to help me magically disappear!