Royal Academy: Hellfire's Fury

Chapter 6

Annalise's POV

All eyes are on me, but mine are focused on Stefan's. His face is a mask of confusion and fear as the emotions swam in his gray eyes. Alexis is the only one who was unphased by my revelation because she was there with me during my trips to find out more about my parents and their lineage. When the link behind my mother's bloodline came to a dead end, Alexis and I decided that it was as far as our investigation needed to go. No other information came about during our search, and then I became pregnant with the twins. Being out in the field while heavily pregnant was a risk I took a little too far when Reed's daughter and her mate needed the help. But as a Hellhound, my genetic make-up made it impossible to ignore a supernatural call for aide.

Stefan understood that as the self-proclaimed guardian of the supernatural in this territory and pack, it was my duty to help them. When the twins were born, Alexis and I continued to go out in the field, assisting in smaller, yet attainable jobs of the supernatural sort. All the while, my main focus remained on my family and my pack at Crystal Lakes. Our friends and family at the Red Wolf Clan knew that we were a mere phone call away and with Luca and Eliza's daughter Gigi taking on the throne of the Lycan Royal Court, our expanse of shared territory grew, and with it, my group of people to serve.

"This whole Cerberus bloodline thing. It's the first I'm hearing of it," Stefan finally spoke up as he kneeled beside me and took my slightly shaking hands in his. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because Alexis and I didn't find anything else. It was a very old manuscript that the PI had in his records. There was nothing else. No leads, no trails to follow. Just a script of old runes and hieroglyphics."

"Well, there is more to it than just that script, trust me," Dimitri says.

"Honestly, I still don't" Luca says as Killian nods beside him.

"I literally just helped her see more about her dreams about her mother's death. Mondel was there! We thought him dead!" Dimitri rasped as he ran a hand through his tousled hair.

"Look, even if you somehow gave Anna some clarity there, it shows that he killed her mother. Anna was still young. He wouldn't know if she inherited the bloodline then." Stefan wrapped an arm around my shoulder and helped me to my feet.

"There was something about that fire that confused me though," I said as a small wave of discomfort pulled at the back of my head.

"What do you mean?" Luca asks.

"It was like, I don't know. I felt like the fire was....."

"Feeding off you?" Dimitri chimed in.

Everyone looked toward him as he stared at me solemnly. "That's because it was. The fire report said the fire spread from one main source. The room at the far end of the hall at the back of the house. The explosion was from the gas line in the kitchen, but the blaze started from that room." Dimitri intoned softly.

"The back room? Oh my God! My bedroom?!" I gasped as I felt my feet go slack beneath me. Stefan's arm tightened around me as he pulled me in closer to him and I inhaled his calming scent.

"I find it very convenient that you have all this information and Anna and Alexis weren't able to find anything of it during their search," Killian says with a low baritone that spoke for the suspicion in his unwavering gaze.

"That is because the Circle would have sent people to wipe all traces of the incident that were speculative, out of sight," Dimitri explains. "If they were looking to get Cora back in their grasps, they would make sure that nothing could trace anyone back to them."

"There's something that has me wondering though," Alexis says, facing Dimitri.

"Go ahead. I am here to help in any way I can," he replies.

"If the line of Cerberus was meant to be one that was indestructible, why kill Anna's mother? Why not do what needed to be done to capture her? Mondel had his reasons for hunting her down. Killing her threw all that reason out the window."

Dimitri's gaze suddenly became strained as he fiddled with his coat and his gaze wandered the room.

"My wife asked you something, mage. I'm already holding back a lot here to not let my beast rip your heart out and feed it to rogues in the dark forest." Killian warned, his eyes beginning to glow as the veins in his neck and arms began to bulge.

"That is exactly why Alexis and I were trying to figure it out as well," I said to the room in general. "If this bloodline is so precious, why did my mother die that night? She was supposed to be the last in the line, so she was supposed to be pretty hard to kill. And how did that fire start in my room? My abilities didn't completely develop until I turned 10, when my dad..." As the words left my lips, I felt like a lead weight was resting on my chest and I took deep breaths to try and ease the growing tension.

Dimitri took a deep breath and then nodded intently. "The ability of pyrokinesis is different in each genetic make. In your case, Cerberus' bloodline is directly linked to the analogy of the number six, which is the number of the beast. Therefore, at the age of six, the first stage of the ability springs forth. If I am correct, you were that age when the incident happened?"

I nodded silently as Dimitri continued. Once a new generation of any bloodline in active, the Circle has their own servant Dakini. A demoness who is able to track the bloodline once she has a linked blood source. The orphanage would have been the one to have Cora's blood samples."

Movement in the corridor has everyone looking to see Eliza silently walking in to stand beside Luca. "The kids are asleep."

Dimitri nods and continues. "Your children are of the age for the first stage of their abilities to show. The fact that they have glowing birthmarks, however, proves my point that they are indeed in danger. From a glance, the marks look like sketchy wolves, but when they glowed, the image became less distorted. Your children have the mark of Cerberus himself. Only one other pair of twins had those markings. One of them died in childbirth and the other was abandoned by her parents because they were afraid of her and what she would become. Your mother, Cora."

"My mother is half a twin?" I try my best to process this new information as I felt the tension in the room grow a bit more.

"That isn't all. You were right to ask about your mother being easily killed beyond the fact that she was supposed to be a very strong female Hellhound. The last of her kind before you, of course." Dimitri hesitated for a mere second before his gaze clashed with mine, his had clenched at his sides. "Mondel's intention would never have been to kill her. If he was indeed the one who went after her that night, then I can say with the utmost surety, that he did not kill her. There is a chance that your mother could still be alive."