The Goddess's Chosen

Happy Endings

 We all showered and ate and then rested, we wanted to talk, but we were all so exhausted from expending so much energy and magic to drive the darkness away. We still had two beds in each room and my mother slept in my room and his mother slept in his. My mother and I had slept in the same bed because we stayed up talking. I told her everything that had happened since my ascension, and she told me what happened to her as well. Apparently, the hunters had used an enchanted smoke bomb that contained some of the blood that they used to make the cuffs and bracelets with, causing them to not be able to use their powers. Lucius had personally killed the rest of the witches in our coven in front of her, then took her away in enchanted chains, she said that she learned that the dark witches were only dark because of him. He used his powers to entice them, and draw them in, then kept them prisoner in their own minds. He took her to a facility in the desert, where she saw that he had Selene prisoner. She told me that their reunion only made their will to live stronger, that they would get out and put an end to his evil deeds. But they were moved because a certain someone caused quite a commotion at the camp they were detained at and were transported out right before an awful storm broke out. I smiled and she nudged my shoulder, letting me know that she knew, even then, that it was me. She said that they took her to the caves, and she had been there ever since. They fed them once a day and gave them dirty water to drink, said they could live, but not pleasantly, as the water made them sick. Once Rachelle and Kheelan saved them, they allowed Kheelan to remove the chains, and do some minor healing but they wanted to find us, and they did. We ended up curling together and falling asleep, and for the first time in, I wasn’t even sure how long it had been now, I slept peacefully. My mother, Selene, and Áine, all made us a wide array of breakfast foods and coffee. We went and woke everyone up and we all reconvened in mine and Gabe’s apartment. After we ate, me, Rachelle, Clara and Ava all cleaned up, and we met up with everyone else outside. When we got out there, we saw that Hecate, Alpha Jonas and Luna Constance, King Artowynn and Barwen, and the witches we had rescued were all in the back yard, standing in a circle. We joined them, and noticed that in the middle was Lucius, chained and in a cage, like the monster he was. Hecate and Áine were standing in the middle of the circle, and both smiled gently at the four of us as we joined them. “Lucius Damien Whitlock, leader of the Hunter’s clan, what do you have to say about the charges against you?” Hecates voice rang out, her accent even thicker than before, I could tell her full power was back, and she was going to let him know it. As she spoke, he sat in his cage, shaking like a dog. “Answer her, mongrel!” Áine said, her Irish accent just as thick as Hecate’s Greek one. “I don’t...not guilty...” he mumbled. He looked tired and beaten down, but I had no sympathy for him. He had to pay for his crimes. I looked around and saw Gabe standing beside his mother, looking anywhere but at his father. Him, I had sympathy for. “Rowena, tell us, exactly what did Lucius do to you.” Hecate said, and a young woman with dark hair and dark eyes, with fair skin walked forward, nearly shaking with fear. “He came to my coven, offered us immortality and in return, we had to help him.” She said with an Irish accent, nearly as strong as Áine’s. “And what happened when you agreed?” Áine asked. The woman stumbled on her words, “he summoned black smoke, and it went into our mouths and into our bodies. After that we had no control over anything we did. We could see what happened, but we could not control our actions. He did, with the smoke.” she said, tears streaming down her face. Hecate waved her hand, signaling the young woman to go back to where she was before. “Alpha Jonas, if you wouldn’t mind, could you bring forth the wolves that were rescued from the caves?” Hecate requested, and Alpha Jonas obliged. He led three wolves to the center of the circle to face their captor. They looked healthier, but still a little underweight from being starved for Goddess knows how long. The taller of the three looked angrily at Lucius, and the other two stayed behind the larger one. “It’s ok, he cannot hurt you anymore.” Luna Constance told them, walking beside her husband. They all seemed to relax, and I assumed it was because of the calming effect a Luna has on her pack. “”it appears we have another visitor.” Hecate smiled, and suddenly the back yard got dark enough to be midnight, and there was a bright light, and a slender woman appeared with two pure white wolves on either side of her. She was tall and thin, with fair skin and pitch-black hair. She wore a silver dress and had intricate stars tattooed on her arms, with a crescent moon in the middle of her chest. “Selene, it is good to see you, sister.” Hecate and Áine walked forward to greet the newcomer. “Selene, as in, the moon goddess of werewolves.” Clara said excitedly, then looked around to spot Camden. I followed her gaze and noticed that all Lycans had their heads bowed in respect of their Goddess. “Sisters, it has been much too long.” Selene said with a heavy Greek accent, similar to Hecates, and walked to the other two goddesses and returned their greetings. Then she turned to Lucius. She looked at him with such contempt and hatred, and her wolves lowered themselves into a crouching attack position and snarled and bared their teeth. Lucius was trembling like a leaf on a windy day, and he looked like he was about to cry or throw up or both. “You beat, starved, and tortured my children.” She said, her voice losing the cheery velvety tone that it had previously held and holding nothing but loathing and contempt for the man before her. She walked closer to him, and her wolves followed, he backed away as far as he could. “Look at me, you whimpering coward of a man.” She ordered and his eyes shot to her face immediately. She was a force to be reckoned with, and I noticed that her once dark eyes were glowing red, and her canines had sharpened and lengthened a bit, making her appear more feral. “Who do you think you are to commit such atrocities?” She scolded him, making him cower even more. I looked around, and Gabe was gripping his mother's hand as tight as he could, trying not to look affected by the scene unfolding in front of us, but I knew better. I knew him better. My eyes wandered over to Hecate and I caught her looking back at me, and she gave me a sympathetic smile, she could tell I was worried about Gabe. Even though this man was a monster, living like he was above all, he was still Gabe’s father, and Gabe still cared for him, even if he didn’t want to. Looking back at Selene, she was now an inch from his face, and her wolves were right there with her. He was crying now, really blubbering like a baby. “You are pathetic, and if it were up to me, I would have my children here rip you to shreds for what you’ve done, but alas,” she stood up and raised her hands, motioning to everyone in the circle. “We all want your head, and it wouldn’t be fair for my children to have all of the fun.” she said, using her foot and kicking him to the ground, before turning around and returning to the other goddesses. “What did this man do to you?” Selene spoke to the taller of the wolves that was still in the middle, his head still bowed in respect. Without raising his head, he spoke, “He chained me and my brothers to the wall, he starved us, and when we ate, it was vegetarian mush, and bowls of water. His hunters made us get on all fours in human form and eat it like the dogs we were, they said. They would laugh and kick us over when we tried to eat. They starved us. Humiliated us. Ripped out our canines. WE WERE WARRIORS DAMMIT!!!” he shouted the last part. His eyes red with tears running down his face. He lifted his head and showed us all where they had ripped his canines out. I heard Clara gasp beside me. “They can never be warriors again...” she whispered with a shaky voice. I turned to her, and she was crying. I pulled her in for a hug and felt the tears running down my face as well. “They tried to get us to accept the darkness, they wanted warriors on their side, and this was our punishment for rejecting him.” one of the shorter men said. Selene was practically seething in anger, partially transforming because of it. Lucius just sat in the middle, crying. I was getting angrier and angrier, and I could feel the storm building inside of me. This man was the true monster. He used the darkness, corrupted and murdered witches, tortured wolves, and probably the fae and the elves. Thunder cracked and lightning pierced the skies. The wind started howling and the ground began to shake. I tried reigning in my emotions, but I was in so much grief that I wasn’t sure that I could. Everyone was looking around wildly, except for my mother and Hecate. They were looking at me, worry was evident on their faces. The storm was growing stronger, fighting to be let out. I fell to my knees and screamed and as I did, lightning struck around the circle. Clara turned to me, and Gabe ran to me, then my mother, then Hecate. There was a chorus of calm down sweetheart, and take a breath, my daughter, and Cas, it’s ok, we’re here, but I could barely hear them. The wind picked up and it began raining heavily. “Cassandra now is not the time to fall apart. He will be held accountable; we will all have justice for all we’ve lost.” Hecate’s soothing words washed over me, calming the storm a bit. I was crying now, and the more I cried the more it rained, but the wind and lightning had dissipated, and the ground had stopped shaking. “Hey, we’re here, Cas, we’re here.” I could tell that it was Gabe talking to me now, he was holding my hands and I could feel his warm breath on my face. It was calming. I leaned into him and let him hold me while I tried to regain my senses. “She will be fine. She was not able to gain proper control of her gifts, but for now, she will be fine.” Hecate said, and I could hear my mother let out a sigh of relief. “I am so sorry baby girl; I am so sorry.” My mom was now kneeling beside me, wrapping me into a group hug between her and Gabe. “We have seen enough. King Artowynn, would you agree?” Áine spoke and King Artowynn nodding his head in agreeance. “I do.” he said. “Then we shall pass our judgment.” Áine said. She, Hecate and Selene closed their eyes and held hands. They must have been communicating or something because when they opened their eyes, they all spoke at once. “Lucius Damien Whitlock, for crimes committed against our children, we sentence you to a quick death. We are not the animals you claimed us to be. We are not you. We will not torture, starve or humiliate you. It will be painful, and it will be quick.” They said in unison, their voices together rang out with power and strength. “NO NO NO, I BEG OF YOU.” Lucius screamed, but his screams fell on deaf ears. The three goddesses released their hands and Selene walked over to Lucius, grabbing his chains and forcing him to stand up. “I get to take care of you after all.” She said, her voice back to normal. “WAIT!” Gabe yelled out and ran up to his father. “You sicken me, you ruined so many lives, while you lived for thousands of years, feeding off the darkness. I know you never cared, but now I see you for the man you really are. You’re a coward. A slimy disgrace of a human. I pray that you suffer.” he said and punched his father right in the gut and stepped back. “You wish shall be me command.” Selene  said with a devilish grin on her face, then she stepped back and she and her wolves disappeared into the light.  

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After Selene had taken Lucius away, we all went back inside to talk and figure out where to go from here. I was happy to have my mom back, but she needed to get back to our village and try to rebuild everything. Selene would stay and help us build up the sanctuary, but then she would return to Maine and help my mother, as they had grown very close during their ordeal. Clara wanted to stay with Camden, so they were going back to Prince Edward Island with Alpha Jonas and Luna Constance. Rachelle and Kheelan were going back to the Fae realm with Áine. Ava and Varwen would go back to California would go back to California with King Artowynn and Barwen. That left me and Gabe. We wanted to be with our mothers, but Alpha Jonas offered us a diplomatic relationship. We could stay in Nova Scotia at the sanctuary and run it like our own coven, and Áine offered to set up permanent portals here and in my old village in Maine, so that we could visit any time we wanted. We accepted. The hard parts were over and now I could relax knowing that everything was going to be ok. My friends and I had our familiars, and we could always keep in touch that way, especially Rachelle who was going to be in a completely different realm than us. This was the best possible outcome and we had made it.  

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Eight months had passed since we all went our separate ways. Selene had helped us set up the sanctuary to be a small and thriving town. We even renamed it to ‘Nova Luna, ‘ meaning new moon. We took in witches that had been tainted by the darkness and we were rehabilitating them, as some of them had been alive for centuries, living under the influence of the darkness. We gave them apartments and got them used to living in this time and even helped them train and hone their powers. I was particularly lucky because Hecate took it upon herself to train me and Gabe with our powers since we never had the chance to properly train, and now she stops by once a month and checks on the witches in our care. I couldn’t be happier, especially because Gabe proposed to me in the most amazing way. It was after a training session with Hecate, and she had told us that we were doing very well and asked if either of us had wanted to try anything special, I had said no because I was exhausted, but Gabe said yes. Hecate smiled, and looking back now, I swear she had known what he was about to do. He created a lightning storm, and it was gorgeous. The way his lightning lit up the clear night sky and illuminated everything around us in a blue glow. While I was watching the display, in awe, he had gotten down on one knee and waited until I turned around. When I did, I saw him there, holding up the most beautiful ring I had ever seen. It was dainty and simple, but it was perfect. The band was an intricate braided silver, the stones were shaped like the three moons, the outer two moons were white diamond, and the center moon was onyx. He had said “I knew from the moment I saw you in that parking lot that we were meant to be together, and I know that you had things to do before we could be together, and I waited, falling more and more in love with you each day. You are fierce and strong and beautiful, and I want to be by your side for the rest of my life. Cassandra Thea Green, High priestess of the Nova Luna coven, will you please do me the honor of being my partner, my lover, my wife?” He asked, the lightning still flashing behind me, and I started crying. All I could was shout “YES!” He stood up, smiling and I jumped into his arms and kissed the most amazing and patient man I had ever had the pleasure of knowing.  

THE END...