The Lion And I

Content Warning: This story contains violence, language, adult content, grooming, implications of emotional, verbal and physical abuse, and s****l trauma. Reader discretion is advised. Ulysses I stared down at the ultrasound monitor, watching as the long, thin needle pierced into Raina's womb. Slowly, the needle pierced the skin of one of the twins she carried, injecting a small amount of blood into her body. This was a desperate attempt to save my family. To save my daughters... No. I couldn't think of them like that. While these twins were my daughters, no one knew. This had to be my secret. Michael, Raina's mate, was my twin. We were identical. Raina hadn't known she was copulating with me when I impregnated her with these wonderful babies. While I knew what I had done was terrible and vile, it had to be done. If not, my family would have been faced with embarrassment and defamation. Our rights, our councilorships would have been stripped. Our name would have been run through the mud. We would be no better than the lowlife demons we Erickson's hunted. Our ancestors had worked too hard to get us here for us to fall because of some stupid, silly little misunderstanding. Well, not really misunderstanding. I had broken the most sacred immortal law in order to keep my brother Michael from perishing. I had used my powers to make Raina believe she was true mates with Michael, instead of her real true mate Victor. I had stolen her away from Victor. And I would have gotten away with it too had it not been for one maid who was in the wrong place and the wrong time. She had seen everything. Had witnessed me weaving my powers and changing Raina's reality and had gone to Victor after it was too late to remedy the situation. Michael and Raina were mated for life now. Victor, the damn vampire, had me by the balls. Not only had he demanded I give him Raina's first born as recompense, he demanded the baby carry the infamous controller gene. The same gene that made us so powerful. The same gene that had helped us rise to such power. Unfortunately, I knew Michael did not carry the controller gene in his DNA. So it was up to me to do the deed and make sure Raina's first born carried it. When she conceived, we learned she carried twins. Victor had asked for the more powerful of the two twins, and so Celeste had been silently marked, by myself, to be the chosen one. As much as I may have wanted to leave it all at that, I couldn't. Before children had ever been on our radar, Michael and I had discussed our options in regards to how to get around our family's curse. A curse that was cast on us by a vampire witch after one of our ancestors, Eleanor, had killed the vampire witch's demon mate. She cursed Eleanor's descendants, saying all of them would find true mates with the one race they despised most: demons. Therefore, leading Eleanor's line to ruin. So far, the curse had held true. It had claimed many lives within our family tree, because choosing a demon mate meant death for both individuals involved. Demons were accursed creatures who couldn't love due to their blackened souls. They were evil and vile beings who loved creating death, destruction and chaos. The Erickson's were one of the few immortals who knew how to fight and kill demons and had been utilized on many occasions to cleanse the earth of the creatures. Michael and I, before we ever had children, came up with a plan to find ways around the curse using the advances in technology. Using an amniocentesis process, we could inject the blood of pre-chosen immortals into our children, therefore making a very strong bond before birth. When Raina announced her pregnancy, Michael and I immediately started searching for the right mates for my--no--his twins. We met with a lot of possible candidates, and only a handful agreed to the project. It was an illegal process, but the payout of having a female Erickson with the controller gene as a mate, was well worth the risks involved. The Erickson's were indeed the most powerful immortals around and were revered almost as royalty. While I didn't want to do anything to Celeste, seeing as she was destined to become Victor's, I had to play along. I had to pretend nothing was wrong, or else it would tip off Michael that something was wrong. And I didn't need him snooping around and uncovering everything I was trying to keep buried. If he knew the immoral lengths I took to keep us alive, and free from the family curse, he would kill me with his bare hands. Not that I didn't deserve it. "It's done." The mid-wife announced. Done. Celeste was now bonded to Masuka by blood and would forever be connected to him. In the back of my mind, I had this feeling I had just sentenced Masuka Ivanov to death. He would remain connected to Celeste, even after she was pronounced dead and handed off to Victor. If I wasn't careful, he could bring all of my sins down on my head. I would have to plant it in the young wolf's mind that he wasn't really connecting with Celeste. That he was connecting with her ghost. Eventually, the bond would become weak enough that he should be able to ignore her constant presence. If not, he would eventually be driven mad and put to death. Even with this harrowing possibility looming, at least I would have Constance. At least her bond with Nikolai would be successful. At least she would be able to carry on the Erickson name. Four Years Later... Celeste I didn't understand. Why did he think I was dead? I was alive. Why did he think I was a ghost!? I was no ghost! Why wasn't he helping me!? I wanted out of this little hole in the ground! These four concrete walls were a prison. They were not my salvation as Victor had told me. I did not believe him when he told me that my family did not want me. I did not believe him when he told me my sister hated me. I could feel her, reach her through our twin's bond. She loved me. She missed me. I could feel her true feelings and what I felt wasn't a lie, even if Victor told me otherwise. He was trying to tell me that what Constance was doing was manipulative. She was just toying with me and my emotions. It was a cruel joke to her and to the rest of them. They all hated me. That's why they sold me to Victor. They despised me because I was weak. I wasn't worth the Erickson name. But then why was Constance trying to find me? It didn't make any sense! But most of all, why wasn't Masuka trying to help too!? He was my pre-chosen mate. He was the one I was supposed to share a mate's bond with when we got older. We were destined to be together, at least that's what I had understood in the depths of his mind. But why wasn't he believing me!? When I told him I was alive, he shoved me away, saying I was dead. That I was just a ghost haunting him. I screamed in the darkness of the room when shards pierced the inside of my skull. Masuka was fighting back, hurting me. I didn't understand. What did I do to deserve this? All I wanted was to be seen, to be heard. To be loved. Victor hated me. Masuka hated me. And I was told Constance hated me too. It was so lonely here. And even though Masuka was hurting me mentally, I craved the contact. Because at least I wasn't alone... Twenty Years Later ... Obsidian Sputtering and coughing from the dust I had inhaled, I turned around, my frantic gaze searching for her. For Celeste. She had gone after Constance's sword, instead of just leaving that stupid piece of metal to its fate as the cave collapsed. I'd been too far away to get to her, but Uriel had been there. As if in slow motion, I watched him lunge for her as the boulders fell from the roof of the cave. I hadn't seen them teleport. I hadn't seen them escape... "Celeste!" I screamed, the panic rising in my chest. I couldn't lose her either! I kept searching, but her familiar face was nowhere to be seen. We had already lost so many today. There was no way I could survive her death. "Celeste!" my voice roared as other wounded, terrified soldiers of the demon guard ambled around as if in a trance. All of them were shocked. All of them paralyzed by what we had witnessed here today. As if moving through molasses, some of them turned towards my voice, but most of them remained lost in their own grief and sorrows while the weight of the world crushed down on them. As I was about to shout her name again, I heard her. "Obsidian!" she called back, her voice sounding distant. I heard her coughing as well. I swung around and caught a glimpse of her through the mass of bodies. I was instantly in motion, sprinting for her. From what I could see as I wove through the crowd, she was unharmed. Massive tears stained her cheeks, her eyes hollow and filled with insurmountable pain. The kind of pain one can only feel when they watch someone they love die. The kind of pain one can only understand when someone loses a piece of themselves. I broke through the crowd and came to a stand still just feet away from her, unable to bring myself to embrace her just yet. Maybe it was due to the look in her eyes? Relief flooded me when I saw she was unharmed. But, that relief was short-lived. Celeste looked so lost. So torn. So defeated. She was dressed in the dark enchanted leather armor I’d made specifically for her. The armor could protect her from most non-lethal wounds and deflect many small spells cast her way. Everyone, including her, knew she wasn’t the best at combat. However, she had been bound and determined to be ready to fight. Which was why I had spent an insurmountable amount of time negotiating for this particular piece of armor for her. In my opinion, it had all been worth it because she was unharmed. There were no scratches on that illustrious skin of hers nor were there any visible signs of damage. The sword her sister had given her was strapped to her back, the knives Uriel had gifted her attached randomly across her hips and midriff. Her blond hair, once plaited in two short French braids, now hung loose and wild around her shoulders and face. Her beautiful hazel eyes welled with tears that shattered my heart. In her hands she gripped her sister’s large archangel sword as if it were a lifeline. As if, somehow, it could bring her sister back if she held on tight enough to this last piece of her. Behind her, Uriel loomed protectively, but in his gaze I saw the tormented sadness as the events and losses of today hit home. I knew he was blaming himself for not being able to reach her in time. Hell! I was certain we were all blaming ourselves for her death. None of us could have known or ever prepared for losing her like this. Constance. The fabled Phoenix. Her story—just like my mate Celeste’s—was tragic. Constance and Celeste were twins. While still in their mother’s womb, they had been genetically enhanced to form mated bonds with pre-chosen werewolves. Wolves whom Ulysses Erickson—their supposed uncle—picked out specifically for them. He had hoped in genetically forcing a mated bond between these wolves and the twins, he would be able to break the curse which had been cast upon his family generations before by a demon witch. A curse which made all Erickson descendants find their true mates with the forbidden and hated demons. Unfortunately, things didn’t go the way Ulysses wanted them to. A past transgression with a fellow councilor reared its ugly head and, in a last-ditch effort to save his hide from being prosecuted by the Immortal Council and ruining the good Erickson name, he sold one of the twins at their birth to the councilor who had a beef with him. That twin being Celeste. The councilor in question was the villainous Victor, a terribly vicious and selfish vampire who, in the long scheme of things, tried mass murdering a specific race of immortals known as half-breeds. Half-breeds were most commonly a being produced when a mortal and immortal mated. However, there were rare cases of hybrid immortals; those who were a mix between different races: vampires, werewolves, demons, fairies; the list went on. In order to hide his despicable actions at the twin's birth, Ulysses paid off the mid-wife who delivered the twins to declare Celeste dead. Therefore, Constance and her family would never have any reason to search for Celeste or believe she was still alive. But, Ulysses hadn’t taken into account the strange bond twins shared. Constance always knew—despite her family’s continued insistence—that Celeste was alive. She never gave up the search for her sister, even when she was just a child herself, Unfortunately, the search and ultimate rescue of Celeste was put on hold when Constance met her true-fated mate: Gabriel Kingly. Both had been young, but their bond was as true and pure as any mates' bond could be. To Ulysses’s demise, Gabriel was a demon half-breed. Despite his efforts to help his daughters escape the curse cast on the Erickson’s, it continued to persist. When Ulysses pressed Constance to renounce her claim on Gabriel and take Nikolai--the wolf she had been pre-bonded to--she refused. To understand the aversion to demons, one has to go back in time. Immortals declared demons to be these soulless, evil beings who were dangerous and conniving. They were thought to have been loveless beings, incapable of having any viable relationships because of their lack of a soul. Many millennia ago, the Immortal Councils and archangels declared demons—and all immortals who had any demonic blood running through their veins—incapable of forming true mated bonds due to an experiment they tested. However, that was far from the truth. At least for those demons who were half-breeds. The rules and laws which had been put into place by the experiment to outlaw the practice of mating with any demon, full-blooded or not, had also denied demons the basic rights of life. For the longest time, us demons were hunted and killed for sport. In spite of all of this, demon half breeds founded their own little haven deep beneath the earth’s surface and created their own communities where we were safely out of the reach of the councils. I was, and still am, the lord ruling over the entire demon stronghold and its people. While myself and my people had all been peacefully minding our own business, Constance came crashing into the picture. She came in like a hurricane and turned the entire immortal world upside down--including ours--as she fought for her right to claim her demon mate, Gabriel. It had taken a long time for everything to play out, seeing as Constance and Gabriel had been placed under a curse to keep them separated from each other since childhood. In casting the curse, Ulysses hoped Constance would come to her senses as she got older, and would renounce Gabriel as her true mate when maturity set in. If she had renounced him, the Erickson name would have remained intact and untainted. However, she hadn’t renounced him. Instead, she chose to fight for her right to love Gabriel. She chose to fight against the laws and immortals who knew the truth about demon half-breeds being able to truly love because they possessed a soul. While she was fighting for her right to love Gabriel, it was made abundantly clear her sister was alive and well. The problem being: Victor was bound and determined to kill every last Erickson using Celeste as well as use her to forward an agenda to break the immortal councils and annihilate all half-breeds. Victor had fed Celeste lies and had abused her in order to gain what he wanted. When he started his immoral campaign, he had Celeste start the killing spree with her sister, Constance. Constance was tipped off to this plan due to an inside source and that’s when I met her. The crazy Erickson decided it was a good idea to go to the very beings her family not only detested but were renowned for killing, to ask for help. She found the fabled demon stronghold—the very stronghold which no other immortal had found—and came to me, the demon lord, with a proposition. She needed help splitting her soul so she could be reborn after her sister killed her. In return, Constance promised to do everything in her power to see the demon laws overturned and my people were given the freedom and rights they deserved. Throughout her journey, Constance had given up everything she held near and dear as she fought for the rights of my people and battled against a corrupted Immortal Council. She had given up her unborn children to Celeste when their souls switched bodies; she had gambled with her mate’s life; she lost a beloved cousin; and was almost sent to purgatory when the archangels determined she was too powerful after she was promised her freedom. She had been the one to sacrifice and gamble everything she had—including her very soul—in order to save an entire immortal race from being wiped out by Victor. She had been everything I could ever hope to aspire to be and more. She had been fearless. She had been a warrior. But most of all, she was loving and caring. As Constance had continued along her journey, she was declared the Phoenix of the Imperium Guard—a small group of individuals who were pre-determined by fate to save the world against a common mortal enemy. An enemy that could bring about the apocalypse and destruction of the entire world, if not the universe. We had been fighting Cerberus and Balthazar, the Phoenix’s enemies, when she fell. “She’s gone.” Celeste’s voice pulled me out of my reverie. Her voice was so small, so filled with grief it broke my heart just hearing it. “I know,” I whispered back gruffly, my throat fairly feeling as if it were on fire. I’d inhaled so much smoke and dirt, I was surprised I wasn’t having more difficulty breathing. I reached out to her, but she took a step back shaking her head. “I-I could have saved her,” she continued on desperately, sobs wracking her body. I knew this was untrue, but she continued on before I could say anything. “But I froze. And now… the world has no chance against Cerberus.” Cerberus was the mortal enemy Constance and her Imperium Guard were supposed to protect the world from. But now, that was nearly an impossible feat. I didn’t want to be morbid, but I wasn’t sure if there was a way to come back from such a devastating turn of events. “Celeste. This isn’t your fault.” I stated seriously, my gaze holding hers. “I was right there, Obsidian!” She nearly yelled. She stomped her foot and threw her arms about in agitation. “I saw Balthazar! I saw him raise his sword. Hell! I saw him as he moved to hurl that wicked blade at her! I could have at least warned her! But… But I didn’t.” The fight drained right out of her. Sighing, I pulled her into my embrace. I needed to hold her, touch her. With Constance gone, the future seemed so bleak and uncertain. I just needed to hold her in my arms to ground me as everything else around us swirled into chaos. Soon, I would have to step up and lead my people through the roughest transition we would ever have to face as we prepared for the end. But right now, I just needed her. “You know she wouldn’t blame you, Celeste.” I breathed against her hair. She felt so small in my arms, so frail as her body shook from the adrenaline and tears. “What am I going to tell Sebastian and Lilliana?” She wailed into my chest, not seeming to hear me. She clung onto me for dear life. Sebastian and Lilliana were Constance’s and Gabriel’s children, children Celeste herself had helped carry and birth. “We don’t have to worry about that right now, bunty,” I soothed, trying to calm her down. Before I could say anything else, a desperate yell rent the air. “Obsidian!” Raphael called out from somewhere to my right. Raphael—my second in command—sounded as if he were still fighting the enemy. Had Balthazar and his army followed us out of the caverns? Was he trying to strike the final blow? My heart sank, because I knew if that were the case, we would be decimated. I was tempted to send Celeste away, to ask Uriel to hide her away in the fairy kingdom, but I knew that wouldn’t go over well. If I survived whoever Raphael was fighting, she would inevitably skin me alive. As I raced towards Raphael, I could feel Celeste and Uriel following close behind me. They were readying themselves for a fight. However, as I pushed through the crowd surrounding my second in command, and the creature he was fighting, my heart sank. “No.” Celeste gasped as she appeared beside me, pure devastation and agony lacing her tone. “No! Obsidian you can’t!” She fairly begged, her cries ripping deep gashes into my chest as her hands latched onto my forearm, nails digging into skin. As if she could somehow hold me back from doing what was necessary. “I can’t lose him too!” My emotionless gaze lifted to Uriel who nodded in silent understanding. He gently wrapped his arms securely around Celeste, making sure she couldn’t escape and place herself in harms way as I dealt with the problem at hand. “Obsidian!” She screamed, her cries nearly debilitating as she struggled against Uriel. “Don’t do this! I beg of you!” I turned my gaze back to the scene before me and watched as Raphael fought against Constance’s mate, Gabriel. It wasn’t uncommon for someone to turn evil when their fated mate was killed. Gabriel’s short curly black hair was wet and dripping with sweat and blood. His horns were both jaggedly broken. One of his giant black wings was broken, possibly from the failed attempts to restrain him. His once stunning blue-brown eyes were now completely black, including the whites of his eyes since he had lost himself to the darkness. Several cuts and bruises marred his skin. His clothes and armor were ripped in several places. Truthfully, I was surprised he wasn’t using his powers to destroy everything and everyone around him in his pain-filled grief. Then again, he had to have used every last ounce of his power to try to save Constance. Unfortunately, he was no longer lucid. No longer able to tell friend from foe. His wicked blade was stained with blood and showered specks of red onto Raphael every time their swords clashed. Merging my mind with Raphael’s, we came up with a plan. “Obsidian!” Celeste’s infuriated and fearful shrieks sounded distant. “If you do this, if you kill him, I will never forgive you!” I took a deep, calming breath knowing this wasn’t true. She was hurting. She had watched as a blade impaled her sister mid air. She had seen the boulders as they’d crushed every last ounce of hope. And now, she would have to witness one last death… Raphael and I moved swiftly. The killing blow was quick. Raphael moved in such a fashion to grab Gabriel’s sword-wielding wrist. The very instant Gabriel’s sword was immobilized, I slid my blade home straight through his heart. The demon came to a grinding halt, his shocked gaze holding mine. For one moment, I thought I saw recognition in his gaze as he stared me down. His head leaned forward and my forehead pressed against his in a final goodbye. The bitter taste of dealing an unwanted death stained my tongue and I couldn’t force the prayer I should have said past my lips. I stubbornly held Gabriel’s gaze, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes as I watched the life slowly fade from him. “I’m sorry, brother,” I whispered to him, my voice thick with tears, wishing there had been some other way this all could have ended. But it was all too late. As Raphael and I slowly lowered Gabriel to the ground, I noticed a bright blue light shining from Celeste’s general direction. My gaze instantly shifted to her, my heart immediately in my throat as I saw the bright blue light engulfing my mate. Uriel had been forced to let her go as her form was lifted into the air. Her shrill screams echoed across the land as the very energy was sucked from the air and concentrated within her very body. I noticed she was still gripping Constance’s archangel’s sword and I had to wonder if it was killing her or claiming her. From the sounds of it, I was afraid it was the former. What was happening? Where was that damn archangel, Ickarous!? He would know what was going on. He would know what to do to stop this. I desperately looked for some way to help her, some way to get to her without being killed myself or consumed by the intensely dangerous power engulfing her. How had we found ourselves here? As I fell to my knees defeatedly, I prayed the outcome of whatever was happening to my mate wouldn’t take her life. As the air and power rushed past me, I couldn’t help but wonder if, perhaps, I had the ability to turn back the clock, would I be able to find out where we all had gone so terribly wrong?