Nearly Witches

Chapter Seven

One day, she knew that she would stop being surprised that when she was answered, and animals helped her; even if it meant putting their lives at risk for species that she didn’t think they cared about; or maybe they were happy to get into a fight.

That made more sense to her.

More so when she thought about nature in a ‘the weak die, but the strong survive’ kind of way; she could be wrong but that was her theory and she was sticking to it until something showed her otherwise.

As they got closer and closer to the site, her headache started to get worse and meant that Alysanne was in the right area. She had a high tolerance for pain; only migraines could stop her in terms of headaches. Looking at the cliff that looked like good spot on the map, but Alysanne could see that it would leave her wide in the open and a good target for bullets.

The cry of animals and humans pulled her from her thoughts, she would have to take shoots from the trees and while she wanted to be on the ground, she knew that she would useless and get in everyone’s way.

‘We’ll be on the ground,’ Nymeria reminded her, Alysanne nodded her head as they slowly went into a good spot.

‘Keep them safe,’ Alysanne told them as she spotted children hiding in cars, tires were slashed and she only grinned as she hid behind a tree. Nymeria and Ghost looked at her before jumping into the fray and took down a man.

Taking out one of her arrows before shooting the nearest person in the neck, before shooting another person. If the letter was correct, there would be a bus arriving with four more human traffickers and would add to the ten people who were already there.

Did she think this would stop this group? No, she wasn’t that naïve, and she knew that they would continue doing this, even if she took down fourteen of their man and lose them thousands of dollars in profit. If one person got out, they would come for her and that was the reason she would make sure none of these men made it out alive.

Alysanne took a deep breath as she looked at the scene in front of her, shooting an arrow at a man that tried to shoot a child to shut them up. A few of them were dead before she arrived, one of them looked like a bird had gotten to him.

‘How many are left?’ Alysanne asked Ghost and Nymeria.

‘Don’t know,’ Nymeria replied.

‘Less than five,’ Ghost guessed.

Alysanne blinked when a bullet went through her leg, blood going down her leg. Another bullet gazing her check as she put her hand on her leg, it missed her bone and major veins. But if she left it alone could cause her death or could cause some trouble with her Irish dance lessons.

Quickly tying a bandage around the wound, she quickly shoot a man that was aiming his gun at her and killed him before he could kill her. Alysanne blinked when her wound started to close, and she quickly went to picking them off.

Alysanne narrowed her eyes as a bus rolled in, moving towards the edge of the forest and out an arrow through the tires. The blood on check was slowing down, she was glad that it was merely a gaze, even if she didn’t know what happened to the wound on her leg.

‘I’ll take care of the bus,’ Alysanne told her small army, shooting the first to walk out, spotting a woman putting her hands over her head; all of them looked like they had eaten or bathed in days or weeks.

At least Alysanne knew that she wouldn’t be killing any innocents; or any victims of a horrid crime that many of them had thought would never think they’d be part of.

Once all of them were dead, the animals left and Alysanne walked out to make sure the children and woman were okay. Barely looking at the bodies on the ground, but the children were looking at her with large eyes; woman pulling them closer to their sides.

Shadow hounds walking out of the forest, none of them looked at her but she kept a grip on her bow and taking an arrow out of her quiver. Nymeria and Ghost moving to her sides, Nymeria eyeing the blood on her leg.

“It would seem that you read my message, Artemis,” Mors told her as he walked into the clearing, eyeing the children and two women walked behind him. Alysanne keeping an eye on the three of them, she feared that they would kill her.

“And have finished the scum off,” one of them stated.

“Artemis the protector of maiden and small children,” Mors told her, another male walking into the clearing and Alysanne felt like her heart was going to beat itself out of her chest. “The Goddess of the wild and childbirth.”

Alysanne kept an eye on the people, she was down to her last arrow and there wasn’t a chance in hell she would ask anyone to collect them for her. Not after she had watched him snap a hawk’s neck and dropping it without blinking and he had thrown her off a building.

It would be a waste of time trying to tell him that she wasn’t Artemis and that it was merely a nickname that was given to her. Ghost and Nymeria kept an eye on them, in case someone tried to throw her off something.

‘He won’t touch you,’ Nymeria told her.

‘Not while we’re here,’ Ghost added.

‘I don’t he’s going to,’ Alysanne told them.

‘Better safe than sorry,’ Nymeria told her.

“Can’t have a Goddess of Archery without any arrows,” one of the women said as she held up a lamp, a lamp that glowed a dark purple. Alysanne had a feeling that she was being ignored, but she thought she was seeing things.

Mors had wings behind him, along with the man and one of the women. The woman without wings was holding her arrows in her hands, and Alysanne watched as they turned silver in her hands.

“Hecate will return them to you,” Mors told her, Alysanne slowly walking backwards as she kept her eyes on them. “Mnemosyne and Hypnos will make sure everyone is taken care of.”

Alysanne narrowed her eyes before shooting her last arrow at Mors; which was stopped when Hecate held up her hand.

“Hypnos will put them to sleep, he has a gentle touch,” Hecate told her; dark violet eyes looking at her as she removed her hood. “Even in this life, he has kept his gentle touch. Mnemosyne will make sure none of them this remember this event.”

“We mean them no harm,” Mnemosyne told her.

“Then how will they get home?” Alysanne asked them as she dropped her bow. “Or are you going to let the FBI think they’re illegal immigrants?”

Alysanne wanted to attack them but had to cover her eyes as Hypnos held his hands, still, she could have sworn she could see wings behind them. Before she fall onto the ground, someone put an arm around her torso before her vision went black.

--

When Alysanne opened her eyes, she was lying in her backyard and her hair had been pulled out of its bun and she could only tell that because she could feel her hair on her neck. Nymeria and Ghost were asleep next to her; Nymeria on her left and Ghost on her right.

“He knows,” Alysanne said as Nymeria opened her eyes. Pushing herself and she looked at the white material covering her legs. Putting her hand to her leg, it didn’t look like she had been shot and putting her hand to her check, only to find it was the same.

The blood had been washed off and her wounds had been healed.

‘Asshole,’ Nymeria told her.

‘All of them are,’ Ghost said.

“That they are,” Alysanne told them. “And Mors isn’t the only one; we might have enough people thinking their part of the premortal or titan generations; maybe even the Olympians and their children.”

‘Hecate, Mnemosyne and Hypnos,’ Nymeria said.

“The Goddess of Magic, Goddess of Memory and God of Sleep,” Alysanne said, that was two generations of Greek Gods. “One of them changed my clothing and healed my bullet wounds for some reason.”

One thing Alysanne was sure that many would agree with; was that they didn’t need Zeus popping up again; that guy could never keep it in his toga and half the myths they knew was about one bastard child or another.

Heck, Helen of Troy had been a bastard daughter of Zeus and she had been the reason Troy had fallen. Not just Zeus, Poseidon’s children could be just as bad as his and the only one she could think of was Theseus; who kidnapped Helen when she was only a child.

Not just them; Apollo and Hermes weren’t any better. Heck, Alysanne was sure that Aphrodite was just as bad as they were, and she wasn’t slut-shaming a Goddess; not one as vein as Aphrodite and had people killed for not wanting to have a relationship with anyone.

They could have as much s*x as they wanted, as long as both parties agreed to it. While not pretending to be that person’s partner; Zeus. That man had issues, but it didn’t help that his father had shallowed his other children whole.

It was just Greek Mythology was rape-y.  

That was the myth that Alysanne believed anyway, along with other people. Through she thought it was interesting that there was a version of Aphrodite that had been more military forced and battle ready; along with being a love and beauty.

Alysanne found it interesting that it was only Sparta that worshipped that version of Aphrodite; it wasn’t surprising. Trying to push herself onto her feet, she blinked as her version went dark around the edge and she sat back down. She didn’t want to faint because she had tried to walk, she also felt everything she had eaten for the last was going to re-join the world.

‘Alysanne?’ Nymeria asked as Alysanne placed her hands to her head, it felt like her iron or sugar level was low or she had just donated a third of her blood supply; forcing her blood pressure to quickly drop.

Maybe even the aftermath of one of her massive panic attacks.

“I don’t feel so hot,” Alysanne told them. “Just a bit faint, I need to lay down and put my feet up; drink something and eat something salty.”

‘Captain Justice and Tribe are coming,’ Katniss told her, Alysanne looking at the squirrel as she twitched her tail.

‘Nymeria, Ghost go instead,’ Alysanne told them as she took her hands away from their sides, lying back down as she put her arm over her eyes. ‘Captain Justice and Tribe are coming; they’ll notice you two. Please, go to my room and stay out of sight.’

‘Stay safe,’ Nymeria told her.

‘We’ll keep an eye out,’ Ghost added, before both darted back into the house without looking back, leaving Alysanne lying on the ground in her Greek styled dress and shoes. Forcing herself to sit, she glared at Mors walked out of the forest and looked at her.

“You changed my clothing,” Alysanne hissed at him.

“Hecate did, it was left in your room,” Mors told her, putting his arms behind his back and Alysanne kept an eye on the two hellhounds behind him. “Your things have been placed into your room, Artemis; dear girl, you won’t be able to hide from them forever; the titans will try to have their revenge.”

Before Alysanne could ask him what he meant, water went around her and Captain Justice landed next to her, putting her hand on her shoulders as Alysanne’s vision went dark again and she glared at Mors.

“The old gods will return,” Mors told them before disappearing into the shadows; leaving Alysanne in Captain Justice’s arms. Tribe standing in front of them and he let his arms done once Mors had left, before turning around and putting his hand on her forehead.

“Are you okay?” Tribe asked her.

“Just a bit faint,” Alysanne replied, Captain Justice putting her hands underneath her knees and Alysanne putting an arm behind her neck, as an arm went behind her shoulder blades picking her up from the ground, her head resting on Captain Justice’s shoulder. “What happened?”

“We need to lay her down, we need a chair and then we can move her to the couch,” Tribe told Captain Justice. “She’ll need to drink and eat something; we might have to hang around for a while to make sure she’s okay.”

Captain Justice didn’t say anything, just followed Tribe into the backdoor and Alysanne spied her keys sitting on the bench. It looked like she had gone to her own backyard for one reason or another, why would she need to take her keys with her? Or even lock the backdoor?

“I’ll get a pillow,” Tribe told Captain Justice before disappearing into the living room, before returning with a pillow in his hand. “Lay her down, I’ll put a pillow under her head.”

“Okay,” Captain Justice told him, laying her down on the floor, allowing Tribe to put a pillow under her head. Alysanne putting her feet onto a kitchen chair, as she placed her hand back over eyes to block out the kitchen light.

“Do you have any juice? Gatorade?” Tribe asked her.

“Yes,” Alysanne answered; orange juice was one of the only ways she would even think about touching an orange. “Orange juice, on the bottom shelf in the fridge, Gatorade is on the top, can’t miss either.”

“This will help with your blood sugar and electrolyte’s,” Tribe told her putting his hand on her shoulder and helping her drink. It, before helping her back down. “Your blood pressure is low, and you’ve gone as white as a ghost.”  

“I’m afraid that’s just the Irish blood,” Alysanne joked, there was a story that one of her ancestors had married one of the shipwrecked Spanish girl in the sixteenth century. “Makes it heard to tell if your pale because your sick, or if you’re just pale.”

“You’ll need to take it easy for the next day,” Tribe told her.

“Thank you,” Alysanne told them; she would be down for a while, but at least they wouldn’t be hovering over her in the morning. Tribe putting his hand back on her forehead, her skin was cooling, and she felt less sick then she did five seconds ago. “I’ll be fine, I have a friend coming over tomorrow.”

It was a lie, but they didn’t need to know that. Alysanne didn’t want to keep them in her kitchen, not when they needed to get some sleep as well and get ready for their own day. She didn’t think Mors would be coming back, nor was it like she could tell him about the others without giving herself away and she didn’t trust them.

Nor did she know if she could trust them.

It was embarrassing enough that she was lying on the kitchen floor, without them knowing that she was the Huntress or Artemis. Thankfully, Nymeria and Ghost were still upstairs, and she was sure they would help her once they had left.

She knew they would be needed elsewhere.

“We’ll move you to the living room before we leave,” Tribe told her, she felt better once he removed his hand. Captain Justice helping her hand, keeping a hand on her shoulder and making sure she didn’t fall over and hurt herself.

“But we’ll need to ask you some questions,” Captain Justice told her. “About Mors and what he wanted with you.”

“Of course,” Alysanne told them. “As much as I am able.”

Captain Justice helped her into the living room, letting her sit down onto the couch, before moving a chair to sit in front of her. Tribe quickly doing the same, both looked at the window and Alysanne just smiled at them.

“I have cameras at the front, motion sensor lights,” Alysanne told them.

“Which was why he attacked you in the backyard,” Captain Justice said.

“You never know with some people,” Alysanne told them. “What is it that you would like to know? I don’t know much.”

“Did he say anything?” Tribe asked her.

“Just that the old gods would return; that the Titan’s would get their revenge,” Alysanne told them putting her hands on her lap. “I think he was talking about the fight between Cronus and Zeus.”

“Which old gods?” Captain Justice asked her.

“Never said,” Alysanne replied. “Maybe the Greek, Roman, Egyptian or Celtic. Maybe all of them might be coming back.”

“Along with cultures we don’t know much about,” Tribe said.

“Which is more than most want to admit,” Captain Justice said.

Alysanne smiled at them; she knew more than most since her father’s job made it easier to travel and easier to learn. Before her mother had passed; she had been to Ireland, the UK and some of Europe.

Ireland and Lithuania had been some of her favourites; but it made her see that not everything was what it was some. There was more than what was in school history textbooks, there was more than one truth. Along with the many theories on the reason something happened or why something was important.

“I’ll get you a drink,” Tribe told her.

“Was there anyone else?” Captain Justice asked her.

“There were three more people, two females and a male,” Alysanne told them.

“Names?”

“Hecate, Mnemosyne and Hypnos.”

“Greek Gods.”

“Greek Gods.”

“Here, drink that and you should be fine,” Tribe promised her before handing her the cup of orange juice. Captain Justice looked at him before nodding her head, Tribe narrowing his eyes before looking back at Alysanne. “Get some sleep and ring your school tomorrow; you shouldn’t be going and I’m sure your friends can bring your homework to you.”

“I’ll do that,” Alysanne told him.

“We’ll lock the door behind ourselves,” Captain Justice told her, Alysanne nodded her head before they left the room; Katniss would keep an eye on them. Alysanne had a feeling that she was going to be sitting there for a while.

“Things have gotten mess,” Alysanne whispered to herself. “May the God’s have mercy on me and those Mors is after.”