Her Mortal Mate

Chapter Fifty Nine: Clearing The Air

Jadea

"Please, take a seat," Constance said, waiving her hand at the extra, haphazardly placed chairs set up in the living room.

Gabriel moved to lean against the archway leading into the kitchen as Constance moved to the window overlooking the garden. Ickarous walked in moments later and leaned back against the front door, as if blocking our way out. With his huge white wings blanketing his shoulders, arms crossed over his chest, and piercing gaze he made a daunting sight. My packmates and Adam sat down, though they spaced themselves across the room so as to keep their backs to the walls. Some faced the main door, some faced in other directions. Spatial awareness was one of those things hunters never took advantage of.

Garret's unease bled into my mind as he realized Constance had blocked us in on all sides. There was no escape.

I stood in the middle of the room anxiously and crossed my arms. Something was off, and I had this feeling it had to do with the betrayer they were after.

Constance sighed heavily before turning to face me. She looked tired. And not just the normal kind. This was the bone weary, soul crushing kind of tired.

"Where's Lance?" I blurted in the silence. This was his home. His pack was here, but he wasn't.

"He was captured, along with Celeste, by Leviathan."

That was not good. At all.

"And why should we care, exactly?" Garret asked indifferently. He was still prickly over the whole Balthazar situation that we currently knew very little about.

"Watch yourself, Garret. I asked the question," I warned as I felt more than saw Ickarous shift.

"Let him speak," Constance encouraged, looking from me to Garret.

"C, we don't have time--

"Nonsense," she cut Gabriel off. "You have five minutes to say your peace, Garret, because I know you have much to get off your chest."

Garret didn't wait, nor did he ask my permission. He stood up and the words just poured out. "At the beginning, when I lost my entire family to your cause, I believed their sacrifice meant something because of what you stood for. You were once fighting for a better world for all living beings to peacefully coincide with one another. You were fighting to make sure everyone was held accountable and there weren’t any more Victor’s, Ulysses’s or Ezekiel’s in this world! Yet now, after you stood by and allowed your daughter to bargain for the life of the most evil, malevolent creature to ever walk this good green earth, I'm starting to wonder if it's all just some big lie. Some big scam to pull the wool over our eyes before you take control of us all. I can't help but to think you are the next Victor--

Gabriel's sharp intake of air at the accusation had me tensing, however Constance didn’t even flinch. Gabriel pushed himself up and was about to say something when Constance shook her head.

--who will decimate this land!” Garret finished without even noticing the danger he had almost been in. “Did Balthazar take control of you? Did he poison your mind and is using you as a pawn!? What will you do when people won't bend to your will after they realize you aren't who or what you say you are? Will you murder them? Throw them in a pit of fire? Dance over their dead bodies? Who else will you sacrifice to obtain and maintain this hierarchy you ultimately want? Who else will you call to your aid and watch die in vain as you continue on this crusade?" He exclaimed, pain bleeding into his voice.

Throughout his outburst, Constance stood there calmly. "Hmm. You don't remember that day, do you?" she asked softly, taking Garret by surprise. Honestly, it took me a moment to catch on to what she was referring to.

Garret hesitated and, once again, I felt the fractured edges of his memory trying to piece together the events of that horrendous day. "No, I do not remember much of it."

She nodded. "I wouldn't expect you to. You see, that was the first time Celeste realized she could control time. Unfortunately, your parents and their pack could not be saved--as well as several others on that day. However, you and your sister had not been a part of the fight. You, along with most of the other children of the stronghold, had been taken away to a safe place."

"My sister is dead because of you!" he snarled. "I watched her die!" And in his mind's eye, I saw the bitter event unfold in his mind. But I had to wonder if this was a broken piece of time that had been altered. Much like my memoires of the earthquake and the leveled LA city that didn’t happen.

Constance's thoughtful gaze turned to me thoughtfully before returning to Garret's. "We do not know much about the side affects of time manipulation," she confessed. "However, Garret, I do know your sister is alive. She is well. She is not dead."

"That can't be! I-I remember--

"You remember a fragmented piece after time was manipulated. You see, when time is manipulated, such as what happened in LA, everyone's fates can change and be altered. For example, initially when the underground city collapsed in on itself, the Imperium Guard was intact. We had all escaped Leviathan's clutches. None of us had died. None of us had been taken. However, we were devastated by the catastrophic amount of lives lost. And so, we decided to turn back time. We knew what we had done hadn't worked like we needed it to. So, with a new plan in mind, we turned back time and we were able to save thousands upon thousands of lives at the expense of a few dozen immortals and two of the Imperium Guard captured.

"We saved more lives than we lost today, as was the case so many years ago when you lost your family. However, you did not lose your entire family. I see how you believe you did because of the fractured piece from the different timeline, but your sister is very much so alive. She has joined the ranks of the demon shadow guard. Obsidian will bring her back with him so you can see for yourself. And, while she may have joined the shadow guard, she is a lone wolf." Her gaze turned to mine pointedly, as if implying I should offer Garret's sister a place in my pack.

Garret was fairly speechless at this tidbit. Heck, I was shocked as well.

And then the grief consumed him, because he felt like he had abandoned his sister.

“She will understand, Garret,” Constance soothed. "Now, to address your other accusations and concerns--of which you have a right to," she added. "At first, when Balthazar came forward with the news that Lilliana was his true soul mate, Renata, reborn I didn't believe it. I thought it was some form of trickery to infiltrate our ranks. However, when he turned himself over to us, that's when I started to wonder if what he said was true. Lilliana, at the time, had only been one when he had found a weak spot in our defenses. He, and a handful of others, practically walked into the stronghold and found my son and daughter. And when he saw her, he ordered everyone away. He did not kidnap or harm either of them.

"He saw his men back to their ranks and approached Cerberus where he attacked him unexpectedly. Balthazar was able to extract the piece of his soul he had used to make Cerberus. Then, with his completed soul, he came to me. We placed him in purgatory, where we never once thought about him again until Lilliana started having flashbacks of her previous life. That's when we realized he had been telling the truth.

"I was devastated by this news. I was angry and hurt, because I wanted so much more for my daughter. I wanted to erase her memories of him. I wanted to find a way to break their bond. I wanted to kill him, in order to make sure he never hurt her. But, it was at this time a few revelations happened. Through her memories from her previous life, we got to know who Balthazar was before he fell into darkness and truth be told, he wasn't much different than any one of us. He had been full of life and vigor. Full of power and strength. Love and kindness. He had been a Phoenix after all. And then it hit me that, what I wanted to do was control my daughter like I had been controlled by Ulysses and Michael for my love of Gabriel. And before you say it is different, it really isn't.

"Balthazar did not ask for a bond or any relationship with Lilliana when he came to us. He only asked for two things: One, to put him someplace where he couldn't be used to harm her; and two, when we turned back time again, he offered himself up as the willing sacrifice to Fate. He never wanted her to have him as a tainted, vile soul. He wanted far better for her.

"So, when today came and it was time for them to decide their fate, I refused to be like others in my family. I refused to control them, because their life is their choice. I fought for that freedom, both with my family and with the immortal laws. And I refuse to make exceptions. I refuse to go down that same path. I am breaking the mold. No matter how hard it is. No matter what others think, it doesn't matter. I stand behind what I believe and the change I fought so hard for.

"I am not saying he should be forgiven for everything he has done. He deserves to pay in blood for everything he has done, which is another reason he wanted to give himself to fate.

“I don't need your approval. I don't need your acceptance. And, if after this, you don't support what I stand for you have the freedom to walk out that door and to think that way without retaliation," she stated fiercely. "Are we all cleared up now?" she asked Garret who numbly nodded and quickly sat back down in his seat as if he had been scolded. Hell! He kind of had been. "Perfect! Now, back to the main issue at hand. Jadea," she addressed me and uttered the words I was afraid would be said. “You are the descendent of the betrayer we are searching for. Do you know which side of your family you inherited your white hair and green eyes from?"