To Kill a Werewolf King

The Moon Goddess

Apollo

I found Selene exactly where I knew she’d been, in the Palace at the center of Gaia’s Moon. It’s funny to me when I think about how humans have a hard time believing that we all coexist. That we all fight to be recognized by them the way that they do with one another over whether we’re all real or not. I’ll tell you now. We’re all real as real can be. Especially in moments like this.

Selene, Mani, Wu Gang, Chang’e, Tu’er Ye, Chandra, Zulu and many other Gods and Goddesses of the moon are all gathered in the dining hall as I arrive. The Moon Palace is all white, carved out of the moonstone of course, with large carved pillars strategically around the carved spaces to create a more regal feeling. The hall in the center is the largest space with four pillars on either side.

There are rooms and corridors that break off from the hall away from the tables. There are twelve tables, all carved and polished moonstone, in the hall altogether, lined up in three perfect rows. I notice that damn near all of them are filled tonight. I noticed not all the Moon Gods are here, but the Goddesses are along with a few others, like myself.

There’s laughter and chatter all around, the clinking of glasses and silverware on plates creating a rhythmic beat in the background, and the smell of well-prepared food from realms far and wide, including Gaia. There are no doors in this palace, but that doesn’t matter. We deities lie and cheat and trade secrets and slaughter each other time and again in every realm, but not here. Here is a place of peace, of joy. A place of companionship and comfort.

When I was a young child and Leto brought me here for the first time, I realized I could feel envy. The Sun Palace is beautiful, but it’s a place of chaos, of wildness. Sometimes, I crave the elegance of the peace that comes from the Moon Palace.

“Selene!” I call out to her as I rounded the table. No one pays me any mind, minus a few curious glances. I come here often enough, unlike other Gods and Goddesses, that it’s not unusual to see me here. I know they’re curious though, to see how this plays out between Selene and I.

She looks up at me from her meal, food stuffed in her cheek and rolls her eyes. I take the moment to speak before she finishes chewing.

“Selene, a moment.” I didn’t add ‘in private’ because nothing is private in any realm. We both know that the best I can do is pull her away and whisper quietly in a corner in a room here. She glares at me while she finishes chewing, knowing that I put her on the spot, and then slowly nods her head. My shoulders sag with relief. I didn’t even know I’d been straightening them. She tipped her head curtly towards a room behind her, so I rounded the table and followed her lead.

She walked me down a corridor that was attached to the other side of the room, coming to a stop in a different room to our right. This room does not have a back corridor and the moonstone is soundproof, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have followers. As soon as she turns to face me, I rush to speak.

“Selene, I’m sorry, okay. I’ve apologized a dozen times over. I don’t know what you want me to do.” I insisted, knowing that starting with another apology was gonna be the best way to butter her up.

“Oh save it, Apollo. What do you want?” She responds, crossing her arms across her chest. Her silken white dress and soft silver glow to her skin shines around us, illuminating the dark along with my warm orange glow and fiery red hair.

Okay, or not.

“Have you… Okay, this might sound f.ucking nuts, but hear me out and if you don’t believe me, I’ll show you. I don’t have a lot of time left. It’s already been an hour since I left.” I say, sighing out my preface because I don’t want her to think I’m f.ucking losing it. I’ll never lit this down if I’m wrong.

“Okay. What’s the issue, Apollo? Spit it out. I wanna finish eating. And be eaten.” She responds, a sly smile crossing her face. I smirk and nod. I have no s.exual interest in Selene, but I understand the desire to finish up and get f.ucked.

“I know a girl. A werewolf on Gaia. I’ve watched her for the last ten weeks.” I started slowly, knowing she was immediately going to have questions.

“Ten weeks, Apollo?! That’s ten f.ucking years there! Unholy Hades, you’re invested… Wait… She’s a werewolf? One of mine?” She asks me the same question I came to ask her.

“I don’t know. I came to find that out from you. But she’s different. So I also wanted to know if you’ve blessed or cursed anyone in the last… thirty-nine weeks.” That would cover her mother, her birth and her. But Selene looks at me like I have two heads.

“No. The last of mine that I blessed was…. Oh, gosh… A little over two years now.” She mumbles, biting her bottom lip as she thinks.

Two years?

What would that be… ?

One Hundred Gaian Years Ago?!

“Seriously, Selene? You’ve seriously neither blessed nor cursed anyone in one hundred Gaian years?” I asked, a bit shocked because the last I heard she was doing it damn near every generation. But… that was years ago, my time.

“Yeah. I stopped doing it. My most precious ones were getting hurt too often, so I pulled them back. I gifted... Oh… what was the girl’s name… Emory…. No… Elizabeth… No… El…? Ellie! Yes, Ellie. I gifted Ellie my strongest pet, Dominica. There was a nasty war that had been about to take place that put Gaia in a very precarious position, and so she had sought me out and asked me to provide a gift for the one she chose to help fight back. I gifted Dom to Gaia's Champion at birth so that Ellie could grow up with Dom and their bonds would be stronger for it. I was right, of course.” She says, the smug pride in her voice telling me all I need to know about what happened during the war. Dom… dominated, as she does in everything she does.

F.uck, I love that girl.

I haven't seen her in way too long.

“Is Dom back?” I asked, hopeful that Selene would let me see her. She’s always been my favorite hound. Selene gives me a hard stare for a moment, then sighs and shakes her head.

“No, she is still at play, but … Ellie will probably die soon if my math is correct.” She says, shrugging and placing her hands on her hips.

“So again, what do you want?” She says before I can get another word in edgewise. I blew out a breath and then told her about Hawke.

“Hawke has the strangest aura when she’s calm. It’s silver, like yours, but darker. The glow is dim, yet… It … sparkles. As if she’s captured the stars within herself. Then today, well… she got f.ucking mad, Selene.” I started, and she looked at me with a blank face. But I know better than to think her wheels aren't already turning.

“I've seen Hawke mad before, and it has never affected her aura in the way it did today. I don’t know how, don’t ask me, but Hawke has somehow managed to take the curse you placed on wolves who are proven to be of sickened souls, and… is controlling that madness.” I continue, eyeing Selene for any change in her facial features, any reaction to what I'm saying. And there it is. She widens her eyes and her pops open slightly. The reaction is genuine.

Oh, f***k.

“She's letting it fuel her instead of consuming her. And today… Selene, today, when she fell into that headspace while she was angry with me… her aura changed completely. It became as dark as the depth of Jormangundr’s prison, yet.. There were swirls among the darkness. Like raging black-holes, the way we seem, of course.” I finished, unsure what else to say. If she doesn’t believe me, I can always show her.

“In color?” She asks, confusion clear in her tone. I don’t think she even knows what this is.

“Yes. In color.” I confirmed and watched as her brows furrowed down her forehead even more.

“The only one I know who has that aura is… locked away.” She murmurs, more to herself than to me, but it makes my heart race at the admission. As soon as I'd seen her completely unawares reaction, I knew she wasn't the mother of this wolf. And for f***k's sake, I really hope it doesn't mean what I think it does.

“What do you know, Selene? Whose aura is she mimicking?” I asked. To mimic a deity’s aura means that person has somehow traded a piece of their soul for the powers of that God or Goddess. I’ve never seen Hawke summon any others, but I don’t watch my crystals every second of every day. She could have come into contact with anyone.

No, Apollo.

You already know better.

Not just anyone.

No. No. No.

F.uck!

“If it’s who I think it is, Apollo, we need to alert Zeus.” She suddenly says, her gaze so piercing I feel like flinching away from it.

“Who do you think it is, Selene?” I press, taking a step towards her in urgency, seriously hoping her line of thinking wasn't one with mine.

“Fenrir.” She states, her voice shaking a bit and I hang my head in disbelief, a wave of fear laced with uncertainty rolling through me.

FU-CK!