The Luna's Gift

Artemis & Helena

    Helena tries to take a step back, but is already against the bathroom door frame with Artemis mere inches away from her, touching her. She can’t breathe, heat rushing to her core, an agonizing yearning as she feels their tether to one another strengthen. Helena wants this, her body’s reaction to their proximity makes it very clear, but her mind won’t stop analyzing this predicament they find themselves in. Artemis inches closer, and the closer she gets, the less resolve Helena has to refuse her. 

    “I...um…,” Helena clears her throat, “I want to...talk. To talk. I want us to talk about this.”

    Artemis slowly trails her finger down over the towel, lightly caressing Helena’s n****e, extracting an audible gasp from her mouth. “Are you sure that’s all that you want?” Artemis asks, smiling mischievously. A throbbing starts in Helena’s core, a mixture of pain and pleasure, she hungers for Artemis. She caresses Helena’s erect n****e again, causing another small gasp of pleasure. “That damn smile…” Helena thinks. She hates how attracted she is to Artemis’ dark hair and perfect smile, and if they had met under different circumstances, Helena knows she would have immediately fallen into bed with her. 

    “Sounds to me like you want this…” Artemis says seductively as she brushes Helena’s n****e once again. Helena’s legs begin to quiver, and one of her hands leaves the towel and grips the door frame behind her to stabilize. 

    “Tell me what you want, Ms. Flynn…” Artemis purrs into her ear. The n****e teasing alone is undoing Helena, and she is losing the fight against the internal force pushing them together. Stubbornly, she gives one final stand, and says quietly, “Apollo has a Mate.”

    Artemis drops her hands, and takes a step back, “...what?”

    Helena clears her throat and stands back up straight, “Apollo, your brother. The same thing happened to him yesterday.”

    “...How do you know?” Artemis asks.

    “The other person involved is my friend, she told me. He’s the new library intern, that’s when they...met.” 

    Artemis sits down on the bed, “both of us? At the same time? That doesn’t make any sense…” she says to herself.

    “None of this makes any sense, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!”

    Suddenly remembering Helena is still in the room, Artemis shoots her a look, “No, it does make sense, it makes a lot of sense, you just...don’t know the whole story,” she shakes her head, “but this part, with Apollo? This doesn’t make any sense. I’m supposed to be the Chosen One.”

    Helena slowly makes her way to the bed, sitting next to Artemis, and bringing a hand to Artemis’ cheek to turn her head so they face each other. “Tell me what the hell is going on...now!”

    “There’s a lot, and I don’t even know everything or where to start, we need to talk to Calliope.”

    “Who is Calliope?” 

    “She’s the seer... look, there’s this prophecy...and Calliope is the one who wrote it, and I’m destined to bring magic back to the Children of Luna.” Artemis says matter of factly, as if it wasn’t the most ridiculous thing Helena has ever heard.

    “Bring back magic? A seer? A prophecy? You have got to be kidding me! This is what you all have been getting up to here? This is going in my reports, Jonas was right to question your ability to lead. This is the biggest thing to ever happen to us, a door opening for more women to become Alphas...maybe even join the Tribunal someday...and you’re going to destroy all of this with prophecies and seers and magical nonsense?!” Helena is standing at this point, yelling at Artemis who’s still sitting on the bed.

    Artemis stands and faces her, “it’s not nonsense! This is happening, and it’s happening whether or not you believe it is. Calliope is Fae, she is a fairy, and she's been alive since before the Happening and the Great War. She’s two thousand years old!”

    Helena shuts her mouth, shocked at hearing the word fairy. Fairies were so rare, thought to be extinct, hunted for their immortal powers. When an Underworld creature consumes a fairy heart, it gives them unnatural long life and healing. They have long been hunted down and slaughtered, having the magic of Time, they were seers, prophets, and astrologers, not a lot of defensive magic without their community and land to draw power from. 

    “A fairy? Like a real fairy?” Helena asks curiously.

    Artemis sighs, “yes, like a real honest to goddess fairy. She’s been hiding for centuries. She found me a couple months ago. She told me she thought I was the Chosen One, she was sure of it, that this where the North Star led her. She astrologically found me, followed patterns and signs and what not. I obviously thought she was a bit crazy, but we became friends anyways. I’d never met a fairy before, and her and her partners set up living here in Salem. Truly, I didn’t believe anything she had told me, I just thought it was new age spiritual bullshit, telling me she followed the stars like the goddamn Three Wise Men finding the Christian Messiah, like what the f**k! But then everything she said was going to happen has been happening! Months ago, Apollo was still Alpha, and I was living my normal life! And then boom, he leaves, I become Alpha, and then you get sent here, and we’re Fated Mates? The most magic that’s happened in our world in over a thousand years?! So yeah, I do believe Calliope. Her prophecy was right. I’m the Chosen One, you’re my Mate, and we’re supposed to bring magic back...together,” She says pacing the small bedroom.

    Helena sits back on the bed, not wanting to believe Artemis, and yet something inside her knows it’s true. She shakes her head slowly, “you can’t ask this of me. I’m just a librarian.”

    “And Jesus was just a carpenter. And maybe that’s exactly why it’s you! With your brains and access to all of the Daae information! I don’t know how to bring magic back, or when, or even why now, but Calliope said I can’t do this without you, that you’ll make me stronger. But I won’t force you, our destinies are our own. You have a choice, and regardless of what you choose, I will follow my path, and do everything I can to bring magic back for our world. And I promise, if you choose not to follow this path with me, I will also do everything I can to set you free from me.” Artemis sits back on the bed, legs tucked under her, facing Helena, “you don’t have to do this. And I won’t ask this of you.”

    Helena sits quietly for a while, staring at the freckled pattern on her thigh, not even caring that she’s still only in a towel. “I want to talk to Calliope,” she says finally, looking up at Artemis.

    Artemis must have been holding her breath, she lets out her breath and nods in approval, “Ok. I’ll call her now. And then I want to hear what you know about Apollo.” She stands up and walks out of the cottage and calls someone on the phone, Helena can see her through the window and she stands just out of earshot. She takes this opportunity to put some clothes on, a simple yellow sundress and pulls her curls up into a messy bun.

    “Ok, Calliope will meet with us,” she says coming back into the cottage, “they’ve invited us for breakfast tomorrow morning. Now tell me about Apollo.”

    Helena nods, and relays all the information she knows about Apollo and Magnolia, their Mating, and how they’re searching for a way to break the tether because Apollo doesn’t want to be Mated. Helena also tells Artemis about her info-seeking email to her old mentor, Raphael.  

    “What does this mean…” Artemis says to herself, a pensive look on her face.

    “Ok so let’s say I believe all of this, that Calliope manages to convince me that this Chosen One s**t is for real, what would our next step be? Again, if I believe all of this.” Helena stresses. 

    “Well, Calliope only knows the prophecy for the most part, and stuff surrounding it. She doesn’t know a lot about werewolves in general, basically we were bastards in the old country and she’s steered clear of our kind for centuries. She told me that we have to Mark each other by the next full moon, or something might happen. She wasn’t sure what, but for Fae, if they aren’t Marked in time, or if one of them doesn’t want to be Mated for whatever reason and it’s not a mutual unconnecting, they lose their ability to ever love again. She said it’s different for every species though, so we don’t know what will happen if we don’t Mark each other by then. That’s why I said if you don’t choose this, I will mutually Unmate you, if we can.”

    “How do we Unmate?” Helena asks tentatively.

    “No idea.” Artemis offers back honestly, “Calliope said we should start with some very, very old vampires who are closer to the Happening, and what life was like before then.”

    “That’s Raphael!” Helena replies, almost excitedly, “he’s more than 700 years old! His parents were alive before the Happening, he knows a lot, and he has a huge personal collection of artifacts!”

    Artemis smiles warmly, “you’re already a step ahead of me, and you still don’t think you weren’t also Chosen?”

    Helena blushes, going quiet again. Helena doesn't believe in destinies, she believes in free will, and even if this path was set out before her, it is her choice alone whether or not she walks it. Seeing her get quiet again, Artemis changes the subject, “the food is probably cold, but I brought grilled cheese and french fries. I’m hungry, care to join me?”

    They make their way to the small living room, both sitting on the floor on opposite sides of the coffee table, and eating their now cold dinners. 

    “You don’t sound Roman. You don’t look Roman either.” Artemis says inquisitively.

    “I wasn’t born in Rome, and most of the people in Rome weren’t born in Rome either at this point.”

    “So where were you born? Your accent sounds more British than anything.”

    Helena smiles, “I was born in Ireland, not in British territory but yes, we do sound more British than the Irish accent you hear on TV, Northern Irish people sound more like that stereotypical Irish accent, even though they are under British rule. I’ve lived in Rome since I was five.”

    “At the Daae?”

    “Yes, mostly. My...um, my parents worked there, there’s a school at the Daae as well, I’m sure you know, an Underworld boarding school. My father was the headmaster, and my mom got a job teaching English at a human school in the city. So we lived in headmaster quarters on the campus.”

    “Past tense.”

    “Hm?” Helena asks, looking up from her fries.

    “You’re talking about them in past tense.”

    Helena tenses briefly, not sure if she wants to share this with a stranger, even if she was her Mate. “Yes,” she continues finally, “they died when I was younger. I’ve been at the Daae ever since.”

    “You didn’t want to go home?”

    “I was home. The Daae was all I knew, I didn’t want to leave. I went to school there, got an apprenticeship under Raphael, and they all sort of collectively raised me.”

    “I understand why you’re so loyal to the Daae. They’re the only family you have left.”

    Helena feels a lump forming in her throat, and clears her throat, wanting to change the subject, “and what about you? Have you always lived here?”

    Artemis takes her hint and offers some details about her own past, “yes, I was born here. In this very house actually. My grandfather Arthur started the pack. Passed down to my father, Ares, who has since retired to Florida with my mom, Delilah, and you know Apollo’s story.”

    “How do they feel about you being Alpha?”

    “A mixture of sadness and happiness. They’re mourning the loss of Apollo and his future, they’re very sad he’s joined the Tribunal, but they are very supportive of me and the job that I’ll do. Our pack has always been a bit more progressive than others.”

    “Yes, I’ve heard. Humphrey had really great things to say about all of you.”

    “Humphrey and Ingrid are the best, at this point they just come with the house,” Artemis laughs, “I am very grateful for them.”

    “They have both been so lovely, truly. Why are your parents so sad Apollo has joined the Tribunal? It's a great honor.”

    Artemis shrugs, “I guess to a lot of people it is, but to be honest, we’re so far removed from the Daae here. It is our source of leadership and law and traditions as werewolves, but at least for New Moon, we have our own culture. The Daae isn’t a part of our daily lives. And we’ve never been particularly religious, and Apollo just out of the blue tells us he’s becoming a priest? Moving across the world, giving up us, his pack, and any future chance of a family? I do understand what it feels like to be Called, to be Chosen by the Immortals. But my parents don’t, and the pack doesn’t.”

    Helena nods in understanding, “I see. Things are very different in Rome. The Daae is...everything basically. They run the entire city. It feels like the Daae has more power than the Vatican if I’m being honest. The Daae pulls all the strings, behind the curtain. The great wizard of Oz.”

    “The Daae is important historically, but they haven’t really changed with the times. There are a lot of marginalized people in our world who don’t fit into the box they’ve drawn, like we’re supernatural creatures and Jonas and the Tribunal want to somehow quantify that? We’re living breathing folklore, and the Daae wants to control us.”

    “I disagree with you, the Daae isn’t looking to control anyone, they’re looking to keep us safe, bring order, set expectations for our world.” Helena argues back.

    Artemis gives her side grin, “let me know what you still think the Daae’s role in our lives is after you talk to Calliope.”

    After they finish their dinners and small talk, Artemis bids Helena good night, making plans to meet at the front of the house at 10:30 tomorrow morning for the drive to Calliope’s.