Trigger Warning: emotional abuse, offensive and derogatory language, insults, demeaning and humiliation Marcellus’ POVWhenever, Ezel, the Satan within me would fight for control and dominance, the spell they bound him with would drain more energy from me. We were also weakened by devilsbane and corpse flowers. This constant internal turmoil is taking a toll on my already weakened body. I feel knackered and incapacitated. And then, out of nowhere, I felt a sudden stab in my heart as if someone had driven a hot iron dagger through it. I knew that meant that Konneyard was under attack. Each blow and loss of each warrior weakened me even more than I already was. I felt like I was going to faint. Still, I did my best to hide the throbbing pain that was shattering me inside out from the prying eyes of Noosha, the bitch. “So, darling, I think it is time for us to share a proper momma and son moment. What do you think…son?” she said with cynicism oozing from every pore of her being. I met
Malleteagan’s POVAlthough both Sanguineabyss and Konneyard were grounded on blood magic, unlike the crater-like build of Sanguineabyss, Konneyard is built like a prairie. Actually, when I think of it, it is more like a desolate, plain, barren landscape which oozes death and despair while blood trickles in torrents from the obsidian sky, soaking our tattered clothes. The ground beneath our feet is rusty-coloured, peculiar mixture of blood and dirt. We look like vultures covered with blood from head to toe. Blood occasionally drops into my mouth. Yuck. I don’t understand Kandreah. I have no clue how can he be so obsessed with something so gross. It has corroded, metallic, off taste. It irks my gagging reflex. I have to spit every now and then to get rid of its oxidised taste from my taste buds. I see all of the non-vampiric warriors doing the same thing. Gross.The sky above us is an anthracite horizon fused with thick layers of ruby clouds. Opaque, heavy fog merged with blood and blac
Malleteagan’s POV “Kandreah, Thersar, shield!!! Now!!!” I quaked as I started to butcher through the throng of beasts before me. As on cue, they joined their hand and enchanted the battlefield. The pixelated freckles, which shone with an odd spark, were a mixture of obsidian and ivory fused together in an armour which encased the battlefield. Kandreah turned to me as soon as they completed the enchantment and spat: “Hey, backseat driver, get your ass off from your high horse. You are not our Alpha, Malleteagan, so watch your tone! We are not your puppy army, so don’t you think you can bark your orders to us! We did this for the sake of the army's salvation, but you are barking up the wrong tree if you think for a second that you can boss us around.” I mentally facepalmed myself. “Look, Kandreah. It is not the place or time for territorial pissings or your ego issues. I did it to save the soldiers and not to boss you around, so hold your fucking horses!!! Twat!!!” I turned away, sha
Rowena’s POV I fell on my knees, clutching my head. I felt like my head was about to explode and split in two. I knew she was invading my mind. I saw Marlekeen follow my suit as she fell on her knees, too, writhing in visible pain. This happened each time when they used their mind-compelling abilities. And Marcellus was the worst and strongest among them. Luckily, he usually steered clear of me, as he knew that Noosha was controlling me, having my sisters as leverage to force me to fight for her cause. Luckily, Noosha and her children are the weakest telepaths in the family, so the pain I usually face when they control me is bearable. It is the basic mind-compelling ability of a deity. They would usually ask me to fortify it with my magic if they wanted it to be stronger. And even then, Noosha and her daughters are pretty limited in their ability to compel, unlike Marcellus. Well, at least, that is what I heard from those who were tortured by Marcellus. I have heard the rumours that
Rowena’s POV“Both of you traitors will pay for this. See you in Macabantra, you treacherous cunts!!!” Ramaalen said and disappeared in thin air and reappeared further away in Konneyard, far enough to keep herself safe yet close enough to see the battle's progress. She would still cast a bewildered gaze at Kandreah and Thersar occasionally. I was confused by that. She looked at them with the look of one who found their mate. Could it be? I cannot tell for sure, as Kandreah nor Thersar did not have a chance to catch a glimpse of Ramaleen. They were busy with the commotion of the battle and slaughter within the shield. When I think of the Sanguineabyss battle, they have not made eye contact with Ramaleen at that time either, as they were going through a lot of things with the prophecy. Had they made direct eye contact with her, I would have been able to confirm whether they were mates or not. Meanwhile, a horde of disoriented blood witches stood before me and Marlekeen. Some were sti
Kandreah’s POV Quite an interesting turn of events unravelled right before our eyes and in the middle of the battle. It looks like Wengarthria suffered from a rebellion amongst their own forces. Wengarthrians are known for intrigues and backstabbing, but regardless of that, they are most known for fighting in unity whenever they are under attack. And that is one of their greatest strengths. No matter how much they hate each other’s guts in times of peace, they work together in times of war. As far as I know, this is the first time that their forces started to crumble inside due to unrest and rebellion among their own forces. And in the middle of the battle, not more or less. Wengarthria is Soovaree’s underworld subrealm, which has existed from the beginning of time, meaning that Wengarthrians had many battles under their belts. Right now, they are in the phase of imploding right in front of our eyes. This is a fantastic chance, and we must seize it for our own goals. But of course,
Erzelus POVI have seen a shitload of stupidities done by my human counterpart, the cold-blooded and unjustified murder of our mate was just one among many moronic blood-freezing moves he made, to say at least. Well, it is one of many, but it is probably the one that causes me the most of the pain. The bastard would always manage to take over the control of our body when he wanted to do something moronic and reckless. There were even times when motherfucker would summon my form but would smother my thoughts and take control of all the actions undertaken by our body. And I would have no say in those moments. I would be just a mute witness to his mania and idiocy.He would make me unable to overthrow his willpower, unable to control the actions of our body, although he was in Lycan form. One good example was when he mercilessly killed our mate, Larrisa, without an ounce of remorse. I had to watch it helplessly as if I was a pawn…as if I was a mute and disabled person brought to the cin
Rowena’s POV“All right, little witch. You and your little gang of witches are allowed to fight side by side with us.” He said with a chortle as if he had heard the funniest joke ever. The next second, he straightened up his face and came closer to me while stomping over my still unconscious mate. Omar groaned and whimpered under the weight of Malleteagan’s body and the force of his impact. While still standing on the torso of my unconscious mate with one boot and hovering over his neck with the other, he faced me with fury etched on every feature of his face and tugged a handful of my braids. “..but, be sure, one wrong move, little witch…” he growled, inches away from my face, forcing me to look at his vile eyes.“… and I will snap the neck of your dear mate like a toothpick. And you know what? I will make you watch it. And that will be just the beginning of your torment…shall you or your witches dare to betray us, that is, of course. But none of you are that stupid, of course! Righ
Elantra’s POV I was unable to bear this tension, danger and peril as I watched the cold steel of the blade pressed against Malie's skin and her life hanging on a thread, depending on the whim and mercy of mercurial vampiric Fae. With determination, I spoke out: "King Kandreah, I, Elantra Proserpina Morterey of Wengarthria, am hereby granting you permission to enter the main Macabantran encampment and any of the subrealms of Wengarthria, which are under my jurisdiction! I have done what you asked for, now leave my sister alone”. As I uttered those words, I heard Malie crying out a desperate “no” to me. I could see the relief, hope and determination surge in his eyes as he realised he had been invited. Without a shred of hesitation, he turned around with an obvious intention to leave both of us as if nothing happened, as we meant nothing to him. He obviously didn’t give a damn about us or about the mate bond. We were liter
Elantra’s POV What is your name, love?” he asked me with a palpable rage and an undertone of mockery in his voice. “Elantra,” I responded obediently as if I were the little girl in front of the executioner and not a daughter of the lord of Hell. I knew that the knife on Malie’s throat was a promise that he would kill her on the spot if I didn’t comply. Yes, Malie can be a handful, but she is my twin sister and soulmate, and it would break my heart if something happened to her. I love her, and I want her to live regardless of her being a bitch most of the time. "That is too long for my liking. Ella…darling, I wanted to share something with you and your sister…. Ooh, sorry love, I didn’t quite catch your name…” He smirked and turned his golden-eyed gaze to Malie. She told him to fuck off while struggling in his embrace, trying to set herself free. He whispered something to her ear so quickly and under his breath that I couldn’t even catch what he said despite my c
Elantra’s POV Malie nagged me to visit the battlefield for days, telling me she had found her mate. It was useless to remind her that we Mortereys have little to no chance of finding a mate. I have told her that she is delusional, but when she wants something, there is no way to set her mind off that. And now she had one goal - to visit Macabantrah and test the mate theory out, and for some reason, she is adamant that she want to go there with me. I don’t know what this all was really about: did she want to test the waters of mate bond? Did she want to convince me or herself that this is possible and that maybe she really found a mate? Whatever the reason, I could see that she was consumed and perhaps even excited with the idea. I mean, who could blame her; we spent eternity doing our “job” as dark celestials, daughters of rulers of Hell and Wengarthrian royals. I don’t blame her for wanting some sense of normalcy and to break this millennia old cycle of loneliness. But I als
Kandreah’s POV When I saw Hades’s twin daughters together, I finally understood what people think when they say they can’t see the difference between me and my brother. These two look like doppelgängers! They were as alike as two peas in a pod, and both looked exactly like the woman my warriors described to be seen during the Sanguineabbys and Konneyard battles. Both had ash blond hair smeared with subtle shimmers of lilac - as if they spent all day rolling and rubbing in the field of lavender in full bloom to achieve this hue in their hair. They had those same daunting eyes: one lilac eye like Noosha and one cobalt blue like Hades. Both were as slender as a whippet and had faces that could launch a thousand ships, but their aura stank worse than a fish market on a scorching summer's day. They radiated wickedness, danger, and spite like a pair of black cats crossing your path under a ladder, setting my skin crawling like someone tossed a bucket of spiders on me. To te
Kandreah’s POV While standing helplessly in front of the Macabantran gates, I went through all the stages of grief in the blink of an eye. I went through denial when I managed to work through my pain and drag myself while being pain-stricken with Thersar’s torment in front of the Macabantran gate. I was appalled with horror in front of my eyes. As Thersar’s demise-ridden pain wrecked through every nerve of my body, I watched his last moments with disbelief. Just when I thought that this was the final blow, which would be my undoing, the closeness of my soldiers who died in the battle started to shatter my body inside out, gnawing at my mind and soul. The death of every single soldier in my army was a new blow to my already broken body and heart. After initial shock, denial and disbelief, uncontrollable rage erupted from me. I screamed and tried many ways to break in and barge into the castle, but nothing worked. Even what it meant to be an attention-seeking roar of rage came
Kandreah’s POV We were passing through this infamous shortcut, which was more like a sewage-like labyrinth if you ask me, when I bent over and stumbled with an unwilling groan before I fell on my knees and stubbed my hands into the dirt and mud of Wengarthria. I felt so weak and dizzy, as if I was just seconds away from collapsing. The high-pitched, blaring sound grated through my ears, threatening to split my head in half. It reminded me of the ringing of life-supporting machines when someone dies, but as if someone put amplifiers on them. Beads of sweat protruded along with searing pain, the ache like no other which surged through me, piercing and rippling through my body. Every drop of blood in my body felt like it was scorching, sizzling, and as if it was about to combust in flames before turning to ashes. The agony was unbearable. It felt like I was dying. Only once before, I felt the pain like this, when I lost my soulmate. Regardless of the severed bond between
Erzelus’s POV But it looked like someone in the background had greater control over the forsaken Lycans than I did because drums rattled again in the next moment, along with a command rumbling to forsaken Lycans to attack. It overpowered and overrode the natural inclination of forsaken Lycans to submit to their Alpha. I am not their Alpha anymore. They do not answer to me anymore. They are not part of our pack anymore, and if there was even a smidgen of doubt in their logic, reasoning and where their loyalty now lies, it all became clear when they started attacking Lycan troops. My Lycans were over-excited with my comeback, and this idling is not something we can afford. This can cost us battles and lives; we have no time for this. Because, on the other side of the castle, dwarves, Fae, and witches were still in the ruckus of the battle against Wengarthrians. I stepped in while handholding Lev and roared: “Drop the fucking formalities! Lycans, regroup! Flank the Allies! Shield the
Erzelus’s POV The interior of the encampment was a vast, oval-shaped, dark and massive hall the size of a coliseum. Instead of walls, the encampment was enclosed with grand window-like structures, which seemed impenetrable. These window-like walls didn’t allow even a figment of light to protrude. Each window was adorned with vile and despicable frescoes depicting the destruction, apocalyptic violence and scenes from the underworld. In every corner of this eerie city-sized castle, there seemed to be an attempt at creating a macabre amphitheatre. It was as if a disturbed and malevolent architect had deliberately sought to challenge, mock, distort, and contrast every conventional thought, philosophy, aesthetic, and norms in rational thought, art, architecture, and culture, transforming them into something dark, ominous, and bizarre. This colossal castle seemed like an erratic response of a sinister rebel in architecture, a hub for defying the traditional building. Every corn
Erzelus’s POV Mark's contorted body serves as a testament to his tragic death and grim fate, symbolising just one of too many lives that have been and will continue to be lost in this relentless battle. The weight of lives lost became heavier as I scanned through limbless, scavenged, deformed and mutilated remnants of warriors from both sides, which hung from the ceilings. The cadavers blanketed the grotesque frescoes and icons of the Macabantran encampment. Bodies were strewn everywhere, suspended from ceilings and windows, littering the ground— that is the grave extent of casualties that this battle yielded. And many more are to yet die before the battle finishes. The windows were sprayed with blood and innards of diverse creatures who lost their lives, looking like someone had a paintball battle with leftovers of burnt shepherd pie. Corpses and bodies of soldiers from every walk of life were flailing across the Macabantran fort; mush and gore were everywhere, littering th