Page 42 of Claimed By Her Monsters

“Sort of, especially with the news of Athena’s pregnancy. She didn’t want to lose the position of Goddess of Darkness to Athena, so she forcibly attempted to summon Lucifer which ended up summoning a different being entirely,” Naomi revealed.

“Oh no,” Arthur said with a frown. “That doesn’t sound like it ended well.”

“She summoned the wrong person,” I commented.

“She summoned the wrong entity,” Athena revealed. “And that entity wouldn’t leave unless it got pleasure in return.”

“Meaning…” Sawyer trailed off and no one dared say the specific word. I think we could all assume what happened.

“Ask and you shall receive,” Naomi said with a sad expression. “Despite the circumstances, Danica did get pregnant, but the child was extremely abnormal.”

“Extremely abnormal?” Cornelius pondered.

“The child was similar to what you’d refer to as Ghost Terrors,” Athena revealed. “It was basically killing Danica to get stronger, and if she reached full term, she most likely would have died,”

“So she had to terminate the pregnancy?” I asked.

“We wished to help her carry it to full term by extracting the dark energy every week or even every day if we must, but the Elders were against it,” Naomi revealed. “They were disgusted that Danica would even go to such lengths for childbirth while using her unclaimed status to summon a forbidden god. Despite what the god did to her which was by force, the blame was put on Danica and they decided she was incapable of birthing such an abomination.”

“All the Goddess were called for an emergency meeting with the explanation that was exorcizing demonic energy from a victim who’d been attacked. I was the lead healer while the other Goddess was giving me elemental support,” Athena revealed. “It wasn’t until afterward was the victim revealed to be Danica.”

“They didn’t tell any of you?” Arthur gasped.

They shook their heads.

“The Elders knew better. That if they told us the truth, we would have never interfered. Danica's wish for a child was her choice. Despite what happened, it was the consequences she had to bare and take responsibility for. However, the Elders feared the child would feast on other living beings and thus become a monster that would kill many others before being tamed. In the end, it was a lose-lose situation when you think about it, but the lack of communication was what left us all upset with the situation.”

“What happened when Danica found out?” I asked.

“She freaked out,” Naomi admitted. “Full on shock and accused us of stealing her baby. The worse part was that the damages left behind made it so that Athena’s light energy had mixed with Danica’s aura, so it got to the point where dark creatures wouldn’t obey Danica’s commands.”

“So she was essentially losing her role as Goddess of Darkness,” I acknowledged and looked to Athena. “Did that mean more of your light magic was dimming as well from the ritual?”

“It took longer to recover my light energy levels because I was pregnant with you,” she admitted with a loving smile. It was like the mere memories filled her with happiness. “Since Nerissa had so much dark energy, it flooded through me to an extent that the dark creatures began to listen to me.”

“It got to the point where Danica had absolutely no control over the dark creatures she once controlled, which essentially left her with nothing,” Naomi revealed. “However, the Elders feared with Danica’s loss of the child and then her position as Goddess of Darkness, she’d go on some sort of rampage or tell the public the truth of what the Elders plotted against her. To appease such possibilities, they decided Athena would take the throne of Goddess of Darkness and Danica would be the Goddess of Light.”

“But they’re polar opposites,” Sawyer acknowledged. “Why didn’t they think it would backfire?”

“They figured because Athena was flawless in hiding her light elements and projecting her darker side, Danica could do the same,” Naomi revealed and shook her head. “The problem is, Danica never forgave what the Elders did and put the blame on Athena for wishing her misery.”

“Is that why she stole me?” I got to the point.

“We don’t honestly know her true intentions,” Athena admitted. “I knew before giving birth to you that I wished to undergo the blessed rituals of my heritage which is bestowed to us by the archangels. I wasn’t going to stray away from that simply because I was now in the shoes of the Goddess of Darkness. I’m not sure if Danica thought I had some underlying ploy, but her anger pushed her to do things that were unthinkable with no logical explanation, and one of them was stealing you away from me.”

“But didn’t you know?” Atticus questioned.

“At first, no. I was like any frantic mother finding out her child was stolen from her. I knew that there was a trend going on where many babies and young children were stolen for sacrifices, but I guess I didn’t think one could be bold enough to steal the child of a Goddess.”

“Athena wished to search for Nerissa, but the shock had its share of complications,” Naomi acknowledged as she looked at her friend. “It was also making the dark creatures act erratic and risked the balance of the world. Athena was forced into a coma for a few months and by that point, it felt rather hopeless to believe Nerissa was still alive.”

“The Elders wouldn’t let you search for her, would they?” Cornelius sounded angry as his eyes narrowed on Athena who gave him a sad smile.

“We respect the Elders for so long that it seemed like they were gods of their own. That we had to listen to their words for they were knowledgeable and had a magnitude of wisdom. However, losing Nerissa made me want to leave. To go search for her on my own. I would have even told Lucifer about it. I knew how to summon him. It would be simply…”

“But you didn’t because?” I asked more out of curiosity than judgment.

She made my curious gaze with a conflicted one.

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