Page 87 of The Hellbeast's Betrayal

Seth unleashed his own terror, becoming a monster so fierce he wreaked havoc among our enemies. My own HellBeasts ran into the fray, tearing apart the smaller HellHounds. Doing so as if they were no more than yapping demonic dogs. My council headed the army we had only just managed to get here in time.

As for Keira and Amelia, I knew they had not been allowed to fight, despite them being capable. But their husbands had convinced them to keep the innocent people at the camp safe in case any threat managed to break through. But even I knew that this was only an excuse so as Dom and Lucius could fight without concern for their safety.

Marcus and Bill both had been ordered to stay behind to protect them incase Garmr was to try anything. As for Koro, he had hidden Lerna somewhere safe. This was just in case she became Garmr’s next target, and if Ella’s true self managed a way to fight back against his control somehow. As it was clear she wouldn’t have hurt her, no matter how evil Garmr had twisted her mind.

“I don’t see her!” I snapped, forcing my gaze from the battle that raged on, trying to spot her in the distance.

“There, look!” my brother shouted when he spotted the green mist rising around a lone figure. As suspected, she was at the back, with Garmr standing not too far away from her. Although when he mounted a Colchian Dragon, which was essentially a long yellow snake with slim wings, I knew that now was our shot. As his focus was now on the battle below.

“We have to go now! Can you get me behind her?” I said, looking to Dariush.

“If I can see it, I can do it. But I can only take one of you at a time through the portal,” Dariush replied, making me look to my brother who gritted his teeth before saying,

“Fine, but don’t get dead in the minutes it takes me to get to you.”

I smirked and said,

“I will try my best.”

Then I ran for the portal Dariush created, taking a deep breath before stepping through. The mantra in my mind played on a loop, ‘this has to work, this has to work.’

That jarring feeling took over for a few seconds before I found myself looking at her back, as she was working her Summoning magic, pushing it to the front line. Her souls barged through before she could make those we had killed rise up to fight once more. An army of green ghostly figures of their former shell now charging into the living.

I crept up behind her, at the same time pulling the branch from my back, ready to force her to touch it. But I never made it to her in time before I was spotted. Because I hadn’t clocked the guards she had with her, now running at me, and giving me no choice but drop the branch as I was forced to deal with them.

“YOU!” she roared at me, the green glow of her eyes far more demonic than last time, telling me she was getting ever more lost by the day. And I had to remember, a week had passed. The dark emerald green of her armor shimmered like a diesel spill on tarmac. The darkness around her eyes transforming her beauty into something menacing and demonic.

I slashed out with my claws at the two guards that I had seen in his castle that day, ugly, red skinned fuckers that took no time at all to put down. Now as for my demonic fiancé, she was a different story. One that started with me being grabbed from behind, right after I had killed the threat. Which put me now facing a very different one, as she tossed me into the trees, making me split the wood.

“Didn’t I kill you?!” she roared at me, her voice once sweet and gentle, now hard with hatred.

“Fuck, babe, you not tired of throwing me into shit yet?” I said with a wince, cracking my dislocated shoulder back into place. But then she was running at me, making me duck out of the way just in time, telling her,

“That ain’t a very nice way to treat your HellBeast,” I said, making her scream at me,

“He is dead, as you soon will be!”

But as she continued to come at me, I continued to try and make my way back to the branch, rolling just in time before she took my head off with a whip of her powers. As for the branch, I landed close enough that I was just reaching out for it, when suddenly I was being dragged backwards. I looked down to see the green ropes of her power wrapped around one of my ankles, which I had no chance at fighting. I knew that when she used them to lift me upright, so as she could start to choke me once more. It was becoming obvious this was a favorite of hers. But then she surprised me by asking,

“Why do you continue to try and take me, when it will only mean your death?” She pinned me against the cracked tree and only loosened her hold on me when she could see I was trying to speak.

“Because I would do anything to save you… even from yourself,”I said, now looking behind her and seeing my one and only chance present itself. Because my brother had just made it through the portal.

Luckily, he quickly spotted the branch, reached for it, and I nodded, telling him I was ready. She looked behind her just as he tossed it to me, making me catch it before she had a chance to stop it. Then I told her,

“…Even this!”

Then I thrust the branch at her, making her stagger back at the same time she purposely caught it. I landed on my feet and watched as emotions started to play out across her face. A single word now escaping her lips.

“Mother.”

I closed my eyes as relief washed over me, only opening them again when I heard the roar of anger coming from above. Garmr had spotted us and was now calling her name.

“Anástasi!”

To which she shook her head as if fighting within herself. I gritted my teeth, wishing I could turn into my HellBeast and rip the fucker apart. But I also knew I couldn’t chance it, as like this, it would only see Ella as a threat.

Garmr dropped down from the flying serpent and held his hand up, making her suddenly tense. Her eyes had seeped back into the girl I loved when she came into contact with the branch. But now they started to glow once more, before her head snapped back up to mine. Then she told me in a deadly tone,

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