Chapter Forty-Seven (Sin)

Seeing Lazarus and Amaya walking down the hall, I walked over to them. I had been looking for them everywhere.

“Where the hell have you been? We had guards searching for you all afternoon.” I asked Amaya.

“She was with me, site seeing.” Lazarus retorted, annoyed.

I glared at Lazarus before pulling Amaya into a hug.

“Here, I thought something had happened to you.” I told her. My imagination ran away with me thinking the worst, thinking Hellebore had killed another of Lazarus’s love interests and with it my destiny.

“I am perfectly fine. Did you get the gate issue sorted?” She asked, pulling away from me and changing the subject.

I frowned, “We are working on it.” It wasn’t so much as a crack but a hole it was as if some creature had punched through one gate seal, luckily there was multiple in case of an incident like this.

“I thought it was an easy fix?” She questioned with a worried look on her face.

“It is in some ways and not in others, when a mystical gate of hell breaks it releases creatures at random, so now we have to hunt down those that escaped and bring them back before they do too much damage.”

“Escape too where? What are they damaging?”

“They got to the earth plane and are spreading chaos throughout time.”

“Great, so if we don’t get it fixed right away, the heaven plane will interfere and that won’t be good for anyone.” Lazarus noted.

“Why not? Aren’t gods and goddesses good?” Amaya asked, confused.

“As long as you follow their rules and not break any of their stupid laws.” I snapped, thinking about the situation Abigail was in because of them.

“So, will you get it fixed in time?” Lazarus asked.

I knew we hated each other, but if the hell plane didn’t get this fixed, it could start a war with the heaven plane, which would cause problems for both of us.

“We believe so, we caught it fast enough.” I paused as long as the ones that escaped were caught fast enough. “On another note, Lazarus, I need to speak to you regarding what you were trying to tell me the other day.”

“Agreed, I had forgotten to find you after all the excitement.”

“What excitement would that be?” Hellebore asked as she walked up to us.

“The Hellgate being damaged. Would you happen to know anything about that?” I asked her it was the same gate she had been suspiciously interested in and I highly suspected she was behind it, but without proof, there was nothing I could do about it. Breaking a seal or even damaging one of the hell gates was grounds for having your existence wiped out completely.

“Me, I would never do such a thing.” She remarked angrily.

“My guards are looking into the matter. Now, if you will excuse us.” I looked at Amaya and Lazarus. “We have things we need to discuss.”

“I have just as much right to know what goes on in the castle as you do. I was the Queen for years.”

“Not by blood, now the only reason I put up with you is because of my brothers.”

I walked away from her as her face contorted with anger and headed to my chambers. Lazarus and Amaya followed. Rook was waiting by my door when I arrived. I opened the door, and we headed to the smaller office in my quarters to talk.

Rook, Lazarus, and Amaya sat in the chairs opposite my desk as I sat in mine.

“Why did yo call us here, and not your regular office?” Rook asked.

“I don’t want Hellebores spies listening in. The other day you said you learned what Hellebore was.” I stated.

“What is she?”

“I’ve had my guards following her, wanting to find out what she was up to and why she wanted to start the witch trials on earth. It seemed odd that she was dead set on working with the pastor and wanting Abigail dead.” Lazarus informed us.

“She planned all that to kill Abigail?” Amaya asked. “Why would she want to hurt her, she’s never met her?”

“She is threatened by what she carries and wanted to end her bloodline so that it couldn’t be passed on, when she found out you were her daughter, you became part of that plan.” Lazarus answered, looking at her.

“She wants the goddess's essence to be killed because it would mean the death of magic and my immunity to Hellebore's abilities will go with it. I’ve been trying to figure out what she is so I can kill her.” I put in.

"Why? Isn't she Lazarus and Rook's mother?" Amaya asked.

“Because she is the reason for my mother's death, he convinced my father that she was having an affair with her guard when it was untrue, and my father had her killed.”

“I’m sorry.” Amaya whispered.

“So, what is she?”

“I thought you wanted to stop Hellebore, not kill her.” Lazarus accused angrily.

“The only way she will stop is if she is dead. She won’t stop until witches' magic is wiped out and Amaya’s bloodline is dead.” I snapped.

Lazarus looked at Amaya before returning his gaze to me and nodding.

“So, Lazarus, what is she?”

“She is a tri-bred. She is a demon, Siren and a Shifter.”

“But I couldn’t sense any demon from her?” Amaya pointed out. "Neither could Abigail."

“It is probably because the others dilute the demon part of her bloodline.”

“So, does that mean you and Rook can shape-shift?” I asked my brothers.

They shrugged, “We never tried, it’s not like we knew.” Rook replied. "All we have been able to do has been to control those who have feelings towards us and we rarely have control over that."

“The guards following her saw her shift, who knows what her true form is? The siren explains controlling people, I just can’t figure out how she can slow time or freeze people like she did with the pastor.” Lazarus shared.

“Some demons are born with unique abilities; we can technically time travel so freezing time or people could just be an extension from that.” I shared.

“Great, we know what she is now. How do we stop her?” Rook asked. “If we go after us, she could shift in another form, and we won’t get another chance to take her down.”

“You guys are talking about killing your mother, does she really deserve this hatred?” Amaya frowned.

“She killed our father, tried to kill Sin multiple times and is now wanting to kill you and Abigail.” Rook defended. "I think killing the King alone is grounds for execution."

“She is also after something in the envy hell gate.” I pointed out.

“I am still looking into it but I don’t know what she is after or why Amaya was called to it.” Rook put in.

“What happened exactly?” Lazarus asked Amaya.

“I don’t know. I looked at the gate and heard whispers, then I remember nothing until Sin pulled me away from the door.”

“We solve one mystery only to have more questions.” I snapped. Why did every problem lead to another? I checked the Kings achieves and there was nothing in there about the gates that I didn’t already know.

Magma used to spend a lot of time behind the gates when he was a guard for my mother. Maybe he would know. I would have to go visit him soon and figure out what he knows. It could also help me get closer to clearing his name. I also had to find a way to help the Goddess who had saved me.

With the list mounting in my mind, I suddenly felt exhausted. "We have a lot to figure out. For now, keep your eyes open for any information."

My brothers nodded and left. Rook turned before closing the door.

“You should ask some servants to bring dinner to your quarters. Neither of you have eaten, and I believe we may have missed it.”

“We will, don’t worry.” Amaya smiled as Rook closed the door. She turned to me with a worried look on her face. “Are you okay, Sin?” Amaya asked as she moved to sit closer to me.

“I have a lot of problems to fix and things to straighten out, and to be honest, I am tired.” I sighed as I pinched the bridge of my nose, trying to stop the headache I could feel coming.

“Even a King needs to take a break once in a while, Sin.”

I smiled, “Come on, I have an idea.”

I took her to my quarters, and we entered and went into the dining room after I asked my guards to bring up dinner for Amya and me and made sure they knew to bring human food for her.

 A few minutes later, there was a knock at my door and dinner was brought in. They set it on the dining table in the corner and left. My living quarters were one of the best spaces in the castle. It had a large balcony small kitchen and dining room and Livingroom and a bedroom, bathroom and office.

After we ate, we retired to the living room, where a bunch of board games I asked one of my servants to find were piled on a corner stand.

“Board games really?” She laughed, “You are adorable.”

“What, I thought we could play them together. Isn’t that what humans who don’t have tv do in their downtime?” I frowned.

“Some do.” She smiled, picking up the boxes and inspecting them. “Some of these haven’t been around for years.”

She grabbed a box from the table. “Let’s play this one.” She smiled, holding up monopoly. “I warn you though this game is the destroyer of friends she laughed.”

“Really? How does it do that?” I asked, taking the box from her and inspecting it.

“You’ll see.”

We opened it and set up the game and she was right. It was an evil game. “Why do humans play this?” I asked, confused and angry that she had again managed to take more money from me.

"Because it’s fun." She laughed as she counted her earnings.

“No, it's infuriating you are taking all my money, and you have most of the properties.”

“We don’t have to play; we can do something else.”

“Like what? “

“Don’t know.” She yawned and looked outside my window. “Actually, it's getting late, I think I might head to bed.”

She got up and kissed my cheek before heading to the door.

“Goodnight, Sin.”

“Goodnight, Little flame.” I replied, fighting the urge to follow her.