A Luna for Alpha Kieran

( ...continued)

Autumn did not move.

Not forward.

Not back.

She held her ground.

Her boots were planted against the fractured stone, knees trembling so violently she could feel it in her teeth but her spine stayed straight, curved protectively over Freya like a living wall.

Freya was pressed to her chest, tiny arms locked around her neck, breath coming in soft, broken hiccups.

Autumn’s heartbeat thundered around them both.

Too loud.

Too fast.

Her mind...fractured.

Too hazed...irrationale swallowed everything.

His face flashed behind her eyes...confused, bloodied, calling her name into the dark. His hands slamming against invisible walls. His voice breaking when she didn’t answer.

Then there was Thorgar.

Her father.

Suspended. Twisted. Mutated into something unrecognizable, roaring in chains of flesh and darkness, eyes no longer fully his.

The man who had loved her unconditionally.

The beast tearing at her mate.

And then there was Willa.

Her sister’s laugh. Sharp. Bright. Gone too soon.

And then there was Jasper.

Wide eyed. Small. Innocent.

"I already have two of them..." Those words kept echoing in my head.

They echoed like a curse.

Autumn’s breath hitched.

Her hands shook harder.

She swallowed, voice scraping out of her throat, barely more than a whisper.

"...No."

Not to the choice...

Then to fate itself? No...

The cavern seemed to hold its breath.

Then...step...

The abomination moved closer.

Unhurried.

Predatory.

Her claws scraped stone again, the sound stretching unnaturally long, vibrating inside Autumn’s skull.

She didn’t attack.

She didn’t rush.

She waited.

Letting the pressure build.

Letting Autumn feel every second slipping away.

"Oh, look at you," She purred, voice layered...three tones speaking at once, sliding over each other like oil.

"So brave still. So stubborn."

Another step.

Autumn’s shoulders tightened. Her arms locked around Freya until the child let out a small whimper.

"I told you not to come closer," Autumn said hoarsely, though even she could hear the crack in her voice.

The monster smiled wider.

"Still posturing." A soft laugh. "Even now."

Her fractured eyes flickered...then shifted.

The image behind her changed.

Kieran...on his knees now. Bleeding. Considerably closer to Thorgar’s reach.

Thorgar’s chains strained.

A roar tore through the illusion.

Autumn gasped.

"No...stop...stop it please..."

"And here," the monster murmured, waving her clawed hand lazily.

The image split.

Willa’s scream echoed.

Jasper crying.

Both scenes hovering side by side, suspended in the air like living nightmares ,balanced on a scale.

Autumn’s knees almost buckled.

Her vision swam.

Her breath shattered.

Freya clutched her tighter, whispering through sobs, "I am scared..."

Autumn pressed her lips to Freya’s hair, voice breaking as she whispered fiercely,

"I’ve got you. I’ve got you. Don’t look. Please don’t look."

She lifted her head again, eyes blazing with desperate fury.

"You don’t get to do this," Autumn hissed. "You don’t get to play with my family like they are pieces on a board."

Kieran’s mother stopped just inches away.

Close enough that Autumn could smell her...cold...rot...old magic soaked in blood.

"Oh, but I do," she replied softly.

"Because you are still standing there without uttering the right words."

She leaned in.

Time slowed further, stretched until each word felt carved into bone.

"Choose, Autumn," the abomination whispered.

Autumn’s breath came out ragged.

Her mind screamed.

Her heart felt like it was being crushed between two closing fists.

"Choose," the creature repeated, louder now.

She gestured lazily behind her, illusions pulsing.

"It all depends on your choice."

Her voice sharpened.

"Who is it going to be?"

A pause.

Cruel.

Deliberate.

"Your mate..."

"...or your father?"

Autumn’s eyes filled...but no tears fell.

She was shaking from her core now, muscles vibrating, soul choices colliding violently inside her chest.

The monster’s smile sharpened into triumph.

She took one final step closer.

"And while you are at it," she added softly, tilting her head,"which child are you going to save?"

The cavern went deathly silent.

Autumn tightened her hold on Freya.

Her fire flickered wildly.

And time waited.

The abomination did not rush her.

She lingered...

Hovered.

Circled like a patient predator that already knew the prey was bleeding from the inside.

Time dragged...

Every breath Autumn took felt borrowed.

The creature’s shadow stretched first.

It lengthened across the stone, crawling up Autumn’s boots, her knees, her ribs...until it swallowed her entirely.

Autumn shuddered.

Freya whimpered again, fingers fisting in Autumn’s tunic.

"Tick tock...tick tock...time is ticking my dear," the abomination murmured softly, almost tender.

"Don’t shut down now."

She tilted her head, fractured eyes gleaming brighter.

"This is the important part."

Another step.

The cavern groaned.

Autumn’s vision blurred...then fractured...

Kieran again.

This time he screamed.

Not in pain...in betrayal...

"Why won’t you choose me?" his voice echoed, distorted, layered with the monster’s magic.

Autumn’s breath caught violently.

"No...he wouldn’t..."

"Oh?" the abomination interrupted lightly.

"You are sure?"

She smiled.

"And your father?"

The image shifted.

Thorgar turned his head slowly, chains biting into his flesh.

Disappointment etched into his eyes.

"I loved you my Sweet Pea," he rumbled.

"Was I wrong?"

Autumn staggered a half step back.

Her heel scraped stone.

Her heart slammed so hard it hurt.

"Stop," she whispered.

But the creature’s smile widened.

The air around her thickened...feeding, drinking, growing heavier with every spike of emotion pouring out of Autumn’s chest.

Confusion.

Guilt.

Fear.

Love twisted into agony.

The abomination inhaled deeply.

Ahhh.

"Yes," she crooned.

"That’s it."

Her shoulders rolled back as if stretching muscles newly strengthened.

"Do you feel that?" she asked, voice vibrating with pleasure.

"You are giving me so much more than you realize."

Autumn clenched her jaw.

Her fire flickered...then dimmed.

She felt it.

The drain.

Every time her heart cracked, something inside the creature swelled.

Freya stirred in her arms.

"Mama... why is she smiling?" the child whispered.

Autumn’s throat closed.

She lowered her head, pressing her forehead to Freya’s.

"Don’t listen," she whispered fiercely.

"Don’t listen to her. Look at me. Just me."

The abomination laughed softly.

"Oh, let her hear," she said.

"Children understand better than you think. How else will this one learn? "

Autumn snapped her head up.

"Shut your mouth."

The creature stepped closer.

"So angry," she mused.

"And yet... so lost."

She lifted one clawed finger...and the illusions shifted again.

Now Jasper was crying.

Willa was screaming Autumn’s name... then Lyla’s... that almost broke Autumn...

But then Kieran was bleeding more.

Thorgar roared in rage and pain.

All of them at once.

All calling her.

From all directions...

Autumn gasped.

Her knees buckled...but she did not fall.

She couldn’t.

Her arms tightened around Freya until her own muscles screamed.

"I can’t..." Autumn choked.

"I can’t choose..."

"Exactly," the abomination whispered.

She leaned in close, her voice slipping directly into Autumn’s skull like poison.

"And every second you hesitate..."

The air pulsed.

The shadows thickened.

Her power surged...

"...you feed me."

Autumn’s eyes widened.

She felt it then.

Every spike of guilt was a thread.

Every wave of love twisted into pain was a tether.

Every moment of confusion tightened the chains around her own soul.

The abomination straightened, taller now, stronger, her monstrous form more defined.

She smiled...sated, gleeful.

"Oh, Autumn," she said gently.

"You don’t even need to do anything...the paradox of your existence is now a blessing for me...I spat at their Balance...spat at their brilliant plan...you will now feed my darkness with your light..."

She circled once more...

"Just keep feeling."

Her voice dropped to a whisper.

"Keep breaking."

Autumn stood there...shaking, burning, unraveling...holding her child,while the monster grew on her suffering.

And time...continued to stretch.

Time did not stop.

It thinned.

Stretched until every heartbeat echoed like thunder inside Autumn’s skull.

The abomination loomed before her...sated, smiling, feeding...when suddenly...

"Autumn."

The voice did not come from the cavern.

It came from inside her.

Her spine went rigid.

Her breath nearly shattered.

"Autumn, it’s me."

Her mother again.

Very near, very close...

She spoke but not directly.

"Don’t react," the voice warned gently but urgently.

"Stay calm. Don’t answer. Just listen. And listen carefully."

Autumn swallowed hard.

Her fingers trembled.

Her instincts screamed to look around, to cry out, to reach...

She didn’t.

She forced her face into stillness.

Forced her breath steady.

Forced her terror down where the monster couldn’t taste it.

She tried...barely...to nod.

"No."

The voice sharpened.

"Don’t nod. Don’t give anything away. Keep her busy. Say anything. Curse. Scream. Distract her."

Autumn’s jaw clenched.

Then...

She snapped her head up and spat all the venom she was holding back.

"You sick, twisted, festering corpse," Autumn snarled at the abomination.

"You think this is power? You are nothing but a parasite wearing a face. There has always been a smell of rot stronger than you...guess where they went..."

The abomination paused.

Brows lifting.

Amused.

"Oh?" she purred. "Still barking?"

Autumn stepped forward a fraction, fire flickering weak but loud enough to show defiance.

"I will burn you down to bone dust," she hissed.

"I will make you beg.Did you forget what I have? "

Good, the voice murmured.

"Keep going."

" You lazy old hag... " Autumn continued

"Now listen to me." Her mother whispered in her ear.

Autumn hurled another curse...vile, furious, convincing enough.

"I hope every scream you have ever stolen crawls back down your throat. You filthy piece of shit!"

The monster laughed softly, pleased.

"Good," her mother said again.

"She’s focused on the noise."

Autumn’s heart pounded so hard she feared it might give her away.

"Listen carefully,Autumn."

The voice softened.

"This abomination feeds on negative emotion. Guilt. Fear. Confusion. Love twisted into pain."

Autumn’s eyes flickered...but she kept snarling, kept posturing.

"I am not afraid of you ,bitch!"

"It created a situation where no matter what choice you make," her mother continued,

"you lose something irreparable. And the guilt from that loss will feed it for eternity.She will keep feeding off the power you were granted to end the likes of her, end the darkness that keeps her alive. "

Autumn’s throat tightened.

That much... she already knew.

She screamed another insult just as the realization settled deeper.

"So listen to me," the voice said firmly.

"I can help you."

Autumn’s breath hitched.

Help.

"But like I said, you must come to Calareth."

Her pulse stuttered.

Calareth.

But even before the next words came...

Autumn knew.

She felt it like ice sliding into her veins.

"But the only way you will be able to leave is... against a mortgage."

The word slammed into her chest.

Mortgage.

The abomination’s smile widened...as if she could smell the fear blooming again.

Autumn’s grip on Freya tightened reflexively.

Her heart began to pound too loudly.

Too fast.

Her mother’s voice softened...grieved.

"You already know what it is."

Autumn’s mind screamed.

No.

No, no, no...

Her eyes burned.

Her chest fractured.

Her voice broke free before she could stop it.

"Freya?" she whispered...then screamed inside her own head...

"NO!!!"

Her heart shattered into raw, panicked pieces.

And somewhere in front of her...

The abomination’s grin sharpened.

Like a predator that had just heard the answer it wanted.