The Gentle Maiden and Five Lustful Brothers-Chapter 166: Voice in the Dark Calls to Her

***AUTHOR’S NOTE: Sorry this Chapter took so long, I’ve been sick, and this is a very big and important Chapter. So, writing it took more time than I expected, let the plot thicken***

The news Arya brought to the tent was soul shattering.

For Violet to hear she’d lose the support of the witches, it seemed to have broken some of the remaining threads of humanity holding Violet together.

Hearing Arya’s words brought a cloud of darkness to Violet, a heavy despairing aura settled inside and around her.

She looked at the remaining people in the tent and her face darkened. Fury wasn’t a mask she wore to hide her pain; it was the very emotion that became her being.

"Get out" She growled. An echo of malice left threads traced along her voice. It made the rooms temperature drop.

At first no one moved, the chill that settled in froze everyone in their place.

"GET OUT!" She screamed so loud the ground and table shook. Thins clattered when they fell over. Wine spilled on to the maps and everyone, but Ash scrambled from the room with a renewed sense of urgency. She kicked back her chair and then flipped the table.

Ash leaned back in the seat looking at her with such fierce love and loyalty. Unphased by her aggression. "Ash please, I need a minute alone."

Ash looked at her puzzled. Questioning if he should respect her request or demand to stay and be there for his queen in her time of need.

"This isn’t a request, I need some time to myself. I can’t face the truth of everything in front of people. The reality that changed. I need air. You can stay; I’ll be back. Don’t follow me." Violet stormed out of the tent. The ground shook a little with each stomp of her foot.

Ash sat and watched as his queen took off in the darkness of the night. A heavy sigh left his mouth the moment she left his field of vision.

Violet’s mind was reeling with agony from the idea of giving up her search for her daughter. She walked to the ends of the camp and out of the barrier. She needed air that hadn’t been breathed by anyone; she needed wide open space to collect her thoughts.

"Was this what the goddess meant when she said this path would be filled with destruction and misery? She’s supposed to be with the shifters, that doesn’t make any sense? How are the people who kidnapped my daughter supposed to protect her?" Violet asked herself all sorts of brooding questions.

The calm of the forest helped slow down her rapid heartbeat. The moon seemed to disappear, hiding behind clouds, darkening the forest.

Violet felt an ominous aura fill the space around her. the thick scent of malice clung to the air. The temperature around her began to drop. Threads of shadow slithered across the ground and through the air.

Violet’s claws extended and she hissed. She felt the energy in the air shift and a dark entity enter the area.

She could feel its presence shifting and strengthening around her.

"Whose there?" She yelled fearlessly. She was practically salivating for blood and violence.

"Violet..." A voice, slick like oil said in the darkness.

"Show yourself. Coward."

"Ha. Ha. Ha." The voice chuckled in the dark, but the sound came from everywhere, echoing from different places.

"Relax, Queen of Darkness, I have no intent to harm you." The voice rumbled deep and primal. Sounding older and more ancient than anything she’s ever heard.

"Sneaking up a woman in the dark of the night doesn’t sound like something someone harmless would do." She retorted.

"I never claimed to be harmless." He said coldly, letting the meaning behind his words hang in the darkness.

"What do you want?" She asked skeptically. "Why are you here?"

"I am here to offer my services." The voice said.

"Who are you, what do you think you can offer me? Show yourself."

Trills of darkness began swirling around Violet, lifting from the ground.

A figure made of smoke and shadow appeared. Slowly molding and morphing until a figure of skin pale as snow and hair blacker than the a starless night sky with glowing red eyes that had a slit for a pupil. The figure was horrifying and yet still maintained an ethereal beauty about him. He was a haunting sight. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"I am Cerberus, God of Darkness. The Creator of vampires. Your God." He spoke with unwavering and unquestionable authority; Violet didn’t question the figure and knelt before her God.

"What do I owe this pleasure?" Violet asked her chin down in respect.

"I came to help you, my daughter of night, I want you to get your daughter back, it’s only right, a daughter belongs with her mother." His words were everything Violet wanted to hear.

"Help me? Help me how? What’s in it for you?" Violet was skeptical, but at this point she was desperate enough to do anything.

"I can give you the power you need to conquer not just the wolves, but the world. And I want nothing you haven’t given to others."

"And what’s that?" She asked even more skeptical at how simple he was making this sound, how easy.

"Your body." His smile was twisted, but not in the way one would except when referencing a woman’s body. This was something entirely different.

"What do you want to do with my body?" She asked cautiously.

"My essence needs a vessel, one of pureblood, an energy vampire, one hollowed from pain and desperation. Open to me. You are that vessel, Violet. I can give you the power to take back you daughter, you need only to give me your body.

Violet couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The God of Darkness would give her the power to get her daughter back, and she only needed to give her body over to him. This sounded wrong, felt wrong. But what choice did she have? She knew first-hand what the wolves were like, what they were capable of. She needed to get to her daughter back.

If she had to sell her soul to the devil she would. She would do anything to have her daughter back.

"How does this work?" She asked with new determination.

"Is that a, yes?" He asked his grin felt like starring at death.

"I will do whatever it takes to get her back." Violet spoke with unwavering certainty.

"Good. That’s what I want to hear. Desperation. We have a deal then, your body to house my power?" He asked extending his pale hand. His long claws cloaked in flowing shadows.

She hesitated, if she took his hand there was no turning back. And she knew now this was what the Goddess meant by a path of destruction.

She reached out and Cerberus grabbed her hand with a steady ease. His touch was colder than death, and her whole body stilled. Shadows poured from him like poisonous smoke, engulfing Violet slowly.

The world around her disappeared in black smoke, Violet started coughing when suddenly the smoke became violent and slammed into Violet’s senses. Flooding into her from all her entry points. Her nostrils, mouth, eyes, and ears were being assaulted by the black shadow threads. Violet tried to scream but it was muffled by the suffocating presence of the smoke. It was choking and strangling her. Tears of blood fell from eyes. Her body was withering and convulsing in agony as the shadows ripped through her. She couldn’t breathe, scream, or even think.

When everything finally went black.