CHAPTER ELEVEN: DEATH AWAITS US ALL
----------------------------------------
Two months until the Hunt
On a mission, I wake up early in the morning. I nudge Anemone awake before kissing her on the mouth. "I've got to go have a conversation with Lady Death with my Oret. Let Caspian and Adrian know, okay?" I say before leaving to the surface. Once there, I send a message to Lady Death. "My lady, I along with my Oret, Derek Perevell are here in Nevarah after a soul scream. Do you want us to come and meet you somewhere?" I nod as I send the message and send one to my Oret, "Oret, I just sent a message to Lady Death, do you want to meet me here to eat a quick breakfast before she wants us to meet her?" I shake my head as my Oret's agreement comes back in a message to me. I go to the sleeping tent and try to wake only Leonard along with Gaspar. After they are awake, I go to the kitchen and make four quick omelets before my Oret ports in.
After we are all done eating, a message comes back to me from Lady Death. "Yes, child. If one of your new circle members knows where the Hellhound Estate is, come here and you will be let in to see me. Feel free to come once you and yours are ready."
I snort and tell my Oret, "Well, she wants to see us today and as soon as possible. Guess we'll be going there sooner than later. Do either you or Gaspar know where the Hellhound Estate is?" I ask Leonard.
Leonard nods and chuckles, "I probably shouldn't know where the Hellhound Estate is, but one of my parents is Shadow and has taken me to the Shadow Haunts; we didn't go into the Estate, mind you, but I know where it physically is. Okay, if everyone is ready, I'll port us in." After everyone gets close to him, he counts down and ports us to the Estates.
----------------------------------------
Once we are ready, I walk up to the two Hellhounds guarding the gate and say, "Please open the gates, we have a meeting with Lady Death."
The pale Hellhound scoffs and derisively says, "I haven't heard that one before. Get lost before I call Lord Aiden."
I glare and my eyes flash from their natural colors to moving dark shadows. I bellow with my shadow deepened voice, "How DARE you stop someone asking for Lady Death! Open this gate unless you want me to get her to port next to me in your disobedience of her!"
The Hellhound yelps and quickly yells, "Open the Gates!! Open the Estate Doors for them! Then go send a servant for Lady Death."
I scoff as my eyes flash back to their normal hues. "Thank you for letting us in," I say sarcastically. As we walk into the Estate grounds, I roll my eyes at my Oret. "Have you had that problem before, Oret?" I ask him.
"Only once." He laughs, "After that, they let me in very quickly." We both chuckle until we are escorted into the Estate's house. We stop when we are inside when a dark-colored Hellhound raises their hand. "Hello Ana, we are supposed to meet with Lady Death."
The Hellhound smiles and replies back, "I know Derek. She wants you in a different room this time. Let me escort you there." Oret and I quietly talk about the upcoming meeting while walking down the hallway. We stop in front of a door after Ana raises her hand again. "This is the set of rooms Lady Death has asked for your meeting. She will allow for one more to join you, but the other must stay outside of the rooms."
I smile at Leonard before asking, "Are you willing to guard the door for us? I know it's not quite your job, but I want Gaspar with me." He frowns, but eventually nods in agreement. "Good!" I chirp before opening the door for us. Gaspar first walks into the room and then gestures for Oret and me to join him.
The room is large with only two doors. One door is the entrance and the other is currently closed. There are two sofas with a coffee table along with a waist-high table with decoration; there is a full tea set on the coffee table along with a tea sandwich stand. Before we have a chance to sit down on the couch, the other door opens and Lady Death walks in. "It is lovely to see you two. Especially you, Alexia. Rozina would've been so proud." She clears her throat before continuing. "Anyways, Alexia, you requested that I give the two of you jobs? Well, I have three for you. First, I want Derek to teach the Death magic he knows to the orphans here. Not in the sense of a mentor/mentee bond, but as a teacher. Second, I need Derek to grab some things of mine that were lost; the two of you know exactly what I mean." At this point, she gives us a hard look, almost begging me to say something before continuing. "And third, I've got some...orphans that I want you to perhaps take into your circle, Alexia. Teach them our ways and then send them off to their circle when it is found. I'll give the three of you a few minutes to say goodbye before Derek does this errand. I need to grab one of the two that I want you to start sponsoring. I'll just port back into the room once done." She gestures at the door for us to go through to the other room and we do so.
----------------------------------------
Once the door is closed, I immediately hug my Oret. "Is this a hard mission to do?" I ask as my eyes start turning shadowy and I automatically rub the scar on his right wrist.
"No, meine Bienchen, it is actually quite an easy, but long mission. It's to pick up the item that Lady Death has asked about before. I may not be back until the Hunt is over." He gives me a look and I nod back; tears start to stream from my eyes. I continue hugging my Oret until he slowly pushes me away from him. "The quicker I leave, the faster I will be back." He says while wiping tears away. "If you have any problems, send a message to Troy. He'll take care of anything that your circle can't handle." He holds my chin in between his fingers. "Be a good little bee while I'm gone! And Gaspar, keep her close while I'm gone. Meine Beinchen is quite a troublemaker and problem magnet." He taps my chin and ports away as Gaspar bear hugs me.
For about five minutes after my Oret left I cry into Gaspar's shoulder and then I get a message from Lady Death. "I have left him in the room. Please let me know if you accept him or not in the next five minutes. I need to go get the next person." I sigh and wipe my tears while trying to gather my composure. Before I am able to get it, I hear glass shatter along with a curse. Then the sound of a door getting thrown open before a random soul cry and answer occurs.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Gaspar pulls out his ice machete and throws our door open. "Fuck!" I say as I see Leonard marking a rust-colored man on his upper neck. "What even happened?" I ask before coming over to Leonard; as I step over to him, I crunch into some broken teacups. Once I touch Leonard, the rust-colored man turns to me and hisses at me.
"Hold on!" Leonard says to the other man. "This is my Submissive and my Paryea. I will not have you hissing at them!" Leonard turns to me and kisses me on the head. "I ran into the room when I heard something break, figuring it was someone trying to attack you. He attacked back, but after we touched, he soul cried to me. I had to respond. What is even your name?" He asks the man.
The man clears his throat before saying in a scratchy voice, "My name is Ansgar. I believe I am the one that Lady Death wanted your circle to sponsor. And I am deeply sorry." He says to me before bowing and kissing my hand. "My parentage leads me to be a bit of a problem. Which is why Lady Death was planning on having me a sponsoree in your circle."
"Have both of you marked each other?" I ask before figuring out a message to send Lady Death. Once I get two nods, I send a message to Lady Death. "Lady Death, Ansgar sent a soul cry to my Alpha, Leonard. And of course, he will stay with our circle because of it. We are ready to receive the second potential person in the other room if you can." I sigh and look at Ansgar before asking, "I know it isn't usually done with Jokers and their bonded, but are you willing to also bond with me and my three protectors? Or at least to me? This is your choice."
Ansgar looks at Leonard and then at me. "Where do you want to mark me?" He asks me. "If it's on my neck, no; that's just for Leonard's mark. But if you want it someplace hidden, I have no problem." I nod and mark him on his right pec. He marks me back on the middle of my spine. "I'll bond with you, but not your protectors." He says after kissing the mark.
I cuddle between Leonard and Ansgar with Gaspar guarding the door while waiting for the last person to arrive in the other room. After a few minutes, we hear a knock from Lady Death. "Let me know if you accept her or not. I need to go get Aiden and reintroduce him to you, Alexia. He'll be happy to see you again." She said before muttering something inaudible to me. Ansgar snorts before Leonard and I look at him hopefully.
"She said 'I think' under her breath. I couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or not." Ansgar says before I get up and walk to the door before opening it. I wait for Leonard, Ansgar, and Gaspar to catch up to me before we walk in and I'm struck by the sight of her. She was fidgeting with her light brown hair while staring through one of the windows. My audible gasp has her turning around before she runs up to me, touches me, and soul cries to the four of us.
I respond back instantly while Leonard, Ansgar, and Gaspar gawp at her for a few seconds before they also reply back. Gaspar takes me aside before looking at me. "My parents never expected me to be in a circle this large." He says before sighing and looking back at our newest circle member. I tut at him and walk over to her.
"What's your name, lovely?" I ask before motioning to mark her. I do so on her neck before pulling her down to sit next to me on the sofa.
She blushes and shyly looks at me from beneath her sky-blue eyes. "My name is Traudel Finn. I was found orphaned on one of the Hellhound settlements on another Dragel planet but was taken in by the Tenebris military circle after they stopped a catastrophe there. I didn't really fit in with the other Hellhounds in Lord Aiden's Estate, so he agreed to have me sent to another circle until I found my own circle." Traudel says before kissing my fingertips. "Can I mark you on your shoulder?" She asks before deeply blushing as I take off my shirt and show her my back. I hiss as she bites me, but cuddle with her afterward for a minute or two. I stare at the other four with daggers until they also mark her and vice versa.
----------------------------------------
Shortly after everyone is marked and slightly settled, I send Lady Death the message she had requested. "Lady Death, unsurprisingly my lines luck continues and Traudel soul screamed to us. You can come back with Lord Aiden at any time as we have marked one another. Also, we need a clean up on Aisle 5; some of the tea set got dumped onto the floor..." I can hear Lady Death lowly chuckling at me from my spot on the couch from wherever she is in the Estates and everyone else shivers in fear.
After five minutes of waiting, Ana pops into the room, cleans it of its messes while clearing giving us the side eye, and sets up the tea set with drinks and snacks. "The Lord Aiden and the Lady Death shall be in shortly. They are just waiting on another Hellhound to join you." She bows and then quickly exits the room.
I talk to both Ansgar and Traudel about their lives in the Estate, before there is a loud knock at the door. After waiting for a second, a small Hellhound opens the door and announces loudly, "The Lord Aiden and the Lady Death!" before closing the door after the two walk into the room and then sit on the same couch as Lord Aiden.
"Lady Rivière de l'Ombre!" Lord Aiden croons at me, "It is so lovely to meet you after all these years. You have grown up and gotten a circle of your own." I blush and wave a hand at him. "I told the Death Court that we have a mandatory meeting today to introduce you to them. Hopefully, none are stupid enough to get thoughts of trying to take you for themselves..."
I giggle as I say, "Lord Aiden, it seems you haven't changed since I met you all those years ago. Who is this little scamp? As I recall, you didn't have any young Hellhounds the last time I saw you." The little Hellhound slides down into the seat, embarrassedly.
Lord Aiden cackles as he reaches for a cup of tea. "This is one of my newest Hellhounds, Melacor. Will your circle grow that much more, Alexia?" He asks me with a knowing smirk.
"You'd know more than me, Aiden. Say Aiden, the Tenebris circle, is there any way for me to meet them? I want to thank them for finding Ansgar and Truadel." I say before grabbing a cookie and eating it in one bite.
Lady Death holds up her hand. "You will meet them soon enough Alexia." She says mysteriously before gazing at me knowingly. 'Oh fuck, what does she have planned for me?' I think to myself before nodding.
"As you say, Lady Death." I glare at her knowing that something is up. I brush my hands off before getting up and motioning for my circle mates to join me. "It's been real fun, Lady Death, but didn't Aiden say he wanted to have a Death's Court meeting?"
Lady Death pouts before nodding. "You are indeed correct. We should go do that to introduce you to the peons in that Court."
----------------------------------------
After we are escorted out of the Estate once the meeting is done and back at the house, I scream and stomp my feet. "Fuck! She's plotting something! I know it!"