Clarity // p.l

037

Burning, boiling, all consuming heat filled the pit of Elise's stomach in an instant, changing the previous comfort of lying on the couch to the swift shifting to an upright position. One hand flew to the front of her abdomen, the coiling of her stomach uncomfortable and extremely unwarranted. "Are you okay?" Emily questioned, the evident discomfort of the teenage girl causing the scarred woman to jump to conclusions.

"Something is wrong with me, I've never felt this before." The blistering feeling inside of her brought sweat to the brim of her hairline. "I need to get some air."

All but tripping on her own two feet, Elise awkwardly stumbled to the front door, unsure of what was happening. Maybe she'd eaten too many mixtures, Emily had overflown the kitchen with a plethora of different food options that she couldn't help but sample.

    Metaphorical claws raked their sharp talons across the fragile skin of her insides, allowing the sizzling cauldron of Hell to erupt within. From there, Elise lost control of herself without even being prepared to know to grip the reins to reel herself back in.

     The blue of her irises were clouded by the eerily murky white, moving with a muscle memory she didn't realize she had, the keres within Elise lurched her forward to a journey she had no control over.

     Emily opened the door, suspicion getting the best of her but before she could even bother asking if Elise was feeling any better the five foot eight female completely vanished from before her, the only remnants to account for her previous presence being the grecian symbol engraved on the wooden porch.

     Teleporting felt like running without having to move her legs, landing at the tree line just before the heart of the fight, the mystical being taking over Elise's body hissed a cynical laugh in her head. "είστε πεινασμένο παιδί. Αισθάνεστε την καύση στην κοιλιά σας." ("Are you hungry, child? Do you feel the burning in your belly?")

    "So hungry." The mechanical voice of Elise Dunatos affirmed, her clouded vision peering at the onslaught before her. This was what her ancestors lived for, the brutal deaths to feast upon from the fallen men in battle. Elise's mouth watered at the thought of consuming the last bit of life from those vampires before marking whatever was left of their souls for the taking. "How do I proceed?"

     The voices that appeared in her head laughed amongst themselves—there were two of them that Ellie could count, sisters. One was sinister while the other was wispy and sweet. "Expand your senses, smell the scent of the men in battle with blood on their mind and hate in their heart. Their aura are as black as night, corrupted by whatever sins they harbored in their life."

"Once you smell it, close your eyes and breathe in. Your body will handle the rest for you."

It sounded terrifying, the lack of control over what was happening, but it didn't feel like that at all. Once she'd locked eyes with the vampires with irises red as rubies, they were unable to move, captivated and caught, like a fly in her spidery snare. "Eat, my child."

The longer he stared the easier it was for Ker Elise to pull his soul from his body, her body absorbing it. Immediately, she'd felt replenished, stronger than she'd ever felt. Her vision was flawless, seeing even the tiniest drop of water from a distance so far it shouldn't have been possible. The glow emitting from her form was brilliant, growing brighter like a flame as she absorbed more vampires.

"Stop! Are you insane?" A third voice boomed in Elise's head, this one strong and authoritive compared to the others she'd heard before. "We are not on Olympus anymore sisters, she must conceal her aura. She will be too bright, it will draw him here."

"Draw who here?"

     Complete silence took over, none of the keres responding in worry that they'd endangered their own. But once the seal of silence had been broken, it was as if all hell broke lose. "Aries."

     "The God of war?" Millions of thoughts swirled through Elise's mind, why would he be after her? What had she done that could've possible warranted his arrival. Would there even be an arrival or was this a sick game the keres were playing?

     "We've said too much already."

     "Too much? You've barely said anything." Elise had long since snapped out of her hunger filled haze—it now being replaced with worry and more questions than she'd receive the proper answers for. "Why would Aries be after me?"

     A long pause was taken and Elise could almost feel the looks the three voices in her head were giving one another. "Because child, you are the only one who can defeat him."

    "Why would I possibly want to defeat him? He's the god of war, he will demolish me."

    "Physically no one compares to him, but he too has weaknesses."

    "Like what?"

    "Your mother." A gasp escaped her, small and feeble at the thought of her mom. "Many lives ago when your mother and her sisters lived on Mount Olympus, Aries was captivated by her and they fell in love."

Unable to properly process what was being told to her, Elise barely waited for answers before asking all of the questions she was filled with. "How is that even possible? Why would no one ever tell me this? What does that even mean? They never had children did they?"

"Calm down, child. They never had the chance to bare children, not long after they formed a relationship, she and her sisters became a target when anyone was crossed by Aries. One day she came home to find both of her sisters gone. In her rage and grief she left Aries and left Olympus."

Finally putting some of the pieces together, she understood more. "Then she met my dad."

"And had you."

"And my brother."

The sisters whispered amongst each other, her powerful state fading, their voices fading and before she disappeared, before the grecian symbol burned its place into the soil, she heard one final thing. "—A brother? Do they know of his powers?"

Poof