Cari
She tasted her own fear. A coppery taste reminiscent of blood flooding her mouth. She wasn't ready!
It was too soon.
Andre had told her Claire was in the dungeons and wouldn't be able to escape. Cari had been of two minds about that but now wished her sister had just stayed imprisoned. Maybe it made her a coward but how could she be expected to fight her sister? Someone she still loved in spite of all she'd done.
This time a line would be drawn in the sand. There'd be no going back or pretending they could go back. Her sister would be lost to her unless she'd come to talk. Which Cari couldn't convince herself of.
There was tension in their audience. Cari knew they wouldn't interfere when her sister showed up. Not only was this not their fight but as royals, she and Andre had to prove they could fight their own battles. So even though the primordial goddess was too powerful for them, they had to face her.
Maybe the fact that she'd been slumbering within Claire would mean she'd be weaker. Not yet fully within her power. Nana had said the god personality came out after half a century, it was too soon for the goddess of love. So she had to be weaker.
"My poor, weak sister." Claire's mocking voice flooded the arena. Cari looked around to see where she might be but there was no sign of her. "Always wishing others were less than they are so you can at least be competent."
There was a bite in her sister's voice, a note of hatred that Cari couldn't reconcile. Claire had never spoken to her like this. Hearing about her sister's feelings against her wasn't the same as hearing the truth of it from her tone. Pain lashed over her heart as it finally sank in that her sister did hate her.
"That's not true and you know it." She replied, Andre's presence being the only thing giving her the strength to stand against her. Why did love have to be a weakness?
'It's not a weakness,' Andre stated. 'She's just corrupted it. Don't ever be afraid of your love, even the love you have for her.'
'What if she uses it against me? She is the goddess of love after all.' Cari asked as doubt swamped over her.
'You have a purity inside you that doesn't seem to be corruptible. I thought the answer would be to stop loving her but I think it's in loving her purely.'
Cari didn't understand what Andre was saying but had no time to analyze it as Claire stepped out of thin air right in front of them. Dani, Lan and Vin stepped closer as if to confront Claire but a single raised hand froze them in their steps.
"Why is it everyone is so eager to save poor sweet Carissa?" She mocked as she looked Cari up and down.
Claire wore a pair of three-quarter length fitted leather pants that had a thick elastic cuff at the end and combat boots. A white wife-beater finished her simple look, it was obvious she'd come for a fight. There was none of the usual jewellery she favoured and her blonde hair was in a tight bun.
"No matter how pathetic you were, everybody thought the sun rose and sank with you. 'Cari's so calming to be around, Cari makes me feel like it's okay to be just me. Cari this, Cari that anytime I turned around." She continued harshly, genuine pain in her voice. "Even Xander can't keep his eyes off you, looks at you as if his heart is breaking unless I do something.
So what is it about you? Why does everybody choose to love you when I'm literally Love. Why would the primes all choose you when I was there. Love is what they were supposed to fight for, not you!"
Cari's heart ached for her, for how misguided she was. How could she be the goddess of love and yet not understand the simplest aspects of it? Would it make a difference if she tried to explain?
"Why do you get the powerful men and what do you do to them to have them hate me?" Anguish laced her tone, ancient pain that reached out to Cari. She wanted to soothe it, to ease it. "What is so special about you! There may have been aberrant times but blondes have always been considered more beautiful, always. And yet here you are with your muddy hair and eyes but no one can keep their eyes off you."
"Claire..." Cari began, despite the scorn in her sister's voice as she described her compassion coloured Cari's tone.
"Don't!" Her sister's command was hollowed out with so many emotions Cari wanted to weep. "You don't get to be high and mighty and feel sorry for me! Not you!"
Andre held her close, his gaze trailed on Claire with the unblinking stare of a predator waiting patiently to hunt. Cari's own eyes scanned over her sister in an effort to see a difference between the person she'd always known and the being before her. This had to be the goddess' influence on Claire. Yet aside from the age and knowledge in her eyes, nothing was different.
Claire drew herself to her full height, shoulders squared and her chin up. She even managed a smile. One that wiped away all the traces of the pain she'd displayed, leaving Cari to almost doubt it. Her sister had shown her she was a great actress. Maybe that whole thing had been an act to undermine Cari before the true fight started.
Cari was afraid it might have worked.
How could she resist her twin's pain? She'd always been there for her sister, always. With a deep breath, she tried to hold back the deluge of emotions she knew would work against her when the fight came.
'You're not alone.' Andre comforted.
She had to remember that, keep it in mind. Words failed her as she once more lost herself in the strength of her mate's love. It was amazing that they'd found something so deep in just a short time. Even knowing that was part of the charm of a mate bond, Cari found it more than beautiful.
She sent all her love to him, letting him know and feel it in case she never had the chance again. It pained her that if she lost to Claire and died she'd take him with her. Wolves could survive the loss of their true mate but having a second chance one taken was more than they could take.
Claire had turned her gaze to their grandmother over Cari's shoulder. Her features twisted into a wry pained one. "I'm not surprised you chose to come to Cari's side. You always sided with her."
"Was I supposed to side with you when you were being selfish?"
"You always had a low opinion of me." Claire cried out.
"You're not entitled to people's good opinion or love!" Their grandmother shouted at Claire. "You earn it! As much as I love you Claire the truth is you're not that easy to love."
Cari drew in a sharp breath at the same time her sister did. Hers was merely shocked but Claire sounded as if she'd been wounded. Before her instinct to go and comfort Claire took over, she stilled herself.
With hatred marring the perfect beauty of her features, her sister turned to glare at her as if she'd somehow guessed Cari's unwillingness to comfort her. The last thing Cari wanted was to be the aggressor but she kept herself still, a hold on her newfound power readying her. Though she didn't have much confidence there, she knew Claire had more physical training.
Claire didn't seem fazed by the fact that Andre stood with Cari. As if the prince, who'd be better trained, was nothing. 'She's a goddess right now.' Andre reminded her.
Her sister shot a deadly smile at her before she attacked.
Cari staggered under the fist that connected to her jaw. She felt it crack under that punishing brutality. Her sister wasn't pulling her punches and she was faster than anything Cari had ever seen. The pain of the hit was excruciating, thankfully she was used to pain, to riding through it.
With a growl of rage, Andre slid past her to block the second fist that'd been coming her way. It was disconcerting that she hadn't even been aware of it. Shaking her head, she blinked to clear the involuntary tears that'd filled her eyes. The crack of pain in her jaw intensified as it shifted back into position, her werewolf healing coming to play faster than before.
Taking quick shallow breaths, she braced herself against it with her fists clutched and her nails biting into her soft palms. She had to support her mate, this was her fight and already she was on the losing end. Even though Andre was holding against Claire, it was obvious he was outmatched.
Their speed was phenomenal, but Andre was just that much slower than Claire, his powerful strikes easily swept aside as hers sometimes found their mark. It made a difference and Cari wasn't going to let her mate be defeated.
As they shifted closer to her in their combat, Cari gave a sidekick to Claire's back and was thrilled when it connected. Her sister had been so engrossed in fighting Andre she's dismissed her as a threat. Probably from her low opinion of Cari's fighting abilities.
Andre stepped away from Claire as she staggered from the kick then added his own. He kicked her upper thigh and Claire cried out as her femur snapped. Cari punched her sister, Claire's jaw cracked under her fist. It felt good to give back what her sister had given.
They tag-teamed Claire, driving her back as she fought to regain her balance and counter. Cari knew they couldn't let her gain any ground, she suspected the love goddess just might be stronger than both of them. Especially since Cari was afraid to tap into her powers, not after she'd lost it the one time she'd embraced them.
So with her down, they were merciless. Cari got a punch through to her spleen, Andre broke some ribs as Cari went for Claire's tibia. She withdrew from her emotions, concentrating on the knowledge Claire was her enemy. Nothing more. They needed to overwhelm and defeat her.
A cry filled with hate escaped her sister, power lashed from her to drive Cari and Andre away. Her wolf kicked in and she managed to twist in the air and land on her feet. With a deep breath, Cari watched the love goddess heal of all the bones she and Andre had fought so fiercely to inflict as if they were a mere nuisance.
The look on Claire's face showed how she was enjoying this. Showed that she'd only pretended to go down just to snatch their supposed victory from them. Cari met those blue eyes she'd thought she knew so well and barely recognized anything in them. This being before her was obsessed with her end to the exclusion of anything else.
"Do you know that this is your once chance at life?" Claire mocked as she walked towards her. "But I," smug exaltation filled her voice. "I'll be reborn and I'll make sure no one ever remembers your name."
Even knowing what she had to do, Cari still hesitated. She took a deep breath. Was this really the time to doubt, to hold back? She had too much to lose. Knowing Claire she just might go after Dani and the others just because they'd wanted to defend Cari. It still chilled her though, that she'd been on the verge of killing Eric and his mother, had contemplated killing everyone in the city.
Would she be that homicidal again if she gave in?
With another deep breath, she let go of the constraints she'd erected around her power. At the same time, she felt the rise in Andre's power. She didn't need to look at him to know he stood tall and ready, watching her sister with that predatory gaze. Their powers reached for each other, synced as if they were each a key to the other.
So many possibilities arose and Cari felt herself smile. "You want love do you?" Her voice came out with that cold merciless tone from before. "All you've ever done is taint it. Whether it's yours or what others felt for you."
"I'm the goddess of love!"
"That doesn't mean love belongs to you. It's freely given, freely accepted."
Claire's face twisted into something so ugly Cari couldn't imagine how her beauty could be so tarnished with one expression. "I deserve it!"
Cari shook her head. "That's what's wrong with this world, everyone thinking they deserve this or that instead of trying to earn it. That's the kind of thinking that ensures enough is never enough. Everyone in our pack loved you, but you could never be happy as long as they loved someone else too."
"How would someone as unlovable as you know anything about love?"
The same smile from before bloomed on her face, this time full of pity. "The fact that you can say that shows you know nothing of love, even if you're the goddess of love."
"Doesn't matter," Claire stated with a toss of her hair. "All that matters is that the two of you are no match for me. I will live on whilst you'll both end up nothing more than dust."
"That 's far from the truth," Cari informed her in a gentle voice. "I'm a fragment of peace and I have power besides me."
Whatever that meant, Claire paled. Cari could see her body begin to shake and her eyes darted about as if to find a way of escape. Dismissing it, Cari surged forward and with precise movements, she attacked her sister. Gone were the doubts she'd had. This was necessary.
The speed that Cari had found daunting before was as nothing. She got in under Claire's guard and when she connected she just didn't afflict physical pain. Her punch tore a hole in the goddess' aura. Claire gasped in pain, not the fake ones she'd rewarded them with before. This was pure; if pain could be said to be such.
It was as if someone else fought the battle instead of Cari. She was swifter than the wind, graceful. Her moves were ancient, sure, as if by embracing her power Cari had remembered Serenity and her skill was hers. She saw through Claire's moves, somehow anticipating where and how the next strike would be.
She took no pleasure in it, but it was so easy to reduce her sister into a mess. While the cold and detached power she had held sway, a part of her was horrified. Yet it had to be done, Claire had left her no choice. And she wasn't pregnant anymore. There was a faint echo of the child's aura but there wasn't a child anymore.
"What happened to your baby?" Cari asked as Claire lay broken and bleeding before her.
"Was I supposed to keep and raise an inferior being? He wasn't a reborn soul, a god."
Cari was glad for her detachment, it was the reason the bile that rose inside her registered as an echo. How could she! Had she ever known Claire at all? "How can you...?" Cari started to ask then her mind blanked. "Why would you...?"
Claire laughed, a maniacal laugh especially considering the bloody and torn her clothes were. "It's pathetic how naïve you are." she laughed again then gave her a twisted bitter look that had a dark light buried in her eyes, dark anticipation. "Kill me then, or are you too weak to even do that."
"I'm not suicidal, or have you forgotten that twins don't long outlive each other." Cari mocked though it was the last thing she wanted to do. She also didn't want the love goddess to know she was aware their life forces were joined.
At that point, Cari vowed to find these Primes since they were the only ones capable of breaking the bond that tied her life force to Claire's. From the look in her sister's eyes, Cari suspected Claire would gladly take her own life if it meant Cari would die with her.
The only thing Cari could think of to save her own life was to break Claire's mind. Could she do it again?