Chapter 117: The Return of a Familiar Face

A fiery storm was brewing in this room as everyone pointed fingers towards the moon elves.

"Your kind are always protecting the witches! I knew you would be the death of us!" Kaiden huffed, spewing fire out of his hands.

The moon elf waved his hands, not wanting any conflict. He was coming clean, after all.

"Hey, I've only seen her once, and I was just a kid. She saved my mother from a sickness years ago." He assured everyone.

Elves, though, could live longer than two hundred years, and he was one hundred.

"And you never reported her?" Asher questioned harshly. "Do you realize what you've done?!"

"As I said, I was just a kid the last time I saw her. Dad always said we had a good relationship with her. That isn't even the important part of what I'm trying to tell you." Jaxon sighed, shifting his eyes towards me.

"Then get on with it!" The blaze elf yelled, triggering his gaze to lock onto him.

When heated, these fiery elves could be almost the same as Lycans, yet Jaxon wouldn't allow disrespect to befall him.

"Watch your tone, Kaiden," the moon elf warned, mana swirling around him.

Charles stood up, placing his hand between the two. "Okay, that's enough. Let's not fight each other. We have more pressing matters."

Fenris and I stared at the council, unable to believe they would lose their cool quickly, especially over information sharing. It was shocking to hear Jaxon knew the eternal witch, but I was more interested in what he would say next than that fact alone.

The past can't change, but the future can! We still have time to stop the madness!

Releasing a sigh, Jaxon let it go, glancing back towards me.

"This should interest you, Lilith. Father paid Edna with various artifacts to save my mother." He informed, instigating me to get dazed from the thought alone.

Various god artifacts are in that woman's hands?!

In an instant, I felt faint enough to lose my balance. Stress wasn't good for me in my current state. My wolf grabbed onto me, preventing me from falling to the ground. Amelia swiftly ran towards me, worried that I may have hit my limit, which I had.

This is all too much… What hope do we…

Melody rushed to find a chair for me to sit on. The arguments continued to spurt forward because of the new revelation. Everything was going out of control—much worse than we had thought.

Part of me had hoped we were in time to stop the witches from summoning Alijah, but that was impossible, too. They had the means to do it for far longer than we realized.

"This is chaos." Asher slumped into his chair as the bickering continued.

It was hard to keep up as no one could handle themselves professionally anymore. Edna had various artifacts in her grasp, leaving little doubt that she would use them with any royal-blood vampire or Lycan.

Or perhaps you can use them too.

Nothing was known about eternal witches. By the time Melody found a chair for me to sit on, even though Fenris didn't want to leave my side. He had to step away from me and into his role as leader, leaving me behind with Amelia, Ben, Liam, and Melody.

Order was lost until my wolf slammed his hands onto the table, startling everyone.

"Enough bickering! Jaxon, do you know what the artifacts were?" he snarled at the heads of the races.

They swiftly quieted down after hearing him. His body radiated a slight hint of red, making him appear even more menacing. Amelia vented some air to me using a fan in her bag. Melody told me to breathe in slowly to steady my nerves.

Any stress seemed to put me over the edge of my nausea. My world went asunder, unable to get a grip on it. Yet my chaotic thoughts bombarded me, trying to figure out what Edna was planning and how she would do it.

"Fenris, I was a kid. All I remember from back then was that one looked like a dagger, and another was a staff-looking one. I don't know more than that. I swear on my children. That's all I know." Jaxon gave his word.

Sadly, his father had passed away years ago, same with his mother; there was no way for him to know what his parents' intentions were.

"Well, fuck aren't we in a pit of doom." Fenris sighed.

Edna had planned this for longer than we had been born. There were thousands of years of plotting to catch up, which was impossible. We were running straight into a dead end once again.

"You said she had a vampire working for her?" Charles cleared his throat, trying to keep his emotions in check.

"Yes, Cora Blake, she was a recruit in Cerberus," Fenris informed.

Asher stood up from his chair, surprised by her name.

"You said, Cora Blake? That means they have the means to use it. Fuck! Why did this have to happen?" the vampire tried to gulp down his worries, to no avail.

"Wait, I thought only those of royal blood could use artifacts without paying the cost," Nyla commented.

Asher nervously cackled, shaking his head. "Yes... If it's who I think it is, it's my sister's daughter. She has always been this activist. I don't know if she knows what she got herself into this time, though."

"Cora's an activist?" Fenris queried, shifting his eyes towards the vampire.

Before all of this, she was a pest who once took me to a meadow, but slowly, it became much more than that. She had used me to get him out of Cerberus before the town was attacked.

Clearly, you used me to get him out and tried to kill him!

If she were successful, then Fenris would've...

"Yes, it all began when her girlfriend back in Blohin, a small village near Night City, was attacked and left in a coma. She passed soon after and was also a witch." Asher informed, closing his eyes.

Night City was the capital of Celnaer, the vampire nation where Asher ruled as king.

All the pieces are falling into place. Violence ultimately leads to more bloodshed. Yet, is there any way to stop them without it?

I was part of that vicious cycle when I tore into those renegades in anger.

It has to end. Somehow, it has to stop, but how?

"So, Edna's using her, too. Great, let's keep adding names to that pile." I muttered, feeling my world spin.

The lack of energy in my voice triggered Fenris to glance back towards me.

"Lily…" He breathed, shaking his head before tearing his eyes away from me again to face the leaders before him.

"So now we know the how, but when and where are still unknown." My wolf sighed.

Everyone in the room was silent when someone suddenly opened the door behind us. I couldn't believe my eyes when I finally saw who it was.

It has been years since...

"Perhaps I can help you with that kiddo." Tania declared, coming into the room with her usual elegance.

The last thing I knew about her was that she was traveling the world.

"Tania..." I whispered.

My voice caused her to smile at me. However, she didn't stop until she was in front of the table full of leaders. She was still as beautiful as I remembered her, and what she said next would change the game for us.