Hecate left, and the male smiled at her, reaching out to lock the door behind the Goddess and Etani knew her thoughts were correct. Why was it every male had to do this to her, even when she no longer had that magical pull on them? Why did she always have to fight for the basic rights to her own body?
"You're a psychopath, aren't you…?" Etani said slowly.
It was a rare condition that afflicted the humans when the mother was exposed to magic while pregnant. It gave the infant a taste and changed their brains in a way that caused permanent damage. It was the main reason why the Fae were always so careful to avoid pregnant human women. It did not happen with the other species, only the humans.
He didn't reply, but only smiled as he approached the bed.
She shifted slightly, settling herself in readiness to defend herself.
"It's such a shame I didn't get to fuck you," he said softly.
She watched him as he reached into his pants, and a very large knife slid free of the fabric, still sheathed and heavy.
Etani decided to keep her mouth shut, and instead only watched him as he sat down at the side of the bed, reaching out to take a lock of her hair.
"The witches here are all so keen for baby witches that they'll open their legs for just about anyone, but that's boring." He unsheathed the knife and used it to cut the end of her hair, a six-inch length of black strands in his hand that he smoothed between his fingers.
He looked at her, but she still refused to speak, unsure of what he was getting at. "They're so submissive and eager, like whores."
Lying her hair down on the bed, he reached up and cut his own hair, the strands curling slightly at the end. He set down the knife, picking up her hair, and he slowly began to wind the two together.
"But then there's you, the warrior Goddess bound and helpless, already pregnant so no one would notice if I had a little fun with her."
She watched his fingers working over the two locks of hair, curious more than anything at what he was doing.
"The one woman in this place who wouldn't just bend over for me and take whatever I did to them. The one woman who would fight if she could. But then I heard about what you could do. The Goddess who can kill with a kiss." He finished the elaborate knot, and she marvelled at the skill of his fingers. "So, I thought it best that you slept while I had my fun. I heard what your screams sound like before, I can use my imagination."
He held up the twisted knots of their joined hair and she looked from it to his face and back again, not understanding what it would signify.
"Goodnight Goddess. I'll try not to leave any permanent damage," he said almost tenderly.
He placed the knot against her chest, and everything went black.
***
Waking with a start, she jerked back but found herself alone in the room, seemingly nothing out of place, and the knot of hair gone with the witch.
Looking down at herself, she found nothing to indicate he had touched her, but when she moved, she felt the pulling of new skin.
Shifting herself, she parted her legs just enough for the part in the fabric to show a heavy smear of blood and fingernail marks on her skin and an odd little pattern that had been cut into get flesh. She didn't know if he had gone any further, nor did she know what the spiky pattern meant, but it was an odd sensation. It was very similar to what had happened with Epharis.
Resting her head back against the headboard, she was at least glad he hadn't left her awake while he had abused her, but it only fuelled her anger towards the lot of them. Yes, she knew he was mentally damaged, but they still had deductive reasoning. His particular brand of mental illness were not insane, they chose to do what they did because they lacked empathy, and he was the first one she had ever met, at least she thought so. It wasn't like she spent a lot of time talking to humans though. But then a thought came into her mind, what if the witches hid their men because they were all like that? How many of the men in every species were like that? It was an interesting thought.
She had no idea of how long it had been since she had fallen asleep, but the swelling at her abdomen had grown slightly, still only barely hinting at life, but she noticed it while a stranger probably would not.
She wanted them to suffer, all of them, and she smiled slightly to herself as she thought about it.
Was it possible that she was going to be able to tweak this world? Surely so, it wasn't like she was trying to change it much and it was hers, right?
Turning inward, she felt herself falling down, and she examined the net of binding that the Gods had placed around her magic. It was bulging and straining to contain a ball of light that was massive compared to the tiny little spark she had seen when she had been pregnant to Epharis and it was a clear difference. That had been a baby, a real baby. This was not a baby, and she studied it with fascination.
It was almost perfectly round and glowing a warm, pulsing green-blue that was quite pretty.
Extending a finger to the ball, she touched it and sucked in a breath as she saw the world.
It was very similar to the human world in appearance, though it was somehow more primitive. The trees were enormous, the grass was a vibrant green, and the water was so perfectly blue. The colour reminding her sharply of the coast where she had met the banshee.
It was smaller than the human world now, but it also didn't need to contain all that many people, and it would sustain them for eons, an infinite length of time. At least it would if she didn't do what she was planning, not in their current state at least.
Watching the shifting of the net, she grinned maliciously as she worked around the changes in the protection as she began to make changes to the world.
She did not make it uninhabitable, she wanted them to live, but she had made changes that would ensure they knew exactly what she had done, and she laughed as she withdrew her fingers and then rose back to herself and waited, a gleeful, sadistic joy filling her as she knew she would be bringing an end to the witches, and Hecate along with them.
***
It was another several hours before anything happened, and then pain ripped across her belly. She shrieked, surprise and pain shocking her out of her doze.
Looking down at her abdomen, she was terrified to see her belly had turned an odd black-purple colour, and she was horrified, thinking at first that the witch had done something to her.
There was no stopping her agonised scream of pain as her body tensed, and she curled herself around her belly, gasping for air as the door burst open and a mass of women came in, followed by the male witch who watched her with a faint hint of a smile from the back of the room, his eyes lingering on a smear of blood on the sheets.
"What's happening?" Naile demanded as Hecate swept into the room, her eyes landing on the blood, and then at the male as she made some connection. It was not fresh blood. With Etani's next scream, she swept over to the bed and with the help of Naile and the redhead, they forced her onto her back.
"It's time," Hecate breathed, their eyes on the disturbing shifting pattern on her abdomen.
A massive booming sound came from somewhere else in the house, but they ignored it, watching her as her voice broke, and she tasted blood in her throat.
A deafening crash came, and Daemon appeared in the doorway, covered in dust and his eyes met hers as he shoved his way through the crowd, and froze as he saw her abdomen.
Ignoring the redhead, he shoved the witch aside, and he cupped her face, brushing back sweat dampened hair and forcing her to look up at him.
"Etani come on, it's going to be okay. You just have to breathe."
She wanted to laugh as she realised, he had been there for so many pregnancies in her family line that he knew what to do in that situation, but she couldn't bring herself to laugh, instead she screamed and he growled, tapping her cheek to get her to focus on him.
"Etani! Focus!" he snarled, and she whimpered, her world spinning as she looked at him. "Stop fighting it, just accept it's happening," He said.
"I don't want it…" she whimpered, and he pressed his forehead to hers.
"I know sweetheart, I know. But you have to focus now," he said and even as he turned away, she saw his absolute terror that he had worked to hide from her.
"Daemon…" she whimpered, a perfect seed of blinding fear blooming in her chest.
He looked back at her and he kissed her hard, his fingers shaking as he stroked her cheek.
"It's okay, just let it happen," he whispered. She knew he didn't know if she would survive, the thought of her being lost to him for countless years, or possibly her being gone forever was terrible in him and it only made her fear worse.
Her scream must have been deafening in his ear, but he refused to let go of her, looking around as a scream came from someone else.
"She's bleeding!" someone shrieked, and Daemon looked down, cursing.
Looking down too, she saw it. It wasn't the damage from the witch, but a very, very large pool of bright crimson had started to spread out from under her.
Her fear hit a perfect clarity, and she felt herself detaching from the situation, that snide, cruel voice she had heard once before crossing her arms and murmuring a soft 'Well fuck…'
Taking in the figure, she saw them to be entirely black, shaped much like Etani was herself, but she was different somehow, more angular.
'That's not a very nice thing to say…' she thought, watching as they moved around her as though someone had slowed down time, a flurry of action that took an age to take place.
'Are you really going to let your stubbornness get you killed?' the other asked, and she shrugged.
'Does it really matter?' she asked, and the other laughed.
'I don't think there is any coming back from this one. What would happen to Faerie if you died?'
She didn't know, and she watched them, the blood spreading, and the blackness of her belly was turning an odd brown-red colour. She didn't feel any new pain, but she was fairly sure she was dying.
'Probably it will be gone with you,' the other said. 'Taking everyone with it. Daemon, the witches, Epharis, Versalis... Kai and Jaia.' Looking up at the other, she frowned, but they weren't done yet. 'Letari…'
Fear struck her as she thought of her sister.
'Why would my death bring them down?'
'Because, stupid, you are connected to it, you are the glue holding it together after they tried to bring it down. Do you really think there was no repercussions from their attempts to bring down the human world? You can't be this dense.'
'I never thought about it. So much has happened.'
'Start thinking about it. Your hold on it is the only thing keeping it still unless you can find some magical rope, or glue, or something. Being bound doesn't change it. Think of it like your bath, they pulled the plug and your hand over the drain is the only thing keeping the water from draining.'
'What do I do?' she demanded of the other.
'You already know what to do, idiot.'
The other splintered into nothing and she looked down, her voice ringing out in a terrible scream as she came back to herself and she reached down into herself with a total lack of care for her physical being. Her fingers found the net that was keeping her creation contained in an attempt to keep it protected.
She pried at it, ripping a thousand thread, and Daemon looked up, seeming to feel it as she decimated it. They all must feel it, and she worked as quickly as possible before they made any attempt to repair it.
Her scream was one of fury both inside and out as she placed an ethereal foot on the net and tore a giant hole in it, reaching in and feeling it pushing against her side as it tried to close around her.
She reached in, and her fingers closed around the fragile little thing that was humming with life and movements, warm and soft in her arms.
Letting go of the net, she smiled at the creation and as she curled herself protectively around it, her body was ripping itself apart, and the bed was suddenly empty.