Chapter 37: Listen to Me

Demetre I searched my mind for the quiet corners where Elinn could be hiding. With the shadows assisting her in hiding it was getting harder and harder for me to be able to find her. It had to be harder for her to be able to hear us as well, the shadows were beginning to take over and Elinn's strength had to be waning. I feared that soon neither Ari or I would be able to find her and the shadows would finally take complete control of her will. "Demetre, I can't see her anywhere. The shadows are hiding her very adamantly, do you feel any of her presence?" Ari asked me from where she was searching in our mind. "No I don't see any sign of her, don't worry though we will find her, don't despair. Everything is going to be just fine, she is stronger than she knows." I assure her. "You keep saying that, you keep telling her that she is stronger than she thinks she is, but what if it's not true? What if she isn't strong, but because of your medling she thinks she is and is suffering because of it. What if she really is just a weak girl who needs our help so that we can be strong for her?" Ari's worries were not ill founded and I knew that the evidence pointed towards her being right. "If she would stop and really look inside herself, take a good hard look at who she is and what she can do she would see it. She's scared to be strong, scared of what it will mean for her to stand up for herself. She's just nervous, but I believe in her, she is a warrior even if she does not know it yet." Again I tried to put Ari's fears to rest. "No! You are just saying that because you want her to be like you. Well Elinn isn't like you, get that through your thick demonic skull! She is a human, a human who has spent her entire life living in fear of what tomorrow will bring. She wasn't made to put up with all of this, but we were. You expect to much of her, it's all your fault that she is gone!" I could hear the hysteria creeping its way into her voice. This wouldn't do, we couldn't handle two being out of balance. Our abilities would start to collapse I could only hold all three of us together for so long. "That is enough of this kind of talk Ari! You and I both know that Elinn often discredits her abilities because of her fear of what is to come. She can see that we are right and is simply scared to trust someone again after what happened with Aurelio. But she can't see anything if you keep going on about who weak and ignorant she is in the things that she needs to feel strong in. Don't blame me for any of this. Elinn made her own decisions and now she as to live by those decisions." I could feel the heat leaving Ari and knew she saw that I had a point. "I am sorry Demetre, I am simply scared for Elinn's well being. You know that I have faith in her, I'm just worried about what is happening to her." She sounded like a scolded puppy and I couldn't help but smile a little. "It's okay, you didn't mean it. I know that you care, but if we are to get anything done we need to remain calm. We will figure out a way to help Elinn realize that we are not the enemy in this, we will help her remember." Ari nodded and continued searching for Elinn in the shadows of our mind. I felt something touch our hand and decided to leave Ari to search while I dealt with whoever needed us in the outside world. I turned to go, wishing that I could stay and look for the human girl I had come to truly love for her innocence and naivety. With one last glance around for the absent part of my being I returned to my body. "Demi, Demetre Carter needs to speak with you. Demi, you can't go to sleep now it isn't even dark outside." I returned to the body that I shared with those who were talking to me and found myself surrounded by a lot of people. The first person I could really focus on was the little girl in front of me. Annelise kneeled in front of me looking at me with curiosity and wonder. Seeing my eyes focus on her a small smile lite the little girls face. "Demi, did you know that sometimes you sleep with your eyes open? You looked a little weird, do you do that often?" She asked me and I noticed the others around me looking at her oddly. That's when I remembered that she wasn't in the habit of talking to most of the people in the building. Behind her Katen and Sam stood guard eyeing me warily. "I don't do it to often Anne, but I was trying to talk to someone very important at this moment. Now what is it that you needed to tell me?" I asked her giving her a sincere smile. "Well, umm, Alpha Carter says that there is someone coming to visit us and wants to see you." She said quietly as if scared to see how I would react to this news. "Okay, do you know who is coming to see me?" I continued to ignore the others in the room knowing that Anne was hungry for the affection that she so sought from Elinn. Plus the others needed to see that I was someone that could be trusted, this form seemed to scare them and I hope they could start to realize that I wasn't a threat to them. "I don't…" Annelise trialed off and Carter stepped in to fill in the missing information. "Elinn's mother is coming to visit, to see how her daughter is doing." I felt my stomach sink at the thought of my Queen coming to see our progress and being met with this. "She isn't going to be happy, this is all my fault," I admitted finally seeing that maybe what Ari had been saying early might have really been right. I had pushed to far and to hard causing the weaker human side of our being to slip into a pit that I could not see the bottom of. "Demetre, you didn't force any of this to happen. It's not like you wanted Elinn to disappear. You weren't the one who broke her, who tortured her, who kidnapped and abused her. You were her support quietly trying to offer as much strength as you possibly could." Carter soothed but I didn't really believe what he was saying. "I pushed her to hard, pushed her to far, she wasn't ready," Before I could even finish my explanation I felt a firm hand land on my shoulder. I recognized the feeling of that hand and couldn't look up for the shame of the situation. "You didn't do this, none of what has happened is your fault my Nakobo. You have done all that you could have done to help her, it was simply too much to fast for all of you. But I am here now and will help things get back to their proper order." There was no room for argument in her tone. The shocked faces of those around us reminded me of how silently and elegantly she moved. My Goddess was unlike anything anyone ever anticipated, not the brooding dark goddess they supposed her to be. She could be when she wanted to be, but her day to day appearance was not that much different than that of her sisters. "Nephael!" The voice rang out from the doorway to the room Ari and I had been given. Ecstan stood there breathing quickly and looking pretty pissed off. "I told you to wait until I has been given a chance to warn them. You can't just go around disappearing on me like that, not with all that is going on right now." Elinn's father reprimanded her with a dark light in his eyes. "Our daughter is missing inside her own mind. We both know what can happen when the human side of a wolf disappears for to long. The effects of this could be catastrophic and needs to be fixed as efficiently and quickly as possible." She snapped back at him returning her gaze to mine. "I am so sorry that I was not able to protect her," Ari crawled to the forefront of my mind and took the reigns. "We were doing all that we could but it wasn't enough. I was giving her all of my energy to keep her alive, but I could have saved some of it to try and fight him off. If I had only tried a harder," Once again Napheal cut us off. "I recognize that you both are in charge of helping Elinn protect herself. But that is just it, you are to help and you did the best you can. You protected her in the ways that kept her alive. If it weren't for you my little girl would be dead, so I would like to thank you. Thank you both, the most loyal wolf I have ever known and my greatest general. You have saved my little girl, now I will do my part to bring her back to us where she belongs and set her memories straight." She reassured us and we both bowed our heads in acceptance. Placing her hands on either side of my head, she took a deep breathe and dove inside of our consionse looking for her lost daughter. Using her knowledge of the shadows and connection to the darkness she quickly located Elinn. "My darling little girl I apologize in advance for the pain I am about to inflict. It is only to help you remember and I am sorry." She spoke the words aloud and in my mind hoping they would penetrate to whatever dark hole Elinn had found herself in. Then the Goddess of Death unleashed herself in our mind