Chapter 17 Seraphina's Alliance

Chapter 17 Seraphina's Alliance
As I watched the golden light move from Luna's hands to Jake and Sarah, I found it hard to breathe. My perfect shadow soldiers were turning back into normal werewolves, and everything I had planned over the past years was coming apart in an instant.
"No!" I screamed and dark magic hit Luna. But Damon jumped in front of her and took the blow that would have killed her. Though he fell hard, he kept moving to protect the woman who had stolen my things.
"You think you've won?" I laughed meanly and stepped back toward the edge of the forest. "You have no idea what's really coming."
The air became very cold at that point, and shadows started moving in the wrong way. Not my shadow magic - something much older and hungrier.
"Seraphina," a voice whispered from nowhere and everywhere at once. "You called us."
The Void Court had arrived.
Three months ago, I'd been desperate. My marriage to Damon was a joke. He barely looked at me, spent every night looking for that worthless Luna, and our union had somehow broken the protective spells around our territory. Everything I'd worked for was falling.
That's when I found the old books hidden in my grandmother's things. Books about beings that lived before werewolves, before humans, before anything. The Void Court - creatures that fed on supernatural energy and could give power beyond imagination.
The summoning procedure had taken weeks. I'd sacrificed pack members, taken magical items, and opened doorways that should never be opened. All to reach beings that most people thought were just scary stories.
"What do you want?" the voice had asked during that first touch, sounding like wind through empty graves.
"Power," I'd answered simply. "Enough power to take everything I deserve."
"And what do you offer in return?"
"Access to werewolf areas. Thousands of magical beings for you to feed on."
The quiet had lasted so long I thought they'd refused. Then: "Acceptable. But we expect proof of your commitment."
That proof had been changing my own pack members into shadow-creatures. Each transformation had given me more dark power while showing the Void Court I was serious about our deal.
Now they were here to collect.
"You promised us werewolf energy," the voice continued as the temperature dropped even more. Ice crystals formed on the trees around us. "Yet these creatures fight against your control."
"It's temporary," I said quickly, trying not to show fear. You never showed fear to the Void Court. "Luna has some kind of healing power, but it won't last."
"Luna," the voice repeated slowly. Around me, shadows began taking shape - tall, thin forms that hurt to look at directly. "The Reality Shifter. Yes, we sense her power."
My heart stopped. "She's a what?"
"A Reality Shifter. One who can change the very fabric of life." The lead Void Being stepped forward, and looking at it was like staring into space between stars. "Her power is far more valuable than common werewolf energy."
I felt sick. I'd been so focused on killing Luna that I hadn't realized what she really was. A Reality Shifter was the rarest kind of supernatural being - someone who could actually reshape the world around them.
"You didn't know," the Void Being noticed. "How depressing. We made a deal with someone who doesn't even understand what she's fighting."
"I can still deliver," I said desperately. "Luna is right there. Help me catch her, and you can drain all her power."
The Void Being turned its head, considering. Around the battlefield, Luna was still healing corrupted pack members while Damon and Marcus fought the leftover shadow-creatures. None of them knew what was coming.
"Very well," the Void Being decided. "But the terms of our deal have changed. We want not just her power, but her genes."
"What do you mean?"
" The child. Aria. She carries Reality Shifter powers that haven't fully developed yet. Combined with her parents' power, she could change entire dimensions. " Horror washed over me. I was evil, but I wasn't monster enough to hurt a three-year-old child. " I never agreed to—"
"You summoned us," the Void Being interrupted coldly. "You opened the doors. You made promises about magical energy. Now you'll keep those promises, or we'll drain your life force instead."
Around us, more Void Beings emerged from the dark. Dozens of them, all hungry and ancient and completely without pity. I understood I'd made a terrible mistake thinking I could control them.
"Besides," the lead Being added with what might have been amusement, "the grandmother has already agreed to our new terms."
My blood turned to ice water. "What grandmother?"
That's when she stepped out from behind the Void Beings - an older woman who looked like Luna but with eyes that burned with reality-consuming power.
"Hello, Seraphina," Luna's grandmother said sweetly. "Thank you for opening the doors for us. It saved us so much trouble."
"You're supposed to be dead," I whispered.
"Death is just another reality," she answered. "And I've learned to shift between many worlds over the years. The Void Court has been my friend much longer than yours."
Everything clicked into place. The dark magic I'd been using, the books I'd found, even my desire for power - none of it had been my idea. Luna's grandma had been manipulating me from the beginning, using me to open doorways so the Void Court could enter our world.
"You see, dear," the grandmother continued, "I needed someone to call the Void Court while I stayed hidden between realities. Someone desperate enough to make bad deals, but not smart enough to understand the consequences."
I wanted to scream. I'd thought I was the hunter, but I'd been prey all along.
"Now," the grandmother said, turning toward the battlefield where Luna was still healing pack members, "it's time to collect my granddaughter's power and reshape existence according to my vision."
The Void Beings began moving forward, their hunger filling the air like poison. Luna looked up from healing another corrupted werewolf, and I saw her face change as she understood what was coming.
But then something impossible happened. Little Aria, who'd been standing quietly beside Marcus, suddenly stepped forward.
"Great-grandma," she said in her clear three-year-old voice, "you're being very naughty."
And the most powerful Reality Shifter who'd ever lived stopped dead in her tracks, looking at the child with absolute shock.
"That's impossible," she whispered. "You shouldn't be able to see through my power."
Aria smiled with those too-old eyes. "I can see through everybody's power, Great-grandma. Even yours. And I know something you don't know."
"What could you possibly know that I don't?"
The three-year-old's smile turned sad but determined. "I know that Mommy, Daddy Damon, and Daddy Marcus aren't the only ones with a soul-bond."
She raised her tiny hand, and reality began to shift around us in ways that made my mind hurt.
"I have a soul-bond too. With someone you really, really don't want to make angry."