Chapter 54

**GUINEVERE**

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I could feel the moment Sierra's spirit separated from my body. While the pain was distressing, it was nothing compared to the unbearable pain I had felt when Vladimir's soul left his body; the moment our link snapped. It felt like I was dying with him like he'd taken an irreplaceable part of my being with him. The moment Sierra's spirit left my body, all of that pain disappeared, and I could concentrate on the task I'd been given; defeat Jupiter. While saving the wolf race was reason enough to risk my life destroying Jupiter, I had an even bigger reason now; he'd taken someone sacred away from me; someone who gave me a reason to live, and for that and that reason alone, I wanted to watch Jupiter die by my hands.

As Sabrina and I charged Jupiter, Sabrina's steps faltered when she felt Sierra begin to separate from us; it was I who urged my wolf spirit on. Sabrina tried to explain how we wouldn't be strong enough to defeat Jupiter without my succubus spirit, but I explained that we are only as strong as we imagine ourselves to be. If we believed we needed Sierra to defeat Jupiter, we would lose without her by our side, but if we had faith we could do it without her, then we would. That was all the pep talk Sabrina needed to increase her speed and charge straight for Jupiter's throat.

Jupiter was smart. He could see Sabrina and me charging him but feigned ignorance up until the very moment we lunged forward; then, he shifted to the right and flung out his left arm, clothes lining Sabrina mid lunge and tossing us into a hard oak tree, when he ripped his arm forward, causing Sabrina to let out a little whimper.

*'GET UP.'* I urged Sabrina through our mindlink. *'He's headed our way! You need to GET UP!'*

I could feel the dizziness in Sabrina's mind, and I knew the impact against the tree had stunned her, but we didn't have time for her to rest. We needed to move our asses now. I inhaled deeply as I began pushing myself forward; if Sabrina wouldn't wake up, I would force the shift and go head-to-toe with Jupiter in my human form. It might be a futile attempt at surviving, but it would be better than giving up and letting him kill us now. As the familiar tingles of the shift run through my body, I start to feel Sabrina's presence again. She pulls back control and stops the shift.

*'Leo and Damien are on their way to help.'*

*'No, Sabrina, Damien, and Leo cannot in any way interfere with our fight against Jupiter. I know how Jupiter's mind works. He will use Damien and Leo against us. They need to stay working on the outskirts of our fight.'*

*'Leo knows I've been injured, Gwynn; there's no deterring him now; he's made up his mind; he's on the way to help us.'*

*'Let's just show our men how badass we are then.'* I reply to Sabrina, concentrating on my third eye chakra as I try to summon the moon goddess to our plain, the same way she's summoned me to hers.

*'Yes, Child?'* Luna's melodic voice hums throughout my body.

*'We need your strength, Luna. The battle against Jupiter has only just begun, and already I've lost my succubus spirit. Sabrina's been badly injured, and from how things look, Jupiter will win this war. We're badly unprepared.'*

*'Have you forgotten everything I've taught you?' *

*'No, I remember it all, Luna, but it isn't enough. You taught me the basic workings of a man's mind that you haven't spoken to in centuries. The man you once knew, the deranged God who seeks nothing but power, he's still there, but now he's more cold and calculating. He's harnessed his powers for war and strengthened his succubi gifts over the years. He isn't the same person you married. The little lessons you taught me aren't going to do shit against him except buy us a little bit of time before we are all slaughtered.'*

*'You've already given up hope. Which means you've already lost the battle. Jupiter is feeding off your self-doubt Guinevere.'*

*'It isn't self-doubt, LUNA!'* I yell at the Moon Goddess, not caring anymore that she's the creator of my people, *'It's called I don't want to die being a Martyr. I know I need help, and I'm asking for it. Please lend us your strength if you can't come here and fight against him. Your wolves need your help in this fight. Sabrina needs you! Do the right thing for once, and don't hide from your problems!'*

I can feel the moon goddess's anger course its way through my body, but I still don't cower from my position. We needed her help to win this battle, and I wasn't willing to take no for an answer. As the goddess's anger grew stronger, it felt like tiny shards of glass were cutting into my body, etching my skin and spilling my blood. I wanted to cry out in pain, but I gritted my teeth and took the pain. If this is what I needed to do to get her to listen, then this is what I'd continue to do. It felt like this mental torture went on for hours. When I felt like my body was going to collapse from the exhaustion of mental warfare, Luna's anger receded from my body, and in its place was a power unlike any I'd ever felt before.

*'What? What is this? What's going on?'* I ask Sabrina, confused as to why I would feel this way, especially after I felt like everything had been drained from me only seconds before.

*'It's the power of the moon goddess. Mom has given you all her power to command. Right before she left, she told me to let you know when you came to that you've earned your place as the Luna Queen of the Solar Moon pack, and you've earned your title as Priestess to the Moon Goddess.'*

*'How long was I out for?'* I ask Sabrina as I try to catch a view out of her eyesight and only see a cloud of white.

*'Not long. My mother cast a shield around us before she left. It offers us a small amount of protection against Jupiter. She said it was the best she could do to hold him off until you came to.'*

*'And Daminen and Leo?'*

*'Damien saw that we had the Jupiter situation under control, so he forced Leo to head toward the outskirts of the battle to help the pack soldiers fight against the undead. Nikolai's army showed up a few minutes ago; he and the other vampires are fighting through Jupiter's from the outside-in.' *

*'Okay,'* I reply, thinking about how best to approach this Jupiter situation; we won't have long before the barrier breaks.

Jupiter has already proven his agility and strength. He's also cunning. We could try going blow for blow with him, but I don't know how our body will fair against that many blows from a God. We might be able to outwit him, but he has the mind of a commander; he's been at war since he was born, so the odds wouldn't be in our favor if it came to a battle of wits. There was only one possibility that could work.

*'I have an idea, but for it to work, we need to open the barrier now and then close it again once Jupiter is inside. We need to block everyone else out.'*

**SABRINA**

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*'I have an idea, but for it to work, we need to open the barrier now and then close it again once Jupiter is inside. We need to block everyone else out.'* Guinevere stated, her tone laced with a desperation that worried me some.

She wants to lock Jupiter inside our protective barrier. If we did that, it would mean we were blocking out all of our resources; however, it would also mean sheltering everyone. I felt around in my mind's eye for Guinevere. I wanted to know that she was making this choice from a sound mind. I didn't want to feel any traces of the previous darkness clouding her mind; what I felt this time when reaching for our connection was the complete opposite. I felt nothing but pureness, raw power, determination, and grit. Some might say that I was feeling the residue leftover from the intake of the moon goddess's power, but I knew better. What I was feeling was my person, becoming who she was meant to be. She was born to be a ruler, a leader, a protector, and an influencer; this strength was the strength of Guinevere, and I couldn't deny her, even if her idea sounded crazy.

*'Let's do it.'* I respond, more determined than ever, to follow my person to the ends of the world.

I partially shift, allowing Guinevere to gain some control as she began to visualize the shield opening like a door, allowing Jupiter and his darkness inside. It didn't take long for my mother's magic to begin to flow through Guinevere and react the way Guinevere was visualizing. I watched, somewhat in awe, as exactly what Guinevere had visualized in her mind manifested. The moment I felt Jupiter's dark aura begin to circle into the shield, I blocked out the surrounding world, so I could focus everything I had on my enemy.

"So, you think that now your harness the power of the moon goddess and her bastard child, you'll be able to defeat me?" Jupiter asks Guinevere, his voice making my blood boil.

Guinevere doesn't bother with answering Jupiter, she's too busy visualizing the shield closing back up and trapping the three of us inside its bubble, cutting us completely off from the world, and that's when I realize what Guinevere is doing. She isn't helping our situation against Jupiter; she's helping the pack's situation against his undead army. By successfully cutting Jupiter off from the rest of his army, he won't be able to revive the dead. Once our wolves and our vampires kill his men, they'll remain dead. She's given our warriors a fighting chance.

Jupiter smiles when the shield becomes a full sphere again, completely locking us out from the world. "Ah, I see what've you done. Very smart." Jupiter purrs his voice, almost praising, "But, what else should I expect from my direct descendant."

Even though I knew Guinevere was related to Jupiter, I couldn't help the deadly growl that spilled from my muzzle.

Guinevere smiled, her smile eerily similar to Jupiter's. "I may be your descendant, but I'll never be like you." She replied cheerfully as my mother's powers came pouring from her body, hitting Jupiter square in the chest and sending him flying through the air, causing him to smash against the same oak tree I'd been flung into earlier.

*'Sabrina, we need to separate now. Two targets will be harder to hit than one.'*

*'If we separate, you'll be fully exposed. You won't have my body or my powers to shield you.'* I respond, my heart racing at her suggestion.

*'I know, and I don't have time to argue with you about why we shouldn't. Jupiter is a God, he's going to recover quickly from that hit, and then he'll send one of his own at us. It's either now or never, Sabrina.'* Guinevere hisses in response; her voice laced with urgency.

She doesn't give me time to respond. Instead, I feel her mimicking the feeling we'd experienced earlier when Sierra had left. This time there is no agony from a spirit being torn from one's body. It seems that if a spirit is shed willingly, then no pain accompanies it because I feel whole one moment, and the next, I feel like I'm missing a major part of who I am. When I look down at my body, I find that I'm more a mystic wolf than an actual being and over to my side is Guinevere. She's glowing and has a white diamond tattoed where her third eye chakra would be, a symbol showing she's the high priestess of the Moon Goddess.

As Guinevere predicted, Jupiter has recovered quickly and is now blindly shooting dark magic every which way. When the bolt of magic hit's the outside walls of the sphere, it disintegrates into nothingness, the purity of the shield rendering his magic useless. Jupiter had used his dark magic as a method of distraction, and by the time I realized his magic was ineffective in the sphere, Jupiter had already made his way up to me and had a dark knife pressed against my jugular.

"Drop the weapon, Guinevere." Jupiter directed at my human counterpart.

Looking in her direction, I could see that Guinevere had a ball of powerful white magic in her hand, her arm reared back, ready to throw. Reaching out, I felt for our mind link and was relieved to find we still had it.

*'Don't you dare drop that ball. Not for me, Guinevere. I've lived my life; this is what I came back for. I came back to defeat Jupiter. We won't get another chance if you back down now and miss your only opportunity to destroy him, He will kill me, and then he'll kill you and everyone else we were supposed to save.'*

I watch the tears start to flow down Guinevere's eyes. I can feel through the mind link that she's not going to listen to me, but I can't let her lose her one opportunity at ending Jupiter, not for me.

*'We can find another wa..'*

I don't let Guinevere finish her sentence; I can't. The moment I see her arm start to falter. I reach up, grabbing Jupiter's arms and lunging myself against them, causing his dark blade to pierce my throat. I can feel the darkness spilling into my light spirit, eating away at it; it's a death I've been handed before and comes with a sense of Deja Vu.

*'Do it now, Guinevere.'* I command through our link before I feel my mother's hands reaching out to me.