Chapter 112 - Revelations Part 2

Dylan POV.

It's nice to feel Hope so close to me, it's nice to see that we're connected like this, I had despaired at the way Kaiden had treated her, but I couldn't fight back, Sin hadn't let me and listening to everything they talked about I can understand why I didn't have to interfere.

I brushed my lips against her temple and stared at Marcus.

"The enemy has been gaining power for centuries, the first time I heard anything about a corrupted one on the Earth plane was a long time ago, I think about 800 years ago."

The Angel's voice is calm, and he seems relieved to finally be able to tell.

"Since it was only restricted to beings of the Lycan and Werewolf race, then I didn't even bother or interfere, after all, this is something your race needed to fix." I saw Marcus look at me, Kendrick and Kaiden.

"But as time went on it seems that nothing was being done, some attacks by the corrupted were repulsed, but the main culprit was still free. I knew from various reports that he was gathering power, breaking various artifacts of the Moon Goddess. Again, I did not interfere, as Humans or Hunters were not being affected."

Marcus then looked at Lestat.

"Then I saw a war being fought in the vampiric domains and it caught my attention, because it reminded me a lot of what is happening with the lupines in general, at some points I used my power to help Lestat, but our alliance didn't last long, and we went back to being neutral."

I can feel a certain resentment from the two. They still needed to talk and get right, even if they had accepted each other as Hope's Chosen, there was still this bad feeling between them. Hope sighed.

"You two!" She spoke aloud, and they both turned to Hope. "I don't know exactly what happened or what's going on... But just like I hurt you, I don't want you two to fight each other. What I do know is that Lestat blames Marcus because his first Mate died... I don't know the circumstances, but I do know this: If I die in battle, will you blame each other and go to war?"

I kissed the side of her face lightly.

"If the answer is yes, then I will ban all of you from fighting tomorrow... Paths can be changed, but the decisions Lestat's Mate made must have influenced your death much more... Especially since I read the general events of each of your libraries, it wasn't complete, but you can sort yourselves out after Marcus' reports."

Hope doesn't get off my lap, but her voice is authoritative and one that reminds me a lot of the day she arrived at practice. Though she hasn't said much, her interaction with Prince Erick is very similar to what I'm seeing now.

Both Marcus and Lestat sighed, and Marcus' attention turned to us again.

"After the Vampire War, the leader went into hiding and I didn't hear from him anymore, I thought he was dead... But I was wrong... When I saw that divine conjunction was about to happen, I immediately knew that the War had become much bigger and that it should now involve many more races. I went into defensive mode and returned with the alliances between the races to find out who was the person or persons, who had been blessed by the Gods."

Marcus looked closely at Hope.

"The Silver Rage pack keeps their records very well, and it wasn't until Hope showed up for training, along with another group, that I saw who the divine chosen one was. Just by the way she carried herself, afraid of nothing, her reasoning and fighting skills were impressive, even more so for someone who had been born almost human."

The Angel smiled.

"And I immediately felt that attraction, like the song of a siren and I couldn't resist, I just let myself go, because the more I saw her, the more I felt proud and surprised... The carefree way she led her life and focused on becoming the best warrior there was... I forced her to do many things. I pushed her body and mind to limits I didn't think she could bear, but in the end, she came out laughing."

I squeezed Hope lightly against me, I had seen very little of this side of my Mate, but I know well how she could be, the hunt for little hats showed me that well.

"I couldn't deny the bond of Fate when I felt it, being an Original I may or may not accept Moros' request... The only thing Hope asked was that I vow not to mark her without her consent, and I did, so she accepted the bond as well... After that, she explained a bit about the curse and although I didn't understand it properly, I knew I was now at the center of the war that had started 800 years ago."

Marcus then fell silent, and Hope took a deep breath.

"I was born because the leader became too strong, and the Gods needed someone on the earthly plane who was as strong as this being... What no one knows is that the attack on the pack when I was 8 years old, was precisely him looking for me to kill me and get to absolve the divine spark inside me." I saw her smile bitterly. "But since I was always passionate about fighting and had been training for 3 years, it wasn't as easy as he expected. The enemy was not prepared for an 8-year-old girl to fight back and still manage to kill four of his warriors..."

I saw the woman I love close her eyes and then open them, looking directly at Kendrick.

"After that attack, Alpha Julian put up more protections around the territory and patrols increased, which made the enemy not want to attack directly anymore. What I remember from that day was that he managed to cast the curse on me, and that curse was activated when Melvin marked me."

Kendrick ran his hands through his hair.

"If you had said that back then, I'm sure we would have sought out this enemy... You would have been much safer." I listened to his worried, frustrated voice.

"And what exactly would you have done?" Hope asked.

"My father would probably train you a lot more..." Kendrick began.

"Or he would have locked me up..." Hope cut him off.

"Or when I came for training at the castle, he would have sent you along... After all, you said yourself that training among your own and the Lycans managed to unlock a lot of specific skills."

I felt Hope want to get off my lap and let her. She walked over to Kendrick and held his face.

"Would you have let me train like you did? At only 13 years old?" Hope's question made Kendrick tense and then he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"No... Even though we always trained, I hated seeing you hurt, even when you came out of the arena laughing with broken bones." Kendrick answered truthfully.

"So, there's your answer" Hope gave him a smooch and turned away looking at the five of us. "I know that Lestat and Marcus never did less just because of my age, they never got in the way of training and really always put me in very difficult positions to overcome and it made me stronger, more agile and made me an even better warrior."

"We can't change the past, but we learn from it... Marcus knows now that he doesn't have to just stay neutral because what happens in a race influences it directly or indirectly... Lestat knows he made several mistakes in his war, and he doesn't want to make them again..." I saw my woman smile. "I have learned that I must trust more in those I have chosen, regardless of the Gods. So, let's just finish making the battle preparations and go back to dinner, get some sleep so that we'll all be fine early tomorrow morning."