Dead

RORY

Nemesis could be anyone, but I’m pretty certain she is a higher being.

While researching her, I learned about a goddess named Nemesis, the goddess of revenge and divine retribution. She delivers a righteous justice that she deems necessary, with no mercy.

What could my parents have done to enrage Nemesis to the point that she tried to kill me? I guess I’ll find out.

“Aurora,” Achlys calls out as I find myself surrounded by white mist once again, the chilling loneliness sending shivers up my spine.

As a child, I’d always wondered what death felt like. People would always ruminate any time a pack member would die or get killed. They would mourn and contemplate what would happen after death.

I thought it would be cold and lonely and dark. It’s all of those things except for dark. No, it’s light. Blindingly light. If this wasn’t the afterlife, I would go blind, yet not everything works here like it works back on Earth.

It’s different. Complex. It just feels…different.

“Aurora,” another voice, yet a familiar one, whispers, snapping my head in that direction. And I see a woman.

Raven-black hair flows down her back to her hips. Her dress, a haunting white, wafts like Achlys’s, yet there is still no wind, no air. A vicious smirk is set upon her face as she stares daggers into me.

And then I remember where I know her voice from: rogue territory. The voice that sent me astray, made me lose my way when following Everett. Just before Ace came. She was there.

And then when I died. It was her voice, one of the voices was hers. She’s been stalking me for a long time—probably since she tried killing me when I was a child.

“I’ve been wanting to meet you for a while now, especially all grown up. Yet you always manage to evade me.”

“What do you want with me?” I ask innocently.

“What do I want? I would think it obvious by now, from what that bitch told you. I want you dead,” she states bitterly, edging closer to me.

“Stay away from her,” Achlys warns, pushing her back with some invisible force. But it only maintains her distance, and ever so slightly she inches forward.

“Why do you want to kill me?” I ask.

Nemesis narrows her eyes at me before snarling at me.

“Your mother, that adulterous bitch. I was married, and she fucked my husband. She made him think that she wanted him, wanted to be with him. She made him fall in love with her. And I was pregnant.

“He didn’t want to be tied to me anymore, and he thought a child would do that. So he killed my unborn child, poisoned me just enough to kill my baby, just for your mother.

“Of course, your mother, bitch that she was, didn’t want him after all. She found your father, she wanted him. And I was left with an unfaithful, murderous husband and a dead baby.

“Now I’m going to kill her baby, her daughter, you. That’s retribution.”

“You took me from her. It’s because of you that I don’t even know my parents. How is it fair that I pay for their mistakes? I’m not their daughter; they barely parented me,” I say, my hands trembling.

“Who were my parents then?”

“I suppose you should know who you are before you die. Your mother and father were divine beings—a god and a goddess, like me and Achlys. Which is how you are not just a regular human.

“I took you from your parents, took you to Earth where I thought you would be vulnerable. To go to Earth, gods and goddesses are no longer in their divine forms, but in human form.

“I thought I would be able to kill you. But I didn’t realize the immense power you had, even on Earth.”

~A goddess?~ I’m a goddess? That’s insane. I’m weak and human, and if I were a goddess, I think I would be able to at least stand up for myself.

“Immense power?” I ask almost inaudibly.

“Unfortunately, yes. You’re not a strong human, by any means. And I cursed you to be clumsy to bring you here more often.

“But Achlys is always pushing you through that door you created before I can get to you and stop you from going through.”

“The door I created?” There are so many questions I need her to answer, yet she is the enemy. I need to get away from her. But I need to know who I am, what I am, to understand it all.

“So clueless, aren’t you, little girl? A goddess all this time, and to everyone else, you seemed like the weakest little human.

“Until you started to know better. Until you knew you couldn’t die. Then you thought you were better than everyone else, didn’t you?”

“No,” I squeak out.

“Little clumsy Rory. I’ve been watching you your entire life. Since your mother gave birth, I knew you would be my revenge.

“I killed my husband and your mother, of course, but not until you were born, just so I could see the look on her face when she knew I took her baby and she would never get her back, just like she did to me.

“But you, innocent, sweet Aurora, you’re nothing like her. In fact, that’s what made me misjudge your power. The door you created. The door between life and death.

“You can create a door that saves you; you can grant life to others with your own and then create the door to save yourself.

“And Achlys pushes you through it before I can get to you. Because your presence isn’t right here. But it will be. When I kill you.” She struggles against Achlys’s force fiercely, trying to get to me.

“Run,” Achlys commands.

It takes me a few moments to get out of my contemplative state and move my feet. And I dash off, running.

Luckily here I’m not so clumsy, perhaps because I’m no longer human in here, with my human body left behind on Earth.

Here, I’m not plagued with the curse, so I run. Run faster and smoother than I ever have done. And because I’ve never been able to run like this in my entire life, I feel like I’m flying.

But a hand wraps around my leg, dragging me across the mist, making me scream out. The hand feels like it’s pure fire, burning me, scorching me.

I kick and I shout, pleading for a rescue like the weak girl I am, needing a savior every time. But I do. I need someone to save me.

“Aurora,” Achlys calls out. “You’re not some defenseless human anymore. In here, you’re much more. You can fight. You may not be as strong as her, but you can still fight. Just fight.”

So I fight, and fight and fight.

But it all seems impossible. I can’t defeat her. I’m not strong enough. I can’t even get her hand off my leg, and she’s hauling me closer to her.

“Please,” I whimper as another hand is placed onto my other leg, scalding me with a fierce heat.

“Little Aurora, so young and so pretty. Your beauty rivals your mother’s—even triumphs it, I would say. She could always lure any man to her with that beauty and her trashy, seductive ways.

“But you, so innocent, so in love with your strong protective Alpha. Now, Selene protected you well there.

“She programmed every rogue to protect you if you needed protection in rogue territory, preventing me from getting you there so easily. And you mated with that Alpha; fate was mocking me.

“Luna of the most powerful pack in the country, with a handsome, respectful, smart mate. The moon goddess as you call her, as all you wolves worship her…she’s like your aunt of sorts.”

I can barely concentrate on what she is telling me, although she’s disclosing to me everything I’ve wanted to know.

All too late, it appears.

“Please stop,” I scream, still kicking, although I feel so worn down it’s hard to do anything anymore.

“Stop? I haven’t started. But I suppose I could make it quick. You are so innocent after all, so adorable,” she almost coos before pulling me further toward her.

I want Everett. I want him with me. He may have felt our bond breaking, with me being dead. But I still feel it. I still feel him. Even though I can’t feel it physically anymore. I can sense him. Far away, with my body.

I don’t want to hurt him. And I can tell he’s hurting. I don’t want to die and leave him. I love him. I can’t hurt him. I refuse to.

Out of everyone, I will not be the one to hurt him. And I don’t want to lose him.

I push, harder than I ever have before. Harder than I ever thought was possible before. And I run, run faster than I have. Faster than I can even comprehend.

And I run to Everett. To my mate. My handsome, respectful, smart mate. My strong protective Alpha.

I don’t stop until I see the door. A door I apparently made. Green like my eyes.

Green like the forest leaves and the woodland hills. Green like emeralds. And I push myself through. I didn’t even know I could do that.

But I go. Back to Everett. Back to my love.