Sour Souls The Morningstar Series Book 6
Sour Souls Chapter 39

"Where the f**k is my mate!" I seethed in Bexley's face.

"Calm down Ares." Kee said.

"Calm down? My mate is missing, and you want me f*****g calm down?!" I shouted.

I let out a roar as I started throwing random objects in the room. I let Emilia have her space. I knew I should have kept her by my side. The area was clear though. Kee checked herself. How did this happen?

One second I was feeling fine. Hell, Rex and I were on cloud nine after Emilia told us to call her Emi. The thing I've been wanting since day one.

Then, I felt the distance pains. They brought me to my knees instantly. It's worse because Emi and I are already connected, thanks to that other side of her.

"Who was the last one to see her?" I asked.

"She was just standing right here." Nix said.

"You." Kee said pointing to a girl.

This is the girl that originally flagged Emilia down when we got here. Emi called her Kate.

"You know something, but your head is foggy." Kee said.

"What the fuck does that mean?" I asked.

Kate shrunk back as we all looked at her. Kee reached out to place her pointer finger to the middle of Kate's forehead. The girl's body tensed up, and then her eyes clouded. After another minute, Kee let go, and Kate turned to normal.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Kate began to sob as she fell to her butt. "They told me that they would let us all go. They said that you were all evil. That you're liars. They said they would take Emi away from you. I thought I was helping. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." She just repeated it over and over again.

"What? Who took her?" I asked the girl.

All Kate did was rock back and fourth while she repeated whispered 'I'm sorry'.

"They found her." Nix whispered.

"Shit." Bexley mumbled.

I snapped my head to the two of them.

"You two know something. You knew something back in the woods." I accused. "What the f**k do you know?"

"Ares, calm down first." Bexley said.

I'm absolutely fuming. Rex is just begging to be let out. He wants blood, and he wants it now. I want to give it to him. I'm struggling to hold onto myself.

"Hey, what are you doing huddled in here?"

We all turned to see Bruce walking into the building.

"Ares mate is missing." Karla told him.

"What? How? We captured the buyers on our way in." Bruce said.

Kate just sobbed harder. Probably realizing that she fucked up pretty bad. We were here to save them all. It's the others that don't care abou them. Whoever stole my f*****g mate.

"I called Tia." Kee said. "We are going home, she's coming to handle this."

"Going home? I can't go home! My mate is still missing! We haven't even seached for her!" I shouted.

"She isn't here Ares. If she was, you wouldn't have felt the distance pains." Nix said.

"I can't sense her anywhere around." Bexley said.

I gritted my teeth as I looked at all of them.

"You are answering all of my questions the moment we get back."

*******

"Okay, so we know what Emi is." Bexley said.

"We didn't realize it at first.. It just doesn't make sense.. There are so few of them.. How did Emi survive this whole time unnoticed?" Nix asked more to herself.

We are all in the main conference room in the school. It's the middle of the night, and all the students are asleep. Azai, his mates, Ambrose, Epperly, Max, Mom, Dad, and the rest of us that went on that mission are here. We gave everyone a run down of what had happened. Now, I'm impatiently waiting for Bexley and Nix to admit what they know.

"You two better start talking. Now." I seethed.

"Ares-" Dad said my name, but I snapped my head to him.

"If one more fucking person tells me to calm down, I'm going to start snapping necks." I said dangerously.

Dad narrowed his matching blue eyes at me.

"Don't take that tone with me boy. I know you're worried about your mate, but if you don't calm yourself down, you won't have a clear head. You need that in order to replace her." He said.

I clentched my jaw, but didn't respond.

"What is it the two of you know?" Mom asked Bexley and Nix.

"We've met others like Emi. On a solo mission a few years-" Bexley started to say.

"What solo mission?" Max asked.

Bexley looks uncomfortable, like she doesn't want to answer.

"It was about a year or so ago." She said.

"What mission Bexley?" Max asked. "I know all of the missions you two have been on."

Bexley gulped.

"I can't tell you." She said.

"What the hell do you mean you can't tell me?" Max asked angrily.

"Don't be mad. Just.. I can't tell you. If you press me more.. I will be forced to leave. Just trust me Max." Bexley begged.

Max glared at her for a moment. I'm sure he feels angry, and slightly hurt. Max is Bexley's teacher, her trainer. They spend a lot of time together, and are very close. Unfortunately, I don't give a flying f**k. "No questions about the mission. Continue before I lose my shit." I ordered.

Bexley nodded.

"As I was saying, we met others like her a while ago. There aren't many of them. Seven in total. It was a complete accident that we ran into them." She said.

"We needed somewhere to lay low, and they were kind enough to take us in. They had no idea who we were at the time." Nix said.

"After staying with them for two days we had gathered all the info on them that we were going to." Bexley said.

"What's that mean?" Max asked her.

"It means that they were hiding something from us. Something we couldn't figure out." She replied.

"Why didn't you stay to figure it out then?" I asked angrily.

"That wasn't part of our mission. At the time it didn't matter." Nix said.

"Besides, it didn't help that they hate Morningstar's." Bexley said.

"Hate Morningstar's? Why?" Mom asked.

Just then, Grandpa appeared in the room.

"Bexley dear, when you called for me? I wasn't expecting all of this. Is it my birthday?" Grandpa teased.

Bexley smiled brightly at him.

"Wish it were." Nix said.

We spent some time catching Grandpa up on what happened. Much to my fucking annoyance. This is taking too long. Every moment matters. I have no idea what's happening to Emi right now. "You called me, and not Soren?" Grandpa asked.

I snapped my head to them.

"Why would she need to call Uncle Soren instead of you?" I asked.

Grandpa looked at me, then back to Bexley.

"Did you not tell my grandson who exactly his mate is?" He asked.

"We were in the middle of telling him how we found the others." Nix said.

Then, Uncle Soren appeared in the room. Uncle Soren is my fathers brother. The second oldest of Lucifer's sons. He is in charge of all the Reapers. Uncle Soren gathers the dead souls, then they are filtered through the Fates. What the hell does he have to do with all of this?

My Uncle looks just like my dad. Spitting image of their dad. They are the only two out of the five that look like Grandpa. Kind of like how Azai and I are the only two that look exactly like our dad.

"I can't take catching up another person!" I said as I slammed my fist on the table. "What is my mate? Tell me now!" I demanded.

Bexley gave Uncle Soren an uncomfortable look. She blew out a breath as her blue eyes connected with mine. This is the first time I've ever seen Bexley look sorry for me.

"She's a Banchee." Bexley stated.

Everything in the room went silent.

"Impossible." Uncle Soren said.

"It's not." Nix said.

"And there are seven others you said?" Grandpa asked.

Uncle Soren snapped his head to his father, then back to the girls.

"Impossible. There is no way." He said.

"What is a Banchee?" Mom asked.

"They call them bringers of death." Uncle Soren said. "They have the ability to use death's engery as their own. They can kill, use magic, all sorts of things. But, it's impossible that your mate is one Ares. Or that there are others." He said sternly as he turned back to the girls.

"Look, you can believe what you want Soren. We know what we saw. We spent two days with them." Nix said.

Uncle Soren shook his head.

"Why are you so against this? Why don't you believe them?" I asked.

Uncle Soren looked into my eyes.

"Because I extingushed their race more than a millennia ago." He stated.

"What!" Dad roared.

"They were too powerful. It was effecting the balance in the world. For not only us in Hell, but the others above." Uncle Soren said defensively.

"So you slaughtered an entire race of people?" I asked angrily.

"They were dangerous! I had no choice!" Uncle Soren yelled.

"Those were my mates people! No choice?! That's the same kind of logic that everyone uses here! Against us!" I shouted. "Not everyone is the same! You should have done something else! Tried to work with them!"

I'm absolutely fuming at this point. I know I shouldn't be surprised of something like this. That someone in my family had commited genocide. But I am.

My entire life everyone has been scared of my siblings and I. They bullied us. Told us how much we didn't deserve to be here. They rarely ever gave us the chance to prove that we aren't evil just because of what we are. People make their own choices. My siblings and I are proof of that. Proof that will is stronger than the evil, or good inside of you. Proof that everyone has a choice.

Uncle Soren sighed.

"I did what I thought was right at the time Ares. This was a long time ago. Back then it was normal to-"

"To slaughter entire races of supernatural creatures. All because you were scared." I finished for him.

"Ares, I am sorry that your mate turned out to be a Banchee." Uncle Soren said.

That only infuriated me more.

"I'm sorry that my uncle turned out to be a monster." I stated.

"Ares." Mom scolded.

Uncle Soren and I just held each other's gaze. Neither of us showing emotion. Neither of us moving.

"Okay, I get the two of you are mad, but we need to replace Emi." Bexley said.

I broke eye contact with my uncle to look at the girls.

"What do you know?" I asked.

"Not much." Nix said. "The house they stay in is spelled by a Druid. That's how long they've been alive. It never stays in one place, it's always moving. It's impossible to get in or out without their permission." She said.

"There are four men, and three women. Darian is the leader, Jace is his right hand man." Bexley said. "Darian is a charmer. He's good at manipulating people. Nix and I could see right through him though. I know that Emi can too. She's too smart to trust anyone." She said.

"The others.. They aren't bad people." Nix said looking between Soren and me. "They.. just had bad lives. All of their parents are dead. They only have each other. We think that Darian has manipulated them into hating your family." She said.

I scoffed. "I don't blame them a bit." I said.

"And I don't believe any of them are good." Uncle Soren said.

A low growl erupted from my chest.

"My mate is a good person. She didn't deserve the life she had. All of it is your fault." I said dangerously.

"Watch your tone nephew." He replied just as dangerous.

The air grew thick in the room. Uncle Soren and I stared each other down once more. I swear I could kill him right now.

"Ares." Kee said.

I turned to look at my sister.

"Now is not the time. Focus on your mate." She said.

Reluctantly, I turned back to Bexley.

"I need to get to my mate now. How do we replace this place?" I asked them.

"That's our biggest problem." Bexley said.

"We have no idea how to replace the place." Nix said.

"Before it was different. We stumbled upon it by accident." Bexley said. "After we found out how much they loath the Morningstar's... We dipped. I mean, we f*****g work for your family." She said. "Makes sense." Dad said.

"It's more though. More than just loathing, or hating. They.. want the distruction of your family." Nix said.

"Wait, did you say Darian?" Uncle Soren asked.

"Yeah." Nix replied.

"Dark skinned man? Bald, with dark eyes?" Uncle Soren asked.

"...Yes..." Bexley said skeptical.

"Impossible." Uncle Soren whispered.

I rolled my eyes.

"I think we've already discovered that it is indeed possible, Uncle." I stated.

"No, I mean that I killed that man myself. He shouldn't be alive." Uncle Soren said.

"Wait, this man.. has been around for all this time?" Mom asked.

Uncle Soren nodded. "Banchee's do not die. Once they reach adulthood, they stop aging. It's usually different for all of them. Some stop at the at 16, some 18, some 20, some even older." He said. "Wow. Didn't know that." Bexley said.

"Darian was the entire reason that I decided to exterminate the Banchee's. The power that he was gathering was immense. Darian was not only using death's engery, he was gathering it. He didn't see a reason for Reapers, or for Hell or Heaven in general. Darian had other views. To him, the Banchee's were natures way of dealing with death. We were the abominations." Uncle Soren explained.

"When you say that they use death's energy... Do you mean they were stealing souls?" Mom asked.

Uncle Soren looked from Mom, to me.

"Yes." He stated. "They were stealing souls, and converting them into power. The souls they take never made it to the afterlife. Never were reincarnated. Nothing. They simply... disappeared." He finished. That's.. impossible. No way that a creature out there is allowed to do that. Does that mean.. that all of the people Emilia has killed have lost their souls?

Well, if that is the case, then I still don't care. Emilia has never killed a person that didn't deserve it. She isn't a bad person.

"Do you see now? Why I had to take them all out? Do you see what your mate is capable of now?" Uncle Soren pressed.

I growled much louder than before.

"Emilia is not like that. My mate is not evil. She doesn't even like power." I defended her.

Uncle Soren scoffed as he sat back in his chair.

"Unbelievable." He muttered.

"No, Ares is telling the truth." Epperly said. "Emi is scared of the power. If it were up to her, she would just be a normal wolf." She said. Uncle Soren shook his head.

"She might say that now, but she is with Darian. It's only a matter of time before she starts to like the power. Once she learns control." He said. "How do you know that Emilia doesn't have control?" I asked.

"Banchee's can only learn control from being together. Its why they stay in packs, like wolves. They are more powerful together." Uncle Soren said.

"Banchee's can only learn control with each other?" Mom asked.

Uncle Soren nodded. "They use their power with each other to learn control. After that initial use, when they do learn complete control, then they can branch off if they wish." He said.

"That's.. strange." Nix said.

"It's almost like they don't all have separate power." Bexley said.

"What do you mean by that?" Uncle Soren asked her.

"Well, think about it. You said they live in packs. They can only learn control when they are together. Kind of like how an Alpha is the source of power for the pack. Like when the old Lycan King met his mate." She said. "Or when Ryce met Relly." Ambrose added.

"Exactly." Bexley said. "It's like something else connects their power. Or someone else." She said.

"While we were there, there was something that Darian was hiding." Nix said. "At one point Bex got too curious. She broke into his room, but.." Nix trailed off as she looked at her friend.

"I didn't really replace anything." Bexley said. "Just that he was looking for something.... Oh my god.." Bexley muttered.

Realization took over Bexley's features.

"They were looking for her." She said.

"What does that mean?" I asked angrily.

"I thought they were looking for some kind of relic, o-or something with power. I never thought they were looking for an actual person." Bexley said.

"What?" Azai asked her.

Bexley looked down as she gripped her own chin. Her face morphed into a frown as she got lost in her thought. Nix also seems to be thinking.

"But why her? What makes Emi so special?" Bexley muttered to herself.

"Darian was looking for Emi?" Dad asked.

Bexley's eyes snapped up to my uncle and my grandfather. She gave Grandpa a pained look. Then, in the blink of an eye, she flung a few throwing stars at Uncle Soren. My uncle went flying back into the wall. The stars surrounded his body, pinning him in place. "What the f**k Bexley!" Dad shouted at her.

"What do you think you are doing you brat?" Uncle Soren seethed at her.

"I'm really sorry Soren." Bexley said. "But I know you aren't telling me the whole truth, and I need to know the truth if I am going to replace Emi." She said.

I stood to my feet, standing right behind Bexley. Uncle Soren is going to spill his guts out either with words, or literally. No one is going to stop Bexley from getting information out of him, and I will make sure of that.

"I'm not telling you anything." Uncle Soren seethed.

My uncle struggled against his restraints. Grandpa sighed heavily as he inspected his son. I'm surprised that Bexley didn't move to block Granpa out of the way.

"You can't get out of these my son. Bexley has spelled them, and we all know how powerful she is." Grandpa told his second born.

"You're just going to let her do this to me?!" Uncle Soren seethed.

Grandpa sighed as he came to stand next to me.

"You know that we cannot go against a bond son. I will not stand against my nephew and his mate. Tell them what they need to know." He said.

"But.. She is a Banchee, they threaten our existance. Not only ours, but every other Demon as well. All the Angels even!" Uncle Soren roared.

"Emi is different Soren." Bexley said. "Just like all of your nieces and nephews. Emi wouldn't hurt anyone just for power." She said. Uncle Soren chuckled lowly.

"You have no idea what you are saying." He said.

"Then tell me." Bexley said.

"I cannot allow them to live." Uncle Soren stated.

I slammed my fist on the wall next to my uncles head.

"You will not lay a finger on my mate." I stated dangerously.

"You won't win in a fight against me nephew." He replied.

Dad came to stand next to me. Blocking Uncle Soren from everyone else. Dad crossed his arms, and inspected his brother.

"I know that I haven't been around as long as you. That I didn't even know about who I was for a long time, but.. This doesn't seem like you Soren. You have a mate of your own. Children. I've never seen you act like this. You believe in the mate bond. Why are you acting this way now?" Dad asked him.

"I

I agree. I've met Annalyse. You love her more than anything." Mom added. "What is it you are hiding Soren?" She asked.

Uncle Soren clentched his jaw.

"You can either tell us now Soren, or I can torture you until you do." Bexley said sternly.

I've never seen Bexley so serious before. I didn't even know she had a serious side. I'm equally shocked, and impressed.

Uncle Soren scoffed.

"Torture me? Please." He said.

"I wouldn't bet on you being able to handle it son. Bexley knows exactly how to pull information out of any creature. And she plays dirty. Dirtier than even you my boy." Grandpa said.

"How do you know that?" Max asked him.

Grandpa looked from Bexley to Max.

"I have always had a soft spot for my little Demigod." He said.

Max looks like he wants to question Grandpa more, but Bexley interrupted it before he could start.

"Tell me who she is Soren." She said.

Uncle Soren sighed dejectedly.

"I'm not sure if this is true, since I've not met the girl, but.. If I am right, she is something that all of us in this room should fear." He said.

"Why?" Bexley asked.

"Because, the blood of the Banchee ruler runs through her veins. You were right about them all being connect similar to an Alpha." He said. Then Uncle Soren looked at me.

"The Alpha of the Banchee's, the one that connects them all, that has the most power out of all of them, is your mate."