Page 55 of The Hellbeast's Betrayal

At this my world started to unravel.

“But I thought it was only in the mortal realm that shit worked,” Orth asked, and my growing rage still wouldn’t let me speak.

“As we all did,” Asher said, his tone as somber as the rest as he continued to say, “A portal opened up behind her, she pushed her sister out of the way before she was grabbed from behind, we couldn’t stop it.”

The realization hitting me in the fucking chest like a God’s fist, making me suddenly erupt.

“FUCK!”I roared, dropping to my knees and pounding the ground with my fists until they were bloody.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”I repeated over and over before the curse became my girl’s name.

“Ella… Ella… Ella baby.”

My head hung as this agony wanted to tear me apart. Because I had failed. I had failed to keep her safe, regardless of the decision I made.

I had failed us both.

“Brother, come on, not all hope is lost,” Orth said, now kneeling down next to me, no doubt prompting the others to give us a moment alone.

“Every fucking time, Orth, every fucking time, she gets taken from me or something happens to split us up!” I yelled bitterly.

“Yeah, and lucky for us, we know how to stop it.”

I looked up, not giving a shit about the tears he could see clinging to my eyes.

“But how?” My voice was strained, a hopeless shell of what it was moments ago.

“We do what we do best, brother… now let’s go kill that fucker and get your girl back!” he said, standing and offering me his hand. One I slapped my own into to let him pull me up. Because he was right, wallowing in my own self-pity wasn’t going to get her back.

But killing that fucker would!

“So, what’s the plan, boss?” Marcus said once he saw me back on my feet.

“First we need to find out where he took her,” I forced myself to say, despite clenching my jaw.

“Well at least we have two things in our favor, as one, she no longer has her powers so he can’t control her and two, she is bound to this realm, so there are only a few places the fucker could be hiding her,” Marcus stated.

“Any ideas?” I asked, making him suddenly grin before telling me,

“No, but like last time, I know who would.”

I looked to Koro, who was still consoling Lerna.

“Not him,” Marcus added, making me frown in question.

“Then who?”

He winked and without answering, he walked over to Koro and asked,

“How far is it to the outskirts of Tartarus?”

Koro frowned before answering.

“It is a week at least on foot, but there is a portal about a day’s ride away… why?” Koro asked, frowning, no doubt wondering what in Hell would take us there. I looked to Marcus, now knowing where his head was at and answered menacingly.

“We have an old friend we need to talk to.”

“Then you will need the Horses of Ares,” Orson said, and I narrowed my gaze at this.

---