Work Text
The scent of street food filled the cramped space as sorcerers and Nocus-Pocuses alike enjoyed the festival. The park was packed with colorful stalls selling an array of ‘cultural’ items, crystals and herbs that to an untrained eye just looked like perfectly normal items. Markus though, knew better. These herbs and crystals the sad sack Nocuses were paying way too much for wouldn’t even work for the most skilled sorcerer. He rolled his brown sunglass covered eyes as some greasy salesmen coaxed an old woman out of 40 dollars for a bag of herbs he promised would help her with her joints. All that was in the bag was grass and cilantro. “Quit glaring at him, you’re just mad we couldn’t afford a stall.” Helena interrupted his thoughts, with her naturally sultry voice. The tall, dark skinned man scrunched up his wide nose at the two biggest headaches he’s ever had the displeasure of meeting.“No dignified magic practitioner would willingly sell themselves out like this.” He spat and turned to face the two most undignified people he knew, Helena Reed and Adrianna Palmer.“Here we go again.” Adrianna sighed and leaned against Helena, resting her head on the shorter one’s shoulder.“If I said it once, I’ve said it one hundred times, we are sorcerers we are highly skilled magic practitioners that have no business dealing with Nocuses. We certainly do not belong stooping this low just for a quick buck.”“Markus, we’re witches, it’s not that deep bro.” Adrianna groaned closing her eyes in frustration.“Also, we’re poor, like, really poor.” Helena added.“Maybe we should consider selling out… We’re barely making enough to pay our bills Marky Mark.” Adrianna patted Markus on the shoulder, who recoiled away from her.“First of all, I said to never call me that again. Second, No.” He glared at the two girls for even considering doing such a thing. He couldn’t believe these two were his only followers in his coven.“Then what was the purpose of coming here? We can’t buy anything, we can’t sell anything, and we can’t even market selling out. How do you suppose we keep the coven open and maintain your hoity toitiness?” Helena scrunched her face up in frustration, crinkling her tanned skin.“Simple, we’ll set up a fake sacrifice alter and use what people leave to us.” Markus shrugged off their shocked looks.“So, we’re stealing.” Adrianna deadpanned.“It’s not stealing. We’re deceiving those lesser than us. Deception is a very crafty form of magic.” Markus threw his light blue scarf over his broad shoulder and stalked over to the offering tables.“Marky Mark, we are not exactly high up on the totem pole. How are we gonna convince others to offer things to us?” Adrianna struggled to keep up with the other two with her short legs.“By setting up a convincing offering alter and borrowing some already pledged items.” Markus said this like it was obvious. Adrianna and Helena shared a look.“So now we’re stealing from the gods?” Helena looked disgusted at Markus.“No, we’ll give the borrowed things back. It’s a full proof plan.” Markus rolled his eyes at the two. He thought this was a full proof plan, how could they disagree? Markus knew there was no real answer to his question, so he sighed agitatedly at them.“This all just sounds super-duper shady… But, it does sound like you thought it through and it’s not like we have many options…” Helena trailed off not wanting to admit to agreeing with Markus.“Besides even if we don’t agree with you, you’ll just pull rank and make us.” Adrianna groaned.“Perfect so we’re in agreeance. Go stea- borrow, go borrow somethings from Belenus’s table.”“You want to borrow from one of the sun gods? Shouldn’t we just grab something from a lesser god, like I don’t know one of the gods of like music or something?” Adrianna looked at Markus like he had grown three heads.“Please Belenus is like the chilliest sun god he’ll understand.” Markus shrugged and walked off towards an empty alter table.“He’s gonna get us killed one of these days.” Adrianna complained once he was out of ear shot.“Nah. He’s always been there for us. He’ll take the fall if things go sideways.” Helena shrugged off Adrianna’s concerns, she had known Markus longer, and she knew his heart was always in the right place. They walked over to the offering section devoted to the gods and goddesses of light. The sun deities had the largest and most ornate offering tables. Markus was right, Belenus wouldn’t mind them taking a few things temporarily, he probably wouldn’t even notice if they kept them even after they served their purpose. Helena smiled at the idea. “You know what we could do?” She asked Adrianna as they checked out the alter devoted to Helios the Egyptian god of the sun.“Whatever it is, I want no parts of it. Whenever you smile like that it means bad news.” Adrianna crossed her arms in front of her chest.“We could just keep what we borrow… I mean you heard Markus, Belenus is a chill guy, he’ll understand. Come on what’s the worst that could happen?”“We could literally die.” Helena rolled her eyes at Adrianna’s unnecessary worry, nothing was gonna happen and she was gonna make sure of it.“I mean that is an ever-present threat in life. Like, I could die right now.” Helena shrugged her shoulders.“If you decide to do this, I don’t want to know about it.”“So that’s a yes.” Helena smiled at Adrianna who only rolled her eyes and sighed. They continued their walk in silence, until they reached Belenus’s alter. It wasn’t the largest alter there, and yet it felt as if it loomed over them. It felt as if a shadow was cast over them, almost as if the god himself was warning them to not do what they were about to do, but hey when have they ever listened to warnings. Helena smirked as she walked a slow circle around the alter, fast fingers swiping anything that looked valuable enough, but also unimportant enough that it wouldn’t matter much. Adrianna just grabbed a few of the loaves of bread people sacrificed to him, praying for forgiveness as she went. She turned to leave noticing Helena was still swiping things from the table.“Helena what are you doing?” Adrianna looked at Helena with a face full of disgusted curiosity.“Grabbing a few keep sakes.” She smiled tauntingly at Adrianna. “Come on it’s not like he’s here to stop us.” She stalked towards the shorter girl. “Just take one thing, nothing is gonna happen. What are you scared?”“Of being murdered by a god of sun? Absolutely.” Helena just laughed at Adrianna’s response.“Oh, come on Anna, there is nothing to be afraid of. Just steal one of the bottles of wine and two glasses. We can celebrate later.” Helena smiled and threw an arm around her.“Fine, but only because he has so much wine and he really wasn’t known for drinking.” Adrianna couldn’t believe she was going to do this. Like, yeah okay Belenus wasn’t known for drinking so nabbing a bottle and some glasses wasn’t awful. But still, this is so wrong. Adrianna felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as she brushed the blue braids off her shoulder.“There you go doll.” Adrianna ignored her and plucked two crystal glasses and a bottle of wine off the table, quickly shoving the things in her bag before rushing to catch up to Helena who had started to walk away. “Did you actually do it?” Helena asked, her voice almost bored. Adrianna didn’t trust her voice to answer, so she just opened her bag and showed the contents inside. “You really did it. I’ve never been prouder.” Helena threw her arm around the shorter again and squeezed. Her smile was almost threatening as Adrianna watched her happily hum a strange tune as they looked for Markus. Markus pushed his sunglasses up to rest on his dreadlocks, which were pulled back behind his head in a half up half down look.“What took you two so long?” He asked tilting his head. Adrianna thought this was her chance she could admit what her and Helena really did, but before she could even open her mouth Helena spoke up.“We had to be inconspicuous honey.” Helena’s smile was sickly sweet. Markus squinted his eyes at her not believing a single word she said.“Whatever you two did I don’t want to know about it. Just hand me what you grabbed so we can get this over with.” Markus grabbed the loaves of bread from Adrianna and tossed them haphazardly along the table, trying to make their fake alter seem as real as possible. Adrianna just looked on with guilt gnawing at her stomach. Helena just looked like the definition of unbothered, which is what she always looked like. She pulled her long black hair up into a ponytail, before placing some finishing touches on their alter.“So, who exactly is our fake god going to be?” Helena asked.“Err… I hadn’t thought about that… We could just do like a lesser known but, still important god.” Markus shifted uncomfortably at Helena’s gaze.“That should’ve been the first thing you thought up, by the Norns Markus.”“I’ve realized that now, Helena. And don’t use the Norns name in vain.” Markus sounded exasperated with Helena.“Oh please, like you don’t curse them every time you stub your toe.” Helena glared at Markus fiercely.“Guys, now is not the time nor the place.” Adrianna cut in and grabbed Helena’s arm before she could punch Markus. “How about we set up a table for the Norns. I haven’t seen one all day and they deserve a little love. We let them keep like ten percent of the offerings, return the things to Belenus, and keep the difference.” Adrianna didn’t even wait for the troublesome duo to agree before she just drew the Norns name in chalk in the empty semi-circle towards the front of the table top.“Always the voice of reason Adrianna.” Helena smiled and placed a few flowers she had probably nabbed from the small cart they passed by while walking back to Markus.“And now, we walk around and wait.” Markus said before turning on his heels and going towards the small amphitheater that was towards the food stalls on the other side of the festival. The trio sat and watched several plays and grabbed food from the falafel stand. As the sun set the pagans got more and more rowdy, they made offerings to the pantheons of the moon, bonfires were lit and local bands played music as many danced and others drank. It was a good time, and a time for many witches to be able to show their magic freely and get away with it so easily. As the stars shown down on Markus who was dancing with a group of Greek and Roman pagans, Adrianna and Helena popped open their stolen bottle of wine and drank their first glass sitting on colorful lawn chairs. They drank several glasses, and both were a little pass tipsy at the very least before they truly acknowledged each other.“Markus seems happy.” Helena broke their comfortable silence, she spoke softly. Adrianna hummed in agreement, noticing the shine in Helena’s eyes as she watched Markus let go of all his stress. “Makes me happy to see him so free, you know. He’s always wanted to have his own coven, and he stresses so much about it. He just wants to be like his brother so badly. Did you know he had an older brother?” Helena paused to finish off her glass. They were on their third bottle at this point of the night.“I didn’t know thhhhhhat-hic!” Adrianna’s words slurred together. Her bushy eyebrows pinched together as she tried to communicate with the significantly less drunk Helena. Helena glared at a group of pagans crushing flowers under their feet while dancing.“He does, his brother has a really nice coven. Like thirty people, Markus has always been in his brother’s shadow and he just wants to be established as someone else besides Elijah’s brother.” Helena took a deep breath. Adrianna just looked at Helena unfocusedly, trying to comprehend what Helena had said to her. The night dragged on until Markus finally found his friends. They grabbed all the offerings and the three drunks stumbled back to their shared apartment. All of them forgetting to put back the ‘borrowed’ offerings.A loud beeping interrupted Adrianna’s loud snoring, she groaned as she frantically grabbed her phone to turn off her alarm. Her head was pounding and the beeping wasn’t helping. She groaned and shoved her face in her pillow once she finally turned off the alarm. Adrianna smelled food wafting in from the kitchen and got up and stumbled towards the smell. “Look sleeping beauty is finally awake.” Helena seemed to be delighted by her and Markus’s hungover states.“Shut it Helena.” Markus growled while nursing a cup of herbal tea. Helena just laughed and offered Adrianna a cup of tea. Adrianna took a tentative sip and immediately regretted it.“By the Norns what is that?” Adrianna glared at Helena’s gloating smile.“My hangover cure.” Helena answered simply, she turned away and started watering her plants. “Okay but like what’s in it?” Adrianna took another regretful sip. “Lavender, ginger, tea, lemon, honey, and of course the hair of the dog that bit you, so like a shot of wine.” Helena turned back and flipped the coconut pancakes she was making. Markus finished his tea and looked at the tea leaves, he screeched and almost dropped the mug. “What is it Markus?” Adrianna grabbed the mug and saw the shape the tea leaves formed it was a shark, meaning danger of death.“Oh, by the Norns, he’s got a shark.” The color drained out of Helena’s face as she turned off the stove and grabbed on to Markus’s frozen form.“Markus honey it doesn’t mean you’re gonna die, it just means the possibility of death is coming. You got an hourglass meaning danger last year and nothing bad happened. You’ll be fine you always are.” Helena spoke softly. “How about I make you some hot chocolate and you can pick the movies we watch later. Does that sound good honey?” Markus nodded feebly and allowed himself to be steered out into the living room. The apartment was bathed in tense silence as Adrianna finished her tea and Helena finished cooking. Adrianna’s tea leaves were in the shape of a mountain, meaning a powerful friend. She washed out her cup of tea and poured herself some coffee. Her leaves reading as a mountain wasn’t an oddity, especially not when surrounded by two older more powerful witches. They ate their pancakes in the living room while watching Markus’s favorite TV show, The Golden Girls. Markus was a huge softy, he laid with his head in Helena’s lap as she gently ran her fingers through his dreads. His circle glasses laid on the coffee table in front of them. Adrianna placed her empty plate on the coffee table and leaned back against the beat-up lime green bean bag chair she was sat in.“So, what are we doing today?” Adrianna asked letting her eyes fall shut in relaxation.“Sell all the offerings to the pawn shop down the street and pay our bills.” Markus paused for a second before asking his own question.“Speaking of offerings, who returned what we borrowed?” He shifted so his head was no longer in Helena’s lap. Adrianna’s eyes flew open and she felt her stomach drop like it was leaden. No one had returned what we borrowed, and Helena said they’d only keep a few things, not all the things, oh by the Norns what are we going to do? We’re gonna die… Oh by the Norns we’re gonna die. “I did.” Helena replied without even missing a beat. Helena shifted her eyes to meet Adrianna’s after Markus laid his head back on her lap. Her hazel eyes cut through Adrianna almost like she could see her inner panic. Helena was the least drunk, she probably did return them. Adrianna let her eyes drift back close and slowly drifted off to sleep.“Should we just let her sleep?” Markus asked as him and Helena prepared to walk to the pawn shop four blocks down the street.“Yeah, she’ll be fine. She’ll probably still be asleep.” Helena checked the clock on the wall; 1:30 p.m. “We should get going, it takes like ten minutes to get there and Earl closes at 2:00 on Sundays.” Helena added on before putting on her slides and going out the door. The two walked in relative silence to the pawn shop. They entered the pawn shop and were surrounded by the smell of smoke. The whole main room was hazy and odd knickknacks were on shelves all throughout the room.“Earl! We’re here!” Markus shouted into his dusty surroundings.“In a minute!” The scratchy voice of an older man called back from somewhere deep in the shop. The door opened and the bell above it sounded. The duo turned their heads towards the noise, to see an older woman with long salt and pepper waves and tan wrinkled skin. Earl came out of the back with some boxes in his arms and nodded his head at the woman. “I set you up a nice area in the employee’s lounge, third door on the left when you enter the hallway back there.” He had a southern accent and a long grey beard. He had several face tattoos including an eye in the middle of his forehead. The woman nodded her head and wrapped her shawl around her shoulders tighter before going towards the hallway. “Sorry about that, we’re having a fortune teller in here now. Trying to drum up some more magic folk business. What can I do for y’all?” He asked while sitting the boxes down on the counter behind him.“So, we have a whole bunch of things to sell.” Helena said as Markus placed several bags onto the glass display case. Earl looked through all the trinkets and coins.“Imma need to look over some of these things more closely to give you an accurate payment, but I can give you four grand to start out with.” Earl shifted his eyes up to look at the duo.“Can you look at them more closely today or are you going to get back to us?” Markus asked as Earl took the bags off the display case and put them on the counter behind him.“I can look through ‘em now if you’d like, it’ll just take a bit.” He shuffled a bit more and rolled up the sleeves of his flannel shirt to reveal two tattoo sleeves. “Why don’t you go help Madame Amara set up, maybe get your fortune told.” He grabbed his glasses with the magnifier on them and started pulling things out of the bags. The duo shuffled back to the employee’s lounge and saw the older woman, Madame Amara, setting up her crystal ball.“Do you need any help, Miss?” Markus asked when he walked closer to her.“No, but you do. Come sit down child.” Her voice was like honey, slow and smooth. She gestured to a chair on the other side of the table she sat behind. “And you grab that chair and join us.” This time she pointed to Helena. The duo complied and sat in front of her. “You’ve known each other for a long time, but do you really know each other?”“I’m pretty sure we do.” Helena cut in with an edge in her voice. She placed her hands palm up on the table, she then shifted to face Helena more.“Put your hands in mine child.” Helena complied, albeit hesitantly. Amara grabbed her hands and closed her eyes. “Oh, child for you I see a long road ahead. The journey is foggy, but you’ll always find your way.” Amara opened her eyes again and looked dazed and afraid. Helena retracted her hands and shifted away from the woman. Amara turned to face Markus, her hands still on the table. Markus put his hands on hers and her eyes went pure white. She retracted her hands and jumped up from her chair all while screaming at the top of her lungs.“What? What did you see?!” Markus started panicking.“Death! Death! You have been warned, child! Don’t tread lightly!” She wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders and started to babble to herself. Helena grabbed Markus by the arm and led him out of the room. “What on God’s green Earth happened back there?” Earl looked rather startled.“That woman is a false prophet you imbecile.” Helena was fuming.“I’m sorry to hear about that, I-I've finished appraising most of your things, I’m willing to part with ten grand for the lot.” Earl looked concerned for his own safety.“Deal.” Helena glared at Earl as he handed over the cash and after securing it in her bag. Helena punched Earl in the face, breaking his nose and then she grabbed Markus by the arm and dragged him out of the store. Markus was still frozen in shock and terror. They passed an alley and Helena pulled them into it, she shoved Markus back against the wall and watched him slowly come back to himself.“Helena what in the nine hells are you doing?” Helena just pushed him further in the wall.“That woman was a liar just profiting on the weak and those willing to listen.” Helena spat out. “And right now, you’re being dumb enough to listen.” Helena punches Markus in his gut. She relished in watching him double over in pain gasping for breath. She tilted her head and let him go. He placed his hands on his knees and looked up into Helena’s face.“Helena please…” She ignored him and punched him in the face.“You know why you’re getting death omens? It’s because I stole from Belenus. I stole from Belenus like his followers stole from me. They stole my land, they stole my people, they stole my culture, and I’m gonna punish him for it. His people will suffer like my people have suffered.” Helena’s eyes glowed white and though she didn’t grow at all she seemed to tower over Markus.“Helena, what are you talking about?” Markus looked confused at her words.“You don’t even know who I am? How pitiful.” She kicked his leg out from under him and watched him crumble. She placed her foot against his neck and applied pressure. Markus gasped out and she laughed hollowly at him. “Your people are pathetic.” She picks her foot up and slams it into his face, breaking his nose and some of his teeth. Blood covered the lower half of his face, and he groaned out in pain. Helena crouched down digging her knees into his chest and started bashing his face in with her fists. He feebly put his hands up against her, but Helena didn’t even notice. All she saw was red, the red of Markus’s blood, the red of her rage, and the red of the sunset you could see over the dark buildings casting shadows over the alleyway.“Helena don’t…” Markus’s words caused her to pause. She looked Markus in his eyes and the glow dimmed and they could see the tears in each other’s eyes. He gasped a heaving breath. “You don’t have to do this.” He grabbed Helena’s hands lightly placing them against his chest. She paused for minute, seemingly listening to him.“Fine.” She huffed, she stood up and offered her hand to help him up. He took it and stood up leaning heavily on his left leg.“What happened Helena?” Markus was still trying to be an understanding, despite the circumstance he was in. He looked so perplexed by his best friend’s actions. She pulled him close and touched her forehead against his.“There are things you don’t know about Markus.” She placed her hands on his cheeks and breathed out heavily. Markus placed his hands on her waist and dragged her closer to him enveloping her in his embrace. She pulled him closer and slotted their lips together, Markus slid one hand up to her hair wrapped her hair around his fingers. The kiss deepened and she could taste the blood on his lip, the metallic tang mixed with the sweetness left over from his tea this morning. She slid her hands down to his chest and slightly pushed him back. He was panting slightly and leaned his head against her shoulder she pushed him slightly farther back and backed away from him. “Helena?” Markus looked so lost about everything that has occurred in this dark alleyway. Helena just tilted her head at him and smirked.“Sike.” Light shot out of her hands and hit him in the chest and he doubled over gasping on the ground. He looked up into her eyes and she watched as blood leaked out of his eyes like tears.“Helena.” Was all Markus managed to say before blood started pouring out of everywhere. Blood dripped out of his ears, and ran down his neck. He opened his mouth to beg for mercy and nothing but gurgled noises and blood came out. His eyes were blood shot and he collapsed to his knees with his hands folded in prayer. Soon the blood became too much and started gushing out of his pores like pimples popping. Then it stopped and he fell to his side gasping for breath. “Please.” Helena laughed icily at his whining and snapped her fingers, watching as his body contorted and bent and odd angles. Helena bent down to check for a pulse even though she already knew what she would find.No pulse. She sucked in a harsh breath and stood back up quickly.He was dead.Helena felt tears prickle her eyes and she simply grabbed the bag she had dropped and crept out of the alleyway. She walked back to her apartment with her head held high, acting like no one and nothing could ever come near her. She had no fear of getting caught, she was angry and she felt as if there was another fight coming. When she got back to the apartment Adrianna asleep in the bean bag chair, screaming. “Anna, Anna! Wake up, Anna!”“Wha- Where’s Markus?” Adrianna jerked awake with her heart beating out against her chest. Her eyes were wide with fear and danced around the room wildly. “His brother grabbed him and whisked him away.” Her lie came off easy on her tongue.“What’s wrong you were screaming?”“I had a nightmare. It was so awful, I dreamt Belenus was torturing me and Markus.” Helena was silent as Adrianna was sucked back under the tidal wave of her nightmare.Markus’s screams surrounded her and she begged Belenus to stop. He was a tall broad-shouldered man with long golden hair and a full beard of the same color. His eyes were yellow like the sun and he had freckles on his cheeks. He was wearing a white suite with a pale-yellow button up. She didn’t know where they were, but it smelled like smoke and the air was hot and stuffy around her. “Please stop!” She screamed out at Belenus who was driving a glowing blade through Markus’s stomach.“You want me to stop? Why would I do that?” He was teasing Adrianna in a thick Irish accent. “This is all mine love, I control all of this and you want me to stop!?” He was becoming hysterical and stabbed Markus in the chest with another glowing blade. Markus screamed out and then went limp, his blood dripping down him then spilling onto the floor, glinting in the glowing blade’s light.“Why are you even doing this?” Adrianna screamed out tugging against the golden chains that held her against the hypnotically white wall behind her.“I warned you in those leaves and I’m warning you now, put my things back or else this will become reality.” He twirled his fingers above Markus and forced Adrianna to watch as he brought Markus back just to kill him again. Adrianna sobbed and screamed out at Belenus, begging for him to take her instead. Belenus paused then turning on Adrianna and smiling at her like the Cheshire cat. “Now that’s an idea. Why bother with him, he’s old news now. It’s all about you now.” Belenus walked towards her slowly, holding of his glowing knives loosely in his left hand. “I mean you were the one with that heathen, you helped her take from me.” He towered over Adrianna as he placed the knife under her chin and tilted her head up so she was forced to meet his eyes.“Just leave him alone.” Adrianna wanted to be brave for once, she wanted to protect Markus.“What a bleeding heart. How sweet.” He smiled and dragged the knife across her collar bone watching in glee as she writhed in pain. She grabbed onto the chains that held her to the wall to ground her from floating away in the pain. The knife not only cut her skin but burned her as well. Markus groaned out from the chair he was tied up in. He looked pale and his eyes were blood shot. He was breathing heavily and his face was scrunched up in pain.“Adrianna… Anna, please don’t… Let it go… You don’t- You don’t have to do this…” He coughed up blood and tried to convince the loyal girl not to try and sacrifice herself to a sun god for him. “Shut it you.” Belenus turned on him and shot a beam of bright light at him causing blood to pour out of him. Belenus paused for a moment before smiling wide again. He ignored Markus’s lifeless form, not bringing him back this time.“Bring him back! What are you doing?! Bring him back!”“Seems a little repetitive, doesn’t it?” He smiled teasingly at her and carved into her face a smile. Adrianna screamed and felt bile rise in the back of her throat. Her body was on overdrive and she squeezed her eyes shut feeling white hot flashes behind her eyes. Finally, the pain reduced to a dull stinging in her cheeks, which worsened every time her tears touched the fresh wounds. “There you should smile more often.” He laughed to himself. She blearily blinked her eyes open and squinted against the throbbing in her skull. She spit in his face watching her blood stand out against his shining tanned skin, almost seeming like crimson freckles. He threw his head back and laughed, when he looked at her again, this time his eyes were fiery red. “You’re going to regret doing that sweetheart.”“Don’t call me sweetheart.” She yanked against her chains wanting to wrap her small hands around his neck. He placed his pointer finger against her forehead and pushed her skull into the rock like wall behind her. Pain blossomed at the base of her skull and made her whimper.“Oh sweetheart, I will call you whatever I want and you will accept it.” He smiled threateningly and wrapped a hand around her throat, pulling her up by her throat so that she was eye level. “Don’t for a second think you will ever be able to do anything to me.” He squeezed and she felt pressure build up from the throat up. Her hands went up to try and pry his hand away from her throat. He let go of her throat and she dropped to the floor like a ragdoll. Her body felt weightless as she drifted away from her nightmare and returned to reality. Helena stared at her questioningly as Adrianna slowly came back to herself.“Are you okay?” Helena moved to comfort Adrianna, pulling her onto the couch and holding her tightly and rubbing soothing circles in her back.“No, it feels like part of me is still trapped there.” Adrianna whispered and curled more into Helena’s touch, shaking like a wet leaf.“What happened?”“Belenus, he knows. He knows what we did. We’ve gotta do something, Helena we have to…” Adrianna trailed off babbling, fat wet tears trailed down her cheeks. She started sobbing uncontrollably, gripping onto Helena for dear life.“Adrianna honey, calm down for me yeah? Breath in. Breath out. Breathe in. Breath out. Yes, just like that. It’s gonna be okay. If anything happens, which nothing will, but if for some odd reason something happens, I’ll handle it, don’t worry about it. Okay honey?” Adrianna nodded feebly. “You’ll be okay. Everything will be okay.” Adrianna had calmed down some and looked up at Helena hesitantly.“I wish Markus was here right now, he always makes the best after cry tea.” Adrianna tucked her head back under Helena’s chin, missing how Helena’s face contorted in misery.“Yeah, he always does, doesn’t he?” Helena’s voice was impassive as she continued to comfort Adrianna. The duo sat in comfortable silence, simply enjoying each other’s company. A loud crack is heard in the kitchen startling the two of them, several of Helena’s house plants fall from their shelves and slam to the floor, shriveling up as soon as they hit the ground. Helena tensed up around Adrianna. Adrianna looked up nervously at Helena. She opened her mouth to talk, but Helena put a long finger against her own lips, shaking her head. Another crack was heard this time followed by a heavy thump. Helena gently pushed Adrianna off of her, ignoring her pleas of protest.“Helena, what are you doing? What’s happening?”“I don’t know, but I’ll take care of it.” Helena walked hesitantly towards the kitchen walking through the open doorway and out of Adrianna’s line of sight. Adrianna grabbed for the closest pillow and held onto it, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks. What felt like seconds later, a large body was thrown through the wall dividing the kitchen and living room. The blonde man stood almost immediately and turned against the woman peering through the hole in the wall.“You damned fool. How dare you disrespect me like this.” His hands formed balls of light as he clenched his fists. Adrianna gasped, this was Belenus. She scrambled to hide behind the couch still clutching the heart shaped pillow Markus bought her, for comfort.“How dare I disrespect you? Are you kidding me? After all the disrespect you and your followers have caused my people? Your followers started a genocide against mine! How dare you come into my home and try and make me bow before you! You petulant child!” Helena screamed in Belenus’s face. She looked different, her eyes were glowing and she had long deer antlers sticking out of her temples and her nails were the same length as her fingers. Her hair was longer and she looked different, her face wasn’t quite the same, but Adrianna knew that was Helena. She also, grew to match Belenus’s height.“Please my followers only followed their destiny.” Belenus brushed off Helena’s rage, his voice filled with condescendence.“Their destiny? Their destiny was to stay on their own continent for another hundred years, but no! You damn Celtic rats had to interfere and give them Columbus!”“That wasn’t even me that was the Romans gods.”“I’m making an example out of you, and it was an Irishmen that started the killing of the Dene people. So, it shall be an Irish god that suffers my wrath.”“Like I’m scared of your wrath. Face it you’re dying, just like your people.” Helena screamed and through a pulse of pure energy at him, he stumbled backwards and tripped over the coffee table breaking through the couch with a thud. Adrianna squeaked and Belenus turned his head toward the sound looking Adrianna in the eye. “Well what a lovely little mouse you are. Tell me, have we met before?” Arrogance rolled off of him. Helena leaped and stood on his chest with one foot on his neck.“Leave her out of this.” She threatened crouching down to dig into his face with her nails. Belenus laughed and threw her through the wall behind him, sending her into Markus’s room.“It’s not like he’ll be needing that. Now, where were we?” He stood up and held a hand out to Adrianna, who hesitantly took it. He helped her to her feet and loomed over her. She took a hesitant step back not wanting to be too close to him. Adrianna felt two opposite sides battling inside her, one wanted to cower in front of the gargantuan god and the other, the other wanted to rip his head off.“What do you mean he won’t need it? What’s happening? What’s wrong with Helena?” Adrianna spoke with sudden confidence, believing Helena wouldn’t let him hurt her, and allowing the anger inside of her to flow through her veins. She stared the bright man down.“Oh, she didn’t tell you? It seems your little friend there killed Markus and left him in an alleyway. She’s just a snake picking off the mice, isn’t she?” Belenus smiled threateningly at Adrianna. Adrianna was in shock she didn’t know what to do. How could Helena kill Markus? Why did she lie? Do I even know who she is? Why is she a snake? What in the world is happening? “I guess we have something in common after all.” The balls of light around his hands turned into the glowing blades from her nightmare and he raised them intending to slam them into her chest, but he was knocked back through the kitchen wall by several spears that were pitch black and had dark smoke surrounding them. Helena rushed over to Adrianna, who immediately pushed her away out of shock and fear. Her brain hurt from the thousands of thoughts turning over inside. She looked at the person she thought she knew and instead saw someone she didn’t even recognize. She felt like her whole world was crumbling around her and she didn’t know how to stop it.“Is it true, Helena?” Adrianna felt a fresh set of tears stream down her face, she didn’t bother to hide them in front of the now stranger in front of her.“Yes, but I’ll explain after I’m done killing the sun oaf.” Adrianna recoiled away from Helena after hearing her words. She pushed herself back against the bookcase close by. She felt disgusted knowing Helena comforted her moments after killing Markus. How could she do that to someone she considered to be family? She praised him yesterday and killed him today. What happened? Who even is Helena?“Maybe you should start with you’re not even Helena.” Belenus offered leaning over the two of them. Adrianna felt her heart rip in two. Is everything I knew a lie? By the Norns, someone help me. She felt like she was going to be sick from all the emotions swirling inside of her. Belenus grabbed “Helena’s” antlers and threw her through her own bedroom wall. “Now back to us.” Belenus licked his lips and ignored the yellow blood that oozed from where the spears had struck him. He grabbed Adrianna by her leg and threw her through the floor, laughing as she crashed into the, thankfully, empty apartment under them. “Helena” ran, jumped onto his back, and pulled him down with her through the whole. Adrianna yelped and rolled out of the way, moaning in agony at having to move. She felt like all of her bones had been broken and like her organs were liquefied.“Get off of me you oaf.” Helena groaned as she pushed Belenus to the side.“Tons of people would love to have me on them.” He was arrogant, despite the fact that he looked more roughed up than “Helena”. His nose was bleeding and so were his wounds, he had several cuts and bruises along what wasn’t covered by his suit. “Helena” just laughed at him, she only had some cuts and bruises, and she seemed to be winning. “I’m tired of this petty game let’s have some real fun.” He winked at “Helena” and allowed his suit to melt into his skin, being replaced with golden and red armor. “Helena” smirked at him and allowed her sweats and tank top be replaced by a black outfit that consisted of a long sleeve black cloth shirt with designs marked on it in white and red and a black loin cloth that reached to her knees with a pair of black booty shorts underneath of it. A circular dark metal shield with markings on it occupied her left arm. She didn’t have on shoes. A crown of leaves and dark colored flowers rested between her antlers.“Come on now you oaf, let’s have some real fun like you said.” Helena threw an orb of dark energy into Belenus’s chest plate and he stumbled back from the force of it. Belenus threw his own light at her, but she blocked it with her shield. He threw pulse after pulse of light, and everyone she deflected with her shield and back at him until finally her shield snapped in two. She grabbed the halves and sunk them into his exposed sides. He screamed out at the pain and kicked her legs from under her. She dragged him down with her and slammed her fists into his face. He reached up and started choking her, trying to get her to stop. Instead of stopping, she plunged her thumbs into his eyes. He screamed in misery as she pushed her thumbs deeper into his burning eye sockets. He pulled one of his large hands back and punched her square in the face sending her flying back, with both of his eyes still attached to her thumbs. His eye sockets were oozing yellow blood and he spit out several mouth fulls of blood before he could finally stand. Adrianna vomited at the disgusting sight. “Helena” pulled his eyeballs off of her thumbs and threw them to the side, laughing at the now blinded god. “The mortals have always said that staring at the sun will make you blind.” She teased the swaying behemoth.“I will silence you and when I’m done, I will kill every last one of your people, and I’ll let them all know they have you to thank for their demise!” He screamed before barreling towards “Helena”. She dodged his assault and watched as he slammed through the wall dividing the bathroom from the empty room. He shrieked and ripped the sink from the wall throwing it at the antlered woman. The marble slammed into her stomach and she doubled over coughing up thick black blood. Adrianna again vomited at the sight. “Tell your pet mouse to keep her lunch down.”“I told you to leave her out of this.” “Helena” screamed as she threw more of those smoking spears at Belenus, each one sunk through his armor cracking it slightly. He ran towards her and slammed her through two more walls before stopping. Adrianna heard the clash of metal before seeing Belenus thrown back in front of her. He looked drained as he attempted to wink in Adrianna’s direction. “Helena” walked back in carrying a spear that looked like it went along with her now destroyed and stuck in Belenus shield. “This is over Belenus.”“Oh, my darling it has just begun.” He slowly stood up and he blindly reached and grabbed her antlers, snapping one of them off. “Helena” screamed out in pure agony, clutching her head in pain. Belenus threw her by her lone antler back into the trio turned duo’s apartment. Adrianna could hear her wails from where she was curled in a ball trying not to vomit again. Belenus tossed the antler to the side and formed a shiny golden sword out of light. “Normally, I’m much more courteous about this sort of thing, but I’m afraid love that we just don’t have the time.” He stood in front of her menacingly pointing the sword at her. Adrianna hesitantly stood up, if I am going to die, then I am not going to die curled up surrounded by my own vomit. Adrianna yelled and threw her body against Belenus. The blind god didn’t expect it and stumbled slightly from the impact, Adrianna cursed in pain feeling her arm crack as soon as she connected with the giant sun god. “You’re a brave little mouse, aren’t you? The damned snake has rubbed off on you.” Belenus spoke as if this scorned him. “What a pity, I kinda wanted to keep you as my own pet.”“I am no one’s pet!” Adrianna yelled as she dove for the broken antler and wielded it as a sword. “By the Norns.” She mumbled under her breath as she started chanting an incantation to protect her against him.“You really think your silly little spells will stop me? How pathetic can you be?” He plucked the antler out of her hands and flung her back to the corner she was originally in. She hit the wall and fell down, she tried to stand, but kept slipping in her own vomit, which almost made her vomit for a third time. Adrianna continued to chant even after Belenus had stumbled over to her and started to carve into her side with his sword. She chanted through the thick tears and the blood that dripped from the wounds in her side and stained her pastel pink hoodie that had bunny ears attached to the hood. She chanted until Belenus was blasted backward by a force field of dark energy that looked like “Helena’s”. Adrianna looked towards the hole in the ceiling and saw the godlike woman crawling towards it. She had blood matted in her hair from where her antler broke and her eyes glowed a dark blue. She fell through the hole and groaned at the impact of the ground. Adrianna rushed over and chanted a healing spell while holding “Helena” close. She slowly regained enough of her strength to stand and brushed off Adrianna’s trembling hands. Belenus threw an orb of light at Adrianna knocking her back into a different wall this time he ran towards her and raised his sword ready to attack. He was inches away from Adrianna’s face when he was pulled back by his ankle, by “Helena.” “You really don’t know when to quit do you?” He mocked.“You have taken enough from me. You will not take this too.” She spat at him. She slammed her foot into his face crushing several bones. “That was for killing my plants.” She lifted her staff that radiated dark blue and black smoke above her head and smiled evilly down at him. “Belenus Celtic god of the sun, I am Wisakedjak Native American goddess of mischief, and this has been your lesson. You shall now bow before me in the afterlife for the next ten thousand years.” She slammed the spear through his armor and into his chest and lifted her other hand high into the air looking up towards the sky. “Oh, mighty spirits and the great ancestors bless me on this day to bring down the enemy…” She trailed off and began to speak another language when she was done, her eyes shined so bright Adrianna had to squint to look in her direction. A dark beam of light slammed through the spear and into Belenus’s chest. The light consumed his own bright aura that surrounded him and eventually the armor was left hollow. Wisakedjak fell to her knees in exhaustion. Adrianna rushed over and lifted her head up between her hands, getting her dark thick blood on her palms, which caused Adrianna to swallow the bile rising up her throat. She had no reason to be concerned for this god, she was a god after all, but this was her friend. Well, maybe not my friend, but I’ve grown attached to the bleeding woman in front of me. Adrianna“Are you alright?” Adrianna asked cautiously.“I was just in a boxing match with a sun god, do you think I’m alright?” She spat out. There was silence for a brief moment before the god looked around the room and through the hole above them. “Do you think we’ll get the security deposit back on this place?” She asked teasingly, laughing slightly. Adrianna pulled the immortal into her, holding her close for a brief moment and the god let it happen, accepting Anna’s warm embrace.“Probably not unless we use some magic.” Adrianna mused, helping the wounded god get to her feet.“Grab my antler would you.” She snapped at her helper. “You better get used to this because I don’t save people out of the kindness of my heart. I destroyed this Earth once, I’ll do it again.” She grumbled after Adrianna rolled her eyes at her demand. The two stumbled back up into their apartment where Wisakedjak collapsed onto Adrianna’s bed and promptly passed out leaving Adrianna to do all of the manual labor. The god of mischief was left incapacitated for several days, but luckily returned to her human form so Adrianna could easily mover her back to Helena’s room. When the goddess finally stirred awake it was to the smell of bacon. She stumbled out into the kitchen to glare at Adrianna who was gleefully cooking said bacon. “You know I’m a vegan.”“Oh, hush up, you’re a god you don’t need to eat.” Adrianna complained. “Besides you eat a Big Mac once every month.”“Iron supplements mess up your teeth.”“You’re a GOD!” Watching over the god these past few days had led her to not fear the god. She knew the body she resided in and knew this woman, she was oddly comforted by knowing that the god was awake and alright now.“Okay, and? I can’t be worried about my looks because I’m a god?” “It means you literally have no reason to be worried.” The two glared at each other before the mortal turned back around to continue cooking.“So, was Helena ever real?”“She was, I’ve been using her form since she died a year ago.” Adrianna tensed up at her response.“How did she die?” The mortal asked softly, trying not to cry in front of the god.“She was stabbed and her body dumped in the lake, robbery gone wrong. I gave her a proper burial and have been using her form ever since.”“Why?”“I wanted revenge on the colonizers, didn’t want the lake being polluted by a rotting body, and I needed some muscle. So, I hatched this plan, which worked out pretty well. Besides Helena was thinking about leaving Celtic paganism and following her grandmother’s footsteps. She was going to be a follower of mine before she was murdered so I figured I’d allow her to rest in the proper afterlife.” The god spoke so casually of this like it was no big deal.“Why’d you kill Markus?” Adrianna huffed out a breath after finally asking the question that was burning on her tongue. The god looked uncomfortable for a moment and shifted in her seat. She sighed heavily before answering.“He pissed me off, and Belenus was getting a little too heavy handed with the warnings. I kinda miss him though, I kissed him before I killed him. Quite liked him.”“Why’d you kill him if you liked him?”“Well, loved is the more accurate term, but love between gods and mortals is fleeting and only ends in pain. The only love that a god will ever feel deeply is the love for another god.” Wisakedjak looked sullen at this. “I’ve decided how to keep him around though.”“How?” Adrianna took the food off the stove and put it onto two plates, before turning to face the god, not quite sure what she’d see.“Ta-da.” The goddess of mischief smirked as she pulled a tiny little Markus with little wings, little horns, and a cute little pointed tail out of her hoodie pocket. He looked like a stereotypical demon. “Isn’t he just adorable?” She placed Markus on the chair next to her and waved a hand over top of his head. Dark blue and black smoke wrapped around him and he grew to be about the size of Dobby the house elf. Adrianna just blinked at the now alive, but much smaller Markus.“I really hate you I hope you know this.” Markus spoke solemnly.“Oh, I know sugarplum. But it’s either this or death. Who knows maybe I’ll let you be human again if you show good behavior.” The god teased.“You made him small, so you weren’t the shortest, anymore didn’t you?” Adrianna accused.“Perhaps.” The god replied back playfully. Markus just looked even more irritated, although he still looked adorable. Adrianna just giggled at the troublesome duo in front of her. The trio ate in relative silence after Adrianna made Markus a small plate of food. When they were finished eating, they went to the living room to watch reruns of The Nanny.“So, what are your plans now, Wisda-” Adrianna was cut off by the god.“Just call me Wiz.”“Okay, Wiz. What are your plans now?”“Hmmm. I hadn’t really thought that far ahead. I thought killing one of the Celtic gods was going to take a lot longer. I guess I’ll just chill here, I mean you both are my servants now so…” She trailed off with a shrug.“I’m sorry we’re your what?” Markus glared at Wiz.“Servants, and watch your tone before you go back to being pocket sized.” Wiz threatened.“What does being your servant entail?” Adrianna asked.“Longer life, doing my bidding, forced to be one of my followers, magic protection, and of course a prime spot in the afterlife when you eventually die.” Wiz sounded bored. “It’s not like either of you can do anything about it and I’ve proved I can and will kill another god, so might as well roll with it so that these next few thousand years will be easy.” Wiz shrugged and shrunk Markus back down to pocket size letting him rest on her shoulder. She leaned back into the couch and relaxed before slamming her eyes open again. “That damned oaf is causing a scene in my afterlife. What a sore loser. Come one you two, we have our first job.”“What is it?” Adrianna asked.“Finding a way to keep Belenus contained while her serves his prison sentence in the afterlife.” Wiz answered glumly as she opened up a portal in the wall. Adrianna just stared at her like she had two heads. “Come on now let’s go we don’t have all of eternity, I mean I do but you don’t.” Wiz slipped through the portal with pocket Markus still resting on her shoulder like a pirate’s parrot. Adrianna groaned and walked through the portal.
Mom was right I should’ve went to catholic school.