The moment Callisto comes to, she struggles hard, only to realize she is trapped in a cage, her wrists chained to the bars of it. She groans in frustration. She is glad that the vampire and werewolf did not find her home. Rye Belanore is safe, for now.
Her head aches, her vision fuzzy. She feels a weird tightening of something and realizes that the chains on her wrists are freezing the power in her veins. Callisto cannot feel the dark, the power of a vampire just out of her reach. As she looks around, she finds herself in an encampment in the middle of the Wastes, far from the woods she was found in. Those woods are now mere specks on the horizon.
She sees a couple other people trapped in cages and chained up, just like her. A fae man with very pale skin covered in dirt and bruises clutches the bars of his cage. His curly black hair is messy and smeared with blood and other gross things. He yanks on the bars of the cage, his red eyes flashing with a small spark of power.
Callisto looks to her left, seeing an angel hunched over in the cage he was trapped in. His white, feathered wings are slumped just like his shoulders. He does not touch the bars, just stares blankly at the world around him. Tan skin bloodied, black hair messy, and blue eyes downcast. The angel does not fight. He has given up.
Callisto turns her attention on the small group of people who are gathered around a small campfire. The sun is setting and she distantly wonders how long she'd been asleep. Or unconscious. She isn't sure which it was.
Finally, she glances over to where the fae sits.
His red eyes lock on hers, and he frowns. He does not speak, but uses a type of sign language to try and communicate with her. She narrows her eyes and shakes her head.
He sighs and rolls his eyes. Slowly, he repeats the movements for her. She watches it, before realization comes to her.
He is asking her if she could help him escape.
She shakes her head and shrugs.
The fae nods to his chains. Then makes a sharp cutting motion. He wants to break the chains they are all forced to wear.
Then, the vampire who had assisted the wolf comes over to the three prisoners. She watches as he snaps his fingers, causing the doors to unhook and slide open. The vamp grabs the three prisoners' chains, dragging them toward the fire.
In his human form, the werewolf watches them. He doesn't speak, and neither does the vampire.
A final person, a fae woman who smells of wolves, stands up and approaches them. Callisto glances at the angel and fae, who do not look back at her. The vampire yanks the chains hard, and each of them staggers. But the angel falls to his knees.
"Disappointing," murmurs the fae woman. She clicks her tongue and shakes her head. "He won't do."
That is when Callisto glances behind the fae woman.
Dozens of realistic statues are placed all over behind her, each of them in various poses. An icy dread coils itself around her throat and stomach, and Callisto fights the urge to be sick.
The fae woman grabs the angel by his hair and yanks him up, making the man yelp in pain. She laughs in his face, inching closer to him. He tries to beat his wings, tries to take flight. But it is no use.
The fae woman laughs, then shoves him around and toward the field of petrified people. Callisto hears the angel scream, roaring in rage and fear. He shatters the chains, and she gasps as the metal around her wrists as well as the fae man beside her, as they burn to ash.
Callisto glances at the fae, only for him to morph. He becomes a huge wyrdbeast, a monstrous predator mix. Moments pass, and as they all watch, a black furred bear, raven, and wolf mix roars and shrieks. The blazing red eyes in his skull are like twin flames as he tackles the werewolf.
Callisto Flickers behind the vampire, ripping free one of the vamp's hidden daggers from its sheath. He turns and she slashes the blade at him. He jumps back, huge, black bat wings exploding from his back. He launches himself at her.
But the angel flies into his side, his hands burning a bright golden light as he singes the vampire's flesh and clothes. Callisto turns and runs at the fae woman. She begins to morph as well, but before she can finish, the fae shifter throws the dead body of the werewolf at her.
On the ground, the fae woman half transformed, is pinned under the wolf's body. She screams in rage, shoving the monster's body. It does not even budge.
Then, the huge wyrdbeast steps up beside Callisto, snarling at the fae woman.
Callisto grins. "I wonder how your blood would taste...."
The vampire is suddenly upon her, burying his thick, bloody claws into her shoulders. She screams in pain, trying to pull him off her.
An idea pops in her mind. "Hey, angel!"
The angel man, who now is helping the wyrdbeast as he stalks toward the trapped fae woman, turns to her. She nods and then looks up at the sky.
Then, the vampire still holding onto her, she Flickers into the sky.
The vampire laughs in her ear as they appear above the clouds. She grins at him, manifesting her claws. She tears into his wings, then. Ripping as many holes into them as she can. The vampire roars as blood arcs out of the wounds.
"Have fun dying," she says, grinning as she releases her grip on the vamp.
Flickering back to just above the clouds, and the angel catches her, stopping down to watch as the vampire splats onto the ground.
YOU ARE READING
Origins of the Fates
FantasyIlyntalos is the last living major city in what was once the proud United States of America. America was ripped apart by the gods from other worlds who were waging a bloody war on each other. They destroyed everything and killed most of the humans t...
