Chapter 150

Hannah

Sister?

“You finally found your mate?” Liz asked, looking up at him. “About time, Sebby.”

“You know I hate when you call me that.”

“Give me a break,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I haven’t seen you in over a decade. I can call you whatever I want.”

She hugged him again as more tears sprang from her eyes.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” I said, looking between the two of them in disbelief. “But sister?”

“Yes,” he answered. “Liz is my little sister. She’s a half sorcerer and half werewolf.”

“The sorcerer is from our mother’s side,” Liz explained.

“I see…” I said, still trying to process what I was hearing.

“Liz is the reason I came here the first time…” Sebastian explained. “Her spirit was taken here, and I came here to get her back. I was young and stupid though. I ended up getting trapped.”

“But you escaped,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him. “You were able to get out.”

“With the help of Gemma,” Sebastian answered. “It was underworld years later that we were finally able to escape. Like Liam, my sister was poisoned. She went into a coma that couldn’t be explained. My father was still very much alive. He had Gemma, an old friend of my mother’s, examine her and find out what was wrong. Gemma could sense darkness lurking around her. We soon found out that the portal to the underworld had been tampered with and it was somehow open. Darkness was roaming our territory. I went into the underworld to find my sister’s soul and return it to her body. Meanwhile, Gemma stayed behind so she can figure out how to seal the portal again.”

“But then, you got trapped?” I asked.

“Gemma had a vision from the moon goddess; she said that we needed to find the moonstone scepter which was being kept in the underworld. So, Gemma being Gemma, went into the underworld to retrieve the scepter.”

“And she found it?”

“She did…” he answered. “Not even Xander knew where the scepter was being stored. But Gemma managed to find it with the help of her visions. She was able to seal the portal… however, we were still on the inside…”

“I see…” I breathed.

“Once the portal was sealed, we couldn’t get out. Xander put an enchantment on me that separated my wolf and caused me to go into a coma. Gemma tried everything she could to find a way out. But sealing the portal took a lot of her magic and she was out of energy. She used the little magic she had left to hide the scepter.

“The scepter could only be used to seal the portal,” I breathed. “But to re-open it, she needed your wolf.”

“At the time we didn’t know that. Xander had my wolf and Gemma had no powers. She couldn’t channel the moon goddess for guidance. She was forced to serve the vampire king. Her main role was to keep my body alive while I was in a coma. Meanwhile, Xander did as he pleased to my wolf. He used me as his vessel…” He paused for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. “I’ve done unthinkable things as his vessel. I wasn’t in control though. I’ve killed…”

“That’s how the rumors came to be,” I said softly; it wasn’t a question.

“It took a long time for Gemma’s powers to be restored to her. She was running out of faith that they ever would be. But eventually, they returned to her, and she had another vision. It was the moon goddess telling her of a way out. She just needed the moonstone scepter and my wolf. That would open the portal for those who weren’t banished to the underworld, including trapped spirits. As long as their bodies on our land were okay, they could return to them.”

“So, Gemma was able to free your wolf?”

“Once she got her magic back, she was,” Sebastian nodded. “Once I got my wolf back, my strength was restored, and I woke up. She explained the plan for us to escape. I went to find my sister and saw that she was running this little shop in the city. I told her that we can finally leave but….” His voice trailed off as he looked at Liz.

She sighed and met my eyes.

“It was too late for me,” she continued for him. “My body on our lands has been destroyed. My spirit had nowhere else to go other than death. We’ve been trapped in the underworld for years; Sebastian has been in a coma for years. After a while. The vampire king gets bored of torturing and if you do as he says without complaint, you can live a fairly normal life here. I was able to open this little shop and start a new life. Sure, if I misstep then I’m punished, and I must do as he says and when he says. But it was better than being dead completely.”

I understood what she was saying and now I was starting to understand why my mother liked it here so much. Because the alternative was the unknown lands that happen after death. At least this way, she can still live a life. Even if it was under the control of the vampire king.

“I was angry…” Sebastian said. “I was angry that I couldn’t save my sister and I allowed Xander to have all this control over me. I vowed to never allow that to happen again. But it was because of that anger that we were able to open the portal. But Xander had my wolf enchanted. It couldn’t leave through the portal.”

“So, how did you escape?” I asked with a frown.

“Gemma was able to use her magic to break off a piece of my wolf; that way the underworld still thought it was there while the rest of us escaped.”

“That’s how a piece of your wolf got stuck?” I asked in disbelief.

He nodded his head and met my eyes.

“That’s also how he had semi-control still. He didn’t have enough of my wolf to take full control, but enough to drive me crazy every full moon. He also had enough of my wolf’s powers to create a couple of vessels…”

“Like Henry,” I breathed.

“Yes,” he answered. “And Lila.”

“Why am I just finding out about this now?” I asked softly. “You didn’t tell me anything about your sister.”

“Ouch, Sebby,” Liz said looking at him. “That hurts.”

“When we escaped, my memories of what happened were stuck with that part of my wolf,” he explained. “He was able to seal my memories to that wolf. Including my sister. It wasn’t that I was hiding the fact that I had a sister. It was just that without that part of my wolf, I couldn’t remember her. I couldn’t remember anything about what happened during our time in the underworld. The part of my wolf that I did have, was given false memories.”

“So, what happened to Liz’s body?” I asked. “Why couldn’t she return?”

“My body was cremated,” Liz explained. “I think once Sebastian and Gemma disappeared and the portal was sealed, father lost hope that I would ever wake up.”

I felt sad hearing that but then Sebastian shook his head.

“It wasn’t father,” Sebastian said. “The memories given to me were of a war between the vampires and werewolves. As I said, the time zone in the underworld is made up by Xander. Years there were only a few months on our land. So, when I went home, it was like I was away at war for a few months. Father was dead when I got back and the kingdom was under the control of his recent wife, Magnolia.”

“What?” Liz gasped. “That bitch took over the kingdom?”

“Until I came back,” Sebastian answered. “I took my throne. She remained in the palace with her son Jack.”

Liz shuddered at the name Jack. I could tell there was probably unpleasant history there.

“Father wouldn’t have waited only a couple of months before labeling you dead. I have a feeling that had to do with Magnolia. I also have a feeling that she had something to do with his death. She says it was an unfortunate accident. But father was stronger than that. It wouldn’t be easy to take him out.”

Liz shook her head with dismay written all over her face. I went to say something more, but a dark haze fell upon the shop, and I stiffened. Someone was approaching and he wreaked of dark energy. I could tell both Liz and Sebastian, felt it too because they too stiffened.

The color on Liz’s face drained.

“Shit,” she said under her breath. “You need to get downstairs and stay quiet,” she ordered.

I looked at Sebastian worriedly.

“Now!” Liz hissed.