This is the story of how I died...well, how I died again. Which still hurts like hell, you know. Anyway, back to the story. Once upon a time, in a not-so-small city known as New Orleans, a girl was born to Acheron and Soteria Parthenopaeus. A girl who was named Ryssa, after the father's long deceased sister. She had the most startling blue eyes anyone had ever seen, along with golden blonde hair. She, along with all her siblings, were loved by all in the world. By the were-hunters of Sanctuary, by the humans known as squires, and, of course, by the people her father governed over, the Dark-hunters. Even I grew to have a soft spot for them.
As with any good fairy tale, there's always a bad guy. The one of this tale is name Strykerius. He hated Ryssa's father, with a passion. As for why Stryker hated him so much, not even I know that. It's something that spawned milleniums and milleniums ago. Yes, Acheron's that old. He is an Atlantean, after all.
Getting off topic. Back to the point. Stryker would've done anything to spite the man who'd killed so many of his people. And for a good reason. Daimons are evil, vile, nasty little soul-suckers. ANYWAY, when Ryssa was only a few weeks old, her parents went out for a vacation together, only for a weekend (Tory's idea), leaving her in the hands of her brothers Sebastos and Junior (Bas was like 27 at the time, and Junior was 21). Night time, when most things sleep, was when Stryker chose to strike. Bas was in the same room, not two feet from her when Stryker's wife, Zephyra, broke into the home in a disguise so no one would suspect them.
Acheron felt the presence of something evil in his home, something that shouldn't have been. He alerted his sons and flashed home, just in time to see a disguised Zephyra taking his child and disappearing into a bolt hole. If it hadn't been for his wife Tory, the world would've ended then and there. Acheron struggled, but Tory told him to settle down, causing the end of the world wouldn't do anything for their daughter. He glared up at her, then noticed the tears in her eyes. He pulled her into his arms, burying his face into her hair.
Simi, Acheron's young demon companion, was also upset. Upset at seeing her akri upset, and hating that she couldn't play with the new baby. She turned to her true demon's form, flashing down to Kalosis, the home of Acheron's mother and the one place he must never go. She ignored the summons of Apollymi, going on the hunt for Stryker. Ryssa was her simi just as much as she was Acheron's, and no one messed with the Simi's family. She pounded on the door that separated Apollymi's domain from Stryker's half with an inhuman force, causing the goddess to flash to her side.
Once the goddess of destruction heard what Stryker had done, she blasted the doors open, going straight for his throat. He didn't put up a fight. He only grinned and told her that if anything should happen to him, or to his family, that the baby would be slaughtered, cut into tiny pieces, and sent back to her parents. Apollymi backed away, fearing for her granddaughter's life. Simi, tears in her eyes, flashed back to Acheron, hugging him close. The news cut him deep, knowing that it would only be Stryker's mercy that returned his child.
Zephyra, once she returned home with the child, wanted nothing to do with it and handed her off to one of her husbands generals, Davyn. He gently took the child, rocking her and patting her head on his way down the hall. Before he could make it to the nursery, Medea, Stryker's daughter, stopped him, demanding he hand over the child to her. He slowly handed over the bundle, surprised when she handled the little girl with care, smiling as she took the girl back to her room.
Ryssa grew up as normal as she could, living in the middle of the daimon's lair. Since Medea raised her as her daughter, no one was allowed to mess with her, or kill her. She grew up knowing how to use a sword, taught to her by her babysitter, Davyn. One thing she always had in her heart, something she only ever told to him, was she wanted to see other places, like the one outside the door, or really anywhere. She was young and wanted to explore. But he gave her the same response everyone did when she asked: no.
And that's how it's been the last 21 years. Ryssa growing up with people who aren't her parents, and her real family mourning her everyday, hoping that one day she'd be returned to them.