Chapter Four: The Black Trinity

Jessie wasn't sure she had heard her right. The Wild Hunt was a myth, a legend. It couldn't possible be true. She glanced around, passing Jonny's wide blue eyes, and came to rest on her mothers. Estella's eyes were also wide, and Jessie could see that they held fear. Her mothers' dropped jaw told her that Haley was telling the truth.

"You can't possible think you can control him, do you?" Jessie bit out, realizing that they were in trouble if they were to face The Wild Hunt. Haley's back straightened, and then she relaxed and let a smile creep onto her lips.

"Control who?" Jonny cut in. Jessie couldn't help but roll her eyes; he was not helping their situation. Haley let out a small laugh and rocked back on her heals.

"Odin, the leader of the Hunt, and King of the Gods" she said looking at Jonny, his confused look made her continue, "The Wild Hunt is a phantasmal group of huntsmen with the accoutrements of hunting, horses, hounds, etc., in mad pursuit across the skies or along the ground. The hunter may be an unidentified lost soul, a deity or spirit of either gender."

"It sounds like a harmless myth," Jonny cut her off.

"You didn't let me finish," Haley rounded, her eyes still locked with Jonny's, "Seeing the Wild Hunt was thought to presage some catastrophe such as war or plague, or at best the death of the one who witnessed it. Mortals getting in the path of or following the Hunt could be kidnapped and brought to the land of the dead. Now, whoever holds the summoning stone, can control the Hunt, which is basically made up of immortals."

"But if they steal your soul, how can you control them?" Jonny asked, eyebrows raised, "Wouldn't they just kill you and go on their way, doing whatever Gods do these days?"

"It doesn't matter," Estella said through clenched teeth, "you'll never find it."

"That's why I'm here," Tadashi's smooth voice said from the darkness behind Haley. Jessie watched as he stepped out of the shadows, flanked by, who she thought to be his younger brother and three other guards.

"I hope you've reconsidered my offer, Estella," he asked as he approached the bars. Jessie looked to her mother and found her eyes no longer filled with fear but defiance.

"I'm sorry," the older woman breathed out, "but I'm going to have to decline." Jessie glanced back at Tadashi. To her surprise, his eyes softened, and to Jessie they almost looked…sad. Something clicked in the back of her mind that told her something was about to happen. She knew that look. It was regret. Haley stood up and took out the cell key and opened the door, her brother's men close behind her. Jessie watched as the younger brother reach into his pocket and pull out an injection syringe full of some pale blue liquid. As soon as Haley took the syringe from her brother, Jessie was on her feet, Jonny close behind her.

"Whatever you're planning, I'm not going to let it happen," Jessie threatened, her eyes staring down Haley. Jessie watched as Haley smiled and then the woman was inches away from her. Jessie felt a small prick of pain in her stomach and she looked down to see Haley's hand moving away, Jessie's eyes catching the pale blue color of the liquid in the syringe sticking out of her own skin. The cell was silent as the syringe emptied into Jessie's body, no one moving until it was done. The guard to Jessie's right moved towards her mother, but Jessie ripped the syringe out and stopped him with a quick punch to the face. She smiled as the bone broke, the cell filled with his painful scream. He crumpled backwards as Jonny jumped on the other guard, Jessie rounding on Haley. Their eyes locked and they lunged at each other. Jessie threw a quick punch to Haley's face, only to have it blocked. Haley took the opportunity to throw a closed fist to Jessie's stomach, where her brushed ribs already rested. The red head took in a mouthful of air as she went to her knees, trying to fill her screaming lungs.

"Haley, back off," Tadashi's voice commanded from outside the cell.

Jessie was about to press forward on the sister when a small pain flared up in her chest, making her freeze. She took slow, controlled breaths to try and quench the flames, only to find that breathing in general was making it worse. As the adrenaline left her body, she let out a small gasp when the pain grew and she felt her mother and Jonny instantly at her side. Her pulse was racing and every heart beat she felt in her head seemed to increase the pain.

"Jess, what wrong?" it was Jonny's voice, although it was getting harder and harder to hear him, or anything else for that matter. The pain was everywhere, engulfing her, filling her vision and conciseness, she felt nothing else. Jessie sent a hand to her chest as another wave of pain washed over her. Then, the world tilted, and she felt herself stumbling sideways.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Jonny caught Jessie as she fell into him, letting her slid to the ground. He glanced from Tadashi to the empty syringe on the floor. His eyes were drawn back to Jessie as he heard her short gasps for air. Sweat was already glazing her brow and her emerald eyes were fading in and out of focus.

She's in pain!

"What did you do to her!" he yelled angrily at Tadashi, who was watching the situation from behind the cell bars. Haley and the other men had exited while Jonny and Estella had gone to Jessie's side.

"She only made it spread faster by fighting. The faster your blood flows the faster the Trinity is carried throughout the body," he answered. Jonny felt Estella's form beside him go ridged, and he looked to her. Her face was filled with the deepest fear he had ever seen.

"If you tell me where the Heart of Thunder is, we will have the power to save her," before Estella could answer, Jessie's hand grasped her sleeve.

"…mom…don't…" her words broken up into pants and gasps as her hands went back to clutching at her chest, trying to calm the pain engulfing her. Jonny looked into Estella's eyes, searching for the answers to so many of his questions. She only looked back down to her daughters panting form and then rounded on Tadashi.

"How could you do this Tadashi, she's and innocent kid!" she bit out through clenched teeth. To Jonny's horror, Tadashi snorted and smiled before he leaned closer to the cell bars and towards Estella, a sneer curling on his lips.

"There is no such thing as an innocent being in this world, Estella. That is one of the most important lessons I have learned over the years…To make you feel better, that quantity of the Black Trinity was meant for the boy, not her," he shifted his gaze downward to Jessie and then found Estella's eyes again, "but you see, the really only true weakness people like you have, Estella, are the beings that fill up your life, the ones that truly matter to you. So the only thing you should be angry about is the love that you and your daughter share, because in the end…that's what killed her."

The cell bars were the only thing keeping Jonny from lunging at this man, this man that thought himself to be God, Jonny loathed him. The fury he was feeling now was radiation off of him and Estella like rays from the sun. He smiled when the two guards took a step back, away from the fuming mother. When Estella spoke, it felt like the earth was shaking. The pure hatred it carried made Jonny shift an inch away from her, not really certain if the cell bars would be enough to stop her from lunging at Tadashi's throat.

"Where's the antidote, Tadashi?"

To Jonny's confusion, Tadashi's eyes brightened, almost like he was enjoying the conversation with Estella. Enjoying the situation Jessie was in, the situation he had put her in. He was rocking back and forth on his heals, a smile plastered on his angular face, the actions made him look like a ten-year-old waiting to be asked the million dollar question that only he knew the answer to. The next moment; however, would be burned into Jonny's mind for the rest of eternity.

"There isn't one, the effects are irreversible," he answered slowly with a smile, letting the words hit the mother and best friend in front of him.

The atmosphere froze, no one spoke. The only noise and movement was Estella collapsing backwards, her eyes locked with the smiling Tadashi. Jonny's mind went blank, denial setting in. Maybe he hadn't heard right, there was no possible way that it could be true. He then glanced back to Tadashi, the man's smile widening when he found the beaten mother. With a flick of his head, the cell doors were opened and Jonny was to far in shock to care what they were going to do. His body was pulled back to the wall where his hands were then chained; he heard Estella's desperate pleas for Tadashi to stop as she was chained on the other side of the cell. Jonny only snapped back to reality when a small, pain-filled whimper was emitted from Jessie's body as her hands were chained to the floor in the center of the cell. Then the events of a few moments ago slammed into him like a Mac truck. He lunged at the closest guard, but the chains held him strong, cutting into his wrists with every burst forward. He stopped his struggles when Tadashi spoke and the anger and determination inside him rekindled.

"Maybe, hearing the screams of your dying daughter for an hour or so might help change your mind," he smiled at Estella and then turned on his heals and vanished from sight to the right.

Jonny's blue eyes were wide, his body shaking with shock. He glanced back to Jessie's form on the floor, her breathing was now even, but her body shook every so often, the pain coming in waves. Her eyes were half open, but she didn't really look conscious. Looking at her, the realization came crashing down on him.

His best friend was going to die.

And there was nothing he could do to stop it.


A/N: I'm sorry that's its really short, but I just couldn't write a lot for what I wanted to put in here. This was one of my favorite chapters, I don't know why, but I really liked writing it.

Until next time!