Chapter 16: What The Hell?
"Ya got any threes?" Junior asked his sister as he and others were sitting around a circular table with cards in their hands.
The other kids were busy playing around on their new indoor playground and picnic area. Wooden structures, a ball pit, ropes, nets, a few trampolines, a jungle gym, hexagonal climbers and slides up to fifty feet were inside the vast room that had originally been one of the smaller ballrooms.
"Go Fish," Aoífe giggled, making Junior groan and draw a card from the deck in the middle.
"Damn it all tah hell," he grumbled before placing the new card in his hand. "Yer turn, Freya."
The green weredragon looked at her cards with a hum before looking at Hilde. "Do you have any...kings?"
"Crap!" the little blonde girl shouted before handing Freya two cards.
Freya chuckled as she put the cards in her hand, then she set four king cards down on the table next to her other sets. "I like this game," Freya remarked happily.
"Of course you do. You always win," a Mongolian boy named Jochi said. "I think you're cheating."
Freya stood up and pointed at Jochi. "You take that back! I don't cheat!"
Jochi also stood up, almost knocking the table over. "Yes you do! You hide extra cards in your scales!"
"No I don't! The cards are too big for my scales anyway, you stupid jerk!"
As Freya and Jochi started fighting with each other, Freya putting Jochi into a headlock, Junior rolled his eyes and looked at his twin sister. "I dunna know why we even bother tryin' tah make those two get on," he muttered.
"They'll get on..." she answered, filtering through her cards. "...eventually."
"Freya! Jochi!" Aisling, the head nanny, scolded loudly as she marched across the playground floor with a few other adults. "Ya both stop that right now!"
While Aisling was busy separating the two, Junior saw the ballroom door open a crack. He tilted his head before setting down his cards and hastily making his way over. Aoífe followed suit after him. When the twins made it to the door, Aoífe poked her head out to see a little girl with long, straight black hair and green eyes.
"Oh, hi Olena," she said with a smile. "Are ya, uh...exploring the house?" Olena, with a shy expression and not making eye contact, gave a slow nod. "Would ya like tah come play with us?"
Arthur Junior peeked his head by Aoífe, swallowing hard. Darrach had just finished putting Olena into a new body a couple weeks ago so he really only saw her once for a brief moment. According to Aunt Adair, Darrach managed to recreate Olena's body accurately, down to the last strand of DNA. Since then, however, Olena hadn't bothered to leave the bedroom she'd been given.
Junior wasn't sure how someone could look so pretty even with the sad, shy look on her face.
"I...I guess," Olena mumbled with uncertainty.
Aoífe opened the door more and held out her hand. "C'mon, then. Don't be scared."
Olena eyed Aoífe's hand and frowned further before walking by them both cautiously into the play room. She stared at the jungle gym and all the other structures in the room with wide eyes. "Oh my goodness," she whispered.
"Yeah, Dad and the gang put this together for us kids," Aoífe remarked with pride. "I think you'll like it if ya give it a shot."
Olena bit her lip before slowly making her way to one of the swings hanging from the ceiling. She hesitantly touched it, making it move slightly. Junior and Aoífe went to her. "It's a swing," Junior explained. "Ya sit in it." Olena nodded before placing herself in the swing, then she grabbed the metal chains and looked at Junior with confusion. He laughed before going up behind her. "Hang on," he said before giving her a gentle push.
"Oh!" she exclaimed as the swing went forward. "My goodness!"
When the swing went back, Junior proceeded to give her another push. "Are ya alright, lassie?" he asked.
"Y-Yes..." Olena stammered.
"Am I pushing too hard?"
"No...it-it's okay," she said, a small smile appearing on her face. "I've never been on a swing before."
"There's a first time for everything," Junior surmised as he continued to push the girl gently.
Aoífe went on the swing next to Olena and began to swing herself, pushing her legs back and forth. "Why don'tcha tell us about yerself, Olena? We havena seen ya much since ya got a body, so we havena gotten tah know ya."
Olena frowned as Junior kept swinging her. "I...um..."
"If ya dunna wantah talk about yerself just now, that's okay as well," Arthur Jr. assured the little girl, pushing her a little more. "No pressure."
"Uh...no pressure?"
"It means dunna feel obligated tah, ya know, do things yer not comfortable with," Junior explained as Olena went a little higher. "We know ya been through a lot, so..."
Olena shrugged. "I guess so, but...I don't get it."
"Dunna get what?" Aoífe asked casually.
"I don't get...uh...why all this happened. All the bad stuff. I asked the tree man but..." Olena shrugged again. "...he said I was too young to understand."
Junior nodded. "And rightly so. Ya was only four when ya...passed on. I know ya spent yer time in the Underworld with Uncle Hades and Aunt Persephone, but the thing about bein' dead when yer a kid is ya dunna get tah grow up. It's why our Aunt Janet is still a kid, too."
"Oh. So I'm just...picking up where I left off?" she asked.
Junior scrunched up his face in surprise. "That's uh...yes, actually. Heh heh. Yer a smart cookie."
"Hey! I thought we were playing Go Fish!" Jochi shouted from across the room.
Junior sighed and looked at Aoífe. "Would ya like tah play a card game with us, Olena?" Aoífe asked.
Olena frowned again as she looked at the kids, then she looked at Aoífe shyly. "I...I-I think I'll stay on the swing," she stuttered.
Aoífe nodded, slowed herself down and got out of the swing. "Alright. Ya comin', Art?" she asked as she walked.
Arthur looked at Olena, then at Aoífe, then at Olena once more. "I...uh..."
Aoífe stopped and turned, smirking at him. "What?"
Olena looked behind her at Junior with a small grin. "You don't have to stay with me," she said.
Junior quirked his mouth to the side. "That's true, but..." he resumed Olena's swinging. "...I wantah stay."
The redheaded little girl raised an eyebrow when she saw Olena look away with a smile. "Ya have a lovely smile," Aoífe said before walking away. "Alright, ladies and gents! I'm coming tah kick all yer bloody arses in Go Fish!"
"Aoífe Morgan!" Aisling gasped as Aoífe sat down. "You know how I feel about such language!"
"Sorry, Miss Aisling," Aoífe said with a frown.
The fight was in its eleventh round and the crowd was going absolutely ballistic. Despite the noise, Arthur had managed to pick up on some good information, like the fact that the man Queen Aynaet was with wasn't King Mallacht, which he assumed already because the guy didn't look like Dubh, but it got Arthur thinking.
Who was the mysterious man sitting with The Demon Queen?
Was she cheating on her husband or was it just an innocent night out for them as friends? From the way the man kept leaning over to talk in Aynaet's ear, Arthur reckoned it was the former. It didn't really matter to him, though, because the witch was going to be dead soon anyway.
Arthur excused himself from the table and went walking through the crowd, the round ending with a bell and the opponents going to their corners. He made his way through the crowd slowly, wanting to get a better view of his targets.
"What are ya doin', Theo?" Lugh hissed into the ear com.
"Gettin' a better vantage point," Arthur replied lowly. "Once those two get goin', I don't wanna lose 'em in the crowd."
"But we gotta stick tah the plan!"
"I am stickin' to the plan, Harry. Calm down."
"Scotty sent out a mini drone tah track them, laddie."
"Yeah but what if it gets seen?" Arthur asked, pushing gently through to get closer to his enemies. "I'm the back up tracker."
Arthur had a different plan in mind. He just needed to find a good spot to scope out the queen and assassinate her. He'd had enough of waiting, he really wanted to kill someone...and he wanted to test out his new sniper rifle from Lilly's vault. The Earl of Moycullen couldn't quite explain it but he imagined this was what it was like to have a thirst for real revenge. He wasn't going to lie to himself and say he wasn't a little scared of how it felt, but for the most part, he was too angry to let it stop him.
This god damn bitch needed to die.
Arthur looked at the ceiling, studying the structure of the rafters. Was there a way for him to get up there? He looked around more before going back up through the aisle of the massive arena. He eyed a door that said, "stairs - employees only" and he walked up the aisle stairs to it before looking around to see if he was being watched. When Arthur was satisfied no one was looking, he grabbed the door handle and opened the door as the round bell sounded out, starting a new boxing round. He rushed up the stairs quickly.
"Where are you going, Lord Morgan?" Darrach asked curiously.
"I wanna see if I can get an eagle eye view," he muttered, still running up the steps.
"I muted the others so they can't hear you. Talk to me. What's going on?"
Arthur paused in his steps. "I...I want to kill her, Darrach. Or someone, at least."
"Understandable, but I thought you wanted to question her first?"
"Not anymore. I gotta kill her, Darrach," he said before rushing up the stairs again. "For all we know, Dutch could be the one who she takes next. I ain't gonna let it happen."
"And you're sure she's the one who has been taking them?"
"She stabbed Dutch in the threat. What more proof do you need?"
"Things aren't what they seem here...remember?"
Arthur sighed as he got to the top step, finding another door. "Yeah, but...I just don't see the point in-" Arthur could hear screaming and shouting in the com. "What's goin' on?"
"Mallacht is here!"
Arthur stormed through the door and raced through the hallway that led to the rafters that hung over the arena. He could hear screaming and roaring coming from below and he eventually found his vantage point. He looked down into the opening he was at and could almost directly see over the boxing ring. What he saw next confused the hell out of him.
The one who he could only assume was Mallacht was dragging someone into the boxing ring while Aynaet was screeching loudly and trying to prevent Mallacht from taking the man. Arthur zoomed in with his eye and sure enough, the king looked almost exactly like Dubh.
"Yeah, that's him, alright," he mumbled before searching in his Pip Boy inventory for his new sniper rifle that was called, "Black Widow." He pressed on the name and the black rifle appeared in his hands. From what he read, it was an automatic sniper rifle...whatever the hell that meant. Arthur got himself into position as he looked through the rifle's scope. "Ain't that the guy the queen was with?" he asked.
"I believe so," Darrach replied.
Arthur looked through the scope at Mallacht and Aynaet screaming at each other while her companion was in the grasp of the king himself, fingers wrapped tightly around his neck. Aynaet was shoved off and Mallacht glared heavily into the man's eyes. Arthur could only see the back of the man but his attention was suddenly directed at the queen. She had gotten up and ran to the king with a dagger in her hand, stabbing the king in the neck.
"What the hell?" Arthur mumbled as he watched the queen pull the king's hands off her friend and pull him off to the side, standing in front of him with another dagger in hand as she scowled at the king. "Are they enemies?"
"It would appear so," Darrach replied as the king pulled the weapon from his neck. "Why is Aynaet protecting that man, though?"
"Maybe he's her lover," Lugh interjected.
Arthur watched more as the king charged Aynaet. A fight began in the ring and people cheered at the spectacle. Aynaet's horns were back up now and she fought with the fierceness of a hundred warriors, but it didn't seem to be good enough. Mallacht pulled out a cat o' none tails that had black electricity crackling around it. He swung it up and hit Aynaet in the face. Hard.
She went down like a sack of potatoes and she screeched as black electricity covered her being. Arthur blinked in confusion, watching her wounds heal quickly. Mallacht grabbed the struggling man again by the wrist and something happened. The man's hair color changed to short and dirty blonde. Arthur saw Mallacht's whole demeanor change suddenly. He started yelling at Aynaet although Arthur couldn't make out what he was saying.
"What's he yellin'?" Arthur asked.
"I got a mini drone going in," Darrach said. "Hopefully I can catch some audio."
After a few seconds, Arthur could hear Mallacht clearly, his Greek accent subtle but Arthur could still detect it. "You're having an affair with a sex doll?! That looks like him?!" Arthur heard Mallacht bellow.
"What's he look like?" Arthur asked.
"Uh...Lord Morgan, I...I don't understand what is going on here, but the...sex doll...he looks like you."
Arthur lowered his sniper rifle. "Excuse me?"
Arthur's attention was drawn back to the fight and he watched as Mallacht tore the sex doll to pieces. Aynaet screeched loudly as she reached towards the broken doll, crying out in agony. Black blood and oil spilled across the ring as the doll's broken limbs twitched. Just then, Prince Valentine came running up and went to his mother's side, comforting her cries.
"What have you done, Father?! That sex doll was a limited edition!" Arthur heard Valentine yell.
"You emulated my worst enemy, Valentine!" Mallacht shouted. "If you even try to fix him, I will have your head!" Mallacht rushed over to the two and grabbed Aynaet by one of her horns. "As for you, wife! If you wanted a good dickin', you should've fucked me instead of cutting my cock off!"
Aynaet spit in Mallacht's face and he wiped it away with a chuckle before backhanding her roughly. Valentine shoved Mallacht and stood in front of his mother. "That is enough! You've hurt her enough already!" Valentine yelled.
"IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF MY WAY, SON, I'LL RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" Mallacht's voice boomed.
"That bastard...he stole Lilly's shout!" Darrach hissed as Valentine looked at his mother regretfully.
Aynaet put her hand on Valentine's shoulder and shook her head. He nodded and, with the saddest expression, removed himself from the situation. Aynaet, with tears in her eyes, glared at Mallacht intensely. She pointed at him and proceeded to shout in a series of clicks, wheezes and hisses. "Is that how she talks? How can anyone understand her?" O'Callaghan asked into the ear com that she was given earlier. "That must be a horrible existence for her."
Arthur frowned as he watched Mallacht proceed to drag Aynaet from the arena by her neck. He cocked his head to one side when he spotted a black shape on the back of Aynaet's neck. "Darrach, see if you can focus on that thing on the back of the queen's neck."
Darrach maneuvered the invisible mini drone around to zoom in on Aynaet's neck as Mallacht roughly guided her through the aisles to the elevator. He squinted his eyes to see better. "It's a key hole," he said with confusion before looking at everyone in the viewing room. "I'm not sure what the significance of that is."
"Maybe that's what Lilly's skeleton key is fer," Sir Jack offered calmly.
"Why did that...sex doll look like me?" Arthur asked.
"Maybe because you're so pretty," O'Callaghan giggled.
Darrach watched the three screens, recognizing that all four people were rushing after the king and queen. "Be cautious," he said into the ear com. "We still don't know very much about what is happening here."
Aynaet hissed when Mallacht shoved her out of the door of the saloon. "Get in the car!" he yelled, dragging her towards his black armored SUV.
Aynaet fought him the whole way, clawing and scratching at anything that was Mallacht. Her face still hurt and she knew she was still bleeding on the inside. The king had taken her healing powers after the failed rebellion that her and many of her now dead children had staged, so even though it didn't show on her "outer shell", her real skin, Aynaet could only guess, was a testament to how often the king abused her.
It was a lot and while Aynaet looked forward to the day she could finally break out of her cage, she also dreaded the day she'd be able to see herself. How she truly looked.
Mallacht pushed her into one of the car doors with a furious look on his handsome face. "I said get in!" he snapped, his whip still in his hand.
Aynaet grumbled with a few weak clicks and grabbed the handle to pull the car open. As she did, Aynaet felt the sizzling heat and the tearing of her flesh as the whip hit her back, making her fall to her knees.
"You aren't going fast enough!" Mallacht shouted angrily. "Or maybe I should just whip you here so that everyone can see how much of an unfaithful whore you are!"
Aynaet squeezed her eyes shut as she managed to stand up slowly. Her face hurt, her back hurt...but she had to fight through, just as she always did. She grabbed the handle and pulled, but the whip came down on her again. Aynaet breathed loudly as she leaned her head against the car.
"Fuck, just kill me already," she thought to herself.
Not that Mallacht would. As horrible and cruel as he was, he promised to never leave her alone. At least that oath he had certainly lived up to. Mallacht cheated on her constantly but she didn't even care. It's not like she truly wanted this relationship in the first place. It was forced on her and Aynaet didn't give a damn how many times Mallacht tried to convince her that she'd chosen this life happily.
Aynaet had chosen this, but it seemed like a much better choice than her other option...which she'd had enough of, at least at the time.
Maybe she could go back to that.
"Get in the fucking car!" Mallacht screeched, hitting her with the whip again.
After dealing with the new barrage of pain, Aynaet turned her head and glared at the king, clicking her throat to announce her intentions to divorce him, no longer be queen and just go back to being tortured for eternity.
Mallacht stared at her in shock. "Seriously?! You want to go back to how things were before?!" He suddenly barked with laughter. "No no no, that's not happening! There's no going back for you, Aynaet!"
People had formed a large crowd around her to gawk and point at the queen. No one was going to help her. Valentine could, but she already told him to stay out of it. Aynaet made eye contact with him, one of the few children she had who she could consider an ally and it pained her to see how helpless he looked. He'd always felt guilty about failing her in the rebellion.
It wasn't his fault, though. They'd been betrayed by Cobalt and Azure.
Perhaps they'd been here, watching her. Maybe they saw her with Allan, her sex doll, and told Mallacht about it. Aynaet lowered her gaze, staring at the ground. If only she'd made him stay in, he'd still be alive.
Allan wasn't who she truly yearned for, but he'd been close enough to the real thing. He looked like her true love, acted like him. Talked like him. Valentine could never perfect his scent, unfortunately, but he still smelled wonderful.
And that was the only thing she really had left to cling to as far as hope went for being even remotely happy in Hell. Now she really had nothing to keep fighting for.
"Get. In. The. Car," Mallacht growled as he approached her. "The things I'm going to do to you when we get home? Surely you'll learn to love it when I'm done," he warned.
Aynaet narrowed her eyes suddenly, turning to face Mallacht completely and to stand up straight despite how much pain she was in.
No, she still had something to fight for after all. Making Mallacht's life absolutely fucking miserable and she knew exactly what to say to do it. Her punishment meant nothing as long as she could hurt Mallacht. That made all the pain worth it. Aynaet cleared her throat, wanting everyone to, for once, hear what she had to say. She'd been practicing on being able to talk properly again and she could manage a few sentences at a time.
"I..." she said in a very deep, gritty voice, making people gasp. "Will..."
Mallacht raised his eyebrows. "When the hell did you start speaking?!"
"Never...love...you."
People went into an uproar and Aynaet felt pride swell inside when Mallacht's face paled. She even managed to smile, making people back up.
"Defile...me...all...you...want..." she croaked, feeling her vocal chords begin to strain, but she had to keep pushing. People needed to know she had thoughts and feelings, that she hated Mallacht with everything that she was for the things he'd done to her. "Torture me...punish me...do...your...worst." She approached him, a devious, menacing smile gracing her face as she pointed at him. "You. Will. Pay. For. It. All. Another. Day. Another. Way."
Mallacht continued to gaze at her in shock. The people were talking amongst themselves at this surprising development. The king sighed and ran a hand over his horns to his curly, black locks. "See, this is why I love you," he chuckled suddenly. "You're just so cute when you're pissed off. I-"
Mallacht was abruptly cut off when Aynaet punched him so hard, he went flying across the road towards the horse corral, which was a good few hundred yards away. As he crashed into the wooden fence and slid across the ground, some people froze in place while others went running for cover. Aynaet took a claw and scratched her arm, blood lines coming out to make her staff materialize into her hand. She sneered at Mallacht as he got up slowly, her feet guiding her in an angry march towards him. Aynaet was still hurting and bleeding, but she wasn't going to let that stop her.
Aynaet was going to beat the shit out of this bastard.
