Disclaimer : I don't own any characters. I do own the plot, though...
The Daughters of the Moon #13
Destiny
Serena hurried down the street towards Planet Bang, where she would be meeting her friends. Her friends were Jimena, Catty, Tianna, and Vanessa.
They all had special powers given to them by Selene, the Goddess of the Moon, to defeat the deadly Atrox. Vanessa could spread her molecules apart and become invisible. Catty could travel back in time through the "tunnel" between time and space. Tianna could control objects with her mind. Her best friend Jimena could receive premonitions from the future. And Serena could enter people's mind. She had recently been taught to manipulate other people's thoughts. But, a bad thing was that their powers would disappear when they turned 17.
The Daughter's "teacher" was Maggie. She had been cursed but also blessed. The Atrox promised her eternal youth and immortality, but it had tricked her. Selene, the Goddess of the Moon, took pity on her, and gave her an elixir made directly from Circe to keep her immortal, so she could help Selene. Maggie would stay alive forever and teach the Daughters how to use their powers to defeat the Atrox. But, Maggie also had her own reasons for defeating it. The Atrox had taken her lover away from her. She wanted revenge.
This pretty much all started because of Pandora. She was mortal, but every god, goddess, and mortal loved her. The gods gave her a gift, a box. She had been told not to open it. But, as a mortal, she had been cursed with curiosity. She peeked into the box and accidently released all the horrors we have today. The horrors are what made the Atrox. The last thing left in the box, though,
was hope. Selene took it out and gave it to a bunch of mortals, in hopes of defeating the Atrox. But, so far, all the Daughters either turned to the Atrox or turned 17, when their powers disappeared.
Planet Bang is one of the funnest and coolest places to be when you're a teenager in Hollywood. The Daughters always hung out there when they needed a break from defeating the Followers of the Atrox or when they just needed to chill from schoolwork.
The Daughters were also very creative. Vanessa could sing wonderfully. She sung sometimes at Planet Bang with her boyfriend, Michael's band. Serena played the cello and she wrote beautiful poems. Catty could paint masterpieces. Tianna could skateboard very good. She was always in championships and she always won. Jimena is the toughest Daughter. She used to be in a gang, and she almost always got put in correctional facilities and jails because of all the fights she gets in.
Right now, though, the Daughters wanted to have fun tonight. It was Saturday. Michael's band would be playing, and Vanessa would be singing.
Serena finally got up to Planet Bang, and spotted her friends in the long line, waiting to get searched. She hurried over to them. "Hey guys! I love your outfits! You raided Vanessa's mom's closet, didn't you?" Serena teased. Vanessa's mother was a clothes designer for a big company.
The Daughters were always gorgeous. There was no doubt about it. They could see all the guys checking them out, and they laughed about it. The outfits they were wearing, though, made them feel extremely sexy.
Jimena was wearing a red halter top and a black knee-length skirt with a chain around her waist. Her dark hair was slightly wavy tonight, and her makeup was smoky and sensual.
Vanessa was wearing a deep purple shirt that was low-cut and showed off her tanned stomach with a black miniskirt. She barely had any makeup on, she didn't need it.Her blond hair was in soft ringlets.
Catty wore a soft pink and blue mini-dress. She had her brown hair curled, too. Her makeup was cute in sort of a teasing way.
Tianna was more sporty, and less "showy" as the other Daughters, but she was still beautiful. She was wearing tight black jeans with a tight green t-shirt that showed off her curves perfectly. She was wearing combat boots, while everyone else was wearing ankle breakers. She had put some lip-gloss on and some eye-shadow. She never needed make-up.
Serena wore an ice-blue dress. It was an almost exact replica of Catty's, except, Serena's dress was like a shirt connected to a skirt; It showed her stomach through some sheer material. Her long black, curly hair was down and free in the soft breezes from the ocean.
The girls laughed. "Of course we did! Where else could we have gotten such awesome outfits?" Catty laughed.
It was their turn to get searched, so they could get into the club. Serena went first, got through, and waited patiently for her friends to get through the door. When her friends got throught the doors, they walked together into the large crowd. The music was loud and bouncing off the walls.The dance floor was crowded, but the girls just smiled. The were probably the best dancers there.
"Gotta go! Vanessa called to them, waving behind her back, as she went to find Michael to get set up for tonight's concert.
The girls immediately started to push through the dance floor, until they found enough space to dance together as they normally do.
The girls got into the rhythym, and soon they were dancing together, gripping each other's waist and/or shoulders and moving up and down, and back and forth to the music.
People stopped to stare, as they normally did. A bunch of guys were cheering, and the girls next to them or with them, either looked at them angrily and slapped them or looked sad and glared at the Daughters. But the glaring of the females in the club had no effect on them, as most of the girls realized long ago.
Serena suddenly heard a few thoughts. ' Look at Jimena! I'm gonna go over there and see if she'll dance with me', ' I love you, Serena', and ' Those chicks are hot!'
She was surprised at the first thought. It sounded like Collin, her brother. But, he's usually surfing. She was startled that someone loved her. She wondered who it was. But, she understood the last thought. Nearly, everyone thought they were hot.
She felt some warm hands on her waist, a guy was dancing with her. She wondered if it was someone from LaBrea High, her school. She decided to shove off her worries and thoughts and danced intently to the music. She noticed Collin with Jimena, and it wasn't really surprising, seeing as she had received his thought. Tianna and her boyfriend Scott were dancing closely to each other. Vanessa was on stage singing her heart out next to Michael, who was playing his electric guitar. Catty was dancing with some guy, whom Serena didn't recognize. She wondered who she was dancing with now that she spotted her friends.
She turned around in the guy's arms and raised her arms up over head, moving with the beat of the music. She focused her eyes on his face and tried to will the room to light a little bit more, so she could see him. It worked.
' Stanton!'
That was the mystery guy she was dancing with! She had to admit, though, he was really hot, even though he was her supposed worst enemy. His brown-blonde hair was spiked in its usual way and he had a tight black t-shirt that showed off his muscled arms and chest with black jeans.
But, lately, she had found herself falling in love with him. The relationship was forbidden, though. They had pursued the forbidden relationship, but, Stanton stopped it from going too far. He didn't want her to get killed or himself killed. In the time away from each other, they had realized their love for each other and the need that filled their hearts. That's why Stanton had come to Planet Bang that night. He wanted to profess his love for her. He didn't want to be pushed away, for it would destroy him.
"Serena", he whispered into her mind.
"Stanton! I've missed you. I need to tell you something...something that's been bothering me, since you left me."
"Serena, please allow me to speak first, for I share the same. I--"
"I Love you!" Serena yelled in her mind. They had been looking in each others eyes and neither of them looked away.
They shared one of their most passionate kisses, and they didn't pull away from each other for a long time.
' I love you, too, Serena.'
"Serena?" Collin's questioning, yet demanding, tone forced her to pull away from her lover.
"I'm a little busy right now, Collin!" Serena said, annoyed.
"Should I be introduced?" Stanton's voice whispered like silk across my mind.
"Of course! Collin, this is Stanton, my boyfriend. Stanton, my infuriating brother, Collin."
"Pleasure to meet you, Collin," Stanton held his hand out for Collin to shake.
Surprisingly, Collin reached out his own hand and shook Stanton's.
'You're so controlling,' Serena teased, playfully.
'You know you like it,' Stanton, replied, smiling softly.
"Ummm...Serena, maybe you haven't noticed, but you were kissing a member of the Inner Circle," Jimena said, confused, yet, angry.
"Actually, I realized right when I saw him." Serena shot back. Why won't her friends understand her love?
"What did you do to her?" Catty demanded of Stanton, as she walked over with Tianna.
"He didn't do anything to me! I love Stanton, he loves me! Why can't anybody understand that?" Serena was getting angry, and she was going to defend Stanton, no matter what.
"Maybe we should go see Maggie," Tianna suggested warily. Followers murdered her parents, so who wouldn't be wary of the same type of guys who did it?
"Why should we? I mean, it's my decision of who I want to be with, isn't it?" Serena grasped Stanton's hand and he squeezed hers in reassurance.
"Hey, guys! Did I miss anything?" Vanessa ran up to them, out of breath, and her face a light pink. She noticed Serena's hand in Stanton's and paled slightly. Nobody really liked Stanton, it seemed. "Apparantly, I did."
"Yeah, you did. Serena thinks she's in love with Stanton. I personally think he manipulated her thoughts." Catty said quickly.
"I can prove it," Serena said. She reached up, placed her arms around his neck, and brought his head down to kiss him. They kissed passionately for a few moments, then she pulled away slowly. "Does that work for you?"
"I'm convinced," her best friend, Jimena, stated. "I'm not happy about it, but if you trust him, Serena, then, I can trust him." She held out her hand. "Truce?"
Stanton nodded, smiling softly. "Truce."
Serena smiled happily, and hugged Jimena quickly, before snuggling back up to Stanton.
"I guess I can trust him, too. But, if you hurt any of us, especially Serena, I'll get Jimena to kick your ass." Tianna said, and Catty nodded. "Truce."
"Now can we go see Maggie? You and Stanton can do the talking, we won't say anything mean about Stanton." Tianna asked.
Serena looked up at Stanton to see if he approved. He nodded slightly.
"Ok."
"Anyone wanna ride? I got my bro's car." Jimena's brother lets Jimena drive his 1967 Oldsmobile, even though she doesn't have her license.
"Not today. I'm going to float there!" Vanessa loved becoming invisible now that she could control it.
"Stanton can take me," Serena answered.
"We need rides," Tianna and Catty answered.
"Ok. I'm gonna race y'all," Jimena yelled. Catty, Tianna, and Jimena ran to the car, with Vanessa, Serena, and Stanton trailing behind.
"No cheats!" Jimena yelled, as she hopped in the driver's seat. Tianna and Catty jumped in, and before they even shut the doors, Jimena pulled the car away from the side of the street, tires squealing.
Stanton wrapped his arms around Serena, and turned into mist.
' I was telling the truth, when I left you. I really didn't want you to get hurt or killed. I would never let the Atrox hurt you. I love you so much.' Stanton's thoughts filtered into her mind.
' I know. I understand now. I'll be by your side.'
' By my side would mean you joining the Atrox.'
' I know. I'll do anything to be with you always.'
' You're a Daughter, you're not supposed to be in the Atrox.'
' I've stepped in it once before.'
' I know. I'm glad you got out, thanks to Jimena.'
' Jimena can't stop me this time. I willbe with you, no matter what, Stanton.'
' I do not allow you to join the Atrox! You will not!'
' You can't stop me, either, Stanton! I love you, and I will join the Atrox if it means that we can keep our relationship going, without dying in the process.'
Serena didn't get any more thoughts from Stanton, until we made it to Maggie's apartment complex. Serena pushed the buzzer on the wall of the complex.
"Yes?" A voice answered.
"I accidently left my key inside my apartment. Could you please let me in?"
"Yes, of course, dear. Go right in."
The door opened, and Stanton held the door for Serena.
They walked up to Maggie's apartment. Serena knocked, and the door opened immediately.
"Everyone's here. We've been expecting you." It was Maggie. She had already taken the potion, it seemed, because she was the beautiful young girl she had been when she stepped into the Cold Fire. Stanton stared at her for a moment, then followed Serena into the apartment.
The apartment was almost completely empty. Nothing electronic was in the room at all. Maggie disliked stuff like that. She wanted to keep her home as it was back in her time.
Serena and Stanton sat down on one of the couches with two seats, so they could sit together and see everyone in the room.
Maggie had disappeared into the kitchen and cam back with two cups of tea and handed them to Stanton and Serena.
They murmured 'thank you', and sipped the hot tea.
"Now that we're all here, I'm going to need to know why we have a member of the Inner Circle here with you, Serena." Maggie scrutinized Serena and Stanton and how close they sat next to each other.
"Maggie, this is Stanton. We were having a forbidden relationship, until he broke it off in fear of me getting hurt," Serena explained quickly.
"Well, if you two aren't together anymore, why is he here?" Maggie questioned.
"We are together...again. We both have realized our love for each other and he found me tonight. We professed our love and I made a decision." Serena said. She knew what they were going to say when she told them what she was going to do.
"What decision?" He friends asked, nervous. They knew it was going to be something that they would not agree to at all.
"I've decided to enter the Cold Fire again, so that I can keep my relationship with Stanton," Serena replied carefully.
"No! You can't! What about your relationship with your friends? That would mean going against your best friends and Maggie! How could you?" Her friends yelled angrily.
"It's my destiny to become a Goddess of the Dark, as I am both Selene's and Hecate's Daughter. And I love Stanton. He tried to get me out of turning to the Atrox, but I'm going to." Serena replied.
Maggie looked heartbroken, but nodded. "Serena is right. Her destiny is to become a Goddess of the Dark. That's why her powers were strong all the time, moon or no moon."
"Alright. But, we're going to be there when you go in the fire. You know we don't agree with this." Her friends said sadly. Serena glanced at her friends. They were crying.
"Stanton, is that ok?"
"Of course. I shall tell the Followers to leave them and you alone." Stanton replied quietly.
"I cannot stand to see another Daughter turn to the Atrox. But, I will go as well."
They all piled into Jimena's brother's car and drove silently to the beach. Serena could feel Stanton sending out thought waves to other Followers.
Serena was very nervous. She never thought she would enter the Cold Fire again. This time, she would join and nobody would change her back. Her love for Stanton would never perish, and she would be by his side forever. That was going to be her wish. She would ask the Atrox to not kill or hurt herself, Stanton, or her friends, if she would be in servitude to the Atrox forever.
She saw the smoke filling the sky, as everyone got out of the car. Stanton and Serena walked in front of her friends and Maggie.
Stanton suddenly stopped, causing Serena to look at him in confusion and worry.
'Walk in the Fire now, Serena. I love you, and now we can be together forever.' His deep voice wove into her mind. He kissed her quickly, before pushing her slightly in front of him.
Serena slowly walked over to the Fire and stepped in without another thought.
The Fire chilled her to her bones. She went numb slightly, and then the Atrox filled her mind, sorting through her thoughts to find what she wanted most of all.
She remembered what she used to want. Fame. She was on stage, playing her cello in front of a huge crowd that was cheering for her.
But, that wasn't what she wanted anymore. She wanted to be with Stanton, and not have to hide her relationship.
'You want to be with him forever, don't you, Serena?'
The Atrox whispered in her mind, silkily. 'You may have that. Nobody will stop you or Stanton.'
' Yes!' Serena answered, smiling softly. The Atrox was allowing the relationship! ' I willingly join you,' She said in her mind.
' Very well. It is done!'
She then felt the numbing feeling again, and she knew, then, that she could step out of the Fire.
She slowly stepped out of the Fire, smiling.
Stanton hurried over to her.
'Are you okay?' He spoke in her mind.
"Of course, I am!" Serena replied.
Her friends and Maggie hurried over. Serena noticed their moon amulets were glowing. She glanced at hers. It was slightly bent up and the metal had blackened. It must have burned while she was in the Fire.
She touched it, and it seared her flesh. She pulled it up over her head, and closed her fist over the amulet. She felt nothing as it seared her palm.
She still loved her friends, she realized, surprised.
Most Followers forget about their past lives when they turn to the Atrox. The Atrox hadn't tricked her. She wanted an imprint of the amulet on her flesh to remind her that she was still Selene's Daughter as well as Hecate's She looked at her Hecate amulet. He brother Collin found it. It was a deep blue stone set in a silver moon. Hecate herself had given it to her.
Her friends hugged her tightly. She returned the hug, and then released them. She opened her fist, then, and she saw a deep imprint on her palm. She smiled and held it towards Maggie.
Maggie's face glistened with tears.
"You keep it, Serena. Keep it with you always. It will remind you of me and Selene."
"I have a reminder." Serena opened her hand, palm up, and showed everyone her palm.
Maggie nodded slightly. "I see." She took the amulet slowly.
Stanton placed his arms around Serena's waist and hugged her.
"I love you, Serena." He said.
"I love you, too." Serena replied.
Then, Timmy, Cassandra, and Morgan walked up to them. Morgan went to LaBrea High, like Serena and the Daughters. Morgan was an Initiate. Timmy and Cassandra were Followers. Cassandra used to think she was in love with Stanton, and had carved his name into her chest.
"Well, well, well. Look at that pretty picture," Cassandra sneered nastily.
"Hey, Serena. Wanna party with me tonight?" Timmy asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Everyone knew he had liked Serena. He had piercings in his nose, lip, eyebrows, and other places that Serena didn't want to know. He also had a tattoo of a goat on his arm.
"Well, Serena. It looks like you do get all the guys you want. You stupid slut!" Morgan yelled at her.
"Go to hell, all of you!" Stanton said, tightening his arms around Serena.
Serena smiled slightly. Her strength was greatly increased when she had stepped into the Fire. She shot a bolt of power at Cassandra and Timmy. She sent an even larger one at Morgan. They fell backwards in shock. "I'm not the slut, Morgan."
They got off the ground, shot a look at Serena, and took off runnning.
Serena turned her head up to Stanton's face and kissed him softly.
They dissolved into mist, and left the Daughters wondering where they had disappeared to.
The End