Mahika turned to her husband, bristling. "Why'd you let those bastards go? Why'd you let them steal our children? They took our babies, Fisher! They took them forever! We won't watch them grow up. We won't ever get to see their sweet faces again. Even when we die, they won't be there to greet us beyond the Veil." Her voice cracked, more tears spilling from her eyes. "Why'd you let them go…" she mumbled into her hands. "Even if we died…if we just…if we could have shattered those jars…maybe we could have at least saved their souls."

"I'm sorry, Mahika. I…I tried as hard as I could, but… We couldn't do anything else once their souls were in those Okan's hands. Look at how injured we are; we already had soul strings snapped. The silver-fingered kid could have killed us with a snap of his fingers. Then what would we do? Leave our other children to fend for their selves? We wouldn't have been able to save their souls, Mahika. You saw how crazy the silver-chinned one was. He would have done anything to have their souls. There…there was nothing else we could have done." Fisher grabbed his wife's hand, pressing it close to his chest as he stared into her tear-stained face. "Mahika. There was nothing else we could have done. But look. We still have our three other children…"

He trailed off, horror and hope filling his eyes. "They only had two souls... They only had two souls!" The man scrambled to his feet only to collapse to the ground. Fisher's injuries were grave, but they wouldn't stop him from searching the tiny cabin they called home. He struggled to his feet with a groan and stumbled forward until he was standing at the open cabin doorway.

The Shedim of the Dark swallowed hard as he stared at the darkness within. He glanced over at his family, taking in their faces, before returning and entering their abode. A few painful heartbeats passed until Fisher emerged, a bundle in his arms. Tears rolled down his face as he stared at the child. A pained smile pulled at his lips as his lone jade-green eye shined with tears. "I don't know why, but they didn't take Serkan."

Mahika stared blankly at her husband and infant child. "And the other two had their souls eaten." She closed her eyes, stood, and walked past her husband. She brushed her hand across the boy's head, tussling his shadowed-cinnamon-brown hair.

She entered the cabin, withdrawing soon after with two young girls' bodies in each arm. Raini and Emlya were only three and two years old. Both girls sported their mother's shadowed-cinnamon hair. Raini had her father's burnt-jade-green eyes, while Emlya had a mix between her parents, sharing the same color as her older sister, Nevoa: a dusky-chrysoberyl.

Mahika laid their bodies down in front of the cabin. Silent tears dripped from her cheeks as she stared at the two daughters she had lost. They looked so peaceful as if they were sleeping. However, there was no rise and fall to their chests, and the warmth of their bodies was already fading. They would never wake, not even beyond the Veil.

Fisher approached Mahika and buried his face into her hair, breathing in her scent. At least they still had each other and their four remaining children. He didn't want to think about the fates of his other two lost children's souls… All they could do was tend to each other's wounds and clean their cabin before the smell of blood and death lured in deadly predators.

At the sound of leaf litter moving, the pair looked up from their grieving. The silhouette of a woman stepped out of the shadows. A shaft of moonlight washed over her body, burning away the darkness and revealing her striking scarlet hair and dark-amber eyes.

"No…" Mahika whimpered, pressing closer to Fisher. "This can't be happening. They found us…"

Fisher squeezed his wife closer, ushering his three older children to him and holding his newborn son close. "This wasn't supposed to happen. We will die before sunrise," Fisher repeated Sarlic's words, lone eye locked on Ishtar.

Nevoa jumped in front of her parents. She spread her arms wide, dusky-chrysoberyl eyes wet with angry tears as she glared at Ishtar. "Why didn't you help us!"

"Nevoa!" Fisher hissed, sweeping his daughter close.

Ishtar's head tilted to the side ever so slightly. "Death is everywhere." Those dark-amber eyes took in the entire family before settling back onto Nevoa. "I had no obligation to help strangers trespassing on my land. Strangers who are not Shedim of Destruction."

Her gaze narrowed, chin tipping upwards as she stared down her nose at the family. A trickle of blood dripped from Mahika's nose while the cuts on Fisher's face began to bleed again. "Tell me, why are you here in the Scarlet Grove, land of the ScarletRain Village?"

"You have no right to force us to explain anything to you, Destroyer!" Mahika shouted. "We don't steal your food or kill your children! Why should it matter!" All the grief and rage of her lost children spilled out. A dangerous woman may be standing before her, but she was in no mood to explain herself.

"Mahika!" Fisher gasped, his one good eye wide with horror.

The shadowed-cinnamon-haired woman doubled over in pain. She clutched her chest, gasping until she began to cough. Bright scarlet blood splattered onto the ground with each cough until Mahika was gasping for air. Still, those goldenrod-yellow eyes were nearly as brilliant as the sun as they bore holes into Ishtar's calm visage.

"Burn in Sasba, bloody bitch," Mahika snarled through a ragged breath, blood dripping from her mouth.

"Stop hurting my mother!" the shadowed-cinnamon-haired girl shouted, rushing at Ishtar with a blade of darkness gripped in one hand. However, she stumbled and face-planted into the ground at Ishtar's feet. Aivi screamed, dark blade gone as she gripped her arm tight in pain.

"What are you doing to my daughter!" Mahika hissed through the blood dripping from her mouth.

"Please!" Fisher stepped in front of his wife and pulled Aivi back. "Please! Please don't kill us. You saw what happened with the Okan. We lost the souls of two of our children. We have four others to take care of. Please. Please. Please don't kill us. We have nowhere else to go. This was the only place we could find on such short notice. We're sorry. If you just let us—"

"Fisher," growled Mahika, sending him a sharp look from where she was hunched on the ground. "Do you even know who you are talking to?"

Fisher stared at Mahika, then back at Ishtar, his only good eye taking in her form — the scarlet hair, the visible scars on her arms and neck, the age in her face… He slowly reached up to his face and touched the freshly bleeding gashes where Edwin's catclaw had sliced his flesh. His burnt-jade gaze drifted back to where his wife had coughed up blood and to his daughter in his arms, still screaming in pain.

Finally, the recognition filled his face as his eyes returned to the fresh blood on his fingers. "You're…you're the leader of the Village of ScarletRain." Fisher stepped back, pulling Aivi with him as he stood before Mahika. A shaky breath sounded from his lungs as he stared back at Ishtar. "You're…you're the Bloody Beldam."

"What of it? I have my story, and you have yours. Tell me, Shedim of the Dark, why are you trespassing on my land?" And with those words, Aivi's screams dulled to a whimper, and Mahika's bloodied coughs stopped.

Mahika sighed, the fiery rage seeping from her body, replaced by exhaustion and grief. She spat what blood she could from her mouth and wiped her face with the back of her hand. She stared at the scarlet fluid for a long moment before gingerly standing. She had lost her children's souls. She was in pain. She was exhausted. And before her stood the Bloody Beldam, a woman known for spilling the blood of whoever dared to step in her way. That blood was always spilled for the deity that had blessed the scarlet-haired woman with her terrifying blood manipulation.

The exhausted mother stepped alongside her husband, holding one arm closer to her body. An old, ill-healed wound was visible, a deep gouge made by a blade of darkness — a blade made by another Shedim of the Dark. Mahika was done and was only grasping for threads to keep herself standing.

"We were kicked out of my village after I failed to kill a newborn of a rival village — the child of the village leader, a blood ritual Tuaaoti. I almost did it." She smiled, tears glittering in her eyes. "But…I couldn't. The child's mother fought me and injured me…maybe even cursed me. After I returned empty-handed, my leader…my older sister, banished me. There had always been bad blood between her and me since we were kids. The failed mission just added insult to injury, including that I was pregnant with my youngest at the time…" She casted a look at Serkan who was still in Fisher's arms. "We were cast aside and had to find somewhere to live before I gave birth." Mahika gestured to her ill-healed arm. "I would have fought back with all my heart, but… I was already injured, had to care for my family, and was pregnant…."

Mahika gazed at Fisher and her four children, tears shining in her goldenrod eyes. "We ran as hard and fast as we could. I didn't want to stop here. I knew this was the Scarlet Grove, and a dangerous village of Destruction Shedim ruled here. But I had to stop. I had to give birth." She bowed her head. "Just give us another few months, then we will leave. We need to…" She looked back at the two young bodies she had laid before the cabin. "Bury our baby girls and take care of my newborn son."

Ishtar gazed long and hard at the family. She stared at the newborn Serkan in Fisher's arms. Images of her triplets flashed behind her eyes. With a huff, she turned away. "Death is everywhere. Do not become too attached, even to your flesh and blood."

Mahika blinked, "What?" she rasped.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Ishtar snapped over her shoulder. "I will give you six months to allow your injuries to heal. Then, I want you gone. Some members of my village may not be as forgiving, knowing other Shedim are living so close to ScarletRain Village."

"Th-thank you."

Ishtar huffed and walked away.

The woman weaved through the trees, her feet guiding her back to her inn. She would find the two Okan brothers later. The family had done a number on them, and the older one would hopefully be satisfied with the infant souls until daybreak. For now, Ishtar needed rest and time to think about her children. However, as she opened the door to her room, a silhouette stood over her children's crib. A woman with clay-brown colored hair and five thick stripes of shadowed-silver marking her chin, lower jaw, and throat was illuminated by the moonlight. Jasper-red-orange eyes flashed in the darkness.

It seemed the brothers had an older sister.