~~
Trinity
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“Oh my Goddess! No! No!” I heard the heartbroken words coming from Dietrich the moment that the bodies of the victims were pulled out of the storage drawers. I don't know what had provoked that response in him that quickly. All I was able to detect here was the stench of death on these bodies.
Then again, I had asked Dietrich to come with me for a specific reason. There was something that I had been wondering about. There was something that was concerning me about the marks that were on the bodies. And based on that reaction, I think that I might have been right.
“Dietrich, what is wrong? What do you see?”
“Th..they are still in there. I knew that this was a possibility. With that mark that was carved into them, their soul was likely to be trapped inside of them. B..but that isn't all.” He stopped speaking and looked right at me. I could see that he was in distress. Something about what he was seeing was not pleasant at all.
.....
“Dietrich, what is it? What is going on with them? What is happening with the souls?”
“Th..they are in agony. I can see it. I can feel it. They are writhing in pain inside of their bodies. They weren't just trapped, Trinity. Something is happening to them. Something about this is making them experience pain.”
“Could it just be the residual pain from when they were murdered?” Reece, sounding just as appalled by what he heard as I felt, asked Dietrich for his opinion.
“I..I don't know. I couldn't tell you. I just know that this soul, these souls, both of them, are in agony. If we could hear them right now, this room would be filled with their constant wails of pain and woe.”
“My Goddess, that is awful.” Cadwal sounded like he was sickened. I didn't blame him. There was a lot to take in here. I knew that we needed to figure out what to do about all of this, and fast.
“Who can fix this? Who can help us release their souls? Who can make this right?” Gwri's voice shook as he asked me that question.
“Can anyone help?” Cadwal added with a defeated tone. I understood what he was feeling. Two members of his pack, two of his people, were dead but still suffering. That was hard for the person in charge. And that included me, the person that was supposed to be there for them all.
“I don't think that there is a person in the world that can release a trapped soul. These people, they're doomed.” Gwri spoke before I had the chance to.
“I know who can help us. I know someone that can fix this.”
The moment that I spoke, both Reece and Dietrich looked at me as if I were crazy. They obviously didn't think that I would really bring her into this situation.
“Trinity, you can't.” Reece pleaded with me.
“Think about her, Trinity. Do you really want to expose her to this?” Dietrich also seemed to think that I was in the wrong here.
“The two of you need to think about this. She is getting older now, she's not a little girl anymore. And she is the only person in the world that is capable of helping these poor souls.”
“Can't we call in the twins? Charlie and Chloe can help them. They have to be able to do that.” Reece was still not wanting to accept what needed to be done. To be fair, I knew why he was feeling like that. It wasn't easy for me either. I didn't want to expose her to this stuff or to let her know what was happening in the world right now. But sooner or later, she would know. And it was going to be her responsibility after all.
“The bear twins don't have the power necessary to pull this off. It has to be her, Reece.”
“I'm confused here.” Gwri was looking between Reece and I like he was watching a tennis match, his head going side to side with each back and forth. “Who are you talking about? Who is capable of doing this?”
“Our daughter.” Reece sighed as he answered that question.
“Y..your daughter?” Cadwal couldn't believe what he just heard. “How is your daughter going to help us?”
“How is she going to help?” I smirked at the two men that were watching us. “My daughter is the future Goddess of the Underworld. She has been trained for over ten years by the current gods. Lucifer, Hades, Hel, and many more. She is strong, powerful, and very smart. And she is the only living being in this realm that can release these souls.”
The two men couldn't say anything at all. They were too busy just staring at me with their mouths gaping open in shock. I let them be. I had other things to be doing at the moment.
I opened a connection to Talia. It was close to midnight back home, and she should be sleeping at the moment, but I knew her better than most and it was likely that she was still awake.
'Talia, I need to talk to you.' I kept it short and simple.
'What is it, Mom? Is something wrong? Did something happen to you or Dad? How are my uncles?' She sounded like she was about to panic. I knew that she would worry about us like that. She was so caring.
'Everyone is fine. I need your help though.' I almost felt her sigh in relief as I spoke to her.
'My help? With what?' Her curiosity was peaked now.
'With my case. There is something that I am sure only you can help me with. Please, Talia.' I was begging her. I knew I shouldn't, but I was doing it anyway.
'Of course, Mom. I will definitely help. What do I need to do?' She was so sweet and kind.
'Are you in your room?' I needed to open a door for her.
'Yes, I was just about to change for bed.' She sounded confused.
'I will open a door for you. Come through it so you can be here with me. I will send you back when you are done.' I didn't want to say too much at the moment. I just wanted to get her here.
'OK, Mom, I'll come right away.'
While I kept the mental link to Talia open, I started to form the door for her to come through. I needed to concentrate, but that didn't stop me from hearing what the others were saying.
“What is she doing?” Cadwal asked out of curiosity.
“She is talking to our daughter.” Reece answered right away.
“And now it appears she is making a door.” Dietrich added.
“A door? So, you mean that was real?” Gwri asked in shock.
“Yeah, I saw it personally. It was how they came to my home.” Cadwal almost laughed as he answered Gwri.
“Well, I'll be damned.”
I blocked them out after that. I needed to focus on the door. If I messed up, then Talia would end up somewhere other than here. And I couldn't let that happen to her.
Finally, after a few moments, the door was ready. I could feel that it was there in front of Talia. The frequency of her magic was coming through to my side of the door. And a moment after I thought that, the door opened and she walked through to my side.
“Talia.” I smiled and pulled her into my arms.
“Hi Mom.” She said against my shoulder. “I don't mean to be rude, but something in here smells awful.” She had entered the room while facing away from the dead bodies, so she didn't know that they were there.
“Yes, that is kind of why you are here. I need you to help with them.” I felt awful about relying on my fifteen year old daughter, but I had no choice.
“You need my help with the smell? I am not the greatest at cleaning, but I will give it a try.” She smirked at me. I knew that she was joking, but now was not exactly the time for that. She didn't know that though, so she was not going to be corrected about it at all.
“Well, Talia, I need your help so that I can help some people. First, let me introduce you to the men that are here with me.”
“Well, I know those two. Hi Dad. Hi Uncle Dietrich.” She smiled at them. She had definitely inherited my sarcasm and smart mouth. That was obvious for anyone to see. “However, those two dudes are new to me. Nice to meet you both, my name is Talia.” I could see the shock on Cadwal's face. He was seeing this young, teenage girl after she had walked through a magical door. He had been told who she was, and what she was going to be. I was pretty sure that he was instantly intimidated by her. Gwri was just stunned into silence.
“Talia, this is Gwri, the medical examiner for this city. And that is Cadwal, the local Alpha. There is an issue that they're having. In fact, it's the case that your dad and I are working on.”
“The killings?” She had picked up on more than I thought she would.
“Yeah, Talia, the killings.” I hated to be the one to pull her into this, but at least she was not completely out of the loop. She knew about it, that was a good sign. And that had to mean something. Didn't it?
