Goetic
(adj.) Pertaining to black magic.

Artemis POV

I woke up to a horrible aching pain all over my body. My head throbbed and my my body felt sluggish and heavy. I had to blink several times to clear my hazy vision but when I did, I was staring up at a dark and grainy ceiling.

I lay there for a while, trying to figure out where I was. I was in a dark and unfamiliar prison cell. The only sounds I could hear was water slowly dripping down here in the distance.

Then it hit me.

Suddenly, the ache of my body was nothing compared to the searing pain in my chest. Waves of grief washed over me and tears sprung to my eyes, remembering what happened.

My uncle was dead.

One of the last members of my family had been ripped away from me by the same cruel hands that had stolen my parents from me.

How was I going to tell Romeo?

Goddess, this was my fault.

My chest siezed with pain as mind started playing memories of my uncle. From the day I first met him before the pack dinner, to him speaking about my parents as we built our new pack.

He was the fatherly figure I had craved my whole life. He had been my only link to my parents and without him, I felt as though I had lost my parents too.

Closing my eyes, I tried mind linking Kieran, to tell him the turn of events but a sharp pain in my head stopped me.

What was going on?

I tried once again, to mindlink my mate but the sharp pain came back, much stronger this time, making me groan and hold my head.

I tried mind linking everyone I could think of, but I was somehow unable to. My head was pounding and my ears were ringing from all my attempts and all I could do was cry even more.

Suddenly, I could hear footsteps approaching so I quickly wiped away my tears, bracing myself for whatever was to come.

The clicking of the shoes became louder and I looked up through the silver bars at the man that had caused all of this pain.

"Feeling sorry for yourself are we?" He asked, a fake sympathetic smile on his face.

I didn't respond and kept my face neutral and stony.

"Ah, so you're playing tough now?" He said with a raised brow. "No matter, you'll break soon enough," He pulled a small stool from the side, sitting on it before the bars.

For a while, he just watched me with beady eyes, and I did the same. I met his stare head on, not wavering or looking away.

"So you're probably wondering what I have planned for you," He began. "You might have noticed you've lost your wolf abilities," He grinned.

"Thanks to my new witch, I've made sure you won't be able to communicate with your mutt friends. No one knows where you are and no one will come save you,"

I grit my teeth, but didn't otherwise react.

"With vampires and witches under my control, I'll launch larger attacks and destroy every pack and coven of you insufferable creatures," He scowled.

"Insufferable? If we're so insufferable then why do you rely on a witch for these attacks? Your own actions disapprove your words," I stated.

"Admit it, you're weak and nothing without us creatures," I taunted.

His jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. I could tell I had irritated him, something I was sure wasn't the best thing to be doing given that I was at his mercy.

"You mythical creatures have had your time and now it's up," He broke the silence. "It's time you become just that: a myth. Nothing more than storybook characters,"

"You have no idea of the true numbers and powers of us. The supernatural easily outnumber you humans," I hissed.

He laughed, loudly and heartily, which only served to annoy me further. It was a long and mocking laugh and he gave me a disgusting grin once he's finished.

"Do you have any idea the legacy I come from? We've been successfully hunting and eradicating you creatures for centuries,"

"Things have changed McConor. The creatures stand united for the first time. You will not win this war," I promised.

He didn't respond to that and only resorted to staring at me once again. After a moment, he stood up abruptly, the stool clattering to the floor behind him.

And then he left.

I heard his footsteps retreat and the heavy slam of a door. I stood up, my legs feeling shaky as I hobbled over to the bars. I pulled at them uselessly, realising my body felt weaker by whatever charm the stupid witch put on me.

All I could do was stare helplessly out the bars, and that wasn't much either. It was dark and musty in the dungeon and I couldn't tell where the light was coming from.

I had no way of knowing where I was or what time it was.

I shuffled back to the corner I woke up in, slumping on the floor, suddenly feeling drained. I gave into the darkness, eager for some sort of release from this nightmare. My body felt cold and numb as I succumbed to the abyss.

I was alone.

Truly alone. Just like I had been all those years ago when I had been a feral rogue.

But it was worse this time, because hundreds of people would die while I sat here helplessly, one of them being my mate, my everything.

Without him, I would die. I would never live in a world where he didn't exist.

"Pity party for one? I don't remember getting the invite."

I froze.

No, it couldn't be, could it?

I sat up so fast, my heart suddenly in my throat. I looked up at the source of the voice, my heart thrumming in my chest wildly.

She looked exactly the same as that day. Her white hair was twisted away from her wrinkly face, still wearing the same white gown I last saw her in.

"Diana, is that you?"

"Of course it's me. How many old white women do you know?" She asked sarcastically. I let out a surprised laugh at her words, the sound quickly turning into a sob as tears blurred my vision.

"How are you here? I don't get it-,"

"It doesn't matter," She interrupted, waving off my questions with a wave of her hand. "What matters is that you've given up,"

"I haven't given up-," I protested but she once again interrupted me.

"Yes you have. You're sitting there moping about how you want to die," She snapped. I shut my mouth, still shocked that I was even seeing Diana let alone having her scold me.

"My uncle was just killed, I've lost all my powers and-,"

"So what? So what if your uncle was just killed?" My mouth hung open at her words and I felt the cold numbness give way to a burning heat.

"Diego wouldn't have wanted you to mourn him like this, especially not now," she continued, this time more gently. I pursed my lips, not liking what she was saying, but still seeing the sense in them.

"You haven't lost your powers Artemis. If you focus, you'll figure it out," She said, giving me a hard look.

I met her green gaze and sighed, breaking the eye contact first.

"You're right Diana, I'm sorry," I looked back up at her and startled, realising she was gone.

Looking around the rest of the cell only confirmed my suspicions and the numbness began creeping back up.

Had I just hallucinated that whole interaction?

Had I really lost it?

With a startling thought, I realised that it didn't matter. Whether that had been Diana visiting me as part of some kind of divine intervention or whether my own subconscious had conjured up the image, what really mattered were her words.

It was clearly no time to mourn nor the time to give up. Hundreds of people were relying on me, and I couldn't afford to think of all the things that could go wrong.

I had to think about now and figure out wha Diana meant about my powers.