Ethel Hallow Novels & Stories

Iris was right there next to me her hand a frantic grounding pressure on my bicep and I didn't even need her to point out the disaster waiting for us because the hallway was a total tactical bottleneck with six guys in SEC windbreakers standing at the far end holding submachine guns instead of clipboards and they were hiding behind these huge black ballistic barriers like they were expecting a literal war Then I saw Ethan through the reinforced glass and it was so haunting because he was sitting up like a statue carved from shadows but the glow coming from his eyes was so bright it cast this creepy golden halo on the white pillow behind him and he wasn't just a patient anymore he was a human

When it resolved, he was closer to the camera, almost whispering. "There are three stones. Three consciousnesses. The Aethel is the youngest, the most desperate for a partner. The others feed differently. They don't want love. They want worship. They've been hunting the Aethel for three centuries, ever since it escaped them. Ever since it chose..." He coughed. Wiped blood from his lip. Cut off mid-sentence. The video jumped. A symbol appeared angular, old, with no name anyone still remembered and Elara's stone pressed hard against her sternum. Julian made a sound through his teeth that wasn't quite human.

The silt puffed up in white clouds, illuminated by the glowing vines that snaked toward the ship's interior. Inside the jagged hull, the air smelled of stale electricity and wet fur. Aradaa moved through a corridor where the walls were wet with a glowing green gel. He reached a chamber that looked like a temple of glass. Hundreds of stasis-bubbles lined the walls, each containing the flickering, digital ghosts of the Aethelgard elite. But in the center sat a massive silhouette. "Kaelor?"

It was Adam, "Ethan, Beta Hanson is awake. You need to come quickly." At Adam's words, Ethan still unsatisfied erection disappeared. He thew his shirt back on and followed Adam into another room where Beta Hanson rested. He looked terrible but better than he had earlier. He sat up slightly when he saw Ethan. "Ethan, your father, it's a trap.", he said weakly. "I'm too late. I'm sorry, there's hundreds of them Ethan. They're not interested in peace. They're going to torture and kill him on the order of Alpha Conway."

His neck creaked as he turned, inch by agonizing inch. And there she was—Ethel. Her smile was thin and cold, her eyes gleaming with quiet menace. Color drained from Gordon's face until even his lips trembled. Not a single word would come. Ethel's gaze drifted over him as if he were a piece of insignificant furniture. She bent down gracefully, picked up the half-empty bottle of whiskey from the table, and gave it a gentle, contemplative swirl. Her voice remained soft, yet it plunged the room's temperature below freezing.

When Ethan opened his eyes, he was lying on cold concrete. The laboratory was gone. The machines were gone. Genesis was gone. He pushed himself up. "Ava?" Nothing. "Ava!" Lily was unconscious nearby. Veronica was gone. Jonathan was nowhere to be seen. Elias lay motionless against a wall. But Ava, was gone. Ethan's heart collapsed. "No." He crawled across the floor. "No, no, no..." Then he saw something. A small golden light floated above the ruins. He reached for it. The light touched his palm.

I free Ethel and then an intoxicating sexy scent hit me, Vanilla and honey, and the smell of after rain, filled my nostrils, that scent left me breathless, and then Hinder growled in my head, “mate…” I jumped off Ethel, refusing to look behind me, despite wanting to inhale more but I didn’t want to, not again, I shook my head while Ethel lay there in pain, looking at me in surprise, and so was Callaghan, and others standing a meter from me. “is this some fucking joke, how could the goddess and his mate be toying with me,” I growl not wanting to open my eyes. I tried to hold my breath but it’s not helping.

The world inside the stockroom was a pocket of compressed, violent silence, broken only by Ethel’s ragged breaths and the soft, settling dust motes dancing in the slivers of light from the high windows. The five bodies lay in the awkward, graceless poses of the permanently still, their green aprons now stained with the dark, viscous evidence of their second death. The air was thick with the cloying stench of decay, fertilizer, and the sharp, metallic tang of blood. Ethel stood amidst the carnage, her chest heaving, the weight of the heavy hunting knife a familiar, grim comfort in her hand. The adrenaline was a live wire under her skin, making her senses hyper-acute. She could hear the faint,

There were a few shelves tucked into the walls, lined with worn books and jars I didn’t want to guess the contents of. “Where are we?” I asked quietly, still clutching the glass. “One of the elder halls,” Ethan said, his voice careful. Like he didn’t want to startle me. “It’s where newcomers are brought to rest or be… introduced.” My eyebrows tugged together. “Introduced? Like some sort of orientation day at hell’s private school?” He let out a small breath, the corner of his mouth twitching upward for a second. “Something like that.” I looked down at my reflection in the water. My lips were chapped. I looked like someone who didn’t belong here. Hell, maybe I didn’t.

I whispered, clutching the cloak tighter around me. Ethel took a deep breath and pulled the door open wider, a sliver of moonlight illuminating the dark path beyond. I took a hesitant step forward, ready to plunge into the unknown, but as the door swung fully open, both Ethel and I froze, our breath catching in our throats. Standing just beyond the threshold, was Luka Lane. With his eyes narrowed and cold, as he stared at us.