A/N:  Hey Little Bees, this is the final chapter of Book 1!!! Let's just jump right in....😊

Language Key:

M've [mm-vay]- my

Faelune [Fay-loon]- Father

Elaeti [Ee-lay-tee] - Daughter

Evela'tu ma'sun lefo [Eh-vay-lah'too mah'soon leh-foh] I love you more than life

Evela'tu [Eh-vay-lah-too] I love you

En ti lefo, na ti nua [Ehn-tee leh-foh, nah tee noo-ah] - In this life and the next

Tu'ashiva [ Too'ah-shee-vah] As you wish

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"Jazmine I'm so sorry." Gaia cried falling to her knees next to my father. Sol grinned at her slowly wrapping the black chain hanging from her neck around his hand gripping it tight.

"What do you mean? Didn't you see this coming? She was always going to be mine." He grinned at me and I hissed, standing to face him.

"I'm not yours. I don't belong to you." I growled clenching my fists as he chuckled shaking his head.

"Yes you do, Jazmine. You are my child, my blood runs through your veins. You are a de'mujo just like me. And you will become one, m've sesti." He grinned raising his hand as another hoard of de'mujos emerged from the tree line, edging towards the kues chained to the ground.

"Sol stop this! Don't do this." Gaia cried next to him, clawing at his legs, he growled at her tugging against the chain, choking her to stop her pleas.

"Your mother could have stopped this. She had every opportunity to stop me last night. Isn't that right, dejaina?" He said leaning down to her, taking her chin roughly in his hands. She cried tugging her face away from him, her violet eyes full of tears and guilt.

"Is that true?" I asked as she looked at me tears rolling down her cheeks as she nodded her head.

"Yes." She whispered hanging her head in shame as Sol laughed pushing her face away.

"You see, m've sesti,  every red moon I become a Mercatijan again. That's how you were born. Your mother knew there was a red moon last night and she came to me like she always does, but this time she came with the intent to trap me and she did," He smiled his devilish eyes looking at Gaia with what she assumed to be affection, but the blood staining his teeth and the grotesque way his lips formed into a smile didn't exude affection, "But then she let me go, because she wants you to turn, Jazmine." He grinned looking back at me.

"That's not true!" Gaia cried shaking her head at me. Tears pooled in my eyes thinking of the way she forced me to watch my family die. I wouldn't put it past her to want me to become a de'mujo. I knew it, she has always had an ulterior motive in all of this.

Jazmine don't let Sol fill your head with lies. Darius growled struggling against his restraints.

"Why did you let him go?" I asked and she hung her head in defeat.

"Because...this is your fight. I can't stop him." She whispered tears rolling down her cheeks.

"And in that small moment of weakness, I trapped her and now her powers are mine, just as yours will be, elaeti." He smirked and I growled, my hands igniting in a burst of blazing fire as I sent a blast straight to his chest.

He laughed swatting my pitiful fire away from him countering with an inky black flame, I tried to block it but the force behind it sent me to my knees.

Get out of here, Jazmine. Darius pleaded behind me and I can hear him seething and pulling against the chains to get to me.

No. I'm going to end this Darius. He won't take anyone else from me. I growled wiping the blood from my mouth as I stood to face my laughing father.

"You can't beat me, Jazmine. Just join me." He smiled.

"I will never become a de'mujo!" I roared, charging towards him my power sparking and swirling around me.

"Jazmine! No!" Darius roared behind me.

Sol watched me calmly, he smirked waving his hand behind him and the de'mujos at the edge of the forest gave a cackling scream as they stampeded towards the kues chained to the ground. I skidded to a stop hearing the cries of the warriors begin bitten and thrashed by the de'mujos.

I turned around and let out a wave of power blasting the de'mujos away from them, but they just kept coming! Tears spilled down my cheeks as I continue to send wave after wave of power to keep them away from the kues, away from my family.

Sesti, stop. You have to leave. Please just go, run away. Darius pleaded tears pooling in his dark grey eyes.

You know I can't do that. I can't fail your family too. I cried pushing another wave of de'mujos away from them. But I can't keep this up.

"Are you tired yet, m've sesti?" Sol mused petting my mother's head as he watched me.

"Stop this," I breathed, "Stop this!" I screamed and Sol laughed behind me as I continued to drain myself keeping the de'mujos away from the Rekeseaus.

"I'll stop this Jazmine, when you agree to give yourself to me." He smirked and angry tears rolled down my cheeks. I looked at the kues dodging and ducking away from the de'mujos as they strained against the iridescent binds holding them to the ground. I looked at Remus and Kalvin's terrified eyes and I clenched my eyes shut. I can run away but Sol will just kill them and take Darius hostage. Running away won't stop this. 

But if, if I give in and let him claim me...

My eyes found Darius and I let out a choked sob catapulting the de'mujos away from him. He held my gaze and I can see his tears pooling in his eyes.

I know, Jazmine. You will always be mine, no matter your form. I will never stop fighting for you. This isn't the end, evela me. He whispered. I can feel his gentle caress over my cheek and the whisper of his lips on mine.

Darius...Evela'tu ma'sun lefo, litano. I whispered leaving a whisper of a kiss on his lips.

En ti lefo, na ti nua, Jazmine. He whispered back and my eyes hardened, my hands clenched into fists as I  turned away from him to face my father.

"Faelune! You can have me." I growled as his mouth curled into a proud grin. He snapped his fingers and the de'mujos froze in mid air and fell to the ground paralysed, their teeth still gnawing at the air to taste the kues around them.

"But no Mercatijan on this compound will be turned or harmed." I seethed as he nodded eagerly.

"Of course, elaeti."

"Give me your word." I growled.

"Tu'ashiva m've elaeti. You have my word." He grinned darkly pushing Gaia to the ground as he stalked towards me, dragging my screaming mother behind him.

"Jazmine, no! Don't do this!" She cried clawing at the ground, digging her nails into the dirt to stop his pursuit.

"I have to mother." I said calmly keeping my eyes on Sol.

He grabbed my chin hard in his enormous claws, turning my neck to the side. His nail slid over the dark pinpricks already staining my skin. He looked over my head at Darius, a smug grin on his face.

"You should have bound her." He growled slowly leaning down to my neck his fangs piercing my skin infecting the claim Darius put on me. I gasped at the pain and screamed. I tried to push away from him, away from the burning sickness rushing through my veins.

Darius! Sesan, evela me. Don't let me go! I screamed feeling our connection slowly numbing in my mind as thoughts of power, the need to conquer the weak and the overwhelming need for blood crashed into me, filling me up.

I will never let you go....litani...A faint voice floated through my mind. I can barely make out the muffled words. I grinned looking at my father's excited crimson gaze and a painful roar erupted behind me.

I looked amused at the man with obsidian hair struggling against the iridescent weaves chaining him to the ground. His black eyes were surging between crimson and grey. The Mercatijans around him were calling out to him to stop him from turning. My father let out a roar of laughter watching his torment.

"Yes Asarak, feel the pain. Let it consume you." He laughed.

"No!" He growled clenching his eyes shut to stop the change raging around him. His muscles bulged and strained at the leather constraining him. 

"I promised, I promised." He groaned falling forward gripping the soil with hands that for a brief moment turned into menacing claws. He growled and panted pressing his face into the dirt, mumbling a promise over and over to calm the de'mujo threatening to consume him.

I chuckled slowly walking to the tormented Mercatijan. I kneeled down lifting his head to look at me. His turbulent grey eyes were unfocused as he struggled to fight the parasite within him.

"Your torment amuses me." I smiled, smacking his face as he collapsed to the ground, his body shaking and quivering in shock.

"As for the rest of you, you are now enslaved to me and my father. You have been spared Mercatija, and you will be the last." I growled turning to look at my mother's distraught form on the ground next to my father.

"Oh Mother," I sighed kneeling down next to her, "you had to know this would happen. I am my father's daughter after all." I smiled looking up at Sol. He grinned, holding his hand out to me which I gladly took.

"What shall we do first? There's a whole world out there, m've sesti." He grinned waving his hand over the bloodied field.

I smiled tapping my razor sharp fingernail to my cheek, looking at the snarling, unruly de'mujos littered across the ground.

"First we need to fix your God awful monsters! How do you expect to conquer the world with these horrid beasts?" I tutted glaring at him my hands on my hips as my mother whimpered in disbelief. Sol laughed nodding his head in pride.

"Oh this is going to be fun, Jazmine." He grinned kissing the top of my head as I began to reconfigure the de'mujos, giving them enough power to regain some of their faculties about them. Allowing them to think about something other than blood.

"Let's change the world, Faelune." I grinned, my crimson eyes sparkly darkly watching as the sun began to rise. It's time for a new world order.

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A/N:  And that concludes Book 1, Little Bees! Hahah please don't hate me *covers face* But I do hope you like it! I hope you liked the whole story! I'd love to hear any feedback, questions or love you have to give on this chapter or the whole story.

I'm going to go through the comments to catch any questions I haven't answered yet and I'll do a Q&A and a sneak peek of Mercatija Book 2's cover art 😁 This story will definitely continue and I've already made a start on the first chapter! And if all goes well and Darius continues to cooperate it will be in his POV. I plan to publish the first chapter of book 2 in the Spring/Summer of 2020!

Again I want to thank you so so much for reading! You make writing Mercatija such a joy and beautiful journey!