Testimony of devastation *HARSH CONTENT*

"Joslyn Decker, as the Kraken and also raised by sirens, what powers do you possess? What are the signs someone is in fact under the control of the curse?" Marcus asked a devious smile curving his lips.

Jos let out a heavy sigh. "I'm not sure what the full extent of my powers are, as I'm not usually cognitively present when in that form. As for the curse and sirens, I was taught to use the pull of the curse alongside the sirens' song to lure men in hundreds of years ago."

"And the signs of the curse, if you will?" Marcus asked.

She frowned moving her attention to Russ on the large screen. "I've never really experienced its long-term effects, but it is suspected that it would be similar to that of the siren's song."

"Please elaborate, Ms. Decker." Marcus coaxed.

Jos held Russ's gaze through the screen. "They would be drawn to an individual without reason and crave that person with an increased need until finally driven mad by need."

"And tell us, isn't jealous fits of rage common along with an uncontrollable sexual need?" He shrugged. "It seems not only has this affected the wolf prince, who isn't even allowed in the same room as you." He indicated the screen. "But also Mr. DeMarco and likely his brother as well." His gaze moved around the courtroom. "With that being said, and judging by your expression, you suspected as much yourself... wouldn't it be more likely you were responsible for Dante DeMarco's treatment of Rachelle Boosilis and for her continued captivity?" Jos couldn't answer around the suffocating feeling of drowning as she tried to fight back the tears that were silently trailing down her cheeks. Her bottom lip quivered as her gaze moved to Shelly. There was no denying it, everything that had happened to Shelly was her fault one way or the other. With a pleased smile, Marcus turned toward Themis. "No further questions."

Just as Prometheus began to stand Shelly shot up from her chair and walked toward the stand. Jos dropped to the ground in front of Shelly, wrapping her arms tightly around the wolf as tears began to flow more freely from her eyes. She stayed like that until large, strong hands pulled her up and away from the wolf. "Come on, before you get put in contempt of court. We'll ask for a recess or something." Arei whispered down the both of them. He led Jos back toward the defendant's box but frowned when he realized Shelly hadn't followed. He turned back to the stand as a lovely blonde girl straightened to a standing position, carefully positioning her hair to hide her bare breasts. His mouth dropped open when his eyes landed on the curve of a pregnant belly. "SHELLY?!" He sent Jos a quick glance, seeing all the confirmation he needed right there in her horrified eyes. "Shit..." He huffed out under his breath. "Stay here with Prometheus." He whispered as he released his hold on her and began unfastening his suit jacket. He walked to the stand and handed it over to Shelly as he averted his gaze.

"Thank you, Arei." Shelly said as she buttoned the oversized jacket. She sent him a smile with as much confidence as she could muster, amused to see his still stunned expression. "It's alright, I know what I'm doing." She whispered as she nodded toward Jos. She turned her attention to Themis. "I would like to clarify my involvement and treatment by the DeMarcos." She carefully sat down, nervously running her hand over her protruding belly for the first time. Her eyes scanned the courtroom as she waited for the many murmurs to die down. She watched as Marcus, Lamia, and Prometheus whispered with Themis around the council box.

Themis finally turned toward Shelly as everyone else returned to their seats. "You may begin, dear."

Shelly nodded nervously as she held her belly protectively, human emotions flooding her. "My name is Rachelle Boosilis, daughter of Camila and Alessandro Boosilis; and Dante DeMarco knew that from the second time we met. He admitted that his initial attraction to me was a way to seek revenge on Joslyn for embarrassing him, but that he also sought to finish what his father had started by killing off the last of the Boosilis bloodline... starting with me. He used vampire mind tricks to force me to do things and to stay with him at first. He would not only deprive me of food, water, and sleep to keep me weak and unable to fight against him or his mind tricks; but he would also feed from me multiple times a day referring to my 'virgin blood' as a kind of drug." Her eyes glazed over as she focused her unseeing gaze on a single spot on the wall of the opposite end of the courtroom. "When I had a long enough lucid moment to try and escape, he began locking me in a metal dog crate and leaving me there for hours without water or any way to go to the bathroom. He quickly became bore of feeding from me while I was under mind control, so he would release me from it and turned it into a sick game of me trying to fight against him as he fed... or he would tie me up and get off on my pleas and cries of pain while he fed." She swallowed past the building lump in her throat. "Xavier DeMarco tried to convince him to release me at first, but eventually decided it wouldn't be in their best interest to do so..." She could feel tears begin to build in her eyes. "I escaped him with the help of my at the time friend... my now husband..." A sob cut off her words. She took a few minutes to gather herself before she continued. "Dante DeMarco tracked me to where we were staying, invaded my husband's parent's home, and left my husband to die..." She fought back the nausea rising in her throat. "Left him to watch... as he died, pinned to the bed Dante DeMarco raped me in..." Her tear-filled eyes moved to Jos holding her best friends worried, watery gaze. "You may think being raped while the love of your life watched, choking slowly on his own blood... that things couldn't get worse... I thought that myself... but it did... so much worse." Her words came out as broken sentences through the sobs that rumbled through her body. "The two weeks that followed were the worst of my life. Not only did he continue to rape and feed off me once we were back in the U.S and lock me in that god-forsaken cage, but he would invite other vampires over to feed from me and do as they pleased as well. They would mutilate my body, force large... often sharp objects into my... my vagina, and once I passed out from trauma or blood loss, they would give me enough of their blood to heal me enough to wake me up and allow them to continue. To add to the torment of being left in the cage for hours on end, Dante would play the video of the night he'd killed my husband on repeat on the television." She could barely see Jos through the tears now filling her eyes. "The day Jos saved me; they had passed me around on a dog leash forcing me to perform sexual acts as they fed from me." Her own words became choked off in her throat as she clutched a trembling hand to her protruding belly. "I've been raped so many times by so many different people..." Her voice grew louder and shriller with each word. Her lips trembled uncontrollably as she forced herself to continue. "I can't even be sure who the father of my child is..." Her breaths came out as raspy huffs as hysteria took over and the room around her went dark. She could no longer hear the hushed whispers around her as the now loud ringing in her ears drowned them out. As a last thought before her body went limp from the overwhelming truth of her last words, she tried to contort her body to protect her baby as she fell to the ground.

Jos and Arei both shot up and ran toward the stand, but the loud bang of the gavel stopped them in their tracks. "Be seated!" She called out. She motioned toward a medic standing at the back of the room. "Take her to the emergency wing. Have an amniocentesis ran on the girl. If the baby is in fact vampire, expect to move forward with yet another case to add to the complicated mess we already have. The courts are dismissed until the labs can be processed. We will reconvene in the morning to give a ruling involving the Joslyn Decker versus Clan DeMarco." She hit the gavel on the counter once again to signal the end.

Jos's tear-filled, worried eyes met Arei's, but she couldn't force out words. Arei tried to force a smile or offer some comforting words but couldn't find the will, instead, he pulled her into a tight hug. When the action only made Jos's sobs come out louder, he whispered. "Sh... We'll stay here in our room until she is released, alright." He stroked her back as his eyes searched the room. Peg and Andy stepped out from the seating area behind them and approached slowly with their head hung down in grief.

"If you guys want, we can wait there with you." Peg offered as he clamped a hand over Arei's shoulder and patted Jos's arm.

Andy pulled Jos away from Arei and into a tight hug. "That was a very brave thing she did today. She's super strong, don't worry, if she could relive all that she'll return to us perfectly fine." Andy forced a smile. "We can have another pajama party with Poseidon to celebrate her bravery, and she can get chocolate wasted to the point of a puppy coma again!" Andy tried her best to sound upbeat and positive.

"I've already texted dad about everything that's happened. He's probably already in the infirmary by now." Peg told them as he glanced down at his cell phone.

Jos nodded and forced her feet to move as the group made their way toward the doors and down the hallway to the small Embassy suite. Jos staggered to the room she and Shelly shared undoing her tight updo as she went, her hands working on autopilot. Tears flowed freely as her eyes landed on the spot Shelly had slept. "Here let me help you." The familiar deep voice brought her mind back to the present as she turned to face Arei.

"She shouldn't have done that. What if something happens to the baby? What if it caused too much stress... or the fall... what if she loses it because of me?" More tears flooded Jos's eyes.

Arei bent slightly, cupping both sides of Jos's face. "Sh... She's a fighter. She'll fight for that baby just like she fought for you today because she loves you both." He pulled her against his chest. "I hate that she had to relive all that, but I honestly believe it was the only thing that kept you from being sent to the cells today." He leaned back and studied her eyes. "I'm sorry... I thought my testimony would have helped more, but that bastard played me. There's no way to play her words there today, though. I know this isn't the way you wanted to get the upper hand, but you did. All those bastards' dirty deeds have been laid out and your actions justified in the eyes of every woman in the room and probably nearly all the men."

Jos's teary eyes held his, her bottom lip quivering. "I would have gladly spent whatever time handed down in those cells to prevent her from having to relive that trauma. Arei... it's so much worse than I thought... I should have realized it sooner... I should have been there for her more..." Jos's hands slid away from Arei's broad chest as she took a step back. She could feel her knees buckle but didn't have the will to catch herself as she crumpled to the bed in a pile of self-pity and regret.

Arei sat down beside her and pulled her up into his arms. "You have to stop shouldering every bad thing that happens to other people, Kitten. You can't change the past, and even if you could, I doubt there was much you could have done to change what happened."

Jos shook her head angrily against his tight hold. "There's plenty I could have done, first and foremost being not sleeping with Russ!"

He frowned as he studied her upset eyes. "Do you really think you could have prevented that? From what I've seen, had you continued to refuse him, it would have been you getting raped as well... if you don't already consider some of your interactions with the little shit rape already." Jos began to protest, but Arei pressed a finger to her lips. "Let's stop talking about what would or could have been changed and focus on what's to come. Shelly was strong for you today, now it's your turn to be strong for her. She will need your support to get through this, especially if the baby's DNA comes back as a vampire." He brushed the damp hair away from her face. "Do you think you can do that?" Jos nodded and Arei sent her a warm smile. "Alright then, would you like me to give you a hand?" He asked pulling Jos back up to her feet. "Turn around." He whispered gently, letting his hands brush her arms as she turned. "I'll undo these and get the zipper worked down low enough for you, alright. Do you need any other help?" He asked as he worked the hidden snap at the very top of her dress then pulled the zipper down to her lower back.

Jos shook her head. "N... no... thank you."

"Alright then, Kitten." He brushed the sleeve of the dress away from her shoulder and bent, placing a light kiss to the base of her neck. "I'm going to go change as well. If you're not out by the time I'm finished, I'll be back in here to check on you. So hurry up." He let his hands slide down the length of her arms, giving each of her hands a squeeze before he released her and turned toward the door. "I'll see you in a bit."

One hour and forty-five minutes later Poseidon was entering the suite with a sleeping wolf in his arms. His eyes studied the wolf's resting face with a new appreciation. "They gave her a sedative, so she'll be out the rest of the night. It's for the best for both her and the baby. We should get a call by no later than in the morning with the results. I've had them expedite the labs." He finally moved his attention up to the many gloomy faces in the room. "Though it will not be as fun, we should head to the palace now." His eyes moved back to the limp form of the wolf in his arms. "If she'll take it, I'd like to extend my protection to her and her child... without the bindings of a typical contract." He shook his head. "She's already been through so much and had so much taken away for someone so young and lovely. I could never ask anything of her in return."

Jos walked over and ran her hand over Shelly's soft fur before moving her attention up to Poseidon. She forced a smile. "I'm sure she would love that." Jos gave him a hug letting her face rest against the furry head cradled in his arm. "Thank you." She whispered.

Poseidon reached a hand around and patted Jos's head. "Any time, Dear. You both deserve it." He released her and turned toward the rest of the group. "Ready to go home?" He didn't wait on them to answer before teleporting everyone back to his palace in the blink of the eyes.