I was calm. I was safe. She gave off a sense of familiarity, like an old friend or distant relative. I turned to Mama Pacha and grabbed her hand again. It was warm, soft. Warmth spread up my arm from her gnarled fingers. When the warmth reached my chest and heart I gasped. I could actually feel her life. I looked into her eyes and saw centuries reflecting at me. I saw snatches of earthquakes and ritualistic sacrifices. I saw death and destruction. I also saw life—births and celebrations. I saw joy, and I saw intense pain.
Three bodies crowded me, shouting. I wasn’t so lost in her memories that I couldn’t reply. “Relax guys, she’s showing me…stuff. So much,” I whispered. Anthony couldn’t stop himself and ripped her hand out of mine. My body crumpled. Mama Pacha didn’t fall, but she did stumble a bit. Michael caught me and Anthony steadied her. He stared down at the seemingly frail woman.
“Why did you help her if you are so distrustful of her?”
“I was raised in the south, Coya. I don’t let a woman fall to the ground,” he replied, almost apologetically.
“I’m glad you did. We need her. We need her more than I can possibly explain here in an alley. Get us to our room, please.”
Chapter Fourteen
Michael scooped me up and I feigned unconsciousness while he navigated the crowded streets. I had no idea if Mama Pacha was with us.
“Is she coming?” I asked, my eyes closed and my head tucked into his shoulder.
“She disappeared. She moves fast, like us. I watched her go toward our hostel, but humans wouldn’t have been able to see her moving,” he replied, barely moving his lips. “Riley, what did you see? What is she?” he asked.
“Michael…she’s a god.” He kept moving, speechless. The statement was unbelievable. I wouldn’t have believed it either—except I saw it. Even in this new world where vampires and werewolves and Cthulu existed, meeting a god in a market in Bolivia was hard to stomach.
I began to feel stronger. “I think I can walk, Michael,” I said.
“No, I’m carrying you. I’m far too freaked out to put you down.”
“I second that.” Anthony’s voice came from behind us. Eli walked ahead, and I was sure they chose that formation to keep me in the middle. When we reached the front door to the hostel, I insisted Michael let me walk. I didn’t want the proprietress asking any questions.
Mama Pacha sat on one of the sofas in the lobby, alone in the room. She stood and turned to us when we entered. “I put the idea in the nosy woman’s mind that it was imperative she have a nap. She should be asleep for several hours. Lead the way.” She stepped back to allow us to pass by her and up the stairs to our room.
We crowded in, and I sat beside Mama Pacha on one of the beds. Michael sat on the cot, already stuck in the corner. Elias and Anthony sat on the other bed, as close to me as they could get without crowding onto the bed with me.
I stared at Mama Pacha, a little bit in love with her. “She is Mama Pacha, guys. She is Mother Nature.” They shifted and also stared at her.
“I have so many questions. Why are you here? Why do you need me?” I asked, full of a million more questions.
“Calm down, child. I have much to tell you and much I won't tell you.” She gave each man around her a meaningful look. “I won't tell you certain things until I discover which of these men give me the heepie jeepies and why.” I snorted at her botched use of the term “heebie jeebies.”
“I’ve been so far removed from my home for so long that I can't trust my intuition as I once could.” Her eyes took on a dreamy quality as she remembered. “I was beautiful once. I'm ancient, child. Much older than any of you will ever be able to reach.
“Riley is right. Once, I was a goddess. I was Mother Earth, Mother Nature. I was worshiped because they believed I blessed their harvests. I was the Inca’s goddess of fertility.” She sighed and lost the far off gleam in her eyes.
“But, it was a sham. I’m no goddess, never was. I was powerful, yes. I allowed the people to worship me, of course. I was showered in gifts. They performed sacrifices in my name. They went on pilgrimages to find me. I ruled my small part of the world fairly. Yet terribly, since I had no right to rule. And then the portals closed and I couldn’t go home.”
She shrugged and she gave us a half smile. “Supay tried to warn me that they'd be closing, but I was too driven, too consumed with my power in this world.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she took my hand again. I was able to see her memories reflected in her eyes as warmth spread across my body.
She showed me another world. The colors were more vibrant than our own. The air sparkled as if glitter were floating about. The view satisfied me deep inside. Her emotions seeped over into mine, and I felt her desire to see her homeland again.
“I want to go home, child. I need you to get me there.” She released my hand.
“How in the world am I supposed to do that? We can’t even figure out how to fix me so I can live long enough to be with my family!” I was puzzled—what could I do? “I mean, don’t get me wrong, if I can help I will, but I don’t see how.”
“Little girl, over the hundreds of years I've walked this Earth, I've seen truth become legend and then turn to dust. When I came here, over a thousand years ago, I found a primitive land with primitive people. I watched as the humans worshipped me and my ilk as gods, for we knew how to tap the magic in our blood, and we brought magic from other worlds. We also knew more about science than even humans of today can comprehend.
“We came through portals from our worlds to this. Some came earlier, some later. I’m actually one of the last to come through. My people found the portal in our world and traveled to this one. I came with Inti, Supay, and many like us. We became the gods of the Inca, but we heard many stories of other gods the world over. Other beings that were not gods, but were worshiped for their magic and knowledge.
“The stories you hear of Hades, Loki, Egyptian gods like Let and Sekhmet, Abaddon, Ishtar, Lilith, countless others. I can tell you some of the worlds they come from. They are no more gods than my cat, HissyFloof, is.”
I giggled. “HissyFloof?”
“Yes, I have a cat, she’s horrible. Hush. We shared one common trait—our DNA was compatible with human DNA. We could create our own species by mating with the creatures of this Earth. The species that call themselves The Supay were not created by Supay or my kinsman that came to this world with me from Uku Pacha.”
Anthony interrupted her, “Uku Pacha is a real place?”
“Yes, boy. It is my home. The Inca believed, and we encouraged it, that their dead either went to what we call heaven, Hanan Pacha, or hell, Uku Pacha. This belief helped cement our status as gods. But to us, it was home, and the human dead don't go there. Right now, no one passes in or out of this world.”
Elias held his hand out to interrupt her story, “Wait, you said that Supay didn't create our species?”
Mama Pacha smiled. “You are our descendants. The people of Pacha that came through the portal into this world mated with humans. Our offspring became what are today known as the Supay. I’ve followed our people’s progress, and I’m proud of the place you’ve carved in this world for yourselves.
“I've traveled and observed the many creatures you call the Unseen. I’ve figured out where most of them descend from. For example, the Olympian gods such as Aphrodite and Hermes came from Olympus. They mated with humans and created the Fae. They have their own idea of how they were created, but that's their story to discover.
“There are several factions of Unseen that have become legend. They’re extinct, or so we think. Riley, you are a descendant of one of those races. You have Unseen blood in your veins. I can't tell you anything about your ancestors, as I never learned much. They were here before I arrived on Earth, and their extinction was something I wasn't a part of. Supay tried to warn me, as I said before, but I didn't believe the portals could be closed.” She sighed and smiled.
“But close they did. Once the last of your kind was
killed, they closed. And now, now…we can open them again. I know where one is and I know how to open it. I want you to send me home, finally. Send me home and then don't open the portals again. If you do, the gods will return and with the technology you have discovered, they wouldn't find the Earth the same welcoming land they once did. They would likely try to take over again and humans today wouldn't have it.”
I was beginning to think I was actually in some sort of crazy fever dream. Leaning against the head of the bed, I stared at Mama Pacha and tried to sort the information in my mind. None of it could be happening. I wasn't the descendant of ancient extinct gods. I’d never been anything but ordinary, it couldn't be. And if the legends we thought we knew were not true, what about the spring of life? I asked Mama Pacha.
“There’s a spring in Uku Pacha. Rather, there was one. Time moves slower there, but it's still been over a thousand Earth years since I left. I have no idea if my home is the same. I simply hope my family lives, and they will recognize me. I don’t even think they’ve aged as I have here on Earth. We’re immortal, save grievous injury. If I’d been home, I wouldn’t have aged.”
“But can I go there? Can I drink from the spring so that I can stay with my family?” I was desperate for her to tell me it was possible.
“You can't. We never understood why, but whenever one of us passed through any portal, we were only able to pass through to our home worlds or here. You may be able to pass through to the land of your people, but you wouldn't be able to go to Uku Pacha. Only these three would be able to go with me, if they so choose. But they wouldn’t be able to return unless you provided your blood to the portal stones again.”
My heart crashed. I couldn’t go to the spring. I couldn’t extend my life. Tears rushed to my eyes and I covered my face with my hands. A hand touched my shoulder, and I turned and buried my face in someone’s chest. I wasn’t sure whose chest it was until Michael whispered in my ear, “Baby, we'll find another way. We won’t let you leave us.”
I sobbed in earnest. I didn’t even process her words about going to my own world. I didn’t think about her revelation that it must be my blood on the portal stones. I just wept for my children and Michael. I sobbed harder when I thought about Elias and Anthony. The three of them would have to watch me age and die.
Someone else squeezed onto the bed on my other side and pressed a kiss against the side of my head: Anthony. He rubbed my shoulders as he asked Mama Pacha what else we could do or if she knew of any other options.
“The only thing I can think of that you could do to extend her life is to travel to my home and bring some of the liquid from the spring to her here. The magic may not travel through with the water, but you could try.” She squeezed my knee.
“Other than that, she could try to travel to the home of her people, but that has the potential to be dangerous, as she’d be going alone into an unknown world.”
I lifted my head up. “If that’s what I have to do, then that’s what I’ll do. What information do you have about my home world?”
Michael’s chest rumbled as he spoke, “Maybe it would be best to try to find something to help us on Earth and not open the portals at all.” His words caused Mama Pacha’s eyes to flash.
“You must do this. You wouldn't be alive if it were not for me. I created your entire species, Michael Effler. Oh yes, I know you. I know your entire line; I know you. As my children had children, I kept up with my descendants, and you are my several times great grandson. And you’re supposed to be dead, hmmm?” Michael’s jaw dropped.
Elias, quiet since we’d entered the room, spoke up. “There’s one thing I don't understand. If we're so long lived, how has our history been completely twisted in the span of a handful of generations? At worst, you are what, five or six generations our ancestor? That’s not that long for the legends to be so twisted.”
“It suited us for you to believe we had created you, and the same for the humans,” she replied sadly. “While my brethren and I ruled, the Inca were so cut off from the rest of the world that they believed us completely. We made some terrible choices in those days. That’s why I'm so glad that the old gods were sent to their homes. If any are still alive in this world, they have done as I have and stayed hidden, watching and waiting.
“To answer your question, your lore is twisted because we twisted it from the beginning. Your people never knew the truth.” She gazed out the window at the darkening sky. Michael disentangled himself from me and went to stand at the window. Mama Pacha followed him over, and I rolled over to rest my head on Anthony. Elias slid into Michael’s spot on the bed, hugging me from behind.
“Since we're the last three male pure blood Supay, or whatever we should be called now, do you know who Elias and Anthony hail from?” Michael asked.
“I do,” she replied. “Elias, you are the descendant of Inti, who was known as the Sun God. He was also blond. You resemble him, actually. And Anthony, you are descended from Supay himself. You also favor your ancestor. His features have been dominant in the faces of the men of your line.”
She turned to Michael. “If you’d seen me in my youth, you would think we were brother and sister. Apparently the blood of my people is extremely dominant. Being around you three makes me miss my kinsmen more.” She lowered her head as she stood beside Michael at the window. She seemed old and exhausted.
Michael tentatively put his hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort, but she jumped and backed away as soon as he touched her. “Oh goodness, you shocked me!” she said, looking rather uncomfortable. “I’m sorry, I’m not one for hugging and the like. I’ve been on my own for so long.” She trailed off.
Seeing her sorrow calmed me. If she could survive hundreds of lonely years away from her family, I could find a way to stay with mine. All was not lost. I would find my people, there must be a way. “Mama Pacha, why did you not reveal yourself to your descendants sooner?” I asked. Surely she was miserable looking in from the outside.
She turned and stared at me sadly. “How could I? Even my own children were raised to believe Supay created them. They were raised by humans and never saw my face. That alone almost broke me.” She plopped down on the spare bed and turned away from us.
“I spent the better part of a century searching for portals. I then spent at least half a century retracing my steps and searching for more immortals.” She took a deep, steadying breath before continuing. “I would constantly return and find my descendents; keep an eye on them. But I found no other immortals, and the portals I found were closed. Supay’d been right all along.”
She turned her body and looked at me. “When the last of your ancestors died, the portals closed. I don't know why, and I only think I know why they'll open for us.”
“Why?” I asked.
“I won’t tell you. It isn't my story. The only thing I want is to go home.”
We were startled as she lost her melancholy and jumped up energetically. “Right then, any more questions?”
I shook my head at her. I was too overwhelmed to think of a question. “Right, then!” she exclaimed. “Let’s be off!”
“Now?” Anthony’s tone was incredulous.
“Now. Why wait?”
I raised my hand like a school child. “Um, how far will we be walking? It’s almost dark. It’ll be cold, and I’m hungry. They need blood. Remember, I’m just a frail human.” I rolled my eyes and may have pouted a little.
“Stop!” exclaimed Michael. “The portal is here on the island? How can that be? I thought it was in the Andes!”
We turned to stare at Michael. “What do you mean you thought it was in the Andes?” asked Elias. “What the hell are you hiding from us?”
“I wasn’t hiding anything. We said all along we suspected it would be there. I’m merely surprised. I really did think this island would be a dead end, I’m only here to find a library with more clues.” Michael shrugged and looked at us like we were crazy.
“Michael, darling.” I
walked over and took his hand. “You did make it sound like you were clueless about the location before.” He gave me a bewildered look.
He ran his fingers through his hair, catching on the bun. Jerking out the hair tie, he quickly tied it into another knot. “I don’t know. I feel like the past few days are a blur. Maybe I’m more affected than I thought by the potions.”
Mama Pacha grabbed his face and pulled him down to her level. His cheeks were squashed and his expression perplexed. She studied his face inch by inch. She even looked at his eyebrows and in the short beard on his face. Then she closed her eyes and leaned her forehead on his, breathing deeply and evenly.
Michaels eyes darted to me, bulging at the angle, and his expression clearly said “Help!” I shrugged. I wanted to see what she did.
“You are the one throwing me off,” Mama Pacha declared. “You don't feel like a pure Supay.” She licked his skin on his right cheek from the top of his beard up to his hairline. He let out a squeak and tried to pull her hands from his face, but she wouldn't let go.
“You taste off.” She wrinkled her nose. “You say you were filled with potions?”
“Yes ma’am,” he said, his words muffled by his compressed cheeks. “Witches and sorceresses and a few warlocks poured potions over me, forced me to drink them, breathe them in, you name it.” She released his face and he shrank from her, wiping the saliva from his cheek.
He sidled around her and stood behind me. Oh, way to protect me, big strong vampire man. Hide behind the only human in the room. I gave him a shaming look over my shoulder.
“Do you think he’s ill, Mama Pacha?” I asked. “His memory has been spotty. They were trying to erase it, but his genes fought through most of the poisons. He only has small holes in his memory.”
“Whatever is wrong with him, our home will fix it. He can drink from the spring and any ailments will be healed.” I nodded and smiled, relieved. Even if I was never able to find a way to extend my own life, at least our children would have their father, and two exceptional uncles.
Hers From The Start: A Collection of First In Series Reverse Harem Page 57