by Chant, Zoe
He’d never been quite sure if his healing had slowed down to the point of a human’s once he’d lost his lion. But somehow, despite the fact he’d shifted twice in the past few hours – despite the fact he could hear his lion now purring contently in the knowledge that their mate was safe – seeing that his shifter healing had returned was the final proof he needed that he was whole again.
And it’s all thanks to Delilah.
It had been seeing her that had made him feel the first faint stirrings of his lion within him again. It had been discovering their bond that had brought his lion out of hiding, wherever it had been, and it had been the need to protect her that had drawn it out. His lion had at last come back to him.
I was always here, his lion informed him, sounding a little huffy, as if its loyalty had been impugned. I was here when you needed me.
You were, Euan told it, clenching his now completely healed hand. Thank you.
His lion seemed content with his thanks, half-closing its eyes and lowering its head as if to sleep. It had been worn out by its fight with Lev – leaping up at him every time he’d tried to swoop Delilah and maintaining his balance on the creature’s back had been no small ask after almost a year of inactivity.
But she’s safe. I kept her safe.
Euan looked down at the top of Delilah’s head where it rested against his shoulder. She seemed exhausted herself. But Euan had seen how tiring it was even for alicorns to use their own powers. What must it be like for Delilah, who was only a human who’d been entrusted with them?
And are the effects only temporary, or will Delilah have them forever?
He supposed only time would answer that question. Whatever the case, he’d support Delilah, no matter what.
Euan looked up at Trent, who was guiding the lifeboat up alongside the ferry. “You said there was someone on board we needed to meet. Who is it?”
“You’ll see,” Trent said evasively. “It’s probably easier if they just introduce themselves.”
“Well. That’s very mysterious,” Delilah said as Trent brought the lifeboat to a stop by the ferry.
Euan helped Delilah up the ladder on the side of the ferry and onto the lower deck. Trent led them up the steps at the back, before opening the door to the bridge.
“What the –”
Euan immediately bristled, his hackles rising. Standing by the control consoles were Lev and Alisa: tall figures, with silvery blond hair –
Wait – no –
Euan narrowed his eyes.
No, this wasn’t Lev and Alisa after all. Although to his exhausted mind they’d looked just like them, he realized now that there were a few differences. While they had the same coloring and height and the same haughty expressions on their faces, he didn’t sense any particular malevolence from them at all.
“Euan, Delilah, I’d like you to meet Tassos and Aleta,” Hector said, stepping forward. “They’re the alicorns I met last year, after I found Ruby.”
Ah, right.
That made sense. Apparently alicorns tended to have similar kinds of looks.
“Pleased to meet you,” he said, not sure how exactly to introduce himself to a pair of ancient beings who were part of a shifter species everyone had thought long extinct. Especially not when they were gazing at him with not particularly impressed expressions on their faces.
Geeze, Hector wasn’t joking about them having their heads up their arses, I guess.
“Euan Hawkins,” he added, extending a hand to them. If they didn’t want to shake, that was their business, but he’d extend them the courtesy he’d extend anyone else.
Tassos and Aleta looked down at his hand in seeming bemusement for a moment, before Tassos said, “Ah. Yes. It’s a human custom. But as we are in the human realm at the moment, it seems fitting.”
The human realm…?
First Tassos and then Aleta took his hand, their palms smooth and slightly warmer than a human’s, or even another shifter’s. Euan wanted to ask what exactly all this was about, but he decided to wait for them to explain themselves.
“You’re alicorns,” Delilah blurted a moment later, her eyes wide as she looked back and forth between them. “I can – somehow, I can see your alicorn forms as well, like… like an aura…” She trailed off, frowning.
Aleta turned to look at her. “Yes. You can see our true forms – you’ve taken in the consciousness of one of our alicorn brethren after all.”
Delilah’s eyes went even wider still. “Consciousness? The… the man in the alley transferred his consciousness to me?”
“That’s the easiest way we can explain it to a human,” Aleta said, her voice taking on an even greater tone of haughtiness. “It is something that a human will always have difficulty in understanding.”
Euan narrowed his eyes and resisted the urge to growl. He didn’t like the way Aleta was talking down to Delilah, as if she was some inferior life form.
“Excuse me –” he started to say, before Hector glanced at him, shaking his head slightly, before rolling his eyes. He didn’t need to use words for Euan to understand his message loud and clear: Don’t bother, that’s what they’re like with everyone.
Euan still felt disgruntled, but he managed to pull his head in enough not to interrupt as Delilah, Tassos and Aleta continued to talk.
“I thought it was just – just memories,” Delilah said. “But I guess in that case, I wouldn’t have had some of his powers, too. At least, that’s where I assumed I got those from.”
“Yes.” Tassos nodded. “It cost Leon his life to pass his knowledge and information on. But you honored the sacrifice he made by putting his powers to good use in stopping Lev and Alisa’s designs.”
“Leon?” Delilah asked. “His name was Leon? I was wondering about that.” She blinked rapidly, her eyes growing wet. “He saved me – he saved Euan. And everyone else, too.”
“He used to be a very dear friend of ours,” Tassos said. “We knew him for hundreds of years. We never thought he’d be the kind of alicorn to be swayed by someone like Lev or Alisa. But perhaps he grew bitter the longer we were in isolation from the world. It was a shock when we found he’d left, and thrown his lot in with this… group.” The distaste for Lev and Alisa was clear in Tassos’s voice.
“Why did they do this?” Euan asked. “And what was that thing?”
“Not all alicorns agree that we should have gone into hiding once the humans became so dominant on the earth,” Aleta said. “Some think we should return, and take back what was once ours by force. Lev and Alisa led a group of rogue alicorns who think like that. Waking the beast in the ocean was just one of their ideas. They thought it would help them. But older alicorns know that the beast sleeps in the water by choice – it has no desire to re-enter the world. Not yet, anyway.”
“Why… why would it put itself to sleep by choice?” Delilah asked.
“Eternity is a very long time,” Tassos said. “To live for millions of years is a greater burden than you might think.”
Euan could understand that. Though there were some shifters who counted a hugely extended life span as one of their powers, he’d always been grateful, in a way, that it wasn’t one of his. And he appreciated it even more now that he had a human mate.
“So… why did this Leon end up giving his knowledge of how to stop the, uh, beast to Delilah, if he agreed with Lev and Alisa?” Trent asked.
“He used to agree with them,” Tassos said. “But over the years he said their methods became more and more violent. He agreed that alicorns should not live in hiding. But to kill as many humans as possible… this he couldn’t condone. He contacted us, saying he’d made a mistake, and he had information we needed to receive about Lev and Alisa’s plans. But somehow, they found out about his plans to defect from their group.”
“They killed him,” Delilah said, realization dawning across her face. “When he tried to escape.”
“That is so.” Sadness swept across Aleta’s face. “He was trying
to reach us when they caught up with him. They managed to deliver a mortal blow, but he still escaped. And he found you.”
Tassos and Aleta rested their luminous and beautiful eyes upon Delilah, as if considering her closely.
“I would not have thought a human was equal to the task,” Tassos said.
“Now, wait just a minute,” Euan growled, at last having had enough of the way Tassos and Aleta insisted on talking down to Delilah, regardless of whether they did it to everyone or not. “You can’t talk to her like that. She’s the one who saved us all. We wouldn’t be standing here having this conversation if she wasn’t equal to the task, or however you want to say it. Delilah is human, but she did more to stop Lev and Alisa than both of you put together. Apologize to her. Now.”
Anger glimmered in Tassos’s eyes and he looked like he was sucking on a lemon, but he gave a quick, curt nod.
“You are correct. My words were not well-chosen. I apologize.” He turned slightly toward Delilah. “You have proven yourself more than worthy. I am glad that it was you who Leon found to pass his consciousness on to.”
Delilah just nodded, but she looked a little unnerved. “And… his, uh, consciousness. Is that a permanent thing? Is that just my life now?”
“Not if you do not wish it,” Aleta said. “Having said that, I have never heard of another instance where something like this has happened. I understand that having access to an alicorn’s powers might be useful, but they are draining and difficult to control, even for us. I do not know how long a human form could contain them. They may grow… unstable, over time.”
“Well, that settles it then,” Delilah said determinedly. “It’s been cool, but I really think I’d like to return to normal now. The flashes of light were pretty awesome, but to be honest, the mindreading, the knocking people out by touching them… it’s too much for me to handle. So what do I do to, uh, release him?”
“Give me your hand,” Aleta said, raising her arm.
Silently, Delilah did so. Aleta closed her eyes, tightening her fingers around Delilah’s. Delilah gasped, her eyes going wide, her shoulders visibly tensing. Euan started toward her, worried that whatever Aleta was doing might be hurting her, but Aleta dropped her hand again a moment later.
“There,” Aleta said, her voice sounding a little weak. “I have removed him from your mind. His knowledge, his powers… they have been erased. But I have done my best to leave all your memories of him and everything else that has happened completely intact, though it was not easy.”
Euan thought with a shudder of the way Hector had told him Tassos and Aleta had totally wiped the mind of the Hargreaves agent who had been trying to steal Ruby. Powers like that were terrifying. He didn’t like the idea of Aleta rummaging around in Delilah’s mind one little bit – but when Delilah turned to him, her eyes shining, he knew Aleta had been true to her word.
“You don’t mind, do you?” Delilah asked. “I guess those finger flashes did kind of come in useful sometimes, but I kind of like my old, boring fingers.”
Euan couldn’t help but smile. “Of course not, Delilah.” You’re perfect just the way you are. No matter what way that is.
The urge to envelop her in his arms and carry her off somewhere private to let her sleep by his side was growing more and more difficult to resist, but Euan knew there were still questions that needed answers.
“So. Lev and Alisa, then,” Hector said slowly. “You said you’d take care of them. But what exactly do you mean by that?”
“Just what we said,” Tassos told him. “It’s not only humans they’ve endangered. They’ve also killed many alicorns. Those who opposed them leaving our exile and tried to stop them were overcome by force. They must return with us and face alicorn justice, along with their followers.”
“With their powers, there is no human incarceration that could hold them,” Aleta pointed out, and Euan was forced to admit that she was right about that. Not even the humans who knew about shifters had anything that would stop an alicorn. Most humans – and most shifters – didn’t even know alicorns existed in the first place.
“Our own followers have secured them, as well as their followers who did not immediately escape,” Aleta continued. “I do not wish to enter into conflict over this, but I must insist they return with us.”
Despite the fact he’d reluctantly agreed with Aleta, Euan’s first instinct was to protest. The rogue alicorns need to face justice here! his lion growled within him. We were the ones they hurt. We were the ones who caught them. It’s not right these two should swoop in at the last moment and take our prey from us after we have caught it!
As glad as he was to have his lion back, and as much as he wanted to agree with it, Euan knew there were times that practicality had to win out over emotion.
However…
“You didn’t do a very good job of ‘securing’ Lev and Alisa before,” he pointed out. “How do we know they won’t escape again and come back?”
“You are right to ask,” Tassos said, though he sounded annoyed about having to admit it. “There were mistakes made in the past. We realize that now. Believe me – we will never again take the threat they pose lightly, or believe they will not carry out their threats. This time, they will be properly… restrained. Alicorn justice is fair, but it is also harsh, where harshness has been earned.”
“Oh. Righto then,” Hector muttered, which pretty much summed up how Euan felt about the ominousness of what Tassos had said. Then again, he wasn’t sure what Lev and Alisa could even be charged with under human law – was summoning a giant water monster and trying to control it to attack a major city covered under ‘affray’?
“I hate to admit it, but they’re right,” Callan said. “It’s too dangerous for Lev and Alisa to stay here.”
In turn, they all nodded a reluctant assent. Tassos and Aleta might have their heads up their own arses, but in this, they were right.
“There’s one other thing I want to know about,” Delilah said. She turned to the side window, pointing out at the quay – and it didn’t take Euan long to realize what she was pointing at.
Even at this distance, the massive ruptures to the structure of the Sydney Opera House were clear. The main sail was looking ever so slightly… crushed, a bit. A couple of the others were very definitely crumpled. Euan could see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles surrounding the granite platform it stood on, and dozens of emergency workers standing around pointing.
“Right. Well, that’s not good,” Hector said, voicing what they were all thinking.
“Everyone will have seen the… the creature,” Delilah said, her voice a little shaky. “Even if the quay was totally evacuated, obviously it’s still visible. How’re we going to explain it?”
Euan nodded, feeling a chill run through him. Knowledge of shifters was not at all widespread. Of course, there were many humans who knew about them – but the vast majority did not. Even fewer would suspect the existence of something like the creature at the bottom of the harbor, even if there were a few conspiracy theories and legends around – things such as the yowie, the Booie monster, the Gippsland phantom cat. But an enormous beast pulling itself out of the harbor and going on a mini-rampage and destroying a cultural landmark was a little more serious than a couple of grainy photographs of some trees, with what might be an extra-large feral cat standing amongst them.
“I don’t… I don’t want them to go looking for the creature,” Delilah said, her voice soft but firm. “It didn’t want to be there. It was confused and in pain – it didn’t do any of that to be evil.” She gestured vaguely as the smashed-up Opera House. “It didn’t know where it was. But if… if people think it’s out there, they’ll go looking for it. They might even try to kill it.”
“She’s right,” Euan said, nodding. “I believe Delilah when she says the creature didn’t mean to cause any harm. She’s the one who communicated with it. She’s the one who convinced it to go back to sleep. If it hadn’t wanted to
, I don’t think there would have been anything any of us could have done to stop it.”
“If Delilah says it, then I back her up,” Hector agreed, as Rhys, Trent and Callan nodded. “But be that as it may, thinking the monster didn’t mean any harm doesn’t actually fix any of this. Any number of people would’ve seen it. If Robb put the right amount of fear into people then there shouldn’t be any news footage, but that won’t matter if half of Sydney saw that thing climbing around.”
Euan knew he was right. It wouldn’t do any good trying to explain to people that the creature had been woken by rogue alicorns. People would want answers – and they’d want to know they were safe.
And he knew humans could be relentless when it came to hunting down what they feared.
“We agree that it would not be good for the humans to know about the creature,” Tassos said a moment later. “And there is, perhaps, something we can do to help.”
“What is it?” Delilah asked urgently. “I don’t want it to be harmed. Anything, anything you can do…”
“Ordinarily, we would not intervene like this in human affairs,” Aleta said. “But in this case… perhaps you have made a point when you say that it was our fault Lev and Alisa were ever allowed to progress so far with their plans. It is our responsibility now to assist in fixing things.”
Without another word she nodded to Tassos, and together they crossed the bridge, going outside onto the upper deck.
“What are they planning to do?” Euan asked, glancing at Hector. Not that Hector was accountable for what Tassos and Aleta did, but he was the resident alicorn expert, by virtue of the fact he was raising Ruby – though Euan couldn’t imagine sweet little Ruby growing up to be like Tassos, Aleta, or any other alicorn he’d ever met.
“NFI,” Hector said, frowning. “Come on – let’s go find out.”
By the time they made their way outside, Tassos and Aleta were nowhere to be seen – at least until Euan looked up.
“There,” Delilah said, pointing.
Two ethereally lovely white horses with elegant, sweeping wings hovered in the air above the boat, their coats luminous in the moonlight.