Triumph

by A L Fogerty

  She drew on the strength of the universe, the earth, and the sun, trying to hold back the demon, but she was clipped in the wing by an arcane bullet, and the distraction stopped the flow of light enough that the demon pushed her back. Kayla tumbled head over heels through the air as the demon grabbed at her army and began to toss the fighters into its mouth like popcorn.

  Kayla screamed and shifted into her wolf form. The white wings flying from her back, her sharp gold claws, and her eyes glowing with the light of the sun, she ran to the battlefield, light as air, bounding over the dead and the fallen and swerving around the fighting. As large as a bear and as graceful as a cat, she came to the edge of the battlefield and found Veronica and her witches standing around their cauldron. Their demon was busy stomping and eating indiscriminately.

  Veronica gazed at Kayla with dead cold eyes, her black hair ragged around her shoulders and her clothes like the shadows of cobwebs in a haunted house. "And this is what defeated the dark lord?"

  Kayla didn't wait to respond. She charged forward, mouth open, channeling the light. She was knocked back by another shield. Quinn’s lance of light struck the shield and shattered it. Kayla regrouped and sprang to her feet. Snarling, she launched herself at Veronica, gripped her wrist, and bit her. The venom of her shifter bite and the light of her angelic force mingled, flowing through the reanimated witch. Veronica screamed as Kayla let go. She stumbled backward, holding her wrist tightly as black blood flowed from the wound.

  Veronica fell to her knees, her body beginning to wither and disintegrate. The witches who had helped her with the demon turned and ran toward Dark Haven, leaving their mistress to die alone. Kayla shifted back into her human form, her wings still fluttering around her shoulders. She walked forward and stood above the dying witch.

  "It's over, Veronica. The time of darkness is done. I release you from this cursed half life. You are free.” Kayla drew her sword and drove it through the witch's heart.

  Veronica gagged and gasped. Blood pouring from her mouth, she fell to the ground. Her body turned to oil and seeped into the gravel below her. Kayla withdrew her sword and wiped it off with a cloth before returning it to her scabbard.

  The demon was gone. The witches who remained on the field had stopped fighting and begun to retreat. Her army had won, and this time, it was for keeps.

  Chapter 50

  "The city has been liberated," Willa said. "The rift is closed. The dark king is dead. The reign of darkness is over."

  Willa stood above the crowd of shocked and confused witches. Her parents had died in the battle, having followed Veronica and her ill-conceived plan. Most of the council had fled, and the city was left without leaders.

  "What will become of us? What will we do?" the citizens of Dark Haven asked.

  "What about our trade with the vampires?" asked another.

  "Humans will no longer be traded," Kayla said. "Know this: from this day forward, the shifters are officially the protectors of the human race. If you attack a human, you are attacking a shifter.”

  "How will we survive?"

  "You must learn to run your society without the help of human slaves."

  After the meeting with the people of Dark Haven, it was decided that Willa, Mackenzie, Malik, and Gloria would act as the council of leadership. Several of Willa and Mackenzie's old friends were appointed intermediary leaders until the other witches returned, as the four of them were needed in the rest of the campaign.

  After a night of rest, healing, and plenty of food, the shifter army was joined by a legion of willing witches. The army walked through a portal and stepped out at the gates of Hell City. It was high noon, and the vampires were at their weakest, not having prepared for war. The legion of shifted wolves and bears and battle mages took them off guard.

  A messenger of the vampire council was sent to meet them. "What is it that you want from us?" he asked.

  "The rift is closed, the dark king is defeated, and light has returned to the world. The human slaves will be released, and vampires will no longer feed on them."

  "That's impossible," the vampire messenger said. "We cannot survive without human blood."

  "You survived without human blood before the cataclysm. It is well documented. It is only since the rift opened that vampires have required human blood to survive. It would be advisable to return to the old ways."

  "This is unacceptable," the vampire growled.

  "You accept our terms, or we attack. As you know, a wolf bite is deadly. And our mages are prepared to burn your city to the ground. We want to see your slaves released today."

  "But without the humans, there's no city. They live here. This is their home."

  "Then I suggest you become prepared to have an integrated vampire and human society, where humans have equal rights. There will be no more blood lotteries. No more blood tax. The humans will work for wages. They will own their shops and homes. If you continue to use mind control on them, there will be consequences. Each citizen will have the choice whether to stay or to leave after you have released them. And this will be done today."

  Kayla and her advisors, along with two dozen bodyguards, walked with the council representative through the city, supervising the release of the humans from mind control. Each human was given a new constitution of rights and told that the shifters would enforce it. Any complaints against the vampires could immediately be lodged through a permanent open portal to Dark Haven.

  Many chose to stay, but many more left the moment they were freed from mind control, having experienced the trauma of seeing their friends and family murdered before their eyes. Hundreds of humans packed their things to leave. They had nowhere to go, so Kayla, Felix, and several witches helped them devise a plan for a new settlement. By the end of the day, the humans who had decided to leave went through portals to a small town several hundred miles away that had been cleared of zombies by her troops, shielded by Willa and with a strategic plan of rebuilding and resettlement developed by Felix. The place was close enough to forests and water that the humans could live off the land. There were buildings suitable for shelter, and the humans would be safe there.

  Over the next several weeks, Kayla's army grew as she liberated city after city of vampires and witches. They fell with varying levels of violence, but with each victory, the power of Kayla and her shifters increased. As time passed, the monsters of hell, reanimated corpses, and the ghosts of the dead disappeared. The news was traveling fast as the strength of the darkness lost its control. Gloria began to open portals far and wide as the shifter army visited new vampire and witch cities, releasing the humans and shifters who had been imprisoned. They helped each new group reestablish life on their own terms. It was a heavy task, and there was no way she could ask her army to visit every city in the world, but after they'd liberated two dozen major cities across the globe, she knew that it was time to return home.

  Chapter 51

  Summer light glowed through the flowered canopy around the two young shifters holding hands and gazing into each other's eyes. The packs of Smoke Mountain and Mist Valley had gathered at Kayla's ancestral home on the mountain for the celebration of the mating of Daniel Redclaw and Jenny Blue. The once-tiny girl had grown into a beautiful young woman, and Daniel had become a strong and capable young man.

  Kayla had always known that her cousin would grow into a fine alpha and a leader for Smoke Mountain. That day was a culmination of all her hopes and dreams for herself, for her cousin, and for their land.

  Quinn stood at the altar, presiding over the mating ceremony. "And do you, Jenny Blue of Mist Valley, take Daniel Redclaw, alpha of Smoke Mountain, to be your mate, to love and care for as long as you both live?”

  "My blood is my bond," Jenny said as Quinn wrapped a red ribbon around their joined hands.

  "And you, Daniel Redclaw, do you take Jenny Blue to be your mate as long as you will live?"

  "My blood is my bond," Daniel said, his eyes not wavering from Jenny's for an instan
t.

  "By the power of the Mother and Father, I declare you mated and bonded in the eyes of the pack and of the gods and, most importantly, of each other. You may kiss your mate."

  Daniel pulled Jenny into his arms. Their lips met as the soft morning summer sun glowed in Jenny's hair, sparkling through the delicate fragile petals of wildflowers. Her white lacy dress glowed around her, and she wrapped her arms around Daniel's broad shoulders.

  The assembly cheered and clapped and hooted. The two would next be escorted to the alpha house for the actual mating to occur. Jenny and Daniel were lifted on the shoulders of men and women and carried through the village as children threw flowers and the party laughed and drank, swaying to the music that Riddick strummed on his mandolin. They made it to the door of Kayla's father's old house, which had been completely redecorated by Jenny—who Kayla noted had much better taste than her father.

  They were deposited on the porch, and the door opened. The two of them were shoved inside to the applause and laughter of the crowd. The last thing Kayla saw was the look of love and happiness in the eyes of her cousin and his mate.

  Kayla turned to Jagger, the first of the Blackfangs she had bonded to. They, too, had had a ceremony, one in which they'd exchanged rings and he had relinquished the title of alpha to her. She'd been in love with Quinn until then, but the night she spent with Jagger had changed all that. Now she had all five of her mates, and she felt more blessed than any woman who'd ever walked the face of the earth. Jagger smiled at her as if sharing the memory. He caressed the ring she wore that still marked her as the alpha of Mist Valley.

  "You ever regret it?" he asked, lifting her hand to his lips to kiss the ring and her fingers.

  "Not for an instant."

  Riddick approached, smiling and happy, with Oksana in a baby sling on his back and his mandolin in his hands. He strummed happily and demanded that Kayla go drink summer wine with him immediately. The crowd was pushing toward the festivities, where barbecue was smoking on the grill and an abundance of summer wine was flowing. Kayla sat at a table reserved for her and her mates. Riddick handed her a glass, while one of the mothers of Mist Valley took Oksana to a quiet house for a nap.

  Riddick thanked Kayla and started another song, jumping on top of the bench to get the attention of the crowd. It was a favorite old shifter folksong, and everyone knew the words. They danced and clapped as Riddick pounded out the rhythm with his feet and his strings. Kayla laughed and sang along, her heart light and full of joy.

  The sky above Smoke Mountain was a clear piercing blue, a shade she had not seen above a shifter village in her lifetime. It was the blue of the sky without a shield between it and the earth. Once the light had returned and the rift had been closed, the zombies and monsters that roamed the land had soon lost the power to thrive and slowly, one by one, had dropped dead. The humans were resettling the old world and relearning the technology and knowledge of their past, integrating it with the magic and power of vampire immortality. A new age of abundance and knowledge was taking hold. It was only in its infancy, and there were still many problems to be solved, but Kayla knew that today was the beginning of a whole new world.

  "Are you thinking about your responsibilities?" Quinn asked, bumping her shoulder with his.

  "I can hardly help it. There's still so much to be done."

  "Today is a party, my love. Even the Wolf Mother would encourage you to loosen up a bit."

  "And what is the word of the goddess in these new times?" Kayla asked.

  "She has been joined in the upper realms by her mate, Wolf Father, who was released from hell the same moment as your angelic father," Quinn said.

  "Balance has been restored," Kayla said. "Night and day, dark and light, good and evil, male and female. And now we can rebuild something that has never existed on the earth before."

  "But first, we drink," Riddick said, dropping back down to the bench to take another gulp of wine.

  Sid took Kayla's hand and pulled her up from her chair, snatching her from her circling thoughts of responsibility. He pulled her out on the dance floor and whirled her around in his strong arms. Guided through the dance by the surprisingly agile Sid, she could not hold onto her thoughts of responsibility for long. All she could think about was fun and frivolity and the happiness of the day.

  An hour later, Jenny and Daniel emerged from their house, greeted by the howling and hooting of the crowds. They were slapped on the back all around and offered meat, cake, and wine. They sat at the bridal table and ate their fill and drank from bottomless glasses.

  As afternoon turned to evening, Daniel stood and tapped his goblet with a spoon. "I want to propose a toast to my beautiful and powerful cousin, Kayla Redclaw, the shifter queen, the avenging angel, and savior of the world." Daniel’s words echoed through the canopy. Kayla rolled her eyes to hear such a title for something that had been her destiny all along.

  "You left Smoke Mountain a reticent hunter. I always loved you, Kayla, but I might have been the only one back then."

  There was a collective snicker. Kayla's jaw dropped in amusement.

  "Little did we know that you would become the most powerful being on the face of the earth and that you would sacrifice so much and accomplish the unthinkable. You truly are the queen of the shifters and maybe the queen of the world. It is a great honor to have you here on my mating day, because without you, none of this would've been possible. You've made all this happiness possible for me, and I hope that you will find as much happiness in your own life."

  He raised his glass, and the cheer that rose up from the crowd filled the summer evening with an uproarious echo so loud it sent the birds flying into the air all around. The guests pounded on the tables, chanting her name. Finally, Kayla stood and quieted them down.

  "Thank you, Daniel, for your beautiful toast and for reminding me how little I was liked as a teenager."

  "It's not true. We all loved you, Kayla," someone called out.

  "Thank you for that," she said, shaking her head as Daniel laughed and took another sip of wine. "When the Blackfangs came to the tournament, I didn't want to listen to their prophecy. I didn't want a mate, and I certainly didn't want five of them. But as I got to know them, I grew to love them. And with that love, my awareness of my own destiny also grew. It was not without a great deal of help and sacrifice from many people, including most of you in this room. If I am to be toasted, all of you should also toast yourselves. With my love and eternal gratitude, I salute you."

  Kayla lifted her glass, a tear running down her face. No one made a sound. The crowd stood, raising their glasses in a silent salute to her and to themselves.

  "To the fallen," someone called out.

  "To the fallen," Kayla said. "May they rest in peace."

  Now that the rift was closed, their dead truly could rest in peace. Ghosts did not emerge from the ground, giving a second horrific life to the fallen. Everyone who left this world immediately walked into the afterlife to be greeted by those who had gone before them—their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and gods.

  There was a moment of silence after these sacred words and sentiments. It was Riddick who broke the silence, strumming his mandolin. "Now, let's party," he yelled.

  More wine and barbecue were added to the tables while voices rose in song. Kayla smiled at the festivities, but she needed to rest. She'd had her fun, and as much as she had changed and accomplished, she was still the same Kayla Redclaw who had left Smoke Mountain three years before.

  She whistled to Bane and walked out of the canopy and into the growing twilight. She proceeded along the silent streets as the echo of the party faded behind her. Looking up at the full moon, feeling its power and its glow wash over her, she sent up a prayer to Wolf Mother. "Thank you."

  "She hears your prayers," Quinn said, emerging from the shadows, dressed in his fine silk robes.

  She stepped toward him, and they took each other's hands, gazing at each other in the moonlight, the
echo of music reverberating in the stillness. They were together at that moment, their mate bond solid and as strong as the bedrock below them—the foundation of their lives.

  "Thank you for all you've done, shaman," she said

  "Thank you for believing me, Queen."

  "I didn't really have a choice, did I? You kidnapped me and then drugged me."

  "As I recall, my brother was trying to save you, and you had a choice about the drugs."

  "I know, you silly fool. Just kiss me."

  She stepped into his arms, and he pressed his hungry lips to hers, gathering her close. Her love for him—his sensitivity, his strength—was deep in her and went beyond words. It had given her what she needed from the very beginning—a friend, companion, and an equal, someone who understood her deep to the core. That was who Quinn had been back then, and it was who he would be forever.

  Chapter 52

  The oat harvest was abundant that season, thanks to Felix's careful planning and supervision of the crops. After their return from hell, it had taken a tremendous amount of work for all of them to reestablish their village while also working to do the same for human towns and settlements across the world.

  Kayla stood with her foot up on a railing of the fence, looking out at the oat field as the farmers harvested the crops. Felix was walking up and down the aisle, taking notes of the weight of each bushel and making careful records and calculations. Now that the humans, shifters, witches, and vampires were working together to reestablish society, there would be much more exciting work for Felix. But for the moment, he was absorbed in preparing the pack for winter.