The Gathering

by Fiore, L. A.

  22

  Gary Ellis parked then rubbed his hands on his pants. He hated coming here, hated having to humble himself to this human, but it was all part of the plan. Without the backing from this human, his creations wouldn’t be. He had to lower himself in order to exalt himself, which was the end game. A mere human turned into a creator…a god.

  This human truly believed he could control his creatures, his babies. And for now he allowed it, keep your friends close…keep your enemies closer. Better to keep them ignorant but appeased. This was about greed and power for the human. So nearsighted of him, but he couldn’t see the big picture because humans couldn’t see the full picture. The human wouldn’t have control. Once out, his creatures would infect the world, shifting the balance. It was, after all, evolution; a better, stronger version of the weak human. In the meantime, while he and the human waited for the ones who would set their master free, he would play nice. Let the human believe he had control, until it was time and then he would take pleasure in killing him, not turning him, because some didn’t deserve the gift.

  Climbing from his car, he entered the estate where opulence was the only word to describe the surroundings. Materialism would die along with humanity. There were times he wanted to rub it in the human’s face, but he would have the last laugh.

  The man sat behind an ornate desk, gilded moldings and old tapestries were only some of the decadence dripping from the room.

  “You let her escape.” The words were out before Gary even reached his seat. He hadn’t let her escape. She even now was wondering why he had practically left the door open. Let her ponder that while what really mattered was happening right under her nose.

  “Don’t sit. Failures do not sit in my presence. Your arrogance cost us the advantage.”

  Controlling the shift was hard, but he was a patient man. He’d worked on this particular plan for a long, long time. “We weren’t holding her for much longer. You know that as well as I.”

  “Doesn’t matter. She grows in power every day.”

  “She doesn’t even remember.”

  “You’re awfully cocky for someone who fucked up. Do you forget who I am?”

  The human had long ago sold his soul, and though he wasn’t supernatural, he had made friends with some very powerful beings. For all that Gary had accomplished, he and his creations were still the weaker beings. That pissed him off, but he was working to correct that and needed this man’s money to do so. And for all his bluster, the human didn’t fool him. He was angry, but there was fear too. Even his alliances were no match to the one they both served. Their master was scary as fuck and growing more and more impatient. The human knew how to placate him, but for how much longer? Fear of survival fed this human’s rage. “No.”

  “I just need to snap my fingers, and you’re dust. Remember that.”

  Gary would enjoy watching this man die…slowly, but for now, he took the reprimand. “I apologize.”

  “They have no idea they are already losing. While they spin their wheels, darkness is taking over. By the time they realize what’s happened, it will be too late. Do not engage; soon darkness will reign.”

  He had no idea how right his words were, and how when the humans fell, he would be on the top of the pile.

  “You lost your assistant. You will need another knowledgeable in magic.”

  Yes, and he knew just who to turn. “I’m already working on it.”

  “Be sure that you are. Leave me.”

  Gary controlled his anger and turned for the door. The man’s parting words hit a nerve. “Don’t come back here again with failure. It will be your last.”

  Gary fumed to his car, slammed the door shut, and fisted the wheel so hard he bent it. Fury had him fighting the shift. He pulled himself together, no need to draw attention to himself. His only consolation was he would return the man’s investment by burying a knife in his back. It was the human way after all.

  23

  Ivy

  I lay in the soft grass, staring up at the bright blue sky. My visitor from the bar should unnerve me, but he didn’t. As much as I wanted to live the life I was getting a glimpse of, it wasn’t why I was here. The reminder was a good one.

  The book from the old woman had been fascinating. I wondered where she got it because it was old and saturated in magic. There had been countless pantheons of gods, Egyptians, Greek and Roman. The Sumerians were the oldest known gods, believed to be the creators of the universe. As the gods came and went, they retreated into realms within the Earth but not before passing the torch as it were. Different mystical beings came about from the various pantheons. The Earth really was a melting pot. The old woman had said the darkness was what opened the door for evil deities. Was that what we were dealing with, one of the older gods no longer content in his realm? And how did one pass through different realms?

  Aine was an outer realm demon maybe she knew. I headed back to the house, the crows flew beside me; the butterfly had a friend, and both stayed close too. I glanced down at the grass and noticed where my feet stepped the grass was thicker, brighter. Bain had said he’d never seen a connection to the earth like the one I had. What was I? A sick tree turned my attention. I hadn’t noticed it before, and I would have because I walked this route often. Unease moved through me, evil was growing stronger. The bark of the tree was peeling, the leaves curling and turning brown. It was dying. I placed my hand on a root that was visible, buried partially in the earth. I didn’t know what I was doing. My body responded on instinct. I felt the spark, similar to when I summoned the fire, but it didn’t race through me. The heat moved slowly, like lava rolling down the side of a volcano, infusing me with a sensation I’d never felt before. It reached my hands as the purest light escaped through my fingertips into the root of the tree, moving deep within the earth but traveling up the trunk too, expanding out to all the branches and leaves that like the grass grew bigger and brighter.

  “You healed it,” Aine said from behind me. “Did you know you could do that?”

  “No.”

  “You’re growing stronger.”

  I studied the tree, full and healthy. Birds settled on her branches again. Deep down, a memory stirred. I’d been here before and knew I wouldn’t be again. I had to make it right. I stood and turned to Aine. “I have a question.”

  “I have an answer. You go first.”

  My mouth opened, then closed and then I chuckled. Shaking my head, I asked, “This evil, do you think it came from hell?”

  “No,” she replied immediately.

  “That was decisive. Why no?”

  “Hell gets a bad rap, but it’s locked down. Something as powerful as what is trying to break into our world would have the guardians of the underworld alerted. It would never breech their magic. No, whatever this is…it’s coming from another place.”

  “Another realm?”

  “Possibly.”

  “Can we find it?”

  “I don’t know. There are more realms than you would believe. Locating one specifically would be very difficult.”

  “But not impossible.”

  “No, not impossible, but like I’m weaker in this realm, we would be weaker in its realm. So even if we found it, the likelihood we’d be able to defeat it is slim.”

  Not what I wanted to hear, but I moved the conversation along. “Why do you think your friend the bartender wasn’t summoned when you were?”

  It was her mouth that opened then closed before she said, “I have no idea.”

  “It’s weird, right? Only a select few heard the call.”

  “That is weird.”

  Aine’s attention shifted. I followed her stare and understood the distraction. Bain was coming from the trees. My heart did a long slow roll. I couldn’t look away, drawn to him like a moth to a flame. I knew I had to stay away, had to resist because our connection had a magic all on its own and that magic was powerful enough to shift the balance. We’d already caused enough damage to this worl
d, but watching him, there was nothing I wanted more than to be consumed by the flame.

  “You’re one lucky woman,” Aine muttered.

  “He isn’t mine, Aine, not anymore.”

  “No one told him.”

  “The sheriff called for you,” Bain offered as he handed his phone to me.

  “Thank you.”

  The call connected. “Josiah.”

  “It’s Ivy.”

  “Ivy. Thanks for calling me back. In keeping with the idea of sharing, I have a file from the former sheriff, a thick file on incidences at the plantation. I’ve read through some of it, but what caught my attention is a lot of the incidences happened around the summer solstice, and remembering what you shared about the solstice, I think maybe we need to look deeper into the mystical angle of that day.”

  “That’s a good idea. I’ll Google it.”

  Josiah chuckled. “Have you used the internet?”

  “No, but Bain offered to show me,” I said as my eyes strayed to the man in question. I couldn’t read him, but he looked intense. “While I have you on the phone. I imagine you looked into me before your visit to Misty Vale. Did you find anything out about me, specifically where I spent the first ten years of my life?”

  “There was very little on you. Outside of your birthday and where you were born, New Orleans General, there was nothing. You had a birth certificate, but there was no father on record and your mother, a Luna Blackwood, died in childbirth. I looked into her, but she had less info than you.”

  “How is it possible there is nothing on her? Wouldn’t they have done some kind of check prior to admitting her when she was pregnant?”

  “If she was brought in as an emergency case, maybe not. And if she stayed off the grid, no license, no social security number, no school or medical records, no social media, that would explain why there is nothing on her because search engines use that info to compile hits.”

  “But in today’s world, isn’t that odd to be that removed?”

  There was a pause before he said, “Unless she was homeless.”

  I hadn’t thought of that, but there were countless homeless throughout the city. “You said she died in childbirth. I imagine no one claimed her, so what happened to her body?”

  “There are no official records, but it is believed she was buried where the homeless are buried after being cremated.”

  “And the baby of this woman just disappeared?”

  “Until you showed up ten years later at a house fire.” Another pause before he asked, “You don’t remember at all, do you?”

  “Not those first ten years, no.”

  “Maybe those memories will return when you get your other ones.”

  “Let’s hope. Thank you, Josiah.”

  “We’re in this together. Talk soon,” he said before he disconnected.

  I handed Bain his phone. “I need to use the Internet. Do you have time to show me?”

  “We can do it now,” he replied.

  “I’ll start dinner,” Aine offered.

  At the house, I thought Bain and I were going to the living room, but he headed for the stairs. My legs went leaden even as I hurried to keep up with him. My head was saying no, but my heart wouldn’t listen.

  He opened the door to his room. I was a grown woman, but this was the first time I’d been in a man’s room. What hit me first was that his scent was everywhere. Not cologne or aftershave, his natural scent…like the woods. It made me lightheaded in the best possible way. His walls were painted charcoal gray; his bedding was gray and black. The furniture was a dark wood, a dresser and end tables. I was drawn to the piece on the dresser, an old figure that looked a bit like a crown but very primitive.

  “What is that?”

  “A piece of my past I don’t remember.”

  I turned to tell him; it was beautiful, but the words died on my tongue when I saw the painting. My feet moved me toward it before my brain gave the command. It was old, the paint was chipping, the canvas was cracking, even the frame was weathered and warped. The painting depicted fire, a portal of fire and standing at the entrance was a woman dressed all in black, her dark hair falling down her back.

  “I’ve had that for as long as I can remember, centuries. Found it in a little shop in France. I was drawn to it, more than drawn; I couldn’t leave the shop without it. That day at Misty Vale, it was only then that I understood why. Why I’ve packed it up every time we’ve drifted from place to place. Why I’ve always looked to the sunrise and sunset, that fire in the sky, and felt a longing I didn’t understand, an ache that never eased. In all the years that I have lived, and I have lived so fucking long, I have missed you.”

  Tears threatened. Under the warrior beat a poet’s heart. His words hung in the air, words that were achingly beautiful, but they weren’t a declaration; they were simply the truth, his truth and mine. Whatever we were, however we came to be, one thing was certain—we’d always come back to this, like our stones, we were two souls that fit.

  “I’ve dreamt about you my whole life.”

  He didn’t move, not a muscle.

  “I never saw your face, but I felt you. Missed you, mourned you when I woke. They told me I was crazy, but I wanted to get lost in the crazy because that was where you were. That day at Misty Vale, I felt you. Before I felt the others, I felt you. You were real, and you had come.”

  His hands fisted, and he drew in a long breath. I felt his tension; even not being able to read him, I could feel the struggle. His eyes changed, the beloved gray turned red. My heart ached because I had seen those eyes before in my dreams.

  I closed the distance between us because I needed to touch him, wanted that physical connection. My hand barely touched his chest, but I felt every muscle in his body turn rock hard. He threw his head back, a growl rumbled up his throat releasing on a roar that silenced the night. He was shifting, but before he did, he threw open the balcony doors and disappeared into the darkness.

  I didn’t move at first. We couldn’t do this, but it was all I wanted. Somehow, I knew he was all I’d ever wanted. Like that lifetime from so long ago, I didn’t step back. Consequences be damned. I ran down the stairs, past the bewildered look of Bain’s crew, and out the back door. I couldn’t sense him, wasn’t sure how I was going to find him. The crows came, flying down from where they’d been perched.

  “Find him.”

  They flew off. I followed in the direction Bain had gone, one of the crows returned and waited for me before changing directions. I shouldn’t have been surprised that he went back to where it had started for us. It was dark, the moon only a sliver in the sky, but when I reached the crest of the hill, my breath froze because he was there and he was magnificent. He prowled, his huge body moved like a predator, one that sensed his prey when his head snapped in my direction. He wasn’t a wolf; he stood upright standing at least nine feet tall. He shared similarities with one though. His long arms ended in claws, the joints in his legs were similar to a wolf, to increase his speed. His nose had elongated, his teeth were razor sharp, but it was his eyes…red as blood and so familiar.

  The heavens opened up, and the rain poured down, but we didn’t move, caught in the moment. How had he become this? When had he become this? So many lifetimes we had missed.

  He shifted, watching his body return to his human form looked painful. He bore the pain, just a part of who he was now. My heart raced because when the shift ended, he stood before me completely naked.

  There was a fluttering in my stomach when I asked, “Are you okay?”

  It was fascinating to see his large form go still like stone. “I’ve not got it under control. You aren’t helping with that.” He drawled those words out, a hint of frustration, but a whole lot of another emotion that caused a hum to work its way down my body to settle between my legs.

  The words were out before I could stop them. The lust raging through me fueled them. “I’d like to help with that.”

  He looked hungry. I st
epped closer. “I really want to help with that.”

  He growled, lifted his head to the sky so the rain could wash over his face like he was trying to cool the fire inside, but I loved fire.

  “I dreamt this.”

  Those gray eyes turned to me.

  “I went for a walk in the woods, saw you shift. You’re beautiful, both forms, and once upon a time, you were mine. We both know that.” I glanced down at the ground, the puddles forming in the soft earth. “You still are.”

  The air left my lungs when I was yanked up against his hard chest, his arm banding around me, his fingers lacing through my hair to lift my face to his. “Yes, I am.”

  His mouth collided with mine. His taste exploded on my tongue. He lifted me, pulling me closer, my legs curled around his waist. Threading my fingers into his hair, I kissed every part of his face. He palmed the back of my head, tilting it so he could kiss me deeper, sweeping my mouth with his tongue.

  Frenzied turned reverent. Running my hands down his face, I stroked his lips, studying every line, every curve. “I’ve missed you,” I whispered.

  He dropped me to my feet, framed my face in his hands and kissed me again, deeper. His lips were soft; his tongue was possessive, as he tasted me with a thoroughness that was both intoxicating and achingly familiar.

  He peeled off my shirt and bra, kissing every inch of skin he revealed. Seeing his large hands cupping my breasts, feeling what those calloused fingers were doing to me. I closed my eyes as fantasy and reality collided. His thumb brushed across my nipple, stirring an ache between my legs. He dropped to his knees and pulled my jeans down then my panties. Slowly, he moved his hands up my body, his head tilted and his eyes found mine. A light brush of his tongue on my clit, and my legs went weak. Grabbing my thighs, he held me up while he explored and savored. He knew my body, knew how to stroke out the pleasure. I knew his body, every muscle and every curve. We had been here before. I caught my lip as the orgasm didn’t so much crash over me but enveloped me. The beauty of the moment brought tears to my eyes.