Love Eternal

by Nikki McCoy

  Deirdra was stumbling away from Vane in terror, clinging to her baby. When Vane wrenched his son from her arms, she tackled him, biting his ear and jerking her head from side to side like a rabid animal. Vane cried out then withdrew a blade hidden by his suit jacket and stabbed Deirdra in the stomach.

  Tailor shifted to his eagle form and flew toward the demigod, but he wasn’t fast enough. His talons curved to claw at Vane’s eyes, only to grasp at thin air. In the next instant, Vane reappeared several yards away next to a bookshelf where Keenan had placed the collar and key that had bound Roh Se Kahn within Dhani. Tailor shifted back and fired his gun too late. Vane had already vanished again, taking his son and the collar and key with him.

  Tailor’s vision clouded with rage, but his bloodlust was cut short when Deirdra collapsed onto him. Instinctively, he caught her in one arm and lowered her gently to the ground. She stared up at him through wide, stricken eyes as she clutched at the knife in her belly, trying futilely to hold onto life. Blood flowed freely through her fingers and trickled from her pale lips.

  Despite his hatred for her, a sliver of pity slipped past the wall caging in his emotions. She had sacrificed herself to protect her son. No matter her sins, she deserved his respect, if only for that single act.

  When he lifted his gun, expecting to kill any followers who remained, he found the attack was over. Cain and Cy were securing the four followers left alive and Laya was checking to make sure the rest were dead.

  Quinn sat on the floor with tears streaking down his face and Manning’s head in his lap. A pool of blood was gathering beneath Manning’s body from a knife wound on his right leg and a bullet in his chest just inches from his heart. “Rowan!” Quinn screamed. He rocked frantically, cradling his unconscious mate in the circle of his arms.

  Rowan ran to them, tore open his wrist with his fangs, then pressed it to Manning’s mouth. After he’d massaged Manning’s throat to make sure he’d swallowed enough blood, Rowan ripped open Manning’s shirt and allowed his blood to trickle onto the gaping wound in Manning’s chest.

  “He’ll be all right,” Rowan assured Quinn. “He’s a tough son of a bitch. He’ll pull through.”

  Quinn let out a tortured sob. “He took the bullet to save me. Please don’t let him die. I can’t lose him.”

  Rowan licked his wrist to stem the flow of his blood then took Quinn’s face in his hands. “He’s not going to die, little brother,” he said fiercely. “You hear me? Don’t you dare give up.”

  Quinn nodded solemnly then stared back down at his mate.

  As soon as Tailor was sure Manning would survive, he called for Rowan. Deirdra was fading fast and she was the only one who might know where Vane had taken Sevrick.

  Rowan fell to his knees on the other side of Deirdra and cupped her face. Without looking away, he asked Tailor, “What happened?”

  “She tried to keep Vane from taking Sevrick, but he stabbed her. Vane took the child, as well as the collar he means to use on his son.”

  Deirdra’s gaze slowly found its way to Rowan’s. “I’m so sorry,” she breathed. “I never—”

  “Shhh,” Rowan hushed her, smoothing the frayed tendrils of her auburn hair. “I know you did everything you could to protect your son. I’ll find him, I swear it, but I need you to tell me where you think Vane took him. Where would he go?”

  She shook her head as her eyes welled with moisture. “I don’t know. Please, Goddess, find him! Find my baby.”

  “I will,” Rowan said quietly. He moved to reopen the wound on his wrist but Deirdra’s body had already stilled with the finality of death. The light in her eyes was gone and her face was frozen in the longing plea for her son.

  Tailor closed her eyelids then looked to Rowan. “She died as a mother and a warrior. You should be proud of that, at least. I’ll help you get Sevrick back.”

  “We will,” Rowan said tightly. “As well as our mates.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Tailor hissed as vodka was poured over the open cuts on his knuckles. When he tried to retract his hand, Mara held him still and dabbed the cuts with cotton.

  “Stop being such a baby,” she admonished briskly. “Besides, you deserve this. I can’t believe neither one of you told me what you were planning to do. I should cut off your nuts and make rocky mountain oysters out of them.”

  Tailor grimaced and crossed his legs as she wrapped his knuckles. She was cut from the same cloth as her brother, Rowan, and he had no doubt she was capable of following through with her threat. When she hadn’t heard from Rowan or Quinn about what was going on, she’d taken it upon herself to find out personally. Her mate, Cassie, had agreed to watch Quinn and Manning’s son so she could fly to France. Two hours after Keenan had attempted the spell on Dhani, she’d arrived at Rowan’s palace to find him and Tailor in his dungeon interrogating the four surviving traitors.

  None of them had provided any information Tailor didn’t already know, and his patience was bordering on nonexistent.

  “It was best you weren’t here,” Rowan said from where he paced in front of the fireplace in his living room. “It was too dangerous.”

  “I’m a warrior,” she snapped. “Not some frail thing that needs to be protected. Maybe if I had been here, Manning wouldn’t be laid up in bed.”

  “And maybe you’d be dead,” Rowan shot back. He scrubbed his face with a groan. “Mara, I don’t need this right now.”

  “Well, you do need me since you’re a man down. So what’s the plan?”

  Tailor grabbed the bottle of vodka and took a swig, standing as soon as Mara was finished wrapping his hand. To Rowan, he said, “You should let me kill all but one of those traitors to make him talk. A beating may not have worked, but fear will.”

  “Don’t you think I want to do that?” Rowan shouted. “My mate was taken as well, but I can’t override the laws I set in place. They have to go before the council for sentencing.”

  “That sentence will be death for treason! Why are you putting it off for some idiotic formality?”

  “Rowan’s right,” Manning said as he limped into the room, held upright only by Quinn at his side. Although Rowan’s blood had gone a long way in accelerating the healing process, he was still in bad shape. His skin was ashen and his breaths were labored.

  As Quinn helped his mate to sit on the couch, Tailor straightened in concern. “Jaes’din, you shouldn’t be out of bed.”

  “Now who’s standing on formality?” Manning smirked. “I know this is hard on both of you, trust me, but Rowan has to follow the rules. When this is over, there will still be traitors out there willing to try to bring Roh Se Kahn back again. A public execution will make them think twice. It might also flush out whoever else among Rowan’s guard is working for Vane.”

  Rowan shook his head. “I should’ve seen it. I thought Mark was a good man. I’d even considered appointing him as a third Meraan.”

  “You can’t blame yourself,” Quinn said quietly. “None of us could’ve known Vane’s influence ran so deeply.”

  Xenessa and Cy came into the room with Laya and Cain. Cy frowned at Manning but didn’t remark on his presence. To Rowan, he asked, “Did you get any information?”

  “No. You?”

  “Xenessa and I called in all the guards who have access to your palace. Of the fifty, we were able to ferret out two who were lying when we asked them if they were working for Vane or Roh Se Kahn. They refused to admit to anything, so we had them taken to a cell in the dungeon.”

  “Then we’re right back where we started,” Rowan growled in frustration. “Roh Se Kahn isn’t going to put off the incantation to free the rest of his essence any longer than it’ll take for him to gather what followers he can find. We’re running out of time.”

  Tailor curled his fists, trying to keep his emotions in check. The answer to where they would find Dhani was right in front of him. He could feel it. He just needed to focus his thoughts. “We know that Roh Se Kahn plans to use Keen
an to perform the incantation, and he needs the light in his followers to do it. Vane took his son to use as a host for his father’s essence so he can drain his father of his powers. I’d bet anything he’s going to need the light in his own followers for that spell.”

  Rowan shrugged. “Even so, what good does that information do us?”

  “Every traitor started out with allegiance to Roh Se Kahn, then switched to Vane after Roh Se Kahn was driven back to the alternate realm. They don’t care who they serve, they just want power. The followers are going to flock to whoever can give them that. They’ll be playing both sides.”

  Laya raised her brows in understanding. “Roh Se Kahn would have to go to a location where he knows his followers will be, even if those followers are currently serving Vane. Which means Vane will also know the location.”

  Tailor nodded. “It can’t be any of the places I’ve gone to over the past year and they wouldn’t be stupid enough to return to the castle.”

  “I know where Roh Se Kahn is,” Laya breathed with widened eyes. “The same place he was originally freed from his prison realm. When I was held in Roh Se Kahn’s castle, Achilles would travel there often to meet with the humans in service to the God. It was a place Vane was familiar with. I’m positive Vane would’ve used it to hide some of those who stayed true to his cause after the battle a year ago.”

  “It’s possible,” Manning agreed. “Where is this place?”

  “Near Dover, England. I remember that’s why I became suspicious of my mate in the first place. He would leave for months at a time, claiming to fight in the war between the Vam’kir and us, but none of the other warriors stayed gone that long. I followed him to Dover after he’d taken Dominic and found him at a remote ranch that had been abandoned.”

  “Do you think you could find it again?”

  “I’m sure of it.”

  Rowan sighed. “Then this is the best we’ve got. We’ll take the forty-eight guards I know I can trust with us. My private jets can be fueled and ready within the hour.”

  Manning dipped his chin. “I can have a group of my warriors meet us there.”

  Rowan shook his head. “It’ll take them too long to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and there could be traitors among your men as well. We can’t take the risk.”

  Grudgingly, Manning admitted Rowan was right.

  Tailor mulled over the plan while the others discussed the preparations. He didn’t like a single part of it. They had no way of knowing whether Dhani would be at that location or how many followers he might have gathered by the time they got there. Manning wouldn’t be fit to go along and they’d already seen Roh Se Kahn counter the effects of Rowan’s power as Magnique over the Vam’kir traitors. On top of it all, they no longer had Keenan to say the spell that would cast the dark God from Dhani’s body.

  When he interrupted the others to bring up that last point, Xenessa stirred uneasily. “If Keenan is unable to recite the spell when we get there,” she began, “there may yet be another course of action we can take.”

  Tailor frowned at her cautious tone. “As long as it doesn’t involve killing my mate, I’m in.”

  “No, of course not!” she said. Then hesitantly added, “I hope not. While you were all attempting to free Dhani from Roh Se Kahn, I was communing with Miel Se Luuda. I asked her if there was any other spell we could use to banish Roh Se Kahn if the original one didn’t work.”

  Rowan’s eyes darkened. “Why didn’t you ask her earlier and save us the trouble we’re in now?”

  “Watch your tone, boy,” she said sternly. “I helped bring you into this world and it won’t take me eighteen hours of labor to take you out of it.”

  Cy laughed, then hastily coughed and grumbled an apology when Rowan shot him a look that promised pain.

  Xenessa huffed. “Communing with the Mother isn’t exactly like making a phone call. She told me there’s a…variation of the spell that might send both Vane and Roh Se Kahn to the alternate realm. However, it also requires someone with both light and dark in them. If Keenan can’t say it, I’ll have to channel the powers of light and dark in Sevrick to pull it off, and even then, I’ll need to get Sevrick away from Vane first.”

  “So we’ll need to distract Vane,” Rowan surmised.

  Xenessa nodded.

  Tailor didn’t doubt the historian truly wanted to save Dhani, but something in her energy told him she wasn’t telling him everything. “Just how is this spell going to work?”

  She hesitated, glancing at her mate, then at Laya. “I can’t tell you. It’s something only Laya and I can know about.”

  Laya, Tailor and Cy all spoke up at once. Tailor yelled, “What the hell does that mean?”

  “You are not coming with us,” Cy said to Xenessa in an imperious voice.

  Laya creased her brow in confusion. “I don’t understand. How can I help?”

  Xenessa turned on her mate first. “I’m thirty years older than you and the historian of our race. I can damn well go where I please.” To Laya, she said, “I’ll fill you in before we leave.” Then, finally, her gaze met Tailor’s. “And you… Out of all of us, you know the dangers we face the most. It’s why you bonded with your mate before Keenan tried to expel Roh Se Kahn from Dhani’s body. You made peace with the possibility that Dhani might not survive, and you chose to follow him into death should that be his fate. I can’t say I can guarantee Dhani’s survival, but I’m asking you to trust in me…and in Miel Se Luuda.”

  Just as Tailor was about to argue further, Manning spoke up sharply. “Ketai! As your Jaes’din, I order you to stand down.”

  The authoritative command stopped Tailor like nothing else could have. He saw the sympathy in Manning’s eyes and swallowed his protest. “I’m sorry,” he said to Xenessa. “I know your intentions are true. I’ll distract Vane myself when the time comes.”

  He helped Quinn take Manning to his guest bedroom then left to prepare for the coming battle. All the while, only one thought circled his mind endlessly. If Dhani died, Tailor would kill everyone responsible before he met his own death. God or otherwise.

  * * * *

  The first silver rays of dawn crested over the evergreen treetops by the time Roh Se Kahn was satisfied with the small army he’d gathered. He materialized Dhani’s body just in front of the porch of the ranch, then released his hold on the last man struggling in his arms.

  Achilles stumbled awkwardly in vertigo, clutching to his chest the leather-wrapped stump that had once ended in his right hand. From the sickly cast to his features, Dhani could tell he hadn’t sought proper medical attention for his wound. While inwardly, Dhani despised having to be in the man’s presence, he had to admit, he was enjoying watching him suffer.

  Achilles glanced around in puzzlement. “I know this place. It’s where I brought you back into this plane of existence years ago.”

  “Indeed,” Dhani drawled. “In a way, you resurrected me—gave me back my freedom and allowed me to begin the retribution I owe my sister, Miel Se Luuda. I thought it only fitting to allow you to witness my second resurrection. After all, it’s the very least I can do to repay you for your services.”

  Guardedness shaded Achilles’ gaze as he stared at Dhani. Although there was nothing in Achilles’ expression to give away his fear, Dhani could smell it on him like a cloying odor. Achilles cleared his throat and bowed slightly. “You honor me, my lord. I assume your human worshippers are around somewhere? I’d granted them refuge here after we lost you in the battle, but I don’t see any of them now.”

  Spread out across the expansive lawns were nearly a hundred Vam’kir and Ba’Kal diligently patrolling the area. Each was equipped with weapons Dhani had found stashed in the basement of the ranch house. They were trained warriors all, with an innate sense of duty and compelling loyalty. And every last one of them was completely mindless.

  Inside, Dhani cringed again at the knowledge of what Roh Se Kahn had done. After leaving Keenan at the ranch, Roh Se Kahn ha
d gone in search of his lost followers, though not for the reasons Dhani had expected.

  It had never been the God’s intention to recover the fealty of those who had left his service to join Vane. Without mercy, he’d executed them. And when they had begged for their lives, he’d simply smiled as the power of his darkness engulfed them in white-hot flames.

  For several hours, the God had teleported across Europe and the United States, seeking out the followers and killing them until he was convinced their reduced numbers would prevent Vane from interfering again. Then he’d focused on several small shifter communities and Vam’kir clans, stealing their warriors from them before they could form a defense. These warriors he had somehow put into a trance, replacing their will with his own. They were innocents. Men and women who had dedicated their lives to protecting their races, and whom Roh Se Kahn would now use to finish his war.

  The only followers he’d left alive were the three Vam’kir in the ranch house, and only for their familiarity with the land surrounding the ranch and intel on how best to defend it.

  Dhani shrugged at Achilles’ inquiry of the humans. “There were a dozen or so inhabiting the barn. However, I found their presences inconsequential. Much as I found the rest of my former followers to be of no further use to me. You see, I can’t very well continue where I left off now that I know my own son has turned against me, can I? It would be foolish of me to put my trust in those who have betrayed me.”

  The first trace of Achilles’ fear began to line his face. “Of course. I take this to mean you have…”

  “Forgiven them their sins? Yes. Although I can’t imagine Miel Se Luuda or the God those humans worship so blindly offering their souls that same forgiveness after I ended their lives. A pity, isn’t it? They held so much promise. Then again, I can’t tolerate deceit if I am to rule over this world. I thought it best to play it safe for now and imbue those you see before you with fragments of my essence. It has weakened me to an extent, but at least I can rely on their loyalty, and soon I will be made whole again.”