“That was a lifeborn in the service of my mother. Something just attacked her home. It's burning as we speak and untold numbers of her deadborns have been destroyed trying to protect her.” We fell away from him, and he flashed out of the door.
“Daddy, wait!” We took off after him, with Fazion hot on our heels.
“It’s the Harbinger! She's trying to separate you. Don't leave! It's probably already too late!”
Daddy’s entire body shifted, and he hurled Fazion fifty feet before we'd even seen him move. “It’s my mother!” Daddy roared.
My brothers began stripping off their shirts preparing to shift and follow him, but Daddy stopped them. “No! The sun is too high in the sky. You're all too young; you'll never make it.”
I pushed my way through my brothers, letting my jacket slide from my shoulders as I went. “I can go with you, Daddy. The sun won't be a problem for me for at least another few hours.”
My father shook his head. “No princess, I won't risk you. Take care of each other and get your mother here as soon as the sun allows.” Daddy flashed through the building and soared out of the same hole the Harbinger used to escape.
My brothers and I slowly turned to face Fazion. He took one look at our shifted faces and took cover behind his guards. Tamerlane strode forward and growled. “How do we kill that bitch?”
Chapter 14
Fazion so totally rubbed me the wrong way seventy-five percent of the time, but he was right about one thing. We couldn’t fly off the handle. The attack on my grandmother unified us in a way nothing has before. No longer was it Valeria, Tamerlane, Constantine, and Valerian, as individuals consumed with our everyday lives, it was we, us, and we were working to ensure our family’s continued existence.
The Harbinger had orders to eradicate every vampire that originated from Mikilos; me, my brothers, my mother, grandmother Catherine, our uncles and cousins, all of us. We were all marked for death because the Light Court was afraid of the power we represented for the Fomori, and the Dark Courts were pissed with me.
Fazion explained to us that may have been the reasoning behind Fee’s murder. The Harbinger was aware of Constantine’s relationship with the human. She was killed because she represented the possibility of children. Despite her age, she was exterminated to keep her from bearing my brother’s child.
The Harbinger didn’t know the first thing about human biology. To one of the Fae, sixty years was nothing. Fae women are able to bear children for who knows how many years. For a moment, Constantine was beside himself, blaming her death on his inability to live without her, but he pushed his grief aside and focused on the now. He had a work crew already on the way to repair the damage to the tower.
Tamerlane worked with Marcus to clear the building. Everyone was sent home and given the next few days off. For the first time since our doors opened, the Trumaine Complex was closed for business. We vacated the above ground offices and settled into The Vault, the lowest level of the main tower, more than three thousand feet underground. The Vault was the section of the building where we tested new products and kept them away from the public until they were ready for launch.
The space was the most secure in the building, and with over sixty thousand square feet of space, it was also the largest one area. The walls surrounding The Vault were six-feet-thick, sheets of solid steel. There was a full cafeteria, bunk areas, showers, and no sunlight whatsoever. It was the easiest spot to defend and big enough to house us all until this mess was over.
Valerian was busy organizing our mother’s pickup and the evacuation of the main house. A sun-proofed limo, driven by Ballistic was leaving the parking garage, en-route to my parent’s home. Four passenger vans driven by Sentinels flanked the limo. All the windows had been hastily painted black, and camera systems installed so the drivers could see where they were going.
Every vampire that lived at the mansion was being brought to the grounds. On top of that, helicopters were being sent for my grandmother Catherine, and my uncles Theodore and Gavin. If they had Fomori blood running through their veins and lived in the U.S., they were coming here. We weren't taking chances. My five cousins, all of whom were living outside the U.S. were called and ordered to go to ground until we were able to get to them.
We were doing everything we could during the daylight hours, but it still felt like we weren't doing enough. Our efforts were hampered by the sun, but as soon as we were able; we were hitting the streets.
Marcus took some time off of work and vowed to stand by us until the whole ordeal was over. He already had Thade leading a group of pack members searching the city.
Part of me would like to think it was because of me and the mostly positive work relationship we had for so many years. The truth was; he knew Thade would never abandon me, and he wouldn’t abandon his nephew. On top of that, Thade’s older sister Casey was dating Tamerlane. If Fee was killed because of Constantine, she was a potential target also. She was already here, helping organize The Vault into living quarters for all the bodies that would soon call it home.
Fazion sat in the break room, which was now our modified command central and waited for us to finish our arrangements. One by one we filed in, and took a seat around the long table that filled the room.
“Has everyone involved been accounted for?”
Valerian leaned forward on his elbows and looked down the table toward the head where Fazion sat. “Our mother will be here in less than an hour and our grandmother shortly after that. Our uncles should be flying in within the next few hours.”
Fazion blinked his eyes, and for a moment his glamour faded. The light that surrounded him was dim. “Are you okay, Fazion?”
He sighed and shook his head yes. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine as soon as I’m back in Tir Na Nog.” He tapped his fingers against the table before straightening his back and leaning forward.
“I am truly sorry for the attack against your grandmother. It was never my intention to appear callous.”
I waved it off. “We’re good, Fazion, right now need you to tell us how to kill those things.” I didn’t want to think about what was happening in Virginia. I couldn’t afford the distraction. If I let my mind wander, my control would soon follow. Both Uncle Seth and aunt Amina were on their way to meet Daddy. They would have to be enough while we dealt with home.
Fazion stood up and began slowly walking around the table. “A Harbinger begins its existence as an ordinary Fae. Once the decision is made to summon the powers of the Harbinger, a specific Fae is chosen to suit the task at hand. Being a Harbinger means not only are her powers enhanced, but she now heals faster than a normal Sidhe.”
Constantine frowned. “What’s so special about the woman that’s after us? Why was she chosen to come after Val and not something else?”
Irulan opened the heavy book that was sitting in her lap and slid it across the table to Constantine. “She’s a Banshee. I have to admit it was an excellent choice.”
I jerked my head toward her with my mouth hanging open in disbelief. She shrugged her shoulders. “What? I was just stating a fact.”
Fazion chimed in. “A mature Banshee can control her scream and bend it to their will in a number of ways.” He pointed at me. “You absorb energy, the Banshee deflects. It will be almost impossible for you to hit her with an energy based attack.”
Fazion stopped behind Tamerlane and placed his hands on his shoulders. “Absorbing the energy behind the Banshee’s scream is also out of the question. She can make her scream as solid as a fist to the face.” He turned his head in my direction. “That’s why Irulan erected her shield, which, by the way, is the only form of energy that’s of any use.”
Tamerlane grunted and slapped his palm against the tabletop. “This is all well and good, but you're still not telling us how to kill the damn thing.”
“Sheer brute force, you're going to have to overwhelm her with numbers and hope that one of you gets in a lucky strike.”
; Tamerlane smirked. “It must not take that many numbers if you only sent four of your men after her.”
“My men can take the form of griffins and phoenixes. What can you change into…a flying mouse? Either you want my help or not. My Manticores and I can do this without you.”
“I don't think you can.” I pushed away from the table and slowly made my way around it to stand a few feet from Fazion. I concentrated on the power inside me and pushed it into my eyes. The world turned blue and I looked to Fazion, right through his glamour. The natural glow that surrounded him looked like a pair of headlights on dim, instead of the normal, sun worthy rays that it should have been. “I see through your glamour. You’re not looking to hot, Fazion.”
Fazion glared at me, looking like one of my brothers when they’d had enough of my shit…or at least the expression on his face did. Irulan rolled her eyes and got up to stand between the two of us. “Come on Valeria; he came here to help. Leave my cousin alone.”
He’s here, and the end results have forced him to work with us, but I didn’t believe for one minute that he'd done it all out of the goodness of his heart. His love for Irulan pushed him into accepting our relationship. He didn’t want to lose a sister, but it was obvious he didn’t like me. The feeling was mutual.
I crossed my arms over my chest and settled on my back leg. “Why did you come here, Fazion? I want the truth.”
Fazion huffed and looked at Irulan for help, but she knew when and when not to get in the middle of us. As long as I didn’t look like I was about to deck him, her small request for me to leave him alone, was the most I was going to get. “I asked you a question, I expect an answer. Why are you here?”
Fazion huffed and pushed by me, heading toward the counter behind us. He pulled a cup from a cabinet and reached for the faucet. Irulan moved to block our view as he reached for the metal knob, but I side stepped around her. “Don’t-just don't,” I quietly hissed. I held up a shaky palm and pressed it to her chest.
“You can't cover for him. Something’s wrong and I’m going to find out what.” I stood there and shook as I teetered on the edge of the chasm that led to a loss of control. When Daddy learned about the attack on our grandmother, I went numb. My feelings checked out completely. Now wasn’t the time for them to make a reappearance. I took a deep breath I let her go and focused on Fazion again, “All I want is the truth.”
His hand hovered above the knob like he was scared to grab it, until he finally forced his fingers around the shiny metal. Fazion grimaced as the cool water ran into his cup. The hand that was wrapped around the metal knob was slowly shriveling and turning a funky shade of purple.
His hand was drying out like a damn prune. Once the cup was full, he jerked his hand free. Away from the metal, it slowly began to fill out and gain its color back.
“You’re right, Princess. We can't do this without your aid, not in the time your grandfather has given us. I thought we could, but I was wrong.”
Constantine pushed by us with a first aid kit and began riffling through it looking for something to wrap the monarch's hand with. Stryfe in turn pushed by Constantine and looked down at him with a sad smile. “Thank you for your kindness, but it’s not necessary. I will take care of my king.”
While Fazion’s hand looked normal again, there was sick pallor to his skin that wasn’t there before. Stryfe wound his fingers behind Fazion’s neck and tilted his head. Before I could ask ‘what the hell’, he lowered his mouth to Fazion’s and claimed it in a kiss. At first Fazion resisted his guard, but soon his hands gripped Stryfe’s heavy leather coat and pulled the tall man closer.
Irulan’s hand fell limply to her side, and she looked none too happy with me.
“Are you satisfied now?” She moved to stand beside her cousin. I watched as Stryfe fell away from Fazion with his hand pressed to his mouth and his own color less vibrant than it was before.
“You gave him energy.” Stryfe nodded and went back to his perch against the wall as if nothing happened.
Irulan moved to contribute to the cause. I reached out to grab her, but Fazion stopped her. “No, Ire. I’m recovered.” He leaned against the counter and sighed. “We are here to stop the Harbinger. My Manticores and I have been tracking it for almost a week, but we aren't going to be enough. I am not going to be enough.” He held up his palms and shot me a weak smile.
“For the most part, I can move freely among the metal trappings of this realm. My men, on the other hand, cannot. Without my energy to sustain them, they would have succumbed to iron poisoning within a few hours of being here.” He waved his hands; frowning. “The damn stuff is everywhere.”
“Why would you willingly come here if you knew this was going to happen?” He was here, but I still wasn’t convinced it was out of the goodness of his heart.
“Your grandfathers didn’t give me much choice.” He looked sheepishly at Irulan. “Neither did my own father. Once the kings banded together and summoned the Harbinger essence into that Banshee, FaeVar called on him in Hy-Breasail. He blamed the Harbingers summoning on the Light Kings. He said his decree would have kept the Dark in line, but the Light kings gave them an out, allowing them to strike at his children without raising a hand in anger.”
Fazion took a drink of the water and rushed to spit it out in the sink behind him. “By Danu, even the water carries the taint of iron. How can you survive here?”
Irulan shrugged her shoulders. “I only drink filtered water.”
Fazion grimaced as he shook his head. “Brilliant, you could have warned me.”
“You could have asked,” Irulan countered with a giggle.
“Can we please get on with it?” Tamerlane’s patience was just as thin as my own.
Fazion’s lips curled, but whatever snide remark he was prepared to make, he swallowed when he saw the look on me and my brother’s faces. “FaeVar has promised war with the Light Courts if anything happens to you, alright. Not only has he promised war; he's threatening to call a tribunal with the Morrigan. If FaeVar did that, and the Light Kings are found to have summoned the Harbinger unjustly-which we all know they would; it would throw the Light Lands into chaos.”
Valerian’s finger inched into the air as he got ready to pose a question, but I gave him a mental poke, and he let it fall. "Don't interrupt."
Fazion’s gripped the edge of the counter behind him as he pushed on. “Father didn’t believe he would go that far, until he learned that FaeVar had already called the Morrigan on his own kings. The two that went against him were forsworn for breaking their vows to their High King, and the Morrigan claimed their lives. FaeVar has finally taken up residence in Avalon and moved the entire court to be closer to this family. Mikilos now rules Mag Mell, and two other sons replaced the rulers that were destroyed.”
Fazion sounded like a man one the verge of losing his mind. “Not only will Father will lose everything if the Morrigan is called, he's being forced to claim the throne, so he sent me to clear up this mess before anything happens.”
Irulan shook her head and held up a finger. “Wait a minute. You said that Uncle Kent was being forced to take the throne. Do you mean ‘the throne’? I don't believe it.”
Fazion nodded his head, and Irulan looked like her eyes were going to bug out of her head. “Believe it, Sister. One can't exist without the other. He has no choice now that FaeVar has claimed the throne in Avalon. FaeVar claimed it was the only way he would be strong enough to kill the Harbinger if I failed. He means to come to the mortal realm himself.”
“When will Kent take the throne?” Irulan asked.
“I have no idea. He may already have,” Fazion replied.
“Why did you wait so long to come to us for help?” Irulan almost shouted. “You and your damn pride; you're no better than your father.”
The Fae in the room didn’t look the least bit lost, but the rest of us had no idea what in the hell they were talking about. Their back and forth had gone on long enough. I threw both of my ha
nds up and stepped in between the two.
“Would the both of you stop going on like everyone knows what you're talking about.” I turned to Irulan and laid a hand on her shoulder. “All of the color drained out of your face when the two of you began talking about my grandfather. What’s going on?”
Fazion ran a clawed hand down the side of his face and sighed. “Your grandfather has placed an impossible deadline at my feet and now thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of people are going to die because of it; both here and in the FaeLands.”
“I don't believe you,” I quickly tried to protest but the snarl that Fazion sent my way shut me up.
The look on his face was beyond serious. “Don’t presume to think you know FaeVar because you’ve spent a few days in his presence,” he barked. “He is the Dark High King for a reason. The UnSeelie know nothing of the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few. The only things important to the Dark Court are the fulfillment of their wants, no matter what the cost.”
“I don't believe you,” I said again through clenched teeth. I know it wasn’t much because he had a point about me not knowing my grandfather that well, but I couldn’t believe that the man I’d spent so many hours with would be willing to commit genocide.”
It was Irulan who took my hand and spoke next. “He’s telling the truth, Val. FaeVar would lay waste to this realm and sacrifice thousands of mortals for the life of one of his ilk, if the situation demanded it. Now that he's claimed the throne at Avalon, that’s exactly what will happen if he sets foot in Tir Nam Beo.”
They were saying the same thing over and over and not really explaining why it was so dangerous for my grandfather to come to the mortal realm. I was so wrapped up in trying to keep my skyrocketing emotions under control that I was at a total loss for words. Thankfully Constantine wasn’t.
“What’s so important about our grandfather taking this throne that you keep talking about?”
Black Moon Rising (DarkLife Saga) Page 12