OF WAR Anthology Novels 1-3

by Lisa Beth Darling

  Alena jumped into the back of the SUV, nearly flew over the seat, and took Rose’s wet face up in her hands. “You all right, sweetheart?”

  Sobbing heavily Rose held her arms out to her Mother, who, in turn, rocked her gently while he covered her forehead with kisses of reassurance. “Bad dawdee!”

  “Very bad but it’s ok now, you’re safe, Mommy won’t let anything happen to you, Rosie.” Another few kisses and Alena pulled away to climb out of the SUV and slam the hatch. Ripping the nozzle out the gas tank while she looked around for any sign of the dog she twisted the cap tight and hopped in behind the wheel to shut and locked the doors while she rolled up the windows. With her heart thundering in her chest, she looked down at Rose who looked back through tearstained eyes.

  “Mama ‘rong.” Rose raised her little arms in the air and flexed her little muscles. “Wooo.”

  “Thanks,” Alena replied, shoving the key into the slot and pushing the START button, turned on the lights, and watched the gas gauge top out at over the FULL mark. Taking another long look at her Daughter to be sure Rose was unharmed she put the pedal to the metal and peeled out of the vacant store’s parking lot. It was only after they’d gone a few miles and the adrenaline rush wore off that the throbbing pain in her left arm and the pulsing pain in her hips became full blown. She pulled over to the side of the road with the engine running and the doors locked. Pushing up the torn sleeve of the sweatshirt, she inspected the damage. “Yeow.” The wounds were deep, so deep she saw the bone below the skin, blood, and muscle. “That’ll teach me to forget simple things like bandages, won’t it?” While she tried to make light of the situation for Rose’s sake, the truth was the Immortality of a Fey—especially a half-blood Fey like her—was not like the Immortality of a Full-Blooded Olympian like her Husband. It was much more fragile than that and it left her praying that the dog hadn’t infected her with something.

  “Oooo, ow,” Rose said sympathetically as she looked at her Mother’s bleeding arm. Holding tight to the teddy bear with one hand she reached out with the other but couldn’t reach the wound.

  “No, don’t touch sweetheart, it’ll be ok,” Alena advised softly as she brought the bag of clothes to the front seat and tore off a long swatch from the bottom of a cotton turtleneck she’d picked for herself. Twisting the food encrusted top off the bottle of water in the console she poured it over her arm and bit down on her bottom lip at the sting. Tearing off the ripped portion of the sweatshirt and soaking it with the remainder of the water she used it to dab at the gaping holes in her arm. She dressed it with the length of black cotton before raising the bottom of the sweatshirt to inspect the long incisions left by the dog’s claws. Her sides split open at the curve of her waist but, luckily for her, the strong denim jeans prevented further damage. Unable to bandage them she washed them off with half a bottle of water then lowered the shirt. “It’ll be all right, I’ll heal, not as fast as Daddy—then again that probably wouldn’t have hurt your Father, would it?” She ran her hand over Rose’s head before taking off again. “No worries.”

  Less than forty miles down the road, the road just ended. In front of her stood a very impressive chain link fence that stretched out as far as she could see on either side. Every few feet rusted signs warned of GOVERNMENT PROPERTY NO TRESSPASSING. USE OF DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED. KEEP OUT!

  “Welcome to Groom Lake,” Alena mumbled to Rose. She put the heavy SUV in REVERSE, backed up, dropped in in DRIVE and floored it to burst through the perimeter of the Military Base.

  Even with the light of the full moon and the twinkling stars to aid her high-beams Alena couldn’t see anything other than miles of flat empty desert.

  “Pee,” Rose pleaded with her hands held tight to her crotch as she looked over at her Mother.

  “Me too, sweetie, hold it a few more moments, ok? Then we’ll both go.” Alena looked forward, left, right, and then decided on backing up. There was a large rock outcrop just a quarter mile down the road and thought it a good place to hold up for the remainder of the night.

  Fifteen minutes later, with bladders relieved, Alena folded down the back seat and laid out the blanket. “Here you go, nice comfy place to sleep.” She tucked Rose in and then curled up next to her.

  “Da-da?”

  Alena kissed Rose’s forehead and snuggled her a little closer. “With any luck you’ll see Daddy before the sun goes down tomorrow.” A few moments later Rose was fast asleep but Alena sat up the rest of the night with her staff in her hand, keeping watching over her Daughter and the empty desert.

  II

  Raven finished telling his tale of his time in the Under World, of all the things Trinity and Tisiphone told him. The only small detail left out by Raven was the fact that he was responsible for his Sister’s death, other than that, Ares received the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the ugly truth.

  “Well, that’s some story. A nice shiny new soul, huh? Good for you. You’ll have to get Hades to let you call Tisiphone from the Underworld and even then they may not believe her,” Ares said in a weary voice. “Is that why you came with me to the Dream World? So you could save your ass?”

  Leaning against the far side of the bars so he could see his Father as he spoke, Raven pressed on. “I’m not done. Speaking of last night, when I got to Mom in the parapet; I got sucked into her nightmare when I touched her.” Raven paused a moment wanting to proceed in a way that wouldn’t anger his Father further, but in a way that would get him answers just the same. “Who’s the black guy in the wheel chair?” To his surprise, Raven watched his Father flinch. Ares never flinched. “What about his ugly fuckin’ buddies? Who are they? Why’d they do that to Mom?”

  Giving a low snarl, Ares started to walking away from the bars. “Ask your Mother.”

  Raven reached out and snagged hold of one of his Father’s gauntlets. “I’m asking you, who the fuck are those people? Who were Cernunnos and Apollo looking for? Why did they think Mom knew? Why did Cernunnos put that fuckin’ chastity belt on her? Why did Apollo torture her? Wh—” Before he could go any further, Ares’ hand closed around his throat, choking off his air and his words.

  “Apollo,” Ares sneered, “tell me. What do you know? What did he do to her?”

  Raven’s mind spun with fear and lack of oxygen and he blurted out, “He always she liked it, she never liked it. She never wanted him.”

  “I know that!” Ares growled and tightened his grip. “What did he do?”

  Trying desperately to get his racing heart under control, Raven realized something and he thought it odd. “She hasn’t told you?” The increasing pressure around his throat accompanied by the sudden slamming of his head into the bars was the only answer he received. Raven raised a hand, not in defense but to try and signal that he understood. In the split-second before he opened his mouth he understood something else and remained silent.

  “Tell me! I’m your Father, I demand that you tell me!”

  Raven wanted to tell his Father what he knew he even felt that Ares should know but, “No,” he croaked and shook his head as best he could. “No.”

  “Why are the two of you protecting Apollo?!”

  Again, Raven raised his hand and shook his head as he tried to get scant wisps of breath into his lungs. “Not him. You,” Raven said he choked in his Father’s hold. “She’s protecting you, if she won’t tell you it’s because she’s trying to protect you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if you knew the things Apollo you did you’d never let him live this long.” Raven struggled for another breath as he held Ares’ stare with the bars between them. “After you kill him Zeus would kill you.”

  Ares’ grip released and he pulled his hand back into his cell watching Raven rub his sore throat and listening to him suck air into his lungs. “What did she tell him?”

  “Seriously?” The laugh that rose from Raven’s throat came at the expense of another burst of dry agony. “Nothing, she didn’t tell him a damn th
ing. Didn’t tell Cernunnos either. Know what I think?”

  “What?” Ares grunted.

  “I think she didn’t know,” Raven whispered in a hoarse voice, “but she does now, doesn’t she? What happened?”

  It seemed that, on some levels, Raven wasn’t quite as oblivious as Ares thought. “You, that’s what happened, you.”

  “Come again?”

  Ares paced around in his cell for a few moments before deciding to lay these cards on the table and walking back to the bars. “When she was pregnant with you she tried to shield you from certain aspects of her life that you now know but won’t share with me.” The God of War let out a low frustrated growl. “In doing so, in trying so hard to protect you, I think something in her woke up. A long dead memory, I don’t know. She started putting things together she’s not done yet.”

  “Why don’t you just fill her in? You seem to have the missing pieces.”

  “Why don’t you shut up?”

  Moving a short distance away from the bars, just out of his Father’s reach, Raven decided he was safe enough for the moment and kept needling. “Missing pieces, hummm, like, I dunno. Who’s the Dark Fae in chains Cernunnos was holding hostage? Why was Artemis surprised when Mom took her to the Golden Lands? How come you’re the only one who didn’t ask her; Where are they? You always said you hadn’t seen a Fey in over half a century before Mom washed up on your shore but that’s a lie, isn’t it?”

  “No, it’s not,” Ares said through tight lips. “Up until Artemis’ death, as far as I knew, the Golden Lands were a myth.”

  “Not the Dark Kingdom, you know where it is. You know she’s from there, quit lying about it.”

  “I’ve already told you that your Mother is from the Golden Lands—”

  “Yeah, she is, and so’s her mother, and her mother, but before that, Pop? Before that?” Raven stopped and took in the heavy defiant silence radiating from his Father but, with the safety of the bars between them, he continued. “Here’s what I think, ok? This is my theory: Cernunnos took Shar Draíocht prisoner, he put her in chains, he tortured her, he raped her, he got her pregnant, then threatened to kill the baby if she didn’t tell him the whereabouts of the Dark Kingdom. How am I doin’?” Raven stopped to gauge his Father’s reaction, saw the anger brewing in Ares’ eyes but kept going. “She got away, with the baby, with Morrowind, my Great-Grandmother. Shar Draíocht, afraid to go back to the Dark Kingdom because Cernunnos might follow her there, she hid in the Golden Lands, and why not? One Fey looks just another Fae, right? And Cernunnos, well, he already knew where they were and, while he grabbed one here and there, it was the Dark Faes he really wanted but they eluded him. The Golden Feys were too…docile for Cernnunos’ taste, weren’t they?”

  “How would I know?” Ares shot.

  “Did he know he was raping his own daughter when he took Morrowind and got her pregnant with my Grandmother, Maven? What do you think? Do you think he tortured her too, asking her over and over; Where are they? Hoping she’d give them up to save herself.” While Raven was hoping to shock his Father into telling everything he knew, Raven ended up most thunderstruck by his own words. He let out a grunt that turned into a groan as his eyes wandered away from his Father’s gaze.

  Always willing to rub salt in a wound, Ares uttered the words Raven was thinking. “Just like you, huh?”

  In heavy silence, Raven nodded as he whispered, “But not like you.” His eyes dropped down to take in the Willow Tree Medallion hanging around Ares’ neck and settled between his pecs over his heart. “Not that black guy but he’s Mortal.”

  “Was Mortal,” Ares corrected, “now he’s dead. I killed him and his friends with extreme prejudice. As for the rest of it,” Ares snarled and then raised his voice good and loud, “I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.”

  Raven watched his Father raise his eyes to the air and thought again about the walls having ears. ” No? Then what am I?”

  “My Son,” Ares snorted, “if that’s not good enough for you tough shit.”

  “She has nightmares about you too,” Raven ventured, “about what you did.”

  “I was under a Curse!” Ares stormed back to the bars and reached out for his Son but Raven evaded him. “It was one night! One!”

  “Curse, yeah, sure. One night, yeah, one night, that’s all. One night you can’t forgive yourself for and it makes her love you all the more.” Raven shook his head in disbelief. “Every year before she fell, you’d bring her a bouquet of wildflowers on October 4th. You even did it when she was asleep. Every year the bouquet gets bigger. Every year, when she was awake, you’d give it to her and smile, kiss her cheek, and tell her you’re giving them to her just because you were thinking of her. Every year she knew it was your way of saying you’re sorry. Every year she loves you a little more. But the night is still there and it still hurts her. No matter how many flowers you bring her it will never go away.”

  Ares seethed behind the bars, his hands balled into fists, his brow furrowed, and his lip curled into a snarl. “What do you want from me?”

  “Tell me what I am.”

  The God of War grabbed the bars with two hands and pressed his handsome face against them as he looked sideways over at his Son. In a voice so low Raven had to lean into the bars on his cell and strain to hear, “The first Prince of the Dark Kingdom,” Ares hissed. “The only Fae Prince…ever. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  “No. Tell me where they are,” Raven growled as his stomach tightened and something in his head let out a loud click and began turning.

  “Go to hell.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Morning Has Broken

  At sunrise, Alena and Rose had a breakfast of trail mix, beef jerky, and warm water.

  “Purty,” Rose remarked with wide eyes as she pointed toward the sun just peeking up over the desert horizon.

  “Yes, it’s very pretty.” Finishing the last swallow of water in the bottle, she tucked it into a shopping bag turned garbage bag. “Ready? Our adventure awaits!”

  “Eedy,” Rose nodded forcefully, putting her own empty bottle of water into the bag and then crawled over the seats with her teddy bear to settle in her special seat up front.

  For the next two hours, they drove back and forth across the dry hard-packed salt lake looking for any signs of a building. Alena drove from one end of the fence until she reached the other, then drove two miles right along the fence line only to drive back to the other fence making her grid search. Just when Alena started believing they were searching for a needle in a haystack Rose called out.

  “Y’ook! Y’ook!”

  Alena turned her head to look out the passenger window and felt a wave of relief wash over her when she caught the glint of sunlight reflecting off glass or metal in the distance. “Hold on to your hat, this could be it.” Speeding toward the bouncing reflection dancing in the waves of heat it wasn’t long before Alena made out the shapes of planes. “This is the Air Force base part anyway.”

  Rose pulled herself up in her seat as far as she could to look out the window as they drove down the empty runway. “What?”

  “Jet fighters,” Alena explained. “They’re airplanes. Don’t you ever see planes fly by Olympus? Doesn’t your Father take you anywhere?”

  Rose turned her droopy face to her Mother and shook her head with a frown, “No.”

  “Well, crappy as it may be right now, we’ll just have to rectify that when this is over,” Alena promised, “there’s still a lot of beautiful things to see down here…yes, I’m sure there are.”

  Rose nodded and then went back to looking out the window at the tall planes they were passing.

  After the runway the signs of life that once been here began cropping up. “Peek,” Alena whispered and Rose reluctantly lowered the sleeping mask over her eyes. Alena drove all around the base hoping to find some sign of where the infamous Area 51 was located and found nothing but a rather typical military base. Well, i
t was typical if you left out the broken windows, the busted doors, the men and women in uniform lying dead and rotting on the roads, sidewalks, hanging out of empty windows, and slumped at their posts. The stench of decay was so heavy it penetrated the air conditioning in the car making Alena’s nose burn and her stomach twitch. Trying not to look at the rotting faces of the dead Alena drove to the other end of the base then through the gates back to open desert. “Boo,” she whispered in a hoarse voice and Rose took off the mask.

  The open stretch of desert didn’t last long. Almost immediately she saw large transport vehicles scattered across the sand and then it rose out of the desert like a mirage. Area 51. It consisted of a colony of thirty or more one-story buildings stretching out on the horizon. “Oh my god,” Alena exclaimed in a deflated voice, “it’s so big and so deep,” she muttered, knowing they all led underground. “How are we ever going to find it? Maybe there’s a map, huh?” she said in a half-sarcastic voice but then the thought settled in her head. Yes, maybe there was a map or a directory. If she could find the main administrative building then maybe she could find the surveillance headquarters she was so desperately looking for. Alena looked left and then right, decided if she kept on straight she’d enter the middle of Area 51 and the government was probably as simplistic as she thought it was. If she kept going straight she’d probably run right into the main building.

  Coming up to the gate with the huge red signs once again reminding she was on GOVERNMENT PROPERTY and there was NO TRESPASSING ALLOWED because the USE OF DEADLY FORCE IS AUTHORIZED, she passed through the guard shacks. One good solider was still at his post, dead, his face eaten away either by Major Falls or the desert sun. The other post was empty. “Peek,” she said to Rose with a heavy sigh. Rose sunk down in her seat, pulled the mask over her eyes and hugged her bear.