by Sandy James
Rebecca Massee was an Amazon. She was Earth. And she was here to save humanity. Damn, but it felt good. She smiled despite the danger around her.
“I knew you’d come,” a voice called, echoing off the rock walls. “You’re as curious about me as I am about you.”
Helen stood deep in the cave, dressed in a flowing white dress of the same medieval style Rhiannon favored. She was beautiful. Her blond hair flowed around her shoulders in long curls. Her amber eyes sparkled in the torchlight, giving them a cat-like glow. She was flanked by several girls, most of whom were probably teenagers. Dressed in white robes, they had hair of every shade of blond imaginable.
“You came alone. I’m glad. I wouldn’t want to hurt any more Amazons.” Helen’s voice sounded too sweet, too calm to be coming from a woman who was trying to sway the balance of good and evil.
“You mean like you murdered Trishna? Why? What did she do to make you hate her enough to let a revenant rip out her throat?”
Sadness touched Helen’s features, but it quickly fled. “Trishna was…collateral damage. I needed time, and Sparks was getting too close. Trishna was a distraction for all of you. I regret her loss, just as I regret Maria’s.”
“How could you? They were your sisters.”
“My love for them isn’t as strong as my purpose for being on this Earth. Once I left Avalon, I knew I was meant for something more than being a mere Amazon.”
“Yeah. You were meant to be a murderer.”
“I wish things had been different. I didn’t want to hurt my sisters, just like I don’t wish to hurt yours.”
“But you did hurt one of my sisters,” Rebecca replied. “Remember Megan? You stole her powers.”
Helen flippantly waved her hand. “Freya can restore them. Megan is fine.”
“Where’s Sparks? You know, your sister? Where the hell is she?”
Deep-throated trills echoed through the cave. A short man dressed like some stereotypical witchdoctor—grass skirt, mask and all—shook a stick decorated with long streamers with one hand while clutching a small burlap doll in the other. Chanting in a language Rebecca didn’t recognize, he pushed his way through the girls and planted himself in front of Helen.
He danced around for a few moments before screeching at the girls. They parted to reveal two tall teens holding an unconscious Sparks. Standing on each side, the girls braced their hands under her arms. Sparks’s feet dragged on the ground as her head lulled from side to side.
Rebecca had to swallow her fear and anger and concentrate on how she could get to her. She climbed atop a large boulder, hoping to get a better view and perhaps a clear shot. “What did you do to her?”
Helen chuckled, the sound so chilling it sent shivers racing over Rebecca’s skin. “She’s here for me, just as you’ll need some assistance.”
“You know, I’ve had a couple of really rotten days. Playing word games won’t get you anywhere except to piss me off.” Rebecca climbed a little higher, seeing the strategic advantage of seeing the whole of the cave’s interior. “What in the hell do you want with Sparks?”
“As I said, I need her.”
Rebecca swept her hand to indicate the priestesses. They held a groaning Sparks who was trying to put her feet on the ground. At least she was alive, and Rebecca doubted she’d be on Helen’s side anymore, not after being double-crossed. “And why do you need these girls? Have you suddenly decided that humanity needed another power-hungry superbeing and that you’re the bitch to fill those shoes? Let them go, Helen. Give this up. Humanity has plenty of trouble. They don’t need you screwing with them.”
Helen smiled, the torchlight gleaming off her straight, white teeth. “Ah, but I never said I cared for humanity. They made their own bed. What I’m planning to do is make them lie in it.”
“You’re an Amazon. You’re sworn to protect humanity.”
“This has nothing to do with humanity. It never did. I need something far more important than a few humans to serve me.”
“It’s not about humans?”
“No, Rebecca. This is, and has always been, all about you.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Helen had the unsettling laugh of a person lost to madness. “This was always about you. And about me. Actually, about us.”
The irony of the situation chilled Rebecca to the bone. The evil that had been unleashed on the world was an Amazon. Another generation of Amazons had been called to fight a rogue sister. Earth was here to defeat Earth. “You wanted me?”
“I needed you.”
“You know what? You need a lot of people. That’s why you started taking the girls?” Rebecca glanced down at the white-robed young women. It was her job to try to save them, but she focused on Sparks. The girls weren’t in danger at the moment. Sparks was.
“I needed their service. They’re my priestesses and will be rewarded for all they do for me.”
“What about Jin? Why did you turn his sorry ass loose?”
“He is—well, was, quick and very smart. He could harness electricity, and that suited my purpose. That and he hated being imprisoned and felt he owed the world some payback.”
Figuring she might find a weakness in Helen’s defensives if she kept her talking, Rebecca peppered her with questions. That tactic always seemed to work in superhero movies. “Why would you need priestesses? Do you think you’re some type of goddess or something?”
The only answer was Helen’s Mona Lisa smile.
She fired more questions. “Why me then? Is it because we’re both Earth? I mean, Sparks is much more powerful than I am, and she was helping you. Well, at least she was before you went all psycho-hose-beast on her. Why me?”
Helen glanced to where a semi-conscious Sparks was being dragged over to a pole embedded in the hard ground. At least Fire could now hold her head up. She stood on her own feet and glared at the girls as they leaned her against the pole. One of the girls bound Sparks’s hands.
The shaman was antsy, dancing around and chanting. Damn, but he was annoying, and after what he’d done to Megan and Trishna, the man deserved killing.
“It’s true Sparks has great powers,” Helen said. “But she’s not like us.”
“Like us? You mean Earth?”
“Oh, yes. But we’re so much more. Much, much more.”
She fought the urge to simply pull her sword and lop off the shaman’s head. He waved some little doll full of long pins at Sparks and trilled that tongue. The sound grated on her nerves. Knowing he was probably taking away Sparks’s powers, she wanted to prevent him from doing further damage.
As she formulated plans, waiting for the opportune moment, she kept Helen occupied. “More? We’re more than what?”
The woman had a smile that could turn the hot water of Eden’s spa instantly into ice. Helen motioned for one of the priestesses to come to her. The strawberry-blonde couldn’t be more than fourteen, and a wave of protectiveness washed over Rebecca.
Girls like this needed her. This girl mattered. Her family would miss her, her friends would mourn her, and she might one day change the world for the better. This one girl mattered, as did all the other young women in the cave.
She was their only hope.
After whispering a few things in the girl’s ear, Helen turned back to Rebecca. “Didn’t you ever wonder about your mother?”
Rebecca was slowly moving up higher on the boulders, not even caring that she was climbing. Her fear of heights represented the least of her worries. She needed a vantage point and a good shot because she had few other advantages on her side.
“Of course,” she replied, using her best casual voice. “I always wanted to know what she looked like, who she was. Why she left me behind.”
“She had no choice.” Helen cocked her head like a curious child. “Why are you climbing? I was told you’re afraid of heights. Most Earths are.”
“You were told wrong. Can we get back to the topic?”
“Your mother.”
/> “So you know my mother. Is this going to be like Star Wars where you tell me you’re my mother? Way too cliché. Try again.”
Helen’s amber eyes flashed red for a few moments, just like Rhiannon when Rebecca angered the goddess. “I’m not your mother. Amazons can’t be mothers. It’s one of my greatest regrets.”
“Mine too. You think you’re still an Amazon? Screw that. Killing two of your sisters cost you that title.” Rebecca kept the conversation going. “What makes you think you’re still an Amazon?”
A stall—nothing more than a stall. When the time was right, she’d take a shot at Helen, but one shot was probably all she would get. It damn well had to be perfect.
“Is that what all the stuff in your old apartment was about?” she asked. “Looking for your mom?”
“You were meant to go there, you know,” Helen replied. “I had Jin plant the information for you to find. I hoped you’d have the intuition to figure out what was missing and come to me.”
“I didn’t have time to think about it when your revenants attacked.”
“That was Jin, not me.”
“Nice to know. Now I’m really glad I killed that bastard.”
Standing above Sparks, she assessed her chances of getting to her before the Shaman took away all of her powers. Looking over the entrance of the enormous cave, she hoped there was some way for her to get Sparks and the girls out before she had to fight Helen. Then she realized that hope was fruitless.
This wasn’t going to end well. Her intuition had been screaming from the moment she entered the cave. Death waited here, stalking victims.
She kept up the chatter. “You still haven’t told me why you think you’re still an Amazon.”
“I’m more than an Amazon,” Helen snapped. “I’ve always been more than an Amazon. It just took some time for me to figure that out.”
The adolescent priestess returned. Rebecca had to swallow hard when she saw the baby the blonde carried. Swaddled in white satin and lace, the child slept peacefully, even after being transferred into Helen’s waiting arms. She couldn’t be more than six months old.
Things just got a helluva lot more complicated.
“Do you know who this beautiful little girl is, Rebecca?”
Watching Helen stroke the baby’s cheek disgusted her. How in the hell was she going to get to the baby, save Sparks and help the girls? “Well, you got me on that one. I have absolutely no idea. Who is she?”
“My daughter.”
Rebecca scoffed. “Didn’t we settle this debate a couple of minutes ago? Amazons can’t have babies. Geesh. Get with the program, Helen.”
“Silly girl. I didn’t bear her. I stole her.”
Stole her. Just like all these priestesses, stolen from their families. Thinking of all the people Helen had hurt made Rebecca mad, and being mad made her strong. She was going to fix this. Somehow, she would fix this.
The shaman chanted again over Sparks’s groggy form.
Rebecca had seen enough. In one swift motion, she reached over her shoulder, grabbed an arrow and notched it in her bow. A few seconds later, it was embedded in the shaman’s chest.
One problem down.
A million to go.
She grabbed another arrow, expecting Helen to retaliate.
The woman merely laughed. “I don’t need him anymore.”
“I don’t give a damn whether you needed him or not. Let Sparks go. You’ve got me where you want me. I’m not going anywhere. I’m yours. Just let her go.”
“But I already told you, I need her,” Helen replied with a condescending flip of her wrist that reminded Rebecca of Rhiannon. Shit, everything about Helen reminded her of Rhiannon. “I’ve been planning this all along. She’s my sacrifice. She’ll be the one who helps me ascend.”
The word sacrifice sent panic sizzling through Rebecca. “Ascend?”
“I know who your mother is, Rebecca Massee.”
“Do you have attention deficit disorder? ’Cause you switch topics at the drop of a hat. Right now, I don’t give a damn if my mother’s the fucking queen of England. She doesn’t matter.”
“So you say. But your mother’s the reason I found you. She’s the reason I’m here, ready to help us become so much more than what we were, ready to help us be what we have always been meant to be.”
“You sound like a Marine recruiter. Just what will we become, Helen?”
“Goddesses. Equals to the Ancients. Everything we were born to be.”
Rebecca threw Helen a wry chuckle. “A goddess? You think you’re a goddess? You’re no better than a demig, thinking you’re something you’re not. I sure as hell don’t want to be a goddess.”
Helen cooed at the baby then turned cold eyes back at Rebecca. “Oh, but we are. We’re sisters. Not generational sisters, but we’re both Earth. And we share our mother.”
“Bullshit. You’re seventy years older than me.”
Helen handed the baby back to the young priestess who carried the child away. Sweeping her now empty arm after the girl, she said, “You’re thinking like a human. We have the same mother, and that infant is our sister as well. She’s the next Earth, the one to be called if your generation fails or is lost.”
“I suppose you want me to thank you for finding her. Not gonna happen. Will you just get to the point?”
“We’re all goddesses. You, me and that baby.” Helen smoothed the skirt of her gown. “Don’t you feel it? Don’t you feel the power that flows through your veins?”
Rebecca was too busy sizing up the situation to pay much heed to the ridiculous claims spilling from Helen’s mouth. The priestesses she wanted to rescue now formed a small semi-circle around Sparks. The dim torchlight reflected off something silver, then she saw the knife.
Notching an arrow, she aimed at the priestess. The girl holding the dagger was probably twenty, twenty-one tops. Rebecca sure didn’t want to end such a young life. “Drop the knife.”
The priestess ignored her.
“I mean it, kid. Don’t be a dumb blonde. Drop the knife unless you want to join that stupid witchdoctor.”
“Go ahead, Rebecca. Kill her. There’ll only be another to step forward and take her place,” Helen said with an evil glare. “I require a sacrifice of someone who loves me to ascend, just as you’ll require a sacrifice of one who loves you. Sparks is my sister. She’s always loved me. Megan was supposed to be your sacrifice, but now I’ll have to bring forth another.”
The priestess raised the knife.
Rebecca let the arrow fly, and it found its mark.
The knife clattered to the ground as the girl howled in pain, clutching her bleeding hand to her chest. The white robe quickly stained red. Rebecca swallowed the guilt. She’d had no choice.
A second priestess stooped to reach for the knife.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Rebecca clucked her tongue and notched another arrow. “I wouldn’t do that if you want to keep that hand, honey.”
The girl stared up at her wide-eyed, but she edged back and left the knife on the ground. The circle of priestesses retreated slowly from Sparks.
Helen actually growled at them. “You serve me. I require a sacrifice.”
“It would appear you won’t be getting one.”
One of the girls seemed to find some courage. As the girl bent over, Rebecca prepared to shoot the instant the teen stood tall. She was spared the ordeal as a dagger suddenly sailed through the air.
The priestess screamed in pain and clutched her wounded shoulder.
Helen’s chuckle filled the cave. “I knew you’d come.”
Megan was to be your sacrifice, but now I shall have to bring forth another.
“No,” Rebecca whispered.
Artair smiled up at Rebecca.
“I heard your call, lass.”
“I didn’t call you, Artair. Please go! You’ve got to go!”
“I heard your voice. You asked me to come to you,” he said, looking around the cave and frowning.
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br /> “You heard the voice I wanted you to hear,” Helen said with a malevolent smile. “And you came—just as I knew you would. Sparks told me how…close you and Rebecca have become. I knew you couldn’t refuse a plea from her. You love her.”
Rebecca couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t even plan how to bring Helen down. All she could think of was the danger to Artair. “I need you to go.”
Helen beckoned him closer. “Oh, but I need you to stay, Artair.”
“Get the baby and go. Please, Artair.” Desperation seeped into Rebecca’s tone. She hated showing Helen that kind of weakness.
“Baby? There’s a bairn?” he asked.
Rebecca nodded, trying to swallow her fear for him. “Helen stole the next Earth. One of the priestesses took her out of the cave. Go get her and get the hell out of here. Let me finish what I started. Go. Please go.”
“No, Sentinel,” Helen practically purred. “Stay. Please stay.”
“Ah, well then, Helen, I shall grant your wish. The bairn will be returned to her home when this is over. I could nae leave Becca to clean up my mess anyhow.”
“Your mess?” Helen arched a blond eyebrow.
“Aye. Had your Sentinel done a better job teaching you humility and discipline, we wouldn’t be here.”
Helen shifted her gaze between Rebecca and Artair. “You couldn’t know what I was, what Rebecca and I are destined to be. The moment I learned about our mother, I finally understood. I finally knew what we were.”
“I told you not to come,” Rebecca scolded. “I told you my gut said for me to come alone.”
“Aye, well… My own gut had a word or two with me, and it said to go after you. And then I heard your voice calling to me. How I got here no longer matters. I am here.”
Rebecca wanted Helen distracted, and Artair was definitely a distraction. But damn, things were quickly getting out of hand. Sparks was rousing and her gaze swept the cave. Rebecca hoped her mentor would come to her senses and be back to her old self soon. With Helen changing from a loving Amazon sister to a psychopath intent upon offering Sparks up as a sacrifice, perhaps Sparks’s loyalties to the Amazons—the real Amazons—had returned.