The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One)

by Lenore Wolfe

  Now, he had true surprise showing on his face—as he tried, and failed, to follow her explanation. He looked at her, clearly waiting for her to give an explanation—any explanation. After a long moment of complete silence, he said, “I don’t know what shocks me more: finding out that the most level-headed woman I’ve ever known is really crazy—or finding out that my partner is willing to come up with such a stupid story to cover her own ass.”

  With that, he got up from his stool and went out the back door of the tavern.

  Leaving Jes too stunned by his attack to move for several, long seconds. When she finally came to her senses, she ran after him. But by now, it was mostly out of fear of the direction he had just taken—because she had just received the clear feeling that Justice was out there waiting.

  When she reached the alley, she had the distinct feeling she was too late. She raced down the darkened back street in the direction where she felt Justice waiting. She had never felt anyone’s presence so clearly and she couldn’t breathe through her fear. It may already be too late.

  He would kill her partner. And she would be too late.

  She realized she had no more secrets to hide. She had to keep Justice from killing her partner. In a flash she transformed, and was now racing at lightning speed. When she came around the corner, it was to find her partner backed against the wall—and a large, male jaguar snarling and pacing in front of him. She could clearly see that her partner was more terrified than she had ever seen; in fact, she’d never seen him show any fear before.

  And he didn’t look too happy to see a second jaguar, albeit a smaller one, coming from the alley.

  Justice turned and, upon seeing her, he was so shocked that he transformed back to his human-like form. “What the hell?” he snarled.

  She transformed back, too. Brushing herself off, she strode toward the naked man, as naked as he was, completely aware of that fact, and too angry to care.

  “It’s one thing,” she snarled at him, “to think you are the Ancient One, to think you are actually supposed to kill—murderer.” She waved her arm wildly and then pointed at her partner, who was white as chalk. “But what explanation do you have for trying to kill a cop?”

  Justice only stared at her. He was staring at her, staring at her fully naked form, taking her all in, and made no bones about it, which only enraged her further. “Are you going to just stand there ogling me, or are you going to explain yourself!”

  He actually grinned. “Well, I’m too surprised to actually see… you again. Then, to see you, my mate—in the form of our people, and now—beautifully naked… so I think, for now, I’ll stick to ogling: it makes sense, somehow.”

  She was standing directly in front of him now. And even as angry as she was, it was a dangerous place to put herself; but she was still surprised by the power between them. It shocked her into silence. The power that had been between them as children—which had grown stronger as they became teens, as they reached puberty—was now amplified a hundredfold.

  For a long moment she looked into the eyes of a killer—and what she felt was anything but disgust—or even fear. She began to tremble. She fought back at what she felt, and failed. She turned to look at her partner. He was staring at the two of them as if he’d just seen a UFO or something—and was now staring at a pair of aliens.

  “Oh, come on,” she growled. “Of all the times for you not to keep your usual, stoic behavior—now is not the time.”

  She looked back at Justice, who had turned away. “Where do you think you’re going? You’re not going anywhere!”

  He had reached a car and opened the door. He turned back and grinned at her still-naked form. The vision of him—gloriously naked and proud—would be forever branded into her head. She wanted to hide her eyes—but she could only stare.

  “What are you going to do? Stop me?” He gestured at her naked form. “With what? Your pistol—or your handcuffs?”

  Jes flushed. She promised herself she would feel mortified later if only she could fight down what she was really feeling right now. She knew she would be mortified later—when she was home—safe in her bed—remembering that her partner had been watching the two of them—naked—arguing.

  And she couldn’t even arrest the killer!

  As if she could ever arrest him. What on Earth had made her think she could ever arrest him? Did she think she was stronger—more powerful? It was obvious he was too powerful for her to handle alone.

  And who exactly did she think she was going to call in to help?

  Her partner?

  She nearly snorted out loud—staring at Justice.

  He gave her a mock salute and got in his car. She heard the quiet purr of the engine a second later, and he drove away—just like that.

  She stared after him.

  Then tore her gaze away and looked back at her partner.

  It was going to be a long night.

  Chapter Four

  War

  They were settled into a booth, sipping on Cokes and eating burgers before she trusted herself enough to speak. Jared was clearly poleaxed. He hadn’t said a word, not even when he’d stood there and watched her pick up her ripped clothes from the middle of the alley and put them back on—or what was left of them.

  Under any other conditions, she would have been furious. But not a single expression had crossed his face. He was watching her, but it was like nothing was registering. So she hadn’t said a word. He’d simply stood there, watching her. His mind had appeared somewhere else—watching, but seeing nothing.

  She would have been concerned that he was traumatized—but he seemed more introspective than anything else. He’d proven this when they’d made their way to their booth at the café. He’d been able to speak, ‘cause he gave the waitress his order. And he seemed calm.

  Far too calm.

  And it freaked her out, more than just a bit. It freaked her out—because it seemed to her that if any other human had seen what he’d seen tonight—they’d be going bananas right now.

  And she’d be sitting here trying to pick up the pieces—and hold together what was left of their world.

  Why wasn’t he feeling like his whole world was an illusion?

  He should be feeling like everything he’d known—was a lie. Maybe even questioning if his own government knew—which they did… well, at least they knew they were not alone on this planet. She was unsure of what else they knew.

  But he should be questioning everything right now—not sitting here quietly drinking a Coke.

  She had come face-to-face with Justice. Yeah… She was more than a little bit freaked out herself. And here she was trying to fix things with her partner—when all she wanted to do was go after Justice.

  And not just to bring him in.

  She wanted answers—answers to where he’d been all of this time. Answers to where his sisters had disappeared to. Answers to why she’d been left behind—abandoned.

  She watched her partner scarf down his burger with a hearty appetite. In fact, he didn’t seem shocked at all. He seemed—calm: just plain quiet and calm.

  She swallowed. She couldn’t eat a thing.

  Finally, he looked at her, raising a brow at her lack of appetite. “You’d think that you had been the one to see two jaguars walking around in the middle of Chicago, in the middle of the night. Two—human-like jaguars. You know the type. First they are jaguars—and then they are human. Or human-like. Are you human when you’re not jaguar?”

  Her brows shot up at this—joking. He was joking.

  He grinned at her. “Settle down, Jes,” he cajoled. “It’s not everyday that a man gets to see something that sets his whole world right again.”

  Her eyes narrowed at this. “If you’re talking about me standing in the street naked….”

  He laughed. “Well—that too, mind you.” But he shook his head, belying his words. “No, Jes. I’m talking about The Jaguar People.”

  She frowned at him now. “I don’t foll
ow.”

  His face grew serious now. “It’s just… Jes, I’ve gone my whole life thinking that this couldn’t possibly be it. That nothing else happens, except for cleaning up scum off the streets. And then tonight—it’s like a whole world of possibilities opened up—right before my eyes.”

  She stared at him. Was he serious? “I’m glad you see possibilities.” She frowned again, her suspicious nature taking over. “What possibilities?”

  He grinned again. “Relax, Jes. I’m just happy that there’s more to this world—than there appears. And if there’s that much—then perhaps there’s also really—a spirit world.” He’d almost whispered that, like people were going to look down their noses at him for believing.

  She really frowned at him now. “Of course there’s a spirit world.” She watched as his stoic face lit up for a split second, then the shades went back down. She couldn’t believe what was happening. And then she frowned again as she realized that she’d never once in five years had a conversation with him about the spirit world. Was he really that afraid to believe?

  Worse, was she that out of touch with her own people?

  The Jaguar People were an extremely spiritual race. It was telling for her not to know this about her own partner. Well, she also wanted to protect the people and so tended to avoid all conversations that led her thoughts in that direction, so as not to accidentally give away something she would regret.

  But perhaps she had been just a little obsessed lately.

  “You said something to him about thinking he was an ancient one?” he prodded.

  She almost smiled. The cop was back, asking questions. She nodded. “There are ancient ones who hunted the murderers. Justice seems to think this is what he was meant to do.”

  “Is that why he didn’t kill me? He seemed like he was contemplating what to do with me—even before you arrived…. As if he was trying to decide—whether or not he should kill me….”

  “Well, there’s that at least,” she breathed, almost in relief.

  He seemed to study her for a moment, contemplating. “What do you intend to do about him?”

  She looked up in surprise. “Bring him to justice! Why? What else would I do?”

  He looked a bit surprised at her answer. “And say what to the police—or to the judge for that matter? What could you say? Hmmm? Judge, the boy killed all those gang members when he turned into a large, jungle cat! A jaguar to be exact.” He laughed at the thought of it. “They’d laugh you out of court—and you’d be out of your job.”

  “I’ve thought of that.” She toyed with her napkin, deep in thought. “If I can’t bring him in, then I’ll take him before the Tribal Council.” She looked up at him then. Not that the Tribal Council would agree with her. “But he must be brought to justice—to some sort of justice.” She laughed at the irony. “Now there’s a concept.”

  He leaned forward in the booth, his big body closing the distance significantly in spite of the table. “Why do you want him so bad?”

  “You’re a cop!” she snapped. “You should know.”

  “Humor me.”

  “No!” she snarled, then pulled up short, shocked at her own behavior.

  “Why?” he demanded.

  “The People are not supposed to harm humans!” she whispered furiously. She looked at him desperately. “We are supposed to—protect them.”

  He raised a brow. “But you just got through telling me there are ancient ones—who hunted the murderers,” he shot back. “So why do you judge him for doing so?”

  She wasn’t happy to have what she’d revealed about her people’s history thrown back in her face. It felt like a betrayal. And Jes had a problem with betrayal.

  He held up a hand in penance. “Look, Jes,” he appeared to search for the words. “I’m not saying he should just play vigilante. But… there is some difference here between a true vigilante and a man fulfilling the role of an entire race.”

  “No!” she snapped. “There’s not. There’s no difference at all!”

  “Okay,” he appeased—but then ruined it. “So would you mind explaining the—umm—chemistry I saw—,” she saw him wince at the rage building inside her, but he still finished, if somewhat lamely, “between—the two of you?”

  “Don’t you ever say that again!” she growled, still in a heated whisper, and with more than a little heat. “I don’t want to hear something like that spring forth from your lips ever again!”

  He grinned. He tried to smother it—and failed. “Wow, Jes!”

  She held up a finger. “Don’t!” she warned.

  He seemed to think better of saying any more, but after a moment he asked, “What happens when the Jaguar People mate with humans?”

  She sat back in the booth and stared at him. “What did that take you—all of an hour?”

  “Come on, Jes. Enlighten me a little here. I just learned that humans are not the only race on the Earth. Give a man a break.”

  “Well, if the human species wasn’t so arrogant, they’d have reached that obvious conclusion a long time ago!” She moved to get up—disgusted.

  His gentle laugh stopped her. “Yeah—I can see where you’d come to that. In hindsight, it seems more than a little arrogant.”

  His honesty took the heat out of her next words. “There are a lot more races than you’d like to know, living their lives here on Earth. They walk amongst you every single day.”

  He looked at her with more than a little surprise. But his face didn’t show the concern she would have expected. No. His usual stoic behavior was giving way to full-blown curiosity—the same curiosity that was always stamped out by human adults when they spotted it in their children, she thought with some disdain. She frowned. What was wrong with this man? She’d known him for more than five years. This is the last thing she’d expected from him.

  “How many more?”

  She laughed at his obvious enthusiasm. “Too many to count.”

  “The Fae?”

  She nodded.

  “Wow!” He thought about that. “The UFOs?”

  “They’re trying to keep some other races from taking over the Earth, but sometimes one sneaks by and abducts humans…,” she muttered.

  His brows shot up. “Okay, double wow!” He let out a low whisper. “How about… vampires?”

  She could see he was kidding now, but he wasn’t going to like hearing that answer, so she didn’t say anything.

  He looked at her, amazed. “No! You’re not saying…,” and for once he was shocked. “You are saying.”

  “Oh, yeah!” She grinned briefly, but then sobered. “But they are badly misunderstood. The tales have become interwoven between their two lineages, from one race of beings—part of who had… mutated, so to speak, and part of the race who were… invented, for lack of a better word—or perhaps I should say—genetically altered with a virus.”

  Jared frowned at her.

  She groaned. It really was—going to be a long night.

  “A long time ago, way before the Earth—there existed a race of people called the Crow People. They came here, much like my own people, and we lived in harmony—alongside many other races.” Jes watched his face to see how he was receiving this before she went on. “But after Atlantis, some of them didn’t want to—die. They didn’t like the fact that they had to die. It’s not that they hadn’t before,” she shrugged, “but we lived for so long, it was as if we didn’t. And so, when they were supposed to cross over, they went to the fifth dimension instead—the dimension of the Fae, and they learned how to stay there.” She set her plate to the outside of the table where the waitress would take it.

  “Over time, they figured out how to—come back as a being that was like a human, but more spirit. But they had to—consume blood to stay human. The other races didn’t agree with them taking over—like Gods. There were wars. Over time—those who agreed, developed a code, so that they didn’t control the humans.

  “But another race existed, too, who
liked to—experiment on people. They are the Grays….” She made a face. “They still like to experiment on people.”

  He sat forward. “That’s why people claim they’ve been abducted?”

  She winced. “We try to keep that from happening. But they experimented on making another form of Cat People, another form of Crow People—and some others. And they—used a virus for some of these experiments. The species who mutated from these were—genetically modified—by this group, a group who wanted to gain control over the world. There were a few other such races who were genetically modified also. But none like this one….”

  She hated talking about these beings. It made her sick inside to think of it. She cringed, thinking about how anyone could have done these thing.

  “They used the Crow People for this because they were a winged people. I guess—perhaps in part because they had already learned how to walk between two worlds with some human form—but they used a virus from bats to expand on this.”

  “And they created the vampire?” Jared nearly shrieked. “Vampires are mutants?”

  “Only some of them are mutants,” she corrected, and winced again. “Some of them are a very powerful and a very old race—who consider themselves the pure race.”

  “And these feed off of humans?”

  She saw when he grasped the full implications of what she had told him.

  “No,” he said. “The virus… the mutated race is the race who infects the humans….” This time he was the one to wince.

  She nodded. “And the old ones do try to keep some kind of control over their people—but as you can see, some of them don’t think they should be—controlled by anyone. Some of them don’t consider themselves part of the old race at all. And to make matters worse—some of the old ones don’t want to—claim them—as well.

  He frowned at her. “So the rogue ones are the bad ones? Do these old ones ever go bad—or rogue?”

  She shook her head. “No. They are a very—disciplined race. And the… ummm—mutated race, they are not a bad race either, it’s just some certain rogue members that are bad,” she muttered again, “like the rest of us—races that is—who also have those who go rogue. And these rogue members are very powerful, and like to play upon the fears that the humans have of vampires, from all the stories over all these centuries.”