by Lenore Wolfe
The second was more difficult.
The debates were volatile and went on for days—and with good reason. They were debating what to do—and no one liked the answers. In order for the people to not end up in a war with the humans—they would need to put the Earth at risk.
She frequently wondered what the humans would think of having their futures decided for them—for their ignorance was causing them to be excluded from some very serious decisions, decisions they should have been an integral part of.
This was everyone’s home. And every single body—human, Fae and vamp, and member of the Jaguar People—should have been part of these decisions.
The problem was—in believing they were alone, the humans were the first ones to try to start a war.
And war was exactly what they were working so hard to prevent.
So how would they go about teaching them? This was at the center of the debate. Many wanted to wait for an opportunity when they’d have no choice but to accept help—and then, they would see that the Fae and the Starborne were their allies.
This didn’t set well with many.
It meant waiting until the Earth was in real peril—and then it might be too late to save Her at all.
Chapter Twenty
Power of Three
Amar swept into the room with a brilliance that had both Mira and Jes looking up in surprise. She was lit up with obvious joy.
“What is it?” Mira asked her with alarm, more in tune with her emotions than Jes and sensing that something significant was up.
Amar looked at them, her face beaming. Now they both were intrigued.
“We have found your sister—or perhaps I should say Second Chances has found your sister—and sent her to Dracon.”
Their expressions went from joyous—to alarmed.
“Dracon?” the both said in unison.
Amar wagged a finger at them both. “Not to worry. She has a new challenge she must meet—since she was turned, but—“
“Turned?” both women said, more alarmed than ever.
Amar wagged her finger at them again—like naughty children. “Not to worry, dears. She will come through this nicely—and with new and even greater powers for the experience—and for that she will have to endure the learning.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Mira nearly snapped.
Jes looked at her in amazement. She half expected her to go up in a cloud of smoke for speaking to the old witch that way.
Amar only laughed, but then sobered. “Seriously, child, it is done now. There is no use crying over what we cannot change. We must move on. Do not forget, she may be your sister—but she is also my granddaughter.” She gave her a stern look. “She will come through this—stronger than ever. She is a Machelaean.”
Jes frowned. She had heard that name before—but she couldn’t think from where. She looked at Mira, who was looking somewhat contrite—but it only lasted a brief instant, and then she ruined it by half growling at their grandmother.
But as usual, Amar was unmoved by Mira’s quicksilver emotions. She looked pointedly at the pot, and the sisters quickly turned their attention back to the potion they were trying out. Amar came around, sniffed, and nodded her approval.
“Second Chances has picked up a rumor on the wind,” she said with yet another sniff.
Something in her tone caused the two young women to look up from what they were doing.
“What is it, Amar?” Mira questioned.
The old woman had by now come around to the other side of the round table at which they worked. She wasn’t very big. She peered over the table at them. “Once, many years ago, I had the occasion to have to deal with these—bat-like beings. They’re really very large—half-human—half bat-like creatures.”
Jes shuddered at the thought. They didn’t sound like anything she’d like to meet any time soon.
Amar apparently saw her shudder. “Well, they haven’t been around in more than three hundred years now—or so everyone thought.” She came around the table, her dark hair framing her face. Her wise, old eyes were bright with what she was about to reveal.
She looks like something out of a gothic movie, Jes thought.
Amar turned her sharp gaze on her.
Jes nearly jumped. She was really going to have to get the hang of reading people’s minds, she thought, not for the first time.
“These creatures require the Sisters of Three to bring them down,” Amar announced.
“Then we will need our sister,” Mira commented.
“Exactly,”
“When do we get to meet her?” Jes asked.
“Soon.” Amar turned toward the door. “Keep practicing.” She stopped and turned around. “Once, my sisters and I took down powerful beings as these.” She pointed at the sisters. “Now, it will be up to you two—and your sister. Hopefully she hasn’t been too damaged from the vamps.”
So Amar did have some concern, Jes thought, in spite of the brave face she’d put on for them.
After Amar had left, Jes glanced at Mira in some alarm. Her sister knew a lot more about being a Jaguar Witch than she did, but they were all pretty new at this—certainly they did not have the hundreds of years of experience that Amar had had. How would they ever be ready to take on such an enemy?
Mira looked up at Jes.
“Don’t tell me that you can read minds too?” Jes growled under her breath.
“No,” Mira grinned. “But I’m pretty empathic—as you are. I can sense your fear.”
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“Of course. Who wouldn’t be?” Mira said. “But any man or woman who goes into battle and is not afraid is either crazy—or a fool.”
Jes nodded. She thought as much, too. But it didn’t make her feel any better about going up against something that could only be destroyed by the Sisters of Three—while being mere babes in their craft. That bordered very much on foolish, too—at least in her own mind.
“We will just have to work hard—and trust in the Goddess always,” Mira told her, coming over to put her arm around Jes.
Jes nodded and met her sister’s worried gaze. “And fight like there’s no tomorrow when the time comes, because if we don’t—between the factions of rogue vamps and these bat-like beings—there just might not be a tomorrow—at least not one we will recognize.”
Mira went back to work on the potion. Jes went to read the Book of Shadows. They were going to have to spend more time than ever studying.
They needed to ready themselves to do their part for when the time came. If they failed, everyone they loved would be placed in much more danger.
Including Justice.
She knew that the humans were oblivious to the many things around them that existed. Once they had known this, but they had since forgotten. They only allowed themselves to play around with the idea in books and movies.
But this wasn’t a joke—and it wasn’t a movie. The power of three had been around for thousands of years. Jes had always heard the expression by the power of three times three. Now she was beginning to understand what that meant—and what power it drew into the universe when it was used. The blood they carried helped them to tap that power.
Only a witch can beget a witch, Amar had told her.
Her blood was the blood of the Goddess—and the Goddess enabled them to tap into the kind of power it would take to go up against a being that had not surfaced for over three hundred years—or so everyone had thought.
Isn’t that what Amar had said? Jes’s head throbbed—and she rubbed her head.
The power of three—and the love of the Goddess, she thought, would be the only thing that would take them down.
In fact, that love was key, and perhaps one of the greatest reasons the sisters could tap into their power—their love for the Goddess—and their love as sisters.
Without them, they didn’t stand a chance against these beings. Without the power of three—the Sisters of Three—the power of three times th
ree—none of them did.
It was a heavy responsibility.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jes and Justice
Jes couldn’t wait to get Justice alone that evening. She had so much she wanted to ask him. She was pacing, waiting. He had so many things he was responsible for, and it seemed as though she couldn’t get five minutes alone with him anymore.
She was frustrated by the time he did show. Frustrated like she’d been standing in a line that never seemed to move. Frustrated like she was sitting in the car, waiting for someone to come out of the store, watching the minutes ticking by.
Why did time always seem to drag when you were waiting?
And as soon as she knew they were alone, she bombarded him with an onslaught of questions.
Where exactly was her sister? Why was she with Dracon—and not home where she should be—with her family? And why had he kept this from her?
“Jes—,” he said.
“Apparently that is not even my name!” she shot back. “And yet, I can’t seem to get anyone to tell me what it is. Then—tonight—Amar brings up a name I’ve never heard before—or have heard before—since I recognize it—but I don’t know from where—as usual. Just like the rest of my life,” she muttered this last.
“Machelaean?”
“Yes, although Amar might have your head if you tell me what she refused to.”
Justice grinned at this and pulled her close to him. Jes went willingly. It felt too good. She just needed to allow him to hold her for a while.
In fact, she couldn’t imagine her world without him.
Their whole world—as they knew it anyway—could change if they failed in what they were trying to do. They didn’t have room, or time, for the simple things most allowed to interfere with living. And Jes wasn’t going to waste precious time.
They might live a long time.
But they might not.
She could lose Justice in this war. And she wasn’t going to live with regrets if she did. Regrets of wishing she would have let them have their chance—while she’d had the opportunity to do so.
She cuddled up to him, and he held her close. Within minutes they were both sound asleep.
Jes found herself out in the yard. She looked around. She saw herself, playing with a toy. She was sitting on the ground. She was very young, perhaps four. Her sister Mira appeared almost two years older, and Dara seemed about ten. The woman Jes had grown up thinking was her mother, Sandra, was standing at the gate. She was excited to see her fiancé. He was the reason they had all snuck out into the yard.
The nanny came out the door and was scolding them for sneaking outside. She started across the yard toward the younger version of Jes.
Jes felt panic as she did so, and she had the sudden urge to scream, to warn her. She opened her mouth, but nothing would come out. She kept letting out a horrible, silent scream that was more of a moan than anything else.
With rising panic, she watched as the vamps came. There were two of them. The larger one immediately took down the nanny, and then started for her. She rolled under the porch and out of his reach.
Sandra’s fiancé, the man she came to know as her father, immediately shifted into his jaguar form. The vamp decided he didn’t want to tangle with him, and backed away. He said something about being tricked into coming here to his partner.
By that time the guards were all over them.
The little girl was staring at the bat-like beings who watched it all from the shadows of the trees.
Jes met the gaze of her smaller form, from where she watched her from under the porch. There were tears running down her little face, and she seemed reach out to her, the older version of her, as though she was begging her to fix what had just taken place—to take it all back. The little girl could actually see her! And she wanted her to change everything that was about to take place.
Jes realized that she knew her whole life was about to change—that she was about to lose her sisters. She knew that they all sensed what was about to take place—like parts of a play about to unfold—and no one could stop the actors, though everyone watching knew what was happening and wanted to warn them—to run….
Her sister, Sandra, came to get her and cuddled both her and Mira. She called to Dara, and Dara came to place her arms around them too, as much as she could get her arms around the three of them. Poor, brave Dara. She was the protector of the bunch. She had run at the vamps as much as the guards had. One of the guards had thrown her clear of them.
The four sisters were crying. They held each other tightly. It was as if they all knew just how badly things were about to go for them.
Jes stared at them. The younger version of herself was still staring at her. She felt as if she was strangling.
She woke to find Justice gently shaking her.
“You’re having a nightmare,” he was saying. “Jes, wake up!”
She opened her eyes and as soon as her head cleared enough to realize who she was looking at, she threw her arms around him, sobbing.
He soothed her, running his hands down her hair while she cried her heart out. He reached over to the small table and handed her a box of tissues as she told him about the dream through her tears.
When she was done, she just sat there staring at the wall while he continued to run his hand down her hair in a soothing gesture, whispering words of comfort in her ear. After a while, she finally calmed down. And when she did, she turned and began to kiss him.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Jes
Jes stood before a cauldron, making a potion. She dropped a small piece of mandrake in, being careful not to allow it to touch her skin. She stirred the pot. She had aligned this spell with the pull of the full moon, the day of the week—which was Monday—and the hour. All to make the strength of her spell come through that much clearer.
She was working within a large circle, around a large, round table. She had five candles burning. Four were at the four directions, and one was in the place of spirit. For added effect, she had placed a large turtle in the center of the table, which sat in the center of the room, bringing in the Shaman element of the medicine wheel. Something Mira was familiar with.
She didn’t need any of these things to work her spell, but doing so impacted her psyche, making her spell all the more powerful for it.
She was a fast learner—and she was quickly becoming good at this. It was as if she’d been born to it.
Now that was a thought.
Because she had been.
She smiled at her own thoughts and dipped a turkey baster into the liquid, drawing up some of the precious fluid. She injected it into a spell bottle and capped it.
Mira beamed at her. “That was perfect.”
“Are we going to try it out?”
“No, I can feel the power of it. You did an excellent job.”
“Okay. And who is it for?”
Mira lifted the large Book of Shadows from the table and set it upon a smaller table by the sofa. Jes joined her on the sofa and watched as Mira turned the pages. The book was large, and Mira explained as she turned the pages that the book had been passed down through generations, which was considerable information considering the advanced age so which the Jaguar People lived.
They both sat there like that, looking through the book. As was always the case, they got snagged for several long minutes over several of the things they saw in the book while searching for the page Mira had spotted at one time and was trying to find again.
“One or more of our ancestors sure did some painstaking work with the drawings,” Jes mused.
“Didn’t they though,” Mira agreed. “I couldn’t believe it when I first saw this book. It was the most amazing book I’d ever seen. I could sit here all day reading it. And the spells are amazing.”
Jes nodded. “They’re very powerful.”
Mira turned the page, and once more they both sat there reading before she turned to the next page. At last, Mira came to
a page that pictured several, large, bat-like creatures. They looked a cross between a bat and a human. They were hanging upside down from large tree branches.
“It is called a Bat Thing,” Mira said, reading from the title.
Jes half laughed and then shuddered. She stared at the drawings. They were exactly what she had seen in her dream. “You would think our ancestors could have come up with a better name for them,” she said, making a face.
Mira laughed at Jes’s shudder, and then she, too, shuddered.
Jes giggled at the look of repulsion on her sister’s face. “And you are the one who spent all that time in the Land of the Fae,” she accused.
Mira grinned. “Nothing there looked like this.” She looked back down at the drawings. “Anyway, I imagine that they couldn’t rename them, although I agree, the name is trite and doesn’t do them justice—at all. They would have had to stay true to the ancient writings about them.”
They both stared at the page.
“Well, you’re right. As much as I am used to supernatural beings—this Bat Thing takes the cake,” Jes said.
Mira gave a small laugh, but Jes could tell she was just as creeped out as Jes. They both just sat there staring at it. They couldn’t help it. It was like one of those things on the movies, where you are overcome with the horror of it, and you know you should look away, but some morbid curiosity won’t allow it.
Finally, Mira started reading from the Book of Shadows. “The Bat Thing is an ancient being,” she read. “It will feed on the blood of any live creature, but it particularly loves human blood.”
“Now that sounds familiar,” Jes commented.
Mira wrinkled her nose in disdain.
Jes gave a short laugh. “You really don’t like vampires do you?”
Mira shook her head.
“What are you going to do when our sister arrives? How are you going to handle the fact that she is now—a vamp?”
Mira pressed her lips into a thin line. “I don’t know,” she said finally.