by Lenore Wolfe
If they had thought the previous debate had become heated, it was nothing compared to this one. The rebel factions of vamps particularly didn’t appreciate the not-so-subtle innuendos that their own people were prepared to go to war with them—if they did not come in and unite themselves with the Alliance.
Jes noticed that Dracon was suspiciously absent at the one debate where they needed him the most.
They had a lot to say about the childlike ways of the Alliance—some not-so-nice things were said about how the Alliance pandered to the equally childlike humans—who were not even aware that they put themselves and their home at risk every single day with their continued, ignorant beliefs that they were alone. On top of which—they continued to war with themselves, when they needed to get with the program of protecting their home from a much bigger threat than any human.
This last was said with some disdain—but it gave Justice a perfect opening.
Jes wanted to get into this one with them herself—but Justice dealt with them nicely—giving them a great speech of duty and honor—and playing into their need to preserve their home themselves. Then he pointed out to them that the humans were not the only ones who kept endangering their people—by going to war with their own kind.
This created quite the uproar—with the Fae congratulating the coup—and the vamps not appreciating the reference whatsoever.
That was when Dracon had finally entered the room. Everyone went silent. Dracon was a powerful force, for any enemy—and would make a formidable enemy amongst his own people.
It was then that she realized that Justice and Dracon had saved his entrance—for effect—to sway the people, to give them an edge while emotions were high.
It wasn’t that this rogue faction didn’t realize that he was there—they did.
But seeing him—when they were right on the edge of making a decision—pushed them over the edge—in their favor.
It was around noon the next day when Justice had come to see her. She felt alone without her sisters, and was glad to see him. She didn’t understand why they did not bring Mira and Dara along for these talks. Wouldn’t their input be beneficial? But she had been told they would not be coming, and that had been that. Dracon had gone to wherever it was he went during the day: to rest, she guessed. She really didn’t know if a vamp—half spirit, half human—ever really needed to rest, but she’d heard that they did.
Justice was cloaked in Fae glamour again. The switching back and forth was what threw her off the most. He seemed quiet, more so than usual. She sat on the sofa of the room they’d rented, and just watched him—until he finally decided to speak.
“We are to visit the Queen of Darkness,” he announced without preamble.
Whatever she’d been expecting—that was not it. She couldn’t have been more surprised if he’d said the Queen of England.
“Why? And—how? You don’t just go waltzing into the Land of the Fae—even when you’re a member of the Jaguar Clan.”
He grinned. “Well—I have a surprise.” He went to the door, opened it, and spoke to someone on the other side. Then he opened the door all the way.
For the second time in so many minutes, Jes was thrown.
There, standing at the door was Lucius—and Mira was with him. Jes jumped up and ran to hug the Jaguar witch. Mira had also brought Micah, of course.
Micah always attracted a lot of attention wherever he went, with his dark hair and eyes and skin the sinful color of cinnamon. He was beautiful.
Justice dropped his glamour as soon as Lucius was through the door. He told her that Mira would show them the way to the Queen of Darkness, and the three men went into the other room to plan, leaving Mira and Jes to talk.
It wasn’t an easy thing—to just go to see the Queen of Darkness. But it had been requested that they appear—they had been sent an invitation.
And one just didn’t turn down an invitation from the Queen of Darkness—as Mira well knew. They would have gone through one of Roman’s doorways—one of the doorways he could open that allowed people to go between times or places. Unfortunately, Roman could not open a doorway for so many people.
Roman, as one of Mira’s lovers—one of the four who waited through each lifetime for her to come to them once more—was proficient at the doorways between the worlds. This had come in handy for Mira, when she’d fought Xavier Dubioux. He had been quick to offer the use of them to Justice now as well.
But the doors could only work with a few people at a time.
With these large numbers, they would have to ask the old shaman—who had helped Mira find her way through the mountains—to help them get the horses that would now carry them to the Land of the Fae.
And so it was with a caravan that they drove the two thousand miles to Montana to trek up into the mountains, where it would be easy to slip into the Land of the Fae. The advantage they had in Montana was that where they were going was so remote, they wouldn’t have too many human eyes there to witness a large group of people going through the mountains.
The old shaman, Old Wolf, was there to greet them and show them the way—as he had before for Mira. And though they made good time, it still took more than five days for them to reach the place where they could slip between the windows of time—and into the Land of the Fae.
And the entire way, though she enjoyed the time spent visiting with Mira, Jes fretted. What on Earth could the Queen of Darkness want with them?
She was waiting for them when Mira opened the way—between the slips of time.
The Queen of Darkness was something to behold.
Her gown looked like it was made from the stars, and she wore a crown of jewels on her head that must have reached two feet at its peak. Each stone shone so brightly, they might have been picked from the heavens themselves.
Jes quickly realized that nothing here was as it appeared. And she had heard about the differences in time. They could easily come out of here—and find that it was several weeks, months—or even years later.
She greeted Mira much like a daughter. And Jes supposed that in some way she was, as a witch. She greeted Lucius and Micah much the same way. But when she stood before Justice—it was as though she had waited her entire lifetime—which was a significant length of time—just to see a long-lost son.
There were tears in her eyes when she greeted him.
Jes knew this was something that no one would ever witness again. She didn’t have to ask to know that everyone held their breath—until the Queen of Darkness ordered the celebrations to begin.
Music and laughter floated on the wind, and the dancing went on for hours. Jes had never eaten so much—or felt so happy. She knew that it had to do with where they were—but she didn’t care. She danced with Justice, Micah, and Lucius. She could have danced all night.
No. Wait, she laughed to herself. She had danced all night, judging from the light in the sky.
And still they carried on for some time.
Finally, the Queen signaled for the festivities to end, and just like that, everything disappeared and they were taken to where they were seated in an elaborate chamber, well within the mountain.
There, she asked for a full accounting of the vampires. It was Dracon who gave her a very elaborate and up-to-date report. After all, they had once been allowed to walk these lands—until they had learned how spirit could take a human form—and started to crave the lifeblood that allowed them to remain that way.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The Killer
They spent several days—Jes hoped they were days at least—with the Fae before heading back, because the Queen herself had sent for Dara. She wanted to do the ceremony for the Sisters of Three. She also sent for Amar and the sister’s true mother.
The ceremony wasn’t a long ceremony, as some of these things go. But it was very beautiful. Before it was done, the Queen had them chant the spell from the Book of Shadows. She’d had Amar bring the spell, but she was told to keep the book itself safe
.
The three sisters combined their hands, forming a star and said the spell.
Ancients of Old
Ancients of Light
We are the Sisters
Join us tonight.
The queen ran a silken cord around their hands, binding them together.
As we bind our hands as Sisters of Three
The power is woven
So mote it be!
The Queen of Darkness sent an army with them when they left. They were to bring the rebels to her—any way they needed to be brought.
The army was sent to escort them back to her.
Jes felt a shiver snake down her spine.
Heaven help the rogue factions who refused to listen to the Queen.
But now the army that went with them could not be broken up into small enough units to remain inconspicuous. Justice and Dracon split up to make the units smaller—and spaced them out fifteen miles apart. This time they were heading south of Denver, Colorado. After that, they would be heading toward Santa Fe.
They met with the rogue faction—that was just one of the armies of just one of the more dangerous factions they would have to deal with—in the Garden of the Gods well after dark. The Fae army seemed to simply appear out of the darkness and surround them. Dracon delivered the message from the Queen of Darkness.
The rogue faction, who called themselves Dracasians, did not take this news well. Jes was sure that if it were not for the Fae army they would be fighting their way out of this—and that meant the risk of someone becoming infected.
Yes, they all had their inoculations. But like all inoculations, sometimes—for some reason—one failed. Perhaps it was because one of the ones inoculated had not built up enough immunity. Still, the fact remained that one out so many thousands—failed. It was a risk—a small one—but a risk.
The greater risk, though, was in the sheer numbers of the various rogue factions.
This time they were given a message by their own leader. If they’d had any thoughts that these factions had split off and were each on their own—they’d been wrong.
There were armies all over the world—and they were not separate factions. The rogues had an army that rivaled their own—even with the Fae involved.
And they were being led by Constantine. He had been Constantine the Great, and he had been around for almost two millennia, since he had commissioned the writing of the Bible. As the Emperor of Rome, he had done so because he had seen it as the only way to save his people. He had been buried with the ancient rites of the pagans. But no one had known, then, that in truth he still lived.
For over three hundred years he had hidden his true identity.
But Constantine’s love for battle had driven him out of hiding.
The Twelve Members of the Dark Cloth were the true darkness. They had tried to control the stone that was the heart of the mother as far back as Atlantis—for this was the stone that renewed all. But the fact that they could go to the stone was not enough for them. Their greed for control over Mother Earth would have destroyed Her—if it were not for the courage of those who died to save Her. Those who walked in the light had been fighting their destruction ever since.
The Twelve Members of the Dark Cloth had many members secretly hidden within the human government. And for many hundreds of years, now, they had sought to control Constantine. Having the powerful old vamp under their control was just what they needed.
However, as of yet, Constantine was controlled by no one.
Jes didn’t have to wait too long before her former partner, Jared, sought her out to explain to him exactly what this meant.
He didn’t like what she had to tell him.
“What!” Jared nearly yelled. “Are you kidding me?”
“Nope. Not at all,” Jes told him. “The Twelve Members of the Dark Cloth have infiltrated the human government, starting at the beginning of time. One or more were members of the very first governments all over the Earth. When your people won the United States, they were there to infiltrate the humans. Many have infiltrated their more powerful churches.”
“Why? What did they hope to gain?”
“They sway the people to go in subtle yet steady directions—directions they need them to go. It may take centuries to accomplish some of their goals. But the humans do not live long enough to spot a pattern. And in the meantime, they’re being led by an unseen power. They like chaos. They thrive off of chaos. They lead the people to always follow a more negative agenda. Not much, just enough to keep the humans heading down a slightly skewed path. But lately—there has been an awakening.”
She looked at Jared then. “Right now, this force is the one in control, like a hidden government. But your people—are awakening. We’re just fortunate that Constantine has remained a power unto himself. If they were to control him—they would tip the balance into their favor. But Constantine only enjoys the battle. He does not do so for good—or evil.”
He stared at her, his nostrils flared with the power of his emotions. She knew he had heard that things of this sort were being talked about between the humans. She could see that he hadn’t missed the truth of what she had just told him. “What about what the humans think about the princes of darkness?”
She looked up at him then. “There is a big difference between darkness and evil,” she told him. “Have you heard of yin and yang?”
He nodded. “It is the balance between darkness and light.”
She nodded. “There must be darkness to balance the light. The darkness—defines the light. Without darkness, you would have no understanding of what is light. It’s like when you walk into a room that has too much yin or too much yang. Neither feels right.” She drew the pattern of the symbol of yin and yang in the dirt. “Nature teaches us to have balance. The Dark Mother teaches us about that side of us. She teaches us about our shadow side—about the darkness that dwells within us all. If you deny that you have shadow, the shadow grows stronger—until you acknowledge that part of yourself. It is why people do things—and then don’t understand why they did them.”
She stood then and walked toward Jared. “The Princes of the Dark Mother fight to keep the true darkness—those who would only take from Mother Earth for their own greed and control—from taking over our Mother. They fight for the balance that must be—that balance is the balance between the darkness—and the light. But the church teaches the people to fear that balance. Yet, the more they try to only show love—the more they only wind up judging others—and showing anything but love. They live in fear of doing wrong—and that fear only feeds the true darkness—for such darkness lives—in fact thrives—off of that fear. It is only by letting go of fear—that the people will embrace their whole—and only then will the darkness lose their control over the people.”
Jared stared at her for a long moment, then frowned. “So, once again, as humans, we have allowed fear to rule us. And the church is how they have controlled the people with fear.” He frowned. “We have a lot to learn in letting go of our fears if we’re to stop being controlled.”
Jes’s brow shot up, but she didn’t say anything.
The power of that truth was a lot to integrate with everything he’d ever known—even for someone who was as open-minded as Jared.
Roman took Justice though the doorway to speak to the Queen. He was back within two days. He informed them that she was sending a bigger army.
Where would it all stop?
They could come up with bigger and bigger armies as all the Crow People and Jaguar People—and all the Fae and other races—pulled together—but what made this any different than the humans’ civil war?
Could they avoid a war? Was there any way to stop this war?
The prophecy told of them fighting battles—in order to stop another battle that would end everything as they knew it.
They all knew this, and as a result it was a quiet bunch that headed for Santa Fe. They were all lost in their own thoughts. This war would be bad
, and they all knew it. It had to be stopped—at all costs. It wasn’t just the humans who were at risk—it was the balance of the Earth that was at risk. The rogue factions could not be allowed to have dominion over the Earth.
The humans would become their livestock.
And who knew what would happen to the rest of the races.
The meeting had not gone well from the start—this particular faction of Dracasians was waiting for them as soon as they arrived, since their people had sent word ahead to them about the meeting in the Garden of the Gods—and the Fae. They all sat down for some very tense interactions. Justice reminded them that the Queen of Darkness had sent an army. Of all the armies who were now gathered, the Fae army stood to the front.
Justice was talking to them, telling them what the Queen of Darkness had to say to them, when he suddenly turned and peered out into the blackness of the night. Dracon had done so too.
Jes stood immediately, trying to figure out what had alarmed them. The night had taken on a deafening silence.
The forest always warned of those who would hunt. It warned them now, as if the animals living there—waited. Watching to see what would happen—when the predator found its prey.
The armies surrounding them took on a defensive formation. This only further alarmed Jes. They had thought of the possibilities of a fight—had even prepared for the possibility. But she didn’t know if she was ready to take on paranormal beings in hand-to-hand combat yet.
She stiffened her spine—and her resolve.
She was ready—and she was able. Those who taught her had said as much. She just had to believe—to feel the readiness within herself.
Mira was muttering something under her breath. She raised her hands and lit up the night sky—and that was when they saw them.
They came swooping in like large-winged bats—much bigger than any bat, yet not quite the size of a man. They were like shadows, swooping through the night. And like the shadow, they seemed to appear and disappear with little movement—or effort.