by T. G. Ayer
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Celeste asked, her tone now a few degrees cooler.
“It means that if something does happen to you, I’m complicit. And I’m not entirely sure I want Kai to be pissed off with me.” I frowned. “You know, the whole claws and canines thing, it does tend to clarify the extent of the danger I will be in.”
“A bit melodramatic, don’t you think?” asked Celeste. “I’d have thought with your reputation, you’d be a little braver than that. You’re afraid of Kai?”
I stiffened and let out a laugh. “I know what you’re trying to do.” I raised a finger and waved it at Celeste.
“Which is?”
“You want me to agree with you to continue to betray Kai. I’m sorry, but I won’t do it.” Unaware that my voice had risen, I continued, “Either you tell Kai the truth or I will.”
“Tell me what truth?” asked Kai from behind me.
My voice must have been loud enough that she’d come to see what was going on. I twisted around to look over my shoulder at Kai. Her face was pale, and there were smudges of shadows beneath her eyes.
I got off the bed and took a step away from Celeste. “I believe there is something your mother wants to tell you,” I said, my tone a little cooler now as I threw an unapologetic glance at Celeste—who seemed entirely unaffected by my rudeness.
“Mom?” Kai asked, her scowl deepening. “What’s going on?”
Kai glanced over at me for a brief moment, her eyes filled with confusion and curiosity. I also detected a hint of amusement, and as unlikely as it would seem, pride. Then she looked back at her mother and folded her arms. She didn’t need to say anything further.
Celeste let out a soft chuckle. “Kai, my dear, there is something you need to know about my little sojourn from which you and Mel rescued me.”
“Really, Mom? You make it sound like you were at a spa retreat or something.” Kailin rolled her eyes and moved to sit on the other side of the bed, putting Celeste between herself and me. I accepted that as my cue to calm down a little and took a tentative seat at the foot of the bed.
Celeste was smiling, although I wasn’t blind to the tension on her face as she said, “So if you must know, Mel was trying to convince me to divulge some information to you that I have been convinced would be painful for you to hear.”
Kai glanced over at me. “Well...if Mel was insisting then I’m pretty sure she knows I need to know this...whatever it is...”
Celeste nodded. “It’s something you should have known a long time ago.” Kai’s tiny glance over at me brought a frown to her mother’s brow. “Mel has only just discovered this truth, so don’t you go glaring at her.”
I lifted a hand. “Mel hasn’t only just discovered this information, but in her defense, she has been unconscious for a few days thus rendering it impossible to share said information.”
Kai giggled, and Celeste lifted a warning finger in my direction. I swallowed a grin and waited, a little more calm now that I’d laid down my defense. There was no way I was going to let Celeste endanger my friendship and trust with Kai.
“What I am trying to tell you,” said Celeste, “is that there is a reason these...unknown quantities...have been adamant about abduction.”
“Don’t forget all the needles and the blood-letting,” offered Kai, her expression grim.
“Yes. Those too.” Celeste cleared her throat. “There are certain parties within the various planes of the DarkWorld who have a vested interest in acquiring and experimenting on a particular group of women. These women are said to be the key to saving what had long been predicted as the end of the DarkWorld as we know it. And for many, the total annihilation of all that we know.”
“Mom?” Kai said, her gasp sounding like a blend of a groan and a sob. “They took you because they thought you were me?”
Celeste simply nodded.
Kai was shaking her head. “And you left our family to protect me. But it was more than that? More than just protecting me from the knowledge that I was a mage as well as a shifter?” Kai got to her feet and began to pace. Then she stopped and spun on her heel. “How long have you known about the Ni’amh?”
Celeste smiled sadly, and for a moment, I felt like I should have left, that this conversations should have been one held between mother and daughter alone. But Celeste threw me a knowing glare, as though she possessed some radar that told her of my intention. When I didn’t move to leave, she relaxed against her pillows again. “Since the first time I was abducted.”
“Area 51? Omega was experimenting on you because what? They wanted to know how the Hunter ticked?”
Celeste’s features slackened, and she blinked.
“That’s not the time she’s talking about.” The words popped out of my mouth before I even realized the intention.
Kai snapped her attention to me, her frown marring her brow.
When I blinked and looked at her at just the right angle, I saw her tension was rising, all her aural energies confirming it.
I ignored her and looked over at Celeste. The pointed stare had Kai looking back at her mother now, with me wondering if we all needed to be concerned about whiplash.
“Mom?” Kai’s tone was sharper now, tinged with hurt.
And Celeste took a ragged breath. “This was a truth that was never meant to come out.”
“Don’t blame it on Mel. She’s one of the few people I truly trust,” Kai bit out, and I heard the accusation within her voice, the direct accusation that she couldn’t trust her own mother and I hoped that someday she would understand why Celeste did the things she’d done.
Celeste lifted her hand. “I’m not blaming her, honey. What I meant to say was that you had so many burdens to bear. This was one wound that I did not want to inflict upon you. Your poor father fought me tooth and nail on this, but I wouldn’t budge,” she said, letting out a ragged sigh.
“Dad knows this truth?” Kai asked, the hurt deepening in her voice, so much that I really wanted to go over to her and just sit close for moral support, but something told me that even the slightest movement could shift the scales within this conversation and perhaps even bring it to a halt.
So, I held my breath and hoped I’d turn invisible—without actually jumping, of course.
Chapter 20
I held my breath until Celeste sighed, the sound filled with the fatigue of bearing her burdens for so many years.
“Don’t blame anyone for this but me, Kai. It was my decision that you not be told. Not until such time as you would need to know, or when you were ready to hear it and accept it. And that time is now.”
“I hate to break it to you, but you were more or less cornered here. Mel was just threatening to tell me, so you really had no choice, did you?”
Celeste waved a hand to silence her daughter. “Let me tell my story, honey. It’s hard enough to have to be dealing with this right now, so before I chicken-out and refuse to say anything more...” Celeste fell silent though I did expect her to barrel on and speak even if Kai countered her. Only when the daughter gave a short nod did the mother continue, “In the DarkWorld, the Hunter was one particular mage, either male or female, who possessed the strongest of demon-hunting powers. Although there were hundreds of mages who were hunters themselves, the Hunter was defined by one particular ability—a golden glow that seemed to have a power unto itself. Many were of the opinion that the glow was some kind of possession of the Hunter and that the skill wasn’t truly that of the Hunter herself, but rather the actions of the glow itself. But there were more who ignored that line of thought and focused only on the strength and power of that ability.
“Through the centuries we have faced various dangers, human assassins, religious societies who saw us as a representation of their devils, demonic agents who wanted to understand how the power worked, and supernaturals who merely wanted to take advantage of the ability to barter such power, or harness it for their own benefit.
“And through the centu
ries, we have defended ourselves, and we have outlived those who sought to take possession of our power. But when the prophecy was discovered, those interests merely multiplied.”
Kai sat forward as though she was about to ask a question, but Celeste kept speaking, her gaze somewhere deep within her memories.
“The Ancients approached me, as the Hunter of the time, and handed the prophecy to me, in much the same manner as you received it. A relationship with an Ancient that would eventually end with the delivery of the prophecy which arrives in an envelope that would mysteriously appear within our homes. And I can imagine the consternation you would have felt on receiving it. The confusion, and the lack of any means of understanding what it meant.
“Thankfully, I was likely blessed with the best mother-in-law in the DarkWorld, and she helped uncover as much as possible about the prophecy. The first problem we encountered was the words of the predictions could be interpreted differently depending on who was reading it and what that person wanted to find within those words. Out of the many translations arose a host of possible Ni’amh, and the stories of how hundreds of different Ni’amh had come forward over the years, only for the truth to be uncovered—that they were not the five who were mentioned within the prophecy. Ivy was the one who figured out that the prediction meant that all five of the Ni’amh must be in existence and connected in some way. Only then would the prophecy truly come to pass. We gave that piece of information to one Ancient who we both knew we could trust. And since then, no new Ni’amh have arrived arbitrarily to claim their positions.
“But the method used by the Ancients to notify these Ni’amh left a lot to be desired. To be fair, not a single potential Ni’amh was contacted while I’ve been gone, but it appears the time had come. A time which coincided with my return. And I am quite relieved, too.
“We discovered, too, that the powers of the Ni’amh were known to the humans too, whether they received it though Omega or via another supernatural entity with their own desire for power, we cannot know.”
Kai snorted at that.
“Before I left Tukats, for what I had believed would be forever, I was abducted and experimented upon. I was held captive for four and half months, during which time your father and grandparents kept searching for me. They never stopped, for which I will always be grateful. But their success in finding me cost us a valued member of our family, but that’s another story. Corin and his team stormed the research facility, eliminated everyone and took all the research home. What they discovered horrified everyone, because not only did they see for themselves what was done to me during my time there, but they also understood what my captors had been searching for. The understanding of how the golden demon-killing glow functioned with the express purpose of replicating the facets of those abilities within both other supernaturals, as well as in humans. There was an entire range of research and experimentation where subjects were experimented on, where the researchers attempted to recreate my power. But the problem, something they recorded within their notes, was that although I possessed the glow, the power in it wasn’t strong enough. And it was suggested that they would need to experiment with amplifying the power, both within the source, and within those subjects, they were attempting to replicate the power in.
“At any rate, we traced the documents and the facility to a small splinter branch of Omega that was working with the Central Intelligence Agency and the military, a joint operation that seems to have been an ongoing project. They lost me, along with all their data, all those years ago, but they didn’t stop their research. The only good thing was that all these years they believed I was the Hunter, and they kept following me wherever I went. Something I’d been counting on. Because I knew that, as long as they believed I was the Hunter, they wouldn’t come looking for you.
“But then your powers revealed themselves, and of course you followed its call and began hunting. Again, we were fortunate as the interested parties merely assumed I was back and they just worked harder to find me.”
“What you mean is you worked harder to ensure they didn’t find me,” said Kai, her tone harsh now. It was all too clear she was struggling with her mother’s revelations. And I understood her conflict.
Kai had to accept her mother’s sacrifice, and then balance that with what ultimately felt like abandonment and lies. I wished I could help Kai,
But I knew I was nothing more than a welcome voyeur.
Chapter 21
I watched as Celeste tilted her head to study her daughter. “I may not have actively drawn them to me, but I admit that I didn’t actively inform them that they had the wrong Hunter.”
“So you went through the torture and never told them they had the wrong person?” asked Kai, her tone hollow.
“Why would I have done that? It would have made them understand that there was someone else out there who possessed that power and because the first thing—if they were smart—was to check any of my children. And given that you didn’t exactly hide in the shadows while you hunted, I knew they’d find you soon enough.”
Kai’s eyes widened. “It was my fault?”
“No, honey. That’s not what I meant.”
But it was clear that Kai was no longer listening. Her expression was dark as she replied, “But if I’d been more careful, you wouldn’t have needed to lie. You could have just told them you weren’t the Hunter.”
“Silly child. I wouldn’t have had a clue as to those escapades anyway. With Omega and Area 51, we were betrayed. And thankfully, Illyria was unable to inform them of your abilities.”
“But Grams—”
“Kai, questioning my decisions at the time isn’t going to help us now. At the time, I had no intention of leading them to you. Even if I’d believed you covered your tracks and stayed within the shadows, I still wouldn’t have told them.”
Kai let out a soft growl, her shoulders slumped. “And knowing you, you’d have kept the secret even if the Hunter was someone other than a blood relative.”
Celeste chuckled. “A family trait, I’m told.”
“But I suspect you were protecting more than just me, right?”
Celeste’s face relaxed, relief filling her eyes. She let out a soft breath. “The Ni’amh. The safety of the five was always paramount. Revealing the existence of one of them would have naturally led to the rest being discovered. And there is too much at stake for us, for any of us, to risk the Ni’amh. We must have all five, or we are doomed.”
“So what exactly is the Ni’amh supposed to accomplish? Other than preventing the destruction of the DarkWorld as we know it?” Kai asked, arching an eyebrow.
Celeste smiled. “I understand your skepticism. I felt much the same when I believed the burden was mine to bear. But what I’m about to do will get me in trouble.”
“When has that ever stopped you?” asked Kai her tone cool.
Her mother laughed softly, then grasped her abdomen. “Oh, honey, please don’t make me laugh.”
“Sorry, Mom. Are you okay?” Kai crawled forward, reaching out as though to check her mom’s wounds, but Celeste merely batted her hand away and clicked her tongue. “We’re going off topic. Where was I?”
“You were getting yourself into trouble,”‘ I supplied, making my small contribution.
Kai snorted as Celeste sent me a cheery smile. “Thank you, yes. So there are rules regarding the edification of the Ni’amh. For some unknown reason, the Ancients felt the five need to come to their own understanding of who and what they are. Only when each of the five reveal their true nature—usually under unnatural stress from what I’ve read—will the Ancients provide them with first the prophecy itself, and then the tools to understand what it means.”
“Er...” Kai raised a hand, “I didn’t get any of those means. Does it mean I’m free?”
This time it was me who snorted. “One thing I know for sure is that I’m not that lucky. Sadly, my friend, neither are you.”
Kai threw me a nasty glare and th
en shook her head as I merely grinned back at her. “Sorry, the truth is nothing has gone easily for me, for you either. If life, as I know it now, is meant to be a test, I’ll be most happy to either pass or fail, and then be done with it. But...given the circumstances, I’m not expecting anything.”
Kai grunted. “‘Maybe we should call one of the Ancients around.”
“If only it were that easy,” muttered Celeste as she shimmied in place and repositioned herself.
“Actually, recently it’s not been all that hard. They tend to show up when needed, as if they can sense when we need help.”
“Oh?” Celeste looked worried.
“What’s wrong?”
Celeste swallowed and coughed, then shook her head. “Well...if that’s the case I’m probably in a steaming heap of it already.”
“Why?”
“Because she agreed to abide by the ruling of the Council of the Ancients,” said a voice from beside me.
I wasn’t able to stop the cry of shock that escaped my lips as a shadowed form materialized beside the bed only a hand’s-breadth away from me.
Kai’s grunt and Celeste’s groan followed closely as Darius folded his arms in front of him and smiled, a little too serenely if you asked me.
Celeste stared up at him. “Darius,” she said and then proceeded to stare some more.
“Celeste, my dear. How have you been?”
From the expression on Celeste’s face, I had to wonder if she was tempted to tell him he likely already knew, but instead, she gave a polite smile. “Could be better,” she said. “Could have done with some help over the last few months,” she continued, her tone cool as she met the Ancient’s gaze and didn’t waver.
Uh oh.
Kai threw me a worried glance, and I shrugged, though we both went ignored as the standoff continued before us.
“You have good reason to be unhappy with me, my dear,” he said giving her a shallow bow. “I’m afraid my hands were tied as the argument had been made that you were well within the means to remove yourself from the situations should you have wished it.”