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

  They moved forward quickly now. It wouldn’t take long for those within to sense them.

  They blew through the door with a hydraulic door ram, and stormed the first floor in seconds, still moving forward in pairs, each of them leap-frogging ahead to pave the way for the next two and taking down the vamps with the darts as they went. There were three vamps on the first floor, so that left two more—who were likely upstairs.

  They stormed the stairway, because the two vamps upstairs would have had too much warning by now. They came through the door in force; however, the two vamps were too busy looking for a way to escape to engage them with any kind of battle.

  This had been one of the easier nights.

  They all congratulated each other on a job well done. But each of them knew: the hive wouldn’t be so easy—would in fact be considerably more dangerous.

  They were well-seasoned soldiers. But not one man looked forward to it.

  Jes finally was allowed to again see her police partner, Jared. She was happy to see him, and she told him so. He looked around at all the guards as she pointed them out. He seemed impressed. He knew she wasn’t making it up, but the guards really did blend in well. They pretty much looked like any other neighbor.

  He told her that Justice had indeed set him up with some training. He’d been invited to come to one of the many groups that the Alliance had stationed specifically in and around Chicago. He told her that Justice had come to see him, and about the offer for him to continue training closer to Chicago when he was done. He had a light in his eyes that Jes had never seen before. When she finally asked him why he was so happy about it, he grinned at her.

  “This is just so much better than anything I could have imagined, Jes. I couldn’t be happier. This is better than being invited to be part of the CIA, or even some undercover, covert operation.”

  She laughed out loud at his enthusiasm. She’d never seen him so happy. But she wondered if he really understood that he wasn’t going to war with humans, or beings that were anything like humans. He would be going to war with some of the most powerful beings one could ever have for an enemy. They were faster, stronger, and many times more cunning than any human soldier could ever be.

  She tried to imagine spending her life thinking that humans were the only beings in the universe, and failed to imagine it. But then, she also failed to imagine how the humans could not realize that the spirit world really did exist. Many humans claimed to believe in something beyond themselves, but let someone actually see or hear a being from the spirit world and make mention of it, and suddenly everybody would label them as crazy.

  She just couldn’t understand this.

  Jared told her that Justice was planning to send him to a place a couple of hours out of Chicago first, but that he would be back in three months, and then he would be training at a nearby facility. He told her that he had put in his resignation with the police force and gone to work for the Alliance, since he knew he would be spending the rest of his life fighting a different battle now.

  She frowned at this. It sounded to her like Justice had quite a powerful enterprise going on. He had said he had won a powerful enemy’s respect. She couldn’t imagine just exactly how it was it he had done this. Nothing she’d heard about the vamps’ rogue factions suggested that they had any respect for anyone who got in their way.

  They walked quietly for a bit, both deep in thought. She pointed out the guard who had surreptitiously followed them. His brows shot up. She’d been right.

  “Good eye, Jes,” he grinned. “Are you sure you’re really a guest here?”

  She laughed. “I would wonder, if I were human,” she teased.

  He sobered at this. “But you know better, because you know just how dangerous the enemy really is.”

  She nodded at this. “You don’t play games with these guys. You don’t play rebel. It isn’t a matter of courage. You don’t play any of the games caused by human emotions that tend to get you humans into trouble. Do you understand, Jared? If you do, they will get you. And if they do, you may not just end up dead.”

  He nodded, and frowned. That remark had obviously reminded him of something. He finally asked outright. “The rogue factions who carry the virus—what happens if they cut you?”

  She stopped, folding her arms as she faced him. “Didn’t anyone tell you?”

  He shook his head. “And I haven’t wanted to ask—until now. Guess I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know.”

  Jes gave a small laugh. “Well, we’ve had inoculations against this virus for hundreds of years. Don’t get me wrong—like with all inoculations, there’s no guarantee—but we’ve never had a human case where it didn’t work. That doesn’t mean you’d want to run the risk of being bit—or cut….” She let her meaning sink in.

  Jared nodded, half-laughed in relief that an inoculation existed and that it would afford him some kind of protection—even if there remained a small risk. A small risk was better than the alternative. Then he sobered. “Why have you never given it to the humans?”

  Jes shrugged and started walking again. He caught up and matched her steps. “We have,” she said, “when we could be sure they wouldn’t remember.” She stopped again. “What do you think would happen if we came forward?”

  He shook his head at the thought. “You’d become government pin cushions—fodder for experiments—all on the human side this time.”

  Jes stopped again. “Jared. Just remember—these rogue factions make any human army look tame. Don’t ever underestimate them—for any reason.”

  Jared nodded. He was taking her warning to heart. He had known Jes almost five years, had been her partner for much of that time. And he knew she wasn’t prone to hysteria. In fact, she was one of the calmest people—in the face of emergencies, gunfire, and pretty much anything they’d ever had thrown at them—that he had ever known. Finding out what she really was explained a lot. It sure kept him from feeling as if he’d never reach her level of training. Now he knew—he likely never would.

  But Jes was right. He was looking forward to this—had, in fact, felt as if he’d been waiting for this his whole life. He had never looked forward to anything more than he was looking forward to this, and he chafed at the delay in getting started. He felt as if he’d been born for this one reason: right here, right now, a soldier—for an elite race.

  One that most of the humans didn’t know existed.

  So, yes, he was looking forward to it. He’d like to think he wasn’t underestimating the enemy. But he knew that he probably had very little idea of just how powerful the enemy really was.

  Hopefully his training would change that.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Power of Three

  Jes had a surprise when she returned to the house late one afternoon. She’d just finished her training and had her shower when she opened the door to find Mira standing there. She had met Mira several months before, and the two had become fast friends. Mira was well-known for her adventure into the Land of the Fae—and for hunting Xavier Dubioux.

  Jes had to wonder—how much he might have to do with these rogue factions of vampires. She made a mental note to speak with Justice about him.

  She led Mira into the living room, excited to have this visit. She had immediately liked her when they’d first met—and it hadn’t been long before they had shared everything about their lives—or, at least, what Jes could remember of hers—but Jes’s head always hurt when she was around Mira. She felt as though she’d known Mira forever—over several lifetimes. But it was more than that… and she could never put her finger on it.

  Worse, the harder she tried—the more her head hurt.

  She mentally shoved aside such thoughts.

  “Wow! I’m actually very surprised to see you.” Jes waved a hand in invitation toward the sofa—and sat down on the chair after Mira had sat down. “I had heard that you were off on a new adventure.”

  Mira smiled. “We were—or Lucius and I were. We ha
d only just returned when we received an invitation from Justice. Are you two to take the ceremony for life mates?”

  Jes’s brows shot up.

  Mira laughed. “Oh, sorry. You’re not reconciled to your fate.” She laughed again, putting Jes at ease. “Well, as you well know, I have a very unusual situation of my own—so don’t feel bad.”

  Jes grinned. “How is that going, by the way?”

  Jes knew that Mira was one of the unusual ones who now remembered all of her past lives as clearly as if she were currently living them—which was what she was doing, really—living them again.

  Mira was a Jaguar Witch. Amar had handed down the power of the Jaguar Witch to her the year before, when she’d given her the ancient medallion—a powerful, magickal medallion: the Doorway of the Triquetra.

  Jes had met her shortly after she had returned from the Land of the Fae. Mira had told her that Amar had wanted her to find Jes, but she’d never told her why.

  Four of Mira’s past mates were there with her. They had been her mates as far back as Atlantis. Whenever she was with one of them, she frequently became who she’d been in that lifetime. It was rather confusing for Jes, but Mira had long since adjusted to it.

  The only mate with whom she stayed as she was—as Mira—was with Micah—and wherever Mira was—one didn’t have to look far to find Micah.

  He rarely was found far from her side.

  Jes knew about these four men in Mira’s life, had known about them since she’d first met her. But she couldn’t imagine how confusing it must be for her. Mira would be the same person as she had been in other lifetimes with whichever lover she was with at that time—she’d answer to other names and also take on the behaviors and dress of that past life.

  This actually confused Jes the most, because while she knew that Mira looked different and that she’d had different names in her other lifetimes, too—as with Lucius, Caesar and Roman—from what Jes understood, Mira actually was a very different person in those lifetimes, whereas in her lifetimes with Micah, she was very much herself.

  Jes relaxed as they visited. She wouldn’t have to explain her confusion to Mira. Mira would understand confusion. She had told her all about Justice in previous visits, about how she had hunted him. Now she told her about how she felt—how she had always told herself she saw him as a murderer, after he had disappeared, and she’d convinced herself that this was why she hunted him. But now, she could remember how strong her connection had been with him—how she’d always felt for him—but had stopped allowing herself to remember those feelings when she’d been blinded by her rage toward him for killing all those kids.

  She’d felt betrayed.

  Tears ran down her face unchecked as she told Mira the truth she had just learned: how it was her own father that had sent those boys to kill her mate. It was very difficult to have been so angry with someone for so long—and then suddenly to realize years later that she’d been so wrong. It was very difficult to turn around and change all of those emotions in the blink of an eye. Emotions that had driven her to survive all of those years, when nearly everyone she’d loved—everyone she had come to rely on—had all up and disappeared on one fateful day.

  But Mira understood confusion. She was visibly shaken by Jes’s confession of her father’s betrayal. Jes was touched that she cared so much. And so they talked well into the late afternoon.

  It was getting dark and almost time for Mira to leave and Mira seemed agitated by this. Jes frowned at her—wondering what was bothering her. Finally Mira just came right out and broached the subject of Jaguar Witches. Jes couldn’t have been more surprised. She wondered why this kept coming up: first with the barkeep, then her grandmother—and now Mira.

  “I understand that you are one of the Jaguar witches…?” Mira asked at a near-whisper.

  Jes frowned in agitation. “Did you speak to my grandmother?”

  Mira shook her head.

  “Then how did you know?”

  “Well,” Mira seemed to choose her words carefully, “I am a Jaguar witch—as you know.”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, dear,” Mira said suddenly. “I had hoped there would be an easier way to approach this.”

  Jes gave her a stern look at this. “Out with it.”

  Mira gave a shaky laugh. “Okay. You’re my sister.”

  Jes nodded. “Yes. We are sisters of the Jaguar People.”

  Mira laughed again. It was obvious she was getting more nervous by the second. “No. You are my sister—as in blood sister.”

  Jes shook her head. “No. That’s not possible.” She stared at Mira. She could see she was quite serious. “That’s—not possible,” she repeated stupidly. Her head had really started to hammer now.

  Mira shook her head. “You’ve had too many shocks—and yet, I must give you another. I’m sorry, Jes, but you were—adopted. I was adopted. We were adopted out for our—protection.”

  Jes’s hand flew to her throat. She crossed an arm over her middle in a defensive mechanism. “But—but what about Nanna?” she whispered, as she came to her feet.

  “She is our true mother,” Mira whispered back, getting up and following her.

  Jes couldn’t comprehend this. “And my mother…?”

  “Our oldest sister.”

  “And you? Where did they send you?”

  “They couldn’t—wouldn’t send us far. Our mother couldn’t bear it. But they had to protect us…,” she said, gently guiding Jes back down to the sofa. “They had a good reason for splitting us up… and sending us in different directions.” She sat down close to Jes. “They sent me with an aunt.”

  Jes swallowed. This was an unbelievable shock to her…. She stared at Mira—slowly comprehending the full meaning.

  It meant she had a—sister. She had never imagined… wished… but never imagined. “Are there—any more of us?”

  “Yes—actually. One more. You see, Nanna is a Jaguar witch—Amar….”

  “Amar—I’ve heard a lot about her…. But—why has her name always been so familiar?”

  “She is our true grandmother…. She has been keeping a close eye on us.”

  Jes swallowed. Her throat felt very dry for some reason. “Why were they—able to have so many children?”

  “It was their witch blood. It made it easier for them to bear children.”

  Jes nodded. “So—where is our—other sister?”

  “Oh, dear,” Mira said, rubbing her arm. “You appear shocked.” She studied Jes’s face before going on. “See that’s the hard part…. We don’t know. I—must train you—quickly—for we must find her. We must join the power of three—or we will not be able to help Justice when the time comes….”

  “But the stories of what you did…. From what I have heard…. You have immense power—why would you need this power of three?”

  “So do you,” Mira said gently. “You have just forgotten.”

  Jes shook her head.

  “You block the memories,” Mira nearly whispered, “horrible memories of that day. They had to split us up after that to protect us—to make it more difficult for them to find us. Our sister—the one you knew as your mother—she had to take you and go into hiding—change your name. But when they found you—she was going to leave you behind—with our true mother—and divert their attention.”

  Jes stood again and began pacing. She turned back and nearly yelled, “Why didn’t they tell me?”

  Mira’s expression was gentle. “They were told to let your memories come back naturally. They were hoping that you would remember on your own.”

  Jes approached her then, and she knew her expression was anything but gentle. “So why tell me now?”

  “Jes—we’ve—run out of time….”

  Jes pulled up short. Memories flashed through her mind—memories of large, bat-like creatures—but too large to be bats—they felt human. They appeared out of the darkness, tearing through the yard where she and her sisters had been playing. The
nanny was telling them that they shouldn’t sneak out after dark. She and her sisters had started screaming—trying to warn their nanny. Her sisters were running—running in her direction—screaming. Then the woman who watched over them, who was their nanny—was screaming—she was being ripped to shreds.

  Jes was trembling so hard she sank to the floor. Mira was there in a flash with her arm around her. Tears rolled, unchecked, down her face—down both of their faces. After several long minutes she pulled back and stared at Mira—and then just hugged her close. “Mom—I mean Sandra was only—what—eighteen? How could she take me on? And why did I forget?”

  Mira stared at her. “You remember?”

  Jes nodded.

  “She was getting married. You were the baby. It was easier for you to forget. They said that you began to call her mommy within two weeks of them leaving—that you had them fixed firmly in your mind as a family—and the doctors told them to do nothing to jar you—that you would remember when you were ready—but you never did.”

  “She never had children of her own then. I—was it,” Jes whispered.

  “She had taken on more of the Jaguar blood. She had no powers of the Jaguar witch.”

  “And—did you—remember?”

  Mira shook her head with regret. “I wasn’t but a little over a year older than you. I did much the same thing. I took on my family’s life—and I rejected anything that threatened to cause me to remember. I didn’t know Amar when I met her. I didn’t remember anything of the Jaguar People.”

  Jes hugged her again. “In that—I was lucky. I was raised with full knowledge of our people. I was raised in the full traditions of the Jaguar People. It was the power that began to manifest when I was around sixteen—that I rejected.”

  “Why?”

  “Hmmmm, I don’t know. I have never let myself think about it for too long. I think it threatened to force me to remember. I wouldn’t have anything to do with it.” She got up off the floor and reached out her hand to help Mira.