First And Last (19 page)

“Right. So you had to banish them?”

Her gaze met mine and looked terribly sad. “I had the vision to create two realms within the dead. Now, we know them as Heaven and Hell. The vision spoke of the necessity to banish God and Satan to be locked in their depths.”

“But God was good. Why would you banish him?”

The corner of her mouth arched up in a soft grin. “He was good, you’re right. His ways indeed coincide with ours, but we stay neutral.”

“Oh, like Switzerland?” She frowned with confusion. I waved it away. “Never mind, please continue.”

She nodded and happily obliged. “It’s not our place to interfere with what takes place in the Earthworld. Our only thought is to ensure she survives, and that is where my abilities grant me a view of the future. Glimpses of what could be, and steps I need to take to stop problems. Not all the answers are given, and never do I see the effects it will have after. At that time, all the vision told me God and Satan needed to be banished there.”

She looked so sad, and without thought, I grabbed onto her hand. I was a little stunned that I had just made such a move on someone I’d never met before. She smiled down at our joined hands before those troubled eyes met mine again.

“It saddens me to this very day what unfolded within the Earthworld, the division of religions, the wars and the death. Many humans of good heart were destroyed.”

“But why didn’t you stop it then?” This just didn’t make any sense. “If you saw what was happening to the good ones, why didn’t you help them?”

“My vision never told me to. We only act on what the visions show me. Fate has a plan and I’m here to guide it. My choices always follow it. I never act on my personal feelings, no matter what I may feel is right.”

“Where do you get these visions from?”

“It’s an inborn ability that guides me to see that the Fae succeeds. We’ve yet to truly discover, who or what, it is that grants me this right.

Wonderful!
She was basing things off something that she had no idea where it came from. Didn’t seem like the smartest of choices, but who was I to question her. Fate had already proved to me the wonders it worked. I couldn’t doubt it now.

“All right, I get everything you’re saying, but what I don’t get, is why I am here?” The long awaited question needed to be voiced.

“Long ago, I received a vision of you, but it was not clear. It didn’t show me how this would unfold at the time, but what it did show me was that you needed to be born.”

That was a bit hard to swallow. “You can’t be serious?”

She nodded without hesitation. “It wasn’t until recently that I fully began to appreciate why that need was so important.”

After a long pause, I urged her, “Which was…”

“The vision started with a youngling, who after some time, we discovered was Tyrianna.”

My brows rose in shock. I couldn’t have heard her right. Never in a million years, when I began this conversation, did I expect to hear anything like this. “How do you know my mother?”

Her eyes glistened and a confident look crossed her face. “Tyrianna was Fae. Well, part Fae, actually.”

A loud bark of laughter erupted from my mouth, the only response I could manage. “Now this is a bit farfetched. Tyrianna was a witch who lived in the Otherworld.”

“You’re right, she was perceived as a witch. That is only a half-truth. It took more years than you could imagine to produce Tyrianna. Fae intermixed with witches, over and over again, to produce the right level of magic within them. Equal parts Witch and Fae.”

My jaw dropped.

She either hadn’t seen my shock or just ignored it. Whatever it was, she continued, “Tyrianna had the perfect levels of both kind within her and it provided just the right being to birth you. We sent Tyrianna to live with a witch who held more Fae Magic in her than Elemental—purposely kept her true identify from her. When she was old enough to begin to train as a witch, her memory had been altered, and she believed she was orphaned and because of that was sent to live in the Otherworld.”

A scowl began to form on my face.

Aaliya noticed and a worried expression crossed her face as she quickly added, “As much as it may have been wrong to keep the truth from her, it was a necessity to see that there was no interference.” She took a deep breath and smiled. “From there, fate fell into place perfectly and brought your mother, Tyrianna and your father, Drake together. Then, the long-awaited mixed supernatural was born.”

“Wait…hold on…just wait a friggin’ second.” I squeaked. “Are you telling me I’m part Fae?”

“You’re as much Fae as you are Guardian and Witch.” She cocked her head, gave me an intrigued look. “Does this surprise you?”

I pondered that for a moment and looked around to the others who sat before me. For the first time, I recognized the power that came from them. I could feel it emanating off everyone here. I was just like them. This was the source of the light. “Actually, no it doesn’t.”

She gave a firm nod of acknowledgment. “The levels needed to be exact for you to inherit the Guardian power within you as well. If the Witch power was too strong, it would block the Guardian power from evolving. If the Fae was too weak, then it wouldn’t give the strength for the Guardian power to develop.” She smiled softly. “You see the dilemma we faced.”

“Geesh, yes, I do.” Still, I felt so lost. What did this all mean? “So what’s the deal with the mixed breed thing? I mean, why was it so important?”

“It’s a combination of two elements found in the original Supernaturals, Guardians and Witches. The pure essence of White Magic combined in one being, the closest relation to the power that existed in God.”

I flatly ignored that comparison and moved on. “What about vampires and weres?”

“Vampires are the undead. Humans turned into immortality, and weres are similar. They’re not inborn abilities and power. It began with a human that had been transformed.”

“Oh,” was all I could think to say to that.

“The vision I had spoke of the necessity to see that this youngling was brought into the world because she would complete the final act to ensure the safety of the Earthworld, the job that I had started. To close off the Realm of the Dead and see that no evil ever escaped it.”

So simply put, but obviously, not so easily done. “Why did you go to all this trouble to produce me, if you could just close off the realm yourself?” She opened her mouth, but the answer came to me right as I voiced the question. “Because the vision told you to produce me, but nothing about closing off the realm, right?”

She nodded.

As I processed all this, a realization came to me. “I’m taking it this is why my magic is so strong?”

“Your Fae magic will work together with the Elements gifted to you. That is why when you ask anything of it, it’s there to protect you. You’re not limited by restrictions, which is how Fae magic works. Whatever you need of it, you only have to ask.”

Well, guess that made sense as to why I held skills most witches didn’t. We sat in silence as I ran the conversation back through my mind, and after some time, there was only one thing I still questioned. “Do I have family here?”

“Not anymore, I’m sorry to say. Your grandmother was a Witch, this is true, and your grandfather was Fae. That was one of the repercussions of this process. The mother died after childbirth. It’s just too straining on the body. Your grandmother was willing to sacrifice her life for this cause.”

I gulped. That took one brave witch to face death right after giving birth. Would I have done the same? I wasn’t so sure.

“You did for some time have a family line, but Fae only live a short existence of a hundred years or so. Our power grows as we near death. We needed to use powerful Fae to pass on the powers, so since, your grandfather was near his death when he mated with your grandmother, he died shortly after. He was the last in his blood line.”

“When did he die?” I whispered.

“Twenty-three years ago.”

My heart plummeted. To meet another blood relative again, my heart longed for that. I learned long ago, life wasn’t always fair and there was no sense wishing for something different.

Something didn’t make sense. She said Fae beings died, but she was around since the very beginning. “Why have you lived so long?”

“It’s only those of royal blood line who are everlasting.”

Well, that settled that. All eyes watched me as I sat and processed. A thousand things ran through my mind, moments in time that brought me to this spot. Suddenly, a realization came to mind and one I couldn’t ignore. One face stayed present in my mind.

The look! An expression of love that passed through violet eyes. It was so obvious.

Well, now it was. “Ember was the witch who cared for my mother, wasn’t she?”

Aaliya smiled.

Then, the air shimmed, a flash of light erupted and Ember stood directly in front of me. “Bah, don’t do that.”

Ember laughed at my loud outburst and glanced around a moment. Clearly, she was confused if her wide eyes said anything about it. She looked back at me. “Trust me, this surprises me as well. The last thing I remember was being attacked by a whole slew of pissed off witches, and now, I’m here with the Fae.”

It didn’t matter that Ember wasn’t blood related, she was the one who raised my mother and that made her family. Without a seconds thought, I flung myself at her and gave her a huge hug.

Instantly, she wrapped her arms around me, so tight. “You’ve obviously told her.” Aaliya answered, “Yes, she knows it all.”

Just like that, it all began to make sense. All the little unknowns that surrounded this whole event started to fall into place.

Zia had said Ember knew more than she expected her to. Now I knew it was even more than we thought. She had said it herself, she knew something was happening, but had no way to stop it. I backed away to watch her expression. “It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who contacted the Detectives, told them this was happening?”

“It was my way of helping,” she whispered.

I lowered my arms, gave her a hard look to grasp all this. “Okay, just so we’re on the same page here. You’re part Witch and Fae, but within you the Fae is stronger. That’s why I’m in the situation and not you, right?”

She nodded. “Yes, that’s true.”

“Explain then, why I saw the vision of you banishing the Demon Lords. You obviously attempted to send them back, but what’s been told to me said that you wouldn’t have been able to even if you tried. So, why put yourself in that situation?”

She dropped her head, ashamed. “When the Demon Lords came back through, I was left with no choice but to try. I was a part of the Otherworld and my loyalty to them needed me to act. I couldn’t ignore the danger.”

“So, you acted on your own accord?”

“I did,” she replied with a nod. “Being part Fae gave me the ability to draw runes just as it does you.”

Well that explains why I held the ability. It’s a gift given to the Fae. Which told me how little we really knew about them and they did a damn good job at keeping their existence a secret.

Ember continued, drew me from my thoughts, “Aaliya never came to me with a vision of the future, but it was because there wasn’t any danger. I thought I was strong enough to do it. I thought…”

Aaliya reached out to her, placed a hand on her shoulder. “You did well, Ember. You sent them back to the Realm of the Dead. The Otherworld was safe because of you.”

Ember sighed quietly. “I wish I could’ve done more, then, this situation you find yourself in wouldn’t be happening. But because I didn’t have the magic that was needed, I couldn’t succeed in fighting against Satan’s draw.”

She looked completely brokenhearted, not just that she failed but because of her inability to close the realm, I now found myself facing.

My heartstrings tugged.

I grabbed her hand, flooded her with every memory I had in my life. Every event and little piece, even things she probably had no business seeing, but I needed her to understand and this was the best way to show her.

When the memories stopped, her eyes opened with clarity and hope. “You see, there was nothing you could have done to stop this moment because it was meant for me. I realize that now. It wasn’t yours to stop. It is mine.”

“Not you alone,” a deep voice said behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see a stealth-looking man vastly approaching. His hair was a tint of blue, his eyes a deep silver with ears slightly pointed at the ends. Nothing of him resembled a human. He was as mythical of a creature as I’d ever seen. And I knew why that was. He wasn’t disguising his appearance.