The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (20 page)

She knew that now—now that she
knew he was not just
working
for the one of
the
prophecy
—but
was
in fact—one of the
sons of the prophecy.

Her mother had been defending the
sons of
the prophecy
—so it had been Justice whom she had sought to protect from
Jes’s father. A man, as it had turned out, who was not her father
at all.

He also had very light skin—and
light eyes, though not as light as Lucius or Justice—and not as
painted white as Dracon…. Jes didn’t like the ideas that teased the
corners of her mind on that one….

Her father had been working
against them—so had her father done more than just send the gang
after him—to force him to change? Had he intended to destroy him?
Had he actually sent that gang to
kill
him
? Jes stood up, horrified by what she
had just figured out. She went straight to their room and retrieved
the journal. She hadn’t wanted to read any more—and Justice had
waited, patiently, so it would seem, for her to come around to
hearing the rest of the truth.

She went out and found a
comfortable chair by a window to allow her to spend some time
reading. She opened the large, leather-bound journal, and began to
read.

Justice, your father and I
disappeared that day because Jes’s father had sent the rogue vamps
to kill us. He had managed to get Jes’s mother out of his way—and
that only left us. She had been coming to us, telling us that she
knew he was up to something—and she feared what it was he was
doing. Over time, she had slowly revealed what it was that she
thought he was doing.

She knew her husband too well—as
we all do—when we’re with a mate for so long. He had to have known
that he couldn’t keep a secret from her for long. But he was too
caught up in his hate—to let her sway him off his path.

What we didn’t know—was why? Why
had he so completely changed? How does someone come to have such
hate in their heart? And how do they hide such hate from everyone
they love?

Jes looked up from the journal. Her
head was hurting again. Justice had said that his parents had
disappeared long before they had actually disappeared—in that they
had stopped being his parents.

But why?

It would have made sense if her
father had only just figured out who Justice was—and sought to put
pressure on his friendship with Justice’s father.

But why had they changed so many
years before? And—had he sought to
kill
Justice
when he did learn
who he was
?

Jes got up from her chair. She went
to find her former partner—Jared.

A half hour later, Jared left the
compound—Jes was hidden on the floor of the backseat. When they
were out of sight of the guards, she climbed up to the front
seat.

“
Okay, Jes, out with it. Where are
we going? And why?”

She put on her seatbelt and smiled.
“We are going to see a certain gang member.”

“
What?
Are you crazy
?” he nearly yelled.
“I’ve half a mind to turn right back around and take you
back!”

Jes hadn’t been prepared for that.
“Jared, I have to know the truth. I believe that my father was the
one who sent that gang to Justice—and not just to force him to
turn. And worse—he may even have intended to kill his sisters—the
way he killed Dracon’s…. I have to know the
truth—
please
.”

“
Jes, Justice will have my hide
for helping you. He might even kick me out of the
training.”

She looked at him in surprise. She
hadn’t thought of that. She shook her head. “I don’t think so. The
Jaguar People have accepted you as family. I don’t think he would
kick you out so easily—especially given that I am in so in need of
answers.” She looked out at the blue sky. “Besides, we’ll be back
before they even know I’m gone.”

Felix Cantrell did not look happy
to see her pop up on the front porch of his house twice in one
month. “What do you want now….?” he had obviously refrained from
using the name she knew he wanted to use. A name he likely called
many women.

She would refrain from hurting
him—since he’d been kind enough to do so.

“
Who hired you to go after Justice
that day?” she snarled at him.

He looked at her in surprise. “Who
you been talking to?” he snarled back.

She grabbed him and pinned him to
the wall, her arm across his throat.

Jared had been standing at the
bottom of the stairs keeping watch, but seeing this made him bound
up the steps two at a time—however, the look she gave him from the
corner of her eye warned him off.

“
I could break your neck without
blinking an eye,” she hissed. “I’ve some idea that you know exactly
who—or should I say
what
—I am. So we both know what I’m
capable of.”

“
Okay,” he choked out. He grabbed
his throat when she let him go.

Jared looked as relieved as the
gangbanger.

“
Start talking, Felix!” she
warned.

“
Someone named Cole came to see
us. Said he knew we paid regular visits to Justice and his sisters.
He paid a lot of money that day to make sure that this time they
all died. So I put some of my best guys on it.” He made a nasty
face. “But we don’t kill no kids,” he sneered. “’Course we didn’t
tell him that. We had figured, what’s he gonna do, turn us
in?”

“
No.” Her smile was cold. “But
something tells me you found out what exactly he
could
do, right
Felix?”

He started to hang his head, but
then straightened. “Several of my guys got used for dinner that
night.” He looked chalk white when he said that—lost in the past.
Then he seemed to remember where he was—and who he was talking to
after a moment. “That’s all I got to say to you,” he snarled. He
went back into his house, banging the door shut in their
face.

They were well on their way back to
Second Wind before either of them spoke.

“
How did you know?” Jared
questioned.

She looked at him, a feeling of
nausea clenched at her stomach. “Because I know about
Cole.”

Justice was waiting in an easy
chair when she came sneaking down the side hall she’d used to slip
into Jared’s car earlier that day.

He was stone still. And she’d never
felt so much apprehension in her life.

Jes had grown up unafraid of
anyone—save for the vamps. After all, there weren’t too many humans
who could come near to becoming a threat to her.

But Justice—he was another matter
entirely. She wanted to run, but stood her ground
instead.

“
You have vamps hunting you, Jes,”
he said quietly. He looked up at her then. The look in his eyes
caused the hairs to stand up on the back of her neck. He hadn’t
gone back to using the Fae glamour here. His violet eyes were lit
with unnamed emotion.

“
You will not get another chance
to sneak out like that,” he said. And that was all he
said.

All the more damning—for the way
he’d said it.

Dracon didn’t help much when he
appeared that evening. He walked up to her with that quiet, lithe
ease of his. He didn’t stop until he was standing right in front of
her. “Justice,” he said, not taking his eyes off her.

“
Yes?” Justice said.

“
Should we lock her up—like we
would have had to do just one, or two, short centuries
ago?”

She wanted to glare at him—but
thought better of it. She took her medicine instead—bitter as it
tasted. She deserved it. She wasn’t prone to giving into human-like
emotions—and doing something so rash. But the cop in her still had
a stranglehold over her thoughts.

Justice seemed to contemplate his
comment seriously.

She knew they were messing with
her—at least she hoped they were messing with her. But these two
were not human. They didn’t have the same reasoning. And they
didn’t follow any of the same rules.

That left unmistakable seriousness
to her situation.

They could, indeed, be thinking of
locking her up.

And worse, she hadn’t seen Jared
since their return. They may have worse in mind for him. And she
didn’t dare speak up for him. They would consider that as crossing
the line—for a woman to make excuses for a man.

And when had Dracon gained such
control over
her
?

He nodded. She realized, then, she
didn’t have to answer to one dark prince—but two.

Her brow shot up at that
realization. “Are there any more of you?” She’d fought to keep her
tone neutral, but she wasn’t at all happy at drawing this
particular conclusion.

Dracon smiled. “Yes, actually.
There are two more.”

“
Great
!”
she whispered under her breath.

But he hadn’t missed it.

She looked at the two of them. “Let
me see,” she looked at Justice, “you are fire.” He inclined his
head. She looked at Dracon, “You are air.”

“
Yes, dear. And that leaves Earth
and Water,” Dracon finished for her.

“
But that would mean…”

Justice came to stand in front of
her then too.

“
So you’re….”

“
The princes of the four
directions,” Dracon supplied.

Oh
, Jes
thought, her brows raised. “I was going to say the four
horsemen.”

Dracon smiled. “The four
directions. The four horsemen. Whatever you want to call it. There
is much more to the powers of the four directions than meets the
eye.”

Justice stood at the window again.
“Many of the humans have come to believe that the four princes of
the four directions are tied with their Christian devil,” he said
quietly.

Jes nodded. “But then, much of the
pagan world has been revised into their scriptures, much of it into
a negative or evil way, and almost all of it used—to control the
people. Let alone—to cast a negative light on it—so the people
would be too afraid not to give up their Mother. But many of the
people remembered their loving Mother. And died for the
knowing.”

Dracon spoke then, in that quiet,
still way she was coming to know. “The people are ruled by a ruler
they believe they can trust. And the name of power they use to
control the people—is fear.”

Chapter
Nineteen

The Killer

Jes
watched both Dracon and Justice
as
they came to sit on either side of her.

“
Relax, Jes,” Justice said to her.
“We’re not going to lock you up.”

Dracon nodded. “But you will not
get another chance to do anything so foolish. Do not underestimate
the factions of my people who hunt you—
ever again
.” He sat back. “Your son
is too important—so you are just as important to fulfilling
the prophecy
. You must
not take risks with yourself. Do you understand this?”

Jes nodded. “Yes,” she said. She
looked from one of them, to the other. “What are we going to do
now?”

“
We,” Dracon indicated the two of
them, “are going to go get these factions of my people to join our
cause.”

She gave a small gasp. “But won’t
that be extremely dangerous?”

Justice nodded. “I won’t lie to
you, Jes.”

“
But you intend to do it
anyway.”

“
It’s too important,” he answered.
“We have much to do. We must be ready!”

She leaned forward. “Ready for
what? What is it I still don’t know?”

Dracon got up at that point, “I
think we should retire to the common office and show
her.”

Justice nodded. The three of them
shut themselves up in the office. And for the next two hours they
showed her where all the factions of vamps were holed up, and what
these meant to the cause. When they were done, Jes could easily see
why it was so vital to win at least some of them over.

It was something like a kingdom,
but a hidden one. One that sat in a slightly different time than
the ones the humans understood. It was the kingdom of the Land of
the Fae. And there were the dark ones who were trying to gain
control over the all the powers of the Earth. The dark ones used
energy to achieve that cause and were aligning their groups into
specific areas.

Now the Jaguar People and the Crow
People were important to making sure that these factions did not
get to control the energy fields surrounding the humans.

The people of the water were
another key to this.

And the fight for the specific
areas that aligned with the stars—was the key to all of
it.