The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (25 page)

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.