The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (8 page)

Justice was Jes’s mate.

And nothing could change
that.

Chapter Six

Power of Three

Jes watched her grandmother
cross the room to set down the tray of lemonade.
She had wanted to leave. The information she’d already learned
churned inside of her, spinning like a blender, mixing everything
together—until she couldn’t tell the difference between one thing
and another—until nothing at all made sense.

She didn’t know what else her
grandmother had in store for her. But she knew she wasn’t going to
like it. She knew she was already very frustrated, and she knew she
didn’t want to hear any more.

But Jes was certain that her
grandmother wasn’t done with her yet, and she wasn’t leaving until
she had learned everything.

She was right. Her grandmother did
have yet another shock in store for her.

Her grandmother took her time
pouring Jes a glass of lemonade. She seemed to contemplate what it
was she wanted to say to her. She sat down in the comfortable chair
across from Jes, her gaze intent.

“
What is it, Nanna?” Jes asked,
beginning to become alarmed.

“
Granddaughter,” her grandmother
shook her head slightly, “I know you have received more than your
share of surprises these past few years. But I need to ask you
something….” She folded her hands in front of her. Her skin was
unwrinkled, her hair still a glossy brown. She was one of the
Jaguar People. She would likely live to a very old age. She was a
very beautiful woman, Jes thought.

Her lack of aging was likely one of
the reasons Jes had persisted in calling her Nanna, though the
Jaguar People didn’t usually do so, just to remind herself that she
was actually a grandmother. Jes had spent too many years around
humans—to not be slightly confused by her grandparents’ lack of
aging.

“
Jes,” her grandmother said again.
“I need to ask you about your powers…?”

Jes frowned at her. “I don’t
understand, Nanna. You were at my Ceremony when I took on my
power….” She stopped because her grandmother was shaking her
head.

“
I’m not talking about your Jaguar
form, child. I’m talking about you—as one of the
Jaguar Witches
.”

Jes stared at her. “How did you
know about that?”

Her grandmother laughed. “Only a
witch can beget a witch,” she said to Jes, as if that explained it
all. “How do you think I know?”

Jes stared at her grandmother in
shock.
There is just no end to the
surprises today
, she thought. But she
didn’t want to think about this at all. She pushed away these
unpleasant thoughts. “Why do you bring it up, Nanna?”

Her grandmother shook her head at
Jes’s obvious attempt to deflect her question. “What have you
noticed, child?” she asked.

She didn’t want to
think about this, damn it
! Why didn’t her grandmother pick up the hint and leave it
alone? She had always gone to great lengths to push thoughts like
these far out of her reach—out of her conscious thoughts. She
didn’t want to answer the question—but neither did she wish to
disrespect her grandmother.

She shook her head, placing the
fingers of her right hand to her temple. Her head hurt. “I don’t
know,” she said, trying for a nonchalant tone to her voice. “I
guess I was about sixteen when I noticed the first
thing.”

Her grandmother wasn’t making it
easy for her. “What thing was that, dear?”

“
I don’t remember much,” Jes said,
trying to rein in her irritation. “I just remember getting angry
with some kids and… and the next thing I knew—everything went
flying. The other kids didn’t know what to make of it, any more
than I. We weren’t outside—and no one had opened the door. Nobody
knew what to think—so they didn’t connect it to me. And since they
didn’t connect it to me—or anyone else—they had no answer for what
had occurred.” She was rambling now. But her head hurt—and it was
getting worse. “They didn’t want to think about something they
couldn’t explain. It scared them. So it became one of those things
that no one likes to talk about.”

“
Okay, so after that day, what was
the next thing that happened? How old were you then?”

Jes stared hard at her grandmother.
“Why are you doing this?”

Her grandmother gave her a level
look—but her tone was gentle. “Just humor me, child.”

Jes gave a great sigh of
exasperation. “I don’t know—I guess it was about six or nine months
later. This time I blew out the lightbulbs. I was home one day—and
I was irritated with the computer. I was just glad I didn’t
blow
it
up.”

“
And how do you keep from blowing
out lightbulbs—or computers—now? Or keeping things from—going
flying?”

Jes folded her arms over her middle
in a defensive gesture. “I neutralize the forward thrust of my
emotions.”

“
Hmmm. So this must have happened
a few more times?”

Jes nodded. “Frequently after
that—until I learned to control them,” she finished quietly. “I
just always tried to hide it from you.”

Her grandmother gave her that look
that grandmothers loved to give, but didn’t say anything. “And what
other types of things—of this nature—have happened? And why didn’t
you come to me?”

“
I didn’t come to you—because I
didn’t want to talk about it—just like I don’t want to talk about
it now,” Jes said with more than a little rancor. Then, she
immediately apologized for her rude tone.

Her grandmother waved it away. “I
don’t mean to upset you, child. Your answers are important to
me—for reasons I don’t want to get into at the moment.”

Jes’s gaze narrowed on her. After a
long moment, when it was apparent her grandmother wasn’t going to
leave it alone, she said, “I… ummm… can draw things to me—in the
same way as I can push them away. And I can—cause them to kind
of—blow up….” She winced. “Not bad—just like a burst of—forced
air.”

If her grandmother was surprised to
hear this, she didn’t show it. “I see. And you didn’t think this
was important to talk about either?” She waved away the retort Jes
was about to release. “Okay, Jes. We’ll let it go for now. But
you’re going to have to settle your mind onto having a talk about
it again—and soon.”

“
Yes, Nanna,” Jes said.
But not too soon
, she
thought with some rebellion. And with that she hugged her
grandmother and left.

Chapter Seven

Jes and Justice

Jes was sitting in her best
friend’s living room
two hours later,
holding a cup of coffee heavily laden with French Vanilla crème
between her hands. And she was babbling incoherently about
Justice.

Or so her friend had accused
her.

“
You’re not making any sense,
Jes,” Katherine complained to her.

Frustrated, Jes started over, and
made an honest attempt at slowing down—filling in the blanks. She
watched Kat’s eyes go from amazed, to shocked, to floored by the
end of her story.

Kat was of the Jaguar People, so
that was a plus, and she was happily mated to her true mate of the
Jaguar People, another plus, but Jes had never told her about
Justice. And Kat wasn’t sympathizing with Jes for keeping this
secret from her—or about Jes calling Justice a monster.

Not at all.

“
How could you say that?!” Kat
said in exasperation.

“
How can
you
not!” Jes shot back at
her.

“
Jes,” Kat rubbed the bridge of
her nose and tried again. “He’s your life mate. You are tied to him
for all eternity. You can’t just sell him up the river!” She got up
from where she had been seated on the floor in front of the coffee
table. “How could you have kept all of this from me
all this time
?”

“
I’m sorry,” Jes said quietly. “It
just—hurt so much.” She looked up at her friend. “I missed them all
so much. And he murdered those kids… I didn’t know him at
all.”

Her friend came to sit beside
her—and hugged her. “I’m so sorry, Jes. It must have been
difficult—having them all just disappear like that.” She looked
into her friend’s eyes. “Then having nearly everyone you loved—and
trusted, also disappear, around that same day,” she said. “Well,
save for your grandparents.”

Jes sniffed, wishing Kat wouldn’t
be
quite
so
understanding. It made her want to cry. “I don’t know what I would
have done without them,” she agreed. “But Justice—,” she looked at
her friend and stressed, “
is a
murderer
.”

“
Jes, you can’t be serious! How
can you say things like that—and about your own life
mate?”

“
I—just
can
! Because it’s the
truth
! He’s a
murderer
!”

“
He is an Ancient One—who hears
the ancient call!”

“
The hell
you say
!”

Jes had heard of such ones—the ones
who hunted those who murdered. She had even said as much to
Jared—but she didn’t really believe in such things—at least not
nowadays. Maybe there had been a place for them—way back in
history—but not anymore. There wasn’t an excuse for being a
vigilante!

“
Jes!”

Jes sighed. “Okay, okay. I take
that back.”

Kat dimpled. “Jes, you must give
him a chance to explain. Do not assume anything. Not
one
thing. Please. You
must hear me on this.”

Jes’s gaze narrowed on her friend.
She knew her friend—knew her well. “What are you
hiding?”

Kat shrugged, raising her brows and
giving a sheepish smile.

“
Spill it!” Jes
growled.

Laughing, Kat shook her head. “I
cannot. I’m bound by the code of the parliament. It is my position.
I cannot violate it. You know that.”

Frustrated, Jes chewed on her lip.
“Can you give me a clue?”

Kat sighed. She sat there, deep in
thought for a moment, then shook her head. “I can see nothing that
would not violate my oath. But I can tell you—there
is
a book that
can.”

Jes was intrigued. “What
book?”

But, once again, Kat only shook her
head.

She was still shaking her head to
nearly every question when Jes left.

Jes didn’t sleep much that night.
She tossed and turned. She doubted she would ever be able to sleep
well again. When she did sleep, she slept fitfully, and when she
woke, it was still dark. She could feel him. She could feel him as
clearly as she could feel herself. She could hear his heartbeat.
And—she could smell the scent of him, as clearly as she could smell
anyone else: but unlike anyone else—she was aroused by his
scent.

He was in her room
again.

“
Are you going to show up this way
every night now?” she asked without preamble.

“
Perhaps,” he said.

“
Why?” There wasn’t anger in her
voice either. She was just sleepy. And she just didn’t know what to
do about the whole situation. She didn’t know what to do about how
she felt every time she was near him—asleep or not. She watched him
for a moment, peering into the dark, trying to see him
better.

“
Don’t you know?”

She swallowed.

“
Yes. I can see that you do. But
you don’t like it much.” He shifted. “If it helps any—neither do
I.”

For some reason, that angered Jes.
She should have been relieved. But relief was not what she felt.
Not at all. She hadn’t liked the sound of that. “Then why show up
here?”

He laughed. “I see you fight
yourself.” He strode to her bed. “You’re not immune at
all.”

She scrambled to the other side of
the bed like the cat she was, setting herself on all fours, ready
to tear the sheets up—and his face with them.

He laughed, again.

She didn’t like that
either.

He leaped across the bed in a
flash, so fast it was like a blur to her. One moment she was ready
to fight, the next she was gathered up tightly in his arms—where
she felt as though she’d known his touch forever.

In desperation she blurted out.
“Our parents disappeared
at the same
time
.”

That got his attention.

He let her go, sitting up. “What
did you say? I didn’t know that you knew that!”

She sighed—half in relief, half in
regret. “I know, but our parents disappeared at the same time—as
in—
for the same reason
.” She looked up at him. Something in his eyes made her gut
wretch with pain. “Our fathers were best friends…. They disappeared
for the same reason.”