The Generator: The Succubae Seduction (80 page)

Once again I marvel at how much the one-time, four-hundred year old, slave understands about things.

“You pick things up over the centuries,” she responds to my unspoken compliment with pride in her voice.

Blue plummets to my left. I have to return my concentration to keeping her moving. Being cold blooded really doesn’t agree with either of us. I can see she’s carrying the power of the Pillar of Fire in her right forepaw, its light seeping around her sharp talons as she holds it close to her body, but it’s not enough to keep her going. It soon becomes apparent that the large blue dragon won’t make it all the way back to Gaia’s earthen palace.

I wonder why I’m able to do better than Blue at keeping myself moving? Is it because of the weakened adamantium? Neither of my passengers knows either.

It takes all my concerted concentration to keep us both moving long enough to reach the cave where Angela and I’d been captured, and where later I’d gotten Sheila pregnant. I end up having to drag the nearly comatose lizard inside. There is one benefit from the cold: the terrible stench that’d permeated this place before is tamped down.

It takes some effort, the fire resisting my efforts to start it, but I’m eventually able to get a small burn going in the same pit where the Orcs had intended to cook the succubus and me. While the cave never grows warm, it does at least grow less frigid. I change back into my human form, making sure that warm clothing surrounds me, and creating a slight barrier between the cave entrance and the fire with the adamantium to hold in as much warmth as possible.

“What are you going to do?” Alloria asks me as she gently pats Blue’s eye ridge. I’m a bit surprised at how much she seems to care about the fate of the dragon. “You can’t stay here forever, keeping a fire going, and she won’t make it back to Gaia so we can figure out what our next move should be.”

“Can we make her the Pillar of Fire temporarily?” I ask, holding my hands out over the fire.

Angela shakes her head before answering. “From the way TanaVesta had talked, it’s something that’s permanent, or at least until death.”

“The dragon can’t become a pillar anyway,” Alloria adds in, giving Angela a slight glare. “It requires a certain amount of mental fortitude, which unfortunately the poor beast doesn’t have.”

“She may surprise you,” I say about the slumbering creature. “She’s smarter than she looks.”

Alloria gives me a calculating look for a moment, making me terribly curious what she’s thinking, before shaking her head. “I didn’t say she was dumb. No dragon is dumb, but she isn’t the type of dragon that is strong enough to become a pillar.”

I stand in silence for a few moments, trying to weigh the options, before asking softly, “What about you, Alloria?”

“I haven’t given you permission to use my name!” she scolds me so hotly, I blanch away from her. It takes her a few moments to calm down, but I don’t miss Angela’s slight smile. What does the succubus know? “I can’t become the Pillar of Fire,” she says, still breathing a bit heavily from her outburst a moment ago. I open my mouth to ask why not, but she answers before I can get the words out. “Nominally I’m aligned with Earth, being an elf. I could only ever become the Pillar of Earth, but I respect Gaia too much to ever desire that burden.”

I’d once thought that she would be the next Pillar of Air, but I guess I was wrong. Who did Gaia mean for the job, if not the elf?

“Only the dragon and . . . the
succubus
are aligned with fire enough, but I’ve already explained why the dragon can’t, and we can’t trust
her
.” If I had any doubts about how Alloria feels about Angela, they’re gone now.

“I don’t want it,” Angela says, looking up to meet my eyes. I can’t help arching an eyebrow at the certainty in her voice. “Lyden,” she continues, addressing me directly and there is no mistaking the intimacy in her tone as her voice caresses my name, “if I became the Pillar of Fire, I would lose you. I would be stuck to that mountain, except for short trips away. In some of her more lucid moments, TanaVesta told me that she sometimes felt like a prisoner with her power. Every time she left her volcano, she’d grow weak, until she was forced to return and recharge.”

As she speaks, her eyes remain locked on mine. There is no doubt about the sincerity of her statement. She truly doesn’t want to be the next Pillar of Fire.

I also lose my doubt about her affection for me. Her eyes paint a picture into her soul that I can’t miss and can’t be feigned.

Filled with shame at having doubted her, I look away first, but my gaze goes back to the slumbering dragon. She’ll die if someone doesn’t become the next Pillar of Fire soon. And Aldol. . . . With two pillars down, how much weaker is the Shadow World? How many other creatures are dying right now, as all heat leaches from this world?

“Chances are,” Angela answers my unspoken question, “Aldol is frantically trying to figure out what happened to its ally.”

A very small smile splits my lips at that. At least there is one small silver lining to all of this. But that doesn’t help with my concerns over the pregnant dragon.

“If you have one large failing,” Angela says, her voice full of resignation, “it’s that you care too much for others, and not enough about yourself.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask, confused by her words.

She doesn’t answer immediately, instead she walks over to Blue. Alloria glares at her for a moment on the other side of the dragon’s head, but says nothing.

“I mean, your heart is too big. I’ve had my time with you, and even though I know you don’t love this dragon, you care for her and the eggs she’s carrying.” As she talks, a deep sadness comes over the dark skinned woman and a feeling of trepidation worms over me. “Because you care, so do I. What right do I have to be free, when it means so many others will die?”

Too late I see what I should have seen from the start as Angela bends over, placing her hand on the forepaw holding the Pillar of Fire’s mantle. It only takes her a split moment of concentration, and it’s too late.

“Angela, no!” I yell, moving forward to stop her.

A glow moves its way up her arm, and I watch as her eyes grow large and she gasps.

“What have you done?” Alloria demands. The sound of her sword clearing the scabbard echoes around the cavern.

“What needed to be done,” she gasps, stepping away from the dragon. “My God, it’s so hot. No, stay back, Lyden my love,” she adds when I move to enfold her in my arms. “I—“ whatever she’d been about to say is lost as her entire body is engulfed in flames. Searing white-hot heat blasts out from her, and I have to step back. The temperature in the cavern is quickly rising. I know it won’t remain survivable for long at this rate.

Thankfully, I see Blue start to stir, and I mentally command her to get out, while I grip the elf’s wrist, hauling her to the adamantium. Alloria moves with me, without any arguing, and I can already begin feeling my skin burning as I touch the heated precious metal.

As soon as the makeshift barrier is down, Blue darts past me, and I’m hot on her heels, trying to escape the furnace Angela is turning the cave into.

By comparison to the inside, beyond the mouth of the cave is cool, but not nearly as cold as it had been before.

Some inner instinct warns me, and I catch up to Blue in enough time to bump her to the side as pure, blinding fire belches from the cavern. I sense, more than see, something shoot out, and head back towards TanaVesta’s mountain.

Angela’s mountain, I realize, now that she’s the Pillar of Fire. I didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye.

“We need to go after her,” Alloria’s voice says in my mind. “She can’t be trusted. We can’t leave that kind of power in her hands.”

I ignore her, letting my emotions be answer enough. I check over Blue and verify she’s all right, before checking myself. We’re both a little singed, but otherwise unharmed.

I’m not sure if normal dragons are capable of crying, but that doesn’t stop my eyes from watering as we take to the air, flying back to Gaia’s stronghold. Alloria continues to protest, but her words are swallowed up by my damaged heart.

*     *     *

“And you feel her loyalties can be trusted?” Gaia states over her steepled fingers.

“No,” Alloria says without hesitation, at the same time I say, “Yes.”

“I believe you, Lyden,” Mother Earth states after some contemplation. “I watched what enfolded in that cavern, and while her ultimate loyalties may remain in question, I have no doubt about how she feels for you. For now, it will have to be enough.”

When we’d arrived, Blue and I were ushered to the same balcony we’d left from, and everyone came out to greet us. Gaia had immediately made the pile of adamantium disappear, sending it back to wherever she keeps it. Brooke, Areth, Becky, and even Jennifer had all hugged me happily, telling me how happy they were that I was mostly unharmed. They didn’t know that I was on the brink of death. Sheila waited patiently, until I had to order her to join the group of women around me.

Jewkes and Thomas both shook my hand heartily, Ondine remaining quietly back. I don’t have time to consider her behavior, but make a note to myself to take care of that soon.

The air is still cool around us, but not nearly the frigid cold it had been before Angela took the Mantle of Fire upon herself.

“Forgive me, Lyden,” Jewkes states hesitantly, stepping forward. They’d all remained silent while Alloria and I told our tale. “How do we know that this Outsider won’t just control her like it did the previous Pillar of Fire?”

I have to fight hard to tamp down the sudden anger I feel at his accusation, but I know where it’s coming from.

“How many of those glasses of yours, those Blublockers, do you have?” I ask the hook-nosed police officer.

“Only what I’ve already handed out,” he states apologetically.

“May I see a pair of those?” Gaia asks, walking towards us.

Richard hands over his pair. The Pillar of Earth examines them for a second, even putting them on. After a few moments filled with her ‘hmm’ing and ‘huh’ing, she hands them back. She drops to her knees, and at first I think she’s suddenly exhausted. Then I see her stand back up, a pair of metal-framed glasses in her hands. The lenses are the same rose color as Jewkes’s original pair. She hands them to the older man, and he dons them, looking around for a moment before handing them back.

“I think they’ll do, ma’am,” he tells her politely.

She nods to him, before setting them back on the ground and they sink slowly in. “The new Pillar of Fire will receive these shortly,” Gaia states to the room.

I truly have to marvel at the power the Pillars posses. To be able to create something so easily, and then transport it with the same ease, just seems mind-boggling. Hopefully Angela will be able to get her flames under control, before she melts the frames.

Gaia’s gaze pierces me, and I can tell she isn’t happy. “My orders to you were to retrieve the Mantle of Air, not kill the Pillar of Fire. The strain of having two pillars down was immense, and there’s no telling what the Outsider was doing to take advantage of the situation.”

For some reason, instead of being cowed by her attitude, I feel indignant. “Since the choice was kill or be killed,” I tell her firmly, meeting her dark gaze without flinching, “I won’t apologize for my actions. Alloria has the mantle, and you can sit here and chew me out for circumstances beyond my control, or you can help appoint the next Pillar of Air and reduce the strain on yourself even more.”

I expect her to yell at me, or berate me, or for the floor to open beneath me, swallowing me whole, but I don’t expect her to grin and nod at me.

“I hope your daughter has as much backbone as you do, Mr. Snow. You misunderstand the nature of a new pillar, but you are correct in that we shouldn’t waste anymore time.” Her voice is smooth and gentle, but there is an unmistakable solidity to it.

“My daughter?” I ask, looking to Sheila. Surely Gaia doesn’t plan on making one of the unborn twins the next Pillar of Air!

“Not from her,” Gaia corrects my thinking, but doesn’t offer a different solution. “When a new pillar is formed, they have to learn control of the power they inherit. Even now, your succubus is sitting in the deepest parts of her volcano, the rock walls around her turning molten, attempting to get the power she took under her control. The strain of supporting this world is still there as it always is. In truth, until she can control her power, the pull on my own strength is strong, if not worse. Creating the new Pillar of Air may well incapacitate me until she can control herself.”

“Forgive me, Mother Earth,” Becky asks, coming to stand next to me, “but who do you intend to take on the Mantle of Air?”

I place my arm around the very short brunette’s shoulders, wondering the same thing and pulling her tightly to my side.

I don’t like the gleam that shines in Gaia’s eyes as she looks at me. No, I realize after a moment, she’s not looking at me, but
through
me. I shiver inside, and thoughts start going through my mind, pieces falling into place as I get a sinking feeling.

“Lyden Snow, I believe it’s time you met your daughter,” Gaia says officiously. “She’s been hiding in your mind long enough.”

“Lyden, what’s she talking about?” Becky asks me, pulling away from me.

Shaking my head, I try to understand. It can’t be, I think. It can’t have really happened. We were in my mind at the time, and she died right afterwards. There’s no way she could have gotten pregnant and given birth in that short time.

But I had seen Lisa’s blonde hair in my Mens Mundi, and there was that unknown voice that spoke to me before when I was depressed.

“Are you there?” I mumble under my breath. Not sure what scares me more: knowing that someone may exist inside my mind without my knowledge, or knowing that I have a daughter I never knew about.

“I am, father,” that unknown voice responds hesitantly. My knees sag beneath me. I feel someone’s arms help support me as I’m laid back onto the floor.

“How?” I ask the question meaning so many different things, closing my eyes, and seeking entrance to my Mens Mundi. I hear other voices outside, demanding answers from someone, maybe me or maybe Gaia, I’m not sure. Ignoring them, I continue to turn inward.