Tenelle: Children of the Gods Book 2

by Patricia Halladay

  “Tenelle, how is this possible? There should be at least 28 souls for us to collect, but they are all here and walking around again. How?” Hades asks looking at me.

  “Chaos gave the last of his power to give them back their lives. He said they should never have died, and the Fates won’t be mad because they were all innocent. He is gone now, finally at peace. He said for us to use his powers wisely and to make changes on how things are done with our children. For without them, we are nothing.” I say in a low voice, so only Hades will hear me. He gives me a small smile of understanding.

  “Would the way of finding mates be one that needs to change? I know a few of us have already started to change it from our children and allow them to choose their own instead. Much like the humans do. My Vampire children already do it this way, and it is working out well. Once they find the one they want to spend their life with, we bind them. Persephone’s harpies have always been like that and their numbers have stayed consistent for millennia.” Hades says walking with me over to check on the children that Chaos brought back.

  “That is one for sure. It was why Trin did all of this. He didn’t understand how Mary-Anne was chosen for him, when she couldn’t protect herself from a dog.” I say and then it hits me. “Mitchel!?!” I scream to see him, and the others come running.

  “What’s wrong? Are you ok? Are the pups ok?” Mitchel asks frantically placing his hand on my baby bump.

  “You knew Trin when he was younger right? Was there ever a dog attack either on him or by him?” I ask looking at him.

  “Yea when he was 19, he ripped a little girls dog apart why?” Mitchel asks with furrowed eyebrows.

  “Are you sure it belonged to the girl and wasn’t attacking her? Could that girl have been Mary-Anne?” I ask with suspicion.

  “Holy shit! Just after that Mary-Anne started hanging out with Trin. So yea it could have been, why?” Mitchel asks with surprise.

  “He rejected Mary-Anne as his mate because she couldn’t protect herself from being attacked by a dog. He wanted to have the choice of who his mate was, not have it decided for him. We need to talk to Luna Jessica. She would have matched them; I honestly don’t understand how they balanced each other out either. He question Chaos about that.” I say realizing this was all because Trin’s heart was broken by a bad mate selection.

  “I noticed that there was two stars that died tonight. Was one Trin and the other Chaos?” Enox asks looking hurt that one of his dragon brothers couldn’t be saved. Trin may have been an asshole, but at one point he must have been a good person. It was just unlucky that he was given a mate that wasn’t able to complete him.

  “Yes, Trin was the first. The second was Chaos, after he healed the innocent lives lost and gave them the chance to live their lives completely like the Fates had planned for them.” I tell him rubbing his arm to help him heal also.

  “We should get everyone over to the Great Theater to rest, heal and eat. It’s going to be at least a week for all the earth children to help rebuild and collect valuables from the damaged homes. We should also stop and see Surrey to have her check you and the pups out, Tenelle.” Nazareth says to us after taking a quick scan of the destroyed living dens.

  “Yes that is a good idea. Lets get them moving over there. The pack was able to get a ton of the rooms repaired and cleaned up. There should be enough room for everyone, including our new clan too.” Levi says. When he turns to start walking, he howls and there is an immediate response of roars, howls, and other calls.

  “Wow looks like there is a lot of changes going to happen.” Hades says. “I am going to go on over, Nimara has already headed there. Her pups and mates were sent there as soon as the attack happened. She wasn’t taking any chances.” He says and fades out. We detour to the clan hospital I want to make a pit stop and talk to a certain crimson red gargoyle. The walk was depressing as I look at the destroyed village. I see lights sparking in and out of the dens, and totes sitting in front slowly being filled.

  “What are they doing?” Levi asks looking at me.

  “Jade must have asked her Shadow Bright clan to help gather any belongings not destroyed for the families. So their den can be rebuilt faster. What a brilliant young woman she is!” Enox says giving praise to the Shadow Bright Leader. Her ears must have been burning from us talking about her, because she soon comes to find me.

  “Goddess, we have clean and cleared half of the destroyed dens. The Shadow Walkers are taking the belonging over to the Great Theater to the families.” Jade says and then looks at her hands before continuing, “Tenelle, I would like to give up my position as Leader.”

  “Thank you Jade, are you feeling better? And may I ask why you wish to leave?” I ask giving her an encouraging smile.

  “No, I am not feeling any better. I understand why he was seeking the power of Chaos, but I would never go this far and hurt innocent people. I want to find my mate, or someone to spend the rest of my life with. I can’t do that sitting in one place. The Shadow clan’s don’t travel for conferences and gatherings like other supernatural’s do, so it makes it harder for us to find our other half. I would like my sister to take the position from me, she has found her mate. It will make the clan stronger with a mated leader.” Jade says looking ashamed for not finding her mate. I smile sweetly at her; I know my choice will help her. I didn’t sever the mate bond completely, when they find someone to spend their life with, the mate bond will take full effect and will keep them bound. The difference is what happens before and after. They will find someone like the humans do, fall in love the same way, but they won’t die if something happens to their mate, instead the mate bond will disappear and reform with someone new if they chose to have another.

  “Jade, I want to let you in on a little secret.” I say. Jade snaps her head up so quickly I swear it should have went flying off her shoulders backwards. “For those of you who have not found your given mate, you now get to experience it like the humans do. The mate bond will not form until the two of you chose to be together forever. That is to protect both beings, I wouldn’t want to have your mate be the biggest asshole in the world. I would prefer not to find out your mate beats you and treats you horribly. So for the mate bond to bind you like it normally would both people have to agree. Otherwise I would have to kill them for it, well after letting Zed fuck up their minds first.” Her eyes start to glisten as tears start to streak her face.

  “Thank you goddess! But why did you choose to do this? Will we still die if our mate does?” Jade asks. I can see worry in her face.

  “No Jade, I made it like that of the humans. The only difference is the mate bond binds you together, you will still mark your mate and they will still mark you. Everything about the mate bond will remain the same once marked, it’s just how you find the person and what happens afterwards changes. I wanted to correct that, I hate it that good people, either die or their soul dies, and they become dangerous rogues. That isn’t fair, they should have the chance to rebuild and continue to live. Like Nimara does for the rogues that live on the outskirts of the clan territory, they get the chance to live and move forward in their life.” I say and I can see the understanding of what I want for my children cross her facial expression.

  “Are we the only ones who will be given this choice?” She asks worrying about messing up the mate bond for others.

  “No Little One, I am giving it to my children as well!” Nimara says walking up to us as we get to the hospital doors.

  “Nimara, how are the girls and your mates?” Enox asks.

  “They are good, the girls are a little pissed that they didn’t get to help, but there is no way I am letting my 5 week old pups help kill a bloodlust rogue dragon! Crazy little fledglings they are, they take after their daddies!” Nimara says laughing.

  “I am pretty sure out of all of us, you have the recorder for the youngest kill total. You were 7, almost 8 years old I do believe, with a kill total of 10 to 15 wolves.” I say giving Nimara a sly s
mile and she sticks her tongue out in response. “So I would say they take after their momma more than their daddies. Crazy ass lycan!” I say laughing when Nimara flips me the bird. As we continue our family fun bickering Mitchel brings us back to our previous conversation.

  “So why the sudden change in how everyone is to find their mates?” Mitchel asks looking at Nimara and I.

  “Trin attacked because Mary-Anne was his goddess given mate, but she didn’t balance him out like a mate is supposed to. Nimara, I need to speak to your mom about that pairing. Something seemed wrong with it.” I say looking to my cousin. It is so weird to think that we are not just family figuratively but also literally because of the gods.

  “I already summoned her; I have a tone of questions for her too. I also summoned the Fates, this may have been something the sisters did, and now their mothers are having to help clean up their mess in more ways than just my girls training.” Nimara says looking angry that the Sisters of Fate may have fucked a few of us over badly. We continue talking while walking down the stair to the second protected underground floor of medical cells. We can hear a lot of moaning and grunting. I am taking it Geo, Ella and Thor are still busy mating.

  “Ok who wants to interrupt them? I know if it were me, I would kill someone for interrupting me with Tenelle.” Enox says, which surprises us all. He is normally very reserved. There is a rush of “not me” that comes from Mitchel, Levi, and Nazareth. While Nimara laughs, shakes her head, and holds her hands up while taking a step backwards. Which just leaves me in the end.

  “I will I guess. They won’t get mad at their goddess…” I say then hearing Ella beg for more I add, “Maybe... not too sure about that though.” As I reach to knock on the door. It swings open before I get the chance. Thor is standing there with a sheet wrapped around his waist and a dopy ass grin.

  “Guess you dodged a bullet there Tenelle.” Levi says snickering.

  “Goddess, is everything ok? Do you need us to come help kill Trin?” Geo asks getting up, after managing to get his pants on while still under the sheets left on the bed. Ella looks like she passed out cold just seconds before, but she too has a very happy look on her face.

  “Oh no Geo, things are over and Trin is gone. I took him to see Chaos, before his star finally burned out. Giving his powers away unfortunately weakened his ability to hold his resting place in the heavens. Trin was never able to get them in the first place, Chaos had given them to those he truly trusted and thought would do great things with it.” I say smiling softly before I continue, “I just wanted to check on you three, there was a lot of damage done to the village, and the hospital is running on the backup generators until we can get the solar panels fixed and power restored.”

  “Oh ok, was wondering why the lights were dimmer. No worries, we are fine and now completely bonded. I will go find Zed and find out what he wants us to do. We should probably help with clean up or help the dream weavers heal the children that got hurt. I don’t imagine many weren’t affected by this.” Geo say looking to Thor.

  “I agree, there are probably quite a few children that were either hurt directly or saw a family member hurt. They will end up suffering Night Terrors if we don’t get this taken care of.” Thor adds.

  “Zed has that covered guys, but he might need to you help with it anyways. We are all stretched thin, once the three of you are rested and ready, come to the Great Theater. Everyone is there and I am sure Sue would love extra hands to help feed, heal and care for the two clans.” Nazareth says looking at both the guys.

  “We will come right now, let’s get Ella wrapped up and we can carry her over. That way we can help, and she is still close by for when she wakes up.” Thor tells Geo, who agrees fully.

  “Wait you said two clans. Silver Shadow Blood clan is Nimara’s, so who is the other clan?” Geo asks shocked at the new information.

  “The Solar Celestial Guard, it’s kind of like Alpha King Brody’s Royal Elite Guards. But we have a direct link and service to the gods. We are basically their Secret Service personnel.” Mitchel tells him. Geo gapes at Mitchel like he just told him the earth is truly flat.

  “Woah that is cool!” Geo says after pick up his jaw from the floor. We leave the guys to get fully dressed and to get Ella taken care of. As we make our way over to the Great Theater, I noticed a lot of the mess and destroyed dens were cleared.

  “Wow Jade, you and your clan work fast” Levi says.

  “Actually, Ella’s clan have been helping a lot too. The Shadow Walkers and Shadow Brights have being zipping in and out of the ruined dens quickly to get the clan members belongings. Once we have them, the Earth gargoyles go in and close the dens and bless the land again to rebuild on.” Jade says, turning slightly pink with blush. The walk to the Theater didn’t take as long as it usually does from the village. Dusk became a little impatient and wanted Surrey to do a full and thorough check on the fledglings and me, so he shifted and made me ride on his back. Honestly, the others agreed with him and we all ran over instead. Mitchel, Haze and Jade had a bit of a race to see who could get there first and not have to help with kitchen duty. Even though, Enox, Dusk and I weren’t part of the race, we beat them anyways and my mom was too busy laughing at Haze trying to wrestle a 4 in tall Shadow Bright for the last white chocolate chunk cookie, that she excused them from kitchen duty for the night. Although they would have to help cook in the morning.

  We met up with Surrey in the library, it was the easiest place to house private beds for the children and still provide enough shadows for the Shadow Walkers and the Dream Weavers to keep working to help the children through their nightmares.

  “All right Goddess of Night, please remove your shirt and lay on the bed. I will be right back with your mom’s ultrasound equipment. Hopefully, it works the same on you as it does eggs. When your mom had all the fledglings here she used it to keep track of the fledglings development, and adjusted the heat needed based on what she saw. With your mates not being other Birds of Prey, it might be different for you.” Surrey says, before walking out of the small examination area. I just hope everything is all good.

  “Surrey, do you think my cycle will change also? I mean, usually we are mated with other Birds of Prey or dragons, and then the cycle stay to that of the female species. Would it be the same for me also?” I ask through mind-link her as she is finding the ultrasound equipment.

  “Not too sure Tenelle, but I think the best course of action is to ask Chronos. Maybe ask Nimara if she could talk to her dad about it. He would be able to give you a better indication.” She replies back. So my next course of action is to talk to my cousin about this. I could also ask when the council is called to discuss Chaos’s revelation and his soul leaving this world completely.

  Chapter 17

  ~ Tenelle ~

  Three weeks later…

  The Great Theater is filled to capacity, and we have large outdoor screens for those who couldn’t get in. This gathering is even bigger than the Supernatural Conference held every year by the Elders. There are people here from every faction from around the world. We even got it set up with a live feed for those who couldn’t make it. Even with all that in place, there is still a lot of chatter and noise making the sound deafening. I could see Nadia struggling with it, as she stands beside me. Levi and Nazareth’s pack take their duty seriously. After the battle with Trin, we were able to get the clan village cleaned up, a new pack territory was set up for our pack and I found out that with my mates not being Birds of Prey, I was going to be subjected to a longer cycle than normal. Not too much longer but still longer, 9 weeks and that was because of Levi and Nazareth being wolves and twins.

  We also found out that Nadia was expecting her first pup. I honestly thought they would have had a pup sooner, but I was told it was because their Alpha’s didn’t have their mate. It has been a long standing ritual within their pack, that the new generation wouldn’t have pups until their leaders had theirs. So with us expecting, a lot of the mat
ed female guards are now expecting too. I honestly feel sorry for the men of this pack, mood swings, 2 a.m. cravings and an ever increasing workload to get more of the living quarters cleaned and renovated.

  After everything else, we held competition to assign our warriors to their respective gods and goddesses. It was interesting to say the least, two of the youngest members challenged Watson and Nadia for their positions as my protectors. Let’s say that did not go over well and those two poor kids are still healing.

  “Wow kid, what has you so preoccupied that you haven’t heard us calling your name?” Apollo says laughing. I hadn’t even heard he come up beside me.

  “Oh sorry. Just going over everything that has happened since the battle. I can’t believe all the amazing things that have happened. Is it time to begin to council meeting?” I ask looking slightly embarrassed.

  “Yes, so let’s get this party started shall we?” Apollo says wiggling his eyebrows at me. Giggling at my cousin, I walk up the stair with him and Nimara, as we take our places among the rest of the gods and goddesses. It is so odd to be sitting here, instead of Stella and Jessica. Both Nyx and Gaia have stepped down and taken to just having a quiet nights in. I guess retirement, even for the gods, can have its perks. They didn’t give up their immortality, they passed their titles, positions, and powers on to us. There will be several more in the coming years and it should help balance out the species.

  “Silences Please!” Zeus booms, and the endless chatter dies down quickly. “Thank you for all coming to this gathering. We waited to have this much needed meeting of the councils after the events of this past year. For those of you who are not use to the cold weather of Canada, please let us know if you need any help staying safe and warm.” He continues. “May I please have Tenelle, the goddess of night come forth.” At Zeus’s request I stand from my seat and take center stage, to give everyone the news.