Vanora had a dizzying moment where she found herself suspended high above the courtyard, then landed before a sweetly singing fountain.
From the candlelit depths of the palace several pale figures emerged. A stunning woman with raven black hair artfully arranged in braids and curls and wearing a long flowing ivory dress stepped into the moonlight. Intense gray eyes heavily lined in black surveyed the courtyard, then lifted to regard the steep ascent. Tilting her head, she motioned to a young man standing beside her.
“Kyros, bring him to me.”
The male vampire with the short dark hair leaped into the air and flew at Aeron’s pale form. Like a hawk sweeping up its prey, Kyros snatched Aeron from the rocks and delivered him to the feet of his mistress. Aeron immediately jerked free from the hold of the handsome youth.
“Lovely,” the woman said, a wicked curve to her red lips. “Like a statue come to life.”
Another woman with hair the color of wine and clad in blue glowered at Aeron with disdain. “How did you find our haven?”
“Althea, let’s be nice to this delicious newcomer.”
“Parthenia,” Althea started in protest.
“Shush, Althea.” Parthenia of the Seven Sisters stood before Aeron, the one who would one day kill her, appraising him with cold eyes despite the warmth in her smile. “Who are you?”
“My name is Aeron.”
“An odd name, and your accent is foreign.” Parthenia reached out to touch his ivory locks. “Despite your white hair, you’re very young.”
“I came here because I was sent,” Aeron said, ignoring her fingers tangling in his long tresses.
“Sent by who?”
“My mother. To fulfill my destiny. She says since I’m a child of the moon I am also destined to be a child of the night.”
Parthenia laughed, her elegant, sharp teeth flashing behind her lips. “Oh, she did? And who is your mother?”
“Arianrhod,” Aeron answered.
Parthenia inhaled so sharply it sounded like a hiss.
Althea shot a worried look toward Kyros. “Get the others.”
“No,” Parthenia ordered. “My sisters do not need to be a part of this.”
Clearly uncomfortable, Aeron dared to ask, “Why does my mother’s name concern you so?”
“She’s my father’s sister.” Parthenia appeared distracted, her fingers tugging lightly on the opal necklace about her neck.
The revelation struck Vanora like a blow and Aeron staggered backward from Parthenia in shock. Vanora thought of Leto’s story. Apollo and Artemis. It was Leto’s winged son who had the Seven Sisters with a witch. So if Artemis and Arianrhod were one and the same, Aeron wasn’t fully human. Vanora stared down at her hands and the flickering magic beneath her skin. Her entire existence was a lie.
“But you’re a goddess,” Aeron said slowly, confusion in his features.
“Demi-goddess. My father was a god. As was his sister.”
“My mother is mortal, but descended from the gods. That’s why she’s gifted with the sight.”
“Oh, no,” Parthenia answered, raising her eyebrows in amusement. “She’s bound in in a mortal body, but she is not mortal. How did you find this place?”
“My mother told me where to go,” Aeron mumbled.
“To this very spot?”
Flipping back his cloak, Aeron revealed something Vanora hadn’t seen before. An intricate map was stitched on the lining of the cloak. “She gave me this as a guide.”
Parthenia gripped the hem of the cloak and pulled it so she could see the map clearly. A frown puckered her forehead, and she studied him thoughtfully. “She sent you to become what I am?”
Obviously nervous now that he was in the presence of the deadly creature, Aeron nodded. “She said I am to be a child of the night. It’s my destiny.”
“Leto will not be pleased if you do this,” Althea hissed. “Arianrhod was vanquished for defying Leto and attempting to resurrect her brother.”
“Since when do the Seven Sisters bow to the will of Leto? We stand outside her designs,” Parthenia said, scowling.
“But so does he,” Althea reminded her.
“His mother would have returned to life my father, who damned me and my sisters to this existence. He created us, then killed us!” Parthenia’s eyes were dangerous as she stepped toward Aeron. “So why should I do as your mother desires? My sisters and I only survived because of our power. Why should we give it to you, the son of the woman who would have brought our murderer to life?”
Sweat beaded Aeron’s face and neck. Not just from exertion, but from the fear that was so vividly etched into his features and posture. “It’s my destiny.”
Parthenia slid a finger along his cheek, an amused smile on her face. “Oh, I don’t think it is.”
Anger wiped away fear in an instant. Aeron grabbed the vampire’s slender wrist and dragged her close to him. “It is my destiny to live forever and claim what is mine.”
Laughing, Parthenia glanced toward Althea. “He’s so like her, isn’t he?”
“Truly his mother’s child.”
Vanora feared for Aeron as the Seventh Sister with the cruel smile and wicked teeth toyed with him. Parthenia was definitely teasing him and Vanora wondered if Aeron realized it. His anger had wiped away his unease and he didn’t appear to comprehend the danger he was in.
“I have traveled very far to fulfill the prophecy of my mother. I know this is where I was destined to come,” Aeron said, his voice quavering with emotion.
“He is beautiful,” Althea said, lifting a shoulder in a dismissive way.
Kyros chuckled. “Full of blood.”
“If my mother was your father’s sister, then we are family,” Aeron said sharply. “Surely, you see that I belong here with you.”
“What I see is that you should die here,” Parthenia replied in a voice that was deceptively sweet in contrast to her words.
Lashing out like a viper with her free hand, Parthenia grabbed Aeron’s hair and effortlessly slammed him onto the ground. The vampire easily pinned Aeron to the flagstones and buried her face into his neck. Instantly the other two vampires were on him, tearing into his white flesh. Aeron thrashed beneath their assault. Planting his feet against the ground, he heaved his body upward, arching his back in an attempt to throw off the blood drinkers. He only managed to break the hold of Kyros, but the two women continued their feast.
Drawing his sword, Aeron swiped at Kyros as he scuttled forward to latch onto the albino once again. The blade caught the vampire’s throat, ripping it open. The cold blood splattered the floor just as more vampire women emerged from the entrance.
Though they couldn’t see, touch, or hurt her, Vanora stumbled backward, away from the violent struggle. Aeron managed to stab Althea and shove her away, but Parthenia was unshakable. Six beautiful, dark-haired women swarmed Aeron, covering his body with their own. Biting him, they lapped the wounds, drawing out his life and blood. The grotesque noise of the vampires slurping up their rich meal mingled with the soothing sound of water rushing over the fountain.
Kyros and Althea returned to the feast, their blood-stained faces feral with hunger.
Covering her face, Vanora turned away so she wouldn’t have to watch Aeron’s demise.
The sounds of struggle faded away and were replaced with the laughter of the women and their footfalls as they returned to the palace. Finally, Vanora focused her attention to Aeron.
The beautiful man was a gory ruin. Flesh tattered, skin gray from lack of blood, and gasping, Aeron sprawled beside the fountain where clouds of his blood drifted below the surface. Except for a few spatters, he was completely exsanguinated. Even the pronounced wounds were bloodless. Clasping her hands together under her chin, Vanora slowly approached him. The rattle in his chest spoke of his coming death. Falteringly, Vanora crouched beside Aeron unsure if he could see or hear her. What comfort could she bring him?
Had she changed the past? Was his fate
now to die? Had she saved the future by making him doubt his mother and somehow causing his own death?
Purple eyes clouded in agony and fear, Aeron stared at her through his white lashes. Maybe because he was so close to death, he could see her once again. “Is this...what...you warned me...of?”
Vanora shook her head. “No...I didn’t expect this. I thought they would change you, and you’d become the man who destroys my life.”
“Never,” Aeron hissed through dry lips. “I won’t...”
“Maybe not any longer,” Vanora whispered, wiping at the tears on her cheeks. Lifting her head she wearily regarded the vampires drifting through the lush interior the palace illuminated with candles and torches. “I didn’t think they would...do this.”
It was a struggle, but Aeron managed to lift his hand toward her. Vanora wrapped her fingers around his and rested it on her bosom. Again, the press of his hand flooded her with the sensation of completeness. It was as if she were half alive until he touched her and then she was whole.
“Stay with me...” Aeron begged.
“Of course.” Lying down, she curled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder while still holding his hand. How long would the spell hold after he died? A piece of her feared being trapped in the past forever, but the torment of her breaking heart wiped that minor thought away.
Together, they stared upward at the luminescent orb above.
The moon blurred across the sky and the stars rotated like a clock. Time was passing by.
“Remove his body,” Parthenia’s voice ordered. “I don’t want to see it out there anymore.”
Vanora raised her head to see Althea emerge from the palace. Hours must have passed, yet Aeron still breathed. Stretching her arm across his body as though to protect him from the vampire, Vanora fought the anguished sobs threatening to spill from her mouth. She wanted to be strong for Aeron in his death.
Althea leaned over to pick up Aeron, but hesitated when she saw him move his head to regard her. “Parthenia, he’s alive.”
“Nonsense. We drained him.” Parthenia strode out of the palace, her long dress billowing in the wind. She stopped abruptly when she saw Aeron grin at her.
“I’m not so easy to kill,” he said, mockingly.
“Is this because he’s Arianrhod’s son?” Althea asked taking a few cautious steps away from Aeron.
“He’s mortal,” Parthenia replied, uncertainty in her expression. “She’s in a mortal body. Her children are mortal. He should be dead!”
“But her magic...” Althea hurried to Parthenia’s side.
“What is going on?” one of the other vampire women asked from where she lingered near a pillar.
“Lampado, get Maia,” Parthenia ordered. “Something is amiss.”
The other vampire rushed inside.
“Why Maia?” Althea tilted her head to peer at Parthenia curiously.
“Maia is more intuitive. She can discern things I can’t.”
Shivering from the crushing pressure of her despair, Vanora watched as not one, but all six of the remaining Seven Sisters came to Parthenia’s side. They all resembled each other with olive complexions and thick dark hair. Their eyes were different colors from the golden gaze of the most petite sister to the obsidian gaze of the one who approached Aeron.
“Maia, why does he live?” Parthenia demanded in a harsh tone.
Maia crouched beside Aeron and rested her hand over his heart. Closing her eyes, she was very still. “No blood, yet he lives.”
“My destiny is to be one of you,” Aeron growled at Maia. “You cannot fight my destiny.”
“What if he’s right?” one of the other sisters queried, nibbling worriedly on her thumb.
Parthenia knocked the woman’s hand away from her mouth. “Protis, act with dignity.” The troubled look upon Parthenia’s face did not change as she approached where Aeron lay. “Maybe we were hasty in our judgment. His mother is our father’s sister.”
“But Leto punished her with mortality,” Maia pointed out. “He should be dead, yet he lives.”
Aeron’s fingers tightened on Vanora’s hand as fear unfurled anew inside her. Beneath their hands, the cloak of his father pulsed with the spell of his mother. Was the enchantment she cast keeping him alive? Vanora studied the garment beneath his body and was stunned to see the stitching created by magic was even more intricate than before.
“We can’t fight prophecy,” one of the other sisters decided.
“Glaucia, how do we know that she truly prophesized this?” Parthenia seemed uneasy with the turn of events and unsure.
“He’s not dying. The Fates have not severed his life thread. It’s obvious he is destined to be with us,” Glaucia answered. “What more proof do we need?”
Protis and Maia nodded in agreement.
“Thread of life,” Vanora murmured, her fingers tracing the embroidery that had gradually altered during Aeron’s journey.
The old woman at the temple had said something about the tapestry the Fates had made for Aeron unraveling. Vanora let out a cry of horror as she realized the truth. Aeron’s mother had thwarted the Fates and stolen the thread of Aeron’s life. As he’d defied death along his journey, that thread had unraveled from the tapestry designed for him and created a new future that was woven into the cloak.
“It’s a lie,” Vanora moaned. “It’s all a lie.”
“This is my destiny,” Aeron insisted, his grip crushing.
Nearby, Althea nestled into Parthenia’s side. “He is beautiful and strong. We need more of our kind to defend ourselves, my darling. If the Fates have decided for him to join us, should we not take him into our coterie?”
Lightly touching her lover’s cheek, Parthenia’s grey eyes narrowed. “This is true.”
“I will make him,” Glaucia said, briskly moving toward Aeron.
“No,” Parthenia commanded, holding out one hand to stop her sister. “I am the first born. I am the strongest. If he is to join us, let him be reborn through my blood.”
“Aeron, please don’t do this...please...” Vanora urged in desperation.
“This is my fate,” Aeron replied, holding out his hand to Parthenia as she kneeled at his side.
“You will serve me and be at my side.” Parthenia wrapped her fingers about his wrist and tugged him upward into her arms. The vampire caressed his face with her long fingers. “You will be my beautiful son, won’t you?”
“I will fulfill my destiny as I stand at your side.”
Parthenia sliced open her neck. Blood poured from the laceration to stain her white dress. Cradling Aeron, she pressed his lips to the pulsing wound. “Drink and be immortal.”
Vanora screamed in anguish, realizing that all was lost.
She couldn’t change the past.
Her only hope was to change her destiny.
White fire engulfed her, agony consuming her body and mind. Vanora was torn away from Aeron’s grip and hurtled into a cold abyss.
She couldn’t breathe.
She couldn’t move.
She was dying...
...and then she stood before a fire in a clearing.
Arianrhod, Aeron’s mother in mortal guise, stood on the opposite side of the writhing flames. Shuddering from the aftermath of the excruciating pain of her journey, Vanora slumped to the ground.
Instinctively, she understood that Arianrhod had done something to interfere with spell cast by the Oracle and had brought her here.
Dragging air into her lungs, Vanora attempted to speak, but could not.
Arianrhod twisted her hands in arcane designs and spoke in a language that Vanora could not understand this time. The flames spiraled and wave into ornate patterns. The cry of a baby startled Vanora and she managed to crawl forward to see a naked infant at Arianrhod’s feet. Pale as the moon, the boy kicked his feet and waved his hands irritably. Arianrhod didn’t pay any heed to the albino baby, but continued her ritual.
A tendril of milky white flam
e leisurely slid out of the mouth of the child. It glowed like the moon suspended in the night sky.
It was the child’s soul.
As Vanora watched, the gossamer thread of Aeron’s soul was interwoven with the spell being cast by Arianrhod. Soon the spell filled the clearing with its radiant light.
With one last word, Arianrhod slapped her hands together and the spell exploded, knocking Vanora onto her back. Hyperventilating, she watched the spell seep into the very fabric of reality and disappear.
The witch let out a sob of relief, then bent down to pick up her son. Holding baby Aeron on her hip, she smiled at the child sweetly. “It’s done.”
Vanora rolled onto her side and watched the witch walk away from the dying flames of the bonfire and into the dark woods.
“This is how I created you,” Arianrhod voice said, and then stepped into Vanora’s view. This version of Arianrhod didn’t look like a mortal woman, but resembled a goddess in a white gown of gossamer. Like Aeron, she was ivory-skinned, white haired, and amethyst-eyed. An owl perched on one shoulder, watching Vanora with keen amber eyes. “When I saw that he was doomed to die, I knew I could never allow that happen.”
“You stole the thread of his life from the Fates and made a new future for him,” Vanora whispered finally able to catch her breath.
“Yes. You sorted it out.”
“Did he know? That the cloak...the embroidery...”
“He believed it was a protection spell against death. He didn’t understand what I’d done.”
“So he knew he wouldn’t die at the hands of the Seven Sisters.” Vanora managed to sit up and cocked her head to look upon the moon goddess.
“Of course.”
“You gave him a false prophecy and made him believe it.” Vanora was horrified, yet somehow understood why she’d done it. “If he believed it, then he would do whatever you told him so you could save him from his true fate.”
In Darkness We Must Abide: The Complete Third Season Page 10
