The Gathering

by Fiore, L. A.

  “Who the hell did this?” Josiah roared. “Who fucking did this?”

  Cyril and Esther were dead; knife marks across their necks. Rage simmered even as my heart broke, but now wasn’t the time for that. The spirits of Esther and Cyril stood across the room. Whiskey-colored eyes found mine.

  “You know the one responsible,” Esther said.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you see them?” Bain asked.

  “Yes, they’re both here.”

  Josiah’s eyes widened; there were tears in them. “Cyril is here?”

  “Yes,” I replied softly.

  I felt my mother before she shimmered into existence. Esther and Cyril both saw her and bowed their heads. Josiah’s reaction was slightly different. “Who the hell is that?”

  “My mother, Hecate.”

  He was shaken. I understood. I wondered if we’d hit the wall, given Josiah more than he could handle, but he rallied. “I’m sorry.”

  Her expression when looking at Josiah I understood. Her focus shifted to Esther and Cyril. “You have a choice. If you wish to return, I will grant it.”

  “I’ve lived long enough.” Esther’s gaze slid to me. “You remember now. You will make it right.”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I have fulfilled my purpose.” Tired eyes turned to her grandson. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  “In your shoes I would have too,” Cyril’s voice was pained, but there was rage burning in his eyes.

  “I sense you wish to return,” Hecate guessed.

  His words were clipped when he said, “Yes.”

  Esther crossed the room, but she didn’t stop in front of Hecate. She came to me. Her old hands reached for my own. “I’m giving you my magic because once upon a time, it had been yours.”

  The little shack shook as her power was consumed into me, rushing through my veins. Not just her magic but also that of her ancestors.

  “What’s happening?” Josiah asked.

  It was Bain who answered. There was reverence in his voice when he said, “She’s taking the magic back.”

  “Back?” Josiah asked.

  “It was hers,” Hecate offered.

  “How’s that possible?” Josiah pressed.

  “Because she’s Earth-Mother.”

  Josiah had no reply to that; he looked stunned. I didn’t help his condition when I shared with him, “Cyril wants to come back.”

  Stunned turned into awe and hope when Josiah asked, “He can do that?”

  “My mother is the goddess of the crossroads and birth among other things. Yes, she can make it so. He wants to finish it.”

  “It won’t happen right away; it will take a few days,” My mother cautioned.

  “Who did this to them?” Josiah was the cop now.

  “One of our own.” Bain was livid. I’d never seen him looking as he did, but I understood it. Betrayal was a bitter pill.

  Josiah’s attention snapped to him. “What do you mean?”

  “This place is protected. Only one of us can enter.”

  Josiah’s face turned red with rage. “Who?”

  I looked across the room to Brock. It was with a heavy heart that I answered, “Aine.”

  Pain sliced across his features, but it was Hecate who said, “That’s not possible.”

  Her reaction surprised me. She was so adamant.

  “Why isn’t it possible?” Bain asked what I was thinking.

  “Hades was the one to send Aine to you. She’s one of his most loyal warriors. If she did this, something was done to her.”

  Her signature was all over the bodies, but I didn’t feel the darkness in her either. Was it possible she had been changed, like the creatures, and the people acting on their baser instincts?

  “You think it was Dr. Ellis,” I asked.

  “He’s human, but he was working with someone who knew magic,” Esther commented. “Perhaps he needed more knowledge or different knowledge.”

  “Bart,” I said then clarified, “I don’t know his story, but Bart was Dr. Ellis’ right hand. Whatever they did, they did it together. He must have been the link to the magic, but Aine killed him.”

  “He needed to replace Bart. It sounds possible.”

  I agreed with Bain; it sounded more than possible. “So he did something to change Aine.”

  “He’s quite knowledgeable, the creatures, the scarring on the frontal lobe, so it isn’t hard to believe he did something to make her a minion,” Esther added.

  “So if he changed her, maybe we can change her back.” The hope in Brock’s tone was painful to hear.

  “We can try, but first we have to take her out of the equation,” I said.

  There was agreement in the silence.

  “What now?” Josiah asked.

  I met his hard stare. “We finish it.”

  I sat in the root cellar; my hand on the roots of the tree that started it all. We hadn’t been what sparked evil. Bain had been right. And we didn’t create the world; we didn’t create humanity, just a small part of it; we made it possible for others too. We gave light to the darkness and from something as simple as love. It was love that drew me to him, love that kept him with me through my very long life. In a world spiraling out of control, it was still love that guided me. I’d finish what I started so that others would have a chance to live a lifetime like we had. I hadn’t gotten to tell Bain what I learned about our child; with Esther and Cyril, my priorities shifted, but he would come to me. I would share with him the part of our past we hadn’t known. And I would love him because we were running out of time too.

  The fairy shimmered to existence, her head nodding in greeting.

  “Thank you for coming.”

  “We didn’t know. Ivy, we didn’t know.”

  “I know. Even knowing what would happen, I’d make the wish again.”

  “You’ve said.”

  “I’ve a request.”

  “As you wish.”

  I felt him and hurried from the cellar, through the house, throwing myself into his arms. “I love you. I have always loved you.” I was crying, tears rolling down my cheeks as I kissed his face…every inch. I had so much to tell him, but not now. Right now, this moment, I wanted only him.

  “Ivy?”

  “I have loved you, and I have waited for you, hoping for just a glimpse of you in a stranger or a friend. My whole life, my very long, long life, I have loved only you. I will love you even when the stars burn out and the earth dies, when life recycles and starts again. I will love you.”

  He framed my face. “What are you going to do?”

  “Right now, love you because I have waited so long to be here again.”

  I couldn’t read him, but I would never forget how he looked just then. “Bain?”

  He reached into his pocket. “I was going to wait, but it’s what we’re fighting for.” It was the ring, the beautiful moonstone ring from Dahlia’s shop. The tears fell harder. “You’re mine; you’ve always been mine.” He then dropped to his knees. The action not lost on me, the alpha making himself subservient…to me. I couldn’t stop the tears. “Make me yours.”

  I dropped to my knees. “You are. You always have been,” I whispered.

  He felt so good. I moved into him, his big hand curled around my neck, his thumb stroking my jaw, his other at my hip as he ground into me from behind. We were under the moon, binding our union in the place where it all started. The hand at my hip moved down, his thumb manipulating my clit as his hips continued to build the pleasure. I grabbed his arm and dug my nails in as I came. He growled, and his hips moved faster. He buried his face at my shoulder; his lips brushed my neck before his teeth sank into my flesh, and his body stilled as the orgasm swept through him.

  We didn’t move, stayed like that for a few minutes, bound and connected. He pressed a kiss where he bit me. His hand reached for mine, playing with his ring.

  “I saw this. I unpacked it by mistake, and I fell in love.”

 
; “I’ve had the stone for a really long time. Like the painting, I held onto it.”

  I glanced back at him; his focus was on the ring. “When did you have it made?”

  “The day you moved in.” He kissed me; his tongue lingered to taste the corner of my mouth. “You’re mine.”

  “I always was.”

  I immediately missed him when he pulled out, but he turned and wrapped me in his arms. “What are you up to, Ivy?”

  I wanted to tell him, but I couldn’t. We had to finish it, and he wouldn’t like how I planned to. I touched his face, his ring winked up at me. “I dreamt of you. In Annecy, a little village in France, I waited every day at a café with sapphire blue umbrellas. Many of my dreams have been foreshadowing, so maybe one day, we’ll meet at that little café.” I pressed a kiss in his palm. “Maybe one day I’ll look up and see you coming for me.”

  “I will always come for you. Whatever happens, I will find you.” He sealed that vow with a kiss.

  “Talk to me.” Bain’s big body was curled around mine. We had to get back. We had to finish it, but I moved deeper into his body, savored one of those pockets of time with him because it was coming to an end.

  I shared with him our story.

  He sat up. “A child?” His eyes were bright. “Our child?”

  “Yes.”

  He stood, pulled on his jeans and started to pace. “It’s been so long since I was human, I thought I lost the ability to feel as they do.” He glanced back. “I’m not sorry they granted your wish. People are dying, the world is falling apart, but I’m not sorry.”

  “I’m not sorry either. There are two that are direct descendants of ours…actually three.”

  “Josiah,” he guessed. “And his daughter.”

  “How did you know?”

  “He’s a lot like you.”

  “And you,” I added.

  “Who else?”

  “The only other one to answer the call. I met him once upon a time.”

  His eyes went wide then he grinned. “He’s going to love this.”

  Pulling on his tee, I walked to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Hecate said they can’t see you because you were born of another pantheon, a human from deities that predate her.”

  His brows furrowed. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “She said it was close to the beginning when we met, but the world didn’t know humans yet…not ones she helped bring into existence. And Esther had said that the world was older than we knew and man and gods have come and gone.” He grew thoughtful. “What are you thinking?”

  But before he could answer, the first snowflake fell.

  “Is that snow?” Bain asked, as he looked up to the heavens.”

  “Yes.”

  His eyes met mine. “The vaccine.”

  The skies opened. Despite the heat, snow blanketed everything. People came from their houses, stood in the streets, letting the snowflakes coat them. It would go down in the history books as the most bizarre weather conditions in New Orleans’ history, but it was also part of what saved the city.

  Dahlia called to me as soon as I entered Hunter’s Moon. “We have a new employee.”

  I smiled when Aria came from the back with Lilith. My heart hurt in a good way seeing Bain in her eyes. She was mine, ours. What events brought her here I didn’t know, but I knew why she was here. It was all linked.

  “Ivy, this is Aria,” Dahlia offered.

  “It’s so nice to meet you.” My eyes burned from unshed tears, but I controlled them. I didn’t want to freak her out.

  My heart twisted in recognition. Like me, she showed no emotion. Not fear or shyness or impatience. She stood stoically, but I understood why. She wasn’t a monster; she wasn’t emotionless; she felt too much and for one so young the only way to keep from going mad was to block it. Aria wasn’t just human either. She was the one I’d been waiting for.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” she whispered softly.

  A tear escaped, but I wiped it away. She noticed but said nothing. “I’m taking orders for the café. Would you like to help me bring back the food?” I asked.

  She toed the floor. “Okay.”

  By the end of the day, I was in love. Aria was a beautiful child and so sweet. I wasn’t surprised she was Josiah’s daughter. I was so far removed and still I felt pride…a legacy I never knew I’d be leaving.

  “Dahlia told me about the celebration,” she said as we rearranged the ring case.

  “The fete, yes. You’re going, right?”

  “Yeah. Daddy already said I could.”

  I leaned closer. “I’ve never been to one.”

  “Me either.”

  “Oh good. We can experience it together,” I suggested.

  “That’s a good idea.”

  She had anxiety. It wasn’t paralyzing, but she definitely held onto things and worried. I wondered why someone so young was so anxious and suspected it had to do with her mother. The door opened, and Josiah walked in. She changed instantly, the anxiety just slipping from her.

  “Dad.”

  He caught her as she ran in for a hug. The sight hit me hard, so hard my eyes burned. It was so familiar.

  “I see you’ve met my daughter.”

  I studied them both, that ache growing, but I loved seeing them together. “I have had the pleasure.”

  “Aria, can you give Ivy and me a few minutes.”

  Anxiety crept in, but she smiled and said, “Sure. I’ll see if Dahlia needs help.”

  He watched her go, so much love came from him. “She’s my world.” His eyes connected with mine. “They both are. I have to protect them.”

  “My crows will watch over them.”

  He looked unsure.

  “Trust me. They won’t let anything happen to either of them.”

  “Okay.”

  There was something bothering me. “How is it that something like the creation of those creatures has stayed hidden? The logistics are one thing, secret experiments I get, but people died. Lots of them based on the numbers at Misty Vale, so why did that never raise a flag?”

  “You think he has humans working with him.”

  “I do, but why did no one ever report a loved one missing.” He paled. “What are you thinking, Josiah?”

  “The homeless. He’s using the homeless because there’s no one to miss them.”

  Of course.

  The door opened, and Jareth walked in. The few shoppers in the shop looked over and started to preen. He didn’t notice them. He was focused on the sheriff, his gaze turning to me. I wasn’t sure what was going on in his head, but then he held up his fisted hand. I opened mine, and he dropped something into my palm, the third piece of the symbol.

  “Not sure why I had it,” he said.

  Because he, like Josiah and Aria, was ours.

  “One piece remaining,” he said then added, “We need to find that ghost of your past.”

  I already had.

  37

  Bain

  How long have we known each other?” Jareth asked while we did a sweep.

  “For most of my immortal life.”

  “Seems funny a lycan and a vampire, but you’re like a brother to me.”

  I eyed him. Not quite brothers. “It’s not like you to be sentimental. What’s going on?”

  “I saw Ivy earlier. Don’t know why I didn’t sense it before, but it practically knocked me over when I entered the shop.”

  “What did?”

  He stopped walking, studied me for a few minutes. “You didn’t understand how the sheriff was involved in all of this, but he’s involved because he shares her blood.” He held my stare before he added, “Bain, he’s yours too.”

  I stopped walking. “I know.”

  It wasn’t often one surprised a vampire. “You do?” he asked surprised.

  “Yeah. He isn’t the only one.”

  His eyes narrowed in thought before widening slightly in understanding. “How’s t
hat possible?”

  “A wish, fairies, and a well-meaning goddess of birth, who happens to be your grandmother.”

  “Are you saying Hecate is Ivy’s mother?’

  “Yes, and Hades is her father. And both of them are your grandparents in a sense.”

  “And I have a lycan for a father who I happen to be older than. Talk about a fucked up family tree.” He looked away, but not before I saw how bright his eyes were. “I’ve always thought of you as family,” he said, his head turning, allowing me to see the tear that escaped. “I’m happy knowing you really are.”

  “Me too.” I dropped my hand on his shoulder, gave it a squeeze then said, “I’m still going to kick your ass though.”

  “I can take you, old man.”

  “We need to tell Josiah.”

  “My brother, the human.”

  “And niece.”

  “He has a daughter?”

  “Yeah.”

  I’d never seen Jareth looking as he did, but I understood it. Like lycans, vampires couldn’t have children. A niece was the next best thing. “She’s going to love me.”

  He wasn’t wrong. Fucking vampires.

  Ivy

  I found Jareth walking along the bayou. He turned to me and smiled. “Ivy.” His eyes narrowed as he studied me. “Or should I say, Mom.”

  I fell into step beside him. “Do you remember when you were little?”

  By the way his hands fisted, I knew he did. “It isn’t something I like to think about, but yes, I remember how close I came to death at the hand of humans.”

  Of course, part of what fueled his intolerance of them. I couldn’t blame him because he had seen them at their very worst.

  When he realized where I was going with my questions, his head snapped to me. There was a touch of reverence when he said, “It was you. You saved me.”

  “Yes. It’s what family does.”

  He looked away but not before I saw the smile. I took his hand. He linked our fingers. We continued our walk comforted to be doing so together.

  Josiah

  Jasmine popped her head into my office. “Have you talked to Ivy?”

  Ivy was Earth-Mother. I hadn’t gotten my head around that though I believed it. Just like I was still reeling from having been in the presence of a goddess who just happened to be Ivy’s mother. In the course of only a few months, my life had been flipped upside down, but I was learning that despite all the ugly, there was a hell of a lot of beauty too. “No, why?”