by Lynn Landes
Drake stands up and the throne room falls silent. They are shocked when Caderyn calls to him.
“Catch me if you can!” she laughs and he leaps into the air, shifting to fire to chase his beloved.
“What are you doing, Caderyn?” Drake calls as he chases her.
“Reminding them of who they are and where they came from. Will you help me?” The moment the red flame of his star touches the ice blue tail of hers the power intensifies. Instantly they become one, a bright white star shining down over the Vale.
“You, my husband were born of fire, sent here to teach us our role in this tale. We were chosen to protect humanity, yet instead, we hide behind a wall and keep to ourselves. While we tremble in our fear and self-doubt, humanity perishes. My people are dying!” Caderyn slows her spin and Drake pulls her close. “I feel their screams, Drake, I have to help them. Would you do any less for our children?”
“No.” Glancing down at the immortal faces looking up at them in awe and fear, he knows what they have to do. “It is time for the Vale to fall.” Tugging her close to his chest they shoot into the sky above twisting and turning. Their light leaving a fiery bright trail as they climb higher and higher. Finally reaching the edge of the sky they stop and look down at the beautiful blue and green planet beneath them. As one the King and Queen of the Fae turn and fall down like a mighty comet towards the invisible barrier. The intensity of their passage back to Earth leaves a long burning trail behind them. The impact with the Vale creates an explosion that is felt through the very heart of the planet. All who are standing, be they mortal or immortal are forced to the ground for a few seconds as it explodes outwards sending energy pulses and shock waves in all directions reaching for the horizons.
Across the globe, Anya and Sebastian, Keane and the Guild, all on the planet fall to the ground as one. The creatures hunting are pushed by an invisible force and pinned down to the earth.
Screaming in rage, Caius falls to the floor of his apartment, unable to move for multiple heartbeats. All sound stops for a moment, the planet shakes, he takes a breath, then another and on the third exhale everything is released.
Together, the Fae King and Queen greet their people as they land. Drake speaks, “Once the Vale was used to protect us from those who would seek our power for their own.” He gestures for them to get up and slowly they rise.
“We were not created to hide in the Shadows.” Drake’s flame ignites behind the pupil of his eyes. “I am the King of the Fae! I was sent to protect the Fae and humanity. You can choose to fight or hide, but no longer will you have the protection of the Vale.”
Chaos erupts, the Fae yell and scream, some cry, while others draw their swords and shout about rebellion.
Caderyn steps away from Drake and takes her baby from her best friend, Jazmyn. “I feel their pain. Our people are being turned. Caius is turning them into abominations. We can help fight and free them from this pain.”
Above the din of confusion, the clear sound of metal ringing startles everyone gathered and cuts through the chaos. The Shadow King stands with his army. Golden swords and shields pound together in a rhythm of war as they march from the surrounding trees. It is a call to arms.
“You will not do it alone, my Queen,” Reese bows.
Arianna grins at her brother from Reese’s side. “We can help, and we brought friends.”
Anya helps Sebastian to his feet and stares at him in shock. “Are you alright?” Sebastian asks.
“I think so. Did you feel that surge of power? That was crazy!” Anya replies just as her phone rings. Her eyes widen with surprise when she recognizes the number.
“Da, where are you?” Anya snaps.
“Listen to me. I am almost to New York. Have you seen the news?” She turns to Sebastian. “No, why?”
“I’m sending you a video clip. Anya, can you meet me in New York? Caius has released the Pex on the city. Thousands are being infected.”
Her stomach drops with dread as Sebastian switches on the television and they watch in horrified silence as the coverage plays. New York is being overrun. Anya closes her eyes against the images.
“Dad, can the Guild protect the humans? I should be able to go after the ones infecting them.”
“How are you supposed to do that, Anya?” he asks in frustration.
“Easy. They aren’t human!” Understanding dawns as he realizes she should be able to track them.
“None can remain, Anya.” He lowers his voice, “The Guild wishes to capture one. That can’t be allowed.”
“One problem at a time, Dad. Just get to New York, leave the Pex to me.”
“Be careful my girl, see you soon,” Keane tells her and hangs up.
“Let’s go.” Sebastian orders.
“You should stay here in case Vorn returns,” Anya argues, but he is already shaking his head.
“I am an Ancient Immortal, daughter. You are not the only one with the taste for blood!” He reaches out and she takes his hand and both their eyes flash solid black. The wind blows as she opens a doorway to New York and steps through.
Noise, smoke, screams, agony and blood float on the air, tempting the Herald. Her eyes shift to those of a predator as she takes in the chaos and her mouth opens on an inhale. She pulls the air inside her mouth sorting the flavors until she captures it. When she opens her eyes, she can see the scent of the Pex floating through the air. Each creature has its own aroma and Anya is confused. Instead of the hunger she should feel, she can sense the struggle of the victims held within each.
Instantly the noise returns, and she can here gunshots as some of the humans fight back. Two in particular, are shielding a group of humans, from three flying creatures.
“Help them, Dad.”
Sebastian grins and leaps into the air, landing with a thud in front of Josh and Joel.
Crouched with his taloned hands and extended teeth Sebastian advances on the Pex, the creatures fall back confused by the immortal. The humans he protects are just as shocked by his sudden appearance, but they do not stop to question a reprieve.
“Don’t kill them, Dad!” Anya yells as she leaps into the air and uses her power to pin the three creatures to the earth. One of the bird’s screams and all the Pex turn, staring at Anya with a fixed intense hatred.
“Oh, hell,” she murmurs, “Get them out of here, Dad.”
The two hundred Pex creatures that Caius released turn as one, linked by the call of one of their own. Those who are infected join and all they begin moving in the direction of Anya.
Sebastian spins and hisses, “Run!”
Joel and Josh take the hint and do as they are told.
The moment Anya arrives, Caius grins. “Yes!” This is what he was waiting for. He picks his phone up and orders, “Release them all!” In simultaneous cities around the world, the Pex are released in every time zone. No place on Earth is spared. Each building Caius owns were strategically placed in the most populated cities in the world. They are built with the same design plan inside. The exterior needed to be different to avoid suspicion, but the insides are all the same. Each basement level houses a bio dome, built with specific hunts in mind for each site.
“My two thousand will flood the Earth and no matter how powerful you think you are, nothing will stop the tide once it starts. I’m coming for you, Herald.” He turns and leaves his sanctuary, heading outside.
Anya is trembling with fear and hatred as the Pex move towards her. Sebastian runs to her side and draws two gleaming swords to protect his child. “They will not touch you, do what you must, Anya,” he orders, and she is touched by the glow of love she senses around him.
‘Look with new eyes,’ she thinks.
One second, she is staring at them and sensing a darkness, the next her shoulders burn, and her wings explode forth. Ice blue eyes flash over her solid black, as she looks with the eyes of compassion and forgiveness. She can see the struggle of the PEX as they fight to no avail against the evil that has been
forced upon them. Caius is responsible for the pain they are inflicting on the humans of Earth. Not the poor creatures she sees in front her now, howling and scratching to be free of the horrible monstrosities they have been forced to become. Pain and more suffering will not free these animals and mutated humans from their bonds. Anya looks around at the creatures and she feels a burning beginning in her chest at the injustice that has been pushed upon the horde surrounding her.
‘They didn’t ask for this to happen to them, they didn’t choose this.’ She realizes.
The creatures surround them but do not move. Confused by the two powerful immortals they do not know whether to attack or run.
Five flashes of brilliant light detonate around them, as though comets striking the earth. Apollyon, Liam, Zach, Cass and Morgan!
“Need some help?” Zach asks with a grin.
Shock has Anya’s hold on the Pex faltering. “Katie?” she asks Morgan in surprise.
“Safe and angry that I wouldn’t let her come with me,” he promises and reaches out to place a hand on her arm. “Shall we heal them?” he asks.
The moment he touches her, each Angel steps forward placing a hand shoulder to shoulder. Their connection increases her power. Love is the power she feels. It flows from one to the next and finally into Anya. They gift her with the last remnants of the ancient power they carry, and Anya turns, sending it straight into the creatures surrounding them. The wave front of pure energy passes through the rows of PEX standing around them, forcing them instantly to the ground, cleansed. The horrors that they had become burns away from their bodies in flashes of ash and light. The humans are healed, left lying on the ground dazed and confused, while the original two hundred hybrids are returned to their animal forms, free of any contagion from Caius’s experiments.
Sebastian watches in awe of his daughter. In that moment he knows everything they have been through even the death of his beloved was for this moment, so the Herald would survive.
Helicopters soar over the sky as the Guild members arrive and drop to the ground from ropes to begin the clean-up.
Keane allows the animals to be tranquilized so they can be moved to safety.
“Well done, daughter,” she is shocked to hear him say in her mind.
Anya laughs, “I am the daughter of a Druid, I learned to protect the innocent. That is what you taught me.”
Sebastian watches as the humans laugh and cry while holding onto one another. He wonders what this means now. They are exposed, even now the one named Joel is recording them on his phone. He snarls and appears in front of him. Wide eyed Joel watches as Sebastian snatches his phone and jams it in his pocket.
“Thank you,” he finds the strength to say to Sebastian.
“Humph,” he whirls and is gone as Josh laughs out loud at the shock on his friend’s face.
Anya stares in relief at the controlled chaos around her and turns to Morgan. “Where’s Katie? How did this happen? Tell me everything?”
Morgan laughs and hugs her, “She’s desperate to see you too, she’s with Caderyn the Fae Queen,” he starts to explain when the other Angel’s join her.
Vorn arrives in time to find Anya surrounded by the fallen angels. He glares at the one called Liam when he touches her arm. As though sensing him, she turns and smiles at him.
‘Having fun, love?’ he asks sarcastically.
Anya’s grin grows and she whispers back, ‘I missed you too.”
Satisfied he turns to stare at the clean-up crews working. Sirens are growing louder, smoke floats on the air, animals are being darted and loaded into black vans around them.
Keane is in discussion with a group of men and they are gathered around a computer. From the serious looks on their faces, something is up. He glances up and shakes his head no before forcing his way through the group of people to Anya.
“It’s not over yet.”
Anya grows pale and her stomach fills with dread. “What do you mean, Da?”
“It’s all over the news. India, China, Mexico, California, and more. This is happening in all the largest cities of the world. No country is immune, Anya. We need to move and regroup.”
Around her, the voices fade away. Anya needs a minute to think, a second that isn’t in chaos and she wishes just for a moment that she could travel away as her mother did, free to move through time and space, and just be. An image of a cave fills her mind and she looks at Vorn.
Vorn watches as the hope fades from Anya’s eyes and he does what any Drow would do. He wraps an arm around her waist pulling her back against the strength of his body and disappears. Anya feels him, hears his thought the moment he thinks it, and she doesn’t fight him. Instead, she sighs and spins in his embrace to bury herself if the serenity of his arms. Trembling she holds on tight, willing him to take her to the cave in her mind and give her the moment she needs.
Sebastian watches them leave and turns to those watching. “Take us to the Fae.”
The five angels and him, disappear leaving Keane and the Guild to do what they can.
Caius laughs with barely concealed glee. Those on the ground have no idea he is amongst them. Silently he follows Anya, intending to push her until his final goal is achieved.
Chapter 33
Anya savors the security of his arms around her. She whispers to his mind of a place, by the sea on the Cliffs of Moher. Over the pounding, crashing noise of the surf, they make their way along the treacherous cliffs. A memory floods her mind and she sees a glow in the cliff face beckoning them. Anya pushes inside the dim cave driven by the need to find out who she is. When they finally emerge inside a small cavern, Anya cannot believe her eyes as she sees what once was.
Beautiful beyond compare, her mother glows with the silver light of heaven. Her large pink pearlescent wings were spread out behind her, helping to balance her pregnant form. Long, red hair clings to her sweat covered forehead and her eyes showed the fear of a mother, not a demon.
“Anya, are you well?” Vorn asks as he glances around the darkened cavern. Anya jumps at the sound of his voice and her vision fades, taking with it the image of her mother. Tears fill her eyes and she wonders at how this can be.
“I’m okay. Thank you for helping me,” she whispers in a hoarse voice. “I need a minute, to think and process.”
“I understand, Anya, we can stay as long as you wish.” Vorn is Drow, moving through darkened caverns is not a problem. Most Drow live in dark caverns and caves. His vision is altered to allow for these conditions. Another gift is the faerie lights. He stoops down and lifts a handful of pebbles up and blows across them. Instantly they fill with purple light, he stands and tosses them straight up at the ceiling above, where they stick and fill the cavern with a soft light.
Anya gasps in delight and smiles at him. “You are amazing, Vorn. You never cease to astonish me.” Vorn bows and grins back at her.
“I was thinking the same thing,” Caius chuckles, as he steps from behind them. Before Vorn can move to protect her, Caius strikes at the big Drow’s throat. He leaps on top of Vorn and a motion of his arm casts the cavern back into inky blackness.
“Run!” Vorn yells to her mind, but Anya is struck by another vision of her mother.
This time, a cold breeze brushes away the fear. Lailah is sitting on a rock near a river when they come for her. Glancing up she stands to face those who would betray her. The first glint of wings in the sunlight captures her attention and Lailah sighs. If she is going to die, she will do so her own way. Her memories of loving him and being loved by him are all she has left. Lailah holds onto those images in her mind. She sends him her love, all of it and opens her eyes to face her executioners as they land buffeting her with the force of their wings.
“Lailah, you’ve been judged,” a female voice announces with a laugh. Shock flickers across her face before they attack.
The moment their swords slice into her mother’s flesh, Anya’s scream rolls off the cavern walls and she falls to her knees.
>
She watches with tears flowing down her cheeks as her mother’s body is lifted up by Caius.
“No,” Anya murmurs. Her mother was alive when he took her! Anya’s eyes start to glow, flashing from dark to light as the rage builds inside of her. Vorn reaches from the ground and grasps her hand in his.
“It’s true. Your mother lived for weeks after that, but don’t worry, I harvested every ounce of her.” Caius’s voice echoes in the cavern and he allows the light to return. “Lailah refused to do the one thing I asked her to do.” Anya is sobbing and annoying him. “Listen, this is the best part, Anya. All she had to do was open a gate and I would have let her live. She chose unwisely. We looked everywhere for you, I wasted years searching.”
Anya listens and begins to calm down as the images are pushed away.
“It matters little now, Anya. You will be given a similar choice. Watch the man you love die, or open a new gate.”
Vorn is gasping for air on the floor and bleeding profusely. Caius had ripped a huge gash out of his throat, leaving him struggling to breathe. “No, Anya! Let me go.”
“Aww, how truly disgusting. Let me go, I’ll die for you, Anya,” Caius mocks with a laugh as she turns to face him.
Her wings explode from her back. Lifting a hand, she holds up a palm full of rocks as she saw Vorn do. Blowing across them she fills them with her magic and throws them straight at Caius. They hit him with the force of a shrapnel grenade and pin him to the cavern wall.
“Sleep now, Vorn,” she whispers and watches as his eyes close. She finishes healing him before standing and walking towards Caius.
“It’s interesting that you would say that. Why do you wish for a gate to be opened when you worked so hard to close them?” She moves closer to Caius and sniffs him. He jerks as she savors his essence and her eyes widen in shock. Images of him inside a pod flash and she can hear the voice say, “This is Lailah’s last pod.”
