“You don’t think that thousands of years imprisoned hasn’t changed their mind?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Things have changed but their nature hasn’t. Now they will just want revenge and the humans will attack what they don’t understand.”
I saw his point. As much as it pained me, and while I didn’t agree with it, I understood why he had done what he did. In a desperate attempt to stop the strife, to start living again, he had struck a deal, one that he felt there was no return from.
“We’ll be there to help them though. I’ll be there.” I whispered to him, hoping beyond hope that he would see the possibilities like I did.
He turned his head to the side to look away, watching as Dad worked on Ro. A druid helping a lycan. I saw it. Something was starting to turn in his mind.
“Let me show you,” I offered.
With a frown, he gazed back up at me, not understanding.
“I can show you what it could be like – the humans and faerie living together.”
Scoffing, he glanced up at his old friend, but when Selena nodded, his eyes grew round. Finally, after a moment of consideration, he nodded his acquiescence.
My lungs filled as I drew in a deep breath and let it out, steadying myself. I placed a hand on his forehead, making sure to have a good connection for this one. Closing my eyes, I pictured the faerie people, or what I thought they would look like judging from Selena and Amergin, meeting with the president; Gearden and I standing with them along with Liam and Dad; mediating discussions; enjoying outings together; finding new homes; magical implements mixing with technology; new buildings; prosperous crops; problems with the earth being righted.
The faerie’s magic was elemental so they would be able to find successful resolutions and fixes to issues with the climate and declining species. But most importantly, I showed how we worked hand in hand with one another, helping each other, making the world a different, better one. I was sure to be honest, though, showing there would be strife at first; that not everyone would be welcoming, but that the majority would stand with them, supporting their integration and starting anew. Even the faerie.
As the last image faded. I pulled my hand away, showing that it was over. The quiet that followed could probably be felt throughout the whole room but I kept my eyes zeroed in on Amergin’s and he held my gaze. I could see that he was still processing all that I’d just shown him. In his mind, it was like memories, but they would feel so in the moment real to him, just like it had for AJ. I sympathized with Amergin, seeing the hope there that he wanted so badly to grab a hold of and yet feared what would happen if he did. Hope was a fickle and scary thing sometimes.
Finally, he nodded. “Help me up, please.” Selena and I each took an arm and hauled him up. When he was finally on both feet, he gently shook us off. Though he didn’t look steady, we let him go and stepped back. I watched in nervous curiosity as his breath shuddered in an out, as he was still coping with the pain. He clapped his hands in front of his chest, where the tattoos resided and quickly rubbed his hands together, like one would do to warm them. After a dozen passes, he pressed his palms to his injured chest, air hissing between his teeth and slowly pinched his fingers together, like he was drawing something out. No, not something. The tattoos. He was pulling the contract off his body. Like some freaky scene from Harry Potter whenever the Dementors tried to suck someone’s soul out. The ruins pulled away from his body, attached to some sort of thin layer of magical, glowing sheet. It took a couple minutes, but he finally had the entire thing floating in the air in front of him. Shaking from the effort, he glanced over to me and I saw the uncertainty there, but also, the hope. Nodding at my support, he raised a hand with two fingers extended and sliced through the magical contract, dissolving it in the air until it disappeared. As soon as it did, he crumpled to his knees, bracing himself with his palms on the floor, his head hanging between his shoulders as exhaustion took over.
Selena and I helped him to stand, but the second he did, he stayed our efforts. “No, No. It’s fine. It’s fine.”
Turning, I saw Dad standing with the other two and called out. Immediately, he rushed over to us.
“Let me see what I can do,” Dad told him. But Amergin grabbed his hand.
“There’s nothing you can do. The contract was bound to my life force,” he explained.
Selena didn’t seem surprised to hear this and I wondered if this, too, was another reason she hadn’t pursued the possibility of breaking the contract before now. He’d given his life in the hope that humans and faerie had changed and could continue to change together.
Carefully, we helped him to lie back down, making him comfortable. I looked up at Selena, wondering if there was anything either of us could do to help him. Before she could shake her head though, my cheek grew warm. The sound of the room around me came at me, not in my mind, like they’d been speaking to me this whole time, but like it did back at Danu’s creek. Looking over, I saw her – Danu – standing in the middle of the room.
“What are you doing here?” I asked her, wondering if anyone else could see her. The next instant, Selena flattened herself to the floor, pressing her forehead to the carpet. “My goddess!” she cried, shock ringing in her voice.
Danu gave her a cursory smile before looking back at me. “You did it,” she said, her smile widening and her eyes bright with pride.
“Saoirse?” Dad said. Snapping my head around to him, I saw the shock etched onto his face, as well as the pallor in place of his normally tanned skin. He looked like he’d seen a ghost.
“Dad,” I said placatingly. “This is Danu.” He didn’t look at me for a moment and I noticed that she was looking at him. She looked happy.
“Hello, Benjamin,” she said, her voice shaking. I’d never heard or seen her like this before – irritated, agitated, calm – sure. But sad-happy? That was never an expression I thought I’d see on the goddess.
“How is this possible? You …” he stumbled over his words and he swallowed as he collected his thoughts. “You died.”
All at once, a rushing sound echoed my ears and my head felt light as I felt the blood drain from my face. My breath was halting as I looked at my dad. “Dad? What’s going on?”
He stared a moment longer at Danu, then tore his eyes away to tell me, “Maeleigh, this is your mother.” His words seemed to spill out as if he couldn’t hold them back, but the second he did, his face crumpled. In an effort to keep from falling apart, it seemed, he covered his mouth and rubbed at his lips.
As he tried to regroup, I turned back to Danu, stunned. Or was it Saoirse? “My mother?” I breathed.
She didn’t move, which was probably a good thing because I couldn’t feel my own legs and if she made a move towards me, I would probably fall flat on my ass.
“Darling,” she started to say, lifting her arms and then dropping them, at a loss herself.
“How? Why?” I stammered.
She tilted her head and considered her words. “My people had been trapped for long enough. But I couldn’t help them in my true form. It was a part of the contract. So, I had to… find another way.” She turned to look at my dad again, who had tears running unchecked down his cheeks. “I replaced the soul of a woman who had died while in the hunters’ captivity.”
“Saoirse,” Dad whispered and Danu nodded.
It was starting to make sense. “You needed the clause. You needed me to show him what could be, didn’t you?”
“You were the only one who could show him what could be. And the only one who would get him to listen.” She gazed down at the barely coherent Amergin. “I could no longer reach you.”
Weakly, he peered at her from half-closed eyes. “I’m sorry, Goddess.” The broken soul exposed through his words pulled at me. I felt he meant it but worried she wouldn’t give him what he sought.
“I forgive you, Amergin,” she assured him. “But you must still make penance.”
His head moved slowly as he n
odded his understanding. I could tell he didn’t have long. His breath shuddered just then and he looked at me. “Help them, little druid.”
I nodded; words trapped in my throat. The next moment, he was gone.
Though his body was still there, it seemed to be wilted, a little deflated. His skin looked looser and seemed detached from muscle and bone. “What’s happening?”
Danu smiled sadly at me. “His lifeforce is returning to the earth. Nutrients and energy that were borrowed are now returning.”
As scary as it was to watch, I couldn’t help but feel the poetry of it all. All the wrong he’d done and the sacrifice he made to right it, it seemed only right that his essence returned to the earth. When it seemed like the transfer was over, I looked back to Danu, staring at her incredulously for a long moment. She, too, looked at me, but with anxious apprehension.
Dad, Ro and Gearden stayed to the side, but I could see that Dad wanted to rush to her, his Saoirse.
“You’re my mother?” I asked, not even trying to hide the judgement in my tone.
She started to lift her hands up in a “I guess” gesture, but quickly dropped them. I’d never seen her so unsure before. She always had some sort of answer. But not this.
“Why didn’t you say something?” I accused.
But I saw her answer before she could say a word. “It would have changed my future.” She nodded, pressing her lips together nervously.
“Saoirse?” Dad stepped up to her finally. I could see that he’d collected himself while she and I had our moment, but I knew he was probably still a wreck inside. From all the stories he’d told of her and about her character, I knew that she was the love of his life. I had never said anything to my mom, Rachel, because I loved her and I knew my dad would never want her to feel that she meant less to him. Seeing them together in front of me right then, confirmed my childhood thoughts and dreams.
“It’s me, Benjamin,” she whispered, shifting from one foot to the other. He rushed to her, not caring that she was a goddess or that she’d kept her true identity a secret. She seemed to sink into his embrace and breathed a sigh of relief. He gripped her to him like he was afraid to let her go, like he had 16 years ago. I wondered then, if her death was something she’d planned, but I didn’t dare ask right then and ruin their moment.
Gunshots pierced through the quiet and they drew apart. I snapped my head around just as Gearden and Ro surrounded me. “What’s going on?”
“Hunters. They attacked us in the lobby,” Gearden informed me. He looked over at Ro who couldn’t help but stare at Danu. “Are you good to fight?”
When Ro didn’t respond, his eyes still locked in awe on the goddess standing before him, I lightly smacked his arm. He jolted and gave me a defensive look. “Can you fight?” I asked him again. He looked at his brother and nodded, taking a breath and shaking his arms out at the sides, preparing his muscles for what was coming next. Ro and Gearden made their way to the stairs, only to stop when they noticed Dad and I hadn’t followed right away.
Dad was gazing longingly at Danu. “Are you coming?” he asked, but I already knew the answer. She kept out of this sort of stuff. She was only there to see Amergin in his last moments.
“I can’t,” she told him painfully. I saw the understanding in his expression, though. He forced himself to let go of her hand, which I didn’t even know he was holding, and stepped back from her. She didn’t let him get far before she leaned forward and pressed a kiss to his cheek, whispering, "Be safe."
I took his hand and tugged him along, helping him to part from her, knowing it was excruciating to do so. Turning, he let me pull him a couple steps before he turned to look back, but she’d already gone, like she’d never been there, along with my hearing.
We arrived in the lobby just as the fight started to spill outside. Someone had thrown James through the glass doors, shattering them. Dom was there, along with Tweedledum, fighting side by side with Thorn and Julie. The hunters far outnumbered us, but now I knew what I could do. I gazed at Selena as she stepped from the stairwell door, though I very much doubted she actually used them.
“Are you ready, little goddess?” she asked, smiling at me as Gearden and Ro raced into the thick of the fighting. Smiling, feeling surer of my gifts than I had an hour ago, I nodded. Fluidly, we separated, throwing our palms up and releasing bolts of energy at the nearest hunters in our paths. We weren’t killing anyone but we were definitely putting them down so they wouldn’t get back up. When the masses started to notice what we were doing, the fighting seemed to slow as the more and more of the hunters retreated to one side of the building.
Selena and I stopped as well, seeing that all fighting had ceased. Pierce was holding Thorn back, but everyone else seemed to be keeping their urge to dominate the fight, to disregard their retreat, at bay. Suddenly, everyone snapped their heads to the side. Following their gazes, I saw a newcomer standing at the building’s main entrance. He wore full hunter gear, but he looked fresh and wore an official looking band on his arm. He glared at Liam, who stood beside Pierce and Danny, still breathing heavily. No one had moved, I noticed, and I wondered if that was because they hadn’t felt a need to yet.
The man said something to Liam but because he was chewing, his lower lip was tucked in, making it difficult for me to read. Liam, though, replied, “We came to collect something that belongs to us.”
Seeming to scoff, the man didn’t look interested in what it was we had come for; he just looked irritated that we had the balls to come after it.
“Going down, this time… not this time,” was all I could make out and the second the last words were out, he made to pull his weapon. But this one was different than any weapon I’d ever seen. Not hesitating, I quickly lifted a hand up and knocked his with an unseen energy force, forcing him to drop weapon. It skittered across the tiled floor and landed between the two groups of people. We all gazed at it with morbid curiosity. We didn’t need to understand what it was to recognize it was something manufactured for a specific purpose: to take out other-worlders, like the Seelie and its evolved descendants.
Ro took a step forward, intending to grab the weapon, which was something between a handgun and a shotgun, but I called out, “No, don’t!”
The room went quiet again, even the hunters were quiet as they finally took notice of me. They’d all seen what Selena and I had done. In fact, there was still evidence of it lying unconscious on the ground around us, but it seemed like they were just now deciding what they thought about that, now that their leader had spoken.
“Why are you here?” I asked the man whose weapon still lay in limbo.
“I don’t owe…, druid,” he scoffed.
But I wasn’t just a druid. Nor was I just a lycan, or a human, for that matter. I was Danu’s daughter, a demi-goddess. Entrusted to bring peace to both sides of the war that had never really ended.
He was still talking, I realized. “…holders of the original contract.” It occurred to me then, that there were always two parties to a contract. For this contract, one had just died ten floors up, while the other… I peered at the hunter. “You’re a part of the humans who forged the contract, aren’t you?”
He didn’t try to deny it. There was no reason to. All this time, all these years, while the Seelie were trapped beneath the earth in Ireland, the Unseelie – druids, lycan and vampires – were being hunted, kept in check, by the humans above: the hunters.
“I don’t understand. Why not kill all of us whenever you had the chance? I know you’ve taken prisoners in the past. You don’t always kill us. Why is that?” I asked, stepping into the breach between the two sides.
He studied me with interested scrutiny, then answered, “We were directed to keep the population down. Not to eradicate your kind.”
“Directed, by whom?” I inquired, taking another step forward.
I could see that the closer I got, the more wary he grew. His eyes even flicked over to a man across from me, who held one
of those specialized guns. I ignored the soldier as he armed his weapon and brought it closer to his chest.
“By the faerie himself,” he replied.
Assuming he meant Amergin, I pointed a finger up in the air. “He’s dead, you know. Just a few minutes ago. Right after he broke the contract you’ve been enforcing.”
He looked dubious until his gaze moved sharply to Selena behind me. Turning my head to look over my shoulder, I watched as she nodded in affirmation. When I looked back to him, I saw the truth begin to sink in, his expression going from determination to confusion. It is hard to find yourself in limbo, no longer knowing what you are fighting for.
“They’re free, now,” I told him, taking another step closer. “All the faerie that have been locked away all this time are free. Free to live. Free to watch the sunrise and sunset. Free to feel the grass beneath their feet. And free to choose how they want to live in this world: peacefully or at war.” I let my words sink in and gradually, I saw understanding come over not just the leader before me, but his soldiers as well. Things had changed, and it didn’t have to be one sided. They were all free to make their own choices, choose a different path.
After a pregnant pause, he looked to the hunter holding his gun at the ready and nodded to him to stand down. Without hesitation, the other man let his weapon fall to his side.
The moment he did, a sudden gust of wind blew through the crowded room, sending debris swirling around and blowing my hair into my eyes. Squinting, I turned with everyone else to the source of the unnatural squall. In the middle of the room, splitting the us further apart, a rift of some kind opened up. A blinding light led to a void that pushed up air as it swirled around. I wasn’t sure if it actually moved though, or if the brightness had created a never-ending after image on my retinas.
A few seconds after it appeared, when we all were shielding our eyes, a silhouette appeared in the center of it all. At first, it was small, as if coming through a tunnel, until finally a person stepped through. Wearing what looked like fur pants and leather shoes, unlike any I’d ever seen before in any history book, the person’s long hair, which was plaited at the temples, was capped with intricate beads and tinted a dark green and purple and hung over narrow shoulders. Whoever it was, was taller than Gearden but much leaner, like a runner. They wore a short-sleeved sort of tunic tied together with leather lacing, and silver and gold jewelry were wrapped around toned muscles on the biceps and forearms. The prominent brow and obvious Adam’s apple, told me he was undeniably male while the knife held in his fist, blade down but at the ready close to his chest, screamed he was dangerous as much as he was gorgeous. While I ogled, he assessed the dozens of people surrounding him. We were all standing awestruck by his entrance, but when he noticed the weapons, he raised the dagger up to his cheek, elbow up and tip aimed outwards, ready to slice through anyone that came at him.
The Kill: Book 3 in The Hunt Series Page 17
