by Maia Dylan
Chapter 8
Three days. That was all that was left. Seventy two fucking hours. Neve was never very strong at math so couldn’t quite do the equation to ascertain the exact minutes they had left, but she knew there weren’t a lot of them. Winter was winding down, the days were growing longer and her time was quickly running out.
The past few days had been filled with an increasing tension. They had never come so close to the end of a season without having a game plan. Yet, here they were, spring looming ever closer, with no clue as to what comes next, or how to solve this damn prophecy. They’d sat quietly in a strained silence around the kitchen table that morning, eating the breakfast Kingi and Maggie had prepared for them. Completely in contrast to how they usually were when they were together.
They had decided the night before that they would all head to the Pagan Stone this morning and now here they were, walking toward the stone for the fourth time, hoping that, as with how the prophecy was triggered almost twelve months ago, that the end would be triggered simply by them all being at the stone together. Neve didn’t know if that were true, but simply sitting at home waiting for inspiration to strike seemed a little stupid.
Ariana stopped and waited for Neve to catch to her on the trail. “How you holding up?”
Neve winced. “Okay I guess. It just seems odd to be heading up to the Pagan Stone without a plan or an idea of where to start. I’m scared that we’ll get there and nothing will happen, then in three days’ time, Aeron will show up, and that will be it. We would have lost without even having fought the final battle.”
Ariana nodded and sighed. “Yeah, it’s frustrating as hell not knowing what to expect up there. Aeron has been able to almost use the prophecy in his favor. He tried to take the portal over during Casey’s battle. He managed to rope in the powers of another Celtic god to hijack a freaking eclipse against Fiona and then utilized the astral plane to circumnavigate the astral plane three months ago! He is as insidious criminal as any on death row in this country as far as I’m concerned.”
Casey laughed and turned to look back at them, obviously having heard the conversation. “True that, my sister! Do you think they have something like capital punishment in the Otherworld realm? Perhaps we can petition to them to gas the fucker then this shit would all be over with.”
Neve joined the rest of their group in laughter and it felt good. It lightened the mood among them, and Neve saw everyone relax a little.
“Shit! That’s it!” Fiona shouted excitedly and turned to face everyone. The excitement on her face had everyone stopping immediately and giving her their complete attention. “Capital punishment! Capital!”
“Yeah, you just repeating the punchline of my joke isn’t really helping here, Fi,” Casey replied with a Frown.
“No! I get what you are saying,” Ariana cried out in a voice just as excited as Fiona’s. “With your portion of the prophecy, Casey, it was that one word that enabled you to determine where to start, leading you to the Pagan Stone. But in Neve’s portion it is the capitalization of one word that changes the meaning of it. We have always thought that the word spirit referred to the spirit of the Water Elemental that somehow, Neve needed to unite her spiritual self with her physical self and create some kind of superweapon that would bring Aeron down.”
Neve frowned, desperately trying to see where they were heading with this. “Carnage will know his chances are done, when spirit and water are united as one. You think it means something else?”
“The word spirit in the prophecy is capitalized,” Fiona stressed. “What if it’s not referring to your spirit or your soul or whatever? What if it was actually referring to a person?”
Neve recited the prophecy from beginning to end in her mind, seeing it written as she went. “Each of the Elements are capitalized in the prophecy. Each of the Elements are represented by one of us. So you’re saying that there is a Fifth Element?”
“Yes! I see where you are going now!” Casey shouted and clapped her hands in glee. “The Prophecy calls for the uniting of Spirit and Water as one! There is a fifth element.” Casey lifted her arm and pointed at Liam. “You are Leelou! The fifth element looking to help save the earth from the approaching Great Evil rapidly descending upon earth!”
Liam glanced over at her and Neve shrugged. This was more than they ever had, and although there had to be more to the prophecy than just that, because, well there always was, it seemed plausible. It also gave them a place to start.
“So, you think if Liam and I get our freak on up at the Pagan Stone that we’d be united enough to see Aeron beaten?” Neve asked doubtfully, that seemed way too easy but immensely enjoyable.
Liam grinned as he reached for her and pulled her up against his chest. “If it is, I can totally do that.”
Neve laughed. Hell, she was willing to give it a go, just for the pleasure factor.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s going to be that easy,” Fiona answered on a laugh.
“Besides,” Micah said with a huge grin on his face, “Casey and I claimed that particular method to solve her portion of the prophecy.”
“It can’t be a claiming though, because Liam can’t ever claim me that way,” Neve said thoughtfully. “There’s something more there that we’re missing, I am sure of it.” They were all in agreement that there was always something more to the prophecies than they expected.
They continued up the path toward the Pagan Stone and the sky started to darken. The group looked to the sky as the clouds rolled in thick and fast then cast their eyes to her. “It’s not me!” Neve denied and raised her hands in innocence. “This is all natural. I am not calling to or bringing any of that. If it is supernatural it is not my doing.”
They continued on up the path, all of them more wary than they were moments before. They turned up the path that led to the Pagan Stone and Neve took a deep breath. Somehow she knew this was it. Today was the day. One way or another, the prophecy will be completed and they would have either freed Olwen, or Aeron.
When they reached the halfway point on the path, the internal wrenching sensation that was familiar to them now and signified the opening of the rift between dimensions struck. Neve shuddered at the feeling. It reminded her of the last time they were here. Aeron had attacked each of them psychically, and he had made it seem as if Neve were being physically assaulted. She could actually still feel the hands on her, touching her intimately.
Liam stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m here, baby girl. I will not let that fucker get his hands on you. I made that bastard a promise three months ago, and today I plan to make good on it.”
Liam had sworn he would kill Aeron, after he removed his hands for touching her. Neve had fallen hard for her bear in that moment. Their road to being together had been a rocky one. Finally finding the bear she had dreamed of most of her life and finding out that he belonged to another woman had nearly broken her. But they had come together and bonded on a completely different level and that wasn’t something Neve was about to throw away.
“I know, my love. And I am anxious to get this done.” Neve patted his hand where it rested against her middle, and when he let her go, she took his hand and they climbed the last part of the incline that lead to the Pagan Stone. They walked out onto the flattened area Aeron had leveled six months ago, and stared at the scene before them, and Neve’s heart began to pound within her chest.
The area of earth where Aeron and his army’s would step out of the rift and into the Earth Realm was already opened. The large gash in the earth was at least 200 feet in length. The earth had been piled up on the front edge of the rift, so it was difficult to see how wide it was. But that wasn’t what had her heart pounding so hard within her chest it felt like it might actually leap free. It was the at least fifty demons that all stood behind it.
Aeron stood in the middle of them, dressed all in blood red, and carrying a huge broad sword that seemed to glow in the sunlight. “Ah, h
ere they are the Elementals, and their guard dogs. How nice of you all too finally join us. I thought in all the excitement you might have forgotten about us.”
“Spread out,” Ariana spoke down their communal Elemental link. “We need to give each other room to fight.” Neve knew it wouldn’t matter that the Winters brothers couldn’t hear what they were saying, all of them would move instinctively with their mates. Just as she knew that Liam would stay with her. Kingi would stand in front of Maggie, but both would be ready to fight.
“How could we forget about you, Aeron?” Fiona sassed, as she moved to the right, Cole and Travis on either side of her. “You’re about as unforgettable as a bad case of gonorrhea. Hell, even the symptoms are similar. You are a pus-filled, vomit-inducing pain in the ass! So, the exact opposite of forgettable, really. You should be honored.”
Aeron’s eyes narrowed as he glared at Fiona. “You were always the mouthy one, little Fire bitch. I look forward to watching my demons fuck that mouth until it bleeds.” Cole and Travis tensed but stayed by Fiona, refusing to rise to the bait.
“So, Aeron,” Casey started in from the opposite side of their defensive line. “I actually am quite jealous of you.” Aeron’s gaze flicked to Casey and Neve saw that his look was disbelieving.
“Although there is much about me that an insignificant quim like you should be jealous of, I do not believe you mean that.” Aeron snapped.
Casey grinned and winked at him. “Oh, now you’re just being mean. But I do actually envy you in a way. Not everyone gets to know the exact day they are going to die. But here you are, on the day that you will cease to exist, and your battle to win a woman that can’t stand you, and rule over a realm that feels the same damn way will be over.”
“Do you honestly think that I never had an end game in this little battle of ours?” Aeron scoffed with a smile that made Neve’s skin crawl. “How typically vain, and deliciously naive of you all? You have never had a chance to beat me. From the very beginning I’ve had a—now what was that quaint little human saying—an ace up my sleeve that meant failure was never going to be an outcome for me.”
Neve noticed Aeron’s gaze flick in her direction. But not to her directly. No, Aeron’s gaze flicked to Liam. The hair at the back of Neve’s neck stood on end. Whatever Aeron was talking about it had something to do with Liam. And Neve had the feeling when Aeron shared that ace with them, it just might break her bear.
* * * *
Olwen could feel the pull of the Earth Realm within her. That meant her Elementals had arrived to battle Aeron once more at the Pagan Stone. The final battle to decide the fate of the earth and she was shackled here in this dungeon. She was so frustrated at not being able to help, especially when her warriors held not just her fate but that of the man she loved in the palm of their hands.
She hoped that they had worked out that she in fact had five elemental warriors. As soon as she had sensed Liam within the Earth realm she had known he was her Spirit Elemental. His need to protect and willingness to step in to help a person in need was more than skin deep. It formed an integral part of his character. Add to that the fact he carried within him the spirit of the bear, and Olwen was without doubt that he was her warrior.
When she had first looked into his future, she had been confused because his future was closed to her. She could see up until the moment his bear caught the scent of their mate, and then nothing more. At first she had worried that it because his future was lost. That he would either turn from his path or perhaps be killed before the prophecy and his role within it played out. But she was now starting to think that it had more to do with Aeron than anything else.
“I think you are on to something there, my love.” Olwen closed her eyes in pleasure at the sound of Rohan’s voice in her mind. “If you are unable to see beyond their mating, then perhaps there is more to that than meets the eye.”
“I agree. But I can’t see anything of that time to get a handle on what that might be!”
“I can hear your frustration,” Rohan said calmly, and Olwen immediately calmed beneath the balm of his voice. “But that is not going to help your warriors win this battle. What do you now about this battle?”
Olwen thought back to the conversation she’d had with Aeron the last time he’d taken her life force from her. They’d…
“He did what?” Rohan’s voice had become deathly cold. Olwen shivered at the suppressed anger in his tone. “That bastard took your life force?” Olwen winced at the heat of Rohan’s rage.
“Beloved,” Olwen spoke gently, knowing that would be the best way to break through his anger. “As much as it pleases me to hear that possessive streak in your voice, I need you to calm down enough to think with me. I promise, I am fine now. Please.”
“Okay, for now, but I will hear everything that has befallen you since you came to this forsaken place. So what did this son of a diseased whore speak to you about?”
Olwen smiled. “I do love it when you get all protective of me.” She felt his smile down their link and held the feeling tightly to her. “He talked about the fact that he had played a card that would lead to his victory. He put something into play that he believes would secure his triumph.” Olwen strained to remember the words he had used. She had been fighting her fear and reaction to him at the time, so it was difficult to remember his exact words. “He said that loved could be manipulated. That love could be turned from person to another.”
Olwen sat forward with a gasp. “That’s it! Aeron manipulated the mating bond, somehow he made Liam’s bear believe that another woman was his mate, when in reality it is Neve. She was always destined to be bonded to the Spirit elemental, but I believed that the mating bond of Liam’s bear was stronger than the bond between my warriors.”
“That sounds like something he would do. He would take pleasure in perverting the true strength of you Elementals,” Rohan agreed excitedly.
Olwen pushed painfully to her feet, and began to pace back and forth as far as her shackles would allow. “Yes, he would. The prophecy states the Aeron’s chances of winning would be lost once Spirit and Water are united as one. It can’t be through a claiming bite. Liam has already given that to another. It has to be done a different way, but still be as symbolic and strong as that.”
“They need to do what I dearly hope you and I get the chance to do one day, my love,” Olwen pressed a hand to the ache in her chest at the sound of longing in Rohan’s voice. “They need to perform a hand-fasting.”
Olwen froze. That was it. The key to beating Aeron. Now, she just had to find the strength to get the message through to her Elementals. All five of them.
* * * *
Liam stood just behind Neve’s right shoulder. She could hear his bear rumbling with displeasure, no doubt urging him to shift, but Liam resisted. They had discussed the need to remain in human form to be able to communicate with Neve and the rest of their group for as long as possible. Neve could tell that the Winters brothers were just as anxious to shift as Liam, but they too held their human form.
“You think you have an ace up your sleeve?” Neve asked in an almost polite and disinterested tone. “That would mean something if we actually believed you. We have met you on this very battle field three times, Aeron and three times we have walked away victorious. What on earth could you have that would change that?”
Aeron’s smile was filled with a smug confidence and that gave Neve reason to pause. He turned slightly to hold his hand out behind him. The demons behind him parted to create a gap, and through it stepped Agnes, looking almost regal. She felt Liam tense behind her.
“Liam, my mate,” the demon-loving slut practically purred Liam’s name and Neve had never wanted claws more than she did in that moment. “So nice of you to join us. Aeron and I have been waiting for your little group to have the courage to stand up against him for quite a while now.”
Liam shuddered behind her and Neve knew he was struggling to hold back his bear.
“Liam, I do believe you know my very special guest here,” Aeron’s shit eating grin made Neve want to leap forward and snatch his lips from his head, just so she would never have to see it again. Suddenly it all fell into place for Neve, and she felt sick to her stomach at what had been done to Liam. And too her.
“So this is the ace up your sleeve?” Neve called out, glad to hear that her voice was strong and never wavered. “How did you do it? How did you make Liam’s bear believe that Agnes here was his mate, instead of me.”
“Fuck!” Liam groaned from beside her, and she reached a hand back to stroke his arm. She could feel how tensely he was holding himself. She continued to stroke her hand down his arm, desperately trying to instill him with calm.
“Very good, little whore,” Agnes spat out, her face twisting into an ugly mask of hate. “Aeron gave me a short window to cross over into this realm, and sent me into mate with that, thing,” Agnes threw the word out with contempt, throwing her arm in Liam’s direction. “You have no idea of what it was like to have to lie there, and let that man bite me! Everything within me screamed that I kill him. He is a pathetic shifter, and not worthy of a goddess like I.”
“And it was surprisingly easy to get him to turn, too.” Aeron informed her and there was no missing the glee sparking in his black eyes. “Perhaps his bond to you, no matter how the strongly the Fates believed you and he were destined to be together, was simply too weak.”
“You want to talk about weak little man?” Liam snarled and his bear was very clear in his voice. “Step out and face me alone.”
Neve shot a quick glance in Liam’s direction. “No! That is not what we planned, and it is not what we need to do.”
“Besides,” Ryan called out, dragging Aeron and Agnes’s attention to him. “I believe I called dibs on being the one to rip Aeron a new one.”
