by LK Kelley
He really hated doing this. It was something none of them wanted to do – ever. It could release a monster that would decimate everything around him. And, he could hurt Gem. And, as far as he knew? He was the only one to ever go this far into the past, and he had no idea of the consequences.
Concentrating, it felt as if he was swimming through a thick, grayish mucous – without air – before he surfaced, and then, he was in the past. His unconscious memories began to surface, and he remembered that his brother had ordered him to the secret place, where he had discovered that Jolinear and Analyse always met. He remembered his anger at having been summoned as if he were a little boy. Also, he had a war to win against his own people, and his brother demanded he take “time-off” to meet him? And, worse? How he had to reach this secret place! With each step, Jaxx's anger grew as he trekked across a dead, burned-out moon to the location of the only mountains on Anaerris. Following his brother's directions on how to find some sort of a doorway into the tallest mountain, it seemed as if it took forever, before he found it. But, when he did, he walked through a long tunnel, which opened into a large cavern. What he hadn't realized was that he actually had walked through a Vorc'ara opened by Analyse. But, the tunnel had been so dark, he hadn't seen it form. A light appeared just in front of him, and he stepped onto a landing complete with crystalline stairs going up on the left, and crystalline stairs down to another level to the right. A single set of carved, stone stairs wound down to the floor below. It was light, but there was little to see. There were a couple of wood chairs, a wooden table, and an empty, hole in the center of the floor. His brother stood at one of the doorways into another part of the cavern, waving up at him. Jaxx walked down the stairs to the main floor. It was the first time that he had seen what would, eventually, become his own, personal hideaway. Nor did he realize that it was not even on Anaerris, but was somewhere else. And, it was where he would bring his own mate eons later.
“Impressive, isn't it?” Jolinaer had asked, meeting his brother's eyes.
“Yes, it is,” Jaxx had answered. “Enough small talk. Do you know I didn't have time for this shit? What's going on, Jolin?”
Sneaking a look behind Jolin's shoulder, Jaxx had noticed something – or more correctly - someone who was moving behind Jolinaer in the darkness beyond.
When Jolinaer spoke, his eyes jerked back to Jolin.
“I need you to...,” Jolin began.
“Who is that?” Jaxx had asked.
Jolin turned. “Who? There's no one there, Jaxx. We're alone,” he said innocently..
“Try again,” Jaxx had demanded. Even so long ago, Jaxx struck fear into the hearts of anyone. His brother, however, was actually a kind soul, and hated the terrible war as much as did he. But, in his wildest dreams, the next thing out of his brother's mouth floored him, until the proof of his words walked out of the shadows of the depths of the cavern. It was the red-haired beauty he had seen earlier.
Jaxx felt as if a huge door had been raised that had been shut for eons, and everything that he had forgotten flowed back into his brain as he began to remember everything.
~ 18 ~
“After having lived so long, you kind of forget some very major details over the eons!” ~ Jaxx
Gem was still gnawing on her nail almost as soon as he blacked out to discover the truth.. It's what she always did when she was excessively nervous. And, nervous was putting it mildly at the moment! She didn't want to take her eyes off him, but she had to check the clock. She realized that it had been just barely ten minutes.
Ten minutes? It seemed like hours to her! That's when she heard a gasp that came from Jaxx's lips. Gem shifted her eyes to his open, but almost dead, black eyes. Whatever he was doing, he didn't need his eyes closed for the entire time. But, his eyes were just way to creepy. Waiting was giving her a headache, so she tried to take her mind off of it. Even though it was a bit silly, she tilted her head, wondering how he would look with a mustache. He already had the scruffy look down to a fine art. Why had she not noticed his drop-dead gorgeous looks, before any of this other crap happened? She almost stood to wake him, when she realized his eyes were moving from side to side as if he was looking at someone.
“No! Not looking at someone. He's in REM sleep, maybe?” she whispered to herself.
And then came a “voice” out of Jaxx's mouth. Gem shuddered in shock as she realized she was listening to a conversation Jaxx was conducting with someone else! She mouthed “holy shit”, then began to listen to a language she did not know – at least for all of two seconds. She reached up and grabbed the amulet around her neck that she had put back on right after she had returned. She had taken it off in Jaxx’s cave, and left it on the night stand, before she was abducted. Suddenly, she was able to understand what he was saying! And, truth be told? She almost wished she could not understand the words! But, with no other choice, she did.
“Jolin? What the hell are you doing here? Who is she?” Jaxx looked around, then, “And, just where the hell is here?”
“It is good to see you, too, Jaxx,” Jolinaer said, reaching out to take Jaxx's forearm in the traditional greeting of the day.
Although Jaxx took Jolinaer's forearm, he asked, again, before dropping it.
“Where in the hell are we, Jolinaer?” Jaxx meant business, because he used his older brother's formal name! It usually meant Jaxxon wasn't going to tolerate any funny business.
Without saying anything, Jolinaer walked to one of the wooden chairs at the table, and sat, leaving Jaxx no choice, but to do the same. Crossing his arms across his massive chest, Jaxx waited.
After several minutes of quiet, Jolinaer finally spoke.
“I know this is very strange to you, Jaxx. It was to me, too...at first.”
Jaxx narrowed his eyes, and waited without speaking.
Clearing his throat, Jolin continued.
“I have fallen in love, Jaxx,” he told him.
“What?” Jaxx yelped, jumping to his feet. “That's not possible! Love cannot enter into any Onaerris!”
Jolinaer nodded in agreement.
“That's what we all have believed for our entire existence. But, it was not true, because I have fallen in love,” he added, watching the numerous displays of emotions raging on his brother's face. After several minutes, Jaxxon was speaking.
“And, just who is it?” he sneered. He was really skeptical of the answer, but what Jolin told him next was never, in his wildest dreams, what he had been expecting.
“Analyse, brother. Analyse,” he answered.
Jaxx's mouth dropped in stunned silence.
“D-did you just say…” he stuttered, dropping right back into his chair, his legs giving out underneath him as if they were spaghetti.
“...Analyse? Yes.”
Analyse? He was in love with the daughter of the ruler of Anaerris?
“Analyse? You're in love with the enemy? What the hell are you thinking, Jolin?” Jaxx muttered aloud.
“She is not the enemy, Jaxxon! You should know that better than anyone else! You are the leader of this rebellion, per se!” Jolinaer growled.
“Then, what do you want me to say, Jolin?” Jaxx had finally been able to grind out through his gritted teeth.
“I'm not expecting you to say anything,” he said, while Jaxx was just waiting for the next shoe to drop...and, sure enough, here it came! For the first time in his entire life, Jaxx was rendered speechless! “There's more, Jaxx. I need you to be open to this, because what I'm about to tell you will not be easily accepted.”
Jaxx frowned. What more could there be, than the fact that his own brother was in love with an Anaerris? But, if the statement that Jolin was in love with Analyse wasn’t enough, the next statement out of his mouth completely shocked him to his core!
Jolinaer stood up, and walked back toward the opening in the cavern. He reached out to take first a hand, then an arm, and then, an entire body with brilliant red hair – a female who had just a hint of a tiny, p
rotruding stomach – walked straight into Jolin's arms. He led the woman toward Jaxx, and that's when Jaxx stood up so fast, his chair fell backward, skittering backward in shock. It was a woman with the red hair he had thought that he had seen from afar earlier when he spoke to Jolin! And, there was more. He hadn't even wanted to believe Jolin was in love with Analyse! But, this woman wasn’t Anaerris...was she? Red eyes? She had red eyes? And, then, Jaxx received the shock of his entire life! It looked as if...it looked like...no, it couldn't be...it was...was she...was she...? He gasped, then moved so fast, no one saw him coming – even Jolin – as he grabbed the throat of his brother, and lifted him well off of the floor!
“What the bloody hell have you done?” he yelled.
Looking down at his brother, Jolin grinned. However, his grin quickly turned to anger.
“Yes. I turned her, Jaxx. I had to do it. She was dying thanks to an immortal lance that was thrust into her chest by one of our own! Our own uncle!” Jolin told him without remorse. Seeing Jaxx’s shocked face, he continued. “Yes! I killed him! Then, I changed her into one of us, because I would be damned – even more than we are now – if I had not saved her life! After that, a miracle occurred!” Jaxx watched him gently place his hand over hers that cradled her stomach. With a tear in his eye, he turned back to Jaxx. “She is with child – my child. Jaxx?”
Jaxx was too stunned, shocked, speechless, motionless, and any other word one could say, to hear Jolinaer! He looked at the woman standing before him in utter silence. The ruler of Anaerris was no longer Anaerris, but she was Onaerris! Her red eyes gave proof to that fact. But, the gentle swelling of her belly also attested to the fact that she was, indeed, swollen with child! His head moved from side to side in denial, even while his eyes could not deny what he beheld as truth. Then, he made the mistake of saying aloud what he was thinking.
“Well? Are you going to say anything?” Jolin asked him, once more.
“This is not possible! How could that be? It cannot possibly be your child! But, how she could have gotten pregna...” the words flowed from his mouth in disgust. Then, before he realized what he had done, Analyse's eyes and fangs descended as she lunged for him. With no pause, her teeth barreled into the flesh at the base of his neck. She began to suck blood from him quickly, and would have ended his life, if Jolin had not grabbed her, and begged her to stop.
Jaxx felt his life declining with each suck, along with his own strength. He had been taken by surprise, so he had not been prepared for a fight let alone an attack! He had been wrong, and he knew it in that instant. Jolin begged and pleaded with her, trying to reach her through the bloodlust and anger that had consumed her from being insulted.
Finally, Jolin managed to coax her into letting go, then pulled her back into his chest, quietly speaking to her, while her anger subsided. When she was able to exhibit coherency, she looked at Jaxx in horror. Her hand covered her bloody mouth as her eyes returned to green. Jolin said something to her, and she nodded. He had sunk to his knees during the attack, and was breathing in stutters. She had taken a lot of his blood, and he felt extremely weak. Jolin had picked him up, and laid him on a pallet that was on the floor near a massive opening in the wall. A fireplace, he assumed, or at least it could be.
“I'm so damn sorry, brother!” He looked back at Analyse. “She was so concerned with hurting others that she brought us here to keep her out of their way, until her bloodlust was contained.”
“Oh, Jaxx!” Analyse cried softly. “I am so, so sorry!”
Jaxx pushed himself up onto his elbows. He took a deep breath, even though he didn’t need one.
“I understand. Analyse, it’s OK,” he repeated when he saw her shake her head. I was wrong, and I am sorry. It just took me by surprised. Who would have thought this could happen? No one has ever been able to become pregnant. As for the bloodlust? It's part of who the Onaerris are. And, a new one is far stronger. Your need for blood would be magnified a thousand fold. But...are you OK?” he asked her.
“Y-yes. I guess so.” To Jolinaer, she asked, “Will he be alright? I drank an awful lot of blood from him.”
“Yes. He will.”
“That was more intense than ever before,” Analyse muttered. “Why?”
“Ah! That’s the question,” Jolin teased, while at the same time, realizing why. “Hormones, my beauty!”
She looked up to see Jaxx grinning, and she grinned back at him.
“Hormones. Right. Let's use that one!” she giggled.
Jolinaer laughed aloud, then turned to his brother, ripping into his wrist. He fed his own blood to Jaxx, who sucked greedily, but knowing he would only take just enough to become strong, again. Once he finished feeding, Jaxx was able to stand once again, and Jolinaer and Analyse explained everything to him.
Sitting at the table, all three drank a glass of wine together. One thing he was happy about was the fact that his kind loved the food from Anaerris. It was one of the many reasons why they attacked her world. A few pieces of meat and wine were always the perfect compliment to blood.
“So, other than the obvious, I get the feeling that there is another big secret?” Jaxx asked.
Putting her wine down, Analyse answered him.
“I can't be with my people, again, nor can I go around others with our child within me – especially with my blood lust uncontainable. They might want to dissect me to find out how this could happen.”
Jolin nodded. “She's right.”
“But,” Jaxx asked, watching Analyse rub her belly gently, “how did it happen? I don't get it.”
Jolin and Analyse looked at each other and shrugged. Then...
“We don't know, Jaxx! We do not have an explanation,” Analyse told him. “Both of you should know better than all others, that He can do whatever He wishes! But, I’m not going to question Him any longer. I am going to accept that this may very well be the beginning of a whole new life for us!”
Jaxx looked at Jolin, who just shook his head as well.
“We just do not know, Jaxx.”
“There is only one explanation, Jolinaer,” Analyse said to him.
“NO! I refuse to believe it!” Jolinaer said angrily.
Analyse reached over, and took his face into both of her hands.
“We must realize that there is no other reasoning for it!”
“OK. Just for the record, Analyse,” Jaxx said, “what?”
She turned to him, and told him her suspicions.
“The Creator, of course,” she said, her voice sounded reasonable.
“But, why?” Jolinaer asked her the same question he had asked her several times. “Why would the Creator do this?”
The three of them looked at each other. There wasn't another explanation, and they knew it. But, the question of why still remained. And, Analyse had the only answer possible.
“It's not always for us to understand His reasoning Jolin. But, there must be something that is going to happen, and He needed this child for whatever reason. We all realize that we were in the wrong when we went against Him. The reason that we united into a small army, now, was because we needed to stop the evil that attacked Anaerris. Were we all not trying to redeem ourselves in some way? Sometimes, it's just easier to accept what is.”
Again, the three looked at each other. Deciding that whatever the reason, they were going to have to leave this question unanswered. Perhaps, the Creator would explain at another point in time.
“Tthe two of you have to get out of here!” Jaxx said in a panic. “Holy shit! If anyone of either race found out about the two of you, the ramifications would be…,” he trailed his words, and stopped speaking.
“Well, we need to get off of Anaerris, so this cave is my 'getaway' off world. Right now, this is the safest place I could think of, because no one knows of it. I found it long ago, and used to come whenever I was upset, or just needed quiet and peace. Later, I brought my mate here, and well, you get the idea,” shyness taking over her eyes.
Jaxx rolled his eyes. “Shyness, Analyse? Really?” Then, he and Jolin laughed.
After properly slapping Jolin’s arm, she turned back to Jaxx.
“You came through a Vorc'ara, Jaxx. One that I created.”
His mouth dropped. “I did? B-but...I didn’t see it?”
Seeing her smile, he understood, in that second, why his brother had fallen in love with her. He knew she would have been a fabulous ruler, but now...things were never going to be the same, again – for any of them. They were no longer rulers, but to all intents and purposes, they were now, just average fallen angels. Well, technically, “outlaw” fallen angels.
“So, what now?” he asked, and Jolin answered.
“We are leaving, Jaxx.”
“He's right,” Analyse added as she saw Jaxx frown. “A friend of mine in the Fae world has been kind enough to invite us to stay there until our child is born, and that should give us some time to figure out what we are going to do. But...”
Oh, shit! Another shoe was about to fall!
“Before we go, though, we have one more thing to tell you. What I'm about to trust you with goes no further than the three of us,” Analyse finished.
Jaxx's eyes narrowed, but he didn't speak. He watched her stand, and go to the table pulling something from underneath. She came back to the two of them, and stretched out her hand. Jaxx opened his, and Analyse dropped something into it – large piece of crystal the color of peach.
“A crystal?” He looked up at her as he held it. “I don't get it? These are everywhere on both worlds.”
“Look at it again, Jaxx. It's not just any crystal,” Jolin told him. “It's a machine. A Terraforming machine.”
The silence was deafening, while Jaxx turned the crystal around in his hand. He looked from one of them to the other, and back to the crystal. It had been altered. They had all been warned by the Creator, as they were cast out of His realm, to never try to alter the crystals that were found on the two moons. If anyone did so, His wrath would be immediate, and they would be destroyed. He wanted to give those who followed the evil one, a chance to redeem themselves, although none of them knew this.
