by Mikayla Lane
A trio of laughter could be heard bouncing around the chamber before a spot of darkness appeared and the man stood in front of David again.
“Why don’t you have wings?” Was the only thing David could think to ask.
Tiernan chuckled, held out his arms and played with making them appear and disappear into the darkness at will.
“I don’t need wings. The shadows and dark are my realms. I need nothing but my power to fly within it. Like Mikal walks the wind without the need of wings,” Tiernan explained, smiling as he flexed his power.
“You speak in three voices,” David whispered, in awe of the power exuding from his son.
“I have two beasts that are fully bonded within me, but as the Dark Warrior, I command them,” Tiernan explained.
“So you’re the leader of the Night Walkers the way Tristan leads the Light Bringers?” David asked in confusion.
“I am the Guardian of the Night Walkers and the ancient Prime. I am also the Guardian of Power and maintain the energy balance among all of my brethren. I am the Sentinel of all and must find my relic,” Tiernan said, shocking both David and Indrid.
“Like hell!” David roared, refusing to allow his son to go on some crazy quest for relics even Lara and Abexis hadn’t found yet.
The handsome young warrior smiled as he walked towards David. It reminded him of watching Tristan when he came into a room. It was impressive, intimidating and awe inspiring, but at the moment it scared David to death because it was the son he’d known only days.
Tiernan put his hands on David’s shoulders and looked down at his father.
“In this place, where the relic of Truth lies in wait for its own guardian, I can feel the power of it reverberating through my energy. I see now what was true and what was lies. You hold no blame in what happened, and neither does mother. It was a set of circumstances meant to occur to bring us where we are,” Tiernan stated.
David’s heart stuttered in his chest at Tiernan’s words, and his hope soared that he could forge a relationship with his son.
“What do we do now?” David asked, wondering what Tiernan expected.
Tiernan laughed and hugged David before pulling back.
“We grab Mom when she wakes up, and we get to know one another by going on a quest! For my relic,” Tiernan said so matter of factly that David was momentarily stunned speechless.
“Are you out of your mind?” David roared at the man/boy. “You’re a child! Where the hell is the relic? I’ll get it myself!”
“He’s right. We need to find his relic, and we have a lot to talk about.” David and Tiernan both turned at the sound of the soft voice in the doorway.
David almost couldn’t breathe as he looked at his beautiful wife standing there. He had to stop himself from running to her and pulling her into his arms.
“Hey Mom,” Tiernan said as he disappeared and solidified in front of her before pulling her in for a hug.
“My baby,” Jodi whispered as tears streamed down her face.
David saw her hands clutching at Tiernan as if afraid to let him go and he knew by her body language that Jodi remembered everything that had happened. It was killing her. His love for her and Tiernan overrode his anger at the moment, and he forced a smile as he walked over to them.
“All right, you guys win this one. I’ll see about getting a ship. Do either of you have an idea where we can find this relic?” David asked as Tiernan pulled away from Jodi.
Tiernan shrugged a shoulder and grinned as he placed a hand on his father and one on his mother.
“I do not know. But I have no doubt we will accomplish much as we look for it.” Tiernan knew both of his parents caught his meaning and nodded their heads in agreement.
David stared at Jodi waiting for her eyes to meet his own but he wasn’t prepared for the impact when she did.
“Now I know why I always felt like I could get lost in them.” David didn’t realize he’d spoken aloud until Jodi gasped and quickly looked away.
David blushed in embarrassment as Tiernan laughed.
“This is going to be much fun!” Tiernan said as he pulled his parents outside.
Chapter Eight
David glanced across the aisle at Jodi again as she cuddled with Tiernan and stroked his hair. They’d only been on the ship for a few hours, but it had already felt like a lifetime to him as he watched his wife fawn over their son. He knew she was feeling emotionally raw and overwhelmed, but he had no idea how to help and had too many questions he needed answered first.
“We need to tell him what happened before we can all heal,” Tiernan suddenly said.
David looked up at Jodi who immediately averted her gaze from his. His heart sank, knowing she still didn’t want to talk about what happened.
“Mom, he has to know it all,” Tiernan urged, squeezing Jodi’s hand in support.
“I can’t even face it,” Jodi replied in a wavering voice as tears slipped down her cheeks.
“It wasn’t your fault or his. To keep Dad ignorant of it only causes him more pain he doesn’t deserve,” Tiernan chastised in a mature tone as his little face scrunched in a childish pout.
David and Jodi were both startled by the contrast between the boy and the warrior that lived within him. Jodi finally chuckled and wiped her tears before she ran a gentle hand through Tiernan’s hair.
“You need to remember who the parents are and we’ll try to do the same. Deal?” Jodi teased, looking at David with a half-smile before turning back to Tiernan.
“I’m going to lay down. You guys are wearing me out.” Tiernan grinned as he shook his head at them.
David and Jodi watched him hop down from his seat and go into the private quarters situated between David and Jodi’s rooms.
“He’s a bit . . . overwhelming.” David wasn’t sure what else to say but knew he needed to try to start the conversation.
Jodi cried and laughed at the same time as she nodded her head in agreement.
“Yeah, he’s pretty amazing. I still can’t believe we created him. He’s so powerful . . . how is that possible?” Jodi asked, her dark eyes searching his for an answer.
David ran his hands over his head, glad that someone finally understood his shock and awe over the boy.
“Right? What the hell happened that gave us the genetic lottery with him? Who’s supposed to spank him? Do we call Tristan if he needs to be disciplined?” David asked, finally able to vent his frustration and uncertainty to someone.
Jodi burst into tears, and David was left wondering what he’d said wrong. He was just trying to figure out if he should hold her when she turned tear filled eyes to his.
“Even when the dark spirits made me do horrible things to him, Tiernan never fought back. He never hurt me, only restrained me from doing anything else. We’ll never have to discipline him. He’s a good boy,” Jodi choked out before she put her face in her hands and sobbed.
David couldn’t take it anymore and pulled her across the aisle and into his lap. His arms held Jodi tightly as she shook with her tears and the pain that throbbed in her energy.
“Please tell me what happened. I’m begging you, baby,” David whispered trying to mask his own emotions.
“I never meant to hurt either of you,” Jodi whispered brokenly.
“Tell me,” David replied, needing answers.
Jodi wiped her tears and moved to get off David’s lap, but he held her to him and shook his head. Unable to break through his steely arms, she relaxed back into him, grateful for the warmth of his body and energy.
“I knew I was pregnant the day after you left for Afghanistan,” Jodi began, keeping her face averted from his. “Something in me . . . snapped in my mind. I know now that it was the son of Tiernan’s Prime beast entering my brain that opened the door to my Night Walker side. At the time, I thought I was going insane.”
David held his breath waiting for her to continue. After long minutes passed in silence, he was getting ready to prompt her w
hen Jodi sighed and spoke again.
“Joker and I were talking about my sanity when you saw us together. He was the only one who knew that my mind was unraveling and I didn’t know how to tell you. The voices in my head . . . kept pushing me to leave you. That it would be better. I don’t know why I listened,” Jodi whispered, her pain and guilt swamping her.
David sighed in relief at the explanation but was still shaken over what they’d lost. He didn’t have time to even think about it before Jodi continued.
“The fall that first damaged Tiernan’s beast was truly an accident. He was in his car seat. I’d been forcing myself to hold it together when the seat fell from the dryer at a laundry mat, and he hit his head. Once my Night Walker side saw the anomaly forming between his beast and brain . . . I couldn’t control the voices anymore.” Jodi’s voice hitched in her throat, and she struggled to control the memories rushing through her.
David tried his best to remain stoic, but the love he still had for his wife surged through him at the pain and guilt swamping her. He held her close and tried to soothe her.
“It wasn’t you, Jodi. Tiernan knows that too,” David whispered, stroking her silky dark hair.
“When I found the Prime pod, it whispered to me that it could save him. Tiernan fought me, but I was able to make him swallow it. I had no idea it would force such a responsibility on him. I just wanted to save him,” Jodi choked out before she dissolved into tears.
David didn’t know what to say. He was pissed off about the whole situation. The time lost with his wife and son when they needed him the most, the responsibility thrust on a boy that couldn’t even shave, and the pain radiating from Jodi that he wasn’t sure they could ever get past.
“Why didn’t you call me?” David suddenly asked.
“I was afraid you’d kill me for what I’d done and what Tiernan became because of me. I had no idea what a Prime was or that you had to be one for Tiernan to get it. I knew even less of my Night Walker side and the voices that tormented me day and night,” Jodi ground out angrily. “It was a hell of psychiatric medicines and doctors that didn’t really want to help. When the DNA was finally tested, then we had the military looking for us and took to the road. Joker was killed trying to protect us, and it became even harder to control the voices with the added stress of capture and the threat of losing Tiernan. I didn’t know what to do.”
“I could have helped! Why Joker and not me?” David snapped before controlling his anger.
Jodi turned those penetrating dark eyes to him as she pushed out of his lap and stood to pace.
“You didn’t even know what you were until five years ago so don’t lecture me! You would have been just as confused and useless before that! Joker was there for the first four months of my pregnancy while you were overseas and watched me unravel more every day. We never even knew you were home until I got served separation papers and he refused to leave me alone like that,” Jodi growled back as portions of her body blended into the shadows of the ship and re-solidified in her anger.
David knew she was right, he would have been just as perplexed before he’d found Jax and Gibly. It still clawed at his soul that Joker had been there for his family and he hadn’t been even though he knew it was his own fault.
“I would have tried,” he whispered back.
“And led Tiernan right where they wanted him!” Jodi argued. “The military is after us! You would have taken both of us right to a hospital on the nearest base!”
David knew she was right and almost shivered at the idea of handing his wife and son over to the government that would have tortured them or worse. He ran a hand through his hair as he realized just how little help he would have been to them.
“I’m sorry,” David whispered, not knowing what else to say.
“Me too,” Jodi whispered back before she ran from him and into her room.
David stood to go after her then sat heavily in a seat and put his head in his hands. His mind kept turning over the options in his head and knew that at the time, knowing what he did then, he would have only made the situation worse. It didn’t make David feel better at all.
“The past is a pointless place to live. A smart being told me that recently while I was helping him.”
David looked up in amazement as a shadow peeled away from the wall and solidified in front of him. The tall, dark man nonchalantly sat across from David and smiled. The whiteness of his teeth was a stark contrast to his midnight skin and the same bottomless black eyes that Jodi had.
“Who are you?” David asked, watching the man dressed in all black carefully as he reached for the hidden throwing knives in his waistband.
“I am Dizarion. The recently replaced leader of the Night Walkers,” the man said with a slight nod of his head and a huge grin.
“Why are you here?” David demanded, wondering if the man wanted his position back from his son and was there to harm the child.
Dizarion only laughed and waved a hand in the air casually.
“I have no desire to hurt Tiernan. I am grateful that he has taken his rightful place among our people. I am merely watching over him as he learns the extent of his Night Walker power. I can also help you understand your wife and son better,” Dizarion explained, hoping to calm the nervous father.
“What do you mean?” David asked.
Dizarion smiled gently and blinked out of sight before he reappeared next to David.
“The dark realms are a dangerous place. Your mate and son are still vulnerable there and will need assistance navigating and fighting in them. I will aid them while they learn their way,” Dizarion explained with a small shrug.
David wasn’t fooled by the man’s nonchalance, as a Prime, he could sense Dizarion’s energy and knew there was much more the Night Walker wasn’t telling him. He needed a crash course if he was going to help his family.
“I need to know everything. Not half-truths or deceptively worded shit. You can start by telling me about the dark realms. Are they other worlds? Are they near light ones? Where do Tiernan and Jodi go when they’re in the dark realms? Why do they need to fight?” David demanded, turning to face Dizarion and watch his face for any reactions.
Dizarion chuckled and nodded his bald head for a moment before he turned serious.
“Let me start by explaining the realms to you. The realms are other worlds created by the One God. The light and dark energy permeate every world creating a balance of both. When we say that we travel the dark realms, it means that we ride the dark energy the way the Wind Walkers ride the wind. But we’re not alone. Other beings can travel as well, and they aren’t always friendly. The possession of the innocent that occurs in this world is prevalent in others as well,” Dizarion explained, noting that David appeared confused.
“So you ride the dark energy to other worlds and fight those that are possessed by the evil that comes through? I thought this world was the one the Hyperboreans had to fix?” David wasn’t sure he understood anything the man said.
“Like the Dranovians, the Night Walkers are the strongest of our people and were given unique abilities. Our task is greater than that of our Wind Walker brethren and much more important. Besides, this is not the only world where the Hyperboreans exist either. The Night Walkers were destined to produce the Dark Warrior to protect the dark energy as the Light Warrior protects the light energy. Those warriors are Tiernan and Tristan,” Dizarion explained, feeling the underlying confusion in David. He waited patiently for the questions he knew were coming.
“Why would my son be commanding evil?” David asked as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair.
Dizarion laughed heartily for a moment before he realized David wasn’t amused and he needed to explain things further.
“Darkness isn’t evil. It is religions and ignorance that make people believe that the dark is associated with evil. The dark is nothing more than the opposite of light. It is the absence of light. It’s a balance of energy and nothing more sinister
than that. Does evil travel more in the dark? Of course, which is why the Night Walkers were created. To battle the infestation of evil that invades the dark energy, upsetting the balance.” Dizarion could feel the comprehension dawn on David as he spoke and grinned at the man’s intelligence. It would make this easier on all of them.
“So Tiernan and Jodi travel the dark energy on other worlds and battle the evil that preys on the innocent? Because they’re Night Walkers? How do they do that? Where the hell are they all? If there’s a balance, why are there so many Light Bringers on this world and this is the first I’ve heard of a Night Walker?” David needed clarification on a few things and was determined to learn all he could.
“Our numbers are greater than you imagine. Consider this, how many hybrids like Jodi are lost on this world? They wander around believing they are mentally ill, consuming large quantities of energy and brain disrupting chemicals being pushed on them by pharmaceutical companies. How many hear the voices from the dark realms? How many unknowingly travel the dark realms and believe it only to be dreams?” Dizarion offered, seeing the shock on David’s face.
“You’re telling me that schizophrenics and the mentally ill are Night Walkers?” David couldn’t imagine that those he believed were insane or anomalous could be something more.
“Where else do you think the voices come from?” Dizarion chuckled for a moment. “Not every ill person is a Night Walker, but a lot of them are. The problem is the same for our people as the Light Bringers. Because a lot of our hybrids have beasts, like Jodi and Tiernan, we must wait for the conversion for the beast’s energy to balance within their brains for them to awaken for the coming battle on this world.”
“So the final awakening for the Light Bringers will be the same for the Night Walkers?” David asked.
“Of course. You can’t have one side awaken before the other, or it will create an imbalance. Everything will happen as it is meant. That is why the Dark Warrior was born not long before the Light Warrior,” Dizarion explained.
“Three years! They’re babies!” David shot back.
