by Mikayla Lane
“What the fuck were you thinking? Why would you do something like that without talking to us first? You had no right!” David roared, trying his best to control his temper while Tiernan sat there staring at his plate.
The boy finally looked up at David and his heart clenched at the unshed tears in Tiernan’s eyes.
“She’s been thinking about killing herself. It would have caused a cascade effect in our lives that would forever change the both of us. Not for the better. I did what I thought was best for our family and to protect my mission. You should understand what it’s like to be caught in such a situation,” Tiernan stated so calmly it grated on David and only increased his anger.
David pointed down the empty hallway where Jodi had disappeared.
“Did that look like you fixed it? Why the hell didn’t you explain this to us? Give us a choice? You can’t play God with our lives! How the hell does that help anything?” David snapped, looking to Dizarion for any kind of assistance.
“What he did was take away the only release Jodi had for her pent up rage. With the mark of warning on her, the dark entities will not come near her. It will prevent Jodi from hunting those who’d tortured her,” Dizarion explained, keeping his eyes on David.
David cursed as he rubbed a frustrated hand down his face. He couldn’t imagine how Jodi was feeling right now and if Tiernan was right, and she’d been thinking of killing herself it explained why she was so angry.
Immortal. What the fuck are we supposed to do . . . forever? David wondered in shock, glad he was already sitting down.
“You live. You fight. You love. I’ve just given you a little longer to do it all,” Tiernan whispered with a small smile.
“Son,” David began but just didn’t know what to say and shook his head instead.
They sat in silence as Tiernan polished off two more plates of food before David finally worked it all out in his head. He turned to Dizarion, assuming he’d get the truth out of him more readily than his son.
“How long will he be vulnerable? What kind of time frame are we looking at?” David asked.
Dizarion shrugged as he looked over at the little boy with the milk mustache, kicking his leg back and forth leisurely.
“It will depend on whether or not we can get him the relic. It will give him back all that was lost and even more power than he had before. Unlike the Light Warrior, Tiernan is already awakened, and does not require the conversion to attain his full strength,” Dizarion explained as his concern bled from him.
“Why are you so afraid if all we need is the relic?” David asked.
“I do not believe it will be so easy to find. If it is all that I’ve heard it to be, then whoever has it, knows they have something incredible and will not give it up without difficulty,” Dizarion warned.
He had a bad feeling that it would be nearly impossible to get the relic. Nothing about this particular world was going the way that they had hoped it would. Dizarion expected no less from their efforts to find the powerful object.
“Dizarion is only being pessimistic,” Tiernan said with a chuckle. “He’s a drama queen.”
The look Dizarion shot the boy made David scoot his chair closer to his son before he sent his own warning glare to the Night Walker.
“We’ll get the damn relic. I was deadly before I became immortal, I’ll be unstoppable now,” David said between gritted teeth.
Dizarion surprised him by bursting out laughing. David looked to Tiernan for a reason, and the boy just shrugged.
“He’s an asshole,” Tiernan whispered. “Always has been.”
“Watch your mouth!” David snapped.
“It’s true,” Tiernan mumbled before finishing his milk and hopping up to put it in the recycler.
“If you’re done eating, then go get a shower and ask your mom to come out here before you get in. We need to talk to Dizarion,” David ordered, wondering if the boy would listen to him.
He was a little surprised when Tiernan nodded his head and ran down the corridor.
“Mom! Dad wants to talk to you!” Tiernan had shouted before he ran into his own room.
David stared at the boy, shaking his head at the typical child-like behavior. It still floored him to think of the warrior his son turned into versus the adorable little boy that had stolen his heart so quickly.
He sat with Dizarion for a few minutes waiting for Jodi, but when she didn’t show up, David became concerned and stood. He was just getting to the door to her room when it opened, and Jodi stepped outside.
“What? I was coming,” Jodi huffed out then moved around him to get to the dining area.
She was just sitting down beside Dizarion when David came back and took the chair beside her, both of them facing Dizarion.
“All he needs is this relic to give him the power to protect himself?” David went right to the heart of the matter.
“He’s the Guardian of the relic of power. Once he bonds with it, Tiernan will command the power of the Prime in the same way he controls the dark energy. He will have to learn to use both properly on this world before he can depend on either,” Dizarion said.
He liked that both of the parents wanted to know how to help their son. It would make his job a lot easier.
“Is there a way to remove the mark of protection?” Jodi ground out.
David glanced over at his wife, a little surprised at how angry she still appeared to be. He tried to sift her energy, but there was something about the Night Walkers that made it nearly impossible for him to do it.
“You want to kill yourself so bad you’re going to stay this mad?” David growled, shocked at his own words.
He hadn’t wanted to bring it up and couldn’t believe he did. Jodi’s stunned look only made him madder at her and more determined to find out what she was thinking.
“I want an answer.” David crossed his arms over his chest while Dizarion’s form began to shift into darkness. “Don’t you dare leave, I have more questions for you.”
David was glad when the Night Walker solidified in the seat he’d been in. He ignored Dizarion’s dramatic sigh as he put his head and his arms on the table.
“I don’t want to talk about this now! This is about Tiernan and not me!” Jodi snapped back and glared at David.
“The hell it ain’t!” David growled. “You keep him from me for 10 years, drop him in my lap without even knowing him and then decide to kill yourself and leave me alone to raise him? I deserve an answer!”
Jodi’s body faded in and out of the shadows. It should have been a huge warning to David, but he was too angry to pay attention to the dangerous glint in her eyes. It only took a second for her to disappear and reappear behind him with a knife to his throat.
“I have taken more than any one person should ever go through and you dare to judge me? You lost that right when you walked away, don’t pretend like I should give a fuck about anything you want or think now. I suggest you get back to the issue regarding our son because I’m off limits to you,” Jodi snarled in his ear.
Her low growl and the shove to David’s shoulder before she disappeared told David that he was going to have one hell of a time trying to win her back, but he wasn’t going to let it discourage him. He knew she needed a bad guy right now and he’d gladly be what she needed. David just hoped he wasn’t digging himself into a hole he couldn’t get back out of.
“You’re the mother of my child, nothing about you is off limits. Now or ever. Don’t threaten me either or I’ll put you over my knee and spank your ass until you calm down,” David warned, watching Jodi’s eyes widen in shock as she blushed deeply.
“Oh hell,” Dizarion whispered with a shake of his head. He damn sure didn’t want to be there when the volatile woman finally exploded, and David certainly knew how to push her buttons.
David smirked as he saw the emotions cross Jodi’s face. He was beginning to get a little worried when Tiernan came running out of his room and stood between the two of them. David had n
o doubt the boy had sensed the tension and anger since he and Jodi had made no effort to prevent it from bleeding from their energy.
Generally, David wouldn’t want the boy around them if they were fighting or talking about anything so important, but the revelation that Jodi had considered suicide had changed all of that. He would take all the help he could get in keeping her with them as a family.
“We’re getting close to where the relic may be. I can feel its power getting stronger.” Tiernan gave his mother a beautiful smile.
David was glad to see that Jodi was affected enough to smile back at her son and ruffle his hair.
“We’ll find it, baby. Your dad and I completely agree. On that.” David knew she’d said the last to needle him but decided to let it go. He had bigger battles to fight.
“I know, Mom. You actually agree on a lot more than that, but you’re too mad to admit it,” Tiernan replied.
David almost laughed at Jodi’s guilty expression and the blush that stained her cheeks, but he didn’t want to piss her off again. Instead, he waited for her response.
“Your dad and I have some things to work out, that’s all,” Jodi murmured, deliberately keeping her gaze from David.
David almost snorted, but the glare Tiernan was giving him made him remain silent.
“We need to leave soon. I can feel how close we are and the danger that lies ahead of us,” Tiernan warned, his serious tone at odds with his childish pose.
“Where are the weapons?” Jodi asked, still refusing to look at David.
“You don’t need any because neither of you is going. I’ll do some reconnaissance first and see what we’re dealing with,” David stated firmly.
He refused to be chucked out of the ship again by his son or allow his wife to put herself in danger or let herself be killed. The anger he could feel pouring from Jodi in waves wasn’t going to deter him from protecting her.
“You can’t stop me!” Jodi’s fists clenched at her sides.
David shook his head while Dizarion muttered under his breath about stubborn people and how this world was sucking the life out of him.
David sat calmly in his chair, confident in his reasoning. He was sure that Dizarion and Tiernan would agree with him, but before he could even make his case, Tiernan’s words caught him off guard.
“She can come. She’s nearly immortal now, and we may need her help,” Tiernan said with a smile at his mother.
“She’s never fired a gun and has no idea how to fight! She’ll be a sitting duck!” David argued, a little-pissed off that his plan was being ruined.
David never saw her move but one second Jodi was there, and in the next, the slide was being pulled back on his own 9mm while it was pointed at his head.
“Joker taught me a whole hell of a lot before he died. If I were you, I wouldn’t make anymore asinine assumptions about what I do or don’t know. Now you can show me where the weapons are or I’ll start stripping all of yours from you.” David didn’t have to turn around and see Jodi’s face to know how angry she was or how close she was to pulling the trigger. The knowledge shook him.
In one swift move, David used his chameleon abilities and Seal training to disarm his wife. When her startled eyes narrowed at him before she disappeared, he prepared himself for her counter attack but didn’t expect the cheap shot to his groin when she appeared directly in front of him. He leaned over and groaned, trying to breathe away the pain as Jodi put her hands on her knees and glared at him.
“I stopped being the person you loved a long time ago, and you have no idea who the fuck I am now. Until we find Tiernan’s relic and make sure he’s safe, you’re stuck with me. Treat me like any other soldier in whatever war you’re fighting this time because we will never have what we did before. Ever,” Jodi growled in his face.
David was still trying to recover from the kick when Jodi retook his gun and to add insult to injury she grabbed a few throwing knives too. He was getting ready to explode when Tiernan sent out a wave of dark energy and paralyzed his mother.
David watched in silent amusement as Tiernan took his weapons back from Jodi and handed them to his father. The boy looked up at his mom and sighed heavily as he shook his head in disappointment.
“Mom, you gotta let this go. It’s only eating you up inside. Stop picking fights with Dad and let’s work together, as a family, to get back what is rightfully mine. Please.” Tiernan’s eyes swirled with darkness and sadness as his hope and pain bled from his energy.
David wasn’t sure when Tiernan gave her back the ability to move, but he watched Jodi drop to her knees in front of the boy and hugged him tightly. David glanced away when he saw the tears in her eyes so he wouldn’t embarrass her. Finally, Jodi pulled away and smiled at Tiernan.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m having a hard time with all of this, but I’m well enough to help you. I need to be able to help you. Can you understand that?” Jodi tried hard to keep the tears from flowing as she pleaded with her son.
It broke David’s heart to see it, and he felt guilty as hell when he realized why she was so determined to do this.
“I know, Mom. But you have nothing to make up for. What happened in the past, was not you. You have to forgive yourself, or you’re going to get one of us killed protecting you from yourself,” Tiernan whispered in a shaky voice.
“Oh, baby.” Was all Jodi whispered before she pulled him back into her arms and tried to blink away her tears.
David quietly walked over to the wall and pressed a button to slide the panel aside. He briefly looked inside before he started grabbing handfuls of weapons and laying them on the table.
“All right everyone. Take what you’re familiar with, if you have questions, start asking. Tiernan, I want you armed with more than those swords this time. Including a skin Grai’s developed that will help keep you safe,” David ordered, his tone letting everyone know it was not an option.
Chapter Fourteen
David remained in the shadows of the room, keeping his eyes on the barely-there mist-like forms he could see on the other side. He was quickly adapting to find the tell-tale shimmer in the shadows that denoted the location of a Night Walker and breathed a sigh of relief that Dizarion was beside his wife and son.
“No, no! You must nip this in the bud! We can’t allow anyone to know the truth of the terror and rapes until we can gain complete control of the people!” the older woman shouted into the phone.
David narrowed his eyes at the woman who basically ran the European Union and turned his focus to her conversation. He stepped closer until he could hear the male’s voice on the other end of the phone.
He wasn’t surprised that it was the traitorous Senator from Arizona. The man who helped create and funded one of the largest terrorist organizations the world has ever seen and a major member of the shadow group that was undermining the American government.
David listened intently to them speak about creating more propaganda through the news organizations and more violent rallies in both countries to try and suppress the people’s free speech. What they were doing sickened him to his core and he vowed to look into it later. After he found the relic, his son needed.
He motioned to the others to leave the room and waited until he saw the shadows flit through the door before following them. When they were far enough down the hallway, he stopped.
“Where is it?” David whispered to Tiernan, his eyes darting around the hall to make sure no one came upon them.
“We must go downstairs,” Tiernan replied before his shadow flew down the hallway.
David growled in anger and took off after his son. He could feel Jodi and Dizarion pass him and cursed that he couldn’t just ride another realm like they did. David finally slowed to a stop, thinking he lost them when he saw Dizarion standing in the shadows of a doorway.
“Down here,” Dizarion said then disappeared through the door.
David quickly went through the door and down the stairs, surprised at how beauti
ful and well-crafted it was. Someone had taken great care to transform the entrance to the basement into something as elegant as the rest of the home. When he reached the bottom of the steps, he saw why.
The entire basement appeared to run the length of the mansion and was brightly illuminated, clearly showing the multitude of items displayed prominently in glass cases. As the shadows of his wife and son crisscrossed the room, David moved closer to the first case and looked inside.
“It’s a lot of the stolen history of the world.” Dizarion suddenly appeared beside David, shaking his head at what was in the cases.
“What do you mean?” David whispered, keeping track of where Tiernan and Jodi were before turning back to the case.
“These are mythical tablets that contain power. Although not the relic we are looking for, it is easy to see that this woman has been a part of stealing the true history of humanity for a long time,” Dizarion explained as he looked at the rows and rows of cases throughout the basement.
“What the hell is that?” David asked aloud as he moved to something on the other side of the room that caught his eye.
David’s breath caught in his throat as he moved closer and finally stopped in front of the display, his mouth hanging open in shock.
“What the fuck?” David breathed out.
A stone altar stood in prominence in the corner of the room. The walls covered in a collection of the strangest skulls David had ever seen.
“Mythical creatures that once roamed your world. They have angels, aliens, and even demons,” Dizarion muttered, his energy vibrating with the ancient power still imbued in the objects.
David’s eyes were caught and held by the red stains that were deeply embedded into the stone slab, and he was afraid he knew what it was. Turning away from it, he was drawn to the area directly next to the altar and couldn’t stop the growl that erupted in his throat before he bolted. Dizarion stopped him just as he reached the small child shackled to the stone walls.
“Wait! You could endanger us all!” Dizarion warned.
