Dy stumbled but not before she raised her hands to blast an energy wave at Gerry. Gerry used her own magic to deflect the burst and both women tumbled backwards.
A fiery bolt caught Gerry in the shoulder before she could stand. Agony seared through her arm and down her back. She cried out, rolling on her back and clinching her legs up into a fetal position.
Dysis laughed.
Gerry got a queasy feeling in her stomach as she struggled to stand. How am I ever going to win against her arsenal of weapons? The evil gifts she possesses are way out of my league. Dy’s right. I can’t win.
As she was about to give in, a new pain developed in Gerry’s abdomen. She was confused because she hadn’t been hit there. Suddenly she remembered the two tiny souls just beginning life inside her. Her babies would die if she gave up. She knew she must find a way to defeat her sister and soon. She couldn’t lose her unborn children or the love she had found and grown with Nicky.
Thinking of Nicky and her love for him, she remembered her last kiss with him moments before Dysis showed up. Realizing the strength of the love and passion, Gerry absorbed the feelings, caressed them, and took them into her being.
The energy of their love and sensuality filled her senses and acted as its own extra pulsing heart in her center. She found her confidence there.
A surge of strength began to pulse through her veins. She had no bag of tricks like Dysis did. She couldn’t fly; she couldn’t fire lightning from her fingertips; she couldn’t explode a solid piece of rock with a point of her finger. But she was still a succubus and she still had the power to inject herself into people’s minds. And with Dysis, she could connect with her thoughts. If I could just overwhelm her, then perhaps… The gears shifted in Gerry’s mind as she formulated a plan.
Gerry pulled herself to her knees and then curled her back into a ball as if injured. She used the maneuver and a twitch of her nose to allow her magic to hide her actions. Removing the box from her pocket, she tucked it into the corner of the room. Before Dy could catch her, she placed a temporary camouflage on the box while she stood and circled away from that area of the room.
“Why do you hate me, Dy?”
The green eyes ebbed dull a moment before sparking with ferocity again. “I never hated you, sister. You turned your back on me, on us. It seems to me you were the one who hated me.”
Even as her sister infiltrated her own mind to wear her down, Gerry dug deeper, clawing at the recesses of the other woman’s thoughts, memories, and feelings. Dy was lying. Her hate ran deep and thick. It crowded out everything else in her consciousness. She wondered if there was anything left of her sibling other than hate.
“You wouldn’t stop pushing me, Dy. I didn’t want the things you wanted. I didn’t want to do that to Mum and Dad.”
She hit a nerve. Something reverberated from her sister’s head straight into her own, and the strike was like hitting the funny bone only at the base of her neck. Gerry cringed and her breath caught in her throat. She fought through the biting sensation and pressed on.
Gerry tunneled and plowed through her mind, searching for the key to her sister’s weakness. The expression on Dy’s face crumbled just a bit, a line appearing in between her eyebrows. Her jaw was tight, but her lower lip moved as if she wanted to speak, but she was silent.
“It’s Mum and Dad, isn’t it? You were angry at them… I’m right. It was them and not me.”
Dysis flew toward her, reaching as if to embrace her, but her hands were held like claws. “They loved you more. I could have borne that, Geraneia. I could have lived with that because you were special. It only made sense that they would love you more. We could have been a team, you and I. We could have been unstoppable. And they kept us apart. They took you from me and that’s what I’ll never forgive them for.” Instead of touching her, Dysis spun an electrical web from her fingertips and clasped Gerry within it, dragging her closer.
Gerry’s muscles seized painfully the moment the web surrounded her. She moaned, yearning to release her mental excavation of her sister’s mind so she could pass out and end the onslaught. God help me, I can’t do this! She opened her mouth to speak but no words came. Just then, a tiny thought embedded in Dy’s mind sparkled like a diamond speck to Gerry’s awareness. She swallowed hard as she struggled to latch onto it. A word blinked before her eyes and she knew she had found what she’d been searching for.
Gerry retracted her mental feelers and retreated within herself. The pain surrounded her, clinching her body until she screamed and collapsed to the floor. It was a struggle to maintain consciousness as all of her muscles shuddered and trembled. Rolling to her side, she reached an arm out over her head and concentrated on breathing.
“I told you, sister. You can’t win.”
As Dysis spoke the words, she bent over Gerry and began searching through the loose pockets of her tunic for the box. With the last ounce of strength Gerry could muster, she swept her outstretched hand to magically draw the box from the corner and into her palm. Clutching the cold silver in her hand, she parted her dry lips and called the box by name. “Mum. Open, Mum…. Mum…”
The sensation of falling overtook her and blackness crowded her vision. In the distance she was certain she could hear her sister screaming, but the sound got further and further away until her ears found only silence and peace.
Nicky opened his eyes just in time to see Gerry’s body crumble to the tile floor. Her sister was standing over her, smiling with a wicked look of triumph. He crawled to his knees, his hands flat against the floor, and watched his wife reach out her hand to summon the silver box. Lunging at the doorway, he tried to get into the room but the protections refused to let him enter. He couldn’t hear the words Gerry said, but as she spoke the box opened.
Once it was fully open, Dysis screamed, bending backwards so that her chest was lifted high and her arms outstretched. An eerie purple mist seeped from her body, whirling away in the shape of a vortex as the box sucked the purplish smoke from the woman until her body went slack. She fell to the ground, unconscious. The lid of the Antipandore snapped closed and the box began to melt as it absorbed into the skin of Gerry’s palm.
“What has happened?”
It was Langston’s voice, and when Nicky turned he saw the giant as well as Kent and Devan picking themselves up from the floor.
“Where’s Jill? The children?” Devan cried in a frantic tone, her gold-brown eyes darting from left to right.
“I don’t know.” Nicky pointed absently down the hallway. “She was down there. Langston, open the damned safe room so I can get to my wife!”
Devan darted off to check on her friend while Langston released the safe room protections so that Nicky could get inside. He cradled Gerry in his arms, drawing her to his chest in a tender embrace.
Langston followed behind, crouching beside them and holding his huge hands over her body. A yellow light exuded from his hands, his healing powers seeing to her injuries. She stirred, moving her head and groaning.
“She will be well,” Langston told Nicky, patting his shoulder.
Kent moved close to Langston. “Did Nicky call her his wife?”
The bigger man laughed, even as Gerry opened her eyes.
“Langston,” she whispered, raising a hand to clasp Nicky’s forearm. “The babies?”
Smiling, the man placed his palm to her abdomen. “Your little ones are well, my friend.”
“Babies?” Kent cried, eyes wide and mouth gaping. When Nicky looked at him with a cocky smirk, he shook his head and combed his fingers through his hair. “I’d better go check on everyone else, since you’ve got things covered here.”
“Dysis?”
Nicky glanced to his right where the other woman lay motionless. He gazed at Langston, questioning. Before the other man could respond, a voice spoke up from the opposite side of the room.
“Dysis is gone.”
Gerry scrambled weakly to get up, and Nicky helped her to sit forw
ard. A strawberry blond child materialized from a shimmering white light, a wide grin on her young face.
“Tylie!”
“Hello, Geraneia. You have done well. I am very proud of you.”
Nicky felt his wife tense in his arms as she leaned forward to get closer to the approaching girl.
“Who are you?” Gerry asked.
“I was sent to pave the way for you. You have done very well.”
Nicky wanted to say something. He wanted to demand the enigmatic girl to tell them who she was, but he sensed that Gerry needed to handle this. Whatever this was, it was between his wife and the child.
“You keep saying that. What does that mean?”
Tylie stepped forward again until she could reach out to touch Gerry. She slid her little fingers down to her neck so she could pull the rosary from inside Gerry’s shirt. She held the crucifix out, dangling it to and fro.
“Why do you wear this, Geraneia? Does it mean something to you?”
A shudder racked Gerry’s body, and for a moment he thought she was going to cry. The air whooshed out of her open mouth and she leaned back against his chest as if in resignation. “Yes it does. It’s who I was. It’s who I wish I was.”
“Oh, Geraneia, do you still not understand? Do you know why your sister’s body lies lifeless on the floor?”
“She’s dead?” Gerry asked, her voice cracking with emotion. “I killed her?”
“Dysis died the day she took her vows. She forsook her soul when she chose the evil. The powers she stole were all that kept her in this world. The powers began with those of your father.”
“She took Dad’s powers?”
“Yes, Geraneia. And now your lives have come full circle. When you opened the Antipandore you freed Dysis from the prison of her own making. And all of the powers she took became yours. It is now as it should be. You have done very well. He is very pleased.”
Then Tylie leaned forward and placed a kiss upon Gerry’s forehead. She smiled and used her thumb to mark a cross upon the place she’d kissed then stepped away. Without another word, Tylie faded into nothing.
“What did she mean? Who is pleased?”
Gerry used trembling hands to clasp the rosary in her hands. Her grin was wide and pure when she turned her eyes back to Nicky. “He’s pleased.” She laughed.
“In all of my years,” Langston spoke, rising to stand above them. “I have lived for all of these centuries and yet this is the first time I have ever encountered an angel.”
Rooney had his arms crossed, his shoulder leaning against the frame of Charlie’s bedroom door. All of the children were back in their rooms, laughing and carrying on as children are wont to do. During the heat of the battle, Jill, Doc and Roon kept the vampires who showed up with Dysis far enough away from their hideout that Charlie, Belle, and Kris never had to get into the fray. By the time Kent, Devan, and Langston were released from the dark tubes imprisoning them, the action was pretty much over and done.
The adults were all gathered together now in Charlie’s room. Langston’s giant arms held the petite Kristana in a tight embrace, and every so often he placed a kiss upon her dark head. Still tired from her earlier ordeal, Gerry was curled up on Nicky’s lap in an easy chair in the corner. Charlie looked small and frail tucked into the covers in the center of his bed. Jill was standing sentry beside him, every so often adjusting his blankets. Doc had a concerned expression on his face when he looked at his old friend.
Kent and Devan stood stoic, side by side, with fingers interlaced while Devan spoke. “I don’t have a clue where we were. It was sort of… a nowhere land. Everything was black, white, and gray. Dysis was the Council leader, but how did she get that position?”
“I saw some of it when I was searching her mind. The Org’s been looking for the faery-witch for a long time.” Gerry glanced at Dev, cocking an eyebrow. “Dy was already aligned with them, but then she decided to play both sides. Her ability to manipulate knows no bounds, and she decided to infiltrate the Company, too.”
“All this to get my powers?” Devan pursed her lips, an expression of disgust on her face.
“Not just your powers. I mean… that was the end result, but she liked creating the havoc. Pitting the Org and the Company against one another but keeping both of them just far enough from the other to keep it going was a game to her. She wanted to destroy them both so that when she did get your powers she could control all of it.”
“So we still don’t know who’s left of the Council or even if it still exists,” Kent told them. “When we were in that black, white, and gray place, we saw the other two members flee when Dy’s plans became clear. I don’t even know who they were.”
Dev nodded. “There are still more children to find, and we need to know if the Org is really out of commission. And of course Lodar needs to be delivered to the Women.”
Roon heard a sound behind him and to his right. He ventured to guess it was the raven-haired Belle. Something about her intrigued him. She had a gaggle of kids who she seemed to consider her own, and while they were all hiding from Dysis, she kept those particular three close to her at all times. There was a fierce protectiveness in her hazel eyes — beautiful eyes that a faery could get lost in.
Forcing his attention back to the conversation in the room, Rooney turned his gaze to Jill as she spoke. “If we all go we could get the last of the kids in no time. Charlie and Kris can stay here…”
“Best change that up a bit, gal. I’m on my way out.”
It was Charlie speaking, though his voice was soft. The blonde vampire dropped to the bed beside him, clutching his hand to her chest. Doc too reacted quickly, taking a knee beside the bed.
“C’mon, you two. It ain’t nothing to get glum about. I’m ready. These old bones are tired, you know? Besides, that little red-haired girl told me I could go now.”
“But Charlie, we need you here. It isn’t time. It isn’t!” Jill insisted. Then she turned her piercing eyes to Langston. “Do something.”
Rooney watched the giant drop his head, sadness in his eyes even as he smiled. “I cannot, my friend. Charlie and I have spoken of this. I will not interfere.”
“Look at all these folks here,” Charlie continued. “All of ‘em with their mates. All of ‘em in love… I miss my wife. Doc, you know I have to go.”
Doc brushed a hand through his dark hair before looking up and facing his old friend. “Yes, Charlie. I know. I understand.”
Roon glanced at Nicky and Gerry, watching him reach a hand to her belly, caressing the babies growing within. The entire gang had been pretty well shocked and also ecstatic to find out that the pair were married and also expecting twins. They looked fairly content now as Gerry laid her head against Nicky’s shoulders and closed her eyes.
Pain, joy, hurt, death, life, magic. All of it fits, he thought. It was fitting that even as Charlie made his final journey, new life would find root with Gerry’s babies.
Still, Roon wasn’t used to death. It didn’t happen often in the faery realm. His people could live for centuries and centuries. Time wasn’t the same for them. He pushed himself away from the wall and turned away from the room. He half-expected – or hoped – to see Belle there, but all he saw was a shadow moving around the corner at the far end of the hospital.
He made his way there and peeked around slowly. There she was, leaned over and speaking in soft tones to the smallest child. Her black hair hung down across her shoulder in a glorious waterfall. Jill had told him that the woman was barely twenty, but she had a poise that was rare in a person her age. He realized his hand itched to touch those shiny locks. She handed a stuffed animal to the boy child then lined the three of them up in a row.
It was clear what she was up to as she glanced around a few times before guiding the kids to the exit. She was taking off with them. Rooney smiled to himself, putting a hand against the wall as he considered things.
This world was a dangerous place, especially for a gorgeous young
thing like Belle. She could definitely use some faery protection.
American Pie II
When one of my editors went through this story, she commented on how “real” the airplane scene was and how she empathized with Gerry. There’s a reason for that. I’ve felt it! My husband is a pilot and since before we were married he’s flown a 1958 Cessna 172—a “classic.” Now the hubby is an excellent pilot, but we’ve had some events that make a person like me awfully nervous. I tapped into those when I wrote the flying scenes.
Also, the airplane Nicky flies is an “old straight-tail.” Any pilot will know what that means and most of them sigh with nostalgia and remember the first one they ever flew. I sometimes think all pilots must have started out in an older Cessna 172. It’s a much-beloved airplane, sometimes called the Impala of the skies: durable and easy to fly.
So my dear husband calls our airplane American Pie II. His Cessna came off the assembly line the same month Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper went out on the Winter Dance Party Tour which would eventually lead to their deaths in an airplane crash… an airplane called American Pie. It may seem like a bad omen, but that “beautiful old bird” has taken us many a mile. And the story about her name is always a fun one to tell, especially since the Big Bopper was from my region of Texas and Buddy Holly was from the hubby’s hometown of Lubbock.
Don’t you just love how small the world is sometimes?
~Olivia Hardin
By Blood & Benevolence
(A Bend-Bite-Shift Story)
Olivia Hardin
Copyright © 2013 by Olivia Hardin
All rights reserve. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Page 52
