Force of Fire

by Ali Vali

  “I think I know the answer,” he said and started furiously typing. “There. That’s it.”

  * * *

  “We welcome these children into our family of light,” Rawney said as both Morgaine and Kendal held their babies while everyone in the room raised their wineglasses. “May they always search for the truth, as their parents have for generations. They are our future, and we rejoice in the kindness of the goddess.”

  “To our future,” Rolla said and raised his glass higher.

  Aphrodite suddenly appeared as they all drank and walked to Morgaine first and held her arms out for the baby. “Anastasia, you have my promise to always watch over you and take harm from your path if at all possible.” She kissed Anastasia’s head, placed a finger in Morgaine’s cup, and placed a drop of wine in the baby’s mouth.

  Kendal watched the goddess in her own baptism ritual, and when Anastasia’s lips closed around the slender finger, the baby seemed to glow for a split second. She glanced at Piper, and her love’s eyebrows hiked up. Whatever Aphrodite had done, Hali was next, since Morgaine took her daughter back.

  “Don’t look so worried, my warrior,” Aphrodite said as she kissed Kendal briefly on the lips before doing the same to Piper. “The four of you have restored my faith in mankind, and you’ve returned to the world two souls who truly deserve a long and joyful life.”

  “She’s beautiful,” Kendal said as she peered down at Hali. “Thank you for this gift, Goddess.” She dropped to her knees and held up her child. For a very long time she’d believed only in herself, but she was willing to bend a knee if it would keep Hali safe.

  “Like no other, you’ve served me faithfully, Asra. Despite the pain you’ve endured and the evil you’ve fought—you never lost hope.” Aphrodite placed her hand on Kendal’s cheek. “You have proved yourself worthy over and over again, and you love Piper the way she deserves. You were right in that in your life there’ll be no other.”

  “If you had anything to do with bringing her to me, you have my undying gratitude and devotion,” Piper said, taking Aphrodite’s hands when she held them out to her.

  “You’ve been through as much pain as Asra, but she is your true mate. She came to you not to erase your hurts, but to help you carry the burden of them. With time and belief in each other, that load will become lighter and inconsequential, no matter what comes your way.”

  Piper closed her eyes and knelt next to Kendal. No one said a word as the goddess placed her hands on their heads and spoke a language Kendal didn’t understand but knew Piper did. Whatever it was seemed to be a good thing, since her head became warm and the sensation flooded through her all the way to her feet.

  “Remember to trust in each other, to listen to one another, and most importantly, to love one another. Do you both swear to this?” Aphrodite asked, and she and Piper said yes together. “Then you are bound for all time.”

  Aphrodite released them as a flash of light appeared behind her, and after it cleared a man was standing there. He was heavily muscled and wore a leather apron, so Kendal had an idea who he was. Hephaestus wasn’t the most attractive of the gods, but he had married one of the most beautiful of women.

  “Your grandfather was right, Piper. Every woman needs a ring,” Aphrodite said as she held out her hand and the man dropped something into it. “Hephaestus made these especially for you.” She gave Kendal and Piper each a ring hammered out of gold. “May they always be a reminder of the love you share.”

  They exchanged rings and kissed before Aphrodite dipped her finger in Kendal’s wine and repeated what she’d done with Anastasia. Hali opened her eyes and raised her hand as if reaching for the goddess, and Aphrodite seemed enchanted. After a few more minutes she handed Hali back to Piper.

  Kendal glanced at Mac and Molly and almost laughed at their shocked expressions. The only thing that stopped her was Piper’s swift and hard pinch to her side. All this had to be otherworldly for the Marmandes, since it was still a bit strange for her, and she’d seen things that defied imagination. Aphrodite walked to them last and helped Molly and Mac to their feet. They bowed slightly, as if unsure of their actions.

  “Would everyone but Asra and Piper please leave,” Aphrodite said, not letting go of the Marmandes. “I know you don’t need to be convinced to drink the elixir, but I’m compelled to tell you the importance of your decision. I promise to watch over your granddaughter, but she needs more than me to watch her back.”

  “That’s the reason we decided to accept if it’s offered to us,” Molly said. “No offense, but all this is so very strange. We’ve lived next door for years and had no idea. I loved mythology as a child and would have never guessed I’d actually meet one of the gods, much less two.”

  “The Genesis Clan needs someone like you, Molly.” Aphrodite made the name sound exotic. “Your love of history will serve your children well in the coming months.”

  “Thank you,” Molly said, and took the hand Aphrodite offered.

  “My love,” Aphrodite said to Hephaestus. The Marmandes and the two gods formed a circle by holding hands, and Aphrodite spoke the strange language again. Whatever she said made her hands and her husband’s glow and spark before it shot into the Marmandes. “After tonight you’ll never age, but I see no harm in turning back the clock a bit before you embark on eternity.”

  Molly and Mac both took off their glasses and laughed at whatever had happened. “Thank you,” Mac said, his hair streaked with the same blond as Piper’s.

  “You’re very welcome,” Aphrodite said and smiled. “Just one thing left.”

  “You don’t have to do anything else. You’ve already been so generous,” Piper said.

  “This is more a gift of necessity, like before.” Aphrodite smiled at her husband. “The coming months will be filled with love, but it will be balanced, as in all things, with difficulty. You saved my realm by claiming the serpent sword, but I call on you one more time, my warrior.”

  “I’ll do my best,” Kendal said, and Piper handed her the baby when Aphrodite came closer and hugged Piper.

  “The world was once our playground, and we created beings and creatures to entertain ourselves. Those days are long past, but it’s not impossible to wake what sleeps. If that day comes you’ll need my help again.” Aphrodite motioned Hephaestus forward, and he clapped his hands together loudly.

  “For you, warrior,” he said to Kendal as a sword materialized in his hand. “I forged it with everything you’ll need in your battles.” He clapped his hands again, and two more swords appeared. “For the others.”

  “Your gift is a great honor. Thank you,” she said as she held the sheathed sword with two hands and bowed deeply at the waist to him. “So many warriors pledged their allegiance to Ares, but mine has always been to you. The forge and what it’s made possible has kept me and mine alive and well.”

  “You honor me, warrior,” Hephaestus said and bowed back. “Not many remember the making, only what the weapons are made for.”

  “We must go for now, but I’m never too far away,” Aphrodite said and touched their faces once more before disappearing in a gold mist.

  “I’ll say this for you, baby,” Piper said shaking her head once just her family remained. “You certainly make life interesting.”

  * * *

  In the predawn, everyone at Oakgrove walked with the Marmandes outside. “It has been a long time since we’ve had so many elders welcome our new clan members,” Rolla said. He watched Rawney place two cups in front of her in the field where Kendal had sent so many to their eternal rest.

  “You’ve been bathed and cleansed to begin your new life,” Kendal said as Rawney started mixing the ingredients of the elixir of life. “You already know happiness, so my wish for you is that it lasts as long as there are sunrises. You both deserve that for giving me the gift of Piper.”

  Piper kissed Kendal for the sweet words and waited for Rawney to finish the incantations that would bond the ingredients into cups of
immortality. “Gran.” She handed Molly a cup. “Pops.” She handed Mac the other one. “Drink and live forever.”

  Like Piper had, her grandparents took a tentative sip before draining their cups. “So how will we know?” Mac asked.

  Piper glanced back at Kendal, figuring she was better prepared to answer. “Come,” Kendal said and knelt facing east. The sky was already a blaze of pinks and oranges, announcing a new day.

  When her grandparents took her hand and joined Kendal, they seemed to move with more ease and comfort than they had in years. Their eyes were already like Kendal’s and the baby’s, but sometimes things were easier to accept when you were shown instead of told.

  She sat in Kendal’s lap once she leaned back and closed her eyes, waiting for the first sign of the sun. The morning was hot but the breeze made it bearable, and she enjoyed the feel of being held and surrounded by her family. That her grandparents would always be with her freed her mind as if it had been shackled and tethered, allowing her thoughts to wander only so far.

  As the heat intensified, a jumble of images played rapidly in her head, and she opened her eyes to find Bruik staring at her as if he knew exactly what she’d seen.

  “Let them enjoy their moment, my love,” Kendal said, then kissed the side of her neck. “There’s more than enough time to deal with whatever it is later.”

  “Are you sure?” She turned her head and looked at Kendal, seeing only adoration and devotion in the depths of those blue eyes.

  “The way I choose to go about my life, especially now, is that everything horrible is so much easier when you aren’t alone.” Kendal kissed her with the kind of passion they usually shared when they were intimate. “No matter the horror, this circle proves we’re not alone.”

  They turned when Molly and Mac gasped as the sun rose over the trees. All their ailments were now a memory, and health wouldn’t be a problem as long as the sun rose every morning.

  “Good God,” Mac said as he flexed his hands. “This is fantastic.”

  “Not a bad deal,” Kendal said, laughing as she stood with Piper still in her arms. “I’m so glad you both accepted.”

  “Yes,” Rolla said, brushing his hair back as the wind picked up. “You can choose to live out this lifetime as you have, but eventually I hope you’ll come to work for the clan. Mac, you’d be a great asset managing some of our many investments, and Molly, you might want to work with Morgaine in the archives.”

  “I’d love to get a look at the history you’ve all kept that seems to be a truer picture than what I taught,” Molly said.

  “You deserve a longer celebration, but I need to call a council to discuss some new developments.” Rolla smiled, but Piper could almost sense his distress.

  “Finally,” she said, and Kendal pressed up against her back.

  “Piper,” Bruik said as the others started back to the house. “Forgive me, but I didn’t want to taint your sight. In the coming days we have to work together, but we have to wait until the visions are clear before we compare what we see.”

  “Are…is…I mean is this even possible?” Vampires were bad enough, but what she’d seen had to be a mind trick.

  “I wish I could say yes, but very few of our members remember that time, so we’ll have to depend on their memories and their written accounts.” He waved them toward the house and walked by her side. “I’ll stay with you if you allow it.”

  “Kendal and I meant what we said, my friend. You’re welcome in our home for as long as you like,” she said, holding Kendal’s hand and getting a squeeze when she issued the invitation. “Eventually you can help us homeschool the kids.”

  “I think little Hali will be more interested in swordplay than in the written word. She’ll have the heart of a slayer, and she’s lucky to have the greatest teacher.”

  “You’ve seen that?” Kendal asked, her emotions completely unreadable.

  “Every vision I’ve had when Piper was pregnant assured me of only two things. Your daughter will be happy, and she’ll come to love another as deeply and as strongly as you love Piper.” He smiled in a way that seemed to make Kendal less tense.

  “Will that great love be Anastasia?” Kendal asked.

  “That’s what I’ve seen, but before you accuse Aphrodite of deceiving you, Hali will make the choice. She won’t simply follow a map someone else has written for her. She’ll be as beautiful as her mother and as stubborn as you, Asra.” He laughed at Kendal’s slight frown as they reached the porch and cocked his head to the side. “You’ll soon realize how patient your father was all those years ago.”

  “Don’t pout, baby,” Piper said, kissing her. “Stubbornness is a trait she gets from both sides.”

  “Well, if he’s right and she’s anything like me as a child, let’s hope you’re quick on your feet.”

  Chapter Eight

  Convel came instantly awake when she sensed someone else in her room that wasn’t Lowe. It was still dark outside, and Lowe lay pressed against her, naked and warm. She kept her eyes closed and tried to figure out what had woken her out of a sound sleep.

  “If you let any enemy get this close to you and your little bitch, it’s a wonder you’re still alive, little sister.”

  It had been so long since she’d heard her older sister’s voice, and she sat upright to see where she was. “Don’t you have better things to do than to bother someone so beneath you, your highness?” Lovell had followed and obeyed their mother’s wishes and married into the Bashar dynasty, and she was now consort to their queen.

  “Have you no pride left?” Lovell finally stepped by the window, and she could just make out her features from the light outside. “You left us with forty, and you’re living in this hovel with only six. None of those are the friends we knew back then. You add insult to that decline by poaching on the slayer’s land.”

  Lovell walked out, but she knew it was to give her the chance to get dressed. “Lowe, wake up.”

  “Who was that?” Lowe asked, finally opening her eyes.

  “My sister, Queen Tala’s consort and royal pain in the ass.” She threw on a T-shirt and the jeans she’d dropped on the floor but decided to go barefoot. It had never been her desire to impress the hierarchy.

  “Why’s she here?”

  “Let’s find out,” she said, moving quietly to the main room. She faced off against Lovell and curled her fingers, ready to fight. “The next time you enter my home or insult my mate, I’m going to forget we’re family.”

  “Your problem, cub,” Lovell said, using the hated nickname she had used when they were children, “is you never have learned your place.” Lovell was on her with her teeth at her throat before she could get more than four feet from her. “Tell them to back down or they’ll be dead before they can growl,” Lovell said of Convel’s pack. All of them had shifted, but Lovell had surely not come alone, so the threat was real.

  “Go outside, all of you, and be careful,” she said, extending her neck back in a sign of submission. “What do you want?” she asked once everyone but Lowe had left.

  “Tala sent me to deliver her final warning so you understand the seriousness of her order.”

  Lovell released her, and she glared at the ease with which her sister moved and attacked. Their queen had been blinded by the great Lovell Lupo from the first time she noticed her as they trained to take their place protecting the pack. She’d actually met Tala first, but her sister was hard to compete with in any arena, and she’d become invisible to Tala from that day forward.

  “She disowned me, hell, all of us, so what else can she do to us?” She dropped into the old, torn sofa, wanting this over with.

  “Tala has been more than patient, Convel, so stop acting like a pup that needs weaning. You left, so try not to rewrite history, and you never have made any move to reconcile with the pack. Our mother still cries for you, and we all miss you, but none of that matters to you.”

  “I didn’t fit in there.”

  “You ne
ver tried, so save your weak excuses.” Lovell dropped the scroll she’d brought at her feet. “You abandoned your family, and you’ve tried your best to break our treaties with the Genesis Clan. That alone should’ve resulted in your death at the hands of the pack, but you’re my sister.” Lovell’s voice grew softer and almost tired.

  “What’s different now than when I left?”

  “Asra let you live this time because Tala and I asked it of her.”

  “That bitch cut me.” She held up her hand as she yelled. “I don’t care what Queen Tala or you want. I’m going to kill her.”

  “The slayer kept her word to Tala, but you’ll be released from our protection. Asra will not hunt you all down, but another infraction against the laws of the pack and she has permission to finish what she could’ve all those years ago.” Lovell looked at Lowe, but her face showed no emotion. “You and the others outside are invited to join us if you swear loyalty to our queen and the pack.”

  “I’ve never lived with the pack,” Lowe said quietly. “If not for Convel I’d be dead. That’s true for all of us.”

  “There’s freedom from our rules, Ms. Carey, and there’s the love and support of our family and community. I’m not here to force you into anything, but realize the consequences of refusing.”

  “How’s Mama?” Convel asked as a way to change the subject. Losing any of her chosen family or Lowe would destroy her, but her mother still weighed heavily on her conscience. Unlike the Genesis Clan, they did not live forever. Their lives were much longer than those of humans, they could be killed, but they did eventually grow old and pass like every species of wolf.

  “She still loves you, but why do you care? It’s never mattered to you enough to check on her, Mother, or Felan, even though they still miss you.”

  She laughed at Lovell’s omission. “And you don’t miss me?”

  “Tala and I have two pups, so actually I think of you every time I’m with them,” Lovell said, staring at her like she could see into her soul. “The thought they’d leave me without a backward glance tears at my heart. I didn’t understand Mama and Mother’s pain until Tala gave birth to our daughters.”