“I will not sit back and let your baby be hurt, Sierra. I will get him back, I promise you.”
“Don’t make promises, Jess…” This bit of advice came from Avery as everyone slowly made their way back into the room. I shot him a scathing look, because his words set Sierra up for a world of hurt. The words he held back hung on the air, just as thick as if he had uttered them anyway. I shouldn’t make promises that I probably can’t keep.
“We have to get him back. There’s no question about that. Sierra has already lost too much for this pack, and I won’t add to that tally for her. Baby Jack was a much-needed miracle for Sierra in her darkest hour. I’ll be damned if I won’t do everything in my power to get him back in her arms.”
“Even if it means giving up ever holding your own baby again?” Gabriel called out. “That’s what you may be doing. You’ve only begun to touch on the power that comes with being a white wolf, and you are currently disconnected from your ancestors right now, if what you said earlier about your dream vision is true.” It was. I was. That didn’t mean I still couldn’t try to get baby Jack out of his impossible situation. I was also well aware that it was a situation I may not come back from, and that my rescue attempt might only be good enough to ensure that Jack pass quickly into the land of the dead with me, instead of lingering near the portal being drained of blood.
“I need a few moments with Layla, alone. Please, don’t follow us. We’ll call you once I’ve heard everything about this portal, and how opening it works.”
“You can’t open the portal, Jess.” My father spoke to me directly for the first time since he had left my house earlier. “We have no way of knowing why this Louis wants it open, or what the hell is going to come out from the other side.”
“I understand that. Now, I need to speak to Layla, alone.”
My father rose, raised his hands in the universal sign of ‘I give up’ and everyone else relaxed back and followed suit. I handed Willow off to Ashley before I got up to leave, and then I leaned down to speak to Sierra. “Sierra,” I waited for her to turn and acknowledge me before I finished speaking. “I need you to help look after Willow while I go find baby Jack for you.” She nodded through a sob. “If I don’t come back…”
“You will come back, and you will bring Jack to me.” She all but whispered. “I will be here for Willow, no matter what though.” That was all I needed to hear. I needed to know that she wouldn’t give up and quit like she almost did when Ashley’s brother passed into the world beyond.
~*~
Once Layla and I finished our powwow, I knew exactly what my plan of attack was, and so did she, for the most part. It would at least give baby Jack a fighting chance of survival when pitting us against unnumbered dark ones and a Fiul Sange. When Layla left to join the others I noticed Gabriel lurking in the hallway, and called him into my father’s office. “Gabriel, I have a task for you, if you feel you are up to it.”
“I thought you’d never ask. I’ve been waiting to be able to assist you.” I stepped back, and eyed him then as he sighed. “Not in a weird, creepy way. If you knew your complete history, you would understand. One hunter is almost always chosen to stand by the side of the White Wolf as her humble servant. I thought, perhaps, you would chose me.” I quirked up my eyebrows at him, not knowing whether to amused or surprised. “For some that meant they used us a shield in battle or for other, less grim tasks.” When I gave him my angry face, he quickly added on, “not that I expected that of you. It was obvious that you had a true mate when we met. I just hoped you would still chose me to your sword in battle, or your advisor in those sorts of things.”
“I see. Well, you probably should have mentioned all that a bit sooner, because until Layla got here Mikael and I thought you had some sort of weird fantasy crush on me, and it was starting to creep me out.”
“Oh, well, I suppose with such horrible communication skills, I didn’t deserve the spot after all.” I smiled at him, easing the tensions a bit.
“I do have a job for you though. I need someone to be able to keep Layla safe, and hidden while she upholds her part of our plan. Apparently the only way for her to direct me to the portal is by physically taking me there. You hunters have special gifts, correct? Do you have anything in your bag of tricks that could keep her hidden?”
“I do, in fact, and I would be honored to help.”
“Great, but while on the way there, you need to keep your distance, and make sure she doesn’t see you. I don’t want you to show yourself until we get close enough that she can go no further without risking herself, is that understood?”
“Completely.”
“And one more thing…” I added as I got up to leave my father’s office. “If I am not able to come out in one hour with the baby, then you are to take her back home. Do not let her stay and get herself killed.”
“I understand.” As I was moving through the doorway he grabbed my hand and pulled me back momentarily. “Jessica, if we must leave without you, what would you have me tell the others when we get back?”
“Tell them I loved them, and it was an honor to know each and every one. Tell Sierra how sorry I am, and that I tried.” The words were out of my mouth before I could even think of them, because it was all that needed to be said.
He nodded. “You are a true warrior at heart. I would think that you had been born a hunter. You would have made us very proud.”
My father’s voice, full of disdain and worry, roused my attention as I entered the room again. I’m not sure what exactly he was saying though, because by the time I actually started paying attention again, it was Sierra who was coming out of her seat to plead with me.
“Don’t listen to that. We have to get him back!” Sierra’s face was stricken, and tears once again streamed freely down her face. I had always been under the impression that the reason mothers loved their babies so much was because they felt the miracle of growing a person within themselves. I was seeing now, that it simply wasn’t true. Babies, children even, have a magic all their own that wraps around a person’s heart and ensnares them. Sierra would give up her everything for the child that wasn’t biologically hers just as I would for Willow.
I turned to my mother then, “I need you to keep Willow safe, and take care of her until Mikael or I get back.” My mother started to protest, but I shushed her quickly. “I can’t sit back and leave that baby to be drained because I was afraid for myself. If it were Willow, I would have been out the door the moment I knew how to get there. The only thing that held me here this long was to make sure my daughter is taken care of while I am out there, and in case I don’t get back. You tell her how very much I loved her.”
“You need to wait until Mikael and Asi are back, Jess. I will not stand by and watch you march yourself right into the arms of the enemy. We don’t even know exactly what a Fiul Sange is capable of.” The worry was back in my father’s voice, but so was the authority of a pack master. Were I not the White Wolf, he would force me to stay behind. I felt the power in his words, and thanked my ancestors for the bloodline I possessed.
“I am going. It would also do for you to remember who I am. White Wolf blood runs in my veins, and those tricks you are pulling to keep me here won’t work. What they will do is piss me off and send me in search of another pack to reside with when I get baby Jack back.”
There was a collective gasp in the room. To leave the pack of my birth for another would be to shun the old pack, which would mean my entire family, including Mikael, if he chose to stay. It didn’t always have to be that way, but if it were done because of something like this, a shunning would be facilitated.
“You are quick to throw out that you are the White Wolf, Jess, but you forget you are my daughter. What would you do if it were Willow standing here ready to lead the charge against, hell we don’t even know what? There could be a dark army awaiting you out there.” I saw the fine tremor of fear run through my father’s hands then. He was right, I would do whatever
it took to keep her safe. In fact, that had been what he thought he was doing for us when he allowed a security team to search my house while I slept. Realizing that it was done out of love didn’t change the outcome of his actions though. What it did do was change how we had to approach the situation, and the only way to make it work was to follow the plan that Layla and I had concocted together.
“It’s time for me to go, before they do anything stupid with the baby.”
“I’m going too!” Sierra was quickly on my heels as I moved toward the front door.
“You cannot.” She appeared ready to argue with me, so I pushed on. “I made you a promise that I would bring Jack back to you. Do you want me to honor that promise?”
“Of course, I do.”
“Then you need to stay behind and honor your own, to help look after Willow until we get back, and even if we don’t.”
“Jessica, you can’t ask me to stay behind. How will the baby get out again, once they have you, if no one else goes along?”
I smiled at Sierra, because it was the same question Layla and I struggled with ourselves until we came up with the only solution possible.
“Don’t worry, little one, we have it all covered. Jessica knows exactly what to do.” Layla’s sweet singsong voice intoned to Sierra as she draped her arm affectionately around her shoulders. “Now, come, and my sister will make you a tea that will help take the edge off while we wait.” I tipped my head towards Layla in thanks, and left the house.
“Jess,” Ashley called out from the door.
“Yeah?”
“You better come back safe and sound, or Mikael’s going to go on the warpath when he gets back.”
“Ashley, you just make sure they don’t tell Mikael where I went until after he comes back to the pack lands on his own. He is in enough danger, chasing down the worst of our wolves, I don’t need him distracted. I need him to come home to our daughter.”
“In case you can’t?”
“In case I can’t.” I turned before I could see Ashley break down. I knew they would all worry about me. Hell, I was worried about me, but I also knew that the plan Layla and I had come up with was solid. If nothing else, I would make sure that baby Jack and I both left this world in peace, instead of through the torture of a bloodletting sacrifice.
It didn’t take long for Layla to catch up to me. “Sorry,” she whispered. “I had to distract Serena. I know her, she wouldn’t have let me come to help, but she doesn’t understand what I did to seal the portal. I didn’t just link your bloodline to it, I linked myself too.”
“I know. I thank you for being brave enough to take me there. If there were any other way, I would have you stay behind with the rest of them. Now, we just have to figure out how to keep you safely hidden away until it’s time to take baby Jack back to his mom.”
“I think I can help with that.” The gritty voice that called out from behind us took me off guard a bit, because this was not what I had planned with Gabriel. Sensing my distrust of that fact, Gabriel added, “it’s a hunter’s gift to walk silently among the world.”
“You can’t be here. I won’t be responsible for any more people walking themselves into danger.” I offered; playing along to see where he was going with this, and hoping like hell he had a good plan to convince Layla.
“Well, you said it yourself. I am walking myself into danger, and therefore am not your responsibility.” He chuckled softly at that. “Besides, it is my birthright to hunt the things you seek out. I would be remiss in my duties if I did not attend you on this mission.” He turned his focus on Layla. “Someone must help keep the lovely Layla hidden while we wait on you and the baby at any rate.”
“Fine, but you’re putting your own ass on the line. I’m trying to do the right thing here, and I don’t want anyone else dying because they looked like me, or helped me.” It was a hard pill to swallow, knowing that all those girls between Avery Daniels’s pack and mine had been lost because they resembled me. I shook the thought away though, because I couldn’t afford to break down for anyone else just yet. I needed to make sure Baby Jack made it out, and away from the monsters safely, first.
“How exactly are you linked to the Gateway of the Dead?” Gabriel asked Layla the same question I had earlier.
“It cannot be found without me, or my blood.”
“Then how did the dark ones find it?”
“A question I cannot answer, because I don’t know.” Layla shook her head, silvery-blond locks bounced around her shoulders as she did so. “It still puzzles me, there is no other way, except with you and I.” She turned to look at me, and Gabriel’s attention shifted from Layla to me.
“With the two of you, or would someone from your bloodline do?” Gabriel asked as he turned his focus back to Layla.
“Well, I suppose one of my sisters could find the place if they saw fit to, but even then, only one knew how I sealed the place.”
“Maybe not,” I interrupted. “When I was a captive of your sister Sophia, she had a real bitter streak for Serena. She knew things Serena wasn’t able to tell others, maybe this wasn’t news to her either.”
“Even if that were the case, she’s dead, and clearly not suspect any longer.”
“She’s dead, but you guys have a bunch of other sisters, right? Surely, one of them was closer to Sophia, and maybe willing to carry on her vendettas?”
Layla hesitated, and that was enough to convince me that there may be another witch at play. “It’s possible.” She finally whispered to me. “Highly unlikely, I think, but possible.”
Layla chewed her own perfectly manicured nails as we continued through the caverns. She was clearly upset that one of her sisters might be involved in this mess, this massacre of female wolves. “I’m sorry, Layla. I know that no matter how horrible Sophia was to me, she was still your sister. Whoever is doing this now, may be too. That can’t be easy on you.”
“There is no reason for you to apologize for what my sisters choose to do of their own free will. My mother, rest her soul, liked to dabble with the lives of those she considered lesser than her too. It runs in the blood, you might say. Some of us do try to stay clear of that life, but I suppose it proves alluring once in a while. You werewolves are long-lived in comparison to humans, but we witches… Ahh, we witches are damn near eternal. I think a certain madness comes with the monotony of living the same things over and over on repeat.”
“So what you’re telling me is the longer you live, the crazier you get?” I sighed and added, “I know some people who probably shouldn’t live very long.”
Layla and Gabriel both chuckled at that. “I don’t think that’s all there is to it. Your Serena is a good example. She’s saved the day more than a few times. That has to count for something in the land of the crazy.” Gabriel offered. “I hate to sound like a petulant hunter, but are we getting close?”
A light went on behind Layla’s eyes, in the most literal sense of the word. The silvery gray in them now glowed, brighter than a wolf’s eyes when light reflects from them. “Almost there…” she whispered.
“Whoa! Your eyes!” I couldn’t stop staring, and once I pointed them out, Gabriel joined with me.
“Sorry, my magic is showing.” She shrugged off our curious stares, and continued pushing forward through the dark cave system. The slope to the land wasn’t the only tip-off that we were descending into the depths of the earth. The scents around us changed too. I could no longer smell the flora and fauna from the forest outside. Now, everything took on a musty smell that denoted closed off spaces and limited escape routes. My heart was beating faster in my chest as the slight smell of sulfur also tickled my nose. Flashes of memory haunted me as I likened being this far underground to that of being caged by my captors. Too many times I was a rat caught in a trap. Now, I was willingly walking towards the same fate.
I didn’t even realize I had stopped walking or that I started hyperventilating a bit. “Jess, you will be okay. I know what you’v
e been through. Serena explained everything to me. This is not a cage. You will have choices. You will have a way out, I promise.” Layla’s eyes shot through with mercury fire as she spoke. “Just breathe.” Once I got myself under control again, Layla attempted a smile, but it was tight and the strain she tried to hold back had become evident. “We’re nearly there. I don’t think Gabriel and I can continue on with you from this point.”
“Is it straight through the rest of the way?” The panic started to bubble up inside me again. There was so much at stake, and as usual, I found myself wondering if I was up to the task.
“It is. There will be various little nooks and crannies here and there off to the side of the cave walls, do not follow any of them. Straight on, it should start opening up shortly.” Layla was whispering now. “I can sense beings up ahead further. If I can sense them, they are of death magic. Dark ones, most likely.”
“Dark ones are ahead?” Gabriel’s stance changed from his low level cautionary stance to one of high alert.
“Will they let me pass?”
“They should. I don’t think they want to anger the Fiul Sange that lies in wait.”
“Neither do I, for that matter.” A nervous chuckle escaped my lips as the words did. I took a moment to remind myself what I was down there for. I was there to get baby Jack back to his mother, to save him as much as to save Sierra. I was also there to make sure no other girls went missing, or were tortured in my place. I turned to a skeptical Gabriel, squared my shoulder, and put my game face on. “I’ve got this.” Before I could second guess that shot of confidence, I moved beyond them, and into the deeper shadows of the cave.
It was then I realized what the light behind Layla’s eyes had been. She had been guiding us with her internal witch light. Once I stepped beyond the area where she could see, the light dissipated, and went out altogether. I knew then that I was truly alone for the rest of my journey. I could still see in the dim cave, just not as well as the dark ones who I could feel lurking on my periphery. This was their world. I was the invader, and none of them seemed too happy about it.
The Ancients Series Page 75
