The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (19 page)

She chose not to think about what
that could have meant and answered, instead, his first statement.
“Yes, I did see the comparison—between their folk tales and our
own—but fear has tainted their truths. And much of that taint comes
out as stink in the tales themselves.”

He tilted his head. His long hair
was bound up on the sides, giving him a regal look.

“
And the Starborne?” she
re-stated.

“
The ancient ones
are
Starborne. But
Lucius doesn’t reveal how he is tied to our elite, Jaguar
blood.”

She looked up into his eyes then.
“Not even to his mate?”

He looked at her with sorrow. “I’m
sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, Jes.”

“
I didn’t exactly give you the
opportunity—while I was calling you a murderer.” But then she gave
him an accusing look. “But you might have mentioned it at any
time
while we were growing
up
.”

He shrugged. “We were in training.
We were not allowed to reveal such things—not even to our own
people.”

She smirked. “Most especially not
to your own people,” she mimed. And then, “We?” She nodded then.
“Ohhh, yes, your sisters and you. It would appear that I didn’t
really know them either.

He frowned at that.

She frowned, then, too. “Speaking
of which, how does a child of
the
prophecy
get away with slaying
humans?”

He shook his head, kissed her
softly—on the cheek of all places—and left her standing there—at
the door.

Chapter
Seventeen

Second Chances

Justice came to her room some time
before midnight.
He didn’t do anything but
whisper to her that he had to go out soon—and then just proceeded
to hold her.

She half woke when he slid up next
to her, but the moment he put his strong arms around her—she fell
back to sleep—nestled within the safety of his arms.

She couldn’t believe she’d behaved
in that way when she woke to find him gone sometime after midnight.
She’d never been so confused in her life.

She had, after all, hunted this man
for years. She had taken classes, and honed all of her
abilities—just to bring him in—or at least before the
council.

Now—everything she’d thought about
him—had changed. Or perhaps—nothing had changed at all—save the
lies she had told herself to keep everything safely out of the
reach of her mind.

The same lies everyone told
themselves—when they didn’t want to face the truth.

Dracon and Justice went through the
back way into Second Chances. As usual, Conrad didn’t even look up
from what he was doing. He put down his towel and poured two
beers—though he knew full well Dracon wouldn’t drink
his.

He seemed to get some amusement out
of setting one in front him anyway; as if he thought that not being
able to drink it would somehow taunt the old vampire.

It didn’t. Conrad knew that only
one thing would. But it still gave him some amusement.

There were half a dozen men in the
tavern. They eyed Justice and Dracon with what could only be some
wariness.

“
You two are not good for
business, you know,” Conrad pointed out. “Especially not
together.”

“
And you are?” Dracon shot back at
him. “I’m surprised anyone comes in here at all—with you serving
them.”

Conrad sneered. But he knew it was
true. He’d been surprised when, after starting this tavern—a dream
of his—he’d ended up with any customers at all.

Conrad wasn’t just big—or muscular.
He wasn’t human—and though the humans couldn’t possibly know
that—some of them did sense something was up with him. Fortunately
for him, they were more intrigued then scared off.

He nodded at Dracon. “Thanks for
your help with that girl, Shantya.”

Dracon started to nod, but then his
gaze narrowed on Conrad. He leaned over the barstool that was
pushed up under the bar top. He hadn’t sat down like Justice had,
obviously preferring to stand. “Are you—sweet on her?”

Conrad didn’t even try to deny it.
He knew the vamp would pick up on the slight increase in his
heartbeat. “Yes. What of it?”

Dracon only held up his hand.
“Nothing. Don’t sweat it. We’ll keep an eye on her for you. Just
make sure they don’t send any others. Between her…,” he nodded at
Justice, “and his mate’s sister….”

Justice frowned at this, not
looking up from his drink. He still wasn’t sure that leaving Jes’s
sister with Dracon and his vamps was a good idea.

“
Appreciate it,” Conrad said with
a nod. He poured them both another drink, knowing full well Justice
would have to drink both of these too.

“
So what have you got for us?”
Dracon asked after a long moment.

Conrad looked around at the people
in his tavern. There were two men at the other end of the bar, and
four more were playing pool. He leaned in over the bar top. “There
is a group of vamps on the south side. One of the humans had heard
that they could get help by way of the paper. He has been dodging
this group for some time, but he seems to feel his time is running
out.”

Dracon’s steely gaze narrowed. “How
did he manage to stay out this long? It sounds suspicious to
me.”

Conrad shrugged. “He says his
father hunted vamps, taught him and his brother how, but this group
has been pressing into the city—and they’re not a group he’s
familiar with.”

Dracon grunted. Conrad knew he had
an idea of who this group was, the same idea that he read in his
old friend Justice’s eyes.

“
So you think it’s Constantine’s
cult.” It wasn’t a question.

Justice frowned at him. “I keep
warning you not to say that out loud.”

Conrad shrugged again.

Dracon’s gaze narrowed. “He’s
right, you know. Even the walls have ears with that vamp. He’s one
of the oldest there is.”

Conrad took his warning to heart
and nodded. “What’s the plan?”

Dracon put a foot on the barstool
in front of him. He still hadn’t sat down—and Conrad knew he likely
wouldn’t. “We are heading out for the first of the many talks we
must have with all the outlying factions. You must keep your ears
peeled.” He looked around with some disdain. “I didn’t agree with
you when you wanted this place. But your choice here has proven
wise. This place has become like a hub for those who know
things—and those who need to find things out—and for them to go to
those who can do something about it.”

Conrad nodded. “Let’s just hope we
can do something about this—particular group—before it is too
late.”

Dracon and Justice nodded. And for
the next hour the three men went over the plans that Justice and
Dracon had been drawing up.

Conrad wasn’t happy to have to wait
to become more involved. But he knew that Second Chances was
pivotal to keeping the information line flowing. And that was just
as important as the fighting itself.

When they were wrapping up, he
remembered the rumors he’d been hearing lately about some bat-like
beings.

The moment he said this out loud,
he saw Dracon and Justice both go as still as death.

“
I take it this is not welcome
news, not that anything I have heard about these beings sounds
welcome.”

Dracon gave a slight shake to his
head, his dark hair falling forward from where it had been hanging
down his back. His eyes were nearly black with his emotion. “Not
good at all. I have not seen these beings in over three hundred
years. Although Amar feels they are the same that killed the maid
that night….”

Justice had only heard of them. He
wasn’t old, like Dracon. But Dracon had told him enough about these
beings when he was a boy that he knew that any interactions with
them, at all, would not go well.

“
Well now,” Dracon drawled out
quietly, “it seems we now know why we need the power of
three.”

Chapter
Eighteen

War

Jes was up exploring the
manor
late in the morning the next day—a
manor she had just learned had been dubbed Second Wind.
She wondered how on Earth it had received such a
name. She guessed it had to have something to do with the
retreat-like style of the building. Everything had a healing feel
to it, from the fountains to the built-in pond on the main floor,
which housed large goldfish.

She sat on the edge of the pond
now, looking down into the water. It was beautiful, with lily pads
floating across the top. The goldfish were hiding from her beneath
them. She smiled. This really was a place for getting your second
wind.

She was letting Justice sleep—he
hadn’t dragged himself to bed until dawn had been threatening to
break the sky with the soft fingers of the sun’s light—which light
she knew Dracon would be eager to avoid.

Something told her he wouldn’t
want to spend the day here,
resting.
He might have decided on an
uneasy truce, but that didn’t mean he would be eager to spend the
day sleeping next to yesterday’s enemies.

An old woman joined her near the
pond’s edge. She sat down in one of the easy chairs nearby to watch
the fish swim around beneath the lily pads. For a long moment, they
both just sat there, staring into the water.

“
Child,” the old woman said,
finally. “You must not assume he is a murderer.”

Jes glanced at her in
surprise.

The old woman never took her eyes
off the goldfish.

Jes watched her for a long moment,
but the old woman didn’t look inclined to speak further. She
noticed that she had the usual look of the older generation of the
Jaguar People. Her dark hair, shot through with silver, fell down
her back. She had black fur braided into her hair. Her dress was
dark, and the material was also shot through with
silver.

Jes could swear that she had met
her somewhere before.

The old woman
did
look at her then. “They call me
Amar.”

Shock shot down Jes’s spine then.
“Of course; you are a legend.”

The cackle Amar gave at that
reminded Jes of the old
human
stories about witches.

“
But you’re also my—true
grandmother.”

“
Hmmm,” Amar hissed. “I see that
Mira has let the… cat out of the bag.”

She seemed to enjoy the pun—but Jes
winced, wondering how much trouble she’d just gotten Mira into.
This woman appeared—formidable. She wouldn’t want her upset with
her. Her nanna was—tame in comparison.

Amar laughed and Jes realized she,
too, had the ability to read minds.

Amar sobered then. “Really, Jes.
Hear him out before you judge him.”

“
What could there possibly be to
what I saw that would explain why he did it? I’ve let it go. I know
that I felt abandoned, and I know he was defending himself. I know
he defended his sisters—and that should be enough—shouldn’t it? It
would be enough for anyone else. It’s just that—those
boys—gangbangers or not—didn’t stand a chance against him—in that
form.”

Amar held her gaze steadily.
“Child, every time we think we know a thing—we get a good, swift
kick to remind us to not be too full of ourselves.” She stood then.
“There is always more to know.”

Jes licked her lips—and then
plunged forward with the one question that had been bothering her.
“How are we your grandchildren…”

“
When I am so old?” Amar’s eyes
were lit in amusement. “The Jaguar People live to be very old,” she
replied. “We do not age. We do not have a limit on when we can have
children—like the humans do. Well at least—not until we are
very
old.” She smiled
kindly at Jes and started out of the great room.

Jes flushed. “I’m sorry. I’ve
always been around the people—but not many have children…and I
guess I’ve been too long around the humans.”

Amar laughed and turned at the
door. “Perhaps Mira has done us a favor. You will begin your
lessons. I will be in touch.” And with that—she was
gone.

Jes sat a long time thinking about
this—thinking about what she’d seen that day in the alley. Was
there more to what she saw then met the eye?

She thought about her
father.

She hadn’t spent too much time
thinking on the things that had been revealed to her of late—caught
up as she had been in her training—and all her spare time centering
on Justice.

But she didn’t believe in
coincidences.

And it was a mighty big
coincidence that Justice had been attacked by that gang—right
around the time that both sets of their parents had disappeared. It
was also a mighty big coincidence that her father had killed her
mother that day—and her mother had been defending
Justice.