The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (21 page)

The dark ones had aligned the
humans against the princes centuries before—taught them to fear
them for a reason—for aligned they might well have stopped
them.

So instead, they had gone to great
lengths to rewrite all the old pagan stories—to align the humans
against all who might have stopped them.

And the name of their control over
the people—was fear.

For fear kept the people from
asking questions—and it worked. All these centuries later, fear of
what the humans had been taught to see as darkness still reigned in
their hearts and minds.

Fear of doing the wrong thing. And
especially fear of believing in the spirit world in case they
should accidentally give power to the darkness—keeping the humans
focused on their fears and questioning anything that could help
them—and leaving the darkness free to slowly gain control over
everything.

To free themselves—the humans must
first let go of their fear.

For fear is what fed the
darkness.

The next morning, Justice and Jes
ate breakfast together—alone. He hadn’t been to bed that night
either. She knew that he now spent all of his evenings with Dracon,
planning. They were going through every possible
circumstance.

But she also knew that he enjoyed
the return of his brother.

Justice was unusually quiet. She
watched him for a moment as they ate. Finally, she decided she
couldn’t wait to hear some word of what they had decided. “Have you
and Dracon made a plan?”

He eyed her, setting down his
spoon. “Yes.” He reached for some bread, then seemed to think
better of it, and sat back in his chair. “We will be traveling to
the different clans, to try and make peace.” He got up from his
chair and began to pace the small room. “This peace is vital. As we
both know, we have five separate races who have watched the planet
Earth since they brought us here. Two of these clans have watched
for any excuse to step in and take over. These clans from these
other starships have already begun to see us as easy prey—divided
as we are. We have done much to protect ourselves, as have so many
of the others, but we are too divided. We must come together, or
risk becoming colonized.” He turned back and came to stand in front
of Jes. “This is not just a fear for the human species—this is a
very real threat for both of our races—Fae and human alike—for we
are all divided. And divided is no way to be.”

She understood this, but was
alarmed just the same. “But will the factions of Fae who have
separated from the peoples respect this powwow?”

He nodded. “They all still follow
the code. They know what it means if they don’t. They have been
allowed to colonize, but they would not be allowed to show such
disrespect.”

She watched him when he returned to
the window to look out. He did that a lot, she noticed, whenever he
needed to think. “What about the rogue factions of
vamps?”

He didn’t turn around, and when he
spoke, he appeared to speak to no one in particular. “They answer
to no one.”

She set down her napkin at that.
“They have to. They can’t just answer to no one. They would then
have to answer to all. It is why they haven’t just turned the
humans into their own private food source.”

He turned, letting out a dry laugh
in spite of his mood. “This is true.”

She came to him then, and put her
arms around his waist from behind, laying her head against his
back. “Then we’ll just have to make them remember.”

He did laugh this time. “My—we are
warlike.”

“
I’m still a cop—it’s ingrained
into me to police those who would try and victimize those who
cannot—or will not—protect themselves.” She shrugged, and went back
to laying her face against his back. “The humans do not begin to
know what they’re up against. The Fae have been holding the balance
for a long, long time. It is time we once again work as
one.”

He nodded. She knew this, though
she didn’t see it. “But these rogue factions of vamps just see the
humans as weak, pathetic creatures who use up the Earth—and so
deserve what they get. It will be difficult to persuade them to
join the cause of once more protecting them.”

She let go of his waist long enough
to come around in front of him and look into his eyes. “They do not
just protect the humans,” she reminded him. “They protect the
Earth.”

He nodded. “And that is what they
need to be reminded of. For if we are caught warring amongst
ourselves, we’ll make easy prey to those who have waited for so
long to take Her from us.”

“
The Earth is one of the richest
planets out there—full of abundance,” she said as she walked back
to the table and sat down to finish her breakfast.

He tilted his head, watching her as
she sat facing him, looking up from the table. She knew he was
trying to read her thoughts. She smiled. She was getting better at
this already.

“
Yes,” he said carefully. “That is
why they have sought to take Her from us for so long.”

She smiled at him fully now. “Then
we’ll remind them of where we’d all have to live—if we’re evicted
from our home.”

His tone was dry. “If we got that
lucky—more like we’d be their source of workers, while the human
women would bear the children they cannot have, and the men were
used as fuel for their experiments. They would colonize the
Earth—much like they did the Pleiades and all the others our
ancestors tried to escape to.”

She picked up a butter-knife.
“Well, then, we’ll have to educate the rogues—and then, we need to
help the humans to start accepting that—
they are not alone
.” She picked up a
slice of bread and began to spread it with sweet, strawberry jelly.
Some of the things she’d learned from the humans—she loved. “And
it’s time to help us fight.”

They set out in caravans of four
vehicles—spread out. Any more than this and the humans would wonder
what was up. They were careful not to cause a spectacle—even with
the four. They were starting with the colonies who lived amongst
the humans—they would have to talk to some Fae colonies next—but
Fae, who didn’t live amongst the humans, didn’t need reminding that
they had to protect their homes—even if some of them didn’t have
any use for humans. The Earth was their home—and that meant
protecting Her.

The colonies that lived with the
humans were a different matter. Many of them had become caught up
in the passage of time—took on a more linear existence—like the
humans—and had begun to also get caught up in other pursuits—like
money, and things.

This spelled disaster for the
Earth.

But others had integrated
themselves amongst the humans and were busy trying to show them how
to take better care of the Earth, how to use fewer resources—how to
not destroy Her valuable resources in the process, and how to keep
from raping and pillaging Her.

Many changes had been made that
went a long way toward healing Her scars. Many more still needed to
be made.

Many of these Fae—disguised as
humans—were also busy teaching the children—who were a lot more
open to treating the Earth as a living thing than their parents.
Many of the children were evolved beings—Crystal Children, Indigo
Children, and Rainbow Children—who raised the vibrations of others
simply by being around them.

If their parents were to listen to
some of their conversations, they would be amazed at the types of
conversations they were having—spiritual conversations—enlightened
conversations—conversations that these same parents would not have
remembered having at their age, because they were not thinking
about these types of things at their age.

The Earth had been in extreme
danger of being taken—but so many of the humans were awakening, and
many of the Starborne and Fae believed it was time to teach
them—not give up on them.

But then there were the factions
of rogue vamps—and other, more-hostile Fae were not amongst those
who had joined the Alliance—and these were the ones who
now jeopardized
the
Alliance.

And these were the ones who had to
be stopped at all costs—for these were the ones who now tipped the
Earth’s future into a dangerous position.

No one could supersede
another—without putting
all
in peril. When would all the peoples see
this?

Jes shook herself out of her
preoccupied thoughts and began getting ready. They would soon be at
the first town. When they had first gathered these people to talk,
and then persuaded them to help build the Alliance—only then would
they move on to the next.

Much like a presidential
candidate
, she thought with some
amusement.

And indeed, their time in the first
colonized sector of Fae amongst humans went much like this. They
had to be careful with bringing so many people together to avoid
raising the suspicions of the humans—which wasn’t easy since it
turned into a heated debate involving several of the leaders, all
of who demanded their turn to speak and be heard. The first
gathering was, however, alleviated by the fact that these Fae met
fairly regularly in a hidden building beneath one of their
homes.

The second was more
difficult.

The debates were volatile and went
on for days—and with good reason. They were debating what to do—and
no one liked the answers. In order for the people to not end up in
a war with the humans—they would need to put the Earth at
risk.

She frequently wondered what the
humans would think of having their futures decided for them—for
their ignorance was causing them to be excluded from some very
serious decisions, decisions they should have been an integral part
of.

This was everyone’s home. And every
single body—human, Fae and vamp, and member of the Jaguar
People—should have been part of these decisions.

The problem was—in believing they
were alone, the humans were the first ones to try to start a
war.

And war was exactly what they were
working so hard to prevent.

So how would they go about teaching
them? This was at the center of the debate. Many wanted to wait for
an opportunity when they’d have no choice but to accept help—and
then, they would see that the Fae and the Starborne were their
allies.

This didn’t set well with
many.

It meant waiting until the Earth
was in
real peril
—and then it might be
too
late
to save Her at all.

Chapter Twenty

Power of Three

Amar swept into the room with a
brilliance
that had both Mira and Jes
looking up in surprise. She was lit up with obvious joy.

“
What is it?” Mira asked her with
alarm, more in tune with her emotions than Jes and sensing that
something significant was up.

Amar looked at them, her face
beaming. Now they both were intrigued.

“
We have found your sister—or
perhaps I should say Second Chances has found your sister—and sent
her to Dracon.”

Their expressions went from
joyous—to alarmed.

“
Dracon?” the both said in
unison.

Amar wagged a finger at them both.
“Not to worry. She has a new challenge she must meet—since she was
turned, but—“

“
Turned?” both women said, more
alarmed than ever.

Amar wagged her finger at them
again—like naughty children. “Not to worry, dears. She will come
through this nicely—and with new and even greater powers for the
experience—and for that she will have to endure the
learning.”

“
Is that supposed to be a joke?”
Mira nearly snapped.

Jes looked at her in amazement. She
half expected her to go up in a cloud of smoke for speaking to the
old witch that way.

Amar only laughed, but then
sobered. “Seriously, child, it is done now. There is no use crying
over what we cannot change. We must move on. Do not forget, she may
be your sister—but she is also my granddaughter.” She gave her a
stern look. “She will come through this—stronger than ever. She is
a Machelaean.”

Jes frowned. She had heard that
name before—but she couldn’t think from where. She looked at Mira,
who was looking somewhat contrite—but it only lasted a brief
instant, and then she ruined it by half growling at their
grandmother.

But as usual, Amar was unmoved by
Mira’s quicksilver emotions. She looked pointedly at the pot, and
the sisters quickly turned their attention back to the potion they
were trying out. Amar came around, sniffed, and nodded her
approval.

“
Second Chances
has picked up a rumor on the wind,” she said with
yet another sniff.

Something in her tone caused the
two young women to look up from what they were doing.

“
What is it, Amar?” Mira
questioned.

The old woman had by now come
around to the other side of the round table at which they worked.
She wasn’t very big. She peered over the table at them. “Once, many
years ago, I had the occasion to have to deal with these—bat-like
beings. They’re really very large—half-human—half bat-like
creatures.”