The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (34 page)

He figured it had to do with her
grief, and left her alone.

Dracon talked at length about the
differences between the old races of vamps and most of the new. He
talked about the strengths and weaknesses of fledgling vamps. And
he talked about all the best ways to kill them—which included
puncturing their heart and beheading them.

He also talked about the power one
vamp could receive from another, when they were extinguished. If
the vamp who died was in possession of powers when he died, then
those powers could be passed to the one who killed him—or her,
whichever the case may be.

He also discussed the best times
during the day to kill them, but he was sure Constantine would make
sure they would not get the opportunity to get near his armies
during the daylight hours.

When Dara spoke, she pointed out
the need to try to separate the different groups of vamps, a fact
that had everyone there nodding in agreement.

Mira reminded them of her ability
to bring bright light to the scene, which would temporarily disable
some—but not all—of their enemies.

Mia asked them if they thought she
and her sisters would be able to get away with using their powers
of invisibility. Dracon said to try, but to stay aware that they
could be stripped clear of that cloak at any moment.

They were all told to meditate on
the impending war, and to come forward if they were to receive any
idea at all that might benefit them all.

These discussions went on until the
wee hours of the morning.

It was then that Jes stumbled
in—bleary eyed from hours of reading—and nearly to the point of
complete panic.

They all stared at her in
alarm.

Justice came to his feet. “What is
it?” he demanded crossing the room to her.

Jes stared at him. She couldn’t
even form the words needed to tell him for several long seconds,
and when she did, it all came tumbling out.

“
The man, Jason Loch, who came to
see my father some months before, was a vamp. He had gone to your
father first. But your father wouldn’t be swayed by the power this
thing would bring. But my father….”

Justice guided her to a chair. They
all gathered around her—listening intently—all knowing they weren’t
going to like what they were about to hear.

“
This Jason… he had a vaccine.”
She looked at Justice. “You see he was one of the Alliance—one of
the many who worked in the lab—when they discovered this…
virus.”

She stared into Justice’s
eyes.

“
Your father was head of that
department. So he knew about this virus. They had stumbled upon it
by accident—some time ago—while looking for a better vaccine
against the vampires’ ability to turn the Jaguar People—because the
inoculation against the vampire bite—has not always worked
on—us.”

She looked, then, from her sisters,
to Dracon—and back to Justice.

“
They had realized, then, that
they could help—some of the vamps. Anyway, he turned my father into
a vamp. And my father began to see a way to control the
world—because this vaccine didn’t
stop
the virus—it made them
stronger
—more invincible
than they—
already were.”
She stopped. “It made them—immune to their
previous weaknesses—like sunlight—food… and cravings for
blood.”

Dracon nodded. “I’ve—known about
that for some time now.”

She looked at Dracon then—and she
realized why Dracon could be out during the day—though he still
avoided it. “But when they found that out—I guess they panicked.
Likely because the vampire is already much too powerful—and if they
no longer had their weaknesses… they might be impossible to stop.
So they made another vaccine—an antidote.”

It didn’t take Dracon but a split
second to get it. “And it destroyed the vampire.”

She nodded. “At least the ones who
are infected by the bite of another. They’ve never tried it on the
old race of course.”

Dracon stood abruptly. ‘But
Constantine wants the one that I… the one that will make them—more
invincible to all who would try to stop him.” He turned back. “So
he aligned with your father,” he said to Jes. He looked at them.
“So now you have the equivalent of the two-headed snake. You have
Constantine—who is one of the oldest vampires, from the time when
the bible was first commissioned
by
him
, and though turned—he is still one of
the oldest, and your father—a turned member of the ancient Jaguar
People.”

She swallowed—and
nodded.

Justice hadn’t said a word. He just
watched her—and Dracon—while he absorbed first her words, then
his.

Dracon smiled suddenly.

Jes stared at him
confused.

Justice stood, watching him. “But
you’re not thinking about the one that can make them even more
invincible than they already are, are you brother? You’re thinking
about the other one.”

Dracon grinned wickedly then.
“Yes—because that is the one that can bring Constantine to his
knees. And it is why your father and mother had to
disappear….”

Justice nodded. “To keep him from
getting the antidote and destroying it—and from getting the virus,
and making himself king of the earth.” His gaze narrowed on Dracon.
“But you knew about virus?”

“
Yes,” Dracon said. “At least I
knew about an earlier version of this vaccine. It is why I no
longer have to avoid the sun—though I have no desire to be out in
it.” He frowned then. “I wonder—if Constantine has had at least one
of the earlier shots—since he could have that drink…” He turned to
Jes. “Where do you suppose both of these vaccines are now?” Dracon
asked pointedly.

Jes shrugged.

“
With my parents.” The answer came
from Justice.

“
So, now, brother,” Dracon said,
placing a hand on his shoulder. “Now, you know why your parents
disappeared from you and your sisters—before they ever disappeared
from this place.”

Justice frowned. For once, he
didn’t follow.”

Dracon laughed. “Come now,
brother, think of it. They were trying to stop an already powerful
man from making himself even more powerful. They were responsible
for
the prophecy
—and here they were—settled with a shot, of all things, that
had the power to destroy all they had been trying to
build.”

“
And my father’s own best friend
was the one threatening the downfall of an entire people,” Justice
said frowning.

Jes nodded. “And then my father
must have found a way to get to Constantine—without being killed.
And when he did, Constantine saw the same power within the one—and
the ability to destroy his own people, in the other one. And my
father aligned with Constantine.”

Dara interjected at this point,
“Constantine was probably the one to point out the distinct
benefits of this vaccine.”

“
Oh, our father recognized those
benefits too,” Jes interjected. “That’s why he was trying to get to
his best friend.”

Dracon nodded, still smiling. It
was so unlike him to smile, and yet, here he was, grinning. Even
Justice frowned.

Mira was glaring furiously. “I
don’t see what you could possibly be grinning about,” she said
furiously to Dracon. “This is disastrous.”

“
Oh, quite the contrary,” Dracon
pointed out. “This is the best news I’ve heard for awhile.” He
looked from one person to another and then another. Finally, he
spelled it out. “We have the means, now, to win this war. Did you
think we would have
before
this
?”

They all stared at him.

“
You never thought we would?” Dara
nearly sputtered in her surprise. “You never let on.”

He shook his head, his long, dark
hair shimmering in deep, black hues. “What was I going to say? That
we didn’t
stand a
chance
, and ruin what morale we had
left?”

“
That’s if we can find Justice’s
father,” Dara pointed out.

Dracon smiled again.
“Oh
, we’ll find him
.”

Justice brow shot up. “If
Constantine hasn’t been able to find him, brother, what makes you
think we can?”

Dracon looked at Jes. “There are
clues in the journal, are there not,
sweet
?”

She frowned at the way he had put
that. “Yes, I think so.”

“
You see,” He pointed out to
Justice. He turned away. “But it even gets better,” he said,
heading for the door. He turned and faced those in the room. “I’m
finally going to get rid of those pesky, disease-infected versions
of a vamp.”

Dara glared at him—and for once, he
looked a bit sheepish. “Well, at least—some—pesky
vamps.”

Justice rolled his eyes, following
him. “You can’t wipe out an entire race, brother, just because you
hold a grudge.”

They were still arguing when they
went out the door.

At which point, Jes took herself to
the room that she and Justice shared, at least when he managed to
be in it, and tumbled into their bed, hardly taking the time to
undress. She was sound asleep by the time her head hit the
pillow.

Justice didn’t go to bed at all
that night. He went back to Second Chances, while
Dracon went back to where he would spend the
daylight hours resting.

Justice was thinking about
Constantine, and the disappearance of both his parents, and the
death of Jes’s sister—the woman she had known as her
mother.

They knew that Jes’s father had
killed her sister to stop her from interfering in his plans. Now,
they knew just what her father had been protecting—and
why.

Justice couldn’t believe the danger
Jes’s sister had been willing to place herself in to stop him. It
wasn’t just a fourteen-year-old boy she’d been trying to
protect.

It was an entire nation—no—an
entire world.

She had to have known that trying
to stop him was going to get her killed—with all that her husband
had at stake—all the power he sought to control.

There were two men who wanted to
stop the Alliance from maintaining peace with the humans—with the
different factions of the Fae—two men who saw this as a way to
control the world.

One of them was an ancient vamp—not
one of the old, original ones, one of those turned—but one of those
who had been turned centuries before.

And one of them was a member of the
Jaguar People.

Justice took a large swallow of his
drink.

Constantine was bad enough.
Together—well, together they just might have made it impossible to
stop them.

And they would be willing to do
anything—anything at all—to gain control of not just one of those
viruses—but both.

One spelled their
destruction.

The other—absolute
power.

Justice couldn’t imagine what they
would be willing to do—to get their hands on them.

But he had a feeling he was about
to find out.

Chapter
Thirty-Nine

War

Jes woke late in the
morning
and laid there. She thought
through every event from the night before—going through the entire
conversation word for word. And even then, she didn’t immediately
get up. She kept thinking about the imminent war with the rogue
vamps—and with Constantine. The war was coming to them, and soon,
but now they had a potential means with which to meet it. There may
not be anything any of them could do to stop the war itself—but
they
could win
against Constantine now. They not only would do everything
within their power to make it come out in the best possible
way—they could stop him
completely.

But how did they keep from wiping
out an entire race in the process?

She was getting that excited
feeling again, and she groaned.

So there was more to it.

She had a feeling that she should
talk with Justice about it, alone, to find out what he thought
might be nagging her. But she didn’t want to bring it up just now
and ruin the quiet contentment of the moment—a contentment that had
been brought to them by the journal—and with it—a ray of
hope.

They didn’t get many of
those.

They were all excited to get their
hands on the viruses—and yet, they all knew that doing this thing
was going to take time. In the meantime—they still needed a
plan.

That feeling, deep within the pit
of her stomach, bent her double: stronger now than ever.

She didn’t know what else there
could be that would still be nagging at her this way. It was still
a horrible feeling that she was close to something, but she was
missing it—and it was imperative that she figure it out.

“
What is it
?” she shouted at the ceiling.