A Destiny Revealed (6 page)

“What is it you see, mama?” Dalia was curious; she ducked
her head and took a sip of the tea waiting on the answer. Warmth spread through
her body, and her heartbeat slowed from its thunderous pace. Dalia closed her
eyes as the last of the panic and adrenaline receded.

“There are many things I learn from my prayers, Dalia.
Nothing for you to worry over.”
Isabelle patted her
knee. 

Dalia's eyes opened at her mother's words “Don’t waste your
prayers on me.”

Isabelle lifted her eyes to meet her daughter’s. Dalia felt
the hairs on the back of her neck rise at her mother's unseeing gaze.

“I pray for you especially,
hija
.” She grabbed
Dalia’s empty hand. 

Her mother’s fingers were warm; the soft wrinkled skin and
delicate bones reminding Dalia painfully of her mother’s age. “Women your age
should not have skin so smooth. Besides, I have felt the change in your soul
and I pray every night for your protection.”

Bitterness rose and spilled from her. “I don’t have a soul.
It was stolen.”

Isabelle shook her head sadly. “
Nadie
, No one, can
steal the soul of God’s child, especially one who the goddess has a purpose for.”

“My purpose was taken from me.” Dalia thought of Nala’s
words. The power Nala used was proof enough.  With Maksim dead would the
kidnappings stop? If they did, she had no idea what she'd do with the rest of
her life.

“Every creature on this planet has a purpose,” Isabelle
scolded, breaking Dalia from her musings.

“Do you know what I am?” She was afraid to ask, dreading the
change in her mother’s opinion of her.

Isabelle cupped her cheek. “I know that you’re my daughter
and that's all that matters. Everything else will come out with the wash. 
Drink all of that and rest. I will wake you up before dawn arrives.”

That last statement confirmed to Dalia her mother's
knowledge. A weight she'd not realized
existed,
lifted
from her shoulders. An odd calm descended allowing Dalia to drift easily into
sleep.

                                               
***

ZAHRA LOUNGED on the bed in the room she shared with her
husband. The safe house they set up in South Carolina was a mansion with seventeen
bedrooms. It used to be a plantation; the sprawling acres were perfect for
warriors who needed the space as an outlet.

When she and Fynn married, Zahra claimed a suite of rooms
well away from the others. She wanted their privacy. Living in a house full of
shape shifters, privacy was a hard thing to come by. Their powers along with
their hearing and sense of smell made it nearly impossible to hide her moods.

She reflected on the changes in her life. A year and a half
ago she was a simple accountant, today, an oracle of a tribe and responsible
for bringing said tribe, back together. A heavy load most days, Zahra
appreciated the simple moments where she could just sit and watch T.V. 

The door to her room slammed opened and Zahra sighed.

There went her relaxing evening.

The power of the Ijoye preceded him in the room, her
husband's power trailing behind.    

“Zahra, why did you not tell us the one Bron hunts is Ajo.”
Bakari, the Ijoye, was irritated.  Hell, when wasn't he irritated with
her? 

           
She arched her eyebrow at his tone and turned back to the television.

           
“You can’t possibly mean for Bron to bring her into this safe house.”

           
“You guys gossip like a bunch of women,” she muttered under her breath.

           
“I'm not letting an Ajo anywhere near you!” Fynn insisted.

           
Zahra rolled her eyes at her husband’s tone. He was possessive and no amount of
training would get rid of his protective streak. “I didn’t tell you guys
because I knew you would do this.” She threw her arms in the air in
exasperation. “I knew you would come at me huffing and puffing and there's
nothing I can do about it. Bron will bring back the
álà-írín
and that is
Dalia.”

           
“The
álà-írín
is Ajo?” Bakari reeled from the news, taking a step back
in shock.

           
“It’s too dangerous. I won't allow it.”  Flynn flexed his jaw. He was
grinding his teeth, a sure sign of his anger.

           
“Not allow it?” Was he kidding? “All the oracles raise your hand.” She raised
her hand and made a show of looking around the room to see if any other hands
went up.

Bakari’s eyes were storm clouds, lightning flashing in his
onyx gaze. “This is not a joke, Zahra. The Ajo are dangerous and we cannot in
good conscience allow one into our safe house.”

Zahra sighed. “I'm not joking Bakari. I can only do what the
goddess instructs me to do. Dalia is the
álà-írín
and she's needed to
complete the cycle. No amount of shouting will change that fact.”

Bakari stormed from the room and slammed the door. Zahra
flinched at the sound. She and Bakari were still getting used to each other.
The Ijoye had been in charge of his warriors for over five hundred years.
Adjusting to sharing the decision making with Zahra required a learning curve.
They didn't argue often but when they did it usually ended this way. Either he
stormed out or she did. Poor Fynn usually got caught between the two of them.

           
“I'm sorry for that last comment sweetheart” She lifted from the bed to walk
over to him. “It was unnecessary. You guys just get so…”

           
“He-mannish,” Fynn supplied, grabbing her close. He leaned down and kissed his
wife. His tongue invaded and claimed her.

           
Zahra moaned and wrapped her hands around his neck. “Yes. Trust me Fynn, I promise
to be careful,” she whispered against his lips.

           
Fynn lifted his head and stared down at Zahra, his eyes hot and possessive. “I
trust you,
mi ôkàn
, I don't trust this Ajo and until I do, you will go
nowhere near her.”   

Zahra suppressed a sigh and decided to try a different
tactic. She ran her hands down his chest. “That’s what you’re here for, baby.”
Her southern accent dragged the words out slow as molasses. His body warmed
under her palm. Her lips traced his shoulder.

           
“You are supposed to protect me.” She bit him.

           
Fynn flinched and Zahra felt him harden against her stomach.

           
“That’s not fair,
mi okan
,” he complained lifting her easily, wrapping
her legs around his waist. He moved his head to allow her access as she licked
her way up his neck to his ear.

           
“I trust you to protect me, Fynn,” she whispered in a dulcet tone, licking the
outer edge of his ear.

           
“You are my world, Zahra, you can't expect me to sit back and allow you to put
yourself in danger.” His arms tightened as he walked her to their bed. His
words lacked the conviction from earlier as Zahra moved her hand down to cup
his erection.

“Then keep me out of danger.” Zahra ended their argument
with a kiss. 

                       
***

NALA SAT CONTEMPLATIVE in the big leather chair her lover
spent so much of his time in. A sardonic smile twisted her lips as she ran her
hand over the supple leather of the arms. She wondered if he would appreciate
the changes she'd made to his estate. The once cold mansion on the outskirts of
Savannah, Georgia was redone to reflect her roots. Rare art from Nigeria hung
on the walls in the hallway and littered the tables all over the mansion. 
Nala’s eyes narrowed as she stared at one across from where she sat. The wood
from the bust gleamed, its eyes mocking.

           
“How long will we watch them?” Bitterness infused Lev's voice.

           
It was to be expected she supposed, after all, she did kill his master. Her
eyes never left the bust and for a moment she simply ignored the interruption.
She smiled when the silence stretched. Nala retrained Lev well. It had taken a
while of course, but a few beatings later he knew never to ask her anything
twice.

           
She detested nagging.

           
“Until she leads us to the oracle.”
She cursed Dalia.
The wounds the little bitch inflicted stung, the skin around the deep scratches
tight as they healed. Her cheekbones still throbbed though the bruises had
already faded. If nothing else Nala would make sure she paid for ripping her
favorite Chanel pantsuit. That would have to wait of course until after she got
what she wanted. Practicality trumped revenge… for now anyway.

“How are you so sure the oracle will contact her?” Lev
asked.

“You've read the book same as I, the
álà-írín
has
always been in Dalia’s family. She's the oldest female in her family. It has to
be her, and soon the oracle will have to contact her. She can't put the tribe
back together without the
álà-írín
.” Nala explained

“Do you find it odd the oracle has not come for her
journal?”

Nala waved her hands dismissively. “Don’t worry over it,
we'll use it for our purposes and destroy it when we're done. What of the
conversions?”

           
“They're going well.” Lev held up the worn leather journal. “The names in this
book are proving to be very useful.”

           
"Lucky for us the oracle's ancestors felt the need to keep track of the
scattered tribe. That journal carries the name of every member of the tribe
brought over to the United States as a slave." Nala smiled. "Too bad
the Oracle was not more careful with her family heirlooms."

           
"It makes tracing the descendents of the Aje tribe easier than ever."

           
The leather journal had been a boon for Maksim. It would've saved him the time
of searching out the members of the tribe himself. Only members of the Aje
tribe could be converted into the powerful Ajo vampires and once Maksim figured
out how to harness that power, his greed became limitless. Nala would take full
advantage of the power her lover harvested and use it for her revenge.

 
          “And the council?” she
queried. The Ajo council consisted of the twelve oldest living and powerful
Ajo, the determination it took to sustain their sanity and wield the stolen
power made the council feared by all under them.

           
“In the dark.
As far as they are concerned you are
adhering to the orders they gave Maksim to stop the conversions. I've assured
them you would not be so foolish as to endanger the treaty the council has with
the Demi.” Lev's tone was dry, his eyebrows rose in mockery.

           
Nala nodded, happy with the news. A team of the strongest of the supernatural community
enforced the treaty. The Amanda suffered no fools, and
were
best avoided.

           
She narrowed her eyes, roaming Lev's face shrewdly. There was a small twinge of
regret, possibly guilt for what she'd done, but it was squelched firmly and
quickly. She couldn't afford for any soft feelings to take root. To lead her
own group she needed to be ruthless, there was no room for sentiment. The Ajo
were dangerous on a good day, insane on their worst, she would lose her life
quickly if any person under her spotted any weaknesses.

           
“He was weak and obsessed, Lev,” she said after a moment. Her eyes hardened
when he gave a lazy shrug. Nala felt the disrespect intended in the motion.

           
“You were Maksim's only weakness.” He faked nonchalance, but rage simmered
below the surface. “He became obsessed with pleasing you. In the end it allowed
you the opportunity to kill him. I should thank you for the lesson; I now know
that even lovers are not exempt from your betrayals. I won't make the mistake
of trusting you.”

           
Nala thrust her power at him, slamming him into the wall. “I did not ask for
your trust.” Her eye twitched as anger threatened to steal her control. “You
were Maksim’s second in command, but you are nothing to me.”

           
Lev jerked against her invisible hold. His teeth bared in a hiss as his shirt
was torn from his body. Nala sat calm in her dead lover’s chair behind the teak
desk Maksim loved so much and stared at his second in command. She made sure
the contempt showed through her eyes.

           
“I am still second in command,” he choked out defiantly.

           
Nala’s blow struck the side of his face before he even noticed she'd
moved.  She was in his face, her nails digging into his cheeks as she
gripped his chin.

“Only because I allow it,” she whispered. “From your
defiance I can only assume you enjoy the beatings I hand out to you.”

Lev’s body jerked in reaction to her words.

“You think I haven’t noticed you watching me? Even when you stood
at your beloved master’s side, you have watched me, Lev. Coveting what was his,
wishing it were you between my thighs instead of him.”

His face betrayed him. Lust expanded his pupils, and a blush
mottled his cheekbones.

She cupped his growing erection and squeezed, taking delight
in the pain that filled his eyes.  “I'll have to think of more creative
ways to keep you in line.” She released her power and he dropped to the floor.
"That's all for now, Lev." She turned her back to him and smiled when
the door slammed a moment later.

"You will have trouble with that one, Nala." She
rolled her eyes when the voice spoke from the shadows of the bookshelf.

"I'm not worried about Lev. He'll do as I ask, he has
no place else to go." Nala waved her hand dismissing the warning.
"How can I help you, councilman?"

"I was sent to check on your progress with gaining the
amulet." He kept to the shadows, careful not to show her his face. It made
no difference. Nala had studied the council members thoroughly and she knew
them well. He could not hide his identity from her.