Chapter Fourteen

 

 

 

Tailor hissed as vodka was poured over the open cuts on his knuckles. When he tried to retract his hand, Mara held him still and dabbed the cuts with cotton.

“Stop being such a baby,” she admonished briskly. “Besides, you deserve this. I can’t believe neither one of you told me what you were planning to do. I should cut off your nuts and make rocky mountain oysters out of them.”

Tailor grimaced and crossed his legs as she wrapped his knuckles. She was cut from the same cloth as her brother, Rowan, and he had no doubt she was capable of following through with her threat. When she hadn’t heard from Rowan or Quinn about what was going on, she’d taken it upon herself to find out personally. Her mate, Cassie, had agreed to watch Quinn and Manning’s son so she could fly to France. Two hours after Keenan had attempted the spell on Dhani, she’d arrived at Rowan’s palace to find him and Tailor in his dungeon interrogating the four surviving traitors.

None of them had provided any information Tailor didn’t already know, and his patience was bordering on nonexistent.

“It was best you weren’t here,” Rowan said from where he paced in front of the fireplace in his living room. “It was too dangerous.”

“I’m a warrior,” she snapped. “Not some frail thing that needs to be protected. Maybe if I had been here, Manning wouldn’t be laid up in bed.”

“And maybe you’d be dead,” Rowan shot back. He scrubbed his face with a groan. “Mara, I don’t need this right now.”

“Well, you do need me since you’re a man down. So what’s the plan?”

Tailor grabbed the bottle of vodka and took a swig, standing as soon as Mara was finished wrapping his hand. To Rowan, he said, “You should let me kill all but one of those traitors to make him talk. A beating may not have worked, but fear will.”

“Don’t you think I want to do that?” Rowan shouted. “My mate was taken as well, but I can’t override the laws I set in place. They have to go before the council for sentencing.”

“That sentence will be death for treason! Why are you putting it off for some idiotic formality?”

“Rowan’s right,” Manning said as he limped into the room, held upright only by Quinn at his side. Although Rowan’s blood had gone a long way in accelerating the healing process, he was still in bad shape. His skin was ashen and his breaths were labored.

As Quinn helped his mate to sit on the couch, Tailor straightened in concern. “Jaes’din, you shouldn’t be out of bed.”

“Now who’s standing on formality?” Manning smirked. “I know this is hard on both of you, trust me, but Rowan has to follow the rules. When this is over, there will still be traitors out there willing to try to bring Roh Se Kahn back again. A public execution will make them think twice. It might also flush out whoever else among Rowan’s guard is working for Vane.”

Rowan shook his head. “I should’ve seen it. I thought Mark was a good man. I’d even considered appointing him as a third Meraan.”

“You can’t blame yourself,” Quinn said quietly. “None of us could’ve known Vane’s influence ran so deeply.”

Xenessa and Cy came into the room with Laya and Cain. Cy frowned at Manning but didn’t remark on his presence. To Rowan, he asked, “Did you get any information?”

“No. You?”

“Xenessa and I called in all the guards who have access to your palace. Of the fifty, we were able to ferret out two who were lying when we asked them if they were working for Vane or Roh Se Kahn. They refused to admit to anything, so we had them taken to a cell in the dungeon.”

“Then we’re right back where we started,” Rowan growled in frustration. “Roh Se Kahn isn’t going to put off the incantation to free the rest of his essence any longer than it’ll take for him to gather what followers he can find. We’re running out of time.”

Tailor curled his fists, trying to keep his emotions in check. The answer to where they would find Dhani was right in front of him. He could feel it. He just needed to focus his thoughts. “We know that Roh Se Kahn plans to use Keenan to perform the incantation, and he needs the light in his followers to do it. Vane took his son to use as a host for his father’s essence so he can drain his father of his powers. I’d bet anything he’s going to need the light in his own followers for that spell.”

Rowan shrugged. “Even so, what good does that information do us?”

“Every traitor started out with allegiance to Roh Se Kahn, then switched to Vane after Roh Se Kahn was driven back to the alternate realm. They don’t care who they serve, they just want power. The followers are going to flock to whoever can give them that. They’ll be playing both sides.”

Laya raised her brows in understanding. “Roh Se Kahn would have to go to a location where he knows his followers will be, even if those followers are currently serving Vane. Which means Vane will also know the location.”

Tailor nodded. “It can’t be any of the places I’ve gone to over the past year and they wouldn’t be stupid enough to return to the castle.”

“I know where Roh Se Kahn is,” Laya breathed with widened eyes. “The same place he was originally freed from his prison realm. When I was held in Roh Se Kahn’s castle, Achilles would travel there often to meet with the humans in service to the God. It was a place Vane was familiar with. I’m positive Vane would’ve used it to hide some of those who stayed true to his cause after the battle a year ago.”

“It’s possible,” Manning agreed. “Where is this place?”

“Near Dover, England. I remember that’s why I became suspicious of my mate in the first place. He would leave for months at a time, claiming to fight in the war between the Vam’kir and us, but none of the other warriors stayed gone that long. I followed him to Dover after he’d taken Dominic and found him at a remote ranch that had been abandoned.”

“Do you think you could find it again?”

“I’m sure of it.”

Rowan sighed. “Then this is the best we’ve got. We’ll take the forty-eight guards I know I can trust with us. My private jets can be fueled and ready within the hour.”

Manning dipped his chin. “I can have a group of my warriors meet us there.”

Rowan shook his head. “It’ll take them too long to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, and there could be traitors among your men as well. We can’t take the risk.”

Grudgingly, Manning admitted Rowan was right.

Tailor mulled over the plan while the others discussed the preparations. He didn’t like a single part of it. They had no way of knowing whether Dhani would be at that location or how many followers he might have gathered by the time they got there. Manning wouldn’t be fit to go along and they’d already seen Roh Se Kahn counter the effects of Rowan’s power as Magnique over the Vam’kir traitors. On top of it all, they no longer had Keenan to say the spell that would cast the dark God from Dhani’s body.

When he interrupted the others to bring up that last point, Xenessa stirred uneasily. “If Keenan is unable to recite the spell when we get there,” she began, “there may yet be another course of action we can take.”

Tailor frowned at her cautious tone. “As long as it doesn’t involve killing my mate, I’m in.”

“No, of course not!” she said. Then hesitantly added, “I hope not. While you were all attempting to free Dhani from Roh Se Kahn, I was communing with Miel Se Luuda. I asked her if there was any other spell we could use to banish Roh Se Kahn if the original one didn’t work.”

Rowan’s eyes darkened. “Why didn’t you ask her earlier and save us the trouble we’re in now?”

“Watch your tone, boy,” she said sternly. “I helped bring you into this world and it won’t take me eighteen hours of labor to take you out of it.”

Cy laughed, then hastily coughed and grumbled an apology when Rowan shot him a look that promised pain.

Xenessa huffed. “Communing with the Mother isn’t exactly like making a phone call. She told me there’s a…variation of the spell that might send both Vane and Roh Se Kahn to the alternate realm. However, it also requires someone with both light and dark in them. If Keenan can’t say it, I’ll have to channel the powers of light and dark in Sevrick to pull it off, and even then, I’ll need to get Sevrick away from Vane first.”

“So we’ll need to distract Vane,” Rowan surmised.

Xenessa nodded.

Tailor didn’t doubt the historian truly wanted to save Dhani, but something in her energy told him she wasn’t telling him everything. “Just how is this spell going to work?”

She hesitated, glancing at her mate, then at Laya. “I can’t tell you. It’s something only Laya and I can know about.”

Laya, Tailor and Cy all spoke up at once. Tailor yelled, “What the hell does that mean?”

“You are not coming with us,” Cy said to Xenessa in an imperious voice.

Laya creased her brow in confusion. “I don’t understand. How can I help?”

Xenessa turned on her mate first. “I’m thirty years older than you and the historian of our race. I can damn well go where I please.” To Laya, she said, “I’ll fill you in before we leave.” Then, finally, her gaze met Tailor’s. “And you… Out of all of us, you know the dangers we face the most. It’s why you bonded with your mate before Keenan tried to expel Roh Se Kahn from Dhani’s body. You made peace with the possibility that Dhani might not survive, and you chose to follow him into death should that be his fate. I can’t say I can guarantee Dhani’s survival, but I’m asking you to trust in me…and in Miel Se Luuda.”

Just as Tailor was about to argue further, Manning spoke up sharply. “Ketai! As your Jaes’din, I order you to stand down.”

The authoritative command stopped Tailor like nothing else could have. He saw the sympathy in Manning’s eyes and swallowed his protest. “I’m sorry,” he said to Xenessa. “I know your intentions are true. I’ll distract Vane myself when the time comes.”

He helped Quinn take Manning to his guest bedroom then left to prepare for the coming battle. All the while, only one thought circled his mind endlessly. If Dhani died, Tailor would kill everyone responsible before he met his own death. God or otherwise.

 

* * * *

 

The first silver rays of dawn crested over the evergreen treetops by the time Roh Se Kahn was satisfied with the small army he’d gathered. He materialized Dhani’s body just in front of the porch of the ranch, then released his hold on the last man struggling in his arms.

Achilles stumbled awkwardly in vertigo, clutching to his chest the leather-wrapped stump that had once ended in his right hand. From the sickly cast to his features, Dhani could tell he hadn’t sought proper medical attention for his wound. While inwardly, Dhani despised having to be in the man’s presence, he had to admit, he was enjoying watching him suffer.

Achilles glanced around in puzzlement. “I know this place. It’s where I brought you back into this plane of existence years ago.”

“Indeed,” Dhani drawled. “In a way, you resurrected me—gave me back my freedom and allowed me to begin the retribution I owe my sister, Miel Se Luuda. I thought it only fitting to allow you to witness my second resurrection. After all, it’s the very least I can do to repay you for your services.”

Guardedness shaded Achilles’ gaze as he stared at Dhani. Although there was nothing in Achilles’ expression to give away his fear, Dhani could smell it on him like a cloying odor. Achilles cleared his throat and bowed slightly. “You honor me, my lord. I assume your human worshippers are around somewhere? I’d granted them refuge here after we lost you in the battle, but I don’t see any of them now.”

Spread out across the expansive lawns were nearly a hundred Vam’kir and Ba’Kal diligently patrolling the area. Each was equipped with weapons Dhani had found stashed in the basement of the ranch house. They were trained warriors all, with an innate sense of duty and compelling loyalty. And every last one of them was completely mindless.

Inside, Dhani cringed again at the knowledge of what Roh Se Kahn had done. After leaving Keenan at the ranch, Roh Se Kahn had gone in search of his lost followers, though not for the reasons Dhani had expected.

It had never been the God’s intention to recover the fealty of those who had left his service to join Vane. Without mercy, he’d executed them. And when they had begged for their lives, he’d simply smiled as the power of his darkness engulfed them in white-hot flames.

For several hours, the God had teleported across Europe and the United States, seeking out the followers and killing them until he was convinced their reduced numbers would prevent Vane from interfering again. Then he’d focused on several small shifter communities and Vam’kir clans, stealing their warriors from them before they could form a defense. These warriors he had somehow put into a trance, replacing their will with his own. They were innocents. Men and women who had dedicated their lives to protecting their races, and whom Roh Se Kahn would now use to finish his war.

The only followers he’d left alive were the three Vam’kir in the ranch house, and only for their familiarity with the land surrounding the ranch and intel on how best to defend it.

Dhani shrugged at Achilles’ inquiry of the humans. “There were a dozen or so inhabiting the barn. However, I found their presences inconsequential. Much as I found the rest of my former followers to be of no further use to me. You see, I can’t very well continue where I left off now that I know my own son has turned against me, can I? It would be foolish of me to put my trust in those who have betrayed me.”

The first trace of Achilles’ fear began to line his face. “Of course. I take this to mean you have…”

“Forgiven them their sins? Yes. Although I can’t imagine Miel Se Luuda or the God those humans worship so blindly offering their souls that same forgiveness after I ended their lives. A pity, isn’t it? They held so much promise. Then again, I can’t tolerate deceit if I am to rule over this world. I thought it best to play it safe for now and imbue those you see before you with fragments of my essence. It has weakened me to an extent, but at least I can rely on their loyalty, and soon I will be made whole again.”

Achilles swallowed repeatedly as the color drained from his face. “My lord, I never meant to betray you. Vane gave me no choice. He would’ve killed me if I hadn’t agreed to help him.”

“Shhh. You have no need to fear me,” Dhani told him, baring his teeth in a false smile. “I didn’t bring you here to end your life as I have the others. In fact, I want to show you how grateful I am for all you’ve done for me. You’ve provided me with a Ba’Kal that possesses two spirits. The light in him will make me powerful beyond anything I could have achieved with my darkness alone. Call me sentimental, but I wanted you to be here to see your progeny granted the gift of becoming my permanent host. Doesn’t that please you?”

Achilles’ demeanor changed to one of wary delight. “Nothing would please me more. Are you ready to begin?”

“Follow me,” Dhani said, leading the way to the large barn to the left of the ranch house.

Inside, Dhani’s thoughts raced as he quickly grasped the intricacies of what was going on. Where once he might’ve been naïve, the months of torture he’d endured at Roh Se Kahn’s twisted hands had given him insights into the God’s mind that he couldn’t ignore. He felt like he was watching a dance between two rattlesnakes vying for territory.

The fear Achilles had displayed so dramatically wasn’t real. It had been an act to cover up the truth of his real intentions. Dhani could feel anticipation and victory in the man’s energy. Achilles had wanted to be found by Roh Se Kahn all along, Dhani realized. He’d known the dark God would come for him. This was a set up.

Yet, the confidence exuding from Roh Se Kahn told Dhani the God was aware of Achilles’ deceit, as well. Roh Se Kahn was relying on Achilles to betray him and inform Vane of his location. He wanted his son there at the moment his essence was fully returned so he could eliminate Vane as a threat. It was the easiest way to bring down his son on his own turf.

A part of Dhani wondered how the dark God could be so confident about Vane coming to him. Without Sevrick, Vane had no leverage. Then again, Vane’s insidiousness didn’t exactly account for intellect. The draw of power made fools of everyone, no matter their nature.

The barn had been renovated to accommodate the now dead humans. The divisions of the pens that had once held livestock had been torn down to create a massive open area and the outer walls were insulated. However, there was no heat to stave off the biting chill of the English Channel nearby.

In the center of the barn lay Keenan with his naked body stretched spread-eagled on the hard-packed dirt. At Roh Se Kahn’s command, Keenan’s wrists and ankles had been manacled with thick chains that cut into his skin, held in place by metal spikes which had been driven into the ground. His exposure to the elements was a measure Roh Se Kahn had taken to weaken him. The God couldn’t take the chance of being interrupted by Keenan when he began the incantation.

“The time has come,” Dhani said loudly to the twenty men and women inside the barn. They gathered in a loose circle around Dhani, Keenan and Achilles with their weapons at the ready.

Keenan stared up at Dhani beseechingly. His blue eyes were glazed and skin so pale from blood loss, it nearly matched the color of his ivory hair. He shivered convulsively and licked his lips. “D-Dhani,” he stammered. “I kn-know you’re still in there. Please, fight him. You can’t give up. You’re s-stronger than him.”

Dhani knelt and smoothed back the tangled wisps of Keenan’s hair. When he spoke, his voice contained as much warmth as the icy breeze blowing in from the open doors of the barn. “That’s where you’re wrong. It’s his light that makes me stronger. With him, I will rid this world of my sister’s abominations and take her powers to spawn my own race. The humans will bow to me, their true God, and serve my race with their flesh.”

Fierceness combatted with the despair in Keenan’s eyes. “It’ll never work. You m-may have found a way to put a sliver of your essence inside my friend, but he has to be a willing host to t-take in the rest of your essence. Dhani would never—”

“He has no choice!” Dhani bellowed. “I still hold his second spirit. When the portal opens, his soul will have no choice but to accept his spirit and my essence with it. They are tied together. Even if he were to reject me, he can’t reject his spirit.”

A tear slipped past Keenan’s lashes as he shook his head. “Dhani, please. Don’t let him do this.”

Within, Dhani raged against Roh Se Kahn’s authority. He fought with every ounce of his strength and, for a brief moment, he felt the strangling grip of the God’s power over him falter. Then, his tentative control was ripped away. Roh Se Kahn channeled his darkness inwards and sent a blast of searing electricity coruscating along Dhani’s nerves. Dhani’s mind fractured from the pain, though no sound escaped his mouth.

When the pain receded abruptly, Roh Se Kahn forced him to stand and begin the spell to open the portal. Even as Dhani’s voice resonated with the power of the words, he continued to rebel within. This can’t be happening, he thought desperately. At any second, he expected—prayed—for Tailor and the others to burst in as they had before and put an end to this travesty.

But no one came.

Keenan’s back arched and his agonized cry echoed throughout the barn. Dhani could feel the energy of Keenan’s spirit being torn from him like a sickening rift in the atmosphere. At the same time, a cyclone of dark winds spiraled around Dhani, flinging his hair into his eyes and mouth. The portal had been opened and the entirety of Roh Se Kahn’s essence bore down on him, demanding entrance.

Despite Dhani’s battle to refuse the dark God dominion over him, he could sense his falcon reaching out to him from a distance. His second spirit was still far away, yet it called to him pleadingly, and his body pulsated with the need to draw it in. Beyond his will, Dhani felt his soul expand to accept his falcon, and with it, all of Roh Se Kahn’s essence.

Roh Se Kahn’s elation suffused him, then was suddenly torn away as, once more, blinding pain speared Dhani’s body. The God’s essence, along with Dhani’s falcon spirit, were being pulled from him even as they desperately clung to his soul, trying to rip him apart. Dhani fell to his knees, his muscles frozen in torment and head swimming from the volume of his screams, until Roh Se Kahn’s darkness and his falcon were finally avulsed.

In the haze of the aftermath, Dhani looked up to find Vane standing a few yards to his right, next to Achilles. The cyclone of dark winds surrounding Dhani had transferred to Vane and Dhani watched as the winds narrowed in on the baby in Vane’s arms. To Dhani’s horror, Roh Se Kahn’s essence was gradually forced into Sevrick’s tiny, squirming form. As soon as the torrent of the God’s power had been fully absorbed by the infant, Vane clamped the collar that had been made for Keenan around Sevrick’s neck and locked it with the key.

“No!” Dhani shouted above Sevrick’s frightened wails.

“At last,” Vane said in triumph. Before the twenty warriors could fire their weapons at him, he grasped the collar that had conformed to Sevrick’s neck and called out, “Stop! I can feel the darkness my father has instilled in each of you. He commands you. Kill me and I will burn this host alive. It will harm your master and force him into another willing body. If any of you are prepared to make that sacrifice, step forward. Otherwise, you will stand down!”

Reluctantly, the men and women lowered their weapons.

Just as Vane relaxed his stance, the sound of multiple guns being fired broke the silence from outside the barn. Vane growled his irritation and turned on Achilles. “You told me this place was safe.”

“It was!” Achilles said emphatically. “Other than your father killing your other followers, everything went exactly as you predicted. My lord, we can still pull this off. Sevrick has your father’s powers. Take them.”

Vane sneered at Dhani. “Not all of them. Kill him. The rest of you, guard the walls!” he yelled to the Vam’kir and Ba’Kal. “Let no one in until I have secured your master.”

Dhani’s mind scrambled to catch up with what was going on as Vane tipped his head back and started uttering words similar to those of the spell Roh Se Kahn had used to free the rest of his essence.

‘Not all of them’, Vane had said. Why would Vane order Achilles to ignore the threat outside and kill Dhani? Unless…

Unless Dhani still retained a part of Roh Se Kahn’s power.

The realization struck Dhani at the same moment Achilles bore down on him with a knife aimed in a backward slash toward his throat. Dhani saw it coming, but he couldn’t react fast enough. Vane was going to win, after all.