Fire's Touch (The Enlightened Species Book Three) (34 page)

A male with a tattooed face turned from Mick, clutching an ivory dagger in his fist. His eyes narrowed as he shimmered and vanished. Mick, covered in deep, jagged cuts, slid down the wall to the ground. How his friend had still been standing at all amazed Conlon.

A gust of air warned him of the attack. He swung his blade wildly, and the grunt and feel of flesh told him he’d hit the mark as the burn of the deflected blade missed his neck and flayed him open beneath the collarbone. The outline of his assailant became visible, and he knew that Enlil had entered with Jacob and was siphoning his attacker. Still the male matched blades with Conlon. He sidestepped Mick’s feet, circling. The dagger sliced into his side with a burn as Conlon spun away from the dagger targeting where he hoped the assassin would be based on his experience in battle, the sword cut through empty air, Conlon braced himself for another attack as the sword completed the strike ark it encountered resistance. Conlon braced his stance, determined to make the most out of the contact regardless of where it was on his opponent. The edge of the blade hit bone nearly ending the momentum, but then the bone gave and a tattooed face plunked at his feet staring up through lifeless eyes from the severed head. The bastard had been coming in at Conlon low.

“Mick.” He knelt down. “Where is she?”

Mattie rushed to Mick’s side with a cry. Mick pointed toward the bed weakly before his head lolled to his chest. “My brothers will help her if they can.”

Conlon felt the wall above the platform for weakness. Johnny’s muffled cry gave him direction. On her belly, Mattie ducked head-first under the bed until only the bottoms of her feet were visible. Conlon knelt and peered into the hole Mattie’s body straddled. It was too small for his shoulders to crawl through.

Wiggling, Mattie started to reverse. Conlon lifted her at the waist and thighs and pulled her out, ignoring Mick’s weak growl behind him. Mick would have to get used to it … Mattie was Conlon’s partner.

In Mattie’s arms was a sniffling, blood-coated Johnny. The sight of that much blood stopped his heart in his chest. “Stacey’s on the ground … she’s not moving but she is breathing.” A small measure of premature relief overwhelmed him. “There is another female dead and three males discussing the power outage. They think it’s a generator malfunction.”

Johnny reached for Conlon and he took the child from Mattie’s loose grip before he could drop. Mattie immediately went to Mick and brushed his blood-coated hair from his face. Mick had already lost consciousness

“Thank you, Mattie. Tell Sargon and Eros that Mick is coming out behind you.” Conlon handed her one of the glow sticks from the floor. “You need to get Johnny out of here.”

“But …” She looked at Johnny like he was an alien. “I don’t know how to hold him.”

“He’s Mick’s son, partner. You better figure it out.” He locked her arms around Johnny at her chest, guided her to the ice slide, and watched her climb into the crevasse with a last worried look at the male she loved. Clutching Johnny tightly, Mattie slid out of sight.

Conlon crawled to the gap beneath the bed, needing to get a glimpse of Stacey with his own eyes. Instead his eyes clashed with those of another tattooed face. The male seemed to recognize him, lifted a brow, and stated. “Sire, the child has crawled through to Mick’s cell.” The guy hadn’t told Osiris of their presence. Conlon gave him a nod of gratitude.

“Go get him. You will now be the caregiver for the child. Tell Seven to seal that hole with lead and platinum mesh. You carry her, Nine. I want that bitch restrained in the medical lab at all times.” The high-pitched voice of Osiris carried mutely. Conlon had to strain to hear what was said.

The tattooed face moved away and Conlon saw the long waves of Stacey’s hair lifted from the floor.

“The door is meshed and locked, Conlon.” Enlil stood at the door.

Jacob knelt beside the dead male, checking his blood-soaked pockets. He held up a string of keys. “Got ’em.”

The lock clicked and the second tattooed male stepped in with his hands in the air. “I mean you no harm.” His eyes traveled to Mick slumped at the wall. No expression registered until he looked at the dead male that could have been his twin. Conlon gripped his sword in anticipation of his reaction. Instead of anger the look was … gleeful satisfaction. “You are Conlon, yes?” Conlon nodded. “Stacey speaks of you often. You are fortunate to hold the heart of such a female.”

“And you are?” Conlon felt a twinge of jealousy at this male’s admiration of the female he loved.

“Your female named me Hawk. Stacey is with my brother Nine.” Hawk shrugged. “Stacey calls him Scotty. He will try to keep her safe. However, if Osiris realizes you are here, he will order us to fight you, and possibly kill … Stacey. I beg you to allow me aid in achieving her freedom before that happens.”

Conlon knew his mouth gaped open. Stacey had befriended Osiris’s sons and endeared herself to them. His jealousy evaporated in a wave of new appreciation for his bloodmate-to-be. “Enlil, send Mick into the crevasse.”

Hawks eyes followed Enlil’s every move. When Mick’s limp body slid out of sight, Conlon watched the male smirk. “She is remarkable. I had often wondered her plans, though I feared to ask. My father has access to whatever I know. Should he have become suspicious, he would have rooted into my psyche to find the truth.”

Conlon held up the chain Eros had given him. “Do you know what this is?” Hawk’s indrawn breath gave him the answer. Conlon hooked it around his throat and offered Hawk the loose end.

“The chain of my forefathers …” Hawk bowed slightly. His hand trembled when he reached for the end Conlon held to him.

Conlon quirked a brow “This one is your Uncle Eros’s.” If anything, the male’s face took on a deeper look of awe.

Jacob held the chain attached to Enlil. “I am your cousin, Jacob Sicarius, and this is the siphon Enlil.”

Hawk’s eyes, already wide, nearly popped out of his head when Enlil lifted his hand to Hawk’s shoulder in a friendship embrace. “You are very brave, Hawk. We are aware of the compulsions you are subjected to. We will do everything in our power to help you and your brother Scotty, including rendering your both unconscious.” That brought a small smile to Hawk’s face.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Osiris followed Nine with Stacey in his arms through the icy hallways toward the medical suite.
A pyro.
What were the odds of that? An ominous feeling of dread coursed through his body.

“Strap her down,” he ordered Nine.

The gentle way Nine handled Stacey annoyed him. Only Seven and of course One had Osiris’s penchant for domination. Obediently, Nine buckled the female at both wrists, waist, thighs, and ankle. Even with her secured, naked and spread-eagle, Osiris did not feel confident in her containment. Her ability enabled her to turn the soft metal of lead and even steel into a molten liquid.

The only male Osiris had ever loved had been pyrokinetic. When Osiris’s father Tenebrae had forbid him to see Gabriel, Osiris had aided an Aquatie prince to kill his father. It was only after his father’s death that he learned Gabriel had been killed in the fall of Atlantis.

How had she come to that bloodline? The grief he felt thinking about Gabriel was ripped open, leaving him raw. Until the memory of his great love’s face was replaced by the vision of Frank’s quick smile. When had he fallen? Why after all this time had his heart healed now?

Johnny.
A child born of a pyro and a shadower. Was this a gift and a goodbye from Gabriel? Osiris’s knees nearly gave out. It was as if Gabriel had reached to him from beyond the hereafter to gift him with a grandson whose abilities would have been those of Gabriel
and
Osiris. Given him a child to cherish and to love for all time.

Suddenly the need to figure out the genetics meant nothing. His revenge toward Mick became mute. Even his desire to rule above all fell secondary to the urgent need to protect Gabriel’s gift.

Stacey moaned as Nine secured the final restraint and the scientist stepped in with a smile of success on his face. “My lord, I have determined the truth—”

Osiris cut him off. “Sedate her … quickly. Keep her that way until the sun rises in four months.”

The healer pursed his lips and injected Stacey. Her face relaxed as she succumbed to the powerful drug. The healer spoke again. “Miss Winkel and your tenth son are more than pH balanced, My Lord. They are bloodmate compatible.”

That would explain why she felt compelled to tunnel into Mick’s room.
What normally would have filled him with excitement suddenly held little interest. His mind was on getting himself and Johnny into the two-man submarine hidden inside a secret cavern at the bottom of the berg and away.

“Good, bond them if they haven’t already and have them breed during her ovulations, but do not allow her to regain consciousness at any time.” The healer bowed in answer. Osiris addressed Nine. “I am placing you in charge. Keep the female and Ten healthy until the sun rises. Then bring them to me in Haiti. Do. Not. Allow her to regain consciousness under any circumstances.”

Nine looked annoyed and confused but remained silent. Osiris knew he was smiling, a real smile. He felt … light inside, happy … hopeful. Alive! With a bounce in his step, he navigated the path back toward his beloved grandson, surprised when he failed to encounter Twelve and the child along the way. The open door to Mick’s room revealed the corpse of Seven, his blood pooled and frozen. He knew without question that Johnny had been taken by the SOSC.

The distinct clash of battle reached his ears. Ear-piercing sonar sound waves ricocheted against the ice with a crippling tone. Osiris raced to his office, opened the secret hatch, and slid to the submarine chamber. They would pay for stealing his child. He would get Johnny back. The SOSC would be crushed for this.

“Kill them all, die for me,”
he told his remaining sons telepathically, reaching deep into Nine and Twelve’s minds and releasing the compulsion that would force them to comply.

Sealing the hatch, Osiris hit the button to release the sub from its brackets. Nothing happened. He tried again.
Electro-magnetic pulse.
Only after the second try did the full implications of the power outage hit him. This area had a separate generator. Only an electromagnetic pulse could have taken out everything.
I’m trapped.
The flood of Aquatie warriors rising from the breached escape route pounded that knowledge home.

Your justice will come at the hands of a shadowed thief of energy, under a new order, uniting age-old enemies, before the final enlightening.
The Oracle’s prophesy echoed in his mind.
This is not my destined death. I will not die this way
.

Then the truth hit him. The pyro thieved energy, and Mick was a shadower. Justice did not always mean death. The final enlightening was his personal realization of the futility of his life’s work in the face of Gabriel and Frank’s love and his true family, Johnny.

It is done. His death would release One, Twelve and Nine of the compulsions. Number One had always been Osiris’s groomed successor, and now his chosen Hulven son would have to take the reins. Osiris used the full power of his ancient power to send one final telepathic message to One before he released his living energy and let out his last breath. His spirit soared free up, up. Then Gabriel was there. Just like a dream.

“My love.” Osiris opened his arms.

Gabriel shook his head. “I love you no longer, Osiris. Your evil destroyed my love for you eons ago. I am here to dispense justice on behalf of the Universe herself.” Gabriel burst into white-hot flames and shot into Osiris’s heart like a lightening bolt.
“For your crimes, you will burn for eternity while you experience everything you subjected your victims to.”
The avenging voice of his beloved drove spikes through every cell in his body.

****

One’s palms grew sweaty instantly making his grip on his sword tenuous. “Man, what are you doing? I almost took your head off!” Eric’s arms strained from re-routing the path of his blade when One didn’t meet the strike as expected.

One flipped his friend off to disguise the shock of what had happened. He staggered slightly, suddenly overwhelmed by memories – his father’s memories, a lifetime worth, downloaded into his brain all at once. That download would only happen for one reason: Osiris was dead. When his father’s final message and the knowledge of his father’s death overtook him, the burden dumped on his shoulders was crushing.

One was the groomed heir to his father’s bullshit thinking. Problem was … One didn’t believe in it. While under Osiris tutelage, he’d used self-hypnosis to manipulate his own mind so his father wouldn’t know how he truly felt. Truthfully, One had pretended to be the most evil of his brothers in hopes that when and if this day came, his good-hearted brothers would be spared from being forced into servitude to some of the evil brothers. Like Seven.

“Chill out for a sec. I need to whiz.” Striding to the relative privacy of the locker room, he let out a series of deep, cleansing breaths to regain some semblance of balance. Finally, Osiris was dead. Part of him wanted to shout hallelujah to the rafters. He was free, or should have been if his father hadn’t just dumped more than ten thousand years of delusional, narcissistic, psychopathic bullshit into his melon. Out from under his father’s obedience compulsions, he felt lost. He leaned with his elbow on the basin of the sink. Hands shaking, he splashed cold water into face and lifted scoops of it onto his head, hoping the trickling down the back of his neck might center him.

What, why, how, where, who … He posed the questions to the cesspool of information burning through his gray matter, threatening to overwhelm him.

What—Of course, his father’s diversified, muliti-level, evil organization hell-bent on world domination roared to the forefront of his awareness. Oddly, it was followed unprompted by a “who”—and the image of a male, Elven, blonde hair, blue eyes … Frank. Fuck, Osiris actually gave a shit about someone?