God of the Abyss (11 page)

Ghidorah smirked and crossed his arms. “Kiro.”

Edward and Dylan were about the same height, but
Edward was more muscular. Ghidorah towered over them and weighed much more in
muscle. Edward’s hostility towards the foreign Guardian worried me as much as
Rojan’s reaction to the man. Even though Dylan’s uncle was very protective, I
had never seen Edward ready to fight someone.

“How are you still alive?” Obviously Ghidorah’s very
life was offensive to Edward.

“The same way you are.”

Sammy approached Dylan, hid from the stranger behind
his adoptive father’s leg, and peered around him to see Ghidorah. The Guardian
noticed and studied the child. After a few seconds, the man’s expression went
from aloof to unsure.

“Who is this?”

“My son,” Dylan said. His voice was very similar to
Edward’s when he was angry. Ron understood his father’s tone and ran to Sammy’s
side to glare at Ghidorah. When Ghidorah tried to read the little
four-year-old, Dylan hid them both behind him.

“Still judging children, are you?” Edward demanded.

Now Ghidorah looked insulted. “Only as a
precautionary. What magic is shielding the older child’s mind?”

“Mine,” Ron said. Dylan’s eyes went wide and I could
sympathize. Dylan and Divina never told him about how their spell was
transferred, and the child was too young to have figured it out on his own.

He apparently has figured it out
, Rojan said.

“Everyone calm down,” Shiloh interrupted. “Nobody is
anyone’s enemy here. Ghidorah, the little one is Tiamat’s son. Do not try to
judge him or the brother he is extremely protective of. Dylan, you brought him
back here, you had to assume he would be near your boys. And Kiro, go assure
your girlfriend because I believe you scared her.”

“Tiamat had a child?” Ghidorah asked in shock.

“And a mate,” Kiro added.

Dylan rolled his eyes. “I guess you weren’t all that
informed about me.” If you are going to work with us, we need a little bit of
trust from both sides. I am Dylan Yatunus, mate to Tiamat. This is our son,
Ronez, named after my father. This is Samhail, son of Nano and his mate. That’s
my brother, Mordon, and his dragon, Rojan.”

“I am confused,” Ghidorah said, looking to Edward for
answers. It was Edward’s turn to smirk. “I thought you were Kiro’s son. You
look just like him.”

“Ronez was his biological father, but he was my
apprentice,” Edward said. “He is more a son to me than anything else. He is
also the most moral man I know and if you try to judge him, Tiamat will rip you
to shreds, then I will feed what is left of you to Tibbit.”

“You know I cannot judge another Guardian.” He
regarded Dylan. “You said the older child was your son.”

“He is. And Mordon’s and Tiamat’s. Biologically, he
is Nano’s and his mate’s, but Tiamat, Mordon, and myself are like his adoptive
parents. Ron is mine biologically.”

“And this man who is sago and unrelated to Kiro or
Ronez is your brother? How did you manage that?”

“Same thing. Adopted brother,” he said. I poked him
in the arm. “I am also the adopted brother of Nila, High King of Dios.” He
frowned at me. “Am I leaving anyone else out?” he asked.

I had to think about it. “Well, the fact that your
ex-lover is Nano’s human mate really doesn’t matter right now, so no, I think
you covered it.”

“So that’s my family. It makes sense when you really
don’t think about it. Thank god we don’t have Thanksgiving on Duran, because we
don’t have a table big enough. Hey, speaking of food, is there any? I haven’t
eaten in hours,” my friend asked. Ron giggled.

*          *          *

A while later, everyone was sitting at the fireplace.
Edward’s dining table wasn’t big enough for six adults and two children. Shiloh
and Edward had hunted dinner and we were waiting for the yorkie to cook. Meri
looked pretty delicate surrounded by Edward, Ghidorah, and Shiloh.

Shiloh was preventing arguments between Ghidorah and
Edward, but somehow they came to peace when the food was ready. I almost wanted
Ghidorah and Edward to go at it so Ghidorah would be forced to leave, but that
would really upset Dylan and Shiloh was great at keeping the peace. The man had
a lot of inner calmness. Actually, it was mostly that Shiloh would spew logical
explanations and reasons for peace until Edward and Ghidorah had to walk away
from each other just to get out of earshot.

There has to be a way to get rid of Ghidorah.
Rojan
was off again about it.

What is your problem with him?

I know what he is. He is trouble. He is dangerous.
Dylan trusts him because he is a Guardian, but the Guardian in him is secondary
to Ghidorah.

Ghidorah looked right at me and I felt as if he heard
us. Rojan stopped talking.

“What are you?” I asked him. Dylan studied the giant
Guardian, obviously just as interested.

Ghidorah grinned. “You cannot tell with your dragon
senses? You have dragon blood in you,” he said.

I didn’t ask how he knew. “You have a scent that
blocks my senses. I can’t smell what you are, I can’t smell your intentions, I
can’t even smell if you tell a lie or not. That makes you a threat to Dylan,
which makes you a problem. Rojan doesn’t like you or trust you.”

“I figured your dragon would dislike me.”

“Everyone from Skrev is a beast or has one in them.
Rojan said you don’t have a beast inside you, so what are you?”

He opened his mouth to speak when Azyle and Emrys
appeared right beside him. Azyle’s eyes locked onto Dylan. “My book is in
danger,” he said with no preamble. “I had a warning from my book. Vretial is
back and he’s coming after us harder than ever. I have not been able to contact
any of the Guardians or Roshne.”

Everyone stood. “Vretial is not back,” Ghidorah said.

Azyle took a step back as if he hadn’t realized he
was right next to the grumpy Guardian. Emrys sighed and stepped between them.
“Vretial
is
back. I had a warning also.”

“When?” Dylan asked. “I talked to you just a few
hours ago.”

“What?” Emrys asked, his expression of utmost
confusion. “I haven’t seen you in months,” he said. I inhaled deeply on
instinct and started choking on Ghidorah’s scent. I shifted my eyes and
immediately shifted them back because Ghidorah was overshadowing everyone else.

Dylan put his hands on my shoulders as if to steady
me.

“I can’t do anything with Ghidorah here!” I yelled in
frustration. Most of it was Rojan’s ire and I hadn’t meant to yell.

“Let me see,” Dylan said.

I shook my head. “We both spoke with you earlier,” I
said to Emrys. “You saved us from some fish monster, we talked, and then you
contacted your god.”

“I haven’t spoken with Madus in a month.” His honesty
was apparent in his voice, though I felt doubtful just because I couldn’t back
it up with a scent.

“He’s telling the truth,” Edward said. “Emrys has a
tell when he’s lying. Maybe something messed with his memories. Was he acting
strange when you saw him?”

“Yes. Very strange,” Dylan said, then turned to me.
“I’m going to talk to Madus.” The instant the words were out of his mouth, he
vanished. No light, no nothing… He was just gone. I didn’t like that, and
neither did Rojan.

Edward frowned. “He just took off. Why would he
actually leave to contact a god? We travel to other worlds, but not to the
gods.”

“Astrophysical travel is how we normally do it,”
Emrys added. “Hello, Sammy. Do you remember me?” He greeted the boy as if Dylan
hadn’t just disappeared.

Sammy smiled. “Hello, Emmy. I remember. I threw you
in the water when you wouldn’t stop fighting. Ron, this is Emmy, Guardian of
Malta. He’s good like Shiloh.” Once Sammy said he was good, Ron held out his
hand to shake Emrys’s.

“I never got an introduction,” Ghidorah grumbled.

Sammy tilted his head a little bit. “You are
dangerous. Ron is not allowed near people who are dangerous. He’s too little.
Dad brought you here because you are good, but he told me to keep Ron away. He
said to keep Mordon away too, because Rojan might eat you.”

When did he say that?

More importantly, Sammy didn’t call you his
nickname. He must distrust the creature as well… Good child.

Sammy said he never thought of me as his mother, but
he kept the nickname because only those who spoke English would even understand
it. When he was very young, he had a problem associating words, especially with
names. It never bothered me as much as I pretended it did, but I didn’t want
him saying it to strangers. Besides, I was hoping he would start calling Divina
his mother.

Dylan appeared. “Madus said he hadn’t spoken to
Emrys. That means it wasn’t something that affected Emrys’s memories.”

So many people had appeared and disappeared in the
last few hours that I wasn’t really surprised when Samorde appeared. “Oh, no, I
did it again,” he declared, fumbling with his hands. He realized he was
surrounded and backed up a few steps, but when his eyes landed on Emrys, he
shrieked, dropped to his knees, and covered his head with his hands. “Don’t
kill me! I didn’t mean to come here!”

Emrys didn’t let him finish his plead. The man who I
knew to be very calm charged the little Guardian. Edward threw a shield of
energy up around the Guardian who was cowering on the ground while Shiloh tried
to hold Emrys back. When Emrys threw a plasma ball, it reflected off Edward’s
shield and hit Azyle.

Dylan had had enough. With one wave of his hand, an
energy bubble went up all around Emrys, throwing Shiloh off him, and the man’s
power failed. Dylan looked angry for good reason. “Do you know how close that
came to hitting Sammy?!” he yelled. Everyone shrunk back as they realized how
horrible everything could have gone in one moment.

“I didn’t mean to–”

“I don’t care what you meant to do! I don’t care what
you two have between you, you keep it away from my boys!” Everyone waited for
him to continue, unsure what the best move was. If Dylan decided someone wasn’t
worth the trouble they caused, he had the power to strip them of their magic
and the gods to back him up. He was more dangerous than any of us. “Samorde,
get off the ground.” He did as he was told while shaking violently. “Emrys, if
you attack anyone with magic in the presence of my children again, unless it is
to protect them, I will strip you of all magic and tell Madus he needs to find
a new Guardian. This is your only warning. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Dylan.”

Dylan collapsed his energy bubble. “I’m going to
bed.” He went inside. The boys looked to me and Edward for direction, but we
were at a loss, so they trailed after him.

I cleaned up the dinner while Edward got several
tents out of the shed. Apparently his hospitality did not extend to the other
Guardians. The boys took the beds while Dylan, Edward, Meri, and I camped out
in the main room. My mind raced as I tried to sleep, but it helped that my nose
cleared a bit. Dylan was still awake as well and I knew his mind was spinning,
trying to find patterns and figure out anything he might have missed.

*          *          *

I woke to the horrible sound of arguing, which
irritated Rojan immensely. When I heard physical fighting, I opened my eyes and
sat up. Edward was missing, but Dylan and Meri were still asleep. I got up and
went outside, shutting the door quietly behind me. It was sunrise, there were
few clouds in the sky, and although the forest cast a shadow over the yard, the
light blue sky promised a warm day. Just not for me.

Ghidorah and Edward were snarling at each other like
draxuni. Two tents had been flattened and several areas of grass were scorched.
Samorde cowered between Shiloh and Azyle, but it looked like they were guarding
him from being hurt in the battle.

Rojan took over smoothly, actively preventing my eyes
from shifting. “You are acting like children,” he said, not loudly. Edward and
Ghidorah stopped fighting and everyone turned their attention to me. Rojan,
just from his sheer incredible age, had that effect on people. “Each of you has
more than a thousand years of life experience, and every one of you except for
Kiro was born to protect your worlds and its people, yet you fight as if you
are enemies. When one of you is attacked, or when your gods begin to mistrust
you, you all scatter or turn on each other.”

It was Edward who spoke up. “We were not meant to get
along. We all have our own worlds that we defend. We all have our own problems
to deal with.”

“Then why does Dylan live on Duran, not even an hour
away from your territory?”

“That’s different. It’s always been different with
him. He’s Ronez’s son. Hell, he’s a different kind of Guardian all together.”

“But you are fighting against his cause, and
Shiloh’s. Shiloh wants the council so that when the gods turn against their
Guardians like some did four years ago, the Guardians can keep open the lines
of communication. Dylan only wants to bring the Guardians together so that when
one of you is in trouble, or when your world is in trouble, the others can
help.”

“We do not need help defending our worlds,” Ghidorah
argued.

“Nano is missing. Who is protecting his world? Where
is his book? When Shiloh lost his power, what good could he do? When you
disappeared from your world four years ago, Dylan was the one to save it. Dylan
was the one to save everyone. I saw every time he was there and you were not.
Now you want to stand here and tell me you can defend your world on your own?”

“Dylan is too young; he does not understand,”
Ghidorah said.

Rojan snarled. “I am thousands of years old. I was
born when dragons could not even shift and Duran was still young. I understand.
Maybe it is you who is too young.”

Wait, I saw you as a child. I saw you in person
form as a child.