The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (12 page)

“
Why are you so afraid for me?”
Her tone dared him to deny that he was.

He sat there, quietly.

“
Don’t sit there and think of a
way to answer me. I deserve to know the truth, especially if I’m in
danger. Don’t you think?”

He nodded. “Just give me a second,
Jes.”

She bent her knees and wrapped her
arms around them in an instinctually protective gesture. “Please,
Justice. Don’t try to sugarcoat it. I’m a cop. I can take
it.”

“
Okay,” he leaned back further in
the overstuffed chair, getting comfortable.

The gesture told her this was going
to take awhile, and he nodded at the thought. “You really have got
to stop doing that.”

He gave a half-smile. “No, Jes. Not
with you. It’s impossible. You think it, and it’s there in my head,
as surely as if it were my own thought. With other I have to work
for it.”

She didn’t like the sound of that.
It sounded as if she would never get him to stop reading her
mind.

He only nodded. “Okay, where to
begin?” He was silent for a long moment, while she waited with more
than a little trepidation. She somehow knew he was about to fill in
a lot of the missing puzzle pieces for her.

“
You already know some of
this—maybe much of this. But stay with me for a moment. I need to
lay some groundwork for what I’m about to tell you.” He paused
again for a long moment—clearly trying to figure out how to tell
her this. “Some humans,” he began, “are wise enough to know that
they’re not alone. And some even want to believe, want to know what
is out there. Few of these humans believe in us. But many more
believe in the Vampire Race, however misaligned the Crow People are
from the crossing of these legends. There is a distinct difference
between the race and the vampire myths. They’ve become blended over
the centuries. These come from two different things. One is a
race—the other a broken spirit—a spirit who walks the earth at
night.”

Jes nodded, she did know this, but
she didn’t want to interrupt—she was too eager to hear the parts
she didn’t know.

“
Well, the race has several
factions, and a hierarchy—much like ours. Only—unlike ours, some of
those factions are pretty, ummm….”

“
Powerful….” She
whispered.

He nodded. “Much too powerful,
since some of them just don’t agree with their leaders—much less
want to listen to or follow those leaders. And that makes it much
more difficult to maintain an Alliance with our people.”

Jes frowned. She knew this too—but
she hadn’t realized how serious it was.

“
Your—grandparents come from an
elite faction of our people. They are—were powerful enough to keep
you safe, even when several of the rogue groups hunted our
parents.”

Jes gasped. He held up a hand to
stave off the litany of frustrated—terrified words she wanted to
spill.

“
Yes, Jes; these factions of the
Crow People have been hunting for my parents—and for us. Only by
our Alliance with the leaders—and those leaders agreeing to do all
in their power to protect you—were you kept out of it. My sisters
and I had to disappear.”

Jes was horrified at the
implications of this. “Why didn’t you
say
so!”

His eyes darkened. He leaned
forward in the overstuffed chair. “You were too happy calling me a
murderer.”

“
You
murdered humans
!”

He sat back in the chair,
mute.

She didn’t like the implications
of that either. But she could find no way around that. He had
killed humans. They
were
humans! Her mind scrambled with the
possibilities. But he was reading her mind. So she worked to turn
off the faucet of police-trained questions that were wracking her
brain.

“
Okay, have it your way, Jes.” He
sat there quietly. After a moment—he went on.

“
Our people have had an uneasy
Alliance with the elite Crows for centuries. We are here to
protect the humans
….” He
bit this part out, his eyes narrowing on her, defying her to start
her litany of judgments.

She kept still, though—it was not
an easy task.

“
But here was a race with several
rogue factions who had great difficulty controlling the
even-further-rogue members of its cast—and those members
sometimes
feed on
humans
.” His face twisted at the
thought.

She didn’t know what to make of his
obvious disgust. How could a…? She put a lid on that thought. She
looked up to find him watching her intently, and swallowed under
his gaze. She rested her face against her arms, still wrapped
around her knees, and gazed back at him. Waiting.

“
These factions of vamps are
powerful,” he finally went on. “One you don’t want to trifle with.
And they are not ones you would want for your enemy. But
they
are
…
nevertheless
…
rogue
.”

He was quiet for a long moment, and
she was afraid he would stop there, but she remained silent and was
rewarded after a moment when he did continue.

“
There is a prophecy amongst both
of our races—of an elite member of the Jaguar People—one who
resembles our ancestors’ prince beings, one who has violet-white,
almost-translucent skin, one who has violet eyes, one like the
member of the army—Lucius. And for awhile the people thought that
Lucius was him—although he clearly told them he was not. This one
was to bring balance to both races. And the people have looked for
him for a long, long time.”

She sat up straight now, excited,
and nodded. She had heard the story. Did he know who this one
was?

He nodded. “I do know who he is.
And I have been trained since birth for the moment he would step
forward and make himself known. At least—I
was
being trained—as were my
sisters—up until the moment everything began falling apart for my
family.” His lips curled around these last words, his gaze taking
on a faraway look. “Our parents disappeared—long before they
disappeared. And I’ve had hell trying to figure out
why.”

He looked at her now. “There were
some amongst our people—who did not agree that this one should ever
step forward or that these two races should never find any peace.
Several amongst these groups have lost loved ones to the rogue
clans of the Crow People. They see the entire race as their mortal
enemies. They don’t want peace.
They want
only war
!”

She was startled by the vehemence
of his words. Was he one who wanted war with them?

“
No,” his tone gentled now. “But
I
do
understand
them. However, these ones are shortsighted. First, you cannot go to
war with an entire race for the actions of a few who lie outside
the body of these people. The majority are not just our allies—but
our friends. Many are like brothers to us.”

He took a deep breath. “The second
reason is that a war like that would nearly annihilate both of our
tribes. It would be foolish beyond measure. To even entertain such
a notion—it would be beyond foolishness, and I cannot understand
what these they could be thinking. It is the mark of the insane to
entertain the notion that they are so infallible as to take on an
entire Vampire Race—and win! Yes! We are a powerful people! But so
are they.” He paused, then said, “This war would annihilate us
both!”

“
Without a doubt!” Jes seconded.
“I can’t imagine… who would think this suicidal move would be
smart?” she cried out, matching his vehemence. “Do you know who
they are? They must be stopped before they succeed with such
foolishness!”

He sat back into the plushness of
his chair—clearly pleased to hear her answer.

She frowned. “Did you think that I
would agree with such nonsense? Going to war with the entire Crow
race would be suicide for both of our races! Why would you ever
think that I would back such
ridiculousness
?” She was
appalled—and hurt. How could he think that?
Why
would he think that?

He winced. “Jes,” he said. His tone
was gentle—too gentle.

She was strangling. She wanted him
to go on—but was suddenly very afraid to hear the
answer.

“
Your—father leads this
rebellion…,” he was choking on the end of that, as if he could
barely get the words out.

But she didn’t care. She bolted
out of the bed and stood over him. “
You
lie! I should kill you for such a lie
.”

It was the gentle look in his
steady gaze that told her the truth. And then he was up, gathering
her into his arms, smoothing her hair—whispering to her—in the next
instant. “I wish I did… Goddess, Jes, I wish I did…”

She was sobbing. She couldn’t
breathe though the sobs. She felt as if she was suffocating. It
couldn’t be true! Her father would never do that!
Please don’t let it be true
!

It was a long time before she had
calmed down enough to think at all. He had lowered them both to her
bed, and lay there holding her, whispering how sorry he was that
she ever had to know this.

“
Why
did
I have to know?” she finally
whispered. “I mean, I would
want
to know. I have to know the truth. But something
tells me you would have rather I never knew
that
.”

He tucked her hair behind her ear,
running a finger down her face. “I had no choice. If you didn’t
know… you wouldn’t know the source of the danger you are in now… or
just how difficult it will be to—keep them from getting to
you….”

The hairs stood up on the nape of
her neck. “But… wouldn’t the rogue Crows be on the same side as my
father? Wouldn’t they want to destroy the Alliance?”

“
Yes, some of them are. Some of
them work closely with your father… but…”

“
Some do not…,” she finished for
him.

He nodded and got up from the bed.
She knew why. Her body was on fire. Here she was… shocked to the
core with grief—and her body was on fire.

“
Jes,” he half-growled, with his
back to her.

“
Sorry,” she flushed. “I need to
know why I’m in so much danger,” she said, trying to steer them to
safer ground.
Now is not the
time
! she told herself sternly—and heard
his groan under his breath.

He sat back in his chair, a much
safer distance from her. She could see he struggled, which was
something given his ability to shut out all the emotions from his
face.

“
Some of them do not want the
war—much as they do not agree with, or even follow, the elite
elders of their race,” he agreed with her earlier statement. “Some
of them know—as clearly as the rest of us—that such a war would
essentially be the genocide of both of our races. And some of these
rogue races are dangerous enough to simply squash out all that
stands in the way of anything they see as dangerous to their
people. These factions will annihilate your father if they ever get
their hands on him—and you, now that you have made yourself visible
to them.”

She scrambled to sit up. “Me! How
on earth did I do that?”

“
By visiting that gangster’s
house!”

“
What?” She nearly came off the
bed with this “
What does an old gangbanger
have to do with this
?”

“
I have reason to believe it was
your father who sent them back, in spades, for me—all those years
ago.”

She was back to strangling.
“No!”

But he wasn’t finished. “And
that…,” he stumbled.

“
What?” she did come off the bed
this time—for the second time that night—and for the second
time—the news nearly drove her to her knees.

“
I think your mother tried to stop
him….”

She screamed at this. She screamed
because she knew it was true. Memories of her parents fighting came
flooding though.

He kept her from hitting the floor
for the second time that night. He laid them both back upon the
bed—soothing her. It was too much information. He hadn’t wanted to
give her any of that information—hadn’t wanted her to ever know,
but he’d had no choice. She was in too much danger.

But it was too much information for
her to take in all at once.

He watched the scenes that played
through his head, like a movie, as her thoughts went from one
memory to the next. She remembered her parents—fighting. Only, this
time, she could hear some of the words.

Her mother was telling her father
he was a traitor about something. She couldn’t imagine why her
quiet, loving mother would ever call her father a
traitor.

He was telling her that she didn’t
know what she was talking about. What could she possibly know about
the politics of their people? What could she possibly know of what
went on between their two races? He was telling her that she was as
foolish as all the others—that if they all had their way, they
would give up their power into the hands of a silly
prophecy.