The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (39 page)

Morgi looked affronted at that
one. “Of course I will. I might be smitten with him,” she grinned,
“but I’m not
stupid.
I most certainly know how evil he can be. And I most
certainly
would
help to take him down,” she shrugged, “that is—if there
actually was a way
to
take him down.”

The sisters had each started to
gather her supplies, but that statement got their attention back
onto Morgi. They looked at her, again—once more stunned.

She gave them a sweet smile, and
then looked back to Amar.

Amar frowned at her. “Maybe
it
was
a bad idea
to summon…,” and at the dark look in Morgi’s eyes she amended,
“
er
—
invite
you,” she huffed.

Jes frowned. She had never seen
Amar
amend anything.

“
Why?” Morgi smiled. “What’s he
done now?”

Jes glared at her. “He’s after my
best friend.”

“
As well as the fact that
she
is the sister
to the Prince of Fire,” Mira growled.

“
And if he turns her…” Dara
snarled, her threat implied.

Morgi’s brows shot up. “Well,
then,” she smiled at each of the sisters in turn, “That’s
different. We’ll just have to keep that from happening.” She
laughed. “Or, on the other hand,” she tapped her chin, “I have a
better idea.”

Dara stared at her. Then, she
looked at each of her sisters, and then, Amar. She looked back at
Mira and Jes. “Am I missing something here?”

Jes shrugged, just as confused. “If
you are—then I’ve missed it too.”

Mira stepped toward Morgi. It was
clear that she was through playing games. “That is my
sister’s
best friend
he’s threatening,” she snarled. “We most certainly are
not
going to allow that
to happen!
Now, if you know how to stop
him—I suggest you
speak
!”

Morgi frowned, and then grinned.
“My, my, Amar,” she fairly purred, “She is a feisty one, isn’t she?
She walked around Mira, who only looked about
half
restrained from violence. She
waved a hand. “You must be the one everyone is talking about in the
Land of the Fae.” She stepped away. “Okay—how is it you
know
that he’s after
her? Has he said as much?”

Jes shook her head. “Not exactly—I
more… sensed the threat.”

Morgi walked over to her. She stood
several inches taller than Jes’s own five feet seven inches. Morgi
had to easily be close to six feet tall. Jes had only spent a small
amount time in the Land of the Fae—and that only recently, for the
discussions with the Queen of Darkness. Certainly, she hadn’t spent
the same kind of time there as had Mira. But from what little she
had seen while there, she believed Morgi’s height was unusual for
the Fae. She was also muscular, and she had on a breastplate and
shoulder pads, with some kind of old design hammered into the
metal. The whole thing appeared heavy, but she moved as if they
were weightless.

Morgi sniffed. “So you’re a
sensitive.” She walked around Jes, now, in much the same way as she
had walked around Mira.

“
Yes.” Jes stood her ground,
refusing—like her sister—to back down, glaring at Morgi, though she
had to look
up
to
see her eyes.

Morgi was again face-to-face with
Jes, and she smiled down into Jes’s glowering stance. “Good. Well,
come on then. How about you tell me where you have this girl now.
And then, we’ll just have to see what we can do to keep Constantine
from getting his hands on her—or perhaps….” She looked up from her
musing to see the other two sisters glaring at her. “Or—maybe we’ll
just stick to keeping her
out of
his hands.”

That didn’t stop her from revealing
her other plan when she had all the right people
assembled.

“
You want to what?” Jes nearly
yelled when Morgi revealed what she thought was her
better
plan later that
evening.

Mia had been invited, as had
Justice and Dracon. After all, Mia was the subject of all of this,
and Justice was her brother.

Dracon wouldn’t be left
out.

Morgi smiled patiently at all of
them. But it was clear she’d been waiting to speak with Mia
herself
to reveal this
plan, since it had been apparent the Sisters of Three hadn’t liked
the direction she had been heading—when she had thought to bring it
up before.

“
Think about it.
We
would be the ones
with the hand of power. We all know if he wants
her
—he’s
going to get her
.” She walked around
the room, looking at each of them.

She came to stand in front of Mia.
“It’s up to you. Just remember, if you choose to do this, we
can
keep
the
control! But—if he gets his hands on you
his way
—
he
will be the one in
control!”

Mia actually appeared to chew this
over.

Jes stood up out of her chair. “You
can’t actually be considering….”

Justice had also stood. “You are
not going!” he ordered.

Mia looked at him surprise. He
never ordered her to do
anything
. She stood and crossed over
to her brother. She gently laid a hand on his arm. “We must,
brother.”

He shook his head, obviously not
believing what he was hearing—or perhaps denying her permission to
make such a choice.

Mia shook her head, sadly looking
into her brother’s eyes. “You know she’s right. You know he’ll find
a way, sooner or later. It may be the very reason he has not
attacked yet. And—he has nothing but time on his side. But
if
we
set this
up—
we
will have
an edge.” She looked around at the rest of the group, and her gaze
came to stop on Jes. “An edge he would
never
expect. He’d never believe we
would do this on purpose.”

Dara frowned. “He’ll turn you,”
she rebuked quietly. “I know, because… he—
turned me
.”

The outburst that her revelation
created had the room in an uproar for several minutes. Dracon
looked as though he would like tear someone apart.

Dara quietly put her hands out and
gestured for them to calm down. “We’re not going to solve anything
like this,” she commanded. “We can all talk about how to get even
with Constantine when this is over—but that doesn’t change the fact
that he
will
turn
her.”

Lucius had entered the room in time
to hear the last of this. His pale eyes raked the room as Justice
filled him in. He came to stand in front of Mia. For several long
moments, he said nothing. After some time, he lifted his gaze and
settled it on Mira. The love he felt for her shone brightly in his
eyes at that moment.

“
There is a way,” he said
finally.

“
I can’t believe we’re seriously
contemplating this!” Jes hissed.

Lucius’s gaze settled on her with
unsettling intensity. “It isn’t up to any of us,” he stated gently.
“Only Mia can make this decision. But should she choose to make
this choice, I think I may have a way.”

They all stared at him
expectantly.

Mia reached out and placed her hand
on his arm now. He looked back down, meeting her questioning gaze.
“I have a sample of the vaccine.”

Mia frowned. “I don’t
follow.”

“
Well,” he said, “we all know that
the vaccine we’ve been searching for was originally made for humans
who had
not
yet
been
infected
—in hopes to create an even
better vaccine against vamps turning humans—and perhaps, one day,
even provide a higher percentage of protection for the Jaguar
People as well. Or at the very least, provide an antidote for a
human, or Jaguar, who has been recently bit. And, as we all know,
they had found out, quite by accident so it would seem, it proved
to
destroy
the
vamps altogether, not just protect humans against their
bite.”

Lucius looked up now, taking in
all of them. “They found this out when a vamp bit the human to whom
they had given the vaccine, and apparently something happened to
the vamp, something we’re still not completely clear about. But it
would seem—that it did more than just
protect
the human. It would seem
that it created some kind of antibody in the human that gave his
blood some kind of—
unusual
power
—to do something
to the vamp
.”

Mia frowned, absorbing that. “But
I’m—not human.”

“
And so—it would seem—that we
cannot be sure of
how
it will affect
you
.”

Dara was glaring at Lucius when she
pointed out, “And we don’t know what it did to the vamp. From what
you’re saying, we don’t know that it killed the vamp.
Correct?”

Lucius nodded.

Mira stepped forward upon hearing
that. “Lucius,” she said quietly, “we don’t even know if
Constantine would be the one to bite her. He may order it
done.”

Dara broke in at this. “No. He took
great pleasure in personally turning me.”

To which the room once again broke
into an uproar.

Once more, Dara reached up to
silence the room. “I only mention this because Constantine is
likely the one to bite her.”

Mia nodded. “Good. Then if he…
bites me—the vaccine just might do something to his powers,” she
said, looking at Lucius to make sure she understood this
correctly.

Again, he only nodded.

“
Well, then—we really have no
choice. We may have a powerful weapon. We cannot throw away this
opportunity.”

Justice had been quiet throughout
this, but at her words he put his arms around his sister, gently
turning her to look at him. “Mia,” he said gently. “You have no
idea if the vaccine will do
anything
to Constantine. And if it
does, you have no idea what the rest of the vamps
will do to you
!”

Mia nodded. “I do realize the
danger, brother. But the Sisters of Three will be tracking me. And
we really have no choice—but to try.”

Justice dropped his arms away in
defeat. It was clear that he would not again order her not to go.
He had looked a bit taken aback with himself when he had done so
the first time. He’d obviously not meant to give her an order, but
had reacted solely out of emotion.

He wouldn’t do so again.

He nodded, and she hugged
him.

Morgi had remained quiet since
first bringing up this plan. She had stayed out of it, making it
clear that the choice was Mia’s—and Mia’s alone. Now she stepped
forward to offer her assistance in making Constantine believe he
had captured Mia—without making him aware that they were actually
planting her.

So Mia prepared for the appropriate
time when Morgi would assist in tricking Constantine into believing
he had acquired his prize.

Chapter
Forty-Five

Second Chances

The men had been holed up at
Second Chances
for two days. In addition,
Justice had been in a foul mood ever since they had planted Mia, so
no one dared to go near him. He looked like he would take the
opportunity to rip someone apart with very little provocation, so
every once in a while Conrad would place another drink into his
hand, hoping it would help mellow him out.

The other men kept their distance.
The humans usually turned around left the tavern within minutes of
entering.

On top of that, the waiting was
wreaking havoc on all of their nerves. Justice clearly needed to do
battle, and if things didn’t break open soon, no one knew what was
going to happen.

Justice had left the tavern only
once and, if possible, he had returned in an even worse mood than
before. Gradually, Conrad had learned that Jes had tried to help
him to contact Mia to see if she was okay, but from what little
Justice had said, so far it hadn’t gone that well.

Conrad poured Justice another
drink. He waved to one of the guards to take over at the bar, and
sat down across from Justice. He was on a mission to get an
explanation about what had happened, and he wasn’t leaving Justice
alone until he had one.

He had to know if the girl was
okay.

Only then, would he know whether or
not his friend was also okay.

Mia was locked in an abandoned
building. It looked like an old warehouse. The building was made of
old wood, but the roof appeared made of metal. She had heard a
train nearby, but she had no idea where she was other than
somewhere in the city; but she only knew by the sounds she heard
from outside.