Between Light and Dark (8 page)

"Yes," he confirmed.

"Why aren't Grays allowed to be part of the Council?"

Axiom cleared his throat. "It is how it has always been."
As if that were answer enough.

"So they need you, but they resent needing you."

His jaw clenched. "They tolerate us because they must. Without our ability to neutralize the Umbrae, the darkness
would infiltrate the Light Realm."

Laurell shook her head. There was racism in godland?
Maybe gods and humans were more alike than she'd thought.
"What does the Council get out of sending you to Earth?
Why do they care what happens to us here if they've got a
bunch of Gray Gods to keep the Umbrae at bay?"

"Humans and gods were formed from the same source.
We are all connected. Therefore, what happens to humans
affects the gods and goddesses. When only a marginal
number of humans are infected by the Umbrae, it will
have little impact in the Light Realm. But if the Umbrae
are able to turn enough humans, it could mean the end of
us all."

She frowned. That didn't sound good. "And you? Were
you formed from the same source too?"

Axiom nodded. "Yes, but the Grays are more recent creations, considered to be anomalies."

"You mean you're an accident? I don't get it. This source
you spoke of, I guess it's like what we think of as God,
right? I thought God didn't make mistakes."

"I do not wish to discuss this further. Your incessant
questions are bothersome."

She clenched her teeth. "Oh, excuse me for wanting to
understand why I've been kidnapped to save the world."

"You sound angry. This is-"

"Yeah, I know," she cut him off. "An honor." She sighed
loudly. "Well what if I don't want this honor? What if I
don't care that I agreed to do it? I clearly didn't realize what
I was getting into. Can't the Council pick someone else?
Isn't there a backup plan?"

He sighed loudly. "If you refuse to cooperate, there will
be a meeting of the Council and a contingency plan will be instigated, but I am not privy to what that plan may be.
And you are missing a very important point."

"What's that?"

"Even if by some chance the Council decides to relieve
you of your duty, it is unlikely the Umbrae will grant you
the same reprieve. They will kill you anyway, just in case
you might change your mind."

Laurell's jaw tightened. Perhaps that was a chance she
was willing to take. At least she'd be making the decision to
walk away. At least she'd have some control again over her
body and her mind.

"Ugh!" she groaned. "This sucks. I can't tell reality from
make-believe anymore. Gods and goddesses and babies
that can save the world ..."

Axiom leaned toward her. The sheet slid farther off his
torso, the lean muscles of his stomach completely bared to
her view. A jolt of desire throbbed between her legs. A vision flashed in her mind's eye of Axiom atop her, their
limbs entwined, his hips pumping against her own. Heat
flooded her face. Damn the yearning anyway.

His hand grazed her leg. "I am quite real. I thought we
had established that by now." The place where his skin
brushed hers, such a soft, slight touch, sent a jolt of need
that spiraled through her body and made her gasp aloud.

She pulled her energy back and slammed the door on the
yearning, then tossed the covers aside. She jumped from
the bed.

"You just used the yearning on me," she accused, eyes
narrowed.

"I had to. You said you thought I was not real. We cannot backtrack. There is no time for that."

"Dammit, it was a figure of speech. Do you take everything literally?"

Axiom shrugged. "I am sorry if I have upset you."

She turned her back to him and yanked a pair of black
jeans and a purple sweater from the dresser. It had disturbed
her the first time she'd delved into the clothes someone had
left for her at the safe house. She didn't want to know how
the heck someone out there, likely Axiom, seemed to know
all her sizes, right down to her panties.

Her ears perked at the sound of his footsteps as he retreated to the bathroom. Good. She didn't want to see any
more of his naked flesh. Naked Axiom was more than she
could handle right now.

She had dressed, brushed her teeth and hair, and sat
perched with a cup of coffee at the kitchen table before she
brought up the dream again. Axiom slid into the seat across
from her and gulped down a glass of orange juice. He filled
the glass again and finished it in a flash. His sigh of delight
irked her for some reason. Why should he be in such a good
mood?

Laurell picked up their conversation. "Mother said she
was trying to make things right with me, but I have to ask
whose bright idea it was to allow her to be my Liaison. I
couldn't stand her when she was alive. Now I have to deal
with her when she's dead too?"

"If the Council saw fit to grant her wish, there must be a
sound reason behind the decision," Axiom said.

"Why didn't my grandmother volunteer? At least that
would have made sense." Laurell thought for a moment and
then shook her head. "Never mind. I think I know the answer to that." Grandmother is still trying to repair the rift between Mother and me. Even in death she is meddling.

Laurell took a sip of her coffee, enjoying its bitterness.
She cleared her throat and tried to sound nonchalant as
she asked, "You never answered my question. How is my grandmother? My grandfather? What about my father? Do
you even know?"

Axiom glanced up from the container of yogurt he had
opened. "The last I knew of her, your grandmother was in
the Light Realm. Your grandfather is reincarnated. Your father as well. He is presently a school teacher in Chicago."

Laurell blinked. "Reincarnation, huh?"

"Yes," Axiom said. "You find this difficult to believe?"

"I find a lot of things hard to believe, but I'm trying to
keep an open mind." More details of her dream reappeared.
"There was something else Mother said."

"Good. It is important to remember as much as you can
about her visits."

"She said the witch is dead. I'm not sure what witch. She
seemed to think you'd know. Oh, and the Council is trying
to figure out what happened to her."

A flash of silver light and a gust of wind literally knocked
the coffee cup from Laurell's hands. Folgers dark roast spattered across the table. It took her a moment to realize Axiom had moved from the table to the far side of the room
and held a cell phone to his ear. If she'd thought he traveled fast before, she realized then she hadn't seen a damn
thing.

She focused on the cell phone. How had she overlooked
it during her attempt to escape? Probably he'd had it on
him. At least now she knew there was a phone nearby. Not
that she had much confidence in her ability to wrestle it
away from him.

"Wayne," Axiom spoke into the cell phone, his words
laced with concern. "We must leave the safe house."

Wayne, whom Laurell was getting a good look at for the
first time since her abduction, wore a stone-faced expression across his broad features as he stared at Axiom. He appeared to be in his early fifties. A good old boy type, wearing
a leather jacket, a cowboy hat, and boots. Not like a witch
at all.

"So let me get this straight. You're a witch and you belong to a whole coven of witches," Laurell said.

"That's right," Wayne said. "What's wrong? I'm not what
you expected a witch to look like?"

Laurell frowned. "Frankly, no."

Wayne glanced away from her and back to Axiom. "So
we're off to Fiona's then?"

The three sat at the kitchen table, dressed to hit the road.
Laurell cradled a plump duffel bag to her chest like a shield,
waiting for one of the two men to speak. She had shoved all
the toiletries and clothes she could find into the satchel Axiom had produced. Her backpack hadn't been large enough,
though she'd refused to leave it behind. The Book of Shadows remained tucked inside, pulling at her to be read.

It seemed they had to leave the safe house. The High
Priestess of Wayne's coven, Fiona, owned some fifty acres
of land in Black Earth, Wisconsin. In other words, in the
middle of nowhere. Laurell knew enough about the northern Wisconsin landscape to know Black Earth consisted of nothing more than woods, gravel roads, and more woods.
Her chances for escape were quickly dwindling.

"Wayne," Axiom said. "I do regret having to go to Fiona's.
I know it is not what she or her sister Anne would have
wished."

"Well, Anne had hoped to keep you and Laurell at arm's
length. The safe house was a good way of assisting without
putting the entire coven in danger."

"I understand, but if the Umbrae are responsible for
Anne's death, it means they may already know about the
safe house. We cannot risk staying here. Particularly with
the full moon so close," Axiom said.

"If they found Anne, how can we be sure they don't already know about the coven too?" Wayne asked.

Axiom sighed. "There is no way to be certain. Perhaps
Laurell will receive another visit from her Liaison soon and
she will have an answer."

Both men looked at Laurell then. What's that? Have a
chat with dear old Mom again? Sounds lovely. "Who is Anne?"

"The former High Priestess of Hidden Circle Coven,"
Axiom said.

The witch who died. Laurell cringed, her desire to extricate
herself from the mission increasing with every moment.

When she said nothing, the men returned to their conversation.

"In the meantime, at least we have you to warn us if you
sense them near," Axiom said.

Wayne sighed and tugged at his chin. "I only wish I were
able to detect them sooner. A five-minute warning doesn't
seem like nearly enough time."

"It will have to suffice," Axiom said.

"Maybe we shouldn't go to Black Earth," Laurell piped
up before she could stop herself. "I mean, it's in the middle
of nowhere. What if we need backup?" Both men turned to look at her with raised eyebrows as though they'd forgotten
she was there.

"The coven is the safest place for us. The members have
been carefully selected for this mission. Like you, they volunteered before incarnating," Axiom said.

Laurell cringed. She didn't like being reminded she'd
chosen to become involved. She was willing to believe Axiom was not of this world. She'd seen enough of the Umbrae in the brief glimpses she'd had of them to know they
were dangerous and terrifying, but she refused to accept she
was the only person who could mother the Earth Balancer.

Why should she be forced into such a circumstance now?
Everything she'd worked so hard to build was crumbling.
Her independence, her anonymity, and the quiet life she'd
created had been torn from her grasp the moment Axiom
burst into her life. She was going to be forced to have sex
with a stranger.

It didn't matter that he was the sexiest man she'd ever
seen. It wasn't her choice to be with him. And as if things
weren't bad enough, she had to feign friendly chats with her
mother on a regular basis. At the moment, death seemed
preferable.

Axiom had said the Umbrae would find her and kill her
even if she refused to take part in the mission. He'd also
said they could only track her via the yearning. Since she
could ward against the yearning, this didn't seem like much
of a problem.

Laurell snapped her attention back to Axiom and
Wayne. "So, Wayne, you're psychic, huh? So how does your
ability work? Do you see a good outcome if we go to Black
Earth?" It's worth a try.

"I'm an empath, not a fortune teller." Wayne swigged
from his soda can.

"Not just any empath," Axiom pointed out. "He can sense when the Umbrae are near. We will want to keep him
close to us when we are not in protected space." Axiom's
shoulders stiffened.

Did Axiom fear the Umbrae too? Why? Laurell bit her
lip. If a god feared the Umbrae, perhaps the situation was
much worse than she knew. Her resolve strengthened. All
the more reason to get the hell away from Axiom.

The landscape flashed by in a blur of farmland and nearly
naked trees. The scenery changed to winding roads and
deep woods as they left civilization behind and drove closer
to Black Earth.

"The coven is taking Anne's death real hard," Wayne
said, his voice heavy with sorrow.

"She was a strong witch and a friend of the Light," Axiom
said. His chest ached. No innocents were to be lost. Those
were his orders. Even though he had never met Anne, he felt
the pain of having failed her.

"She was one headstrong woman. Always pushing boundaries and testing herself."

"Laurell indicated the Council is investigating Anne's
death. I am certain she did not bring it on herself." Although he knew Wayne's description of the witch was accurate, he sensed there was more to her death than a lapse
in magical judgment.

"I am grateful her sister will step forward to see the mission through," Axiom continued.