Crow - The Awakening (82 page)

And here he was, dying because he put himself in the path of a toxic bullet that would have killed Asherah. Lohet was seeing the results of that with his own eyes. The deviant came here to save her in the first place. Bonds don't stick to deviants and yet he was solidly bonded with Asherah. It just wasn't adding up.

"He has compassion," Lohet said under his breath, shaking his head. His daughter looked at him. He turned and looked at her. "When you next visit the Council, I want you to ask them to refine their definition of deviant." He looked at her and she nodded.

Someone dropped down off the top of the cliff onto the landing and Lohet turned to see a girl about Asherah's age. She was carrying a net bag filled with fruits and mushrooms. She looked at them, surprised, then looked at Asherah, screamed, and stepped back, almost falling off the edge of the landing. Brandon instinctively reached out and caught her and pulled her away from the edge. Tor'eng looked up to see the Selkie friend of Asherah who brought her food every day, then returned his attention to his dying daughter. She looked at Brandon and Asherah and said something in a language Brandon didn't understand. He only looked at her then back at Steven, thoroughly discombobulated.

The Selkie's scream charged Lohet into his already growing decision. He stepped away from his daughter who only halfway tried to stop him and suddenly he was kneeling over Steven. Sally looked up, her face still wet and full of defeat and agony. He looked in her eyes and she mouthed, "Please," unable to speak anymore. Looking back down at Steven, Lohet reached down and put his hand on his chest and Steven immediately convulsed. Lohet closed his eyes as he concentrated. He had the ability to calm, and that included slowing racing hearts, but he was fighting against a toxin that was intended to make a heart beat so fast that it burst. Steven's heart was incredibly strong but it was on its last few beats when Lohet put his hand on him. He gasped, feeling the stress of the toxin. Suddenly his daughter was beside him. She put her hand on him, then a hand on Steven's cheek. The result was almost immediate. Lohet's struggle reduced massively and Steven's heart rate stopped increasing and slowly started to reduce. Suddenly he was taken back to the alley as he remembered the words from the strange homeless man. His choice, and now he has made it. How did the man know? Lohet shook his head, trying to concentrate.

Penipe sat there frozen, staring at Lohet, her eyes wide and mouth open in an interrupted wail. He looked over at her and met her gaze. She was speechless and trembling, in complete shock and confusion. Was he doing it? Saving Asherah? She dared to hope, looking at Tor'eng whose eyes were shut in his anguish.

Lohet concentrated on fighting against the toxin, now backed by his daughter. He had taken Steven's heart out of the danger zone, but would have to maintain his presence until Steven's body metabolized the toxin completely. He heard something and looked down. Steven's eyes were fluttering and opened a little. He looked up at Lohet, and looked confused. Steven tried to say something, but his lips and throat were dry. He licked his lips then looked back at Lohet with clearer eyes. "Asherah? Is she okay?" his voice was barely a raspy whisper.

Lohet was stunned. The deviant was asking about someone else's welfare. He heard Penipe cry out and start hugging Asherah as Asherah tried to move her hand. Tor'eng cried and held them both. Lohet raised an eyebrow as he glanced at them. "It would appear that Asherah is recovering."

Steven sighed, looking at the ceiling then back at Lohet. "I guess you caught me," Steven said, resigned. He no longer had the strength to run or resist.

"That would seem to be the case, Steven," Lohet said.

"Please don't hurt her, okay?" Steven asked as he tried to lift his arm toward Asherah. He looked over to see Penipe embracing and crying over Asherah and caught a brief glimpse of Asherah's half opened eyes. She wasn't quite seeing anything yet but he could feel her stronger now as she fought to regain consciousness.

Lohet looked at Steven, stunned by the new reality that he faced. "Never again," he promised.

Steven looked at him for a long time. "Okay. Then I'm done running." He closed his eyes. He was so tired and she was alive. Her safety was all that mattered to him.

Lohet shook his head. "You don't need to run anymore, Steven."

Steven opened one of his eyes and squinted up at the vampire. Lohet smiled, keeping his canines covered. "You are safe, Steven."

"You're not going to hurt me?" Steven asked, confused.

Lohet regarded Steven thoughtfully. "No. You are safe." He comprehended that Steven was confusing him with the Terran legends, something Lohet would have to clear up later, but he meant in his reply that his hunt for the deviant was over. He was convinced that this was not an ordinary deviant.

Steven looked over and saw the wolfman crouching in a corner. The wolfman had peeled off most of his armor and was looking a little bored. He noticed Steven was gaping at him and grinned back at him, canines and all. Steven was too tired to even consider being afraid at the moment and smiled back weakly, not sure what was going on.

Steven shifted to get a better look at him then saw Lohet's daughter. She gave him a calculating stare. "Uhm, hi?" Steven said quietly. She just looked at him and he fidgeted.

Only then did he start taking in his surroundings and looked up at the owner of the lap his head rested on. His eyes got wide, "Sally! You're here." Sally nodded, wiping tears from her face. Steven reached up and wiped her tears and looked at her for a long moment. "I'm so sorry." He thought for a second then looked at her. "Mom." That actually felt right for him to say. That's what Sally had been for him for all of his life. She smiled and covered her mouth, then leaned down and kissed him on the forehead.

Steven looked back over at the vampire then back to Sally. "You do know there's a vampire sitting right here, right?" Steven whispered.

Sally laughed, wiping her face. "Don't worry, Steven. He doesn't bite," she said, running her fingers through her hair. She looked up at Lohet. "Much."

Steven looked at her then back at Lohet. This was the creature from his nightmares. In the flesh. And he was not hurting him. Steven shook his head, fighting off a wave of dizziness. Then he saw Jonah and looked at him, remembering his childhood with him. "Dad." That sounded right to Steven as well.

Jonah gave him a lopsided smile. "It's about time."

"What happened?" Steven tried to sit up, but Aradia held him back down. He looked at her, perplexed.

"I have to maintain contact until you have flushed the poison," Aradia explained. "You must lay here for a while longer." Steven decided not to argue with the vampire and just nodded.

He gasped and closed his eyes. Asherah came into him strong and he felt her as he had never felt her before. Every nerve tingled and he saw her even with his eyes closed. She floated before him then moved to embrace him, passing right into him and suddenly he was flooded with her thoughts, memories and love. He convulsed and waved his arms around and tried to sit up again, pushing against the immovable force that was the vampire's grasp.

"What's wrong?" Sally said, alarmed, looking up at Lohet.

"Asherah," Steven whispered as he looked over at her. She was looking at him. Steven had trouble breathing and tears spontaneously streamed from his eyes as she came back to him. He reached out and she grabbed his hand. "I like your tree, Asherah," Steven said. She smiled at him. There was color in her lips again and he wanted more than anything to kiss her, but there were too many people around fussing over them.

Lohet let go of Steven and looked at Aradia. Steven looked up at her as she tentatively lifted her hand from him. He took in a deep breath and his heart ached, but the toxin was designed to metabolize out of the system rapidly to leave no trace. Lohet and Sally helped him sit up then he looked into Steven's eyes, watching his pupil dilations. Steven had a few burst capillaries in his eyes that made them look very red, but he was more aware now. He put his hand on Lohet's arm to push himself up a little more. It felt like he was touching a marble statue. "I think we need to talk," Steven said, looking at Lohet with wide eyes. The Keratian nodded.

Steven looked around and noticed that the cave was quite crowded. "Everyone is here?"

Jonah sat down next to Sally, mussing his hair. "We heard a commotion in the greenhouse and went over to look. This is what we see." He looked around. "You apparently opened a gate."

"Ya think?" Steven looked at him. "I'm sorry to have dragged you here."

Sally smiled at Jonah then whispered to Steven, "I always wanted to travel through a gate."

Penipe gently let go of Asherah and crawled over to Steven, looking intensely into his eyes. Steven was both mesmerized by her eyes and terrified of her at the same time and he gulped. She put her moist cheek against his and her hand on his other cheek and he felt her in his head. It was like something clicked, as if a process that had started finally completed. He felt her, saw her memories and thoughts. An enormous sense of relief washed over him from her and she smiled looking back in his eyes, then she crawled back to Asherah. Steven was going to have to get used to that intimate connection. He looked at her as she cradled Asherah again. He felt her pain, her torment as it gradually faded away, replaced by extreme gratitude that her daughter was still alive.

Asherah looked up at her mother, who she had not seen since she was a little girl, then over at Steven. She was getting more aware by the minute. Steven could still feel her soreness and bruises through their connection and he reflexively tried to pull her pain into himself, trying to make her feel better. He had no idea how or why, but it seemed natural to him. She smiled and shook her head at him. They both needed to recover and she didn't want him overly burdened.

Tor'eng looked around at him, obviously undecided as to how he felt about the deviant, then back at Penipe. Penipe smiled at her life-mate and put a hand on his cheek and he closed his eyes and reciprocated. They sat there for a long moment. He shuddered then opened his eyes. "It's good to have you back, Penipe," he said quietly. She nodded, wiping her cheeks then looking back down at Asherah. He looked at Steven again with more understanding. He now saw the young man who would have died to save his life-mate and his daughter. This was a challenge to everything he had seen and learned about deviants.

Asherah shifted and tried to sit up. Steven immediately tried to crawl over to her. Tor'eng moved out of the way and Steven reached her side. Asherah looked into his eyes. "We died together." She licked her parched lips as she caressed his face. "Now we get to live together," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

Steven smiled, crying, and hugged her gently. "I'm so sorry it took so long, Asherah." He pulled back and kissed her gently. Her fur was still matted with blood and her lips were chapped and swollen, but she was as beautiful as ever to him. He smelled something. "Hey, you smell good," Steven looked at her and grinned. A flower petal fell from her hair and he picked it up and put it back. She smiled back at him.

"I thought you would like these flowers," she said weakly. She remembered how she got prepared to woo Steven into believing she existed. The refreshing dive in the spring sounded very appealing now. Steven saw that memory with her and blushed, seeing her as she saw herself, disrobed and swimming. She smiled. "You're getting the hang of it."

Sirel came over and examined Asherah's wounds. The Selkie also came over timidly. She looked back at Brandon who was staring at her and smiled at him coyly. She knelt down beside Asherah and held her hand. Sirel looked at Penipe, "No broken bones, Penny. But she's beat up badly." Penipe nodded and caressed her daughter's hair. Sirel leaned against Steven. "I'm glad Lohet let you live," she whispered in his ear. He looked around at her and she smiled prettily, barely showing her rows of sharp teeth. "Please don't make him regret it, okay?" She batted her eyes at Steven.

He remembered Asherah's definition of deviant, then looked at Sirel and nodded. Sirel most certainly didn't seem like an ant to him. The Faerie kissed his cheek, nicking it with her teeth, and floated up to sit cross-legged on the ceiling as she watched the crowd.

Lohet stood up and walked to the entrance of the cave. Brandon was standing out there looking around, appearing a little shell shocked.

"You seem to be taking this well," Lohet observed.

Brandon grinned, "I watch a lot of science fiction." He looked at Lohet, then his daughter, and sobered. "Am I dreaming?"

Aradia was going to say something then she stopped. She walked up to Brandon and smelled him, then looked back at Lohet. "He's been in contact with a golem." Lohet nodded.

Brandon looked at her then him. Lohet looked at Brandon, "Rachel."

"You said she wasn't dead," Brandon said.

"She was never alive, Brandon. She is a golem," Lohet explained. Brandon looked at him blankly. Lohet wasn't sure how much to tell him, but he was Steven's best friend. "A golem is like a drone, controlled by the..." He tried to think of a name that wouldn't require yet another extensive explanation, "We have an enemy that can create and control people who are not people and they are very good at it."

Brandon looked at him, not quite understanding. "Rachel was real," he said, finding it hard to believe otherwise.

"They are very good at it," Lohet responded simply.

"I suspect she was stationed with Brandon to intercept Steven. But they did not collect him," Lohet said to Aradia. "I am not sure what they plan for him, but I think Steven will be our edge against them."

Aradia frowned. "Using a deviant?"

"He may be a deviant, but he's different. You've seen that. Different enough to warrant another label. I hope you and Tor'eng can convince the Council of that." Lohet looked around then back at her. "The Sadari have a mothership there, Aradia. We won the first conflict because they couldn't bring their ships to us. If they figure out how to bring their ships here, we cannot withstand them. But Steven can."