KnightForce Damian (La Patron's KnightForce Book 4) (23 page)

He grabbed the old witch and Lamia.

"
Take them now Damian, this is our chance, Lamia set this up,
" Gem said from behind him.

"Where are you taking me?" Agatha yelled.

Damian ran to the edge of the cliff and looked at the lake. Hesitating, he looked over his shoulder at Gem.

Knowing this could be the end of the child, and praying Lamia was in her right mind, she nodded.

He pulled his arm back holding the young girl and prepared to toss her into the sea.

"Are you crazy?" Agatha yelled. "You'll kill the Lamia; she needs a body to survive."

"I don't care; we are done with this shit. I'm not having her coming after Gem later, this ends now."

Agatha fists beat against his hand.

“Good bye, Doctor, it was my pleasure to meet you. I will force my spirit into the witch, make sure he places her body in the water, she’ll be too weak to swim. We will rest now.”

"Stop it." He shook Agatha and bought the Lamia in front of the witch for a few moments. "Say goodbye, witch," Damian said.

"No!" Agatha screamed as Damian tossed her into the sea and laid the child on the ground.

"
Did it work
?" Damian asked.

"
Yes
," Gem said as he morphed to his normal size. "
The Lamia was right, when forced, Agatha merged. I sensed when the Lamia left the child and entered Agatha.
" She looked at the rise and fall of Daphne's chest with relief.

"Good, now we'll see if the Lamia meant it about not having a reason to live." He looked at the water. "I hope she finds peace," Damian said, taking Gem's hand.

"She's fading," Gem said in a soft voice. "But she seems happy."

"Can Agatha survive?"

"No, she can't," Gem said.

Hearing footsteps, Damian and Gem turned to see three of the four women who had stood on the porch with Agatha and Lamia. Wide-eyed, they looked around and then stared at the water.

"What have you done?" One of them yelled, looking at the child on the ground and then back at Damian.

"Who are you?" Gem asked.

"Celestial, these are my sisters, Mystic and Ariel. Where's Agatha? What have you done with her?" The three hovered close together, their gazes searching everywhere.

"She's with the Lamia out there." Damian pointed.

"No, no, no. No! She can't be," Celestial screamed. "You have no idea what you've done. Lies, you've believed lies and now we're all in trouble."

Mystic pushed him on the arm, her small hands tried to grab his thick arm. "Go and get her back here, quick. There may still be time." She looked behind with quick bird-like moves.

"What are you talking about?" Gem asked, removing the female's hand from his arm and standing in front of him.

The stench of fear rose fast and thick from the three as they moved closer to Gem. "With the Lamia's power, our coven has kept the area safe from other forces for decades. The child and her mother came to us under false pretenses, claiming to seek knowledge. The child trained with us for two months, it was apparent she had a gift and had been practicing a long time. The child asked first, and then the mother petitioned the Lamia to use the child as her vessel. I don't know what you were told, but this child wanted to be used by the Lamia and worked hard to make that happen."

"Wait? What?" Gem said. "Ivona had a child and is this child's mother." She pointed to Daphne.

"Whether she had a child or not, I don't know," Celestial said looking at the water. "But this child and the woman who claimed to be her mother, set out to destroy the coven and I fear what will happen now without Agatha." She turned and looked at Damian. "You only heard what you wanted to hear, believed what was easiest to understand, interfered in matters that were not your concern. Your actions today will have serious repercussions in our world, and possibly yours. I hope you are prepared for that, Wolf."

Chapter 32

Silas, Angus, Jasmine, Hawke, and Asia sat in Silas' living room finishing breakfast. Since Agatha's death, Silas had been contacted by four High Council Members on four different continents over his involvement with the gatekeeper, which is what the coven leaders called her. They were angry and demanded he fix the vacuum he created; or rather find a replacement to fill the void from losing Agatha, which he had no idea how to do.

"The covens claim you are wrong? Angus asked.

"Yes, we interfered," Silas said.

"Damian fought in self-defense," Jasmine said.

Silas looked at the stubborn twist of her lips and shook his head. "The witnesses saw him morph to his hybrid, which kills that line of defense. If anything, it strengthened the coven’s position. Kind of like Goliath and David without a sling."

"What did Barticus say?" Angus asked.

"Nothing yet, his people are investigating. Raoul has taken Ivona and the child to one of Barticus' homes to recover." Silas released a long sigh and looked at Jasmine. "I don't know how to spin this. If I were Damian, I would've done the same thing to save the child, especially since Gem had been informed by the Lamia of her intention to merge with Agatha. They played the hand dealt, neither expected this type of fallout." Damian was justifiably, upset believing he caused Silas and the pack problems. He and Gem wasn’t speaking because tossing Agatha had been her idea. Gem thought it was the best way to save the child, but was upset the covens blamed La Patron instead of her. It was a tricky situation all around.

"For centuries I've stayed out of paranormal and human politics, but lately it seems as if I'm being dragged into those arenas and I don't like it."

Jasmine covered his hand. "This whole thing puzzles me. And I think it's because I looked at the itching problem through the eyes of breeder and wolf instead of the witch's perspective."

"What do you mean?" Silas asked.

"Ivona for starters. Based on what we are now learning about her, she practices white magic, believes in helping people and doesn't dabble in the dark stuff. Well, if I'd filtered everything she did and said through her core principles, I would never have believed the itching serum would kill our people."

"But several did die," Silas reminded her.

"According to the autopsies there were other complications and the serum merely hastened their departure, but wasn't the cause of death," Hawke said. "According to Mistress' premise, if we'd called Ivona's bluff, and searched for a remedy, which we would've found, things may have turned out different."

"Tara's practices changed from white to dark after Ivona's twins died. She blamed her lover, Gordon, for the boys’ death and set things up for Ivona to be impregnated by him or someone else," Jasmine said.

"That's Ivona's accounting, we don't know if it's true," Silas warned.

"True, but given Tara sold the child for half a million, I'd say she's playing on the dark side no matter who the child's father is."

Silas nodded, conceding the point.

"In my opinion, they're the two major players. Light versus dark. Tara will try to claim the child and Ivona will fight with her last breath to save the child. Only one will win and determine the significance of Agatha's departure," Jasmine said.

"What about the child?" Asia asked. "Did she want to be trained to take on Lamia's power? How does she factor into all of this?"

"She's a wild card," Silas said. "We don't know which side she's on. She didn't claim Ivona as her mother. Once she wakes we'll know if she's a spawn of the devil or the innocent we thought."

"If Raoul's mate is still lying, I'm flying over there and kicking her ass," Asia said. "She started all of this and it's turned into a big cluster-fuck." She looked at Silas. "Can't we just pull out and let them handle their own problems since one of their own started it?"

"We could, but it will come back and kick us in the teeth down the line. In the eyes of a portion of the paranormal community I screwed up and killed a gatekeeper, which some believe keeps us all safe from hell vomiting creatures onto our shores." He held up his hands to stop the comments. "As I said, some believe this. We don't. The Goddess handles all that stuff, which is the reason I keep our nations apart."

Angus snorted, drawing everyone's attention. "One thing I learned from this whole thing is we can't tell if witches are lying worth a damn. Ivona lied from day one, and we couldn't detect it. How do we know if anything we've found on them is true? What if the child is Tara and Gordon's love child? What if Ivona is bat-shit crazy and thinks the child is hers? Or vice-versa and Tara's the one who's crazy? What I'm saying is, they've manipulated the truth so often I don't know what to believe. Obviously our sense of smell doesn't work on them."

"Or they've developed ways to mask the truth, their emotions, and other things from us. Remember Damian thought there was someone else in the barn with Ivona, but she was the only one who walked out?" Hawke said.

"Yes," Silas said, thinking through all the inconsistencies. "Staying away from other groups may not have been the wisest decision. We are working in the dark with their abilities." Jasmine squeezed his hand.

"The pivotal question is, who's the mother of the child?" Asia said, looking around for confirmation. "That would explain motive."

"Unless both women want the child for the same thing," Jasmine said slowly. "Didn't the women say the child trained with them for two months and was really good. Gem said that there were residual effects from the time the Lamia entered her, right?"

Asia nodded. "Right."

"What if it's the child they fear? Kinda like Rosemary's baby." Jasmine looked at him. "Long shot I know, but since we're throwing out angles, this one isn't that bad."

"But why would Ivona risk it all to get the child if she wasn't hers?" Angus asked.

"The same reason Tara risked it all to get the child into the gatekeeper's coven for training," Jasmine said. "Power, prestige, and more power."

"If we look at Ivona's motivation through the lens of a good witch," Silas said, looking at his mate. "Those wouldn't be her motives."

Jasmine nodded slowly. "Good point, I'm learning this group, but it's slow going. So many nuances and shades. Is there anyone we trust to contact for a consult?"

"Jacques has been researching, and Maheegan, the pack historian is helping, but going outside of pack is hard. Before this happened? Yes. Now, the good ones won't. There’s a show of solidarity and I won't push."

"Understood. But two women claim to be the mother of the same child, which is impossible no matter what," Jasmine said.

"We've made that point clear," Silas said, ready to move on. "Angus, is there anyone you know who can fill the void?"

"What is expected of the replacement? The ability to keep a portal closed? Or is there more?"

"That's primary," Silas said. “The rest will be on the job training I suppose."

"I'll make inquiries and get back to you," Angus said.

Silas rubbed his neck. It was too early to deal with these types of challenges. He'd much rather listen to Adam explain and demonstrate how he'd protect the compound with his two fists. Just thinking of the conversation with his pups from the day before brightened his mood. He understood why Jasmine spent so much time with them and decided to set aside time every day talking with them.

Jacques walked in holding one of his daughters. "Morning everyone," he called.

"Hello, Jacques, Diamond," Jasmine said, smiling warmly at her step-father and sister.

"How do you tell them apart?" Asia asked.

Jasmine shrugged and stretched out her arms for the child. Jacques placed the child in her arms and sat across from Silas. He pulled out his tablet from the diaper bag and placed the bag on the floor. After a few clicks, he glanced at Silas and started reading. When he finished, no one spoke.

"Are you sure that's accurate?" Silas asked. But knowing Jacques, the man had verified the information through several channels before bringing it to him.

"So Tara and Agatha are sisters who hadn't spoken to each other for years?"

"Yes, according to Maheegan and the records she accessed, there was a huge fight over the handling of Lamia. Tara moved away but always maintained a home in Europe. Recently they sold their ancestral home, guess Tara's share?"

"Half a million?" Silas said.

Jacques nodded.

"So she didn't sell the child," Jasmine said.

"It doesn't look like it, but Tara did have a daughter. There's not an official record but what the midwife logged in. Seems there is a private book where they do these things," Jacques said.

"I read a copy of the fake birth certificate for Ivona and it's not Tara," Hawke said.

"The mother's name on the birth certificate is Cilantro Arat. The last name is Tara reversed, she's Ivona's mother. It's possible she didn't want her sister to know about the child and hid her for years." Jacques shrugged.

"Ivona said she needed to rescue her mother, maybe she was speaking the truth," Jasmine said. "Is it possible this whole thing is a sibling rivalry? A family matter?" She looked at Silas. "Can you tell the councils we don't get involved with family stuff?"

"I'm sure they know a lot more about it than we do," Silas said. "If Tara wanted her sister out the way so she could rule, she has a vivid imagination to have pulled this off. I'm not sure how much was planned and how much was luck. The Lamia being tired, wanting rest, the timing, Ivona and Raoul, all of those things went into bringing us to this point." Silas looked at Jacques. "Who does Maheegan suggest we approach for taking Agatha's place?"

"According to Maheegan, it has always been someone in Agatha's line. That biological connection to link with the land is imperative, which means Tara, Ivona, or the child Daphne. Someone in her line is the
only
one who can fill the gatekeeper’s shoes."