The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (11 page)

And it wasn’t even that gang she
needed to worry about.

It was a much bigger gang—one that
had caused both of their families to disappear that day.

Jes’s apartment was a full hour
away from where Justice’s sisters lived. When he reached it, he
quietly let himself into Mia’s house. He threw down his keys, and
headed for the shower. He stood there, in the shower, for half an
hour—letting the water pelt down over him. As if the water would
wash away what
had
happened. As if the water would wash away what
would
happen.

And make them all clean
again.

At the end of the half hour, he
heard his sister quietly say his name from outside the door—as a
question.

“
I’m okay,” he replied in a
whisper. Then repeated it louder, so she could hear.

A minute later, he heard her
slippered feet take her back to bed.

How was he ever going to keep his
sisters safe—and Jes? And right now, he was afraid his mother was
right, that Jes was in more danger than any of the rest of
them.

Justice hadn’t known Jes’s mother
died that day. But he
had
figured out why their families had left. He just
hadn’t told Jes—yet. Somehow, somewhere in his head, he thought the
knowing would make it all somehow—worse.

But it wouldn’t change the facts.
He feared she’d made herself visible. That fear had planted a seed
when she’d shown up at Second Chances.

And had taken root with his
mother’s warning.

If he was right, it would only be a
matter of days before the gang put out the word that she would have
to go down. This particular gang feared Justice—more than they
feared just about anyone.

They feared Justice because he
hunted any member that went rogue—and he always got what he
hunted.

But that wasn’t the only reason
they feared him—
lately
. Justice had a secret. He had been raised with this
secret—been schooled for it—conditioned for it—taught everything he
would need—
for it.

And it had led to two families
going into hiding—to lead everyone away from—
him.

He toweled himself briskly, getting
dressed with efficient ease. His garb was similar to the ancient
battle garb of his ancestors, and unlike anything anyone on Earth
today had seen. But if anyone were to spot him, nowadays anyway, he
knew they would just assume he was in some kind of play, or had
some other job that required him to dress in such an outlandish
way.

His mind quickly followed the
elusive thread that had been teasing at him all morning: Jes was
now in danger, because all these years this particular gang hadn’t
been able to track down his family—or hers. But when she’d gone to
that gangbanger—they just may have figured it out.

Not that they hadn’t known who she
was all this time. It was just that those in power had kept that
knowledge under wraps for a reason.

But now she may have come under the
watchful surveillance of the predators—those who had gone rogue and
didn’t follow anyone, save their own leaders.

Justice had simply disappeared off
the map. He’d made sure his sisters did the same—changed their
identities—changed their pasts—changed their lives. He’d resurfaced
only recently. And this particular gang hadn’t been too happy to
learn that the enemy who hunted them, bringing down any that
actively went rogue—was also the only person who could force
their
Alliance.

But Jes…

Jes’s grandparents had taken her
in. And their position
alone
had protected her—which was why those in power
were able to protect her, keep those who rebelled from learning who
she was—or keep them too fearful to do anything about it if they
were to stumble upon the truth.

Her grandparents wouldn’t be happy
to learn that their daughter had died that day. They were a force
of their own to be reckoned with. And he didn’t think they’d be too
far behind him in figuring out how she had died—and by whose
hand.

He hoped he was wrong.

But Justice was seldom
wrong.

He knew the moment they figured it
out there would be a war unlike anything the Earth had ever seen. A
war that would make the entire human species acutely aware they
were not alone on this planet—like they so obliviously thought that
they were.

Their entire existence would change
because of it.

It was nearly time to come
forward—a little sooner than any of them would have liked, true,
but it was the only way to keep the world tipped toward
balance.

And not chaos.

Chapter Ten

Second Chances

Justice came into Second
Chances
by the back door—the way he always
did. The barkeep knew he was there, and didn’t miss a beat as he
polished another glass and set it perfectly in line with the
others. By the time Justice sat down, he was finished with his task
and had taken out a rag to polish the beautiful, mahogany bar top.
After several, long moments, where neither man spoke, the barkeep
set down his rag, poured Justice a beer from the tap and set it
before him.

Finally, he took a stool in front
of him.

Justice took a long drink from his
beer. He set it down. “Tell me about this one, Conrad.”

Conrad was a large man. He was well
over six feet tall, and muscular. He enjoyed what he was doing
here, and he was thankful for it. Here he made a difference—after
what had happened.

No one knew what he was—no one
except Justice and Dracon that is. In time, he might be reunited
with who he truly was—but for now, he loved living his life, taking
care of his tavern—and creating a hub where the information they
needed could flow.

“
They are moving forward, trying
to take the towns, one-by-one,” he told Justice, now. “If they’re
not halted soon….”

Justice nodded.

“
I took the girl to Dracon’s
bunch.”

“
Good.”

“
They will have to teach her about
their ways.”

Justice winced. “It shouldn’t have
happened.”

“
You know they want to control
that power.”

Justice set his glass down a little
too hard. “They shouldn’t have been able to infect her. She should
have been inoculated.”

Conrad picked up his glass and
poured him another. “You know those things don’t always
take.”

Justice shook his head. “It just
shouldn’t have happened, that’s all… not to her,” he
growled.

Conrad nodded. “We keep beating
them back, but they keep cropping up like the vermin they
are.”

Justice’s eyes took on a dangerous
glint. “Then we’ll just have to make it harder on them—a hell of a
lot harder.”

“
What are you thinking of
doing?”

“
Instead of waiting for them to
come to us—we’ll just have to take this war to them. It’s
time.”

The barkeep threw down his towel.
“When do we get started?”

“
I need you to remain
here.”

Conrad scowled.

“
I’ll let you in when the war
actually starts.” Justice grinned at his friend’s zeal. “But, for
now, we need to sway as many of the outlaying groups to join us as
possible.”

Conrad nodded at this. “Sounds like
a plan.”

Justice sat there in silence for
several, long moments, and Conrad let him. He went back to taking
care of his bar. There weren’t more than eight customers in the
tavern. Most of them were either sitting at a table, visiting, or
hanging out around the pool table.

After a long moment, Conrad came
back to Justice. “So what are we going to do about the
girl?”

“
We’re going to let Dracon’s group
work with her before bringing her to Amar.”

Conrad chewed that one over for a
moment. “Does Jes know she has another sister?”

Justice stared at his beer. He gave
a nearly imperceivable shake to his head. “She doesn’t even know
about the first one.”

Conrad’s brow shot up. But he
decided to leave that one alone.

Justice sat in the bar for nearly
two more hours—just mulling over his thoughts. He considered their
plans for talking to the isolated factions of rogue vamps. The more
of them they brought in, the better. They would be leaving soon—and
the sooner the better.

His thoughts turned to
Jes.

His Jes. He wished he never had to
see her in battle—and knew that he would live to see the day as
surely as he was sitting here now—and that it didn’t matter how he
felt about it—it was destined to happen. He just needed to accept
it, now, or it would affect his own fighting, and that could be
dangerous to all. He must lead the people.

Conrad came over and took his empty
glass, returning within moments with a refill. He sat down across
from Justice for a moment.

“
So you never told me what
happened with that vamp who was after our latest help-ad victim,”
he said after a moment.

Justice took a long sip from his
new beer, then set down his glass. “That one went much easier than
expected. That vamp had been stalking people around that part of
the city for some time. But his men were able to find him easily
enough.”

Conrad nodded. “Good. That poor
girl was terrified out of her mind. He got her friend and was
actually leaving notes… taunting her with crap about her being
next.” His eyes were dark with anger, almost to the point of
turning black.

“
It is what it is, isn’t it?”
Justice commented. “And yet it just keeps getting more difficult
with each victim.”

Conrad stared at the tabletop.
After a moment he got up and went back to work, giving out drinks
to the thirsty men and women in his tavern.

Justice watched him for a few
moments, his thoughts returning to the last few years. He had lost
her once. He wouldn’t do so again. He would do whatever he could to
protect her.

Now, he had found her missing
sister, but the circumstances were not ideal. Her sister would have
to go with Dracon’s people frequently, at first, until she learned
to deal with her hunger. He didn’t really like that idea. But they
could teach her much about that.

He knew that Jes would be very
happy that he had found their lost sister. The power of three would
be complete just as soon as they did their ceremony. Justice knew
this gave Jes the added protection that she needed.

For centuries, the power of three
was known—in many areas. The maiden, the mother and the crone was
one example. The church used it in the father, the son, and the
holy spirit, or holy ghost. The three fates were another example.
And Justice knew that the three sisters were stronger together than
they were apart. The question was—at least until they had dealt
with these rogue factions of vamps—how to go about getting the
sisters together—or keeping them together.

Especially when one was—herself—a
vamp.

Chapter Eleven

War

Jes stretched between her
rose-colored sheets.
She’d been having the
oddest dream, and it took her a moment to orient herself to her
room. Being in several places the last few days tended to do that
to her.

Her eyes adjusted to the dim
light, and she found him sitting in a chair, watching her.
Something told her this time was different—this time he was here
because he was
afraid for
her
.

“
What time is it?”

“
About 5:00 a.m.,” he said just
above a whisper.

“
Do you ever sleep?”

“
I average about four hours most
nights.”

She sat part-way up, leaning on one
elbow, peering at him. “How on Earth do you survive on four hours
of sleep?”

He shrugged. “It’s
enough.”

She sat all the way up now, aware
that his hot gaze followed her as she did so. It made her blood
catch fire, and her breath came out in a whoosh from the force of
it. She quickly changed the direction of her wayward
thoughts.

“
You’re afraid for me,” she
accused him.

“
You’re afraid of me.”

She saw the white of his teeth,
knew he was grinning at her lecherously. She glared at him and he
sobered.

“
You’re my mate, Jes,” he said
softly.

Her lips compressed in a line. She
didn’t trust herself to speak, but it didn’t matter. He already
knew her every thought.

He leaned forward in his chair and
she held up a hand to stave him off.

“
I need time, Justice.”

He nodded, leaning back in his
chair. This he knew. They couldn’t have any kind of future as long
as she thought of him as a murderer.