The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (18 page)

Dracon smiled. “If you wish to
speak to me as your brother—
brother
…,” he said, “you will drop
the faery glamour.”

Chapter
Sixteen

Justice

Sons of the Dark Mother

Jes
saw
Justice incline his head
. “Yes, brother.
It
is
time to do
so. It is time for our people to see the
true dark princes
of the
Earth.”

He stood, taking her hand, and led
her beside him. Together, they walked within the circle of the
people. In the next moment, he dropped the Fae glamour which had
been placed on him as a infant, and before them stood
the prophecy.

Jes’s mouth fell open. She would
have left the room, right that moment, if he had not taken her hand
in a crushing grip.

“
You wanted to know
all of it
,”
he said
clearly in her
head
.

She stared at
him
. She did not know this man.
His hair was to his waist and was white as snow,
with silver threads shot through. Not gray: pure silver. His skin
was white as snow, translucent, and had a hint of violet. His eyes
were—violet.

She had heard of these rare
ones—had even met Lucius, though she had been under a mistaken
impression. He had said he was one of the Starborne.

But they were—something else
entirely. They were the rare elite. Most of their race still
thought that they were a fable—much like the humans thought all
talk of the Fae was the stuff of children’s fairy tales. No one
believed these rare ones still existed. Most of her people didn’t
believe they had
ever
existed.

So how was it that Justice was one
of these rare, elite princes of her people—a prince who only still
existed in children’s fairy tales? How had this
happened?

And with all the years she had
spent with him—grown up with him—how was it she had never
known?

She felt as though everything she’d
ever known about him—had been a lie.

Justice turned from her, allowing
her to return to her seat.

She knew he had read her thoughts
again—and that she had only seen more lies.

For a long moment, Justice only
walked along the windows, toward the outside of the room. Finally,
he stopped in front of Dracon.

“
We are what the world fears so
much,” Justice said to Dracon. “We are the dark princes of the
Earth, the
Sons of the Dark
Mother
.”

Dracon watched him. He did not take
his eyes off of him.

“
And yet, we both know, we
are
not the darkness
.”

Jes watched the both of them. They
were as though they’d been caught in time. Dracon did not move—much
like he’d been carved from stone. He was as still as death. He only
watched. He appeared to have waited for this moment all of his
life.

Justice straightened, then. He
addressed everyone in the room at that moment. “We are
not
the darkness the
humans fear in their ignorance. They fear what they do not
know—what they do not understand. We are Her
sons
. The darkness the humans fear
is another—and we all know
who
that is
.”

He turned and stood, now, once
again, in front of his brother. “We have a common enemy, brother.
And we must unite, as
the prophecy
said we would, or all will be lost.”

Dracon sneered at that.

Justice tilted his head. “Brother.
The very sons the world fears are the sons who must come to their
aid. It is not just
their world
that will be torn apart. It is not just
their world
that will be
lost. This is
our mother.
I know that you chafe at humans who walk around
in their ignorance, destroying Her, thinking that they are the only
ones who exist, when we could crush them with a single blow and be
done with it. But they are a race, like us, like the Fae, like any
other race of people. And they are
waking
now
!”

“
You are ignorant yourself,
brother,
if you think
the humans will ever accept
us.
As you have said, they fear us. They see the dark
princes as the evil they so fear. They call the dark angels demons,
but the energy they fear is much, much worse than that.”

He stood now, too, pacing around
the room, facing each of them—yet, in spite of this, his face
remained impassive.

“
They allow the true darkness to
make buildings in their cities, buildings that convey their dark
energy. They allow the true darkness to take up leadership—and they
follow this leader in ignorance, while they fear everything spirit
as being their Christian devil.” He came back to face his brother.
“How will we help these people? They fear everything they do not
understand, and in their ignorance, they will kill everyone whom
they fear.”

His lip curled in his anger, but
that was the only emotion he showed.

“
And, yet,” Justice said to him,
“I compel you to unite with us. Take your place, brother, in
the prophecy
.”

Dracon came to stand in front of
Jes. “You did not know you held such a place in
the prophecy
, did you?”

Jes stared up at him. He was
something to behold. He reminded her of that movie character—what
was it, oh yes, the Crow. Yes, he reminded her of the
Crow.

He smiled. Too late, she realized
that Justice was not the only one who was adept at reading
minds.

“
No,” she answered. “I did not
realize I was to be
any
part of
the
prophecy
.”

“
And yet, you will bear a son who
will play a vital role in helping to see the world through this
period of change, this period where all humans will come to see
they are
not as alone as they would like
to think
.”

Jes’s head snapped up at this. She
looked up into Justice’s eyes, waiting for him to deny thiss
proclamation.

But he did not deny it—only held
her gaze steadily.

Dracon actually laughed at seeing
this. His entire being took on a different light with his laughter.
He turned back toward his brother. “She still thinks you’re
a murderer
.” He
grinned.

She opened her mouth to deny it,
but Dracon had pulled those thoughts from
her.

Justice turned from Jes and
frowned. He now stood fully in front of Dracon.

They were something, the two of
them. Both intimidating—and yet, they had something wildly
beautiful about them too.

They had always called each other
brother—though they were of no kin. Now she understood why. They
had known that they were brothers of a different sort—as Princes of
the Dark Mother.

Justice’s hair was bound on either
side in ropes as it came together on top his head, and then the
silver-white of his hair fell down his back. He wore a woolen tunic
of icy purple, with silver and white bangles and etchings
decorating the front and down the arms.

Dracon was a contrast, with his
hair so inky black it was blue. His hair was loose and moved with
him when he moved, his skin as white as Justice’s, but without the
violet hue. Also, his skin was not translucent, but pure white,
almost to the point of looking painted. However, his skin was dark
about the eyes and mouth. He wore all-black garb. His shirt was an
old, English style. He had lived a lot longer than Justice. And he
still wore these old, English-style shirts.

He also wore the traditional,
pitch-black cape, complete with a high collar.

Didn’t he know this kind of garb
made him stand out amongst the humans? He gave her a long look, and
she realized that perhaps he did know—and got some perverse
pleasure out of toying with people over it.

Jes didn’t know if they wore the
capes because the humans thought they did—or if the humans thought
they did because they had always worn the capes. But most vamps
dressed as any other human.

Only the old ones refused to
change.

But then, Dracon preferred the
night—and you would
never
see him during the day.

Jes didn’t know if any of the
fables that surrounded this were true, either. But she had
never once
seen him
during the day.

Justice looked hard at Dracon.
“Brother, the rogue factions of your people have become a menace to
the humans.”

Dracon sobered, not tearing his
gaze from her. “Yes, brother, they have.”

“
What are we going to do about
it?”

Dracon looked up at him then—still
as a night without shadow. “
We
—brother?”

Justice met his gaze. The whole
room went quiet.

“
We
,
brother. I am calling upon your honor-bound word to the
People.”

Dracon’s bark of laughter was
derisive. “
Are you, now
?”

He turned to face Justice, and Jes
held her breath. He would make a formidable enemy, should he decide
to remain one. She now realized he had never truly been their enemy
at all—for Justice was right, if he had been such, none of them
would have lived.

Dracon looked as though he would
tear Justice limb from limb for even suggesting it—and bringing his
honor into question. The guards looked ready to pounce—two of them
shifted into their jaguar forms.

Dracon looked at them. Justice
waved them away, and they left the room.

Justice met his brother’s eyes,
boldly. “The humans are not the
only
ones
the darkness seeks to control,
brother.
Just who
exactly do you think they’ll be coming for
next
?”

Jes watched as Dracon slowly
straightened. The truth of that remark had hit straight to home.
“As you wish, brother.”

Justice’s brows shot up. “We’re
agreed?” Now that he had Dracon’s assent, he looked as if he
didn’t
quite
trust it.

“
Do not try my patience,
brother
.”

Justice nodded. “It’s just that—I
didn’t think you’d give it so
easily
.”

Dracon actually winced. “Let’s
just say I have my own reasons for letting
the prophecy
unfold as it will. Now,
are we going to get to work? Or stand around chatting like old
women all night?”

Justice actually grinned—and
immediately sent several of the staff, and guards, to ready the
common office. He turned to Jes. He took her hand and led her from
the room.

At the door, he turned to her. “I
realize that this was much more truth than you had in
mind….”

She touched his cheek, looking into
his violet eyes, which somehow still seemed all too familiar to her
in spite of the change in color. It was as if she had known
him—forever.

Strange.

“
We often get…,” she said, “more
than we bargained for—whenever we begin demanding to hear
all
of the truth.” She
frowned. “And, unfortunately, we’re rarely prepared for
it.”

He nodded. “But many will deny the
truths they’re not prepared to accept.”

She laughed. “Well, I cannot
exactly deny
this truth
, when it’s staring me in the face—from violet skin and
violet eyes.”

He shook his head, regretfully. “Do
you hate my true form then?”

“
The humans would run scared,” she
pointed out.

“
They don’t run from Lucius—though
he does tone it down some with makeup and contact lenses.” He
watched her through his magnificent, violet eyes.

“
Didn’t he used to be hunted for
his true looks?”

He actually winced. “Yes, but now
people tend to think he is an albino.”

She shook her head. “But I don’t
understand. I’ve met him. And he calls himself Starborne—not
Jaguar. And I didn’t believe the old Fae stories—so I never once
questioned his heredity. How could I have not known? How did I not
sense one of my own people? I can sense
all
of the others….” She looked
away. “I thought the elite were just fairy tales, much like the
human fairy tales they tell their children.”

“
That should have told you
something.” He shook his head. “For you knew that the fairy tales
were based on truth—not lies. And Lucius is very old—and very good
at cloaking himself—even from his own kind—especially from his own
kind.”