The Fallen One (Sons of the Dark Mother, Book One) (33 page)

They both knew what terrors
really
could
lurk
in the dark.

Jared walked with her until they
were almost to the manor, and then they went their separate ways.
Jared returned to where he had parked his car, and Jes walked
toward the back gate of the manor, where the guards let her in. She
had told them she was going for a walk. They didn’t like it when
she took these walks, but it wasn’t as if it were the first time
she had done so.

She turned and looked out toward
the woods just before she went into the manor. She had sworn she
had felt Justice right before she’d reached the back
gate.

No. That wasn’t right.

She had been feeling as if he was
nearby for some time, and she hadn’t been able to shake the
feeling.

And, once again, Jes wasn’t one for
ignoring her gut feelings.

Chapter
Thirty-Seven

Justice

Justice moved through the shadows
of the trees.
He had known that Jes
frequently took walks in the woods, but this had been the first
time he’d followed her. Since training with her sisters, she had
become much more adept at keeping her thoughts to herself—and he
hadn’t minded that—was, in fact, impressed at how quickly she had
become adept as shielding her thoughts.

But he hadn’t missed the difference
in her behavior as she gone into the woods this day. It had been
purely instinctual to follow her.

He hadn’t approached her when he’d
seen her meet the human, because he was afraid he’d kill him if he
did. He could think of no reason why she would need to sneak out to
see him. He hadn’t stopped the human from coming to the manor,
after all. He would never do so. He’d simply allowed the human to
choose to go and do his own thing. It had worked out well—for both
of them.

Justice had to admit—he’d been
relieved with his choice. But now here was Jes—sneaking into the
woods to meet him.

And Justice had never felt such a
murderous rage in his heart.

He spent some time in the woods
before he felt like he could return to the manor—to confront
Jes.

He’d had spent most of that time
trying not to change into his more primal form—and deal with the
human as he would like.

He couldn’t remember the last time
he’d felt so out of control.

When he found Jes in their room—he
nearly did so again.

Jes saw the rage and hurt in his
eyes. Fortunately for her, he was an adult, and as bad as he felt,
he actually waited to hear what she had to say.

Not what he wanted her to say in
order to fit his own version of what he had already decided was the
truth—as she had known other men whom she had dated in the past to
do —but he actually waited to hear the truth—from her own
lips.

“
Justice,” she said quietly,
because his patience, in spite of his rage, allowed her to think
and to allow her clamoring heart to calm and her thoughts to remain
quiet. “I asked to meet Jared.”

He nodded. “Why not at the
manor?”

“
I was following an instinct. I
cannot explain it, but I had a feeling that I needed to talk to
Jared. And I had an equally strong feeling—that someone, here,
shouldn’t know that I had done so.”

His eyes narrowed. “Me?” he asked
calmly—far too calmly.

“
No. I mean yes, but no.” She
breathed a frustrated sigh. This was quickly getting out of
control. How could something she tried to do, which seemed
right—come out so wrong?

“
No, Justice,” she said, giving
him a steady look. “I had a feeling someone at the manor shouldn’t
know about it. But I still haven’t uncovered
why
it was so important that I talk
to him.”

He watched her intently. She wished
he would let up.

“
And why didn’t you want me to
know?”

She let out a harsh breath.
“Because I had the stupid idea that I could protect you at the same
time,” she said and looked at him. “Jared seems to irritate
you.”

He gave a stiff nod, though she
could see that it was difficult to admit so. “Okay, fair enough.”
He turned toward the door. “But you
will
let me know—when you figure out
why you felt it was so important to talk with him?”

She nodded. She had never been so
relieved to have someone give her the benefit of the doubt. No—he
wasn’t just someone.

He was everything that was
important to her.

She was relieved that he had chosen
to believe in her. But now she had another problem. Why had she
felt this urge to see Jared in the first place?

She knew that something about this
was important. She just couldn’t figure out how to put it to use.
She asked the Goddess to guide her—to help her to understand how
they could use this to win against a monster who would rule the
planet Earth—and make them all into slaves.

Nanna, whom Jes had known for as
long as she could remember as Grandmother, came to see her that
afternoon. Jes felt so confused about how she was supposed to view
her, now that she knew Nanna was really her mother. She figured she
would continue to call her Nanna—and told her
that
now.

Nanna inclined her head. “That’s
understandable, Jes. I’m sorry for your confusion,
child.”

Jes felt horrible. “I just don’t
know
how to feel
about all of this. We’re in a war, and I haven’t had time to
sort it all out.” She got up from the overstuffed chair and went to
the window. “I thought you were my grandmother,” she whispered.
“And now, I find that Amar is my grandmother. That the woman I
thought was my mother—was actually my sister—and she’s dead, now,
so I can’t decide how to mourn her…,” she turned, with pleading
eyes, “as my mother—or my sister.” She winced when she saw the pain
in Nanna’s eyes.

“
And now, you also find you had
sisters of which you had no memory…,” Nanna said with sympathy. “It
must be a lot for you to take on—and now with
Constantine…”

Jes turned. “Do you know how my
father plays in this? Do you know if he is aligned with
Constantine?”

Nanna shook her head. “I wish
I
did
know
,
child.” A shadow passed through her eyes that made Jes
frown.

She went to sit down beside her.
“Do you know anyone who might know? Think, Nanna. Was there anyone
who she used to hang out with—anyone he began to hang out
with—before they all disappeared?”

She was talking like a cop now. But
she couldn’t help it. She needed to know. She needed to find
answers.

Nanna seemed reflective, like she
was thinking about the months that had led up to her daughter’s
disappearance. “As a matter of fact….” She looked up at Jes,
excited now. “Yes. I did see someone. I never thought anything of
it, but looking back on it, he did appear right before Sandra
started acting distant—and then,” she frowned, “it was a long time
before they disappeared. I never thought….” She frowned. “I doubt
it means anything, but….”

Jes frowned. “Still—it’s something.
Do you remember his name?”

Nanna’s brow furrowed. “It was…
Jason… Jason…” Then her eyes cleared as she seemed to remember.
“Jason Loch.”

Jes didn’t recognize the name, but
she hugged Nanna. She was going to get right on this. She needed to
know if her father was helping Constantine. Because if he was—she
would bring him down herself….”

“
Do you have any idea who he was,
Nanna?”

Nanna shook her head. “No. But he
wasn’t one of the Jaguar People. Nor was he human.” She looked at
Jes with seriousness in her deep-gray eyes. “He was a
vamp.”

That nagging, tugging feeling was
back—but this time it was different—and yet, somehow, it was
stronger than ever.

When Nanna left, Jes thought about
the journal that she and Justice had picked up outside of Colorado
Springs. She almost bent double when she thought about it. The
feeling within her was almost more than she could take.

She had been so busy—and the
journal was so thick. She hadn’t given it much thought since the
last time they had read it. Perhaps part of her had blocked it out,
too.

She had found it painful to
read.

But, now, she couldn’t imagine what
either of them had been thinking not to have read it
immediately—not to immediately devour it completely.

Justice didn’t seem interested in
reading it at all. She knew he thought he had figured out why their
parents had disappeared that night—that it had to do with her
father killing her mother. And they both knew that her father was
against the Alliance.

Now, Jes had more than just a
strong feeling that they had missed something by not taking the
time to read it.

She quickly went to her room to
retrieve the journal.

She didn’t stop reading it until
she had finished every last page—though it took her several hours
to do so—and when she did—once again, she couldn’t imagine what she
and Justice had been thinking in not reading it
immediately.

She stared in horror at the
journal. She couldn’t move for several moments—had not, in fact,
moved from her chair since she had started reading it.

She couldn’t think past the
prevailing sense of panic that had flooded her body ever since she
had reached a certain part, about three-quarters of the way through
the journal—a part that had made her skin crawl and the hair stand
up on the back of her neck.

Her father wanted to rule like a
god—no doubt of that now. Nor was there any doubt as to why he had
betrayed his best friend—and worked so hard to stop
the prophecy
.

But it was much, much worse than
they had believed.

Jes knew what Constantine was
after now—and it wasn’t just to stop
the
prophecy
. He and her father had so much
more invested in this whole uprising than that.

She couldn’t believe they’d had the
answer right in front of them this whole time.

Constantine and her father were
after something bigger. Oh—so much bigger. And that something could
make the difference between subduing, or even nearly destroying,
the vampires who were infected—the race of vampires who infected
others as a way to make new vampires—or making them so powerful
that they’d be virtually impossible to stop

It was a biological
weapon.

A weapon that would ensure that he
had complete control over the world.

A weapon that would give him the
power he sought—and make him seem like a god.

Chapter
Thirty-Eight

Second Chances

Dracon was waiting for
Justice
when he came in.

“
He’s here—,” was all he
said.

Justice didn’t have to ask
who
he
was.

He was, as a matter of fact,
waiting at the bar.

Conrad served him a drink, all the
while not taking his eyes from him. The guards were standing at
either end of the bar.

None of this seemed to bother the
old vamp.

He’d come in alone. Oh, they were
all pretty sure that he had an army of vamps standing right
outside, but he’d come inside alone just the same.

They didn’t know if he was really
brave—or simply that certain of how much damage he could inflict,
even against such odds.

He had come to this tavern, in the
suburbs of the city, as a way of telling them that they couldn’t
stop him. He had come straight there, as a way of saying they were
going to pay for what they had done.

They had received his message loud
and clear—though he didn’t say a word. He finished his drink.
Justice was sure that Dracon was wondering how he was able to do
such a thing.

He had the bartender pour him one
more drink. And then, as casually as he had come—he
left.

Dracon was right behind
him.

Dracon followed him into the
city.

He knew that Constantine was aware
that he was being followed. He led him to where an army of at least
one hundred vampires awaited him. He turned then and smiled at
Dracon, and disappeared amongst his men.

Dracon returned to Second Chances
within the hour. Once again the men left early that night to plan.
This time Caesar and his men were brought back to watch the tavern,
and Conrad went with them for the planning session. It had come
time to fight the war.

When they were back at the manor,
they called in both sets of sisters to join the talks. They had
each one of them speak out and let everyone else know everything
they knew, as well as everything they thought, and any thoughts
they had on the strengths and weaknesses of their common
enemy.

Jes wasn’t there. She had begged
out of it, saying she needed to finish something. Justice knew she
was reading the journal, but he didn’t give it too much thought.
She had become pretty adept at closing him out of her thoughts,
now, when she wanted to. And right now, she obviously wanted
to.