Goddess Rising, page 19
She was at the end of it, as always, but not in the usual way. She felt far off like she does when she goes to the lake or another realm I cannot access. Even when she was in Talamh na Sithe, our link was stronger than this. Something was wrong.
I sifted to the cottage, hoping to find her in a deep sleep, but our bed was empty, as was the house. Lara’s coffee cup and a small plate lay in the drainer, still wet from washing. “Honored Brownie, House Spirit from the Gods,” I started in the Old Tongue. “I need assistance.”
Brownies did not like seeing their charges, speaking with them, or otherwise interacting. Lara was the rare exception, but she was a different creature altogether. The lesser fae bonded with families and homes more than individuals, and seeking one out was nearly impossible.
I picked up a hushed conversation few would, a quick argument, then a pop of air. “How does the Vampire King need assistance?” a squat female asked from a countertop away. She wore an apron and was no larger than two feet tall. Her features were sharp, and teeth sharper. Long blonde hair cascaded down her back in a braid. Cook popped onto the counter beside her, standing to his full height and eyeing me with a wariness I did not deserve.
The female spoke in the old tongue, and I answered, “My wife, can you tell me when she was last here and if anything unusual happened? I fear something is wrong.”
“Our little goddess left not long ago,” Cook answered, also speaking in old Irish. He could speak English, but maybe his mate could not. I had not interacted with them enough to know one way or the other.
“Nothing happened,” the female picked up. “She mentioned to herself that it was a lovely day for a drive, nothing more.”
“Thank you.” I bowed to the pair, rising to find them gone. I felt a little better, but not entirely. If Lara had chosen to drive, she might still be on the way to town. That did not explain the dampened bond, but perhaps there was a reasonable cause.
In the garage, I found the keys to the Bugatti Veyron missing, and a smile came to my face. My wife had excellent taste in vehicles, even if her right foot was a tad heavy. Pulling my cell, I called Santos, who answered on the first ring. “Sir?” he asked, thinking me in my office and likely wondering why I called from the mobile.
“Has Mrs. Hennessey arrived yet?” I asked.
“I haven’t seen her, but let me check,” he replied, placing me on a brief hold. “Taliah says she hasn’t, and security agrees.”
“Thank you.” Worried again, I hung up. The trip to Béal an Mhuirthead was not a long one, especially with her driving the Veyron.
I grabbed the keys to the nearest vehicle, wishing I could fly and trace the road instead of having to drive it. The new model, American-made Challenger engine, roared to life when I pressed the remote start on the keyfob. Knowing Lara would approve, I smiled before I sprang into the seat and tore out of the garage.
I shifted more gears than usual, encouraging the muscle car to flex. Something felt off, and I needed to find out what. Taking the curves and hills of the cliffs, I flew through the hillsides toward town, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. I passed one overlook, then another before a reflection caught my eye, and I hit the brakes, backing up.
Sun glimmered off the waves of the Atlantic. It had burned off the mists the Island was known for, and the deep blue of the sea was in striking contrast to the cliffs. I knew this to be one of Lara’s favorite overlooks, and it would be unusual for her to pass it without stopping.
There were no skid marks, but there were tire tracks in the loose dirt off the pavement. And footprints. Too many footprints. Leaving the car running, I slid out, checking my surroundings with an eye for trouble. Birds screamed and cried over the water, eyeing me as they vocalized. It sounded like a feeding frenzy over a school of fish, their pitch was that loud and desperate.
I stepped carefully, using my enhanced sight to scour the area. Parts of the site had been swept clear, but here and there, I found impressions from boots and one set of prints from heels. I found nothing else until I stepped to the edge of the overlook.
Glass reflected the sun’s light like the twinkling of a thousand stars. Shattered by its descent, the Veyron rested, mostly submerged but not completely covered by tumultuous waves as they dashed against the cliffside.
I sifted to the nearest boulder, knowing the car was empty but needing to check anyway. Lara could not die in a car wreck, if at all. It had been tried a few times. Had she lost control of the vehicle, she would have sifted out, something she had also done. She was an incredible driver and knew these roads well. My wife did not wreck the Bugatti. I knew that. The cabin was empty.
The trunk had jarred open from the fall, and I saw the bodies of two dead humans dressed in black and looking very much like mercenaries.
Sifting back to the roadway, I broadened my search. On the opposite side of the road, I found blood and an empty syringe shaped like a crossbow dart. I ran my fingers through the tiny drops of coagulated fluid, bringing it to my lips. The salty, sour taste of humanity clung to the droplets, and I wondered what the fuck had happened.
I ripped the plunger from the dart, scenting the chemical smell before catching the barest hint of my wife.
Someone had darted my wife.
No substance in existence should have taken her down. She may not be a full-blown goddess yet, but she had grown past the point when mere poison should affect her. Dani swore that Lara would be stronger than even herself in magic. How had someone taken her because I knew with surety that is what happened.
Lara had grown past the burn of cold iron, the bite of poison, or the diamond’s cut of Adamantium. Lara Hennessey had no Kryptonite.
Not that we knew.
Damning the consequence, I sifted to the one place I thought might develop such a thing, pinning the American president to the wall and baring my fangs at her neck. “Where is she?” I snarled, uncaring about the sounds of many safetys unlocking. Their bullets meant nothing to me. “Where is my wife?”
“Mr. Hennessey, I don’t have your wife. I swear it,” she said, her voice remarkedly calm for the danger. If she lied, I could not smell it.
“I swear it,” she repeated.
“If you lie, I will end you. No questions. No excuses. Understand?” I demanded.
She nodded once, and I sifted away, leaving her slumped against the wall and questioning everything she thought she knew about me.
I landed in the Airmed’s throne room, exhausted and on my knees.
“It’s about time you realized your position,” she snarked, turning to her mates with a laugh on her lips.
“Lara is gone,” I said, staggering to my feet. Exhaustion like I hadn’t felt in ages pulled at my limbs. I had sifted too many times without pause and felt the effects.
“So she came to her senses then?” her mother started. “About time.”
Part of me knew she was teasing. The bond between Lara and I was something neither of us could walk away from. Well, I supposed we could, but it could never be comfortable and never be broken, but part of me wanted to rip her throat out because this was no joke.
Something in my expression must have alerted them to the seriousness of the matter because Airmed stood as her face emptied of all expression. Her mates joined her on their feet as the room emptied in a rush of petitioners and friends.
“What’s happened,” Saige asked, his voice deep with concern.
I told them.
“There is nothing that could subdue my daughter,” Airmed tried when I finished explaining what I found.
“That we know of,” Lann started. “Humans are inventive. They could have found something. Made something. Who knows?”
“I feel her through a fog. She is alive, but where, I do not know,” I added.
“We need Dani,” Airmed said.
“I’ll go.” Laith rose to his feet and was gone.
“Where’s my mom?” Sephone said from the door to the throne room. “Dad?” she asked, her green eyes wild when they met mine. “Daddy?” she begged for information I did not have, her voice warbling and whispered.
“Seph,” I started as my shoulders sank. “I do not know.”
“Don’t, Daddy,” she started. “Don’t lie to me.” Her hair, so like mine, blew around her with unseen magic, and if I were not so terrified for my wife, I would be thrilled for my daughter at her magic’s emergence.
“Mr. Hennessey.” A boy stepped forward, his black hair and blue eyes striking contrast against his pale face. Flanking him were two others that could have been his twins they were so identical. Still, small differences in height and shading announced them as brothers, even if they had not shared the womb.
“Not now, Kenzo,” my daughter cautioned, placing her hand on the boy’s arms as a snarl ripped from me.
“Sir, we can help. I’m a Huntsman.” Another black-haired boy stepped forward, daring to meet my eye, and I understood that Sephone was correct. Now was not the time.
But the time was coming.
As soon as my wife was safe, there would be a reckoning for how they surrounded her and how she looked at them.
“Daddy,” Seph tried.
“Don’t forget I am a Huntsman, boy.” Seal stepped forward, his growl menacing and movements tight, and then I remembered his magic.
Seal would find his daughter or die trying. The compulsion toward a Huntsman’s prey was that strong.
“We’ll find her,” Dani added, sifting into the room as Laith returned through the doors.
Nodding once, I stepped forward to make a plan.
Chapter 26
I groaned, my head aching as I fought to sit up. I hadn’t felt like this in a long time. I was never drinking again.
Wait.
Memories filtered through the fog in my brain that was not vodka related, making me sit up, and whatever they’d injected me with burn off faster. Oh, someone had really screwed up. Like, really, really screwed up.
“Welcome back,” that Someone said. My eyes might be unfocused, but my smile was razor-sharp.
I forced my eyes to focus, though they fought me to close. I didn’t respond to the man. I’d learned the hard way that if you let someone monolog, they will. Anger burned the rest of the chemicals away, letting me take in my surroundings.
I was in a clear box of a cage, suspended by chains above a white tile floor. Men and women in white coats busied themselves in front of screens, test tubes, and monitors, looking anywhere but at me.
TVs showing the news from every channel, security camera footage, and The Weather Channel hung on one wall, their footage muted and silent. My eyes flicked over the man speaking, noting him as insignificant. His eyes flared when I disregarded him, instead noting the lack of windows and the otherwise silent room.
My clothes were intact, and nothing hurt, which made me extremely happy since some men think that subduing a woman allows them to rape with impunity. Opalescent metallic bands clenched both wrists, which I presumed were meant to repress magic. And while they might repress Fae magic, they wouldn’t interfere with creation magic as that belonged to the Gods, and if there was a metal that interfered with that, I assumed Dani would have mentioned it.
“It's Godlantium,” the man continued, trying again to get my attention. Funny how men think to puff their chests and preen their feathers at their supposed accomplishments, whereas women realize their accomplishments are rarely noted and simply move on.
“The effects must still be wearing off,” he tried, angry at my lack of response, but I knew this game. He’d keep talking to fill the silence. Meanwhile, his prattling would give me time to figure out what was going on.
“Godlantium was developed as an Achilles heel for the gods. We needed to test it, and the best way to do that was to take down the strongest Fae we could, as Fae are the descendants of The Gods.”
Don’t I know it. I snorted, my incredulity conveying in that one sound.
His eyes narrowed. “It kills two birds with one stone, you see.”
Only I didn’t; not yet. I stayed silent, allowing my gaze to settle on the man below. He was an aged human, tall and gray-haired. Muscled like an athlete, he was no weaker for his many decades.
“We’ve tried the serum on lesser fae and other fae humanoids with success, but we needed to know it would work on the greater fae before we attempt to capture a true god.”
I sighed, arching an eyebrow at him and thanking, well, Dani, that he didn’t know the truth of what he’d captured.
I asked one simple thing. “Why?”
“The irony,” he continued, ignoring my question. “Is that I developed Godlantium from one small tube of your husband’s blood. One.”
And now I was curious because I sometimes sipped Coi’s blood and had only positive effects from the experience. Making sure my dress covered my rear so no one had a clear shot of my underwear, I shifted, sitting on my ass and stretching my legs out.
“Your husband is a complicated creature. As are you, I’m sure. The testing is still out on that.” He waved an arm behind him to where someone examined a splotch of red on a slide.”
I glanced at my arms, but I healed so quickly I’d never notice a needle mark. I’d had my DNA run before; I knew it would confuse them. Now that humanity knew what the Fae were, my DNA would register as Fae. What they couldn’t see with current technology was how I got to be what I was and what those odd strands woven through my genome meant, and I couldn’t let them.
Blood whirled in centrifuges and dried on slides. Maybe all of it was mine, maybe not, but I couldn’t let them have unfettered access to any of it. I wouldn’t take that chance. Look at what they’d done with Aedan’s blood. They could have some left, but even if they didn’t, it was a risk to let the experiments continue.
Over twenty-five years ago, he’d been abducted and tortured. His blood drained, and him weakened, they’d planned to take his head and kill him true dead. Once freed, he succumbed to madness and bloodlust, returning briefly to the darker times of his past. I didn’t care because, in my opinion, everyone involved deserved to die.
I’d destroyed every vial I found and burned the place to ashes using magic I hadn’t learned to control yet.
Eventually, we traced a few final boxes to a lab in West Virginia, where they’d created supernatural fighters meant to ensure their supremacy or annihilate humanity. I don’t know which. We destroyed them, along with the lab that had created them. Seems we missed something.
“Again, Why?”
“It’s all about balance, you see,” he answered, making me sigh because I knew this would be the longest villain monolog ever. Nope. No easy answers for me. I released a long sigh, watching him narrow his eyes at my lack of enthusiasm.
“Humans are God’s favorite creation, and supernaturals upset that. Vampires, were-animals, fae, and witches upset that balance. You have too much power, and we too little. It was never meant to be this way,” he continued, and I wanted to stop and argue, but it wouldn’t matter. I’d met people like him before.
Before I met Aedan, I’d casually dated a man I worked with. He seemed like a nice guy, kinda dull, kinda boring, but okay enough in bed that I kept him around until I got bored with the boring. When I met Coi, everything changed. I didn’t know I had magic, and never dreamed I was anything but human.
That seemingly dull man viciously attacked me after he found Aedan and me together. He had a thing against vampires, women, and human decency in general and tried to kill me. Instead, my magic broke through the barrier my parents created to keep me safe, and I’d killed my first human.
Afterward, it was a battle to put the broken pieces of myself together again, learn the limits of my power, and train to be something more than I’d ever dreamed. But the more I learned, the harder it became to understand those limits because I wasn’t simply Fae and might not have limits, something the man droning on about a balance of power could never come to learn.
The vampires and weres declared themselves publicly years before I’d outed myself as Fae. I’d done it to protect myself and others from being hunted but also because the streets were already talking. I didn’t want to be hunted then, and I certainly didn’t want to be hunted now. With Sephone, PJ, and Aurora on the line, no one could be allowed to discover the truth of what I was.
“We don’t want to eradicate supernaturals,” he magnanimously offered. “We just need to boost the human genome, modify our DNA as it were, to level the playing field. I’ve heard your husband’s blood helped make a prototype human, unfortunately, destroyed in a lab fire. That research was lost, but we’re working toward a new prototype. With the addition of your genetics, we could advance our research by decades.”
I sighed again, leaning my head against the wall of my cage. I had to pee, was thirsty, and felt a little sorry for myself, if I’m honest. Because, really? As old as this guy was, I could still be his mother, and man-oh-man, did I want to mom him but good. He needed it. Someone had failed him.
I didn’t blame them, not really. When the only reality I knew was humanity, I’d read those PNRs. I’d wanted something more than seventy to a hundred years of life, a lot of it painful. I got it. In my mind, I was closer to humanity than the supernatural. Yes, time would change that, but I was near enough to those days to sympathize with their plight.
But kidnapping wasn’t the way to go. I did not doubt that legitimate labs were working on the same goals as this guy using donated materials. Significant strides have been made in gene mapping and modification, cancer treatments, and medications, all working together to extend humanity’s good years. Eventually, humans would figure it out, but this was not the answer. This was not the way.
“Sir,” the technician nearest to us interrupted. “We have some preliminary results.”
George, as I decided to call him, walked to the work area, reading over the printout with narrowed eyes.
I took the opportunity to inventory my magic, testing to see what would work and what wouldn’t. I sent my awareness through the lab, smiling when it responded. I wouldn’t do anything overt, but I needed to understand the types of genetic materials they were working with.
