Disclaimer: Same old, same old – as before.
Gaelic – English Translation:
am caraid = old friend.
WARNING: THERE WILL BE BAD LANGUAGE AND VIOLENCE, SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
All reviews, and constructive criticism, gratefully received – but no flaming please; and I will try to update regularly.
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
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PROPHECY
Chapter Four – So Mote It Be
Sky rubbed her itchy nose and found she could smell ginger and honey following her…..what was it Uli had said? Ginger and honey – that was Lucian. Oh great so now her sense of smell was like her bloody daughter's.
That meant that now she'd never have a minute's peace; her daughter always seemed to know who was where in the house, though even she was struggling with all the new people that had arrived in the last few hours. The vampires were the most amusing, coming through the sewers to avoid the sunlight – stinking and all fighting over who would shower and bathe first! They seemed…...different from what she'd expected, but then they were on the side of good – there weren't many, but some were better than none. Selene was most happy that one called Kahn had joined them - she made a note to get to know him better, he seemed…….alright.
Sky fiddled with her glasses, she'd noticed things had been getting blurry with them on all morning, so she took them off and blinked – dear God she could see without them! She hadn't been able to see without specs since she was 11……this was all moving very quickly and it didn't bode well "Lucian, I don't need these anymore." she turned and smiled slightly at him waving the glasses in front of her; to find a confused Lycan leader staring at her.
"How did…?" he muttered.
She tapped her nose "It seems I'm changing much quicker. Well, that and the itch!" She pocketed her glasses as Raze walked up.
"Not going to throw them?" he queried brightly, seemingly unphased by her transforming senses.
"Nah…..I might change back when all this over and then what do I do? Assuming I survive anyway."
"You will if I have anything to do with it." Lucian muttered to her seriously.
She smiled, then suddenly a thought struck her "Oh, I have a leather jacket coming up on e-bay I need to check on….see if I've been outbid."
Both Lycan hybrids stared at her in disbelief, Raze spoke first "You're worrying about bidding on e-bay when there's a war happening!" he asked incredulously "I mean there's a few more important things going down than whether you buy a fucking leather jacket!"
Her eyes suddenly blazed a bright, almost opalescent, blue; grabbing Raze she frog marched the large hybrid into the drawing room, her strength suddenly a little alarming "Now you pin those fucking ears back and listen to me you bloody Lycan hybrid!" she hissed.
He glowered at her "Don't you fucking try to intimidate me!" she snarled, her incisors suddenly lengthening and the sharp points grazing her lower lip "I am not in a good place right now – you want to know why?" she didn't wait for an answer before carrying on. Lucian had followed them in along with Michael and Selene.
"I am in a house that is now in almost total darkness despite the fact that it's oh" she checked her watch "11:32am – the reason? Vampires! I am sharing a residence with bloody werewolves and vampires and" she held up her hand to shut him up as he went to speak "that is what you are, a werewolf, so fuck political correctness!
You know, only yesterday morning I was a computer programmer working from home to support my kid and myself. You couldn't get a more boring or geeky job if you fucking tried until doomsday!
But I plodded along in my mundane little existence; an existence I totally believed to be real – that all the rest was stories that my grand-da told me on dark winter nights.
Okay I had had, it seemed, more than my fair share of tragedy but shit happens and I accepted it; and so what that I had a slightly surreal and definitely eccentric family, I loved them….I even ran away with the stupid idea I was a fucking human!
Then yesterday evening I find out that my best friend and surrogate grandmother is a werewolf and I am the first of a God only knows sorry combination of beings - a hybrid! A mongrel! A mishmash of beings including the Tuatha Dé Danann! Danaan Raze, one of the oldest of all immortal beings!" Her teeth began to make her lip bleed, she licked the blood and Selene smirked as she heard Lucian sigh.
"So that then begs the question - Why am I like this? I am like this because I am here to bring about an almost apocalyptic end to a bitter and bloody war between two fucking immortal species – species, I might add, that most of the world doesn't even believe exists!
So fucking pardon me if I'm having a tad of a hard time" she let go with one hand to indicate the gap with her fingers "accepting this brave new world I've been shoved into without a please or thank you; that I want to bring just a smidgeon of normality back into this unholy mess I now have to call a life, albeit for one brief moment, before the shit really hits the fan!"
She turned to leave and then glanced back at him "I am a……" she hesitated as to what to call herself "…..thing on the edge, so don't fuck with me if you wish to continue breathing!" Raze stepped back as her eyes flitted between glowing blue, then glowing gold then silver and then back to plain blue.
Khan wandered over with a suddenly pissed off looking Selene "Kraven's here….."
Sky rolled her eyes "Oh, why am I not surprised he's crawled out of the woodwork about now!" she sighed "he must think I was born yesterday…" she stopped and then rolled her eyes and smiled humourlessly "though in a way I suppose he's right."
Lucian put his hand on her shoulder and Selene stepped forward "we'll come with you – he is not to be trusted."
"Erika's with him…" Khan added with a disgusted edge to his voice.
"Again; I should be surprised, why?" Sky smiled then added "I'll be fine; Lucian told me all about them. But Lucian?" he merely arched an eyebrow at her "It is probably best if you and Raze are not seen, I don't trust him and would rather all the other lot think you're dead."
He nodded reluctantly as she put her arms through Selene's and Kahn's "so, tell me how you two got to be so friendly that she actually smiled when she saw you…" they heard her ask with a smirk as the three walked away.
Raze looked at his leader as Michael walked over "Remind me not to ever piss her off again…she's scary!" he smiled ruefully.
"Yeah, and you like her!" Michael put in.
"Her and the kid, I do yeah. They're….cute…and feisty!" Raze returned the grin.
"And confused and a bit scared….at least she is." Lucian added quietly "I can smell it." He looked at the other two "This is all happening too fast; the changes in her, others coming….it's like someone's pushing it to the end really quickly, but why?" he sighed "I know Grandma said she's adaptable, but dear God you still need a little time…"
"What's that?" Michael pointed to the extremely ornate sword on a plinth to one side, with a matching triple bladed dagger next to it.
"They're mummy's – her Grand-da left them to her. Apparently she used to play with them when she was younger. Well, a smaller one of each – I have them now. Mummy's the only one who can touch those ones though…..….they burn people."
The three adults exchanged looks "why would they do that sweetpea?" Michael asked patting her head as Jacob giggled "what?"
"You shouldn't do that, she hates it!" deep brown eyes regarded the man's; just as glowing gold/green ones turned on him.
"I am not a puppy – well, not to you anyway. He's" she pointed to Lucian "the only one who can call me pup and even he wouldn't pat my head!" She studied Michael for a moment. "You'll live through this, so don't fret so - and she loves you though she'll not admit it until you are nearly…." She stopped as Jacob touched her arm "no you're right Jakey, I say too much do I not?"
She turned to look at Raze and Lucian "they burn because they're made of silver. But the black and gold writing on them means something to the Tuatha Dé Danann. It will kill both kinds of immortals – so they tell me anyway." She shrugged.
Lucian knelt down "who tells you Uli?"
The little girl pointed to the wall behind them, her eyes suddenly glowing completely golden "They do. They come and visit me, they are very nice and you shouldn't be scared." She looked at Lucian as he turned around and then back to her; all he'd seen was the panelled walls of the library "you can't see them can you?" she sighed.
He shook his head "no, sorry….I see only the wall."
She cocked her head as if listening "You will see, they say you will – but only when it's time." She looked around the assembled people, but talked to others "I see…well, I am glad these will. But mummy will not be happy about the losses, especially that one."
A tear slid down her cheek, only to seemingly vanish as if wiped by an unseen hand "yes, I understand, I do – but we love that one very muchly and it is unfair. Still, I will not tell, as you ask." She nodded "Yes I know, I saw…I…I hoped I was wrong, just this once."
Her eyes returned to their normal blue "I will go now, I am tired." She looked at Lucian "she will need you all soon, he is not to be trusted that one; that Kraven – there is a lot of darkness round him. Like he stands at the head of a tunnel……the one with him will die also – it cannot be helped, she is too weak."
Lucian needed no second bidding; the weirdness of what just happened dissipated quickly as he realised she was talking about Sky "come on, sod what she said – if Uli thinks she needs help, then we go."
0-0-0-0-0-0
They arrived to see Selene and Khan unconscious on the floor and Sky being held by the throat by an irate Kraven, all the time Erica stood to the side wringing her hands and begging him to stop.
The thing that struck the hybrids as they entered the room, with Uli right behind, was the calm look on Sky's face. Suddenly she brought her right hand up, which was glowing gold, and gripped the wrist of Kraven's left arm that was holding her up and against the wall.
With a scream of pain he dropped her – the burn he nursed almost as if he'd been exposed to daylight.
Erika flew to him only for him to knock her away – Sky glowered at him and growled. His head flew up "You're a Lycan!"
"Lycan/Vampire/ Danaan – as in the Tuatha Dé Danann…"
"They are legend – nothing more. They do not exist!" he scoffed, still nursing his hand and advancing on her again.
"And yet here I am – I seem to exist full well." She answered calmly "If I were you I would stop there." She motioned to him to halt where he was "I do not wish to kill you…..yet."
Erika wrung her hands again "Kraven….please! Let us go….leave this place!" she pleaded as she wrinkled her nose "the smell from these…these beasts, slaves, is making me ill!"
"They are no beasts, nor slaves." Sky muttered dangerously, her incisors lengthening. Michael and Raze had helped Selene and Khan to stand. She glanced at them and they could see her eyes beginning to glow.
"I am tired of your games Kraven – you hurt no one again. You are the worst of all kinds; human, Lycan, vampire – it matters naught. You betrayed not only Lucian, but your own people. Scum do that, cowards do that….." she glared at Erika "and she is as bad as you; weak, pathetic…..a waste of existence that someone else could put to better use."
She stepped away and took a deep breath, she closed her eyes and seemed to still completely – indeed Lucian wasn't even sure she was still breathing for a moment.
Then as she opened her eyes a gold glow emanated from them that radiated towards the two vampires before her; who stood rooted to the spot either in fear or her bidding, the others were not sure.
Her voice almost echoed round the room as she spoke "Here begins the rite, take fair warning!" Kraven merely grinned, but Uli tugged Lucian out of sight "I fear you not, your evil dies. Let the blackness of death absorb your cries. I call on my ancestors and the Spirit of the Earth, to take this evil back to its birth. So Mote It Be." The light seemed to pulse suddenly and with a silent scream Erika dissolved into ash as Kraven looked on, suddenly terrified.
Sky was beginning to lose her focus and the light surged round her; which was now as bright as day, Michael and Raze hauled the other two vampires out of the way – on the edges of it, the light now glowed red "I call on my ancestors, The Tuatha Dé Danann- to take this evil back from whence it came…So Mote It Be." The light glowed ever brighter and surged forward once more and with an unheard cry as Kraven seemed to combust from the inside out – this time not even ash was left; everything burnt.
She suddenly turned at a commotion outside and stormed past the assembled Lycan hybrids and vampires; her eyes changing from gold to an icy silver colour as she passed.
The assembled group were stunned they were still in one piece considering what had happened…..but they had seen the light directed at evil; at Kraven and Erika – not them; it seemed she could indeed pick and choose her victims, or the power itself knew the difference….if that were possible?
A vicious looking Lycan had a little vampire child against the wall and was about to bite when fingers clicked in between his eyes and that of the terrified child. "Leave her."
The child squirmed, but he only grinned at Sky and tightened his grip "You ain't the boss of me. I answer to an alpha male not any female, and I'm hungry – she'll make a nice snack!"
Sky nodded calmly "then you leave me no choice." She looked at the little girl, who could have been no more than four "close your eyes, Isis." She whispered gently.
The little girl did as she was bid, screwing her eyes tight shut. Sky reached out her hand to the Lycan, whose smile had faltered "Here begins the rite, take fair warning! May you follow those that have gone before, to the place of darkness without a door. I call on my ancestors and the Spirit of the Earth, to take this evil back to its birth. So Mote It Be."
Her hand looked as if the moonlight shone from it – it became lighter and more silver; all of a sudden the Lycan let out a cry as he began to die. The silver colour from Sky seemed to reach out to him like tendrils from a vine, reaching round his arm and gradually swamping his body; sticking to him like so many leeches. His veins showing through his skin, turning blue….his skin taking on a deathly pale colour – looking, Selene thought, as the Lycans did when killed by the silver nitrate.
The man slumped to ground moments later as everyone came running – they were too late, he was dead. The child's mother ran up; Selene took her to one side. "Say nothing of what you saw here – we do not know how many enemies from either faction have infiltrated, and we do not wish to give them the upper hand; agreed?"
The woman nodded and scurried away with her daughter…
As stunned as he was, Lucian lurched forward to catch her as Sky slumped to the floor; not only did she look exhausted she was devastated "Oh God, what have I done? I killed them….I killed them all without a second thought!"
Lucian shushed her "It's alright, truly. You did only what was necessary."
She looked at him imploringly "I didn't even feel like me. I just saw this blackness in their hearts and knew I couldn't let them escape."
"You acted correctly." Selene's cool voice spoke.
Sky stared at her in disbelief "I killed your own."
"Yes, and yours; he was Lycan" the vampire gestured to the werewolf corpse on the floor "and still you killed him. You did, as Lucian says, only what was necessary."
The Lycan leader picked her up "I'm taking her to get some rest."
The others nodded. After they'd left Raze looked at the others "Well, at least we have a fair idea of how she'll do it now."
Michael nodded "yeah, but she's going to have to do both at once…..you saw what just this did to her…."
"I think the final conflict may well kill her." Selene added quietly.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
As they got to the kitchen Sky asked to be let down "they will worry if I do not walk. I could not bear the questions am caraid." But she looked unsteady and he tucked her arm through his.
"Well, this 'old friend' as I think you just called me, would like you to take his arm for a quick stroll upstairs." He smiled.
She nodded and briefly leant her head on his shoulder, before straightening. She squared her shoulders and they walked past the kitchen and up the stairs, nodding at the milling people as they went – at the top she collapsed into his arms.
Lucian picked her up effortlessly and carried her to her bedroom. She was already nearly asleep as he laid her down, murmuring in protest as he went to leave and grasping his hand she muttered "don't go….stay….please."
He sighed but with a smile, as he settled down beside her and watched her sleep...