Epilogue 2

~Orpheus~

One Year Later

Blood spurted.

Bones cracked.

And fucking necks snapped.

These vamps had brought it on themselves.

And they had just discovered what Obsidian was made of.

They may have been able to get away with this sort of thing in the past when Exemplar had been taxed struggling to deal with every little thing, but things were different now.

Thanks to us.

I thrust a bolt of my power at an incoming rush attack from another Vampire Elder, blowing him back and knocking him out cold in the same instant, and then I turned to my soldiers.

They’d cut a path through our targets who today were an invading force of a dozen Vampire Elders trying to overrun an up-and-coming wolf pack. They didn’t like that the pack was gaining a greater and more powerful foothold. It flew in the face of their vampire supremacist beliefs. They were certainly learning the error of their ways and their fucked-up outlook on things. Shit like that was the opposite of what we needed while the supernatural world was still working to pull together and recover from the reign of terror of Constantine and his acolytes. We’d made great strides, the populace had, but every now and then there were things like this. And Obsidian was here to keep them in check.

“Let’s wrap this up!” Alena called over to me. “Gotta get to Talon’s opening!”

I looked out at her fixing up one of the lodges that had been damaged during the attack with one hand, while she blasted back two vampires trying to rush her, sending them hurtling a hundred feet away into the fields. Our soldiers then moved in to cover her while she finished up.

I smiled to myself. She was really something.

Standing there wielding so much power that she was now in supreme control of and comfortable with, blood splattering her face and her clothes, her eyes shining. She was in her element being a part of Obsidian.

I thrust a bolt of my magic at another incoming attacker and called back to her, “And pick X up from his reading!”

“He hates being dragged away from his fans! It’s already happened twice with Exemplar and Obsidian needing his attention!”

“True!” I yelled over, thrusting up a shield as two rabid vampires launched themselves at me. They bounced right off it, the force of the impact of my magic propelling them a good twenty feet away. “He didn’t count on his dirty book series hitting it so big!”

After X had started to take on the role as joint leader of Obsidian and also member of Exemplar , he’d been under a lot of stress, so he’d thrown himself into his writing in the little free time he’d had as a sort of stress response, and he’d managed to bang out three whole books, making a series called Love Me out of it. He’d added a fantasy twist to it and marketed it to the supernatural world and it had hit big, garnering him a readership of die-hard fans within just a few months.

Now he was out there in the community doing readings, books tours, the whole nine. Alena and I had taken some of the responsibility of Obsidian off his shoulders and he now functioned in an overseer capacity which served to placate Exemplar’s concern about there being little oversight. He spent most of his time at Exemplar and working on his author career. And he’d never been happier. Finally, he was secure in himself and what he was, and actually enjoying life.

“Time to speed things along,” I heard Alena say.

I yelled out to our soldiers, “Shields up!”

As soon as they brought out their Illuminex Shields and readied themselves, and I flew up out of range, Alena released a shockwave of her power that tore through the immediate area, downing every single vampire target left standing, knocking them all out in one impressive shot.

“There,” she said, shaking out her hands, mighty pleased with herself.

I grinned. “All right, let’s round them up and transport for processing,” I ordered our army.

Another successful mission.

Alena, Xavier and I rematerialized in the courtyard.

“Damn,” X uttered with a whistle as he took in the sprawling estate that shimmered with Alena’s golden power.

It was one of her magical creations. After Talon had seen the one she’d made to house Obsidian , he’d been so taken with it that he’d asked her to design this for him too. That wasn’t the end of it where that was concerned either. She was contracted to Sabre Tech where Elliot employed her special brand of services there too.

With word well and truly spread about the failsafe amulets that my father had created to protect against her dark magic extinguishing ability, she was no longer feared by the supernatural world and Elliot had made the perfect decision to employ her and get her out there in a positive capacity too that had only helped to elevate her as a being who was both respected and revered instead of feared. It had all worked wonders. And it had lifted a great weight off her shoulders.

She was loving the work that she did with me, as well as her role at Sabre Tech.

Where my work was concerned, I’d actually managed to make inroads with Electi Academy. It was under new management now and a program had been created to actually train students to become members of Obsidian, Exemplar, and even Sabre Tech. It wasn’t functioning just to control young supernaturals now, it was there to help them reach their true potentials. Like it always should have been geared toward.

I was splitting my time between all that and ruling alongside my father in the Dark Fae Realm. We’d managed to compromise. Things were more… diplomatic, should we say. Of course, with my father involved there was still a firm hand being used, but we’d actually found a middle ground where that was concerned. And the kingdom was prospering. That had also been helped by the pardon and reparations that had been made to my father that he'd long deserved.

Everything was as close to perfect as I ever could have imagined it.

Better than we’d all foreseen actually.

Even Talon was settling.

There had been some fallout after me dying for a few moments on the battlefield a year ago, but the fact that Alena had imbued me with her white light had also gone a long way to soothe that trauma of witnessing that for him.

And so had one other thing.

Haven House.

That was what he’d called his supernatural orphanage that he’d been working incredibly hard to develop over the last year.

I’d never seen him so focused or so passionate about anything that even verged on work before. He’d really impressed us all with everything he’d put into this.

And it was all about to reach fruition.

Tonight Haven House officially opened its doors.

As we approached the double entrance doors just past the massive playground—one of three I knew there to be on the property from the many tours Tal had treated me to over the last few months as he’d been working with his team to get everything ready—the three of us watched little kids being escorted into the orphanage, looking around at the shimmering unicorn statues, the bright multicolored lights, and the two giant teddy bears either side of the doors, excitement brimming in their eyes and all over them.

Tal had really made it a welcoming environment.

We stepped into the lobby, watching the kids and teens coming in with their bags ready to move in, Tal’s team rushing about and attending to them.

“X,” I called, when we didn’t see him where he’d asked us to meet him.

He took my meaning and turned his head, concentrating and reaching out with his vampiric senses. “Upstairs,” he reported. “First floor, second door on the left.”

We headed up one of the winding staircases in the next moment, Alena nuzzling against Xavier as we went because we hadn’t seen him for close to a day with everything we’d each had going on.

I took in the brightly colored walls, a rainbow of colors all over the place. Even the stairs were covered with a shag-type carpet, adding to the cozy vibe.

We’d just made it to the landing when a door opened and Talon burst on out—carrying a little boy with fuzzy blond hair.

He couldn’t be more than a couple of years old.

A giant grin spread over Tal’s face as he saw us. “You’re here!”

“Of course we are,” Alena said, easing from X and going to him. “Who’s this little guy?”

X sniffed the air and frowned as he looked at the kid, taking to studying him curiously. “It can’t be,” he breathed.

I was about to ask what he’d just scented when the boy coughed and a puff of smoke erupted from his mouth, making the three of us draw back in surprise.

He couldn’t be a dragon shifter, the Dragon Empire kept a tight hold on their people, especially the children. They were extremely protective.

“A phoenix,” I uttered.

Talon nodded. “I got a call last night from one of my scouts in the field searching for kids in need of a home like this. This little guy was living with adoptive human parents who’d abandoned him with a bunch of firefighters after he’d accidentally set their house on fire. Not just him either. We’ve been looking into it all day and apparently after what happened to my parents, phoenixes scattered all over the place went into hiding. Constantine’s acolytes were hunting them while the war was going on and he found Calin’s parents. And…” He made a slicing motion across his throat when the boy wasn’t looking. “A friend sent him away to save him, hence him ending up with humans.”

“Wow, that’s intense,” Alena said. “We’ll find them, Tal. We’ll help them.”

“We absolutely will.” More of his kind were out there, it was a major thing for him.

“You think Obsidian can make it one of their missions? Really?” he asked me.

“I swear it, baby bird.” I held out my hand to Calin. “Although, now with this development, I may have to retire that nickname and hand it over to you.” I chuckled as Calin gave me a high-five, his eyes flaming.

He coughed again and fire erupted from his throat, but Tal was there catching it in his palm. He let the flames dance on his hand, which had Calin clapping excitedly, before Tal then snuffed them out. “I’m obviously taking point on this one. They thought he was sick with all the coughing, but it’s actually him coming into his powers.”

“Well, he’s got the perfect mentor in you,” X told him.

“Yeah, unlike the way it went for me at the Academy, I can actually teach him how to get a handle on his abilities and learn control.” He cuddled against Calin. “He’ll be safe and loved here, understood and appreciated, not feared and controlled. This place will be his new family and he’ll never spend a day feeling abandoned or lost. I’ll make sure of it.” He gestured around. “For every single being who passes through these doors.”

He beamed out at all of us. “Just the way being with you guys makes me feel.”

“Right back at you,” I said, reaching out and stroking his cheek.

He nuzzled against me, then shifted Calin on his hip and told us, “It’s almost time for the big welcome assembly. Best get this show on the road. I was a little nervous before the three of you showed up.” He winked at us. “Now I’m good to go.”

As we made our way back down the stairs, I looked out at everyone, his words hitting me deep.

That was what we all did for one another—bolstered one another.

Balanced one another.

Loved one another through the dark and the light.

And I knew, I knew it in my bones that whatever came our way in the future, whatever we found ourselves up against, we’d win the fight so long as we faced it together.

Electi Academy had brought us together, but we’d schooled each other.

And now the world was wide open to us.

The time finally belonged to the heirs.

THE END

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