7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

“Rylin,” Tieran said. “What are you doing here?”

Rylin gave them a big smile, showing his obvious vampire teeth. “Hello, daughter, hello, son-in-law.”

“What the heck is happening here. Start talking now or we can take it to the street,” Tieran challenged.

“Boys, there’s no need for violence,” Calista, Tia’s mother said as she peeked from behind Rylin’s back.

“Mom, what the heck is going on here?”

“If these two testosterone-laden muscle heads calm down, you can come in and we can talk about what’s happening.” Tia knew this was serious, but her hand went to her mouth to control her laughter as her eyes met her mother’s. They both silently laughed as the two males grunted and Bryce just looked on with enormous eyes.

Rylin stepped back, clearing the doorway and allowing them to come into the living room.

“Take a seat,” Calista said. Tia beelined for her favorite comfy chair and sat down while everybody else was still circling the other person.

Tia held out her hand to Tieran. He could either stare down Rylin or come to her.

“The responsibilities of a king,” he growled, “for his queen.” He walked over, picked her up, then sat with her in his lap.

“Much better,” she whispered.

“Introductions?” Calista said, looking at Rylin.

“The male getting way too comfortable with my daughter is our new high king, Tiernan. The wolf sitting nervously on the edge of the chair is Bryce.”

Rylin took Calista into his arms and gave her a soft kiss before he turned to look at Bryce, a speculative look in his eyes.” I’m glad to see you, Bryce, but I’m also surprised. What happened to cure the bloodlust that you were under?”

“My queen,” Bryce said, looking at Tia. His voice quivered, he wasn't sure how it happened and yet he was glad it did. “I saw fire shoot from her hand. It enveloped me and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, but I was sane.” He turned his head and wiped his eyes. The overwhelming desire to kill stained his soul.

“Yes, yes,” Calista started dancing around the room. “For such a time as this.”

Those words caught Tia’s ear. Isn’t that what they said when she was with the being and Tiernan’s father? That she was born for such a time as this?

“Mom, what are you saying? What do you mean, such a time as this?” She pushed Tieran’s arms away and jumped up. “Mom, we have got to do something. We are going to die. We’re all going to die!”

That feeling of panic that had receded like a tidal wave was crashing over her again making her feel like she was going to go under this time and not find her way back to the surface. Tia started pacing as she explained everything that had happened to her so far. She looked over to find her mother and Rylin, the man who may or may not be her father, sitting snuggled up on the couch.

Tia couldn’t remember any instance of her mother being with a male. Growing up, it had been Tia and her mother, two peas in the same pod, and she wasn’t sure she exactly liked seeing some male in her mother’s house, holding her mother. It was selfish, and she knew it, but that didn’t mean she had to like it.

“We’re going to die,” she said, coming back to the subject at hand. “Unless there is some way that we can break this curse. Mom, do you know anything about it? We need the help.” Calista looked at Rylin, both of them nodding their heads, before she got up and left the room. When she came back, she was holding an old book.

It looked like one of those ancient tomes from hundreds of thousands of years ago, as far as Tia could tell.

“This book,” Calista said, “Is about three hundred years old. When I was 16, I went into the library, and I saw this book. It felt like it was calling my name. I picked it up and flipped through it and decided that I didn’t need it and put it back.” She shrugged, as if to say youth.

“When I left the library that day, I didn’t have the book with me. When I got outside and went into my book bag to look for some random item, I don’t remember after all this time, this book was right there at the very top of my book bag. I knew I should take it back, but I couldn’t.” She stroked the cover of the book and shook her head. Tia noticed that the cover of the book was blue, which was the color of her mother’s door and hers. She pushed that thought away; she didn’t need another conspiracy taking up room in her mind.

“How did it get into my bag? I don’t know. How did I walk out of the library without the sensor going off? I don’t know that either. But I took it home and hid it. I wasn’t sure what I was doing with it. I didn’t know why I had it, but I hid it. Years later, when I was moving, I took the book out and it opened to a certain page.” She walked over to Tia and gave her a tight hug.

“The more I read it, the more I realized it must be talking about my life. But which part related to me and which part was someone else’s? I didn’t know.” Calista put the book on the coffee table with the page she was referring to open.

Then she walked over to Rylin and gave him a kiss on the cheek and told him, “It’s your turn, honey. It’s up to you now.”

“I have been resisting the urge to kill every All Hallows'. When that All Hallows' came, I knew I couldn’t resist any longer. When I got here, I couldn’t enjoy the feeling of being connected to the soil. I simply needed to kill.” He glanced at Calista, regret in his eyes. She hugged him tight, laying a deep kiss on him.

“As I was walking down the street looking for an easy victim,” Rylin said. “I could hear a heartbeat and breathing that weren’t inside of a building. I knew whoever it was was shaking because I could hear their clothes rubbing up against the bark of a tree. I scented the air, teeth dropping, mind filled with thoughts of my kill.” He ran his hand through Calista’s hair. She should be dead, but he was holding her and loving her.

“I moved towards her quickly, wanting this to be one and done. By the time I got to Calista, her scent enveloped me, and it did what nothing else could do. It brought me back to my right mind.” He looked up and smiled at Tia.

“There, standing before me, was this gorgeous female. She was thick and appealing with her creamy brown skin. Her beautiful eyes made me lose my heart and soul to her. I wanted her desperately.”

“Okay, stop, ew, ick, ugh. Could you not talk like that about my mother, please?” Calista started laughing.

“Oh my gosh, look who just implemented the ick protocol.”

Tia had to giggle, but come on, he was talking about her mom, her ride and die.

“What Rylin is trying to say is that we spent the night together and right before it was time for him to go back, we both read the prophecy. He asked me not only to wait for him, but to keep our child safe. He was sure we were going to have a baby girl. I wasn’t that sure, but I agreed.” Calista rubbed her head against Rylin’s chest. Tia had to admit she’d never seen her mother this happy or touchy feely.

“Six weeks later, I was throwing up. That’s when I knew that keeping your existence from the rulers of this world was the most important thing to do. The necrotechs were walking around, not just in this city, but all the cities, looking for anyone who may have become pregnant after the last Halloween. I hid my pregnancy and your birth and somehow got you recorded as being born one month earlier than you were. That kept both of us from coming under scrutiny of the necrotechs.”

“Mom, are you a witch?” Calista lowered her eyes and started fiddling with her hands.

“I’m the old-fashioned kind, the kind they call a white witch. They not only heal, but help their fellow man. That fell out of practice when science and black magic became one, and suddenly we didn’t have witches and scientists. We had necrotechs. If you weren’t one of them, no one wanted to hear what you had to say. Everyone said they wouldn’t hurt anyone who presented as a witch, but I knew better.”

“But they let you live,” Tia said, her face screwed up in confusion. They weren’t rich, but she hadn’t wanted for anything growing up.

“Tia, think. Before tonight, did you know I was a witch? Was I able to raise you up allowing you to practice what was inside of you? No, I hid everything that you could do. I made sure there was always a reasonable explanation if someone was around and saw something they weren’t supposed to see.” Calista took several deep breaths and snuggled into Rylin’s arms before looking her daughter straight in the eyes.

“We can talk about this later. If you want to be upset with me, be upset. But right now, you’re the one who said, not I, that we have a world to save. So, what are we going to do?” Calista asked.

“Read the book?” Tieran stood and picked up the book.

He scanned the prophecy and then read it in a loud and firm voice. “When the people of the Earth are tricked by the people in the mirror dimension, when Earth becomes the mirror and the mirror becomes Earth, the countdown to destruction will begin. One final, cataclysmic moment will bring destruction to both Earth and the mirror dimension.” He held out an arm, and she crossed the room to snuggle at his side.

“There is always a choice,” he continued to read. “They can do nothing and die or she who has the power within her but is too frightened to use it can choose to accept the one thing that scares her.” Tia looked at her mother, wondering what about her father (that was a kick in the gut) scared her mother.

“Together they will have one night of passion and many years of separation. Will she be able to protect what the two of them have created? The one who is one half of both worlds will be the only one who can stop the destruction. But only if she is willing to embrace the other world as much as she embraces her own. Together, if the two halves of that world are willing to walk together in peace, they can stop the spell. But first they must find where it is located and there are not many hours left. They must find a stronghold of the Necrotechs.” Tieran stopped reading to close his eyes and held Tia close. An old dusty book was asking the impossible. If he failed, he would lose his queen, his mate, whom he had just found.

“This journey will not be easy. What they are looking for will not be in beautiful houses or tall buildings. To find a stronghold, you must follow the magic that lives within you to lead you. Once you have found it, you must find a way to enter into the stronghold, and then you will see the curse. I cannot tell you how it will present because it presents to each person differently. Nor can I tell you how to destroy the curse because that power, that knowledge, lies within.” Tia nodded, ready to destroy a curse, but Tieran was still reading.

“That knowledge doesn’t lie within me. It lies within the only person who can destroy the curse. The witchling and the king must choose wisely, for only one can destroy it. If they make the wrong choice, the earth will end. The worlds will be destroyed.”