Chapter twenty -six
Levi shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes on the dark water of the Atlantic lapping at the shore.
A few feet away were the busy docks of the Eastern harbor in Monterrey.
It had taken them an hour by helicopter to get to the coastal town from Black Hollow, but he hoped the meeting he was waiting for would be worth it.
His memories tried to drag him back to the nights he’d slaved away here while he and Sebastian had been trying to make a living.
It was at these same docks that he’d learned the importance of logistics and how to keep supplies moving throughout the South.
It was one of the reasons Lucian hated him so.
The border mage thought Levi beneath him since he’d started at these docks under his supervision.
It galled Lucian that Levi had moved from unloading ships to owning them. He smiled to himself.
Fuck that border mage.
With this meeting, he hoped to do that and more.
A part of him reveled in the fact that he was about to have his current meeting on Lucian’s territory.
The mage elder no longer showed his face at the docks, preferring to run his little kingdom from the capital city behind a desk.
Levi knew firsthand that was the fastest way to lose control.
People needed to see you, feel you, to know that fucking with you would always be a problem.
Even at his trucking company, Levi made sure to show his face at least once a month.
His men were loyal, but all it took was once for a muthafucka to whisper the wrong shit in the wrong person’s ear. Like tonight. If Lucian had control of his men like he thought he did, Levi would’ve never been able to step foot in this harbor without the border mage knowing.
Especially to meet with another border mage.
The man of the hour pulled up in a matte black pickup truck, stopping about fifty yards from where Levi was standing.
Both doors opened and two border mages stepped out of the truck, the male he was meeting with and another who Levi could only assume was his warden.
The male was way over six feet tall, at least two inches taller than Levi’s six-foot three body.
He had long dark locs that he had piled in a bun on top of his head.
His warden’s locs were down loose around his shoulders, obscuring his face slightly.
Both men were bulky and their power crackled around them.
“King Levi of the Bayi.” The mage he was set to meet broke the silence.
“Khalil,” he greeted. “I don’t know your warden’s name.”
“That’s a’ight.” Khalil’s voice was deep, his country twang very pronounced. “Bold to be meeting in Lucian’s backyard like this.”
“Fuck Lucian,” was Levi’s response to that.
The mage chuckled and nodded. Both men were of one accord. “My father said you had a proposition for us.”
“What would it take for your family to take over the border mage position on the Collective?”
Khalil tilted his head, surprise flashing across his face a moment before he suppressed it. “Proof that Lucian ain’t doing his job.”
Levi considered his next words. “Two nights ago, I was attacked by a group of Buru. They’ve been getting past the northern borders and it seems strange to me that your representative in the Collective don’t know shit about it.”
“You sure about that?”
“About him knowing, or about the fact that my men have seen an uptick in Buru activity?”
Khalil hummed but said nothing. The mage turned and faced the water, quiet for long moments. He turned back to Levi.
“My daddy won’t move without proof.”
“Fair. But again, I ask: can you think of any other reason the Buru are getting through these borders without help?”
“They ain’t getting through our shit,” Khalil assured him.
“And yet…”
Khalil sighed and turned to look at his warden. They shared an indecipherable look. Levi decided to push the needle just a bit more.
“Your family has served the Collective since its inception. If anyone deserves that seat, it’s you.”
“I’ll take it to Pops.”
“If your family decides to go ahead with it, you’ll have the support of all the Bayi in my coven as well as others loyal to me.”
“Ah, but see, you just got your shit. What pull you got on the Collective?” Khalil asked, a small smirk on his face.
Levi shared the mage’s amusement. “I’m making moves regardless.”
“Bet. I’ll talk to the family,” Khalil promised.
That was all Levi could ask at the present moment, so he let it go at that.
The two men dapped him up and took their leave.
Levi watched as they drove off until their headlights faded.
Bas slipped from the shadows where he was hiding.
Despite being out of eyesight, Levi knew his friend had been watching for any missteps by the mage.
One thing about his best friend, he never slacked when it came to his job.
Having a mate hadn’t changed that at all. Levi admired Sebastian for that because just having Amaya in his house had his head fucking gone. How his friend concentrated when he was away from his mate was a mystery to him.
“You think it will work?” Bas asked.
“Whether it does nor not isn’t the point. I want Lucian out.”
“Controlling the Lathams won’t be any easier,” Sebastian warned him.
Levi conceded his point. “But they would treat us as equals. If I have to replace every head at that table to get our proper respect, I will. Being punished for some shit that happened with an ancestor hundreds of years ago is fucking ridiculous.”
Bas grunted. “On that note, Red say she got some shit to show you.”
He turned to his best friend with interest. “Say word.”
Bas nodded. Levi gave one final look to the murky water, noting how well it fit his mood.
He hadn’t expected Raven to find anything in his grandmother’s old journals.
At the most he expected she would maybe find an answer as to why the Collective fought so hard to keep the Bayi from having a representative.
Turning towards the SUV they drove from the helipad, he started walking. “I’m done for the night then. Let’s get home.”
“She’s at the Archive.”
Levi paused his steps. “Interesting.”
Once again, the director of the Archive met them at the door. Sophia looked equal parts excited and anxious. Levi frowned as the woman opened the door for them.
“Your Highness,” she greeted, searching behind them.
“It’s just me and Bas tonight,” he told her, hiding a smile. “You looking for someone else?”
Bas chuckled next to him. “Leave that lady ‘lone. She ain’t worried about Lucas. Witches don’t do Bayi, right, Ms. Sophia?”
She cleared her throat and straightened her posture, ignoring Bas’s question. She closed and locked the door behind them, which raised Levi’s hackles. As far as he knew, the Archive was open twenty-four seven. Why would she close it?
“If you’ll follow me?” Sophia said softly
They followed behind her through the atrium of the Archive, the silence of the building deafening.
Sophia led them all the way to the back and up a flight of stairs.
Levi could feel the power of the Akachi pulsing around them.
He reached his hand in his pocket and fingered the heartstone, something he’d been doing lately as he was thinking.
The stone warmed against his fingers, seeming to pull power from the larger stones below them.
Levi stepped into the observatory, impressed with the thick glass wall to his left as well as the skylight above him.
It made the room feel like it was floating.
His mate was there with Raven, the two of them standing over a tall table.
His grandmother’s journals were scattered across the table top.
Amaya’s head lifted as they entered and she immediately closed the space between them.
Levi opened his arms and his little witch stepped into them, her head resting on his chest.
Ignoring everyone else in the room, he lifted her chin. ‘What’s wrong, baby doll?’
She sighed and rubbed her hands down his arms. ‘This place overwhelms me, but the moment you entered the room, my magic calmed.’
He understood exactly what she meant. Every time he was in her presence, his magic sought her out, peace overtaking his senses.
‘How did the meeting go?’ She changed the subject.
He kissed her forehead and tightened his arms around her. ‘You worry too much, beloved. Everything is fine.’
She nodded and stepped back, taking her place at the table with Raven again.
Instead of joining them, Levi stepped to the glass and peered down at the sacred garden.
According to Bronx, he spent the majority of his time in this space watching Amaya do her work.
Levi was blown away by the sacred garden.
It was nearly dark, lit only by the stones themselves.
They emitted a dim blue glow that disappeared into the dark sand around them.
He understood now that Amaya had set the shielding over his stone in the same pattern. He was astonished by how powerful his baby was.
Turning back to the group, his gaze went straight to Raven. “What did you find, firefly?”
Raven looked at her boss, before spreading his ancestor’s journal on the table in front of them. She was wearing gloves.
“I’ve been going over this, but some of the language is old and not the Yoruba I’ve been taught.”
He nodded in understanding. There were many tribes that came over and not all of them spoke the same language.
“I brought it to Sophia, she—Her magic can decipher any language.” She continued shooting him an unsure look.
‘It’s fine, firefly.’ He reassured her through their bond that he wasn’t upset.
She visibly relaxed. “So, what we’ve found is actually…” Raven paused. “I don’t even know how to say what we’ve found. It’s the reason we’re meeting here and not in Sophia’s office. Eavesdropping here is impossible.”
He frowned and stepped closer to the table. “What is it?”
Sophia spoke up. “It involves the Collective.”
Levi forced himself not to look at his second-in-command. But Bas was present in his head, already knowing what he was thinking.
‘What are the odds?’ Bas asked him telepathically.
‘Indeed.’ Aloud he said, “Continue.”
Raven nodded. “The Collective told the chaos Chawis that they would be cursed if they mated with the Bayi. We’ve found information to say the opposite.”
This time he couldn’t help his reaction. His growl rattled around the room. “Explain.”
“I have to go back to the beginning to explain,” she told them, her eyes lighting with excitement. “This journal…Bria Cauly met with the Celestials. There is firsthand accounting of that. My hands are shaking even reading her words.”
“Red,” Bas prodded his mate.
“Right. So, ummm, where was I? Oh yeah. We’ve all heard the tales about the Bayi vampire that tried to take over the world?”
Everyone nodded.
“Well, it was Bria’s father, and he wasn’t just Bayi. He was a true hybrid, born from a Chawi and a Bayi. He held the power of both, which was why he was so hard to stop. According to Bria, she went to the Celestials for help. Which they did. But it cost her. Hell…it cost everyone.”
Levi frowned. “In what way?”
“Bria’s grandmother was a part of what she calls an Obayifo.
It’s a mating between a chaos Chawi and a Bayi vampire.
The Celestials took out Bria’s father, but because his power was the result of the Obayifo, they stripped the supernaturals of it.
I’m not explaining that right.” Raven looked at Sophia in frustration.
The director took over the story. “The Obayifo is not just a mating. It binds chaos magic with the power of the Bayi, creating a power that raises the magic of the supernatural collectively.”
Levi’s mind was racing as he tried to process what Raven was telling them. “So, when my grandmother gave up the Obayifo, it weakened all of the supernaturals?”
Raven nodded solemnly. “Which helped the Buru overrun the South.”
“The fuck,” Sebastian said, stepping closer to the table to see.
Raven took a shaky breath and looked at Amaya.
“This is why I wanted you in here as well. According to these journals, the chaos Chawi are supposed to mate with the Bayi. Something about their powers balancing the chaos magic within you. The mating kept the witches from going mad. But in mating, you’ve created the first Obayifo that we’ve had in centuries. ”
Levi already knew what she was talking about.
Every day since he’d mated with Amaya, the power of his coven had been increasing.
He’d assumed it would eventually level out the way it had when Sebastian had mated with Raven.
But if what she was saying was correct, the power would keep building, spreading out among all of the supernaturals.
“I can already feel hints of it in my magic. Soon, all of us will feel it,” Raven echoed his thoughts.
“What does this mean?” Amaya asked.
“It means that we will all get more powerful, but the reason it’s most important is it means any child born of the two of you could gain the same power as Levi’s ancestor.
It increases the chances tenfold. Bria was told that in order to keep that from happening, the Chawi and Bayi had to be kept separate.
She speculated what that would mean for the chaos Chawi in particular, because your power is complimentary to the Bayi.
Almost the yin to their yang. Bria feared what would happen without balance of each other.
But what we knew about your great grandfather was nothing compared to the atrocities he actually carried out,” Sophia told them.
“Your grandmother had a difficult decision and not much time to make it. I think she did what she thought would save everyone.”
“Wait?” Amaya raised her hand. “You’re saying that the premature deaths in my family, in the families of every chaos witch, could’ve been prevented if we were allowed to mate with a Bayi?”
Sophia gave her a sympathetic look. “It was a price they were willing to pay at the time.”
“The Collective already thinks you’re going to take over their shit. What do you think they’ll do knowing that your mating with Amaya will magnify your power?” Bas gave him a worried glance.
Levi cursed. “They’ll do what they can to stop it.”
“I think that’s the reason for the curse rumor. And I suspect that the reason we haven’t had an Obayifo in centuries is because the Collective have been assuring it.” Sophia told them grimly.
Raven gasped. “You think they were killing couples.”
Sophia gave them a solemn look. “I don’t want to tell you what to do, your Highness, but if I were in your place, I would double up on security. You’ve not only mated but you’ve announced it. They’ll be backed into a corner.”
Levi nodded, taking in her warning. He would be meeting with his enforcers the moment he got home. He would increase Amaya’s protection and prepare his coven for a possible war.