Chapter 31
OYE
I’m back
Oye stared at the woman sitting at the table in front of her like nothing had happened. Gritting her teeth, it didn’t take much time for her to put two-and-two together.
“You faked it.” She snapped
“In my defense I was very close to death’s door,” Lanias crooned, “but apparently Hell didn’t want me yet.”
“You,” Oye reached out with her right arm allowing metal to explode out from her hand forming into a Scythe. “Damn you,” she shouted.
Lanias clapped her hands and parted them, a black root appeared in between her hands. Quickly standing, she positioned the root bar just in time to block Oye’s downward strike. The force caused her to slide back. “That’s not the greeting I was expecting.”
Oye only retreated one step. Her scythe moved and changed into two short blades. Her gaze murderous, she raised her left hand and pointed her sword at Lanias.
“Ready yourself,” she warned, her eyes flashing.
Sighing, Lanias snapped the black root away forming it into a black whip. She grinned. “I knew you weren’t going to make this easy.”
“Easy?” Oye, clapped the swords together creating a double sword staff. She crouched. “I got your easy right here.”’
She ran at Lanias as she twirled the deadly swallow staff. She lowered herself nearly to the floor before she sprang upward with a slicing motion. Lanias vanished, appearing behind her as the edge of the table was sliced up and flew back. Slamming against the wall with a loud bang.
Lanias whistled. “That was a close call.”
She leaned back, avoiding another attempt at her head being cut off.
Straightening, she used her magic and brought her whip to life.
Perfect timing as Oye brought her staff down, she lifted her whip up and it quickly wrapped around the center bar.
Lanias supplemented her strength with a muttered spell and with a hard yank she jerked the sword from Oye and lashed out with her foot.
Oye then let go of her weapon, bringing her arms up to block her stomach from the kick.
Bringing her foot down, Lanias’ whip dropped Oye’s weapon to the floor where it melted into the ground. She cocked her hip, eyeing the heavy-breathing Oye. “Don’t tell me that’s all you’ve got?”
Her scythe appearing at her side once more, Oye straightened grabbing it. She narrowed her eyes on Lanias. Her eyes became a metallic color. “And here I was trying to be nice.”
ELIZA
Eliza couldn’t quite grasp her current reality; she was still on her knees at the doorway.
Lanias and Oye were fighting at a level she’d never even thought they could.
Oye had always seemed a little more blood thirsty than normal, but the woman who stood with her weapon in hand was vastly different.
Blood thirsty rage rolled off from her in waves.
Not to mention the now alive Lanias, who stood calm like she hadn’t nearly had her head removed. The pieces of the table were still where they had fallen against the wall. The office had become a complete mess; she hoped Tiller didn’t expect them to pay for the damages.
Hearing a low groan, she sharply turned her head right.
Sabina’s arms were now wrapped around her stomach as she panted.
“Guys,” Eliza called as her eyes widened in alarm. “Hey!” She shouted, turning in time to see Lanias avoid another stab from Oye. Forcing herself to stand she focused so that her magic flooded forward like a bright light. She was still getting used to using it.
“Augh,” Lanias shouted in tandem with Oye. Together the fighting duo covered their eyes with their arms like a dance.
“Enough, something’s wrong with Sabina.” Eliza said ignoring the way her heart leapt at the look they sent her. It took them a minute but once it dawned on them what she’d said. The two were immediately by Sabina’s side. Sabina reached out and grabbed Oye’s coat.
“What wrong?” Lanias asked, clearly worried. The blood lust that had been spilling off her had evaporated, “Is it the baby?”
Sabina nodded lifting her gaze to her, her brow was dotted with sweat, “He-He’s coming.”
Everyone froze, for a second no one even dared to breathe.
“Now?” Lanias asked, her eyes taking in Sabina’s stomach.
“Of course, she means now you idiot.” Oye snapped clearly still pissed with the other Witch.
“We need to take her to the hospital.” Eliza said, the first one to break out of her mental stupor.
“We won’t make it in time,” Oye said, “We’re going have to use a transport spell.”
“Won’t a transport hurt the baby?” Lanias asked.
“No,” Eliza said, drawing their attention. “It should be fine as long as we do it now.”
Giving her a short nod Lanias grabbed Sabina’s arm. “Okay, I got you.”
“Raijin, I want Raijin.” Sabina moaned as she leaned into Lanias.
All three of them shared a look. Seeing their mental battle, Eliza spoke up first. “I’ll get Raijin, you two get her to the doctor.”
Lanias and Oye gave her looks filled with thanks and relief before they both disappeared out of sight.
Eliza looked around the destroyed room and sighed before she turned to go looking for someone that could get her in contact with Raijin. The larger man intimidated her, but she had to get a hold of him immediately. After all that guilt she’d felt had abated with the sight of Lanias,
Only the Madame could come back from the dead so easily.
LANIAS
A few hours later…
Lanias stared down at her nephew. He was shockingly normal; his hair was a mass of curls.
If one didn’t make size comparisons to other human newborns, he appeared to be a big chunky human baby.
The red spots on his arms were similar to freckles.
The boy had obviously taken after his father weighing in at nearly nine pounds.
The quick C-Section was the best route into the world.
Lucky for his mother the process wasn’t nearly as painful as it would have been for a human female.
When they’d arrived, the Witch Doctors had roughly pushed her and Oye out of the way before they’d taken the screaming Sabina away. She had to have her hands yanked from Lanias’ hair before she went. With a sigh, Lanias pulled at her messy hair only to shake clean a nice clump of it.
She looked at the baby, who wriggled within his blanket.
“Hope you’re happy little one, your arrival cost several pieces of my hair.
” She chuckled, letting her hair drop to the floor.
“Ooh, but you are very much worth every strand.” She hadn’t gone in yet to see her sister, allowing Raijin to have his time with her,
“Is this where you’ve been hiding?”
She didn’t bother to turn around. “Where else would I be, Oye?”
The reflection of her cousin frowned. “I don’t know. Hiding so I don’t kill you for what you put us through.”
She sighed. “Well if you’re determined to kill me then I can’t stop you. As long as we know who’s the better fighter between us.” She turned around to face her, then gently added, “I’m sorry, but if I had to I would do it again.”
“Why?” Oye asked, surprisingly cooler than Lanias expected. “What made you decide that pretending to be dead was the better option?”
Lanias looked at her cousin, really looked at her. Her arms had a slight tremor, to hide that she’d placed her hands in her pockets. Her eyes were steady, but she kept swallowing as if holding back words.
“I am not Sabina’s blood sister,” she confessed.
“What?”
“Sabina and I don’t share a single drop of blood,” Lanias reiterated.
“T-That’s not possible, I’ve known you since we were kids.” Oye breathlessly laughed. “We grew up together. Ms. Gina talked about you with mother all the time.”
“Well, the truth is that I was given to them by Uncle Warren. He paid Sabina’s mom to watch over me.
He just wasn’t expecting her to then sell us when the opportunity arose.
I always thought that we had different dads, but it was even a greater shock when I learned we weren’t related at all.
” She dropped her gaze to her feet, “Anyway, after what happened I was found by some friends, and I decided it was a perfect chance to investigate my past. I didn’t want any danger to come to you three, so I thought it would be best to remain a ghost or dead. ”
“Bullshit,” Oye spat her eyes bright with anger. “You took the easy way out.”
“Easy?” Lanias scoffed. “Nothing about my choice was easy. I just picked myself for the first time in a long time.”
“Are you saying you’ve done nothing but live for us?” Oye demanded.
“Yes. First, I lived for our survival, then I lived for Sabina and after that there was the Nerium. When we closed our organization, I was left with guiding Witches and protecting them. I’ve spent my entire life protecting and serving others.
” Lanias felt the weight rising off her shoulders as she spoke.
“I had acquired enemies and gladly destroyed them always, but the effort I put in was always for protecting everyone, protecting us. So, when a chance came for me to focus on myself and learn about my past. I took it.”
“You—”
“I was wondering where you two were.” Sabina’s voice cut off whatever Oye had to say, as she walked toward them leaning on a floating I.V. that was attached to her arm. She walked in between them and looked down at her baby. “I can’t believe he’s here already.”
“I can’t believe you carried him around for so long,” Lanias said, glancing down at the butter ball that looked like he was trying to fight the blanket.
The three silently watched him for a few minutes before Sabina finally spoke. “I know you probably had your reasons, but I’m angry you didn’t trust me enough to share your concerns with me.”
Lanias felt a pang in her heart at her sister’s words. Though she didn’t show it, she could deal with Oye’s anger any day but Sabina’s disappointment had a greater affect.
Sabina turned to face her, “I’m going to ask you one question. Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Yes.” Lanias answered honestly, she’d found her parents and Alek.
Sabina nodded, “Will you be leaving again?”