Chapter 20
CHAPTER 20
H is mother. The woman Areleus had a transactional relationship with to create his children. Yeah, she was going to be as gentle as kitten cuddles. Right before they claw you. Even with her sweetness to Dominic, I was reluctant to change my opinion.
She gave me a cursory look. I was unable to give her my undivided attention because I was distracted by the unobstructed view of the creature Dominic had fought and the man with the bird-like features who joined him. Set in a humanly round face was a hawkish nose, intense beady eyes, and ears so flat against his head they seemed nonexistent. His silver hair was cut close to the scalp except for a few that were too long and lifted from his head. The avian movement of his head was the most disturbing thing about the man-creature.
“Dragar,” she addressed the creature who fought with Dominic, “let the others know that the trespasser is my son. He will be allowed to leave.”
“And his guest?” he asked, his words a sibilant hiss.
“I don’t know yet. It depends on the reason behind my son’s visit.”
Yeah, I called it. Without another word, she turned and headed back in the direction she came. Dominic started to follow but stopped when he noticed I wasn’t moving.
“Luna?”
“I won’t be a prisoner again. She has to let me leave.”
“She’ll let you leave.”
“Her statement seemed to contradict that,” I challenged.
He sighed, rubbing his hand over the light shadow on his beard. “Luna, we need her help. I will not let her keep you here.”
His mother turned around with a smile so genteel, it urged all my protective defenses to relax. I wasn’t falling for it. Weaponless, the only thing I had was distance and the ability to land enough distracting hits before getting the hell out of the garden of creepy creatures. So I was going to keep that advantage.
“Luna.” With the same quick eerie movement as her son, she was directly in front of me, offering me another of her enchantingly disarming smiles.
Still not buying it.
“He will not make that decision. I will.”
“Mother,” he snapped.
“Dominicus, you visit me with the stench of humans and supernaturals on you, and you brought this creature of the unknown.” She turned again and continued her walk toward her destination.
I’m a creature of the unknown. This place is the freaking Island of Doctor Moreau and I’m suspect?
Humility. It was a look I wasn’t used to seeing on Dominic. He wore it with an aversion and unfamiliarity.
“I had no other place to go,” he admitted. His admission stopped her in her tracks.
“What has Areleus done?” she ground out, drawing her lips back in a scowl. The avian creature was showing distress at her display of anger.
Dominic nudged his chin forward, urging her to continue. We navigated along one of the trails to a house that made Dominic’s home diminutive in comparison.
A massive and stately white Greek revival home entrance had equally impressive columns greeting us. Beautiful flowering vines wound up the sides of the home. It was an enchanting view until I noticed the vines were in constant sinuous movement and were pulling away from the house and reaching for me. Dominic eased me closer to him.
“Mother.”
With a wave of her hand, the vines settled back against the home in the illusion of decoration.
Opening the elaborately decorated iron doors and standing on each side of the entry as sentries was a menagerie of more peculiar creatures.
“Stand down, it’s just Dominicus.”
“Dominic,” he corrected.
She tossed a look in his direction that profoundly rejected his suggestion. The sound of her shoes clicking over the marble floors echoed in the minimally decorated space. No art or a lot of home décor. Walls decorated by ornate wainscoting that I stared at too long, expecting them to do something disturbing.
As she continued to escort us through the house with its distinctive columns and archways, I got glimpses of the peculiar person who occupied it. The evergreen walls looked as if they were made of crushed velvet. What could have easily looked gauche held a level of refinement that embodied his mother. She guided us to a sitting area of four chairs. Dominic sat directly in front of her. I sat next to him, closest to the room’s exit.
“Why are you here with your creature?”
I think I preferred the description ‘toy’ or ‘human’ that Areleus and Helena used.
“It’s Luna,” I provided.
She cut her eyes at me and said my name slowly, tasting all the letters and exhibiting the talent her children possessed to make it sound like a curse or defilement.
Moments ticked by as I remained under her cool unyielding assessment.
“I’m Ileana,” she eventually provided with a reluctance I didn’t understand.
Dominic spilled everything to her, giving freely what he’d held from his father and the others. His mother stayed expressionless throughout the telling. She frowned, seemingly drifting in and out of contemplation.
“He betrayed you for power he already has? It makes no sense.”
“It’s not power he already has. He wants control of the shades. It would give him a small army with far more capabilities than the one he has. I don’t believe he wants the supernaturals to be in the shadows anymore. He wants complete dominance, and the Dark Caster will give him that.”
Her gaze trailed over Dominic with a boastful look of pride. “He fears you. You’ve exhibited something that makes him believe he can’t win against you.”
Dominic gave her an indolent shrug. The bank of fire that had muted flared in his eyes. He didn’t seem to have a problem with their internal battle for power; it was the betrayal that seemed to sting the most. Or was it that he’d never anticipated it? I wondered which betrayal hurt the most, Areleus’s or Helena’s.
“Easy, son.”
Her gentle coaxing words didn’t stop his spiral into barely contained anger. Fire pulsed in his eyes, claws embedded in the arms of his chair, and his strong magical energy swirled.
His mother watched him with slight amusement and concern. “I’ve always admired and despised Areleus for his power-thirst,” she admitted.
“He has no restraint,” Dominic said. “The shades are loose, he’s aligned himself with the Dark Caster, and he’s destroying allies. This will not get him the results he wants.”
“The alliance with the Dark Caster will be temporary. Betraying him is imminent, so I’m not sure of the problem.”
“I would have agreed, but this Dark Caster is strong, cunning. He has access to more magic, which makes him a force like I haven’t seen before. And if he gets to Luna, I’m not sure how to counter him.” The unspoken part of his sentence held a complex tapestry of emotions. How did he counter Peter when Helena and Areleus were Peter’s allies?
His voice lowered, uneasiness in his admission of someone being stronger than him.
Ileana’s brows furrowed as stony eyes gave me a once-over. She clasped her fingers together. The silence stretched and became heavier with each passing moment.
“You want to maintain the status quo,” she surmised, showing the same disdain that the royals and the magically inclined held for humans. “They want exposure. Change life. Reveal the existence of magic and its magical creatures. It would allow more procreation and change the power balance of the world. I’m not sure I see the problem.”
“At the loss of human autonomy and freedom,” I provided.
She frowned at my response, or just the mere fact I spoke. Cool eyes trailed from my feet up to my head. She was clearly annoyed.
“The humans will still have the illusion of autonomy and freedom. Just a change in the hierarchical system. Instead of living alongside each other in separate systems, it will be as one. Survival of the fittest.”
“Humans are capable of surviving against supernaturals who possess magic, preternatural speed, strength, and limited weaknesses that can be used to keep them in check?”
She shrugged. “Then they don’t survive.”
I slumped back in the chair, disillusioned. Trying to appeal to the humanity of people who didn’t seem to possess a drop of it was draining.
“No system is perfect but this one is the fairest,” Dominic pointed out.
“Fairest.” She rolled her eyes.
“Yes. Supernaturals must adhere to established rules and maintain their anonymity. They can’t do so at the expense of humans.” He glanced at me because that had been insisted upon as a priority when the terms of Dominic’s intervention were renegotiated. “When the rules are broken, I handle it.”
After a moment of consideration, she said, “Release the prisoners from the Perils. Vadim will cause his typical disruption. He will be an efficient agitator to the shifters and the witches.” A shifter immune to silver and with magic was more than just an agitation, he was a menace. “The vampire is the most mercurial of them all. Tell Roman he’ll be allowed free rein, but only his line can exist. His ego will convince him that his line is the only one worthy of existing. He’ll kill all the other vampires. He’s quite good at that. Roman would be the one to cause the most problems.”
“His claws are poisonous and mute the magic of anyone they touch,” Dominic pointed out.
She dismissed the information with a wave of her hand. “You’ve encountered him on many occasions, how often have you fallen prey to them? You are a superior fighter. Roman will be of no concern to you.”
Dominic appeared agitated by having to remember the times Roman had successfully disabled his magic with his poison. “I felt them enough times to be wary.”
“He’s dangerous and a threat to all. His release will be an adequate distraction for Peter.” She scowled at the name he was going by. “A touch from Roman’s claws affects Peter as it does all of us. After he’s caused the necessary damage, declaw him. I’m confident you can find a spell that will adequately prevent them healing back. None of his sired have shown to have those abilities. He would be a non-issue. If he remains a concern, once he’s served his purpose…” She flicked her wrist. A flippant response to the suggestion of murder. “Celeste is a different story. She’s too powerful. I predict the witch will be a problem for you. There will always be someone who wants her free—to curry favor with her. Her extermination will be far more beneficial than preservation of her life.”
Dominic seemed to be giving the suggestion consideration. “She spelled herself so that her life is linked to the most powerful witch bloodline. If she dies, they do, too.”
I had been reduced to advocating for people who hated me.
“I made an oath to Madeline and her coven that Celeste would be spared until they found a way to break the spell.”
She shrugged. “Celeste is the reason Roman is the threat he is,” she provided in an effort to coax Dominic into her solution.
Fuck. Helena didn’t have a fighting chance of being decent with these people as parents.
“So, your suggestion is to let my world descend into chaos, murder, and dominating the weakest and maybe…just maybe a few humans survive? A magical carpet bomb and then what?” I asked.
Dominic’s head rested back on the chair, his eyes fixed on the ceiling. “Then I go in after the wreckage and clean up,” he said. “My rules, alliances with those standing, and everything different. New.”
“Yes, or you can do nothing. I’ve always wondered why you all got involved with the humans and supernaturals. Boredom?”
“Someone had to do it.” The underworld in all its scariness actually played a vital role in reining in magic wielders.
“So,” I drawled in sheer incredulity, “anarchy is the solution we’re going with?” My sarcasm irritated Ileana, but at that moment, I didn’t give a damn.
Dominic shifted position, studying me for a long time, which prompted his mother to do the same before studying the way he looked at me, her eyes narrowing in scrutiny, her lips twisting into a moue.
When he spoke, he said, “It’s been this way for centuries, our level of involvement changing, but we worked as enforcers of the rules. I’d be the first to admit that it teeters in a very delicate balance, but as I stated, it is functional.”
“Is functional all you want?” Ileana challenged.
“I believe it better serves my purpose than allowing chaos to reign, sorting through the wreckage, and trying to make something of the tattered alliances, broken promises, and betrayals. Areleus has made quite a mess of things.”
Areleus killing the members of the New Conventicle surely led to the existing Conventicle believing Dominic’s betrayal was imminent. Further straining their fragile alliance. Whichever effect it had, Areleus and Peter at the helm signified a change in the status quo. Would they fight to keep their presence known or would they fall in line and make taking over human rule their new objective?
“You want things as they were?”
He nodded. “Or close to how they were. I know drastic measures will be necessary to make a point, but not what you are suggesting.”
Deep brackets formed along Ileana’s face. She inhaled a deep breath through her nose. “If they stop the progression of the new world, what will happen to my Helena?”
Dominic’s jaw clenched, her betrayal still raw.
“You know that is Helena’s way. She sides with whomever she believes will be the victor.” Ileana preened. That must be mother speak for ‘my daughter is a cruel opportunist.’
Weird thing to be proud of? A daughter who was only loyal to the one who wielded the most power and who would allow her malicious ways to go unimpeded with an occasional word of rebuke that she’d ignore. Her violent fits of rage. A fashionable sociopath.
“Dominic?” she said, urging a response.
“How am I to treat her betrayal?” he asked with careful restraint. His expression betrayed his emotions.
“The same as you have in the past. Forgiveness. She has her ways.”
“She continues to have these unpredictable ways because she never suffers real consequences. There must be consequences.”
“You will not kill my daughter. Do as you will with Areleus. No, not as you will, for it seems you’ve been more pious as of late.” She skewered me with a look, assigning me blame I didn’t deserve. I wasn’t seeing it. Dominic wasn’t as cruel as he could be—as Helena and Areleus were—but he wasn’t this lamb they were making him out to be. He was the brutal being he needed to be to exist in this fierce world.
“Have I been clear, son?” she said after minutes ticked by without a response.
“I don’t want to kill Helena,” Dominic admitted.
“And you won’t. Dominicus, you don’t seem to want my advice, so why are you here?”
He explained about me temporarily dying in response to the magic being removed, then added, “I need to destroy any chance of Peter using Luna’s magic and the possibility that he has magic that outmatches mine.”
“Ah.” She nodded over her steepled hands. She may have understood what he was asking but I had no clue. My eyes bounced between the two of them, trying to figure it out.
A slow smile curled her lips, excitement bright in her eyes. “You want me to recreate your creature?”
“No the hell he doesn’t,” I blurted at the same time as Dominic nodded. Nothing about that statement seemed like something I wanted to be a part of. Recreate? No thank you. Standing, I put necessary distance between me and Dominic.
The expansive room seemed too small, and panic made my body too warm and breathing too difficult. Each short-clipped breath I took did nothing to ease the rush of emotions.
“Luna,” Dominic eased out in a strained voice, inching toward me as if he feared I’d scurry away. He wasn’t far off. But where would I go? Outside to hang out with the other creatures I presumed his mother had created? Fondle those weird vines winding up the house, probably also her creations or ‘recreations’?
“This is the best choice. A way to save your life and give you magic, too.”
“At what cost!?” I snapped. I stayed put as he removed the distance between us.
“Not one greater than your life.”
It was becoming increasingly uncomfortable to be under his mother’s scrutiny. We seemed to be a source of entertainment that she was thoroughly enjoying. Sensing my discomfort, he extended his hand to mine. I hesitated.
“Luna, come with me.”
Holding my hand, he navigated me through the massive home, walking past beautifully decorated rooms where I slowed to get a look at the people inside. People, there were actual people. The sight of them gave me an unexpected and welcome ease. Then one of the occupant’s snake-slitted eyes met mine. My startled response brought a wide, fanged smile to his face. A woman walked across the sitting room, giving me a view of a tail. An older man walked toward me and flashed a smile when I noticed that his beard looked very similar to that seen on a goat and that there were small horns peeking from the mass of wavy salt and pepper hair. I stumbled back into Dominic, unable to hide my unease at the sight of all these peculiar beings. He caressed me to him and directed me into an apartment.
“Would you like something to drink?” he asked, waving to the coffee and tea bar at one end and an actual bar at the other. I was already on edge; coffee would have just added to that. Not wanting to dampen my anxiety, which was a healthy response to the idea of being ‘recreated,’ I declined herbal tea or alcohol.
Dominic poured a measure from the bottle of bourbon. The wafting scent had me reconsidering. Nope, I needed to keep a clear head.
“What should I call your mother?” I asked, causing Dominic to stop mid-drink from surprise.
It was the most innocuous of the many questions that flooded my mind, but at that moment it seemed oddly important. I needed to know more about her other than her being Dominic’s mother, a woman who’d had a transactional relationship with Areleus in order to procreate, was a strict adherent to the tenet of survival of the fittest, considered the carpet bomb approach to ending strife, and could create unique creatures. Overwhelmed, I needed to know something simple about her.
“Ileana is fine,” he said.
“Is she a queen or some nobility? Lady?”
“This is her domain, and she has been the queen of other domains in the past. Not by birth or marriage but conquest.”
“Of course, conquest. I want this space, so I’ll annihilate anyone in my way and take it. Please and thank you,” I snipped back. I worked at easing the frown off my face but gave up.
“Everyone who lives here is one of her creations. She’s their god. She won’t take offense if you simply call her by her name as long as it’s not accompanied by disrespect. Those who wish to curry favor will refer to her as Lady Ileana,” he explained.
“What is this place, her retirement home?”
“She’s had such a tumultuous history that when she travels, she is always met with apprehension. She visits us and other places very seldom.”
What a charming and diplomatic way of saying his mother moved through the dimensions of the underworld causing havoc to the point that her presence bred suspicion. I got a clearer picture of why Areleus chose her as their mother.
“Her distaste for ‘humans’ supernaturals.’” That was a hell of a misnomer. How could they be ours when we lived unaware of their existence and were subjected to their magic when they failed to maintain their anonymity?
“They have weaker magic. She’s unable to appreciate their ability to navigate the human world unnoticed.”
“You’ve done it.” There was an otherness to them. Enough to take notice of their presence in any space.
“Not effortlessly. I don’t go as unnoticed as I should.” He studied me for a long moment as he took a sip from his glass. “Those aren’t the questions you want to ask, are they?”
“Of course not. You asked her to ‘recreate’ me. How can she do that? What is she?”
“She’s a dark deity with the ability to create life.”
“Is that the main reason your father wanted children with her?”
“They chose each other. My father is powerful in his own right, but he’d hoped we’d be gifted with the ability to create life as well. There’s always the risk of dilution of the magic when the parents are not the same. That happened with us.”
“You can’t do ‘recreation’ or ‘create’?”
“I believe I can have children. That is a form of creation.”
“You know what I mean. Like your mother.”
“No one can. She’s quite powerful. My magic is strong because of her, and I was able to create my hellhounds.”
Snapping my gaping mouth shut, I blinked several times. They might not be humanlike, but they were intelligent creatures. And Dominic created them.
“I’m not sure what my recreation would even be but I’m pretty damn sure it’s something you should have discussed with me first.”
Dominic’s solemn look of introspection was a clear indicator that he didn’t agree. A recreation needed to be done, so it would be done. The world needed to be righted, so he’d do what was needed to make it happen without consult from those involved.
I dropped onto the sofa. “Give me details of what you asked of your mother.”
“You exist as a vessel of magic. Technically you aren’t alive. You’re, for lack of a better word, an inanimate object. The magic can exist without you—you can’t without it. I need her to recreate you into a living being that exists alongside the magic. My hope is that you will emerge as the person you are now but with access to that magic. Not just an object that lives because of it.”
The explanation sounded worse.
“Dragar was once a snake.”
“And she made him into the thing that likes to greet people by attacking them?”
“Just me. He was playing with me. Others aren’t treated as kindly.”
“You want your mother to play Doctor Moreau with me?”
He shook his head. “What he is was my mother’s choice. They all are. She will make you Luna—Luna with magic.”
Catching the morose hitch in his last words, I studied him.
“You don’t want this, do you?”
He sighed. Placing the drink on the table next to the sofa, he sat down, pulling me to him and positioning me until I straddled him. I’d become so comfortable being around blood that I barely noticed the stains on his shirt from his sister’s assault. My fingers languidly traced the contours of his jaw. Closing his eyes, he moved into my touch. He took my hand in his and kissed it.
“I don’t like making decisions out of a desperate circumstance. The way things are, you will die at someone’s hands, either by Peter when he takes away all your magic, or someone else will kill you because you’ve been linked too many times to the misfortunes that have occurred. I’d do everything in my power to stop it. I don’t have my father and sister at my side. They’re killing those I could turn to as allies. All they know is that Peter wants you. His persistence in going after you will not go unnoticed. If your recreation is the success I think it will be, you wouldn’t be a source of magic for the Dark Caster. You’ll have your own magic and be a force in your own right. That, I look forward to seeing.”
Pulling my hands from his, my fingers ran over his face, rubbing out the furrow in his brow. “Tell your face that,” I teased. “But?” The unresolved question hung in the air. A burden too difficult for him to bear.
“I’ve grown to find comfort in you. You’re very human .” I could tell that in the past such distinction didn’t hold the same value. “As much as a recreation is needed to keep you safe, I fear that you won’t be Luna, my Luna, when it’s done,” he admitted.
A slight flush moved over the pronounced lines of his cheeks. Gently, I ran my fingers over them, the heat of his body warming my fingers.
“I find more than just comfort in you. I’ll take a world I don’t understand, because you’re in it,” I admitted.
He kissed me deeply, his tongue exploring my mouth, hands roving over me before caressing me to his body. “Good. I’m finding it very difficult imagining my life without you. There’s a wholeness when you are around. And you have this surreal way of making me feel grounded. I don’t want to lose that. I can’t lose that. Or you.”
“I’ll always be your Luna.”
They were supposed to be words of comfort and assurance. But they felt like an oath and acceptance of me being his and he being mine. Despite hating the world he lived in, I wanted Dominic. Every intention I had to stay away from him and this world seemed to fall away. This world was the baggage he came with.
I stayed, pressed against him. Despite the warm security of his arms around me, I couldn’t dismiss what I’d discovered about my sitter, Gloria. So, I relayed everything that occurred during dinner with my family, including the werewolf that was trending along with people discovering magic. I wasn’t the least surprised that Dominic knew about it and took part in it being handled.
“Could Gloria have been a Dark Caster? Don’t you find it peculiar that she just conveniently disappeared from our lives?”
“What did she look like?” he asked.
I described her and he seemed to be trying to remember if he’d encountered her.
“She was probably an emissary or follower. Despite supernaturals in your world living in the shadows, it is impossible to be completely unnoticed in any world. There’s always a group of people who know of their existence, are followers or acolytes.” He gave me a tight smile. “And that is another issue humans will have to deal with if there is ever a reckoning between humans and the supernatural world. Humans will have defectors.” It was a reminder how important it was to maintain the system we had. It just needed to be enforced better, with protections extended to humans. “I’m not sure if she was a Dark Caster or someone who worked for one, but how does this information change anything, Luna?”
“If we find her, maybe she could reverse what was done to me,” I suggested. “Recreation seems like such an extreme option,” I added when he seemed unmoved by my proposal.
“The most extreme is your death. And that’s what they want, Luna. You dead.”
Knowing this fate was disheartening. Whether or not I’d performed the spell that released the prisoners from the Perils, I would have been swept into this world because of what I am.
Dominic cradled my face. “You’re a tool for Peter and you’re at his whim. You know how I feel about this situation. I wish there was an alternative, but there isn’t. Understand, this is the best way to save your life. Will you do it?”
I nodded. He sighed, pulling me closer to him.
“Now we must hope my mother agrees.”
“What? You think she wouldn’t?” I pulled from his hold to look at him.
“My mother is very protective and ungenerous with her magic,” he said.
“Not even at your request.”
“She’d give it more consideration, but my mother has never had feelings of maternal obligation. If it is a sound decision, it will be granted.”
“She was very insistent that you not kill your sister.”
“Yes, she values our lives as an extension of who she is. If she doesn’t feel that my retaliation toward Helena is satisfactory, she’ll exact her own because Helena attempted to kill me. No one kills my mother’s creations without retaliation.”
“Well, hopefully she’ll be equally invested in my life.”
“She won’t have to, because I will.”
Dominic decided to seek his mother’s answer the next day and took me to the shower, where we attempted to wash away the savagery of the day, his touches a desperate need as they slid over me. He was ravenous. No matter how many times he found some satisfaction in me, he remained unsated. Curled up in bed, in the apartment he’d either claimed for the night or was his own since he showed a great familiarity with it, Dominic held me. Last thing I heard was “My Luna,” before I drifted off. I was okay with being his Luna, but I was left with a vestige of apprehension that I wasn’t going to be the same Luna any longer.
But if his mother agreed, I would do it.