Pierce.
He looked at the cage, and the eagle that had used limited magick to send him a thought. “What?”
Take the collar off. Aiden jumped in pain. It’s getting too tight, and I can’t breathe. I can’t turn human in here, but I will if I pass out.
He considered as she shook in pain. “I have your word that you won’t try anything…”
Yes. Aiden watched as he approached, and opened a small slot in the door. Sticking his hands in, he slowly took the collar off, watching her the whole time. She doubted that he knew how painful it was to resist the temptation to tear a few fingers off.
He pulled his hands back quickly as she jumped once the collar was off, and slammed the small door. He returned her malicious gaze, then turned and walked away.
Savitar! Aiden thought, hoping that he would answer. She couldn’t use her telepathic powers too much with the collar, and needed to make up for that now. Savitar!!!
No need to yell.
Tell me what’s going on. She waited for a few moments. Please.
She heard a long sigh before he began. Apollo told the Apollites that a golden, childless, flying woman, married to a two hundred year old man could break their curse.
That’s an old legend. Besides, I’m not golden, I’m a brunette.
Golden eagle, babe.
She sighed as she paced the inside of the cage, her talons clacking on the metal. If all of this was happening, and the two strongest beings she’s ever known were concerned, then it was a good bet that it wasn’t just some bedtime legend. Why not kill Pierce and then this will go away.
No. The prophecy, if you will… said ‘a’, as in one. If Pierce were killed, then Stryker would find another to take his place. By letting this continue, then they’ve had their one chance.
So, I’m the bait.
Yes.
She blinked at the simple way he said that. As soon as I get out of this cage, I’m teleporting to your island and clawing my way through your surfboards before I leave.
To her surprise, he chuckled. If I ever got you here, little eagle, you’d never want to leave.
She jerked as a feeling went through her mind, a feather soft caress that took her fatigue away. It was calming, yet frightening, demanding, but at the same time, completely sensual. Shivering at the feeling, she tried to keep still so that she wouldn’t call attention to herself.
The sensation stopped, and Savitar’s voice turned serious. This is the way it has to be.
Savitar? She rocked in place. Savitar?? She cursed to herself when he didn’t reply. Damn, damn, damn. This was not looking good for her.
~~~~~~~~~~
In New Orleans, Vane Kattalakis stood from the couch as a man appeared in his living room. His wife, Bride, looked at him, startled until she realized who it was.
“I need your help,” Ash said, without apology for intruding.
Bride stood, kissed Vane, and said, “Go.”
They both knew that Ash wouldn’t invade the sanctity of their home, or be asking for help if it wasn’t extremely important.
Ash touched the Arcadian wolf’s arm, and they both vanished, only to reappear at Ash’s New Orleans’ place.
“You could have called,” Vane said.
“Some Avians are making a deal with the Daimons in the Rockies to sacrifice an eagle.”
Vane went still. “That is not good.” He ran his fingers through his long wavy dark brown hair. “Arcadian or Katagaria?”
“Arcadian.”
He frowned. “Legend has it that the sacrifice like that would bring benefit to those present to be able to withstand the light. And Daimons walking around in the day is too scary to even think about.”
“It’s not going to happen.”
“Is that Ash talking, or Acheron talking?”
“Both.” He willed a change of clothes, leaving his trademark long black jacket for something more suitable to a wooded, mountain region. “I have no desire to see Aiden killed, and all those Daimons in one spot is too good to pass up.”
“Aiden?” Vane asked. “Aiden Falconidae?”
“Yes.”
Vane sighed and closed his hazel-green eyes. “If she finds out you asked me to help, she’ll seriously try to kick your ass.”
“I know.” Ash touched Vane’s arm again, and they reappeared in Aiden’s apartment.
“This is suppose to take place just before dawn, so I can’t risk Dark-Hunters.”
Vane got his bearings, and looked around. “I’ll be back in ten minutes.” He vanished.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The room was quiet, and Aiden passed the hours by singing songs to herself to keep her mind occupied and awake. She was halfway through ‘Everything About You’ by Ugly Kid Joe when the door opened and Pierce walked in. She wished she could laugh at how apt it was that he arrived during that song, but there was really nothing funny about her predicament.
Ironically funny, maybe.
Morbidly funny, definitely…
but plain ol’ funny… no bloody way.
The song finished, she started doing the one thing that she had been doing rather regularly since she was taken from the diner. She began to curse the fates. It might have been a bad idea, but she really didn’t care. Mating her with an asshole like Pierce, when they must have known that it could lift the curse.
After all, how many eagles that had been mated for over eighty years were childless? Well, maybe that was a good thing, though. No children meant less people for Pierce to terrorize. She straightened with a horrible thought. Had they produced off springs, then would he have killed them with the rest that night, or would they have joined him in the killings? Would he have even killed their extended families if none of this curse lifting business was going on.
If this curse was true, there was no way she would allow herself to be used to bring Daimons in to the light. Apollites, maybe, if it broke their dying at age twenty-seven deal, but she’d never allow killers to have freedom. If it came down to it, she vowed that she would die by her own hands and deprive Pierce the chance to do the deed.
She closed her eyes with a sigh, trying to fight the headache that was happening.
~~~~~~~~~~~
The area was rustic, and out of the way, the perfect spot for his patria, or family, to have their den. Vane appeared just outside of the area, and entered, his scent and presence alerting the others around him that he was there. Although he was the Regis, or official leader, he had placed one of his brothers, Fury, in charge of the pack.
He came upon a large white timber wolf with a brown spot, who was curled up with a small brown wolf. Vane raised his eyebrow, since Fury hadn’t been the type to cuddle up to anything.
Whadaya want? Fury cracked one eye open and regarded him.
“I’m going to give you the opportunity to kick a few Daimon asses,” Vane said.
Fury had no more love for their ‘relatives’ than he did. Keep talking….
“An eagle by the name of Aiden Falconidae is going to be sacrificed to break their curse.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m going to stop that from happening.”
Fury stared. You want me to help you save who?
“Aiden Falconidae. “
That’s who I thought you said. His brother changed himself to human, and quickly willed clothing on to his body. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Vane, but… are you insane?” He crossed his arms over his well-muscled chest. “That bird has spent the past eighty plus years waging war on any wolf she sees… Katagari or Arcadian. Doesn’t matter to her.”
“Knock off the theatrics,” Vane sighed. “I need your help.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
~~~~~~~~~~
Stryker could almost feel the daylight on his skin. Born a son of Apollo, he had existed before this foul curse had been leveled against him for something ninety-nine percent of his people had been innocent in.
All this because the Apollite/Atlantean queen had sent her people to kill Apollo’s Greek human mistress and her son. His father had taken a rather large hissy fit, and cursed his creation, the Apollites, to darkness and to die at the age of twenty-seven.
That was the last time Stryker had felt the warmth on his face. And tonight would be the last time he was denied it.
Once they were free, he planned on getting a tan, then helping himself to as many humans as he could until dusk, when the Dark-Hunters would be able to come out and play.
Hopefully Savitar would keep his nosey ass out of it, and not ruin Stryker’s fun. The Spathi Leader sighed. One never knew what would peek Savitar’s interest, and bring the wrath of Armageddon down on some unsuspecting sucker. The surfer was completely unpredictable, fickle, and so dangerous that nearly every god that Stryker knew cringed at the mere mention of Savitar’s name. Most wouldn’t even speak it out loud for fear of drawing his attention to them.
The only soft spot the bastard had was for the Were-Hunters, and Acheron. And both were things that Stryker was more than willing to mess with, regardless of the outcome. Sometimes playing with fire managed to light the brightest candle and lead people out of the dark.
~~~~~~~~~~
Ash stared at the two men that appeared in Aiden’s living room. He gave an approving nod to Vane. Although there would only be three of them, two of the Kattalakis brothers were as good as ten men each. Both were powerful in pure strength, while Vane was an Aristo, an Arcadian with the ability to wield magick effortlessly, as well as a Sentinel, a guardian of man- and were-kind.
Fury, on the other paw, was a Katagari wolf, and what he lacked in magick, he made up for in audacity.
The eldest of a litter of six born to a violent mating, Vane had been Katagari until he hit puberty, when his Arcadian side took over. Fury had been born Arcadian, and like Vane, his alternate side took over after puberty, leaving him confused, angry, and hating the rest of his family.
Both hated Daimons. Their sister Anya and her pups had been slaughtered during a Daimon attack on the den, and a brother, Fang, had been seriously injured when he and Vane were literally left hanging high and dry in the Louisiana swamps as a Daimon sacrifice.
“Okay,” Fury said, clapping his hands together and rubbing them greedily. “Where are the Daimons?”
Ash arched an eyebrow as Vane gently smacked his brother in the back of the head with his fingers.
Fury gave them a confused look. “You said there’d be Daimon asses I could kick.” He crossed his arms and glared at his brother. “Don’t tell me you’ve mastered the human trait of lying?”
Vane sighed in annoyance, and then ignored his brother. Fury was too centered in his animal side to grasp certain concepts, and lived to harass his ‘human’ brother about them.
“If the Vaudeville Routine is over…?” Ash asked, looking from one to another. “I’m about to find out where she is.” He pulled his leather jacket back, and lifted the corner of his shirt. “Simi, appear.”
The dragon tattoo on his side peeled off the skin, hovered in front of him. It grew until it took the demon shape of Simi then solidified.
“Hi brothers!” she said happily as she spotted Vane and Fury.
Fury took one large step back, eyeing her horns and wings warily. Vane smiled at her as he too took a step back.
“No eating the wolves,” Ash said as he switched his gaze to the floor. Aiden?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Savitar leaned back on the mound of pillows that sat to one side of his private throne room. No one, except for him, had ever gained entry here, and he liked it that way. He nabbed a grape from a large bowl of fruit and tossed it into his mouth.
If he were human, or even had the emotion of shame, he should be feeling it right now. As it was, all he felt was complete narcissistic satisfaction. It had taken some rather ingenious cunning on his part to set all this in motion, and over one hundred years to see it come to fruition.
A casual mention to Acheron about an eagle he should meet, and then letting the immortal do what he did best… care about someone and their future. The whole thing had been true, the curse, the prophecy and the sacrifice. With one little exception.
Knowing that Stryker would be searching for a way to break the curse, Savitar had planted the ‘golden, childless’ part in the description. Then, he sent out his own ‘agents’ with hints for Stryker to find, and within a few thousand years, the Spathi Leader had found someone.
Savitar saw it all play out in front of him, although he hadn’t counted on the eagerness of Pierce in his willingness to make a deal with a devil. Through that, Aiden had been taken from a vibrant Arcadian eagle, to a timid shadow of herself.
Had his own existence not been on the line, Savitar would have stepped in long ago and had a little ‘chat’ with Pierce about his treatment of someone who was suppose to be his lifelong mate. But, since his existence was on the line, and Savitar rather liked his omnipotent existence, he refrained.
If this played out like he planned, Aiden would be saved, and Pierce killed. Stryker would never know that Aiden hadn’t been the eagle of prophecy, and he would give up looking at that angle after his one and only shot.
The Daimons were tied to far too many cosmic streams to destroy, or even allowed to be free of the curse. Once heavy-duty curses like that were lifted, forces tended to shift, and gods, even ones as powerful as Savitar, got caught in the crossfire.
Okay, maybe...he might have been doing this to preserve all other existence, too.
Now, all Ash had to do was save the girl, kill the bad guy, and this would all be over with. He felt a slight touch of guilt for using Ash the way he had, but knew that he would soon get over it.
There, he was over it.
In a list
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
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Of course it's never that easy. I bet that something will go wrong when he's trying to do it
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"Sometimes playing with fire managed to light the brightest candle and lead people out of the dark" favorite line ever! so witty and clever!
and to think that savitar was behind it all all along... im almost mad at him. too bad tht would be a waste for emotion considering it wouldnt bug him in the least. -
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I'm glad that you're enjoying it.
Yes... Savitar is sort of to blame for all this... but, he has his reasons (which is explained in the Golden Tears novella .. which I have to reorganize because I fear I am falling into soap opera-dom in it)
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Yaaahhhh! Vane and Fury!!!! Savitar may be god to me, but Fury comes a close second.
Excellent chapter and dinstead of gushing, I'm running to read the next one.
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This chapter was great! I really enjoyed reading it. The fourth to last paragraph's first sentence was a bit confusing,
"The Daimons were tied too far too many..." Is probably the way it should be- with 'to' being 'too'.
Other than that, I kind of forgot to pay attention to typos and I'm sorry. Maybe there weren't many.
I can't wait to see what happens with Aiden. I'm beginning to like Savitar's character more and more- it's so different from other characters I've encountered. Most characters that are narcissistic would be dislikable- but I don't know. Savitar is probably another one of my favorite characters.
Have a good day!
MoonNight
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 5, ending: 5, dialog: 5, characters: 5.
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Thanks for pointing it out! ( I get to and too mixed up if I have to use them together.. alone, I have no problem)
And Stryker or Savitar?
(after this is all over, I'm going to be posting sort of a bonus chapter for a friend of mine, who is (I think) in love with Savitar
crazy chick that she is)
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I'm not in love with Savitar.
I just happen to think that he's a shmexy fictional character whom I lust after. 
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Uh-huh... you keep telling yourself that.
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