“From her mother’s side, yes. No doubt,” Vito says. “But she is also her father’s child. She bears Light Fae magick. I speak the truth.”
Tiamat bows Her head for all of a brief moment. “Why only now?” She asks. “Why all of this time wasted?”
She believes him? Vito is about as astounded as he has ever been in his long life. He was expecting them to throw about accusations and explanations for at least the next hour or so before She blew him off and went back to Her Dragon form.
“Because Aefre doesn’t want to give you what you want,” Vito says candidly, now confident that the wards will hold.
“We’ll see about that,” Tiamat growls at him and, in a flurry of movement, She Shifts and with an eardrum-bursting shriek, She flies off with the rest of Her Dragons in tow.
“Do you have any idea what you have just done?” Constantine bellows at him, the look of absolute fury and fear in his eyes making Vito cringe.
“I got the Dragons off the lawn and made a clear path to the Faerie ring,” Vito answers, pointing at the gardens. “Remiel, if you please?” He turns to the man who has made his sudden reappearance and watches as Remiel flicks his hand with a shrug. Vito turns on his heel and storms across the gardens to get to the Ring and back to Aefre as quickly as he can.
The Underworld, October 2014 - Devon
“So, what is the big plan here?” Devon calls after Vito. “Are you going to rescue her now?”
Vito ignores him to his ire, dead set on his course towards the Ring. They all follow him, but as they duck behind the large shrub where the Ring was forged when he and Lincoln were forcibly banished from the Fae Kingdoms, they all stop dead.
Tiamat is standing over the Ring, chanting a spell as a stream of purple power cascades down over the Ring and then hovers over it as if waiting for instruction.
“So, I am right in assuming my daughter is still cowering in the Fae Kingdoms,” She says. “Which one of you do I have to spell to step through this Ring to go and get her?”
“She is staying there, where she is safe from you,” Constantine snarls at Her. “You can’t get to her.”
“Well then, neither can you,” Tiamat says and releases the purple cloud. It settles over the Ring, forming a protective barrier around it. “I will wait for the first one of you to miss her the most and to offer a deal to undo the ward. Oh, and don’t try going to any other Ring, they are all the same.”
“You’ve trapped her?” Devon asks in surprise. He wouldn’t have bargained on that.
“I have had many centuries of waiting for my true heir, young Devon,” She says with a wicked smile. “I have great patience. I think I am right in saying that all of you, her men, are not quite so good at waiting for her.” The disgust in Her tone is evident and it irritates them all as one.
“You,” She spits at Remiel. “You surprise me the most. What good is all of that power running through you if you stand by and idly wait for her to want you? This just reinforces what a mistake I made when I created you. You are weak,” She hisses.
“I will not control her,” Remiel answers and Devon has to stifle the snicker that threatens to bubble up. All he has done this entire time is to control her. “She will come to me on her own.”
Devon watches warily for Constantine’s reaction, but for once the man knows when to keep his mouth shut. They need to be together in this or Tiamat is going to pick them off one by one and there will be nothing any of them can do to stop it.
“Your intentions are true,” She says to Vito, sidling up to him and throwing him a seductive smile. “My daughter should be honored to have someone with her best interests at heart.”
“I have her best interests at heart,” Constantine growls, not being able to keep quiet any longer.
“Hm,” Tiamat says with a little sniff. “So, what’s it going to be?”
“It is going to be you lifting that ward and leaving Aefre alone,” Remiel says so casually it makes the hair on Devon’s arms stand on end. What is he planning?
“Come over here and say that, boy,” She sneers at him.
They all watch as Remiel Vamps out and Devon resists the urge to step back. He is growling like a rabid animal, his long and ancient fangs protruding out of his mouth and dripping with venom. Devon wonders how in Hell Lizzie could stand to be bitten by him, never mind drained enough to be able to turn.
“You don’t have it in you,” Tiamat taunts him. “You never did.” She adopts an offensive stance, ready to bring the fight to them when all of a sudden, the craziest thing Devon has ever seen in his life happens: Constantine takes two steps forward and puts his hand on Remiel’s shoulder.
“Try taking on the two of us together,” he says, his voice brimming with the arrogance and confidence of a seasoned warrior who has never lost a fight. Not even to his greatest foe, who he is now standing shoulder to shoulder with. Devon thinks that their last brawl would be called a draw by any referee out there.
Remiel flexes his shoulder and retracts his Vampire. They stand shoulder to shoulder and it gives Tiamat pause for all of a second before She laughs.
“Oh, how touching,” She drawls. “ValamAtrux will be so charmed by your collective stand. Perhaps you will both get lucky.”
“You have no idea what he can do,” Remiel hisses at Her. “And you have already had a taste of my own power. Don’t think this will be an easy fight.”