Chapter 15

DAY THIRTY-SEVEN

APO PRIME

OFFICE OF PRIME MINISTER DEIA

Deia insured the door was locked behind her and then turned to look at the men who had just entered her office. They had come in through a little used entrance of the main government building, further deserted by the hour of the evening. She had just spent the last five hours with Gorgo and Dasha in the sub-basement of the University sifting through mountains of scrolls and data pads and even some hand written documents dating as far back as twelve thousand years. Olalla had contacted her on their private channel to request this meeting, and Deia had informed her closest aide Aspon she would be returning home for the evening. After insuring she had been seen by half a dozen security monitors and people leaving for her home on the outskirts of the city, Deia moved through the back allies and side streets to return to her office.

Deia was nearly fourteen thousand years old; at least that is what she told everyone, for they did not need to know the truth. Up until this past month she had never felt the years as she did now. She had seen far more war and death than most, the brutal murders of her beloved sister Eliani and the man she had adored, King Resumar. The wiping out of all their children except for the embryo of Leonidas, which was spirited away from her sister's womb in a last ditch effort to save their bloodline from extinction. Deia still remembered that night like it was yesterday.

The Hadarian healer had removed Leonidas's two week old embryo from Eliani's womb and placed it in a specialized transportation container. Resumar's elven concubine and Eliani's closest and dearest friend and lover then carried the embryo through a raging battle with the Immortals and High Coven Troops sent to assassinate Resumar and Eliani and every one of their seven children. Assassinate them for Resumar's declaration that they would no longer be slaves to the High Coven. The elven concubine, who had been a fixture of Resumar and Eliani's life for almost thousands of years, since the remaining Elf leaders had created her position to show their commitment to Resumar, succeeded in her mission in getting the embryo to a ship that would escape the planet they were on. And then she disobeyed Eliani's instructions to remain with the embryo and save herself, and instead she fought her way back to the King and Queen who she had fallen in love with so devotedly. Together the three of them had killed nearly a hundred Immortals before they fell.

Deia remembered the years of fighting after that night, the constant bickering and indecision among the rebel leaders as they met and tried to plan assaults and tactics. They grew in number, but their organization lacked cohesion and dedication. The elven home world Elear was still occupied by the Coven, the Hadarian homeworld as well. The Hadarian elders had gone into hiding, suspending the ritual of the Ascension until such time as their planet was once more free. They fought together but were not a Union.

Leonidas's stand on Earth changed all that. It rallied them together like no time in their past, and within a year they had established a government and military and began shaping what they had today. Now the son of Leonidas ... the infant King they had long thought dead, he had returned. In their overwhelming joy at his return and his stunning defeat of Xerxes and the High Coven Princess Yuri on earth, Deia now realized Vistr had been so very correct in his statement from the LEONDIAS I.

Deia had never once stopped to ask Martin what he would do; she had never asked her King what he would do. They had been in such a rush to honor Resumar's memory and what he had started, that they had forgotten the very nature of their people. Lycavorians were by instinct a passionate species, violent in many respects but tender in others. Resumar had stopped the barbaric instinctual practice that took choice and emotion away from their females, and that had started them on the path to the future. Deia remembered that she had never seen him in the same room with Eliani and not touch her in some affectionate way. He was always pulsing her with his wolf aura, allowing it to caress her just enough to let her know he was totally devoted to her. Remembering that as she now did, Deia knew Resumar never intended for their people to be stripped of all their instincts. He was going to teach them how to harness those instincts and make them better than Chetak and those who followed him, just as his father had taught him. His death altered that, and Lycavorians ended up denying their inbred instincts for millennia. That pompous arrogance may very well have doomed them all if they could not stop what was happening now.

Deia moved to the long counter bar in her office and began pouring drinks for them three men. L'tian and Olalla she knew and trusted implicitly, the third man was an associate of Olalla and she would need to tread carefully until she knew more. She moved over in front of the desk and handed L'tian the Aspin Brandy he enjoyed so much and handed Olalla his usual dark colored Lycavorian ale.

"I don't believe we have met, so I don't know what you drink." Deia spoke as she moved back to the counter. "Can I offer you something?" The man was definitely Lycavorian, but his scent was more pungent and wild.

"Ale would be fine Prime Minister." He replied. His voice was deep and even, and Deia could tell he was calm and very much in control. Deia considered herself to be an excellent judge of age, and if she was right, this man was relatively young, barely a thousand years old.

Deia nodded and poured another glass of ale, moving back to the front of her desk and handing it to him before going to the chair across from the three men and sitting down. She looked at the man. His hair was dark brown and long, almost wild, his gold flecked green eyes also wild and they twinkled in the light of her office.

Deia finally turned to Olalla. "Olalla ... would you care to introduce your associate."

"Deia this is Asomus." Olalla replied. "He is a representative of..."

The man leaned forward quickly and met her eyes. "I work within Senator Dalkor's office Prime Minister." He said.

"Deia this is Dalkor's youngest son." Olalla spoke.

Deia's eyes never left his face and she sipped her strong tea. "And what exactly can I do for the son of the esteemed Senator Dalkor of the People's Republic?"

The young man removed three data pads from inside his jacket. He began placing them on the table in front of her. "This is the complete financial history of the Lycavorian People's Republic, to include our most recent acquisitions here in the Union." He spoke tapping the first pad. "This is the list of two more acquisitions my father has been instructed to make." He said tapping the second. He let his finger linger on the third pad. "This is the list of every agent Chetak has buried within the Union, to include their duties and responsibilities, as well as their covers. I believe you are most interested in the Talracian Ore project, since two of the men working within that project report to my father, one of which is a clone created by the High Coven. And my father obviously reports to Chetak as you know."

Deia could feel her heart beginning to race as she leaned forward in her chair. She looked at Olalla and then L'tian, who sat elfishly impassive as always. She made no move to pick up any of the data pads and simply let her eyes linger on Asomus.

"What exactly would Senator Dalkor's son be doing with this information?" Deia asked, "If it is accurate at all. And why would he be here offering it to me."

"You are trying to keep the Union from falling apart from the inside Prime Minister." Asomus spoke. "I want to help."

"The Union is not falling apart from the inside young man." Deia spoke.

"But it is Prime Minister." Asomus spoke. "Chetak fulfilling his Blood Oath against the King was only the beginning. He wishes to ultimately control the Union."

Deia snorted. "That will never happen!" She spoke.

"It's already begun Prime Minister. The King is so distraught over his pureblood Queen being taken from him; he throws himself against the Planet of Hell's Forgotten Souls." Asomus spoke. "Yes he is winning ... but will he survive? The High Coven descends on that planet now with more firepower than at any other time when you have tried to take it. My father intends to announce in one week that the King has fathered a half breed child with the Vampire High Coven Princess Yuri. How well do you think that will be received? And my father intends to use every innuendo and rumor he can to make that fact worst than it really is."

"And what do you want in return?" Deia asked.

"I want to be named Regent of the People's Republic. I want full status as a member of the Union with all its privileges and bonuses." Asomus spoke evenly. "Once this crisis is passed ... I will wait five years."

Deia looked at him. "Five years for what?"

"You will step down and name me as your successor." Asomus spoke.

ENURRUA

"Holy One it has been hours!" Aihola spoke softly.

"Be patient Aihola," Walter spoke as he opened the ration packet and pulled out the protein bar. "This location was many kilometers from where she was transmitting. They will find us."

"Could we have been detected as we were landing?" Aihola asked.

"That isn't possible Lady Aihola." The female elf spoke from further inside the small transport. She wore a Union flight suit that hugged her elven curves as she walked slowly down the small ramp to where they were sitting holding a ration packet as well. Her dark hair was short and pulled back tightly. "This area of the planet appeared to have no sensor coverage on it at all for some reason, and I mimicked the trajectory of a small meteorite on approach just in case. That is why our initial entry into the atmosphere was so rough. I apologize for that."

"So we were unseen Tibyana?" Walter asked.

The female elf nodded, "Unless someone walks up on us yes." She replied.

Walter chuckled softly as he popped part of the protein bar into his mouth. "You mean like the nine men and five women who are currently watching us, and have been for the last hour, Tarifa among them if my nose is accurate."

Aihola sprang to her feet. "What? Where?" She started to look around frantically.

"They are a hundred meters west of us in that stand of rocks!" Walter spoke.

Aihola turned and glared at the jumble of boulders and dirt to their west, using her elven vision to focus and try to see something. "I don't see anything Holy One." She said softly.

"They are there." Walter spoke. "They are staying downwind of us, but I was able to catch their scents when the wind shifted slightly an hour ago. Tarifa's scent was particularly pure, more so than I have ever known it to be."

Thud

Walter looked up quickly as he felt the reverberation in the air. Aihola turned when she felt it to, her amber eyes going to the sky as it grew lighter.

Thud

Thud

Walter got to his feet slowly as did Tibyana.

"Holy One what is that?" Aihola asked wincing at the concussion of air so close.

"I don't know..." Walter spoke softly, his own eyes searching the sky.

"She is our friend." The new voice spoke, and they all whirled to see the fourteen men and women now only meters away their weapons out, but not directed at them completely.

Tibyana backed up defensively. "By the gods!" She gasped amazed they had gotten so close.

Walter smiled. "Well done my friends. Well done indeed!"

"Nya Istel?" Tarifa's voice carried from behind the large man with dirty blond hair, and Aihola recognized those violet eyes. They would be hard to forget.

"Tarifa?" Aihola gasped moving closer.

Isra brought his rifle up and leveled it at her, freezing her in her spot as Tarifa stepped up beside him. "Tarifa ... she is ... she has the scent of a vampire." He gasped looking at her.

Tarifa nodded with a small smile as she put her hand on Isra's arm and gently pushed the rifle down. "Yes she does Isra." Tarifa spoke. "She is a Drow. And she is my Mistress."

Tarifa broke into a short sprint and Isra watched as his mate embraced the dark skinned, white haired elf with all the passion she had embraced him with at night and in his arms. He knew Tarifa had a Drow lover, and the images of her he had seen did not do her justice. She was every bit as beautiful as Tarifa, though her body was shorter by several inches and she wasn't as amply endowed in the chest area. The uniform she wore hugged very sensuous curves yet Isra did not realize that she was also vampire. He could smell the wolf in her faintly, telling him she was at least partially wolf, but the rest of her was vampire and Isra didn't know what to make of that.

Isra certainly did not know what to make of the extremely passionate kiss Tarifa was currently sharing with the Drow either. Their bodies were pressed tightly together in the embrace, and it was obvious that they knew each other very well.

"I am Golna." The beefy Lycavorian spoke as he walked up in front of Walter. "I must apologize for not revealing ourselves before now, but we are a hunted people and I needed to be sure."

"No apologies are needed." Walter spoke with a smile. "I understand completely."

"May I know your name sir?" Golna asked.

"His name is Dymas, Golna." The female voice spoke from the side, causing heads to turn. "He is the Guardian of the Line of Leonidas."

Walter turned and his eyes flew open when he saw Aricia.

This was not the Aricia who he had last seen in Sparta. This was a different Aricia, a more feral Aricia. She was leaner now, the dark brown uniform she wore clinging to her body, her black hair hanging even longer than he remembered and wrapped tightly in a long pony tail. This Aricia radiated anger and hatred, and pure unadulterated power. Her face was the same, flawless and satiny but her azure blue eyes were void of any emotion.

"Aricia?" He spoke softly.

"Hello Uncle." Aricia spoke moving towards him tentatively, as if she didn't know she would be accepted.

Walter solved that indecision for her by stepping up to her and enveloping her within his arms. He felt her tense for a long moment and then she relaxed and allowed her head to rest against his chest, his cheek pressed to her head as he held her tightly. He pulled her back after a moment and looked at her, noticing that no tears fell down her cheeks, and no emotion flickered in her eyes.

"I told them it was safe to approach you after Isheeni and I checked the surrounding area." Aricia spoke to him.

Walter shook his head. "Isheeni?"

Aricia nodded turning and looking up into the sky. Isheeni ... it is safe. You and Torma can land now.

Thud

Thud

Walter turned quickly as the deep boom of air swept over them again. His eyes grew even wider and he heard Aihola let out a very unnatural scream of fear as the two monsters appeared from over the ridge and were upon them instantly, massive wings flaring as they landed behind Aricia as gently as butterflies, their massive clawed talons digging into the hard earth beneath them. Walter backed up instinctively as Isheeni moved quickly to stand beside Aricia, her massive head centimeters from Aricia's shoulder. The even larger obsidian colored dragon simply settled to the ground as Tarifa let out a soft gasp of glee and without fear moved directly over to him.

"Uncle ... this is Isheeni." Aricia spoke, reaching up to rub the back of her hand under Isheeni's razor sharp tooth filled mouth. "She is a dragon."

"May the gods preserve me, so that my eyes are not playing tricks on me?" Walter muttered.

He is the Guardian Aricia? Walter heard the female voice fill his thoughts and his eyes grew even wider.

Yes ... and he is powerful enough to hear us Isheeni. Aricia answered. You can speak with him.

Isheeni turned her own azure blue eyes to Walter. It is an honor to meet the Guardian of the Line. She spoke. I am Isheeni of the EonuaEquz, dragons in any other tongue.

And I am Torma. The deep male voice spoke.

Walter's eyes darted to the massive black dragon only a few meters away and then back to Aricia. He bowed his head slightly. I ... I am Dymas of Sparta.

Guardian ... are there others coming? Isheeni asked.

Tarifa looked at Aihola from where she stood next to Torma. "Nya Istel come here! Don't be such a coward. Torma won't hurt you." Tarifa spoke almost playfully as she reached for Aihola's hand and drew her close to the huge bodied obsidian dragon.

Aihola took in the thick nearly eight meter long body. She could see the obsidian scales rising and falling easily with the breaths the dragons was taking, his head watching her from that long neck, his yellow eyes almost twinkling in delight. She reached out slowly, and before she could react, Torma had lowered his head enough so that her hand fell flat upon the top of his head and Aihola gasped.

Aihola looked at Tarifa. "It ... it is amazing my love." She gasped.

Tarifa nodded quickly. "Aricia tells me that there are hundreds of them all over the planet! Hundreds Nya Istel!"

Golna and Isra stepped from the back of the transport with Tibyana and looked at Walter. "Guardian ... we can carry much of what you have brought with you. We have a hidden landing field where your pilot may fly your ship so it is not detected. It is well guarded and it will be safe there."

Isra looked into the sky. "We should leave soon Tarifa, before the sun reaches too high. Especially with the extra equipment we'll be carrying."

Tarifa nodded, still holding Aihola's hand, "Golna how long until we can get back?"

"Isra is right." Golna replied. "If we leave within thirty minutes I know a shortcut that will put us in the tunnels within five hours where we can travel in the coolness."

"Where is your base?" Walter asked.

Golna motioned to the mountains in the distance. "There." He answered. "It looks further than it is."

Aricia looked at Isheeni. You and Torma should return to our cave. I will call if I need you.

Isheeni nodded and leaned her head forward, brushing up against Aricia's shoulder gently. Be safe Aricia.

You as well Isheeni.

Walter and Aihola watched in awe as Isheeni and Torma leaped into the early morning sky and were gone with four powerful flaps of their wings. Walter looked at his niece. "You have acquired some rather interesting friends Aricia."

Aricia met his eyes for a long moment and once more Walter so no emotion in them. No life as he had once seen.

"We should go quickly! Golna is right."

LU AUTUMN MOON-CLASS FRIGATE

VISIONARY

Anja looked up quickly, her jade green eyes expectant as Atropos settled to the table where she and Seanna sat.

"Anything?" She asked.

Atropos shook his head slowly. "I was able to speak with Andreus only briefly. It appears they have found a deeper level underneath the garrisons they were attacking. An engineering crew finished burning a tunnel to it with lasers. The King ... he knocked Andreus out using some sort of silver knife that protruded from his knuckles, then he told Kmyla to remove him from the room. Then leaped into this tunnel as he destroyed the room around him with what Andreus describes as diamond shaped projections of his mind that he has been using as weapons. He throws them from his fingers and they are brutally fatal to anything they touch. I was able to tell him my Queen ... about our sister and everything that has happened."

Anja nodded. "I ... we must remain strong." She said softly.

"His powers are manifesting themselves." Eurin's voice spoke from behind Seanna. They turned and Seanna began to rise to her feet, Eurin's hand stopping her. "I think given your position now Seanna, we can dispense with customary protocol. I do so find it rather boorish myself. May I join you?"

Anja nodded. "Please Eurin."

Eurin settled at the small table with them. "The King ... as I explained ... due to the pureness of his blood, his Mindvoice powers will begin to manifest themselves in pseudo physical form. He will be able to use it as a weapon, forming small psychic shapes of varying degree and power. What your friend described is referred to as a psychic knife. It would be one of his most powerful weapons, able to use it to interrupt brain function as he did with your friend, putting them to sleep, or actually using it as a knife, causing massive damage to any part of the body it touches. If he has learned to adjust the level of the power he projects as what you say suggests, then he has learned instinctively what it took Resumar years of training and practice." Eurin sipped the mug of tea she had brought with her.

"And Aricia would have these abilities too?" Anja asked.

Eurin nodded. "Her blood was nearly as pure as the King's, and just from the sample I saw, her Mindvoice abilities, like his, could not be measured."

"Queen Dysea and Isabella are on their way back to Apo Prime with the Oracle." Atropos spoke. "They are using a ship similar to this and extras of these engine coils so that they can arrive within hours of when we do."

Anja shook her head slowly as she sat back. "All of this and now we learn that Dekton was a clone as well."

"The clones are surprising." Eurin spoke. "We did not know the Coven had advanced so much technologically in that regard. We never pursued it because many of us in the Union consider it immoral."

"The Coven is not so limited Divine One." Seanna spoke.

"Dekton ... our Dekton was one of three clones." Atropos spoke. "They believe one; if not both of the other two are on Apo Prime. It is stunning to me that we could not detect this in him."

Seanna shook her head. "Do not question yourself Atropos. Given the information Queen Dysea sent to Anja ... there is no way anyone would have discovered it. He was exceptionally careful."

Atropos looked at her. "Is it possible to duplicate someone's scent though? Everyone is unique. It is how we have lived all of our lives, how we have raised our children, found our mates. It is so much a part of us."

Anja nodded slowly. "They did it." She spoke.

"The real Dekton ... he was a pureblood." Atropos spoke. "Surely someone must have detected his scent was different, his daughters ... anyone who knew him?"

"His daughters were half vampire Atropos, and according to Dilios's report, both of them are falling apart with grief. It appears they now have lost their father twice, and have been calling a clone their father for years." Anja spoke softly. "Due to their vampire genes, their sense of smell would not be acute enough to detect that. Panos and Dilios both say the difference was so slight that even they thought nothing of it. They merely assumed it was something he had ingested during the time he disappeared from Sparta."

"One of these clones works for this special projects division on Apo Prime." Seanna said. "What makes them think the second one that still lives, has left Earth?"

"Deia believes now that it was this clone that falsified the medical request on Aricia that essentially confirmed what was happening to her as this Lunmai fever." Anja spoke. "Once her physical was completed, he transferred that information back to either the clone on Apo Prime, or someone else who got the information to this Chetak person."

"And he used that knowledge to fulfill a Blood Oath over ten thousand years old." Eurin spoke shaking her head.

Anja nodded. "They believe it was Tarifa and Aihola's Dekton who planted the bomb that almost killed Martin and Dysea. There was some unusual flight traffic between Eden City and Sparta by this clone just before the bomb was triggered. Dysea and Isabella are of the mind that once one of the two remaining clones conducted his attack on Helen, he would have departed on one of the warships that were coming and going until Jamerl shut that down. They are tracking the seven ships that left before Admiral Jamerl froze outgoing travel, but two of the ships show one additional crew member than normal."

"They are checking this now as we return to Apo Prime." Atropos spoke getting to his feet. "We should arrive by the end of the day tomorrow. My Queen ... I will return to my quarters and make further preparations."

Anja nodded and touched his arm. Since Martin had permanently assigned Atropos to her, they had established a personal Mindvoice connection in the event it was needed.

We will make this right Atropos. Anja told him.

It will be right when I can hold my sister in my arms and beg for her forgiveness. He replied. Then it will be right.

Anja squeezed his arm and watched him move from the table before turning back to listen to Eurin who was still talking with Seanna.

"The Coven was advanced enough to either transfuse or duplicate enough of the real Dekton's blood to keep some of its pureness." Eurin spoke looking at Anja now as well. "The virus both Lycavorians and the vampires carry in their blood is unique to your particular species, but it is not hard to create from a medical sense. It would be no where near as potent, but it would allow him to change completely someone who was already in one regard half wolf, as this young female elf Tarifa was." She looked at Anja closely. "It is no different with you my Queen. You already had the King's DNA in you from your previous relationship many years ago if the history you haven given us is accurate."

"It is." Anja replied sipping the coffee in front of her.

"It was not enough to bring about the slight changes that you experienced with Daniel Simpson because it was only one night, but because of its pureness, it left enough of a remnant that it called to you when you were reunited. I surmise it is one of the biggest reasons you did not stay with this Daniel Simpson. The Lycavorian genes that had taken hold in your system had tasted the pureness of the King's blood and wanted no other to fully claim them. It is a cruder explanation than I would like to provide but essentially it is accurate."

"So in some small sense I have done the same thing as Aricia?" Anja spoke softly.

Eurin nodded. "Both you and Queen Dysea have his blood in you now. He changed you, and because of that pureness ... only he will be able to affect you in the way your blood will want. It is also the reason that neither you nor Queen Dysea has become pregnant yet."

Anja's eyes grew wide. "What?" She gasped. "Are ... are you saying we won't be able to have children?"

"Oh no..." Eurin spoke quickly seeing her alarm. "No at all, my Queen. You are Hadarian ... Dysea is elf ... both of you have been turned less than a year. It takes at least eighteen months for your body to fully complete the change down to the molecular level. Right now you can shift and you have all the senses and strengths of a wolf ... but the change will not be fully complete for a few more months. Then you will be as strong as you will become. You will know when that happens, because in essence your blood will tell you to seek out your mate because you are at your most fertile period. That occurs twice each year in pureblood Lycavorian females who are mated. Usually once a year in those who have been turned. In unmated females ... it stimulates the urge to ... explore options shall we say."

"Why hasn't Aricia become pregnant then?" Anja asked. "Once she came into our lives, she and Martin shared far more moments together. Mainly because they are both pure wolf and have the stamina of a damn machine."

"I can offer a theory," Eurin spoke. "I would need more information to confirm it, but I believe it would explain it."

Anja nodded. "Please go ahead."

"You have said she connected with you before you actually physically met her correct?" Eurin spoke.

Anja nodded. "Yes ... we saw her first in our minds at a moment of great stress. It was actually Martin's mind ... but yes ... so..."

"Even then they reached for each other." Eurin spoke. "Even though the King claimed her as he did, they only came together emotionally. Her body would have recognized the Lunmai was approaching, and would have kept her from becoming with child until during the actual fever itself when she would have been the most fertile." Eurin stopped as her eyes grew wider. "That ... that would mean..."

Anja's eyes also grew wider at the same instant that Seanna's did.

"That would mean whoever made this Urezoban drug purposely kept her from becoming pregnant by using the Sirtin." Anja gasped out.