Alliance With Shadows

Chapter 11

Elijah entered into the Light Realm. The Realm always gave him the most calming feeling, even with the current situation he couldn’t help but smile. He entered into the cathedral-like building through large pearl double doors. Nodding to the guard he smiled making his way down the hallway, which looked almost like the outside of a coliseum with its large columns. He found his way to the Priestess’ chambers through a large archway, he made sure to greet each soldier lining the marbled walkway with a nod. He finally made his way down the walkway to the Priestess’ chair where she sat upright and proper, he bowed his head in greeting, “Priestess if I may have a word?” Elijah stood in front of her and all her advisors.

            “Of course Guardian,” Priestess Aurora nodded and turned to her advisors, “May we please have a moment of privacy?”

            “We are not allowed to leave your side Priestess it is for your protection.” 

            “It is…” Elijah was interrupted by Aurora holding up her hand, she smiled at him.

            “This man has protected me and has been a faithful Guardian. How long has it been Elijah?”

            He smiled at her informality, “I have known you since you were a child Aurora, and I have been sworn into your service for almost two centuries.”

            Aurora smiled, “As you can see he is no threat to me, so if you please give us privacy?”

            The advisors nodded, “Of course your majesty.” After she heard the door shut she sighed and slouched in her chair.

            “That’s not a very fitting position Aurora,” Elijah laughed.

            “Yeah well I have to sit in such a stuffy position all the time, it’s nice to just relax and not act like royalty for once.” Aurora smile, “I can only relax around you, so it’s nice to get some privacy when you come to visit.”

            “I feel honored.” Elijah smiled, he still thought of her as a child. Often thought of her and treated her as if she were his daughter when he worked here full time instead of just making weekly visits as he did now.

            “So what brings you here to visit, I don’t often see you unless there’s a meeting of some kind.”

            Elijah’s smile turned to a solid line, “I have come here because I believe there is an uprising in the Dark Realm.”

            Aurora sat up in her chair, only hunch over placing her elbows on her knees holding her head low, “Yes I feared you would come to me with this news.”

            “I am only coming because Captain DeAngél has come into contact with too many rebelling darklings. She has been receiving word from the other units who have encountered the same problem. She is the one who came up with the idea.”

            Aurora smiled at the reference to his daughter, “How is your daughter, by the way, I heard about the attack from your son. He seems to be taking his job very seriously as a Medic when it comes to his sister.”

            “She is doing very well; her wounds have healed better than I had hoped. Xander takes his job very seriously, I am glad you allowed him to be her Medic.”

            She waved her hand at the thanks, “I found no reason to deny the request, and they work very well together. I found that she didn’t hide her injuries when it was her brother asking.”

            “Yes, she often tries but breaks under his command. I do have a question though.”

            Aurora sighed, “Yes Elijah the Oracle has said that the two have made contact, they are now in the fourth stage of mating. It seems your son knew the information but hid it not wanting to start a war.” She could sense him holding his breath, “Do not fear I am not going to kill your child due to her being mated with a Darkling, but that does not mean the Dark Lord will not take advantage of this.”

            Elijah sighed, “Yes I sensed that the Dark Lord will target my daughter since the proclamation is now coming true.”

            “You must understand Elijah the proclamation of the two beings coming together to fight has already come true.”

            “But from my understanding, they have to produce a child to produce peace.”

            Aurora shook her head, “That was the previous thought, but it seems it has now changed. The Oracle is very fearful now because she can no longer see the future; all she can see is blood and darkness. She is very fearful as to what this means. The Light and Dark Oracle’s are both having the same visions; they have been in constant contact. The Dark Oracle fears that the Dark Lord has put the future into chaos due to what he is planning, she is finding it very hard to see what his plan is. They both fear he has aligned himself with very dark beings to gain power.”

            “So what are you saying, Priestess?”

            “I fear that this war needing to be fought will be a blind fight for the Light. Your daughter and her mate have more on their plate than what was originally thought.”

            Elijah sighed in defeat, he couldn’t tell his wife this, “I see.”

            Aurora puffed up and let out a large sigh, straitening herself to look proper when her advisors came back in. “I would advise you to get your family ready for a fight, prepare yourself for the worst.”

            “Yes, Priestess thank you.” Elijah turned heading to the portal to go home, he barely caught the last words she said before he entered the portal. ‘I fear dear Guardian that your daughter will bear the most of this war. I fear the two will not make it through this war.’ What did she mean by that? Entering his own house through the portal he saw his wife cleaning the kitchen table. “Did I miss dinner?”

            “Oh, hello darling! No, you didn’t I went ahead and canceled dinner with the children this morning. You have not been to the Light Realm for a while so I figured you would forget the time difference.” Lilly smiled going into the fridge getting out leftovers.

            “What time is it? I was not there but only for a few hours.” Elijah went to the kitchen table and sat down.

            “It’s eight at night sweetie, so I decided to just fix dinner for Cadence and Xander since he picked her up at Mercy’s place this morning. I am making you a plate now.”

            “Oh, I can do that Lilly.” He started getting up from the table.

            “No! Sit down, you need to relax. You seem to be a bit tense since this morning. I don’t mind making you a plate.” Lilly smiled placing the plate in the microwave to heat it.

            “Thank you, Lillian.” Elijah smiled and sat back down rubbing his temples.

            “What’s wrong?” Lilly sat the plate of food down next to him then sat beside him.

            “Oh, nothing really, Aurora agrees with what Mercy and I were thinking. She believes that the Dark Lord is plotting to rebel.”

            “So what are you planning on doing about it?”

            Elijah paused, “We are still thinking up a plan.” He couldn’t tell his wife everything they talked about it would only worry her, she didn’t need that burden. He felt a soft hand on his; he didn’t even realize his hand was a fist. He looked up to find Lilly smiling.

            “Everything will be fine; we have three very strong children. I’m sure all of them will be fine.”

            He couldn’t help but smile; he had such a strong wife. He gently kissed her on the lips, “You’re right darling thank you for putting me at ease.”

            Lilly smiled, “You are welcome. Now eat before your food gets too cold.”

            Elijah laughed, “Wouldn’t want to waste your wonderful cooking.”

            Lilly slapped him on the shoulder playfully, “You better not.” Laughing she made her way down the hallway to their bedroom.

            Elijah smiled watching her enter their bedroom. He needed to come up with a plan to keep his family safe. Eating the food as quickly as he could he got up from the table, washed off his plate and walked down the hall to join his wife. He struggled up close to his wife in bed and smiled, tonight he would just take comfort in being close to his wife and think tomorrow.  He would come up with a plan to make sure his family would be safe if anything came to threaten them. He only hoped nightmares wouldn’t plague his dreams of the threats that could happen.

***

            Lying in bed quietly she couldn’t find a comfortable spot. She never had a problem before when it came to being comfortable in her bed. She could lie in any position and she would fall asleep instantly. What was the problem now? She could feel through the bond that Luc was just as restless as she was. She could feel his hesitation to say anything though, he was going to make her make the first move. She rolled her eyes, of course, he was. Due to the fact that he was not life bound to her yet she was the only one that could feel how he felt, he had no clue how she felt. She sighed, this stupid mating thing had so many damn things attached to the woman before a life bond was ever made. It wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t feel her discomfort through the bond, it was just how things were. Although considering how often she got hurt during a fight she was glad that at least he wouldn’t feel her pain. Growling in defeat of her discomfort she sighed before yelling from her bedroom, “So we are mates right?” Mercy waited silently for a reply.

            “Yes, I suppose so.” Luc’s shouted from the guest room as soft laughter followed.

            Mercy felt her cheeks get warm, why was this so difficult to ask? They just had s*x just a few nights ago, although she had never asked a man to sleep with her overnight. It leads to awkward mornings and that was just something she avoided. Though it’s not like this would lead to an awkward morning the man lived with her for f**k's sake. Taking a deep breath, “So that means you could sleep in here with me right?” The words rushed out a bit quicker than she wanted to. She heard the laughter from the next room, it was a bit louder than she expected. What was so damn funny? She didn’t think it was that funny. She felt his smile through the bond.

            Yes, that means I could come to your bedroom if you would like.

            “Hey no speaking mind to mind, I don’t know what’s going on,” Teague yelled.

            Mercy laughed, “Well sorry Teague the adults are talking.” I kind of like this. Now no one can meddle into our conversation.

            Luc laughed, so are you inviting me into your room or not?

            Mercy sighed, she didn’t want to just come out and say that she needed him in here so she could finally sleep. Well, it is sort of cold.

            Its seventy-five degrees in here! It’s hot. You have to come up with a better reason.

            Ugg…fine I want to cuddle with you.

            Anything else?            Luc laughed.

            Mercy growled, he was going to make her say everything. Fine I want to be near you I feel better with you near and I feel safer. Plus I can’t find a comfortable position. She heard the springs from the guest bed screech, which she assumed meant he was either moving in the bed or he was going to get out of bed. She smiled when she heard the soft footsteps, then saw a black figure in her doorway.         

            “So you’re saying you like me?”

            She could see his white teeth in the dark, which meant that he was smiling. She held up her hand making a small space between her index finger and thumb, “Maybe a little.”

            Luc laughed making his way to her bed mimicking her hand gesture, “Just a little?”

            Mercy felt him get into her bed and instantly made room for him as she lifted her blanket for him to join her. She clung to him the minute he got close enough and felt his soft laughter, “Okay maybe I like you a lot.”

            Luc wrapped an arm around her and smiled when she snuggled closer laying her head on his chest. “Alright I’ll let that slide, but just know I know exactly how you feel.” He felt her smile.

            “If you know how I feel then I don’t have to say it out loud.”

            “Just because I know how you feel doesn’t mean I wouldn’t mind hearing you say it.”

            “I’ll say it when this war is over,” she said as quickly as she could. She didn’t want to admit her love for him when the situation they were in was so fresh. Plus they had more important things to worry about; she couldn’t focus on love when death was a possibility. Step five was not a possibility, which meant saying ‘I love you’ was not an option.

            Luc laughed, “Alright.”

            Blushing, “Anyways would you like to go hunting tomorrow?”

            “Sure, I bet I’ll be able to concentrate better.” He doubted that when it came to her being with him, but he would try harder than he did the other day.

            “Hey, can I come,” Teague yelled from the guest bedroom.

            “You know you can come in here.” Mercy laughed.

            “Heck no! I don’t want to be in there with all that lovey-dovey stuff.”

            Luc laughed, “You might as well get used to it.”

            “I’ll get used to it from here in my huge bed.”

            Mercy smiled, “He’s just happy he gets his own bed now.”

            “Greedy thing isn’t he, I told you not to spoil him.”

            “It just means he won’t take up this bed, he can have that one.”

            “Hey guys back to me! Can I come or not?” Teague yelled.

            “Sure I don’t mind, do you, Luc?”

            “Nah, he may come in handy if we do find any renegades tomorrow.”

            Mercy snuggled closer to Luc closing her eyes, “There’s you answer Teague now go to sleep.”

            “Sweet!”Teague barked in excitement.

            “He is such a child.” Luc laughed. Expecting Mercy to reply, “Mercy?” He was greeted by her soft breathing and a mumble. He smiled, she fell asleep a lot quicker than he expected. He kissed her forehead, “Sweet dreams love. I’ll keep you safe.” He drifted to sleep slowly smiling; the nightmares of the Dark Realm didn’t haunt him with her in his arms.

***

            “Lord Halcyon we have just received word that she is planning on hunting tomorrow.”

            Halcyon grinned, “Wonderful have the four snake changelings wait in the area she usually hunts in. Take the vials with you and do not forget to infect her.”

            “Yes, sir. Is there anyone, in particular, you want me to send?”

            Rolling his eyes in frustration, “You all serve me well, I do not care who you send as long as they are the changelings I requested.”

            “Yes, sir.” The servant left the room closing the door behind him.

            “Disgusting creatures, they are all just pawns in my little game.” Laughing slightly, “but you all serve me without a question.” Looking towards the blue flames beside him, “I thank the dark spirits that have given me these dark powers and for the demonic beings that have allowed me to control my loyal servants.” Twirling the blue flames in his hand smiling, “to think this mixed with my blood would give me the dark mist. To think son, you ran away because you didn’t want me to control you, yet tomorrow I will have you in the palm of my hand.” There was a sudden knock at the door. “Yes, what is it?!”

            A soft voice came from behind the door, “It is I, the female you requested.”

            Halcyon smiled revealing elongated canines; he supposed he looked like the vampires the humans were so afraid of. It was a gift from the dark spirits because he needed blood to fuel his powers, so he took it from the little whores he would request nightly. He might as well get some pleasure before he drained them of blood. “Yes, my dear come in and close the door.” He looked and smiled in pleasure at the delectable morsel he had tonight, “Come closer, my dear. I won’t bite.” Yet.

***

            “Priestess it seems that the Dark Lord has known about the mating between the two Valkyries longer than we thought.”

            “Yes, that is what I feared. Did the Dark Oracle not tell you that she informed the Lord of her findings?”

            The Light Oracle sighed, “It seems the Lord threatened to kill her children and grandchildren if she told the Light anything.”

            Aurora sighed, “That the Dark Lord would go to such measures to make sure it would stay a secret does not surprise me.”

            “I am sorry priestess that I did not see this threat sooner.”

            “Oh it’s not your fault, it seems your powers are starting to wane which means a new Oracle will be needed. Although we must first get through this war the Dark Lord wants to start before we can move forward.” Aurora slouched in her chair; to think she was given this throne at such a young age; she had managed to make the race thriving. She just hoped she had many years to come and a people to keep the race thriving after this war. It seems like God has chosen this problem to be fixed by the two mates. She sighed, “I just wish those two kids knew what they were up against.”