Healed by Fire (11 page)

Koda groaned behind me. “Great, now my son
is taking her attention away from me. I’ll never win.”

I pulled back from Theseus and looked from
Koda to him and back. “He’s your father?” Theseus nodded his head.
I laughed. “No wonder you looked familiar to me!”

I pulled away from Theseus and walked into
Ares’ arms. Ares turned my face up to his and whispered, “I love
you, Artemis.”

My lips pulled up into a smile and I wrapped
my arms around him. “I love you too, Ares.”

He sighed loudly. “It has been too long
since I last heard those words.” His lips were pressed to mine
before I could say anything else.

I pulled back from him and stood between him
and Achilles so that each could hold my hand. Their powers began to
flow between me and I could feel the wound Ares neglected to inform
us about. I placed my hand on his side and he grunted in pleasure
and pain as the wound knitted itself together.

I looked up at the Council standing near us
and said, “Thank you, dragons. I am in your debt.” I pulled away
from Ares and Achilles and walked to the center to turn and look at
each dragon. “I will always remember the great honor that you have
given me.”

The Council bowed their heads to me. “We
will always remember you, Hatchling. It has been an honor to keep
you safe over the years.”

I turned to Blu and bowed until my forehead
touched the ground. “Draco-Blu, you have been my greatest friend
and guardian. I am forever in your debt.”

Blu dropped his head into a bow. “There is
no debt to be paid, Artemis. Just remember who your allies are and
never forget the kindness of a dragon.”

I held up the dragon scale which was secured
on a string around my neck. “I will always remember you, my
friend.”

Blu wrapped his head around me and hummed
against my body. “I will miss you.”

Tears sprang to my eyes and I latched on to
his neck. “I will miss you as well. Tell Fira goodbye for me.”

Blu hummed louder and then pulled away. Ares
and Achilles each grabbed one of my hands and I exhaled in relief
as their touch eased the ache in my body.

I turned from them to find Victor, who was
standing off to the side smiling at us. I walked to him and hugged
him tightly. “Thank you for everything you have done, Victor.”

Victor hugged me back and kissed my cheek
lightly. “I am glad to see you whole and safe
Mon
papillon
.”

I pulled back and wiped at the tears under
his eyes. “I thought vampires weren’t supposed to cry?”

He smiled and whispered, “It had been so
long that I dreaded we would not find you. I am just…often in my
experience these types of things end badly and I feared the worst
might be true when we finally did find you.”

I laughed. “Victor, you know me. I never get
into trouble.”

That received a round of laughter from all
of the men gathered. I looked at Victor curiously a moment and then
asked, “When did you gain so much power?”

Victor’s tears forgotten, he smiled
arrogantly, “Rhea gifted me for assisting Ares.”

I looked at the lighter tint to his aura and
asked, “Did she make you more human? Your aura is less black.”

Victor shrugged. “I feel more like a vampire
than I ever have before. I don’t question what was done, just enjoy
the powers that I’ve been granted.”

Ares pulled me into his arms again and
nuzzled my hair with his nose as he inhaled long draughts of my
scent.

“Where are we going now?” I asked.

“We are going to prepare for the war,”
answered Victor.

I groaned. “You know, I’d hoped you would
have taken care of that, not let the world fall into darkness as it
has.” I pulled out of Ares’ arms and asked, “And what is going on
with all of the halfbreed kidnappings? I was scared out of my mind
these past sixty or so years that I’ve been with Selene.”

Ares sighed. “We have much to catch you up
on. I’d prefer if we could make it at least to our base camp before
we discussed it though.”

Base camp? Since when had they started
talking like military men?

Victor changed into a bat and screeched at
us as he took off into the sky towards the Lair’s exit. I turned
and bowed to the Council one more time and then let my wings out
from my back. Achilles and Theseus let out their wings and then
Achilles picked up Ares and Theseus picked up Koda.

I giggled as I joined them in the air and
said, “Koda that is so cute that your son can carry you!”

Koda stuck his tongue out at me. “I may be
happy that you’re back, but I will still kick your butt.”

I rolled my eyes. “You couldn’t take me even
before I gained more power.”

Every eye, including Victor’s bat ones,
turned to me. Achilles asked, “Gained more power? What do you
mean?”

I waved at them dismissively. “I’ll show you
when we get to your ‘base camp’.”

The men grumbled their agreements and we
flew out of the Lair and out into the night. I reveled in my
ability to fly again and somersaulted and spun in the air in a
crazy dance of freedom.

“Been a while since you’ve last flown,
Artemis?” asked Achilles.

I giggled happily and nodded my head. “Much
too long. I was pretending to be human so I couldn’t risk outing
myself just to enjoy some flight time. I’d forgotten how wonderful
the wind feels under my wings.” I flipped onto my back and dove
down and then back up again.

Theseus and Koda were discussing something
with serious looks on their faces so I flew over to be nosy.
“What’s up?”

Koda asked, “Did you recognize the Sidhe who
brought the vampires to attack you?”

I frowned. “He seemed familiar, like we were
connected somehow, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen his face
before.” I scoured my regained memories and shook my head. “No,
I’ve never met him before. Why? Do you know him?”

Koda exhaled. “I might. We’ll discuss it
further at camp.”

I flew over to Achilles and Ares and stayed
by their sides the rest of the way.

“Where are we?” I asked as we dropped onto a
beach where a large stone house sat alone.

“Ireland,” answered Ares.

I grabbed Ares’ hand and then Achilles’.
Ares called, “Come out.”

I watched in shock as over a hundred men and
women walked out of the house to stand before us on the beach. All
eyes trained on me and my instant reaction was to cower, but then I
remembered who I was and straightened my spine, meeting all of
their eyes. I expected some people to avert their gazes or meet
mine defiantly. I did not expect them to all drop to one knee and
bow their heads.

~~~

I looked at Ares and Achilles in shock.
“What’s going on?”

Ares and Achilles stepped away from me and
walked towards the group. Achilles said, “We all knew this day was
going to come. You’ve all been training hard and so, tonight we
celebrate.”

Ares took over. “We will celebrate the
return of my mate. We will celebrate the return of the prophesized
one. We will celebrate our impending victory.”

The group cheered, but continued to keep
their heads bowed in submission.
What the hell is going
on?

Ares turned to me. “We found a way to create
an army to combat the vampires. An army which is stronger, more
powerful and has fewer weaknesses.”

Achilles said, “We have been training them
hard in preparation for your return. I hope they are to your
liking.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I
asked in shock. “What are they? Who are they? What do you mean you
created them?” I looked from Ares to Achilles and then at the
group.

Theseus stood up from amongst the group and
said, “We are mixed breeds, like you, though not nearly as powerful
as you, Princess.”

“Mixed breeds?” I walked to the group and
inhaled their scents. “Oh, wow. Whoa.” They were all half wolf and
half Sidhe. “How did you create them?”

Ares smirked. “You see, Artemis. When a man
and woman lie together…”

I stared at him in shock and horror.
“They’re your…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I knew that I was
gone a long time, but this was too much for me. I turned away from
Ares and started walking down the beach, but Victor stepped into my
path and shook his head with a smile on his lips. “You
misunderstand,
mon papillon
. These are not Ares and
Achilles’ children.”

I looked at him in shock. “But he just
said…”

Victor silenced me with a glare. “Would I
lie to you?”

A smile teased the corner of my lips. “You
want me to answer that honestly?”

Victor laughed. “I am being truthful,
Artemis. Neither of your mates has broken his vow to you.”

I frowned at him as I looked back at Ares
and Achilles talking quietly to each other. “I’ve never mated with
Achilles, Victor. You know that.”

He shrugged. “You are still bound to him as
you are to Ares. It is not so different.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not the point. So, if he
didn’t create them, then who did?”

Victor said, “Koda, among others from the
pack who are on Ares’ side.”

“I’m sure that was a difficult task for
them,” I muttered. I felt like an idiot for storming away from Ares
and Achilles.

Ares walked up to me and asked, “What’s
wrong?”

I buried my face in his neck and whispered,
“I thought they were your children.”

Ares pushed me back and held me at arms
length. “Artemis, you should know me better than that.”

I blushed and said, “I was gone over a
hundred years. I didn’t know…”

Ares asked, “What about you? I won’t be
angry since you didn’t have your memories, but…”

“No!” I yelled a little too loudly. I
lowered my voice, “No, I didn’t. I lived in the witches coven
surrounded only by women. Oh and Draco-Blu, but no I didn’t.”

Ares hugged me again and kissed my cheek. “I
still can’t believe you’re here after so long.”

I laid my head on his shoulder and sighed
happily. “It does feel like it has been an awfully long time since
we’ve been together.”

“Yes, well, could we finish with the
introductions?” Achilles asked with a hint of anger in his
voice.

“I’m still curious to see what Artemis meant
about gaining power,” Victor said behind us.

Ares walked with me back to the bowing
group. “You just need to accept them as your followers and we can
move on.”

“Um, okay. I accept you as my followers,” I
said nervously.

The group stood up and then returned to the
house. How could all of them fit in there?

“Alright, show us this new power,” said
Victor.

I looked around. “Are there any vampires who
could be hurt by the sun here?” Victor shook his head. I lifted my
hands up in front of my chest, palms facing each other. Warmth
filled my body as I called upon my magic, which was much easier now
that I was whole, and a ball of sun formed between my hands. I
looked up and found Victor, Ares, Koda and Achilles staring at me
in complete shock. “Sunlight,” I said.

All of the men walked up to me and examined
the orb of sunlight I held.

“Incredible,” whispered Ares.

“I didn’t know any of us could do this
anymore,” said Achilles.

“How big can you make it?” asked Victor.

Theseus said, “She sent it out in an
expanding ring to turn a group of vampires who had surrounded us
into ash.”

Victor’s eyes widened. “Show me.”

I shrugged and released the orb and then
formed a ring of sunlight around my body. I gathered my magic and
then sent the ring out, expanding it as it moved farther away from
my body. Instead of letting it go as I’d done previously though, I
held it when it was about a mile in circumference.

“Remarkable,” said Victor. “No wonder my
father renewed his quest for her. Who did you do this in front
of?”

I looked at Koda. “The guy you were asking
me about. I did it in front of him.”

Koda’s eyes widened. “Oh no.” He turned to
Ares. “I think she met Apollo.”

Everyone went still at the mention of his
name. “Who’s Apollo?” I asked softly.

Ares shook his head. “We don’t have time to
talk about him. We need to get everyone together and move. If it
was Apollo, he’ll be searching for her.”

“Ares! Why are you still keeping me in the
dark?”

Ares sighed. “He’s the leader of a faction
of vampires, which are stronger than the normal ones. Apollo is
taking beings like trolls and Sidhe and turning them into vampires.
He alone controls the group.”

Vampire-Sidhe? Unbelievable.

Ares picked up my hand and smiled. “Come on,
let’s hunt first.”

Koda shifted forms, shredding his clothes
and then pranced along the beach as he waited for us. Theseus,
Achilles and Victor walked to the house while I stripped. Ares
watched me and I felt the blush on my cheeks before I realized I
was embarrassed. I shifted forms and stretched.
Ah. It feels
good to be a wolf again.

Ares licked my muzzle, now in his wolf form.
Ready?

Koda yipped and ran up the beach towards the
distant trees. I chased after Koda and Ares ran at my side. I
caught up to Koda and nipped his flank playfully.
Too slow.
I sped past him with Ares right on my heels.

Koda dove under my legs, making me tumble
head over tail and then Ares was on top of me. We nipped and played
for what felt like hours before collapsing into a pile together.
Ares and Koda shifted positions until I was lying between, their
heads and tails forming a circle around me. Finally, I was back
with my pack. After so many years as a lone wolf I couldn’t imagine
a better place to be.

After our pack nap, we returned to the house
which I thought would be filled to capacity, but it was strangely
open. “Where is everyone?” I asked.