Sea Witch: Children of the Waves (7 page)

Chapter Nine

She blamed herself. She had become
distracted by Aaron’s nearness, their lovemaking. Blinding her to all else,
otherwise she would have seen it coming. Sienna didn’t know who the men were
who had taken Shawnah, but they were somewhere out on the water. A boat. If so,
they were in her domain now. She sent a call out to the dolphins that remained
nearby to find the boat.

They both stood on the dock at a vacant
berth.

“Here, she was taken here.” Sienna
pointed at the empty spot in the placid water.

“There’s nothing here. What’s going on?”

“Shawnah has been taken.”

“Taken? By whom? The White Witch. Where?”

She shook her head. “Wait.” She called
the dolphins in the area to see if any had observed what had happened. Two of
them had, and she told Aaron. “Four men forced her on a boat. They are out on
the water. Come. I know where they are. The dolphins have found them.”

They walked to the end of the pier and
glanced around to make sure no one saw them before diving into the murky
channel. Sienna swam fast, a sense of urgency invading her being, just before
she heard the warning cry from a dolphin. “By Poseidon, a sea demon. Faster!”

Yet, no matter how quickly they moved,
they were too late. A creature, the size of one of the landwalker’s office
buildings had risen up from the depths under the boat. All ten of its tentacles
wrapped around it and dragged it under, leaving nothing but churning bubbles in
its wake.

Aaron called forth his powers, creating a
funnel of water with tornado force and tried to blast the creature, but his
energy shots merely bounced off its armored hide, before she could pull up her
magic and add it to his. An inky darkness engulfed the monster as it sped away
from them.

They had no choice but to give chase. It
had Shawnah.

Raising her hands, she attempted to send
a flash of light through the muck the thing created in its wake, but it merely
got swallowed.

The dolphins tried to enter the dark
water, but did not come back out.

All she heard were the screaming sounds
of their death cries. The water surrounding the creature was poison. This was
no ordinary demon from the dark depths—this one was birthed from Hades.

Sienna called off the remaining dolphins.
She already knew where the thing was going. Where it was taking Shawnah. She
and Aaron could not do this alone, they would need help. She slowed.

Aaron had moved past her quite a ways,
then turned to look for her and saw she was no longer right behind him. “What
is it?” he asked while coming back to her side.

“We need help. I know where they are
going. Come, we will need the king for this.”

“But Shawnah—?”

“I know. We will get her back.”

Turning, they headed for King’s City, but
the dolphins had already relayed her message to the king.

The king and his bride met them halfway.
He approached with a contingent of five warriors with him. “What the fuck is
going on? Where is it?” he asked before they had even come alongside them.

“There is much I have to tell you first,
my king,” Sienna stated.

“What’s going on? The dolphins told me a
dark demon attacked a boat and neither you, nor Aaron could destroy it.”

“That is all true, but someone of
importance was on the boat. It is the reason I needed more time to open the
portal,” she responded.

He frowned. “I don’t understand. I
thought we were trying to close the damn thing?”

“We will need to go to Ezekiel’s island.
I will have to explain this to all of you. I promise all will be clear then.”

“Very well, witch. But make no mistake, I
want to know what the fuck is going on here, because now demons are attacking
landwalkers.”

As one, they all turned in the direction
of Ezekiel’s island.

As a precaution, Xav sent his warriors
back to King’s City and they continued on, just the four of them. When they
rose out of the water and were able to walk toward shore, they found Zek and
Des already there waiting for them. It was about two in the morning by then, so
Aurora was nowhere around. Hopefully, she wouldn’t awaken.

“Xav, what the fuck?” Were the first
words out of Zek’s mouth to his brother.

Cori reached toward Des and the women hugged.

Xav turned to Sienna. “The Sea Witch, I
believe, has something to tell us.”

Zek bowed toward Sienna. “Greetings, Sea
Witch. I forgot my manners. Welcome to my home. This is my bride, Des. Des,
this is the Sea Witch, our sage advisor, if you will.”

Des held out her hand toward Sienna in
the manner of a human greeting. “Hello, welcome.”

Sienna smiled and stepped from beside
Aaron. She placed both of her hands over Des.

Something in her manner gave Aaron pause.

“Sienna.” The moment her name left his lips,
she dropped to the ground and from the gasps of everyone around, so did the
illusion she wore of youth.

“What the fuck? She’s not a child, but
full grown?” Xavior roared.

“Oh, my God! Is she okay?” Des cried.

“You know her true name?” Zek asked while
he stared at Aaron.

Aaron ignored them all. He dropped to the
ground to cradle his fallen mate in his arms. “Sienna.” He shook her slightly,
but she didn’t budge.

“Take her into the sea, let the water
surround her,” Xav suggested.

Aaron picked her up in his arms and did
as instructed.

As soon as he’d submerged her in the
water, she opened her eyes. “I am well, beloved,” she said stroking the side of
his face.

He placed his forehead against her own.
“You scared the fuck outta me. Don’t do that. I just got you back.”

“I’m fine. Let’s return to the others.”

They turned around to head back to the
surface. He glanced down at their joined hands.

When he tried to withdraw his, she
wouldn’t let him. “It no longer matters.”

“Why?”

“For one thing, they know. But also
because of Shawnah. I think she called upon her powers and the demons in the
water were drawn to it. To her.”

“Shit! Does this mean Tabatha knows who
she is?”

“She may not know yet, but we won’t have
much time.”

“Are you all right?” Cori stepped into the
water and took Sienna’s hand as soon as they were near enough to shore.

“Yes. I am fine.”

“What happened? Why the subterfuge?” Xav
asked, straight to the point.

“Did you have a vision, witch?” Zek
stared at her frowning.

“Yes. And I am sorry, my king, for the
subterfuge, but no one could know of my true state.”

“Come on everyone. Let’s go inside and
get comfortable, and then we can talk. Let Sienna rest a minute,” Des
suggested.

Sienna shook her head. “No. Thank you,
but there is not much time, and I need to stay near the water now. It will
revive me fastest of all.”

“This may take a minute. We have some
explaining to do,” Aaron said. At last, he would be able to tell his king
everything, as much of it as he knew. “Shall we.” He and Sienna still held
hands, which neither the king nor Zek missed, since they both raised their
eyebrows at him. Plus, the fact Sienna was a woman in her prime. No one could
miss that now, and perhaps connect the dots.

Sitting down right where they’d been
standing, they remained partially in the warm water. Sienna sat next to him and
wrapped her arm around his elbow. If that wasn’t a clear sign of ownership, he
didn’t know what else would be.

“Hmmm,” Xav said. “I can see there is a
long story behind this.” He sat and the other women sat down near each other.
“Go ahead.”

“Sienna, who you know as the Sea Witch,
is my bride,” Aaron stated firmly, proud to be able to claim her publically at
last.

“That much I believe we got.” Zek
grinned.

“How wonderful!” Cori cried. Both women
offered congratulations.

“But that’s not all,” Xav prompted. “Why
the illusion?”

Aaron shook his head. “I’m afraid there’s
a lot more. You see, Sienna and I knew we were mated for a long time,
twenty-five years to be exact.”

“What! How? You didn’t begin to age until
I did, and that has been less time than that.”

“I created that illusion,” Sienna spoke
up. “As I created the one that kept me with the appearance of youth.”

“Go on,” Xav encouraged. “You have my
complete attention.”

Chapter Ten

“More than twenty-five years ago, I had a
vision Tabatha was with child.”

“What!” the king exclaimed.

“Yes. I waited for her to come to me, to
tell me. Because I knew, she would need help with the birth. But there was no
way I could allow Tabatha to birth this babe.”

“By Poseidon’s balls,” Zek said.

“I turned to Aaron for help, help to keep
my secret.”

Aaron squeezed her hand, silently lending
her his support to continue.

They gazed at each other for a moment.
“We were always fated. But what I had to do, no one else could know. Tabatha
could not suspect how powerful I would become as I aged, and I didn’t want
anyone wondering who Aaron’s mate was, if he began to age too soon.”

“All right, but I still don’t
understand,” Xavior interjected. “I don’t like the fact Tabatha had a child.
Something you withheld from me, but what does that mean for the Children and
why couldn’t she have the child? What am I missing?”

“I am sorry, my king, but no one could
know about the pregnancy. You would have wanted the babe to remain in the sea.
My sister could not be allowed access to her offspring in any way. The child
Tabatha had was destined to be a powerful witch, much more so than her mother
or myself. Tabatha planned to offer the child in a ritual slaying to the dark
powers, in exchange for the life essence, the powers of the child.”

“What?” Both Cori and Des cried.

“I could not let her have the child. My
plan, at first, was as soon as the child was born, to destroy it. But I could
not bring myself to destroy an innocent, who unlike her mother was an innocent.
Tabatha had been born with a dark soul. This child was destined for the light.
I could not destroy her. So, I hid her among the humans, the landwalkers, so my
sister would never know. I told Tabatha the child had died at birth and showed
her what she thought was her dead babe. After a few months, when I thought the
child would survive on land and I was able to bind her powers, I took her to
the surface and hid her.”

“Wow!” Zek exclaimed.

“So, a child of the waves has been raised
as a human. A powerful witch. Does she know what she is?” Xav asked.

Sienna shook her head, thankful her king
didn’t sound angry. “I’m sorry, my king, no. I couldn’t take the chance of her
mother finding her, or her trying to find her mother. She believes she’s human.”

Xavior frowned. “But how can she? How old
is she?”

“Twenty-five.”

“Are you that powerful, witch? Ahh
Sienna, you can caste an illusion so strong it can extend onto land, so it
looks as though she ages. Even to herself?”

“No. I wish this could have been easier.
While I bound my niece’s powers, she still has a lot of natural abilities I
could not bind, only mute and as she grew, so did her powers. I knew she would
need them all to defend herself against her mother. I viewed for her long ago
and found her mate. Making sure, they met at the appropriate time, so she never
stopped aging. So recently, she hit her prime. When you told me about the dark
demons and I viewed for the portal, I knew it was time to find the child. You
will need her. Tabatha opened something that should have never been opened. The
only way to close it would be by someone of her blood.”

“Why not you?” Zek asked.

“It will take myself as well as my niece
and the power of the Trident, in order to accomplish that. As it is, if Tabatha
puts a dark army against us, it will take all of us to defeat it.”

“What does this have to do with why you
fainted? Something tells me it does,” Zek said.

Sienna turned her gaze on Des. “Yes, when
I touched Des, I realized something. She’s tied to Shawnah.”

“Wait, did you say Shawnah? Is that your
niece’s name?” Zek asked.

Everyone turned to stare at him.

“Yes.”

“What’s going on Zek?” Des asked, tugging
at his hand.

“Shawnah Linch is the name of the PI I
hired to find you. Or rather Hali.”

“What?” Xav said.

“Yeah. Des’ real name is Hali. She and
her family were placed in a witness protection program, something the
landwalkers do to protect innocent people who give testimony, or can put a
hurting on some really bad folks. These guys, a cartel, tried to kill her and
her family when she was a teenager. They tried to kill her father, along with
his family, so he wouldn’t testify against the bosses. So, when the boat the
family had been vacationing on blew up, the FBI decided to go ahead and let the
cartel believe they succeeded in killing them. But instead, they placed her
entire family in protective custody. They still are, because while the man who
led the cartel back then died in prison, he has a successor and those people do
not forget.”

“So, she’s still in danger?” Cori asked.
“Oh, my God, Des why didn’t you tell me?”

Des reached toward Cori and squeezed her
hand. “I’m so sorry. I could tell no one. I couldn’t risk it and put you in any
kind of danger, too. The whole family is still in hiding. My parents cannot go back
to their old lives. It’s easier for my brother and me, we were younger. As we
grew, the new identities we established were real to us, and the names we’d
been given became our own.”

Cori stood up and Des did too, as they
hugged each other. Cori sat down by Des side.

“Is she still in danger, Sienna?” Zek
asked. “Because Shawnah has been working on this case for me for about a year
and recently, found a few things just about the time Des came into my life.
Once I figured out who Des really was, I asked Shawnah to stop looking
immediately, after Des confirmed her story. Shawnah told me she’d close out the
case and send me a final invoice.”

“Do you think her investigation triggered
a probe from someone interested in Des and her family? Sienna, what did you
see?” Xav asked.

“Perhaps. This explains the link I saw
between Des and Shawnah. Yes. This makes sense now. Some men took Shawnah
earlier tonight, men who might be the ones also searching for Des. Those men
you no longer have to worry about, they died in the depths and anything they
may have known died with them, so I believe Des, both you and your family are
safe.”

“What?” Des asked.

“You’re safe.”

“But what about Shawnah?” Des asked.
“What happened to her?”

“A dark demon dragged the boat they were
on into the depths. We tried to stop it, then chased it, but our powers had no
effect, if any. It got away from us. But I know Shawnah would have survived.
She was who the thing was after, and it has taken her to the dark depths. I can
no longer sense her in the waters, but she lives. We do not have much time.
Tabatha might not be aware of who she is yet, but that will not last long. My
only hope is my sister is still too weak and still needs a lot of time to
regain her strength, before she can use Shawnah’s powers.”

“So, Shawnah’s still in danger?” Xav
spoke up.

“Yes. Shawnah’s powers have escaped my
bindings. If her life were in danger, instinct might have taken over and
unknowingly, she could have tried to use them to escape, but she is untrained.
Perhaps the only thing buying us a little time is that and the fact, Tabatha is
weak.”

Xav stood up and took two steps away from
the group to stare out onto the ocean. The moon was still high in the sky, its
light reflecting off the sea, illuminating the area around them. “All right,
you said it would take you and Shawnah to destroy the portal. So, what do you
need me to do?” He turned back around to face her.

“I will need to enter the dark depths,
find the portal to Hades and bring Shawnah back.”

“What the fuck? NO!” Aaron roared. “You
cannot go there.”

She smiled sadly at him and placed her
palm on the side of his face. “I must. It is the only way. But do not worry, I
will not venture there alone.”

“Damn right. I will go with you,” Aaron
stated.

“As shall I,” Xavior said.

“Not fucking without me,” Zek chimed in.

Sienna shook her head. “No. You all…all
of you will be needed here. The monster we saw tonight is not the only one
loose in these waters. You will be needed to guard the entrance, once I am
through.”

“You are not going there alone, Sienna,”
Aaron said firmly.

“No beloved, I am not.”

“Good, then I go with you.”

Again, she shook her head. “No. Your duty
is to stand at your king’s side…” She placed her fingers over his mouth when
she saw he was going to continue to protest. “The only one, who will be able to
help me, will be her mate. Only he will be able to free her from the darkness
and give us a chance to come out alive. It is the only way.”

“No…”

“It must be as I have seen. What I viewed
must be done for us to have a chance.”

“Very well,” Xav said. “Who is her mate?”

Sienna glanced around at all of them
before resting her gaze on their king. “Your half human brother.”

“Cyrus!” Zek and Xav exclaimed together.

“Yes.”

“Holy fuck!” Zek said.

“He has been fated to be her mate from
her birth. The same way I had seen what Tabatha would do with her babe, I knew
who would be her salvation. Cyrus is her mate.”

“Wait,” Des interjected. “I thought you
said she’s twenty-five and never stopped aging. So, if I understand this, Cyrus
is what, almost a hundred. So, he never stopped aging until he was around
twenty-two, how can she be his mate? I’m confused. Wouldn’t he have had to meet
her, before Shawnah was even born, otherwise how could he age?”

“I believe because he is half human and
was raised upon the land. If he had been raised in the ocean, perhaps he would
have stopped at puberty,” Sienna explained.

“All right, so where is he?” Aaron asked,
noticing for the first time really, Cyrus hadn’t come out to the beach to meet
them. “Is he partying on the big island?”

“Shit no,” Zek said. “Ah, fuck!”

“What? What is it?” Xav asked.

“Cyrus is on a plane. He went to visit a
friend. He won’t be landing for several hours.”

“Can we contact him as soon as he lands
and have him return? Can he move through the water as fast as a child?” Sienna
asked.

“Not quite,” Zek stated.

“Then if you can contact him as soon as
he lands and let me know where the nearest body of water is, I can have one of
my dolphins meet him and bring him to us at the portal.”

“That should work. But…” He glanced at
Des as if for confirmation. “It will be another five hours before he’s in
London. He called us earlier when he got to Miami. He should land at Heathrow
about ten this morning. Then it’s about a half hour, maybe more, by car to the
nearest body of water for the dolphins. Let’s go inside and look at a map, so
you’ll know where to send them.”

“Meanwhile, we’re going to need to rest.
We have a battle ahead of us,” Xav stated.

“Sienna and everyone, you are welcome to
come in,” Des offered. “Zek’s got enough room in this place for everyone.”

“What about Aurora?” Xav asked. “I’d
prefer to keep her out of this as much as possible. If we’re here when she
wakes up, she’s going to ask questions.”

“Well, she’s not stupid, she’s going to
know something’s going on,” Zek said.

“Yes, which is why I think it’s best Cori
and I return to King’s City, and we will meet you at the portal, Zek.”

“All right. What about you?” he asked
Aaron.

“Sienna and I will also return with Xav
and Cori to the city, then meet you and Cyrus at the portal.”

“I think it might be faster if I go and
meet Cyrus and bring him with me to the portal. You can send a couple of
porpoises with us.”

“Okay,” Xav agreed.

“Before we leave, let me look at that
map,” Sienna said.