Chapter 455: Recreating La Loba
"So we try this healing on him in order to start his heart so that we can be rid of him?" Penelope asked.
She turned to get another look at the vampire who was not tiring beating against the cage. He was trying to find a weakness in the way they had constructed it that he could exploit in order to break free. She imagined him never tiring, never giving up—an eternal fixture of this island. If more came after him, they just might end up with an entire containment facility of vampires in place of the alyko who had been here.
They had to figure out what else to do with this intruder. It was not enough to keep him caged like this. Even if she used a memory enchantment on him and he was forgotten amongst the rest of his kind, they would still have the problem of what to do with him after that. A creature who cannot die... it was a major issue. And it was an issue she did not want.
"Do you think that will actually work?" Penelope turned back to August.
Could all three of them together do something remarkable like that? La Loba was one thing—she was the stuff of lore. She was the fae who was able to sing life back into creatures with only their bones gathered as the building blocks. It was easy to believe the stories of La Loba and to put faith in someone else’s Goddess given abilities than it was to believe that she could also be part of the missing piece when it came to bringing a vampire life.
"I don’t know if it will work," August admitted. "But it is worth a try." She glanced at Nedra whose jaw was set stubbornly. She did not like this idea—even if it meant killing the creature.
"Do you think the three of us will be enough?" Penelope asked, following August’s gaze to Nedra as well.
"I have no idea. I almost wish we had more alyko here. Can you imagine? A circle of powerful alyko all directing healing toward one person?" August said with a smile. "I bet there is little that we couldn’t do together."
She wondered if there had ever been a time when the alyko had come together to use their abilities in that way. Her thoughts wandered to the full moon ritual when they were gathered around the bonfire and the girls dressed in white all approached to light their torches and sing—calling down the moon. It was so powerful, and it was without any alyko abilities at all.
"You are mated with a lycan," Seth said from behind Nedra, walking forward to gesture toward August. "That is without precedent as far as I know. And you are mated with a vampire..." he turned his gaze on Penelope. "These are both things that have likely never happened before... at least not together. And you should both have increased power from your mates. Don’t you think?" He asked Nedra.
Nedra sighed and stared at the forest floor under her feet. "I imagine that would be correct. It is the case for mated lycans, and I don’t know why it would be different in either of Penelope or August’s cases. Mates are joined in every possible way. So... yes. You should both have increased power from your mates." Her eyes lifted to the two females who were her fellow alyko.
"Would what we are suggesting hurt August’s unborn child in any way?" Seth asked, unable to rid himself of the concern that encroached on his thoughts. It crossed his mind when they were healing Zagan and he watched August concentrating so hard with the other two, the swell of her stomach drawing his attention.
Nedra shot him a surprised glance. Why was he worried about August’s baby? His eyes accepted her inquiry, and what she saw there made the blood rush to her cheeks. He was looking at August and seeing her—seeing the pregnant female and pup that he had not been there for. The lost experience of being her partner and being a father was still eating away at him.
"It will not hurt them," Nedra said quietly, diverting her eyes before Seth’s could pull her further in. "It is... pure goodness that passes through her. If anything, the baby may actually help her."
"Really?" August asked in surprise.
"Of course. He is another becoming of the universe—another concentration of divine energy within your womb. He is half his father and half you. What a powerful son you already have, August," Nedra told her, allowing a small smile to break the somber mask she always wore.
"Son?" August asked, choking on the word as her voice became thick with emotion. "You can feel it, too? That he is male? It is not just my imagination?"
"His presence is already very strong with you," her soft smile grew. "Yes, I can feel him. You have a son."
Nedra thought of Sage and what it was like carrying him when she was pregnant—his strong energy that she had noticed very early on. He was like a companion who she had not yet seen but could nevertheless feel with her always. It was like that with Selah as well, though her personality was so much different.
"Because his presence is strong, he is male?" Penelope asked, surprised by this awareness that they were able to tell the sex of the baby. This was not something she had ever noticed herself—in August or in others.
"It is not the strength that makes him male," Nedra explained. "That’s not what I mean. It is like his signature—his personality, even. It is strong, and I can feel him."
August nodded, eyes glistening with tears and a soft laughter escaping from the smile that was so large on her face now. Nedra was putting into words what she had also felt.
"Thank you," she whispered, dropping her eyes to the soft round of her belly and running her hands over it. "Thank you for telling me you feel him, too. It is hard to believe it is real."
As difficult as it was to be separated from Graeme, she felt like she was carrying a bit of him with her. She wanted so badly to be with him again so that he could see how his son was growing.
"I want to go home," she said quietly, glancing up at Nedra and then Zagan. "Let’s try this so I can go home. Please."
