Chapter Six Avalon

Dagda and Morrigan sat on their terrace. As Dagda sipped his mead, he contemplated this latest development. Turning to his wife, he sighed.

“What do we do about the girl?”

Morrigan looked to her mate, snapping her fingers so that a glass of wine appeared in her hand. “We can’t kill her, she is one of ours. While she lives, she gives us an edge over the others.” she pointed out. Morrigan was the Goddess of War, so she was always about strategy.

“There is that, but you know the ones above,” he said, motioning upwards with his eyes, “they will not allow her to remain for long. They will step in.” He stared out across the countryside. “She needs to ascend and fast. Dallying will not help her cause.”

“I know.” Morrigan answered. “But how do we get her to die, she seems rather determined not to do that? She’s stubborn like her grandfather.”

“Well, those pesky Fates stepped in once, perhaps they will step in again.” Dagda muttered. “In the meantime, we will just have to persuade her that dying is not the end but the beginning.”

xxxxx

Avinn woke up with an odd feeling. With her eyes still shut, she stretched and then yawned. She blinked looking at the unfamiliar room, confused momentarily. Then she remembered. She was in the mythical Avalon. She stumbled out of bed, wrapping the duvet cover around her as she went to her bag thrown haphazardly on the table. Digging for her cellphone, she needed to call her best friend Tally.

Tally had planned to go with her to Scotland to spread the ashes and then would fly back to New Orleans with her.

Avinn turned on her phone and wrinkled her nose. “Great no signal. So much for the ‘world’s best coverage.'” she muttered, walking around the room trying to get a signal.

She stepped through the huge floor to ceiling glass doors that opened on to her own private terrace. The terrace had several seating areas and an overabundance of flowers and plants. She had her very own private garden right there. She held her phone up, trying to get a signal.

She wandered to the stone railing that overlooked the sea and blinked. “One bar!”

Leaning over the railing a bit more, she outstretched her arm. She only needed two bars to make a call.

“Damn it. Come on.” She complained as the coveted second bar blinked in and out.

Aware that she could fall off, she determined there was just a teeny bit more of space for her to lean further out. Finally, she had two solid bars. Perched on the railing on her belly, she reached out with her other hand to dial the number. The second bar disappeared. Frustrated, she reached out again and the second bar returned. Elated, she forcefully hit the call button and suddenly lost her balance. She dropped the phone and instinctually lurched for her falling phone. It was too late. Before she could correct her balance, she found herself falling after her phone, the duvet cover fluttering behind her.

I’m not ready to die and not naked in the ocean, was her last thought as she fell to her death, her body breaking on the rocks below.

xxxxx

As with all ascending deaths and rebirths, her soul lifted from the lifeless form that lay on the jagged rocks and lifted upwards before settling back where it had started it’s descent into death. A copy of her former shell appeared and formed to become the vessel of her soul and life was breathed back into her. While she appeared as she had been, Avinn was now an immortal, a demi-goddess.

“Ouch.” She muttered, as her entire body glowed and ached from the power surge running through her. Then she wailed. It felt like her bones were breaking and stretching. Her skin felt like a million needles were pricking her. No one ever said dying bloody well hurt. She fell to the floor as her balance and legs gave way. She ended up in a heap on the cold stone terrace. As soon as she hit the terrace floor, she remembered she was still naked.

Brighid appeared with a huge smile on her face. “Oh my dear, congratulations!”

Avinn glared at her mother. “Was that all necessary?” She asked, wincing as she attempted to stand up straight. She found it highly suspicious that all of a sudden she had fallen to her death right after being told she had to die. She narrowed her eyes at Brighid. “Who was responsible for this?”

“My love, no one was responsible for it. It was your destiny. The Thrones had a special plan for you. They normally don’t interfere, but there are certain times they need a particular event to occur so they make it happen.” She explained, smoothing back her daughter’s luxurious thick hair. Avinn had been beautiful as a mortal, but as a goddess, she was positively stunning! “You definitely have your father’s coloring, my love.”

Avinn didn’t believe it for a minute, it was too convenient. “I was fine as I was. I didn’t need to ascend to anything.”

Brighid waved a hand and the mess cleared and food appeared on the table. She took a seat, spreading a napkin in her lap. After dying, one was always famished. She made sure to have Avinn’s favorites on the table such as pancakes with maple syrup, hot white chocolate, fresh orange juice and hazelnut yogurt. Her daughter stalked back out after grabbing a robe. “Feeling better? That tingling will subside in a bit. Here, have some breakfast, we have a lot to do now.”

“I’m not hungry.” Avinn stated petulantly. Her traitorous stomach snitched on her by growling loudly. The food proved too tempting and Avinn took a sip of juice. “My god that is good.” Reluctantly taking a seat, Avinn continued to glower. “Again, dying was completely unnecessary. I wanted to go back to my normal life as a normal person.”

Her mother chatted happily about powers and responsibility’s while Avinn ate silently. She had to admit, food had never tasted this good before. She had three helpings of pancakes and two cups of hot white chocolate. She finally put her fork down and leaned back, feeling like she just gained fifty pounds.

“So, what’s next?”

During breakfast, she’d come to the conclusion there was not getting out of this. Being somewhat pragmatic, she would just tackle it like she did everything else: with grace and intelligence.

“Well, you have to learn to control your abilities and protect yourself.” Brighid said happily as she made lists in her head of what they needed to do. “I’m not sure what abilities you will have, since you’re not specifically a Goddess of anything.”

Avinn gave her mother a look. “Listen, not that I’m not grateful not to have died on those rocks, but I have a job and responsibilities of my own. I need to be there for them. I also have people waiting for me.” Her mother needed to understand that she had her own life and needed to get back to it. All this destiny crap was starting to wear on her nerves. She believed that one created one’s own destiny.

“My dear, that is not a problem. Time moves differently here. You can actually return to the moment you left if you choose to.” She explained carefully. “My love, I can practically hear that brilliant mind of yours working. You have a lot to think about right now so I would suggest you take it easy.”

“Too late.” Avinn laughed.

If time were not a problem, then that was one less thing to worry about. Her father would have adored it here. He was one of the world’s foremost experts on the Celtic world. He would have been beyond thrilled to visit Avalon.

Brighid saw the look and knew what she was thinking of or better yet whom. “He did know, Avinn. Your father that is. In exchange for his taking care of you, he became the world’s most knowledgeable human on the Celts. He was a great human, Avinn.”

Avinn gave a melancholy smile. “I’m glad he knew about this place. He so loved all this.” She said waving her hand around indicating their surroundings. “I miss him. Is there a way I could see-”

“No, my dear. That is not possible. John Sinclair is at peace. He has returned to the universe.” She said softly. “There are things that even we do not dare to do. I’m sorry, my love, but it is for the best.” She patted her daughter’s hand. “Now, about those abilities. It’s not every day that we welcome a new goddess to our fold.”

“By all means, let’s get to the good stuff.”

Her heart lightened for the briefest of moments. At first she was weighed down by such loneliness, but now she knew she wasn’t as alone

 

Chapter Seven Aos Si

Siofra stalked to her private quarters. All could tell she was fuming. Astute, the guard quickly stepped aside. She leveled a seething look at him. Right now, everyone would suffer her rage.

“Make sure no one disturbs me.”

The second and third assassins had both failed. Currently, they were being tortured out on display in the city square. There were already whisperings going on as to what she was looking for. She did not need more Fae getting ideas on overthrowing her.

She entered an inner sanctum opened only with her personal magic. She waved a hand and a black mirror appeared. Schooling her perfect features, she straightened and spoke the words to activate the portal.

“Oberon, I know you can hear me.”

The obsidian mirror was the only form of communication her beloved husband had to the outside of the Unseelie world. She had kept it to taunt him and remind him of where he was. At the moment, that ass crept in the darkness just out of her sight. But she could feel him.

Oberon finally made his appearance. The once glorious leader looked haggard, his frame smaller than she remembered. That gave her little comfort. She knew it was his powers that kept the Unseelie in a protective barrier from the rest of Hell. Her plan had been to send Oberon and his loyal subjects to Hell to be torn apart by the never-ending waves of demons. However, her husband proved to be every inch the mighty Fae King seeing as he still had enough magic to bubble the Unseelie even after she siphoned so much of his power. She knew if his heart weren’t so big he easily could have left his Fae to be slaughtered and used that stored up energy to destroy her.

“The all-powerful and rightful ruler of the Seelie. To what do I owe this pleasure, my dear Fae Queen?” Even though he had literally been through Hell, he never lost that sarcasm. It was one of the few things that kept him going.

“I want you to know your plan will not work. I will find your bastard and kill her.” She spat out acidly.

Oberon laughed. “My bastard? Has your suspicions and paranoia finally gotten the better of you?”

“No, you lying ass. I know about you and your goddess. I know about the daughter that was born. Trust me, I will find her and I will send her to Hell. Then I will have her brought to the Divide so that you may watch her tortured and raped while you stand helpless to do anything. And you will know once again why you don’t fuck with me.”

Oberon stopped laughing, it seemed Siofra was serious. A small glimmer of hope did manage to spark in his heart. He’d given up hope long ago of ever getting out of here. He knew vaguely what Siofra talked about, but did not let it show.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You never could keep your dick in your pants. You think to unseat me with your bastard? Well it will not work. You will never escape that prison, Oberon. You will rot in there, never feeling the warmth of sunlight again.”

With a smile, Oberon answered. “Well, apparently we will have to see about that. As for a child, I have no knowledge of one, but thank you for telling me about her. In fact, this is the nicest thing you have done for me. I suppose we should all start packing for a move.”

Her enraged scream was the last he heard before the mirror went dark and silent. On her end, Siofra called for her guards to assemble her generals. There were loyalists in the mortal world that needed to be dealt with before they got to Avinn Sinclair.

xxxxx

In the Unseelie, Oberon sat in amusement. His soul felt as light as a feather. No doubt his trusted followers would find his daughter and enlist her help. When he met Brighid all those years ago, he formed a half-baked plan. He had once loved Siofra dearly and had been devastated that they could not conceive. So he bartered with an Aztec goddess for a fertility potion. Said potion had been used on Brighid and it appeared to have worked.

This meant he and his followers would be returned to the Aos Si and he to his rightful place. His magic made the Aos Si. Perhaps his dear wife did not know that his powers would eventually build back up. All he needed was sunlight.

Chapter Eight New York

Vladimir Petrokoff, Demon Lord to Lucifer sat at his desk, perched high in a Manhattan Highrise. He drummed his fingers on the desk, pissed off at the meeting he was currently having. One, he only answered to Lucifer and two, he hated the individual sitting across from him.

Narrowing his eyes, Vladimir motioned at the filthy shoes on his koa wood desk. “Remove your feet from my desk. Now finish up what you were saying so you can get the fuck out.”

Tabbris, a Seraph, laughed but did pull his motorcycle boots down. “Now, now, no need to get testy. You’re one of the few demons allowed to leave hell freely. If anything, I should be the one pissed off with this piddly detail.”

Vladimir wasn’t the average demon and actually held a close relationship with Lucifer. A Demon Lord by all description, he could come and go between Hell and the mortal world as he pleased. Vladmir was a reincarnated demon, meaning he had been born a demon in a human body back in the reign of Peter the Great. Vladimir had been a Russian Prince and lived the good life, much as he did now. In his current incarnation he was a Wall Street genius, owning silent partnerships in almost every major computer firm in the world. If there was a glitch or a virus…it came from this office.

With his hands up in mock defeat, Tabbris got to business. “I’m sure you have heard a new demi-goddess was discovered. That damned Celtic Pantheon birthed her and hid her away. Now we have a pissed off Fae Queen after her. You can imagine the influx of complaints from the other Pantheons about balance.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard. What has that got to do with me?” Vladimir asked, bored with this conversation. “Sounds like you have a problem. Keeping balance among your bastards has nothing to do with me.”

“Oh,” Tabbris gave a shit-eating grin, “that is where you are mistaken. It isn’t my problem. Extra gods and goddesses are Hell’s responsibility. Don’t worry, my brother already talked with Lucifer. Your boss assured us that you will be taking care of it.” He paused. “There is a caveat. She has a destiny to fulfill. Then you can cart her ass off.”

Vladimir felt the edges of his mouth pull into a scowl. “I don’t do escort duty. I’ll assign a demon to collect her and deposit her. Are we done here?”

Blowing out the smoke from the cigarette he just lit and took a drag on, Tabbris shook his head. “She’s a bit of a high profile soul. Lucifer stated you would personally deal with this.”

Vladimir gritted his teeth. “Fine, I will lock her in a cell myself. I will put the wards up personally. Happy?”

He hated fucking angels with a passion. They were a bunch of sanctimonious bastards. This one looked like a blonde haired and blue-eyed biker. Vlad silently scoffed at the thought of someone looking so angelic bordered on the line of a soul barely redeemable. And to think this angel’s twin was the infamous head Seraph Thummin.

Tabbris barked a laugh and stood up. “Always good to do business with you.” He added before shifting out of the office, intent on finding some pussy and some booze.

Vlad growled after the angel left. This was all he needed, babysitting a damned goddess. He had planned on taking a tour of his offices across the world, now he would be stuck in here until this was cleared up.

Chapter Nine Three months later / Avalon

“Damn it.” Avinn cursed as the lamp she materialized faded from view. She sighed and looked at her aunt Rosemerta, the Goddess of Wealth. “What am I doing wrong?”

“Avinn, you’re not concentrating.” Rosemerta laughed. “Envision the item, feel it with your mind and then project it.” She instructed. “Go ahead and try it again, my dear.”

Her niece was one of the brightest women she had met in a very long time. Her niece was, however, a klutz and her magic reflected that. When Avinn tried again, the bowl materialized fully and stayed.

Rosemerta reached and picked it up. “Congratulations, you did it!”

Avinn clapped her hands as she laughingly danced with her aunt. “Thank God, I was starting to worry.” She admitted sheepishly as they settled down. She took her bowl, tossed it up, snapped her fingers and it disappeared. “I seem to be able to make things disappear much easier than make them appear.”

Rosemerta laughed. “Yes, that is always the easy part.”

A loud gong sounded and her aunt dismissed herself. It was time for Avinn’s next lesson. The next class she had a love-hate for. She appreciated that her uncle Arawan trained her on how to protect herself, but she also could do without the bruised muscles and broken bones. Luckily her godhood made healing broken bones a speedy recovery.

“Uncle Arawan,” she greeted him when she entered the training room.

Nary a training pad in sight, Avinn became close and personal with the solid stone floors on many occasions. Not that she expected for her uncle to go easy on her, but neither did she expect to end every lesson with a bone broken or a joint popped out of place.

“About time, Avinn,” he growled before he threw a sword at her.

He nodded approvingly as she managed to catch it. As hard a time as he gave her, he admired his new niece. She was a stubborn female, but determined to master what ever she set her mind to.

“Better. Much better.” Her defensive stance improved drastically.

Training Avinn had been a challenge, the girl tripped on thin air. That proved helpful many times when he otherwise would have made contact. But it also proved deadly as she tumbled into nearly impaling herself on the practice sword. Luckily he had quick enough reflexes to avoid that disaster. He did not need Brighid breathing down his neck.

The two of them went at it until they were both drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. He saw an opening and went for it, realizing when it was too late how she tricked him. She purposefully left herself open and took the opportunity to catch him in the back with the broadside of her sword.

“When did you start faking that habit?” He asked, impressed.

Avinn beamed a smile. “Three months ago. I figured if I let you think my left side was my dominant side, I could one day use that to my advantage.”

“Well no need to look so pleased with yourself.”

Fighting a god of war ended up with more than her fair share of hurts, but Avinn persevered. She knew her mother would never let her return to her life until she learned to defend herself. At first, Avinn believed she could learn well enough how to shift and materialize to keep dodging danger. However, the more time she spent in Avalon, the better she knew that she needed to learn to be offensive rather than just defensive.

“I am pleased. Now, remember your promise.” Avinn reminded him after she caught her breath.

He’d promised her that once she bested him, he would tell her mother she was ready to go home. He never understood why Avinn didn’t want to stay in Avalon.

“Aye, I’ll tell her. I always keep my word.” He caught his own breath before shouting for his sister.

“You bellowed?” Brighid shimmered in behind them.

He gave her a solemn look. “This one is ready to go back.”

Brighid’s mixed emotion of elation and sadness showed on her face. “Oh my dear, that is wonderful. I am shocked to be sure, but so very proud of you. I suppose a deal is a deal. You do know you don’t have to leave though.”

Avinn saw her mother’s face cloud over. “It isn’t as though I’m never going to see you. I’m returning to my world and my life.” Who knew how much longer she had to actually enjoy it before someone assassinated her or dragged her off to Hell.

In the three months that she had been here, she and her mother had become rather close. Avinn never had a mother. Believing her mother died in childbirth, Avinn never questioned it. Her father insisted he didn’t want another wife and then delved into work. Also, raising four children as a single parent no doubt made it difficult to date.

“I feel as though I just got you back. Forgive me. It is difficult to see you go.” Brighid tried to smile. “We still have so much to talk about. And I do need to tell you about your father. Oberon that is.”

Avinn wanted a bath, but put the thought on the back burner. She took a seat while her mother sat opposite of her. After half a minute of silence, Brighid began to talk.

“How to explain Oberon? Well, being what he is, charming first comes to mind. Fae are so connected to nature that it is sometimes like looking at nature and being drawn in by its beauty. Imagine a beach sunset, or in your father’s case, storm clouds and lightning over a violently churning ocean. He is intense and possesses a great deal of magnetism. He isn’t without faults. He is one of the few such powerful Fae and as such grew accustomed to getting his way. He may have changed being in the Unseelie, though I doubt it. Regardless, he will be overjoyed to learn of you. He always wanted children.”

Nodding, Avinn let it all sink in. She knew a bit about the Unseelie, having done her own research. The Fae world was known as the Seelie and the capitol was called Aos Si. When Siofra created the Unseelie, she made a deal with Lucifer himself to have that specially built prison erected in Hell. The area of the Unseelie acted as a giant transport pod that took a chunk out of the Seelie and moved it into Hell. However, Oberon used what little power he had left to put up a force field that prevented anything from getting in and also prevented anything from going out.

Avinn thought aloud. “Why does he need me to free him? Why can’t he just free himself? If he is stuck in Hell, can’t he just put down the barrier at the exact time he tells all the Fae to shift out of there?”

“The Unseelie is a prison, Avinn. Even if your father had not used his powers to create a barrier to safely house his followers, they cannot shift out of that level of Hell.”

“I guess they will be looking for me then.” She responded quietly. Although she meant her father’s followers who wouldn’t harm her, she also knew her comment extended to include Siofra and her assassins.

With a nod, Brighid agreed. “Yes. Remember I will always be here to protect you, love.”

They talked for a bit more before Brighid finally agreed to let Avinn go.

“You must concentrate, Avinn. Your magic is a bit unusual. Also, remember to keep iron on you at all times. The Fae can’t stand the stuff. They also cannot enter your home unless invited.” Brighid paused and materialized a bracelet and a pendant. “These will help you.”

In her hand she held a thick antique iron bracelet with woven Celtic knots and a pendant of a smooth stone with a hole in the middle.

“Is this one of those stones where the hole was bore through with water?” Avinn asked curiously as her put on the pieces.

Brighid nodded. “Yes. It will help you see through their glamour. You will know it is a faerie if you see translucent wings. Glamour is a bending of light. Mere illusions.” She also materialized a large tome. “This has everything you need to know. It is a spell book and informational guide kept in the family for centuries.”

Her mother stood and waved a hand to open a portal that would send Avinn back to the airport about an hour after she left it. The Fae assassins would have left by then. Avinn would catch her flight to Scotland to spread her family’s ashes with her friend Tally. Then it was back to as normal a life as Avinn could muster before she knew she fate would inexorably lead her to fulfill a destiny she honestly wanted no part in.

THE END OF PART TWO