1 ~ Nothing's as it Seems

At long last a post, this is the new story line so I am hoping that it will roll off where no one will necessarily have to go back and read DE the first book. REALLY hoping so because things might seem a little confusing. 80) This will be the last for about a month to a month and a half so I can play Florence Nightingale, LOL! ENJOY

Warnings: Extreme Language and Several Screaming Cats running from the bag.
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Bayview Marcel House Against his usual discretion Jayden headed for the bar, reaching for the one bottle he knew would inebriate him, Carter’s private stash of PBA. Created by the gods so they could enter the soul realm and search out loved ones or those they needed to speak with. One that somehow managed to end up on earth with its varied properties. A highly sought drug to all forms of life.
Finding the bottle of Probitas Verum Agnitio, he pulled it out and poured a full glass of the foul smelling blue liquid. Glancing with disgust upon the glowing fluid he thought of its many other properties, depending on how it was administered PBA reacted differently. With a simple incantation, it would work as a truth serum as he’d watched Carter do on many occasions to extract information from his enemies. A small smile forming on his face as he thought of how many times he himself had offered it to one of his night conquests, a mortal imbibing the stuff would find themselves hornier than a three dicked dog.

Then there was the effect he was searching for, being an immortal for him to drink the shit he would find himself experiencing the horror and pain of the soul realm. A fact he’d found of many years before when he had tried to use it with one of Trysten's friends; needless to say that night hadn’t gone as planned and ever since he avoided it like the plague.Yet tonight he was desperate, filled with an intense need to find answers to the whereabouts of his charge, her safety; he only hoped that he could make a connection with her soul energy while he was there. The soul realm wasn’t just for the departed; it was the gateway to the realms. Where one could generally find anyone, they sought and since he had no idea as to where Trysten had taken her, he could only pray it would work.
Still his reasons weren’t entirely selfless in his determination to suffer through the horrid nauseating and trippy sensations of the soul world. He wanted to know how he’d managed to drain Carter's soul energy. A trait he’d always thought was reserved for the gods, with the exception of a few elder Lupusnox’s and ancient Nightwalkers.

Lupusnox Females…Curling his lip in disgust at the thought of the trainers of the Daywalkers, the rare and unreachable goddesses of magic he gingerly raised the glass. How he wished he could get his hands on one in particular, but that would mean she would have to present herself in corporeal form.

To think you were so close…Yeah he had been close to that one, but she’d found him unsatisfactory, at least that is what he’d believed. Perhaps he’d been wrong all these years, and yet… what she’d done still hurt, he’d thought her a friend worthy of his trust. Closing his eyes, he pushed the memories aside, returned his thoughts to the task. He had to find Lydie, needed her safe within his arms. Wanted with an unparalleled need to feel her lips against his, taste her kiss.
She’s gone, Lydie had been taken…

The words that rang through his mind were a sore reminder to reality; he’d failed to save her. It burned and ached to think of it. Hesitantly he brought the glass to his mouth, closed his eyes in wary anticipation, and tilted.“Jayden…”

Barely had his lips touched the cool rim of the glass when the room shifted and took on a hazy smoke like quality, energy vibrated the air in an unearthly manner, racked his body with electrical shocks. The sound of Lydie's pained and frightened voice echoed through his mind, stabbed him with lethal precision in the heart.Involuntarily he took a step back wanting to believe it had all been a sick part of his imagination.
But it was no trick of his thoughts, the moment he closed his eyes he gazed about a blurred room.

“I don’t wish to sleep…”He swayed from the clarity of her voice, the scent of her all around him, “Lyd, where are you?” he cried out in desperation as he felt her strength slipping away. “Hold on sweetings, I’m here! I am going to find you,” but it was too late.
Whatever connection they shared had severed, leaving him once again hollow, and aching. Although he couldn’t place, a definitive finger on which pained him more, the fact she’d gone again, or that he’d used an endearment only one other had heard in his eight hundred years of eternal life.
Slamming the glass down he stormed towards her room, one thing fueling him. If only he surrounded himself with her presence then perhaps he could again make connection with her.
“Jay,” Carter's tension filled voice stopped him before he had the chance to reach for the handle. Swallowing his guilt, he turned to face his benefactor, a fissure of fear sliding icily down his spine as he wondered if the master nightwalker had come to end his life.
In truth, he expected it; no one threatened these all powerful, bloodthirsty demons and lived to tell about it, least of all a paige. Still he braced, prepared to fight his oldest and dearest friend; the only father he’d ever known. He had to protect Lydie no matter the cost, wanted with every ounce of his soul to see her again, to finally tell her of his affections. “Yes Carter?” his voice was calm despite the turmoil that raged within him.
He watched emotionless, as doubt flashed in Carter’s eyes and Lyd’s father hesitated, “come with me to the sitting room Jay,” with that he turned and walked away.
A sense of foreboding flooded his thoughts as he tentatively followed the elder, confused as to why Carter hadn’t just spoken to him in the hall.

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Carter stood pensive as he entered, his discomfort obvious and his emotions barely contained, “What did you want Carter?” He tried to maintain an unassuming and relaxed tone but his own emotions and rage still came through.
“You need to meet with the Lupusnox goddess in Veilwater. She can help you bring my daughter back.” Carter wasted no time in jumping into his conversation undoubtedly wanting to spend as little time in Trysten's favored room as possible. The sadness and fear that coated the elders words registering and doing little to dispel the wary anticipation that knotted Jayden’s stomach.
“If it’s that particular Dusk dog then you need to go yourself…” It came out with no effort, he already suspected who Carter meant, and there was absolutely no way he would ever set eyes on the traitorous witch again, not after what she had done.
A moment of tense silence passed between them, him standing there with his arms folded stubbornly glaring as Carter sat pensively in the chair, his hands visibly shaking as he rested them on the smooth cloth, telling that he had been as surprised at the sudden display of power earlier that evening. A power Jayden had never known he possessed, the sight of the normally reserved and powerful man so distraught almost enough to make him feel pity towards Lydie’s father. Until a dangerous flash entered Carter’s eyes as he focused on him.
Jayden watched in wary anticipation as Carter leaned forward, pinned him with a daring gaze. “I didn’t know of Trysten's life state, or else I never would have been with her.” Carter quietly stated, his voice tense, rendering Jayden silent, despite the boiling rage in his blood. Anger he knew he had to keep under control while his benefactor explained.
Sinking back into the chair the elder scowled and folded his arms across his chest.“I can only help so much. I had hoped that I could speak with you both, but with Lydie having been taken I have to rely upon you to convey this message to her.” there was an fragile uncertainty to his tone, Carter's voice cracking under the pressure of an intense sorrow. Pain and sadness that only served to cement his concerns with what was truly happening with Carter and Lydie, that he’d been unknowingly involved in something bigger than he’d previously known.
Briefly he considered entering Carter’s psyche but with his current frame of mind, he decided it was best to avoid doing such. Stood there in thoughtful silence, running each incident to date through his mind as he watched and waited for the other man to speak. After what seemed an eternity of silence, he couldn’t take the ongoing silence, “Carter I don’t follow what you’re saying, we’re going to find her and then you can tell her yourself.” Something wasn’t right and each passing moment increased his discomfort with Carter’s reasoning behind this conversation.
Carter rose, sending a chill up his spine the moment his friend pinned him with dark chocolate eyes and sighed. “Lydie isn’t a daywalker nor is she a nightwalker; it is why Arianne wants her; why Armand is after her. She holds the power to destroy us all and I suspect you do as well.”
If his heart still beat, it would have stopped at Carter’s statement. His assumptions about Lydie were correct she wasn’t just a regular half-breed; she was something entirely different, something powerful enough for both Arianne and Armand to want her. “What is she?” he couldn’t resist asking although he didn’t truly want confirmation, but Carter knew more than he’d informed him of and he felt it pertinent that he knew just what he was dealing with.
“I don’t quite know. she is something entirely different, I suppose a nymph but I can’t be sure.”
“A nymph? How the hell could she be a nymph don’t you have to be the daughter of a god to be such?” The shadowed look in Carter's eyes unnerved him, before the man even opened his mouth to speak the realization dawned upon him. “Holy shit!”
“Arianne is my mother and Armand is my father…” Carter's face was filled with pain, discontent and disgust. “At sunset tomorrow I am to return to the Cimmerian, per Arianne’s orders. It is why I need for you to stay with her.”
All this time and he’d never known the psychotic bitch, goddess was the mother of his benefactor. His head was swimming, “You’re a fucking god!” it wasn’t a question it was a breathless accusation, “and not just any but a dark blooded god who knocked up a day walker and…” his knee’s felt weak and his brain felt full, “and you changed me…”
Jayden didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or rage, at this particular moment he was stunned, dazed and even that didn’t seem to fit. “Yes, although I had not been aware of Trysten's deception nor had I realized my own error when I changed you.”
Error? He didn’t understand what Carter had meant in stating that it was an error, “what do you mean error?”
Carter’s face fell as the nightwalker, god lowered his eyes, nervously smoothed his lapel, “your blood tasted different and I suspect you are of a celestial line although which I am not sure. Certainly not a daywalker, I would have known when I first found you in the alley and you would not have survived.” He paused long enough to gaze sadly upon him, the look in his chocolate eyes disconcerting to Jayden. “I need for you to protect Lydie, love and cherish her just as I would.”
It was too much to comprehend, so much happening and now he was seriously screwed, whether or not he wanted to he was, or more aptly had been chosen as her protector. Rage kicked in then, so powerful he was unable to stop it, whatever the hell he was Carter had known something all these years, knew he had been different and had never once told him, not to mention expected him to protect Lydie, hid from him the truth of her.

Protect her, but how?

“God damn! Carter how the fuck am I supposed protect your half goddess daughter from those crazy ass mother fuckers you call parents?” His voice wavered infuriating him all the more. “FUCK!” he screamed at the top of his lungs the glass in the windows rattling from the force.Adding to the tension Carter sighed heavily tried to place his hand on Jayden’s quivering shoulder a gesture he stepped away from watching as the elders hand dropped listlessly to his side, hurt evident in his eyes. “It’s one of the reasons you need to go and see her, I suspect she will be able to tell you just what you are and give you the tools necessary to protect Lydie when she returns from Altoriah.”
Altoriah...

Now that was a place he knew, the realm of light a cursed place in his opinion. “So you know where Lydie is?” he didn’t bother to hide the venom in his voice or pretend that he gave a damn.Carter ignored the accusation in his tone and continued, his face crestfallen. “It is the most logical place, the home of the Daywalkers, where they are taken when they are injured to heal and I believe that Trysten brought her there to protect her from Armand and Arianne as well as myself.”Glaring at his long time benefactor Jayden felt his resolve slipping away, he didn’t want to admit it but Carter was right the dusk dog was the only one that could help him. The one which he had avoided these last six hundred ten years because of her role in Alaine’s and his child’s death. The one who had deceived him and stolen from him the light of the day. “Why do I have to see her why couldn’t it be another?” he ground out hesitantly.

“Because Kareina is the strongest of her breed, the eldest and most wise.” Carter's voice though dull was matter of fact, as if the answer were simple as black and white.“Yeah and a conniving backstabbing bitch to boot,” he growled under his breath. His mind twisting towards thoughts of Alaine with her sun colored locks and sky blue eyes, the only light he’d held in his life after one hundred and ninety years of life, the only to accept him for what he was and not turn away from him.

“She didn’t kill Alaine Jayden, I took her life when I found of her being a daywalker, it was either myself or Armand who had also found of her existence and ordered it.”Jayden’s vision hazed with red as he bared his fangs on the one he’d once respected, the look upon the Carter’s face disconcerting. Could he truly trust him now? He wasn’t sure even if he said he’d killed her was it possible that she still lived like Trysten had. It was all too much…
“You took her from me?” He bellowed pain shredding his heart as he forced himself to accept she really was gone. “You killed my wife and child because she was a supposed daywalker!” insidious rage flowed through his entire body, blinded him and stole his rational. “Why didn’t you tell me of Armand’s so called order, give me the opportunity to take her away?”

“I had to or else Armand would have killed not only her, but you.”Carter had taken from him everything that had meant anything, deceived him but before he could say such the elder spoke once more. “This has haunted me all these years because I was the reason behind your pain. That I had to withhold this from you.” Carter's statement was filled with genuine emotion yet Jayden didn’t care all he could think of was how he’d been so deceived all these years.

“You had best have a better reason than that Carter,” he quietly snarled wanting to tear the elder’s heart out with his bare hands.Carter sucked in a sharp intake of breath that echoed through the room, drew Jayden’s irate attention. “Kareina told me that you were destined for another, one with infinite power, but she never told me it would be my own…”Chosen for another, Carter had known for six hundred years that Alaine had not been his to keep and the one that was behind all of this was…

“Your fucking daughter!” Jayden bellowed the thought of Lydie being related to Carter suddenly filling him with disgust. Because of her, his master had taken the life of his wife and child, taken from him the only joy he’d known.

Until now…But that was a thought he couldn’t allow.
“Fuck you Carter, I am glad that you return to the pits of hell for surely I want to send you there myself!” He snarled cutting Carter off as he turned and stormed from the room before he killed the elder with his shaking hands.
His wild and hot gaze landing upon the tall broad figure of a Lycan. “Perfect” he growled quickening his steps until he reached the hapless creature and pummeled his body into him, both of them flying backwards to land on the golden hardwood floor that rattled the entire house.
“Jayden stop!” Carter hollered from behind them as he slammed Manning’s head into the floor with so much force the windows rattled within the panes. “You fucking prick, you’ve got really bad timing, something I should have expected from a lower life form as yourself.” He snarled pounding his fist into the man’s face with a satisfying thud of flesh against flesh.“Jayden! He is here to help you!” Carter cried out reaching for him and pulling him away binding him so that he could not move.“He fucking wants to kill her you stupid fuck,” he ground out using the only part of his anatomy that he could move, his mouth.“No he doesn’t…” there was a warning note to Carter's voice, another hidden secret that he was about to receive an answer too. Raking his hand through his hair, Carter gazed sadly upon him, “Manning has been working for me all these years. I sent him to Armand three hundred years ago. The only Lupusnox to infiltrate Armand’s barriers,” there was an undeniable and serious note to Carter's words, enough that it silenced Jayden.“He’s going with you to Kareina to ensure you don’t try and get yourself killed…”

~ To Be Continued ~