Blood Rebellion

"What did they ask for, in return?" I said. Narissa was taking the slow way toward the destination.

"The Dark Mirror—the Khos’Mirai, was sold to the Ra’Ak long ago by our Dark cousins. We could not find the Ka’Mirai, so we set about taking him back for ourselves. We should have ended his life immediately when he was brought to our Queen. He could do nothing for us—his ability was reserved for the Dark Elemaiya only. Instead of killing him, Friesianna let him live. The Ra’Ak came to us after a time and made an offer. Our Queen placed a geis on the Khos’Mirai so he could never harm us. That was our fear with the Khos’Mirai—that unless he was carefully supervised, he would bring about the destruction of the Bright race. We sold him back to the Ra’Ak for one winter’s comfort. We should have asked for more."

"Old woman, I pity you at times," I said and handed the basket over. This was the worst of news—the Ra’Ak had gotten their hands on the Khos’Mirai a second time. He was still alive. Now, terrible things were happening and if what Kifirin said was correct, everything might be about to collapse.

* * *

"I’m sorry to barge in like this, but I have rotten news," I said. Kiarra sat at her kitchen island having breakfast with Joey, Bearcat and Norton; Erland’s other honey-loves. I wondered briefly if they knew about the male-female cycles.

"What do you have?" Kiarra offered Kifirin and me a place at the island.

"Do you know that the Khos’Mirai was sold to the Ra’Ak by the Dark Elemaiya, and then somebody managed to get him away and turn him over to the Bright Elemaiya?" I asked, accepting the glass of orange juice she poured for me. Kifirin got one, too. I noticed Joey and the others were now staring at Kifirin. Yep, definitely the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

"Yes. The Ra’Ak were using him to cause terrible things to happen," she nodded.

"Well, those fools that called themselves Bright Elemaiya turned around and sold him right back to the Ra’Ak, after their queen put a geis on him not to destroy their race."

Kiarra’s fork clattered onto her plate. "You’re kidding," she said, her beautiful face settling into a worried frown. "We thought he was dead—that the Bright ones killed him."

"Nope. They sold him back to the Ra’Ak. It’s my guess that the Khos’Mirai convinced a few Ra’Ak to listen and told them to either go backward or forward in time so they wouldn’t be caught up in what I did to the rest of them. Now, they’re sending their Ra’Ak-enhanced armies out to destroy entire worlds, all while hiding from us. I’m still working on how and where they might be able to do that," I muttered angrily. "And I think all these Ra’Ak-enhanced are quarter or eighth-bloods. Those would still have enough Elemaiya in them, Bright and Dark, to accept Ra’Ak DNA. All they have to do is go up and down the timeline, kidnap as many as they can find while deliberately breeding others and presto, you have sufficient numbers." I gulped my OJ. It was very good—fresh squeezed.

"So, they’ve been breeding them purposely, too," Kiarra nodded, her eyebrows drawing together in thought. "But where are they hiding? Where have they been, all this time? The Ra’Ak must be shielding them heavily."

"Kifirin seems to think the universes are in trouble, but he can’t give me details. He says I have to figure this out and then find a way to deal with it."

"You wouldn’t be able to find them easily if they were hiding inside a void," Joey suggested.

"A void?" I stared at him. He was Merrill’s last vampire turn and reportedly a genius. Around five-eight in height, he had strawberry-blond hair a shade darker than mine and green eyes. Those eyes were trained on me while ideas formed behind them.

"Yeah. Where there isn’t much of anything. It would be easier to find a single grain of sand in the ocean, I think."

"But what would happen if something was stuck inside a void—something that didn’t belong?" I asked. "What would that do?"

"Things would definitely be out of balance, I think," Joey said. "The largest void actually counterbalances everything else—sort of weighing what is empty against what is full."

"There used to be a gate, too, into that void," Griffin appeared at my elbow. "Hello, daughter. Amara says to give you a kiss from her," Griffin leaned down to do that. "The baby will be here soon. Therefore, you have to wrap this up quickly."

"But I closed the gates down to everybody except the Saa Thalarr and people like that," I said.

"But the Ra’Ak have the power to open a new gate, although their gates stay open afterward, unless they deliberately close them again. The original gates had to be held open with power. They would also shut immediately after you traveled through them. What do you think that might mean, sweetheart?" Griffin blinked at me.

"That there’s an open gate into a void." I said what I knew.

"A void is a very cold place," Joey offered. "If they’ve stuck a planet or something like it inside a void, it would be a warmer spot in a very cold place. Right?"

"Let me get this straight," I muttered. "They’ve placed a planet or something inside the void, where it shouldn’t be. Just so they can raise their enhanced soldiers, after collecting them up and down the timeline, that is. And then they took them out a gate, while there was still a gate, but they had to create another one when I closed the gates against them," I said.

"It could work," Joey agreed. "Pretty sneaky—and smart, too."

"Well, daughter, I think you have it figured out, now all you have to do is decide how to eliminate the problem." Griffin leaned down and kissed me again. "That one is from me," he smiled and disappeared.

"I’ll have to go to energy," I grumped.

"I can only give a little advice; I cannot interfere by my own word," Kifirin said, standing with me. "Look for the warm place in the largest void, avilepha."

"Sure, honey. And as soon as I figure out where the largest void is, I’ll definitely look for the warm spot there." I patted his face and folded away.

* * *

"Is she going to be all right?" Kiarra asked.

"I do not know," Kifirin sighed and disappeared.

* * *

I should have asked Joey if he knew where I should start looking. I didn’t see any flashing signs pointing in the proper direction or how far it might be before I got there. I had to start Looking with my head instead of looking with whatever served as my eyes while I was energy. A void isn’t easy to find; I learned that the hard way. I had to Look for cold spots after a while, until I found the biggest cold spot ever. Almost a billion light-years across, it might be much more difficult than looking for a needle in a haystack to find the minuscule warm spot in it. Once I found the warm spot, then I had to figure out how to destroy it—after I determined whether it was the only place where the Ra’Ak were manufacturing their army. No problem. Except I didn’t know what the f**k I was doing to start with.