Den of Sorrows (The Grey Wolves #9)(45)

Alston left them in the foyer of the Serbia mansion with a nod and nothing else.
"This is," Jen started, but stopped when she heard pounding footsteps headed straight for them. She looked behind her and saw Costin. His eyes were wild with the wolf and he looked like he was in excruciating pain.
"Where is she? Where's my mate?"
"We were hoping you could tell us," Jen said, watching him closely.
Costin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "She's not there. She's just gone. I can’t feel her through the bond. I can’t hear her or talk to her. It’s like she never existed."
"What?" Decebel’s eyes narrowed and began to glow.
"I can't sense her at all. I am alone—in here" —he tapped his head— "and here." Then he tapped his chest.
Jen didn't know what to do so she told Costin everything that had happened from the moment they entered the coven following Drake.
"Decebel said when the fighting ended, she wasn't there. He thought she was with me but she didn't flash with us."
Jen paused and shot a quick look past Costin, then placed a hand on his arm to get his attention. “Where is Titus?” 
He seemed to have to think about it but then said, “He’s asleep. He wore himself out playing. I haven’t let him know that anything is wrong. I don’t know what I’m going to tell him.” His breathing started to quicken as Jen saw that Costin was realizing that it wasn’t just him he had to worry about anymore. He now had a child who would want to know where his new mommy was.
“We will help you,” Jen told him, allowing a little of the power endowed to her as Alpha to seep into her words. “Titus will be okay, Costin. He’s resilient, and he’s got one of the best dads a kid could ask for.” She didn’t know if her words helped, but she’d just keep reminding him and hoping that maybe if she said it enough it would somehow ease some worry.
Costin was at a loss. He didn't have anyone to kill, he didn't have any idea where to begin looking for her and it was his fault for not being there to protect her. And he had a three year old who needed them. Not just him, he needed Sally as well.
"Does Peri know she's missing?" he asked, his voice was rough with emotion.
"She's got enough on her plate for the moment trying to keep Fane and Jacque alive," Jen said. He could tell she was trying not to sound uncaring.
"So we literally have no idea where to even begin looking for her." His heart felt as though it just might stop beating at any moment.
"Not right now," Jen agreed. "But we will find her." She grabbed his hand and met his eyes. "We will find her."
Titus opened his eyes and saw that he was in the pretty garden that he’d been in once before. It was a dream, but it felt so real, so safe.
“Little one,” a sweet, soft voice spoke from behind him.
He turned and smiled up at the woman who’d visited him the last time he’d been in the same garden. She’d been the angel who told him that his new mommy and daddy were going to be coming to get him.
“Hi, angel,” he said. “You were right. My mommy and daddy did come.”
The angel knelt down in front of him. Her eyes were kind and her smile was real, like she wanted him to be just as happy as she was. It wasn’t one of those fake smiles that big people sometimes tried to do.
“They are precious to me, Titus, just as you are. You have been so very brave in all that you have endured.”
“What’s endured?” he asked.
“It means you have gotten through something difficult.” She reached out a hand and he took it without hesitation. “The world my children live in is one that has much darkness in it.”
Titus knew what darkness she was talking about. He’d seen darkness, felt it, and as the angel had said, he’d endured it.
“Unfortunately there will be more darkness to contend with.” She pulled him to her and then stood and led him to a bench. The angel picked him up and set him on the bench before sitting down next to him. “Your mommy and daddy are going to have trials to endure. Your daddy is a strong man. He is kind and loving and he is going to need you.”
“Me?” Titus couldn’t imagine how his new daddy could possibly need him. He was just a little kid.
She nodded. “You, little one, are the light in his life. Just like Sally is.”
“So why does he need me to be a light if he has mommy?”
“He needs you because your mommy is fighting the darkness now, as we speak.”
Titus frowned. “Why? She’s so good. Why does she have to endure?” He didn’t want to be angry at the angel, but he didn’t understand.
The angel wrapped an arm around him and he felt safe. “She has to endure because she can and she will. And when someone walks through the fire and comes out okay on the other side, they then can help others who will face the same thing.” When he just continued to look at her she spoke again. “For instance, you have fallen and scraped your knee before.”He nodded.
“So you know how much it hurts. If your daddy fell and scraped his knee you would be able to understand how he was feeling and let him know that though it hurt right then, it would get better because yours got better.”
“So my mommy is going to help other people fight darkness because she will fight it and be okay?”
The angel nodded. “Yes, little one, she will fight it and she will be okay. But like a scraped knee is painful for a time, it will be painful for your daddy and you while she is gone. But I want you to hear me now. I am always here. All you have to do is say my name, and I will hear you. You will not endure this alone, Titus. You are loved. You are precious.”
“What if I’m scared?” Titus was trying to be brave.
“It’s okay to be scared. You can tell your daddy, or you can tell me. And there are others you will get to know who will become very special people to you and you can even tell them.” The angel pulled him closer in a tight hug. “I am so very glad to know you, Titus and I love you so very much.”
Titus could feel her love. It was like drinking hot chocolate, it warmed him up everywhere inside of him. “Sleep well, little one,” the angel told him and then the garden slipped away and he fell into a deep sleep.
"Will she have any memories of her old life?" Skender asked the man who was standing over Sally's sleeping form.
"No. I'm giving her a completely new life. There will be nothing left that could trigger any past memories."
"So she's just going to think she's someone else?"
"Her name will remain the same because the name is attached to the soul. Changing it would alert her on a subconscious level that something was wrong. But everything else—all of her childhood memories, who her parents were, how they died— will be fabricated. I am literally giving her a new life, one in which she is unaware of the supernatural world. Nor will she have any idea what she herself is."
"How long do we wait until introducing her back into it? Skender asked.
"A month or two. Let her live in her new life for a little while. Let it settle into her. Then we can begin to woo the healer to our cause, slowly, of course."
"And if her mate somehow finds her? What then?"
"He won’t. But if he does, we will deal with him." The man stood and stepped away. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Skender. "That's her address. Take her to her home. Put her in her bed. And when she wakes up, Sally's new life begins."
Lilly's hands shook as she picked up the phone and dialed Cypher’s cell. The dream, the vision, whatever it had been, was fading fast and she needed to tell her mate what she'd seen. 
"Lilly," his voice came through the phone.
"Is she alive?" she asked without preamble.
"Peri and Rachel are doing their best," he said quietly.
Lilly took deep breaths through her nose, trying to keep herself under control. "I had a vision. I don’t know what it means."
"Tell me."
"I saw each race of supernaturals. I saw fire burning everything. I saw Sally lying with her eyes open, blood, and across her chest was a claw mark."
"Did you recognize anyone else?" he asked her, his voice was tight with anger.
"No. Do you know what it means?"
"I'm not entirely sure but I have an idea. I'll need to discuss it with Peri and Vasile. If I'm right, things are going to get complicated."
"And if you're wrong?"
"Pray that I am, Little One. I'll see if one of the fae can come get you so you can be here with Jacque. And I imagine you want to meet your grandson."
A tear trailed down Lilly's cheek. She'd seen her grandson in a vision. She'd seen other things in that same vision, but she would not think of those things. Just because she'd seen it, didn't mean it would necessarily happen.
"Yes, I would very much like to be near my daughter and meet my grandson."
Peri stood with her feet in the water where Jacque and Fane lay. Rachel had been infusing the water with healing herbs. She also thought that if they needed it, the water would be a good conduit to help the flow of their magic. As soon as Peri had flashed them into the garden, the five fae stones had appeared at her feet. She didn’t question it; she simply took the stones and spread them out in the water, and began pulling on their power to enhance her own.