Blood Darkness, Awakening XXII
Disclaimers
Ownership:
Repeat after me: I don’t own Xena, Gabrielle, etc. I’m borrowing them for entertainment purposes,
please don’t bother to sue me, you wouldn’t even get court costs.
Violence:
Alti, Xena, vampires and Amazons.
NC-17 rating for violence and sex.
Torture, vampires, and non-consensual sex of a major character. Hurt and comfort alert. This one can get a
little rough.
Subtext/Alt Fiction/Sex: the story assumes a loving and sexual relationship between people
of the same gender and of the opposite sex.
If this offends you or is illegal for you then please leave. Come back when you are older, have an open
mind, moved, or changed your laws.
Feedback:
always welcome and responded to!
Storyline: Xena and Gabrielle, with the Northern
Amazons, must face Alti, Spirit vampires and a major surprise appearance by an
enemy of Gabrielle’s.
The story can stand on its own but it is part of a
series and you might want to catch some of the earlier parts to know exactly
who is whom.
A Visit Home, an Awakening 1 * Gabrielle’s Awakening
1a- from Gabrielle’s Point of View * An Awakening, Discovery, 2 * Gabrielle’s
Discovery 2a- Gabrielle’s POV * Amazon Bonding, Awakening 3 * Gabrielle, Amazon
Bonding 3a - Gabrielle’s POV * Healing, 4 * Trial of a Roman, 5 * Gladiator,
Bard, Warrior, Mother; 6 * Reunited, 7 * Ides of March, 8 * Children of Gods, 9
* Even with Ares, 10 * Settling with Brutus, 11 * Darkness Awakening, 12 * Amazons North, 13 * Amazon Darkness, 14 *
The Wild Hunt, 15 * Bard Scrolls, 16 * A God’s Twilight, 17 * Chakram, 18 *
Death and Rain, 19 *Beowulf & Grendel, 20 * Nightstalkers, 21 * Blood Darkness,
22
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“Queen Gabrielle,” Otere began, “After much
discussion, it has been decided to accept your proposal for peace and
cooperation between the vampires and the Amazons.”
Gabrielle was visibly relieved. “Thank you, Queen Otere,” she said softly,
“Then balance can be restored to the surrounding land and there will be peace
between sisters.”
“It isn’t finished, Gabrielle,” Yakut spoke
harshly. “You were told by the forest
spirits that Mattita was exposed to evil.
That evil still exists.”
Gabrielle frowned and she felt Xena stiffen beside
her.
“You know what it is?”
“Mattita worked dark magic and contacted the spirit
world, she gave herself up willingly,” Yakut answered. “A vampire spirit turned her spirit into a
vampire and a shaman’s magic carried it over into her body in this realm.”
“Spirit realm?” Xena repeated softly. “Shaman?”
“Oh not again!” Gabrielle exclaimed. “Alti?”
“Yes,” Yakut nodded.
“Damn!” Xena said simply.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Xena was surprised to find Gabrielle pacing inside
the practice hut. The bard was
obviously upset.
It was the middle of the night and freezing
outside. Xena had been concerned when
she woke up and found her mate missing, especially when Gabrielle didn’t return
after a few minutes. Xena’s stalking
abilities hadn’t been necessary to follow the bard’s footsteps in the snow
leading towards the practice hall.
It had been a difficult time for everyone. Answering the psychic call for help from
Yakut had led Xena, Gabrielle, Sasha, Hallvor and Eponin to the Northern
Amazons. Once near the village they had
been attacked by vampires, Amazons who had been attacked.
It had taken time to defeat these turned Amazons and
almost at the cost of Xena being turned into an umpiir herself. Gabrielle had finally ended the worst of the
nightmare when she challenged Vampire Queen Matitta to the right of leadership
over the vampires and won.
Now they were facing the source of that evil again.
Alti, the dark shaman from Xena’s past.
“Gabrielle?” the warrior said softly.
The bard turned to face her mate and Xena was even
more surprised to see that Gabrielle’s eyes were red and fighting back tears.
“What is it, Little One?” Xena asked softly as the
bard accepted her strong arms in an embrace.
“I don’t know if I can face Alti again,” Gabrielle
admitted.
“I can understand that,” Xena agreed. “I’m not looking forward to taking her on
again.”
“How do we do this?
Last time I fought her spirit and you killed her body,” Gabrielle asked
as Xena led her to one of the benches lining the walls.
“As usual, I guess,” the warrior shrugged. “Go into the spirit realm, keep her off
balance and kill her spirit.”
“You haven’t figured it out, have you?” the bard pulled back from Xena’s arms and the warrior frowned.
“Figured out what?”
“I think Yakut has figured it out but hasn’t said
anything yet,” Gabrielle said thoughtfully.
“What about? Alti?” the warrior demanded.
“The vampire spirit that Alti sent to Matitta to
turn her into a vampire and spread it to the Amazons,” the bard answered and
watched Xena's frown deepen as the warrior thought about the renegade Amazon.
Matitta had been the Law Speaker for the tribe and
wanted to be Queen and resisted when the young Otere had been named successor
to Queen Arja and had fought against Gabrielle being accepted into the tribe.
Gabrielle remembered the battle with Alti very well;
she still had nightmares of Alti bringing the bard’s Bacchae curse to full
power. Gabrielle couldn’t fight against
the full Bacchae curse, just like before when she had bitten Xena. To save her, Queen Arja had willingly given
herself to Gabrielle’s fangs and Matitta had protested this was enough to keep
Gabrielle out of the tribe.
All doubts had been put to rest when Arja’s spirit
appeared at Gabrielle’s initiation and declared the bard an Amazon worthy to be
adopted into the tribe.
The problems hadn’t ended then with Matitta, however. Xena’s son Solan had fallen in love with one
of his Amazon guards. Matitta had
demanded they be banished into the ice and snow for breaking the courtship
rules. The Greeks learned that Matitta
wanted Solan and his mate, Matitta’s own daughter, to die in the snow and the
adult Greeks, Xena and Gabrielle with them.
The Law Speaker wanted Xena’s daughter Sasha to stay
with the Northern Amazons because she had learned Sasha was the daughter of
Ares and Xena and would probably have god powers.
The Greeks and Reija had fled into the snow one
night and had nearly died from Amazon arrows and the cold.
Gabrielle could tell Xena was remembering the same
thing. Then the warrior’s eyes widened
and she looked at her mate, eyes questioning.
“The vampire couldn’t be Arja,” Xena protested. “She appeared at your initiation and gave
her approval to your adoption into the tribe?”
“Wouldn’t that be just what Alti would want?”
Gabrielle asked bitterly. “To keep us
connected to the North? Knowing we’d
either stay here or be back.”
“You think Alti is controlling Arja and that she
turned into a vampire because of your bite,” Xena frowned.
“Yes, Yakut told me after the battle that anyone
dying by a vampire’s fangs in the spirit world remains trapped there,” Gabrielle
said softly.
Xena gently wiped a tear away from her mate’s cheek.
“That’s why you didn’t want to be accepted into the
tribe,” the warrior mentioned softly.
“Yes, not only did I kill Arja but I trapped her
spirit as a vampire in the spirit world with Alti.”
“You didn’t say anything to me,” Xena took the bard
into her arms as Gabrielle cried softly.
“I wasn’t sure, now I am and I have to face my own
guilty past instead of yours this time,” the bard whispered.
“Well, Alti is still part of my past guilt,” the
warrior reminded her.
“I don’t know if I can face both of them,” Gabrielle
repeated.
“We’ll figure it out, my love,” Xena said, trying to
reassure her sleepless bard.
"I know, anything to stop Alti," Gabrielle
muttered. "Now we deal with your
past and mine, Alti and Arja."
Xena frowned but really didn't have an answer for
her beloved. It was true that Gabrielle
had dealt with Alti but not as long or as in-depth as Xena had in her
youth. The bard had no idea of what
Alti wanted and that she was capable of getting it, even as a ghost. The warrior knew she had to be willing to
die if necessary to stop Alti's vision of the world, Xena just hoped that
Gabrielle wouldn't be caught up in the firestorm.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Yakut found the warrior going through her sword
drills the next day in the same practice hut.
She sat down on one of the benches and watched Xena along with several
of the Amazon scouts and warriors.
Like other Amazon villages, this tribe had a
practice yard outside but to deal with the snow months in the Siberian north,
they also had a practice hut. Also a
sweat hut, and an isolation hut for those going snow mad with cabin fever.
Yakut wasn’t surprised to find the Greek warrior in
the practice hut. It was a daily
routine for the warrior and most of the Amazons as well.
After a series of thrusts and parries with a sword
in each hand, the warrior then went through several complicated flips and jumps
that ended with her in a defensive pose with one sword held parallel to her
chest and the other pointing forward over her head.
She grinned at the sudden burst of howls and cheers
from the Amazons and then her eyes narrowed when she spotted Yakut waiting.
The other Amazons broke into pairs or groups and
began their own practicing. Xena
grabbed a towel and ran it over her hair quickly and sat down next to the
Shaman.
“What’s up, Yakut?”
“We need to deal with Alti,” the shaman said simply.
“And Arja?” the warrior asked softly and wasn’t
surprised when Yakut nodded sadly.
“Gabrielle figured it out?” Yakut asked.
“Yes,” Xena nodded in return.
“We need to deal with them before they can build up
more power, especially after losing their control over the vampires,” Yakut
insisted.
“I know,” Xena muttered.
“What is it?”
“Gabrielle’s having doubts about facing them,” Xena
admitted.
“I can understand that but we need to take action,”
Yakut protested. “You know Alti won’t
give up.”
“I know but any doubt or fear is deadly in the
Spirit Realm, you know that,” Xena countered.
“How do we deal with this? Leave Gabrielle behind in
the Physical Realm?”
“I don’t know, she’s not one for staying behind if
I’m in danger,” Xena frowned.
“Tomorrow night is the full moon, we need to move
before the moon moves into the waning phase and gives power to negative
workings,” Yakut insisted.
“Alright, even if Gabrielle isn’t up for it, we go
tomorrow evening,” Xena decided firmly. "What about you, Yakut?"
"What do you mean?" the shaman asked with
a frown.
"You've been treating Gabrielle differently,
what's going on?" Xena questioned the smaller woman.
"I don't think I have," Yakut protested,
still frowning.
"Yes you have and I think she's noticed
it," Xena insisted. "I need
to know that you can work past this and be there for us as our anchor. Our souls depend on it."
Yakut lowered her head and appeared to be thinking
about what the warrior had asked and after a moment looked Xena in the eyes.
"Okay, soul searching done," Yakut
responded. "Yes, I feel
differently since the attack by the vampires.
I do see Gabrielle differently."
"You were one of the few who knew she requires
blood before the mess with Matitta," Xena protested, trying to keep her
anger in check. Yes, it was her mate,
her Gabrielle they were talking about but the warrior reminded herself that she
asked.
"Yes, and then I was raped and fed on every
night for two weeks!" Yakut snapped, her eyes flashing brightly with the
anger. "Always by a different
vampire so I wouldn't change, Matitta wanted me alive as long as possible so
she could torture me every night. You may not remember your attacks but Matitta
made sure I remembered every single moment."
"You know Gabrielle isn't like that!" Xena
protested; her hands clenched.
"Yes, I know that," Yakut agreed, her
voice still raised in anger.
"Feeling it is something else and you know it. Gabrielle knows that
you weren't aware of what was happening and you don't remember it but don't you
think she still had a problem with someone else nibbling on your neck and who
knows what else they did with your body?"
Xena felt her eyes narrow in anger and a growl
rumbling in her chest but fought them back.
After a moment she nodded and unclenched her hands. "Yes, she does and we've talked about
it. She understands and forgives me but
it still bothers her."
"Xena, I will be there for both of you when you
cross into the Spirit Realm," Yakut said firmly. "I swear it. I will
die for either or both of you. This
won't interfere."
"Okay," Xena nodded, suddenly feeling very
tired. The warrior wondered if she was
still fuzzy from dealing with the vampires so recently herself. The Greek was worried about this upcoming
fight. "None of us are really
ready for this," she muttered.
"No, but we have to stop Alti before she builds
up much more power in either Realm," Yaku insisted.
"I know, I know," the warrior mumbled.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Xena walked up behind her mate as Gabrielle stood
outside the circle of dancing Amazons.
The drummers had set a pounding beat that normally would have set the
bard swaying, easily sliding into a trance.
Xena could tell tonight was not one of those nights
when she wrapped her arms around her mate and could feel the tension in the
little bard.
Normally the bard enjoyed the Amazon rituals,
especially the dancing and drumming.
Yakut was in full shaman clothing and swaying to the beat as she stood
next to the huge bonfire. Several
Amazons stood around the circle, ready to protect those entering the Spirit
Realm and leaving their bodies behind.
Xena noticed Sasha sitting with the drummers, also ready to lend her
energy to the ritual.
“You alright?” Xena whispered in Gabrielle’s ear.
“No,” the bard admitted. “I couldn’t fight Alti’s magic last time, Xena. It cost Arja her life and this time it might
be you. I couldn’t face that.”
“You aren’t responsible for Arja, Alti is,” Xena growled.
“It was my fangs that killed her and turned her,
just like I turned you that night in the cave of Bacchus,” Gabrielle countered
bitterly.
“And you’ve faced that side of yourself and won,
Gabrielle!” Xena urged. “Remember when you were starved physically
and blood starved and you didn’t touch that girl, you fought back and won!”
Gabrielle’s eyebrows furrowed in thought. She remembered when she had been captured by
an evil magician and starved to the point of madness, especially blood
madness. To turn the bard into a
creature of the night under his control, the magician had meant for her to kill
an innocent pregnant girl while he cast a spell on the bard.
Gabrielle had fought back against the blood
hunger. Then the bard shook her head.
“You remember breaking into that Arab’s workshop and
finding me with that girl?” the bard questioned her mate.
“Yes, you were full Bacchae, half insane and you
hadn’t touched her, you were trying to protect her,” Xena said firmly.
“Because of you,” the bard whispered, closing her
eyes as her jaw clenched.
“What?” this time Xena’s face reflected her
confusion.
“I was about to sink my fangs into her neck, I had
no conscious thought left and hadn’t been aware of anything for days. Then I heard your battle cry outside, that’s
what brought me back,” Gabrielle explained, trying to fight back tears of
anger. “It wasn’t my strength, it was
you.”
“Don’t you see, it was still you,” Xena
insisted. “Our connection, your love
for me and mine for you was stronger than the darkness you were in. If you weren’t connected more to the light
than the dark you never would have heard that war cry.”
“I still failed and killed Arja,” Gabrielle said
bitterly, “Let’s just get this over with.”
Xena frowned as Gabrielle pulled out of her arms and
walked in through the dancers and sat down across from Yakut at the main fire.
Xena tried to smile as Sasha walked up to her and
quickly hugged her mom. The child
turned and looked at her adopted mom while still hugging Xena.
“She’s not ready for this,” Sasha said softly.
“No one ever is,” Xena said grimly. "We have to
stop Alti, Sash. Alti would be willing
to destroy the entire world if she thought it would give her power and
revenge. Gabrielle has fought Alti
before and she's better prepared for the Bacchae thing, I don't think Alti can
use it against her again. That might
give Gabrielle an edge we need over Alti."
“I’m still worried, Mom. You both be careful!” Sasha demanded.
“You bet, kiddo,” Xena grinned and kissed her
daughter on the head.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gabrielle wasn’t just nervous, she had to admit, she
was scared.
The bard sat breathing deeply as she felt Xena sit
down next to her. Gabrielle closed her
eyes and tried to empty her mind and let the beat begin to take her. She accepted the mug placed in her hands and
drank down half the contents and began rocking with the beat as someone took
the mug away. Gabrielle knew that the
mug would be handed to Xena next.
The bard tried calming herself. Xena had been right, Gabrielle had fought
the darkness using her inner light, one that was expanded by being the daughter
of Apollo, god of the sun and healing. Since facing Alti last time, the bard
had beaten that blood hunger by using that light, she had also discovered she
had some healing abilities.
Gabrielle felt the drugs in the tea she had just
drunk beginning to take hold and let herself flow with the pounding drums and
chanting, beginning to alter, to trance.
Next the bard felt another mug being pressed into her hands and
immediately felt her fangs trying to extend themselves as the smell of blood
reached her. She fought her fangs back
into their recessed holding place in her jaws, out of sight.
The bard easily drank half the contents of the blood
from the deer she and Xena had taken down that morning. She knew Xena would drink the other half of
the liquid.
Gabrielle felt light-headed and everything began
shifting. Having her eyes closed didn’t
help as the scenes in her mind shifted, the colors bleeding into each other,
roaring filling her ears. The bard knew
she was crossing over to the Spirit Realm.
As she “fell,” she could feel Xena’s spirit next to
her and the familiar feel of Sasha’s surrounding them. The talented child of gods was providing an
anchor to the real world for her moms.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Xena opened her eyes and wasn’t surprised to find the
sky gray, devoid of all color and the grass so brilliant green that it was
difficult to look at. The bird sounds
were backwards or the silence was deafening.
Then Xena closed her eyes as the colors all blended together, making the
warrior dizzy.
When she opened her eyes, Xena found everything
appearing normal.
The warrior shook her head, it had been years since
she had been in the Spirit Realm. She
had always regretted letting Gabrielle face Alti and the Spirit Amazons without
her that day but someone had to ensure Alti’s body was killed. Now she was
hoping that Alti would continue to underestimate her mate; most did.
Xena had tried to tell Gabrielle how proud she was
of the bard but it had been difficult with Gabrielle’s guilt over killing Queen
Arja. Gabrielle had faced Cyane, the
legendary Queen of the Northern Amazons, the only one who had ever beaten the
Amazon warrior had been Xena. Gabrielle
had almost been killed but had defeated the Queen, something that had impressed
the Greek warrior.
Xena turned and found Gabrielle a few yards away, on
her hands and knees shaking her head.
The bard’s green eyes looked up and found Xena’s blue ones and she
smiled slightly.
Suddenly Gabrielle yelped and fell backwards as an
energy burst exploded in front of her hands.
Xena’s body and head snapped around and she saw
Alti, looking younger and more deadly than Xena last remembered. The dark shaman was standing on a large tree
branch high above the Greeks. Alti
laughed and launched another energy ball at the bard and Gabrielle flipped over
backwards to avoid the deadly attack.
Xena growled and sent the chakram flying but Alti
merely held up her hand and deflected it back at Xena. The warrior caught it with a snarl.
An energy bolt caught up with the bard, sending her
smashing into a large tree. Gabrielle
landed hard at the base of the tree, shaking her head.
Xena screamed a war cry and launched herself at the
evil shaman. Physics often bent their
usual laws for Xena and her flips but in this realm those laws didn’t even
exist. The warrior found herself flying
through the air with chakram in front of her, heading right for Alti’s neck.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gabrielle’s eyes cleared as Xena left the ground
heading towards Alti. The bard saw the
shaman laugh and dive off the branch, heading straight for Xena with her
claw-like fingernails extended.
The bard’s eyes narrowed and she drew her sais but
as she got to her feet something grabbed her from above, claws digging into her
shoulders, trying to rip through the leather.
For once the bard was grateful she was wearing a Northern Amazon leather
tunic and not her usual leather top that barely covered anything.
Gabrielle looked up into the face of the vampire
Arja as she was yanked into the air into the tree branches. The bard struck at the vampire with the sais
and the vampire screamed as one sank into her ribs and the vampire realized
that the sais were wood and deadly.
Arja dropped the bard and Gabrielle landed hard,
screaming as she fell on her arm and sai and felt a white-hot pain through her
ribs.
“Oh not again!” she muttered, remembering the time
Ares broke her ribs, kidnapped her and took her to Tartarus where her healing
abilities were suspended. She managed
to roll out of the way as Arja landed on the ground where Gabrielle had been.
The bard whirled around and struck at the Queen of
the Northern Amazons and parried with her sais the attempts by the vampire to slice
Gabrielle with claw fingernails. She and Arja ended up wrestling on the ground,
vampire and partial Bacchae.
Gabrielle attempted to keep control over her Bacchae
side as Arja tried to slash at her with deadly fingernails and fangs. The bard felt her own fangs extend and eyes
change from green to Bacchae yellow as she broke contact with the vampire and
rolled several feet away.
The bard paused a moment to catch her breath and
growled in both anger and frustration.
Alti laughed high above her, fighting with Xena and Arja grinned at her.
“What’s wrong, Gabrielle?” Arja hissed. “Don’t approve of your handiwork?”
Gabrielle hesitated in throwing her sais, the guilt
hitting her. She turned to see Alti and
Xena fighting in mid-air and Gabrielle’s grip on her sais tightened in
resolution.
The bard spun with her sais in hand to face Arja
when she froze in mid-step.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
With a scream from Alti and a war cry from Xena, the
two slammed into each other. Xena met
Alti in mid-air, chakram and nails slashing.
The shaman managed to avoid the chakram and grabbed Xena’s wrist with
one hand and the warrior’s throat with the other as they flew through the sky
with the momentum of the crash.
Xena growled, feeling at a definite disadvantage in
the air. She wasn’t accustomed to
fighting in the air and Alti obviously was.
Xena wished for a tree branch or solid ground to get her feet under her
so she could break Alti’s hold on her, instead she cried out as they slammed
into a tree, barely missing a sharp tree branch.
Xena’s blue eyes widened as she looked at the branch
right next to her head. Then her eyes
narrowed as Alti laughed at her. The
warrior got a foothold and thrust up with her legs and back, managing to knock
Alti’s hand away from her throat.
Next came a series of blows that moved too fast for
even the birds in the strange realm to follow as Alti and Xena fought for the
advantage. Xena grabbed Alti’s hand
holding the warrior’s wrist and twisted and was pleased to hear Alti cry out as
her wrist snapped audibly.
“What’s wrong, Alti?” Xena hissed as they closed
together again, hands reaching for throats and eyes. “Don’t like being hurt in this realm anymore than you did in the
physical?”
“Xena, why are you fighting your destiny? I told you that your future was to be the
Destroyer of Nations,” Alti purred.
“I found a better deal,” Xena growled and then
yelled out in anger as Alti took advantage of the close hand-to-hand fighting
to grab Xena and kiss her quickly.
“Stop fighting it, Xena,” Alti grinned. “I can still help you fulfill that destiny.”
“Never!”
“Then see your future!” Alti growled and Xena’s head
jerked at the sudden images flooding her brain.
Xena slashing out as a
Bacchae Gabrielle flew at her.
Gabrielle lying on a cave
floor with a dryad bone sticking out of her chest and Xena laying next to her,
covered in blood and not moving.
Solan looking down at an
arrow sticking out of his chest in surprise.
Gabrielle, her head thrown
back, covered in sweat and screaming in pain.
Xena screamed in rage and smashed Alti in the face
with a fist and the shaman went flying backwards in the air until she hit a
tree, again barely missing one of the sharp branches.
Xena was tired of this trick. She knew Alti was subtlety trying to work on
Xena's guilt about killing the Northern Amazons all those years before by
impaling them on broken tree limbs and spike traps.
The warrior was about to dive after Alti again when
she glanced down and saw Gabrielle freeze, sais in hand but the green eyes
distant.
“Gabrielle!” the warrior screamed and then heard the
drumming and chanting that the bard had already heard.
Xena knew the chanting, she had heard it
before.
“No!” Xena screamed as Gabrielle dropped the wooden
sais.
In the caves of Bacchus in the Bacchae Forest.
The vampire Arja looked up at Xena and grinned as
she walked towards a non-resisting Gabrielle.
Xena drew her chakram back to decapitate the vampire
when she was thrown off balance from an energy bolt from Alti and hit the
ground hard. The warrior rose up,
groaning with pain and quickly looked over and saw Gabrielle close her eyes and
tilt her head back as Arja moved behind her.
“Gabrielle! Fight it!” Xena screamed and then rolled
quickly to one side and then the other as Alti continued to throw energy bursts
at her.
Arja wrapped her arms around the little bard and
took to the air laughing with her prize as Xena screamed.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Somewhere in her mind, Gabrielle heard Xena cry out
for her but it seemed so far away. Like
something out of a dream, she thought.
The feeling of flying was a sensation she barely remembered from being a
Bacchae but it felt nice.
Then the bard frowned. Where was she? Where were
her sais? Where was Xena?
Weren’t they fighting someone?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"No!" Xena screamed as she
slashed at Alti above her, trying to get a shot in at the vampire carrying her
mate away. "Gabrielle!"
Alti landed on a tree branch and
laughed at the warrior as Xena was thrown into another tree from one of the
shaman's energy balls. When Xena's eyes
cleared, Arja and Gabrielle were nowhere in sight.
"No!" Xena glared at
Alti. "Where is she, bitch?!"
Alti laughed even harder. "Someone wanted to see her again,
Xena."
Xena sharp eyes took in the moving
shadows around her and she pulled out her sword as well as the chakram as vampires
began emerging into the light. The
spirits of those vampires they had been forced to kill before Gabrielle had
made peace between the Amazons and vampires.
Included among them was Matitta.
The warrior was quickly surrounded.
"Yakut!" Xena screamed and
felt her spirit being yanked back abruptly.
Xena moaned and then sat up
abruptly. "Gabrielle!"
Hands gently held her back from
leaping to her feet. The warrior
growled and then relaxed a little as Yakut knelt in front of her. "Gabrielle!"
"No, we can't get her
back," Yakut answered and helped Xena stand up, supporting the warrior
until she got her feet steady under her “We’ve lost contact with her soul.”
The shaman pointed across the circle and Xena stood
stunned.
Sasha was shaking her head and the child looked
dazed. Xena quickly crossed the short
space to her daughter and pulled the girl close, examining her swiftly. To her relief,
Sasha’s eyes focused and she nodded at her mom.
Xena turned to take in the sight of Gabrielle again as
she and Sasha stood up.
The bard was still on the furs she
had fallen back on when she entered the trance state necessary to enter the
Spirit Realm. It also appeared that the
bard was still unconscious, her body occasionally twitching with whatever was
happening to her in the Spirit.
What had changed was that Gabrielle
was surrounded by a massive growth of vines, Xena's eyes spotted several kinds
of ivy and grapes. Her eyes widened as
she realized that they were moving, as if conscious of their surroundings. She turned to Yakut as the warrior wiped
blood away from a cut lip, courtesy of Alti.
"They have fangs and thorns and
killed one Amazon already," Yakut said bitterly.
Queen Otere ran up, joining the two
as the rest of the Amazons kept up the chanting and drumming.
"The vines grabbed three of the
Amazons and began biting them and draining their blood. We couldn't get one of my warriors away in
time," Otere said bitterly and Xena could see numerous bite marks on the Amazon
Queen.
"We moved you when they started
reaching for you, they won't let anyone get close to Gabrielle," Yakut
explained, holding a wounded hand.
"Weapons? Fire?" the
warrior asked.
"The vines work in harmony
against anyone approaching them with a torch.
We tried throwing torches at the vines and they threw them back, hitting
two of the huts," Otere growled.
"And we can't near enough with
weapons to do enough damage," Yakut continued.
The warrior growled, "What if
we rush them?"
"We can try," Otere smiled
grimly. "Amazons! Form a spearhead! Two Amazons in the center,
if we break through it'll be your job to grab Gabrielle."
"Yes, Queen Otere," two
Amazons stepped forward, volunteering.
The Amazons formed up with Xena at
the front, Otere didn't even question Xena's position in the lead to fight for
her mate.
Xena moved Sasha to one side and
drew her chakram. The child didn’t try
to stop her mom but the worry showed clearly on the child's face.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gabrielle flinched away from the
stinging slap and opened her eyes reluctantly.
The bard felt a layer of ice surround her heart, gripping her with fear.
"Oh sweet Artemis," she
whispered.
Bacchus, Lord of the Bacchae, Wine
and Vine, grinned and stroked the young woman's cheek with one of his long
claw-like nails.
"Sorry, bard," he laughed
in his deep bass voice, "she's nowhere near here."
Gabrielle realized she was chained
to a cave wall by her wrists and a quick glance around told her that she was
surrounded by Bacchae, servants of Bacchus and others in the middle of a
bacchanalia orgy and celebration.
"What do you want with me,
Bacchus?" Gabrielle asked, her voice angered. "I'm already cursed with your blood."
"But you aren't mine, little
one," he grinned and Gabrielle felt sick hearing the dark god call her by
the term of endearment that Xena usually used.
"I want you totally, heart and soul. I already have your body with
those cravings.""
"Never!" she snapped.
"But you will, daughter, you
will," he promised.
"I'm not your daughter! I am the daughter of Apollo and
Hecuba," Gabrielle growled.
"Niece then, or something. You will give over willingly, little
bard," Bacchus laughed.
"No!" Gabrielle yelled,
then whispered, "Xena."
"She can't get to you, in this
realm or the physical one either," Bacchus laughed heartily.
"No!" the bard screamed
and struggled as two Bacchae approached her.
Gabrielle struggled as one attempted to hold her head and the other held
a goblet to her lips. The bard at first
thought it was the blood of Bacchus but even when she realized it was wine she
still struggled.
The fact that it was wine gave her
hope, Bacchus wanted or needed her to submit willingly and not by force. That might give her time for Xena to get
through to her, she thought as she struggled with the Bacchae, resisting
drinking the alcohol until she had spit half of it out and choked on several
mouthfuls. They finally managed to get
most of the alcohol down her throat.
Then another goblet appeared and the bard could taste herbs in the
drink. Drugs.
Gabrielle attempted to spit the liquid out and felt
her head snap back from a blow to her jaw and then rocked to the side by a blow
to her eye. She drank the entire
contents of the second goblet.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Xena screamed in anger as another
vine attempted to entangle around her throat and another did manage to wrap
around her sword wrist. She growled and
sliced through the vine at her throat but the vine around her wrist managed to
sink its fangs into her wrist before she cut it in half.
Other vines were already wrapping
around her legs and digging in, no matter how fast she cut through them.
The warrior felt strong hands
grabbing her under her arms and pulling her back as others cut the vines
holding onto her. Once clear of the
moving hoard of greenery, the same hands quickly grabbed the vines and pulled
the dying plant life from the warrior's body.
Xena sat up and looked around at the
Amazons surrounding the area and found them all in similar shape: bleeding,
bruised and beaten back from the wall of vines.
This was their third attempt to
reach the bard and their third failure.
The first time they had been beaten
by a solid wall of vines, interlacing together tighter than a fishing net and
striking out against when the Amazons and Greek would try to slash at them.
The second time Xena had tried
flipping over the vines to get to Gabrielle but the vines had formed a dome
over the bard, grabbed Xena by all four limbs and threw her back. The warrior landed heavily on the
ground. She growled deeply and screamed
in frustration as she sat up and looked at the vines.
Xena would almost be willing to
swear later that the vines were laughing at her.
"Damnit!" she yelled and
the Amazons had formed up to try again.
Now most of them were bleeding from
more than a dozen wounds and some had broken limbs and they were no closer to
getting to the unconscious Southern Amazon Queen than when they first
approached the vines.
"Xena, I've never seen this
before," Yakut complained, "where did Alti learn this level of plant
control?"
"She didn't," the
warrior's voice was bitter.
"Then who is working with
her?" Otere questioned as two of the Amazons bandaged a deep bite wound on
her right thigh.
"Bacchus, he's the god of wine,
Bacchae and vines," she snarled.
"Bacchus, Gabrielle has talked
of him," Yakut said thoughtfully, "He's the one that cursed her with
the Bacchae blood."
"Yes, now he wants her totally,
forcing her to turn me into a Bacchae or me to kill her," Xena nodded.
"Or Alti to kill you and he
still has Gabrielle," Otere said grimly.
"Yes, all of the above would suit
either of those two," Xena growled.
"So, now what?" Yakut
demanded to no one in particular.
"Well, we can't get to her from
this end, we'll have to do it on the Spirit level," Xena said simply.
Sasha nodded slightly, watching the Amazons and her mom.
"New game plan time,"
Otere agreed.
"Consort!" one of the
Amazons standing near the vines called and Xena, Otere and Yakut stumbled over
to see what she was pointing at.
The tribe could see the bard's body
twitching as if she were in a bad dream.
They could see blood trickling slightly from the bard's mouth from a cut
lip and also bruising around her right eye.
It was obvious that whatever was happening to her in the Spirit Realm,
she was fighting against it.
Then Xena thought her heart would
stop as fang marks appeared on the bard's neck and blood flowed slowly from the
wounds as the bard's body jerked.
"No!" Xena screamed and
started to launch herself against the vines again.
After a few moments she realized she
was being held back by Yakut and several Amazons. She nodded slightly and they eased their hold on the
warrior. Xena turned away from seeing
Gabrielle being abused as she stood by helpless.
"New battle plan time,"
she growled.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Gabrielle fought back against the
lips pressing against hers and the insistent hands roaming over her body but
found she had no way to resist with her body chained against a rock wall. The bard was already fuzzy from the alcohol
and the touch of the Bacchae was trying to get past her defenses.
"Xena!" she screamed, as
she broke loose from the lips only to have them trail down to her throat and
begin nibbling.
As the Bacchae fangs sank into her neck,
Gabrielle felt her body responding to the eroticism of the Bacchae magic
against her will. Multiple hands began
ripping away her clothing as the fangs moved down from her neck and bit the
bard on the breast.
Gabrielle screamed, both out of
terror and arousal. She could faintly
hear Bacchus laughing.
"Xena!" Gabrielle screamed
again and lashed out, knocking the Bacchae away from her chest and kicked two
others away from her. The bard knew
that her own fangs were flashing and her eyes were now yellow and glaring with
anger as she snarled at Bacchus.
The goat-horned god merely threw
back his head and laughed at Gabrielle's struggles. His dark, burgundy skin glistened in the torchlight and his mouth
full of fangs glinted back at the bard.
Bacchus pointed his finger at the bard.
"You are strong, stronger than
I expected," he admitted.
"Especially with my blood running through you. You're already a blood drinker and you can
still resist me, interesting. Won't
last long though."
"Go to Tartarus!" she
snapped, clenching her fangs together.