Mona Lisa Darkening

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Dontaine and Aquila were the last to arrive. All the rest of my family — Chami, Tomas, Rosemary, Tersa, Jamie, and Thaddeus — were already in the front parlor. Nolan and his wife, Hannah, our healer, were also there. They, too, had a right to know. Exactly what, I was still working out. Lots of secrets I had to keep, but some… most…just didn't matter anymore. If what I suspected was true, I would no longer be with them much longer. So I told them many of the things I hadn't told them before. I told them about Mona Louisa becoming demon dead — not how she had become that way, but that she simply was. Everyone just assumed it was through the usual way — that she died and made the transition to demon life.

When I told them that Mona Louisa's demon essence had somehow become a part of me, and my brother asked, "How?" I told him, told everyone, that it was a demon secret I had sworn not to reveal.

"Sworn to who?" Chami asked.

"To Halcyon and to the High Lord."

That I was acquainted with the reclusive High Lord of Hell didn't seem to faze my men at all, though Nolan and his wife seemed shocked by the knowledge. But then my men knew that I had gone down to Hell twice before. They likely thought that Mona Louisa's demon essence had blended with mine during one of my trips there. I could imagine Monère mothers, generations from now, telling their children my sad story as a lesson for living Monère never to mix with the demon dead — both literally and figuratively. Not only had I gone down to Hell, the first Monère — well, the first Mixed Blood Monère — ever to do so, but I had mated with the Demon Prince and become part demon in truth. Just desserts, many would no doubt say.

"Mona Louisa's demon essence inside me was why I was whisked down into NetherHell. That's apparently where she belonged. And the dheu part of her, the damned demon part of her inside of me, was what wouldn't let me cross the doorway back into Hell."

"So how did you come back?" Thaddeus asked.

"Halcyon. He and Gryphon found me. When I couldn't pass through the doorway separating the realms, he ripped the demon part of her out of me. I was able to cross into Hell, and from there, into the Living Realm again. But it seems I'm damaged now, not whole. All that makes me Monère is gone — my strength, my speed, my power, all my Monère abilities. I can't even glow anymore. I can no longer Bask. Without that, I cannot be your Queen anymore."

Pin-drop silence. Then a rising jumble of voices. Hannah's voice cut through all the others. "Mona Lisa, if I may, I would like to examine you."

A hush fell over the others. At my nod, she took the seat that Amber vacated for her. "Here, in front of everyone?" she asked.

"Yes." Why not?

She lifted her hands and started with my head, giving a gasp when she touched my forehead. I felt the tendrils of her power sink into me like warm, spreading heat. My sense of everyone had been muted, I realized now, but this power, this inner seeking, I felt strongly.

Giving a soft cry, she jerked her hands away from me, not quickly but slowly, as if something sticky tugged her to me and was loathe to give her up.

"What's wrong?" Nolan asked sharply.

Hannah gazed at me mutely.

"Go ahead," I said. "You can tell everyone what you sensed."

"Sensed is a good word," Hannah said, her voice slightly tremulous. "That brief touch only allowed me a glimpse of your inner wounding. Your energy… aura, I suppose would be the best word for it… is severely damaged."

"Is that why you pulled away from me like that?"

"No, I drew back so abruptly because that wound in your aura drew on my energy with unexpected force when I touched you."

"Is that usual?" I asked, frowning.

"Far from it."

"Then, why did it happen?"

"Your body is trying to heal itself. Do you feel any better?"

I searched inwardly. "No, it feels the same. Like this raw, open wound. How about you? Did touching me hurt you?"

Hannah shook her head.

"Then why are you trembling?"

"Because you siphoned off quite a bit of my healing energy. I wasn't expecting that. Didn't even know it could be done."

She reached her hands out to me once more.

"Whoa, just a second," I said, leaning away from her.

"If I just siphoned off enough energy to make you this shaky, why are you trying to touch me again?"

"I wasn't prepared for it the first time," Hannah said. "I should be able to control it better, now that I know what to expect. I'd like to examine you again, more thoroughly this time, and see if my energy helped you in any way."

Because I wanted to know as well, I agreed. "All right, but if you can't control it, you release me right away, understood?"

She nodded and her fingertips rose to hover just over my face. I felt that warm, healing energy floating just out of reach. She ran her fingers down the sides of my neck, touched briefly. A small jolt of energy passed between us — was drawn out of her. She lift her fingers away and continued down my body.

"Lift up your T-shirt, please, milady."

When I did, I felt the warm, teasing presence of those hands slide above my abdomen, not touching, just gliding an inch above my skin, assessing my aura. A brief touch over my belly, and another small jolt of energy passing between us. She moved down my legs.

"If you can remove your sneakers and socks, milady."

I kicked off shoes and socks, and lifted my bare feet up. Hannah passed her hands over my toes and continued down over the soles. Lightly, she grasped the bottoms of my feet. One last surge of siphoned energy, and she released me.

She sat there bravely beside me, inches away, while I felt my body's hunger for her energy. Had I been her, I would have scooted back, far out of reach. "What's the verdict, doc?"

"It is as you say," Hannah said. "You have a raw, open wound, leaking out energy, not just your own but what you took from me as well. All of my healing energy, transferred to you, seems to have washed right out of that hole of your aura."

"So I'm like this broken cup that can't hold water," I said quietly.

"I've never seen an injury like this… I don't even begin to know how to heal it, but I could try."

Try.. and die, I thought. "No, if what I took out of you did nothing, any further attempts would not only be useless but possibly very dangerous for you." A brief hesitation. "Will I get better on my own?"

"I don't know," Hannah answered. "I would have to examine you over a course of days, maybe even weeks. See if you continue to leak away your energy or start to conserve it better."

I sighed. "Nothing to do but wait and see then. I have a leaking hole that you cannot plug. I think if you tried, my body would likely drain you dry, for no purpose, no gain."

"You're not even going to try to let her heal you?" Dontaine asked angrily.

"She just did, not entirely voluntarily, and she wasn't able to heal me. I don't think conventional healing will be able to help me."

"If not conventional healing then what else?" he asked.

"I was thinking of Hell, the High Lord. He's a gifted healer. He may be able to help me. If not," I shrugged, "then NetherHell, if I can find a way to return there. Try to find Mona Louisa and merge us back together again." My announcement seemed to stun everyone.

"How will you find Mona Louisa again?" Aquila asked. A logical question from my practical business manager. "Didn't her essence dissipate when she was separated from you?"

"Ah, no. Once Halcyon pulled her out of me, she became her own separate being." With the solidifying touch of a gargoyle. But no one here needed to know that. Or how unlikely it was that I would be able to reverse the process, if I could even find her, or go back there in the first place.

"But if you fuse her back into your aura, you won't be able to return here again," Thaddeus said. "You won't be able to leave NetherHell."

"That's correct. If I can fix my problem" — and that was a really big if — "I'll be stuck in NetherHell."

"How likely is it — returning to NetherHell, finding Mona Louisa, and merging the two of you back together? How good are your chances at accomplishing all of those things?" Thaddeus asked intently.

I took a deep breath. "Not very good."

"Then why don't you just stay with us," my brother suggested. "See first if you can heal this wound on your own."

"Even if I did that, I still have to let the High Queen's Council know of my condition so they can start making arrangements to have another Queen take over. If I still can't Bask by the time the next full moon rises, I'll have to step down."

"I can Bask," Thaddeus said into the sudden silence.

Only Nolan, Hannah, and Dontaine were surprised — the only ones here who had not witnessed that miraculous occurrence. A secret we had kept successfully hidden until now.

"Thaddeus —"

"It's all right, Lisa. You don't have to protect me or keep it a secret anymore. Not now when it's what our people need and something I can contribute. I can Bask but I can't lead our people the way you do. Stay here, continue to be our Queen, and let me Bask for you."

"Thaddeus… I don't want to have your life change so drastically."

"It would change as drastically if another Queen took over," he said. "I doubt a new Queen would let you stay here."

"You could have a normal life," I said. "A normal human life. You could go away to Harvard, like your parents wanted you to."

"And let everyone here be taken over by a new Queen, or dispersed or combined with another territory? Not just ours, Mona Lisa, but Amber's also? Lisa, don't do anything hasty for now. Just give yourself time. Give us time. Stay here with us."

"The way I am? Weak, powerless, with no light in me, unable to Bask?"

"You are still our Queen, the one we all look to," Dontaine said, kneeling in front of me. "Let the men and me be your strength and power, and Thaddeus can Bask for you." He took it on blind faith, Thaddeus's outrageous claim.

"Then what do you need me for?"

"To be the heart and soul of our people. To be our Queen, our lady, our familiar head," Dontaine said. "Without your presence, the people might not accept Thaddeus."

Stay here and ease Thaddeus's transition to power, Dontaine was subtly suggesting. Help our people — and the High Council — to accept him. That, indeed, was a powerful reason to stay.

"Thaddeus," I said, looking at my brother, "your life would change forever."

He actually laughed. "As if it hasn't already, sis. I'm sure about this. It's what I want."

I looked from Thaddeus's earnest face to the others. "What do the rest of you want?"

"The same thing," Amber said. "Be our Queen, our anchor, and let Thaddeus Bask in your place."

"You can still seek help from the High Lord," said Dontaine.

"Hell is fine," Tomas added in a surprising about-face. My men had hated me going down there before.

"Just don't go back to NetherHell," said Chami.

When comparing Hell to NetherHell, I guess Hell came up smelling like roses.

"NetherHell sounds like a terrible place, milady," Rosemary mattered.

"Awful" Jamie said, grimacing.

"Stay," Tersa murmured softly.

All of them in accord.

"All right," I said. "I'll stay."