Gaia's Champion Ch. 12

"Amelia, Eva, come to me now!" he commanded.

His voice rang with a measure of authority, and Jason could sense a measure of magic behind it. He saw small tendrils of red energy shoot from the man, trying to worm their way into both women. The bond he had with Amy flared, as did Eva's Gaian magic, shielding both women from the command. He stared at them both, his face betraying his shock.

"No, father. We are not coming with you. We left your home and we are not coming back. We are free!" Amy growled.

"Impudent child! You will obey me now!" he shouted.

"Fuck you!" Amy roared.

"I'd say she's put her foot down on the matter. You and yours can get the fuck out of here, before we summon the police," Jason told him menacingly.

"That will be difficult to do, since I possess this," Wayne stated as he held a portable cell phone jammer.

"Clever, but that won't save your ass. Get out now!" Jason thundered.

"Chad, deal with this wretch," Wayne said dismissively. Chad grinned, all too happy to punish this man for deceiving him. He stepped forward, launching a couple of punches, intending to make this quick.

Jason saw the blows coming and dodged the first one, but blocked the second one. Chad's shock was palpable, as everyone there expected Chad, who was blessed by power from his father, to make quick work of Jason. The fact that Jason blocked the blow without being staggered from Chad's power was astounding. Even more shocking to the group was the punch that Jason landed, which sent Chad flying and spitting up blood.

"How..." one of the young men there started, before Jason interrupted him.

"You guys think taking me down is going to be easy? Bring it!" Jason taunted.

The men who had arrived with Wayne Marston moved forward, ready to take him up on the challenge. Wayne raised his arm, stopping them in their tracks, before reaching into his coat and pulling out a tranquilizer gun. Jason rushed him, but Wayne had already darted him, dropping the redheaded man to the floor. Jason growled, as a single dart wasn't enough to knock him out, much less slow him down. Wayne fired again, putting at least two more in Jason before he collapsed.

"Jason!" Amy shrieked.

"Dart them all and let's get out of here," Wayne ordered the men.

They did as they were ordered, pulling tranq guns from their coats and darting all three women before they could flee. Each woman took at least two darts before they dropped to the ground, which Wayne was curious about. He began to approach them when he was tripped up and fell flat on his face. Head snapping up, he saw Jason coming at him with a feral look on his face.

Wayne shot him again, but it did little to slow Jason down as he wrapped his hands around Wayne's throat. The others raised their weapons and darted him, seven more shots hitting the man before he dropped like a rag doll. Wayne pushed the man off him, and Darren kicked the unconscious form of Jason, in retribution for trying to strangle his father.

"Darren, stop!" Wayne commanded his son. Hesitantly, his son obeyed, with a look of disgust on his face.

"Why should I not punish this man, father?" Darren growled.

"It took at least nine darts to put him down. He is special and, as such, must be studied. Tie him up and take him with us. He may yield power that we can tap into," Wayne instructed.

Not liking the idea, but seeing his father's reason, Darren did as he was ordered. With the help of the other men present, they quickly tied everyone there up and were out of the house in a few minutes. They put the women in the back seats of their vehicles, before buckling them in. Jason, they tossed him in one of the trunks, as they knew he'd cause trouble.

Wayne cast a look at his son and shook his head, remembering the defiance he had been showing lately. His son was starting to become troublesome once more and would need to be bound again. Darren, breaking free from the mindset he'd been programmed to, was dangerous.

Wayne had remembered when Darren had obeyed his every command without question. The moment he hit puberty was when he began to change. He openly defied his father on many things and often disagreed with what was happening at home. Thanks to the order he was a part of, they had bound the boy to his will. Sadly, though, it looked as though they'd have to repeat the process.

He'd hoped that Darren would take to the programming and let that stubborn, altruistic streak he had, die. The boy was more like his mother than he cared to admit, but hopefully, tonight, he'd stamp it out for good. Wayne got behind the wheel of his Mercedes and put the car in gear, driving away from the neighborhood.

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All four Gaian women were on their way back to the house, happy as clams. It had been a while since any of them had been happy like this, but now they had good reason to be. The four of them, chattering like they were, attracted many looks and stares from passersby, as all four of them were great beauties. Some guys thought to approach, but a withering stare from Xaera sent them scurrying away.

The quartet soon arrived at Elizabeth's home and were shocked by what they saw. The door was hanging off its hinges and there was no sound coming from inside. With a cry, Phalmina rushed into the house, afraid at what she'd find. The other three were right behind her, fearing similar things.

"Jason? JASON?!?" Phalmina shouted.

"Amy?? Liz?! Eva?!?" Xaera called out, hoping she'd get a response.

"Mina, there's blood here!" Ema called out, pointing.

Her head whipped around and Phalmina rushed to where it was. She did a quick chant, calling upon Gaia's power to aid her and her hand was enveloped in green energy. She hovered over the blood momentarily, before the magic winked out. She breathed a sigh of relief before addressing the other fairies.

"It's not Jason's, thank Gaia!" Phalmina told them.

"It doesn't belong to the girls, does it?" Daelina asked with an air of trepidation.

"I could sense no Gaian energy in the blood, so no, I don't think so," Phalmina responded.

"What happened? Where did they go?" Emalia asked.

"Someone was here," Xaera replied, sniffing the air. "A bunch of them. Humans who smell... wrong. They came here... looking for someone."

"Amy's father and brother! It has to be!" Phalmina cried out.

"How can you be so sure? It could have been someone else!" Emalia stated, playing the devil's advocate.

"My nose doesn't lie. It was humans and the smell of one of them almost smells like Amy," Xaera told her as she crossed her arms. The women kept arguing about who it could have been, to where they didn't notice the other two figures walk in the door.

"What the fuck is going on here?!?" Luke called out.

The heads of all four Gaian women snapped to regard Luke and Karla, who was standing next to him. Luke wore an expression of unpleasant surprise, and Karla appeared confused.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Phalmina wondered.

"I'm Luke, Jason's friend that he invited for the barbecue. What the hell happened here?" he queried.

"That's something we're trying to figure out ourselves, Luke. I'm Phalmina by the way," she said, extending her hand. Luke tentatively reached out and shook it and introduced Karla, before stepping back, worry creasing his features.

"How long have you four been here?" he asked.

"Not even five minutes before you walked in here with Karla, so we're still trying to figure things out," Phalmina told him.

They started debating what could have happened for several minutes, before Karla gave a strangled cry of shock. Luke glanced back at her, wondering what was wrong, until he followed her pointing finger. Karla was pointing at Xaera, who was rapidly changing back into her troll form, as the last light of the sun dipped below the horizon, turning dusk into night. Her skin turned back to its brilliant blue and her auburn hair became pure red once more.

"What... what... what???" Luke stuttered at the sudden change. The fairy women stared at Luke before they glanced at one another and nodded soberly. Each woman then uncased her wings in front of the couple, showing their true forms to them. Luke's shock was evident, his jaw hitting the ground in disbelief. Karla, on the other hand, dropped to her knees and spoke in Danish, the adulation in her voice plain as day.

"A Gaian believer? I thought such people had died out long ago!" Phalmina said, surprised.

"Not all of us! We are still here and many of us still believe! Gaia is real?!?" Karla asked hopefully.

"She is and her power still holds strong, because her champions walk the earth once more," Phalmina told her, helping her up from her knees.

"OK, hold up!! Someone mind filling me in with what the fuck is going on here?" Luke interrupted. Karla glared at him, but the fairies waved her back, knowing that not everyone would know who Gaia was.

Phalmina took the lead and explained to Luke who she was, what Jason now was and what was going on. It took Luke a few moments to put the pieces together, but everything made a semblance of sense. The explanations Phalmina gave seemed crazy, and a little out there. But Luke knew that if you eliminated the impossible, whatever was left, however improbable, must be the truth.

"So, let me get this straight. Jason is a Druid, a champion of Gaia, who can use magic, which also comes from Gaia? You ladies are fairies, except Xaera, who is half troll? Eva, Amy's mom also has magic like Jason's and can become a Druid like him and they've vanished? But everyone here thinks they've been taken for some nefarious reason? By Amy's dad?" Luke asked.

"Yes," Phalmina answered.

"Do you have any idea how crazy and far-fetched that sounds?" he replied.

"Then how do you explain me? How do you explain this?" the fairy woman told him as she drew upon Gaia's magic and started glowing brightly like a miniature sun with wings.

"Not saying I don't believe it, just saying it sounds like stretch!" Luke said wincing from the bright light that was Phalmina.

"Does it disturb you? The fairies? Me?" Xaera grunted, her voice going hostile.

"The only disturbing thing about this whole thing to me is that fact that Jason didn't tell me! After we find him, wherever he is, I'm going to kick hiss ass!" Luke growled.

"Save the ass kicking for later! We have to find him!" Ema stated.

"Wait, a moment. Phal... mina was it?" Karla asked.

"You can call me Mina," the fairy woman told her as she nodded.

"Did you not say that you were bonded to Jason? Wouldn't that bond be something you could sense?" Karla asked.

"Oh! Oh, sweet Gaia, I'm so stupid!" Phalmina griped.

"Wait, if you can sense him, then maybe we can find out where he is, or at least, where he's going!" Luke replied, snapping his fingers.

"We need to get going now!" Phalmina said desperately.

"Everyone, into my van, now! Let's go get our friend back!" Luke told them.

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Elizabeth felt groggy as she finally came to, blinking her eyes, which felt like they were welded shut. She lay down on hard stone and looked at her surroundings. She was no longer in her own home, but in a cell of what appeared to be a dungeon. Elizabeth sat up and shook her head, trying to clear away the grogginess that threatened to send her back to sleep.

Elizabeth noticed that she sat alone in her own cell, but once her vision cleared, she saw that she wasn't alone. Amy, Eva and Jason were in cells adjacent to her own, but they were still out like lights. Elizabeth saw that Jason wasn't alone in his cell, as someone in a white coat was squatting over him, flanked by two burly men.

It didn't take her long to see that the man in the coat was a doctor and the two other men were guards. Not wanting to chance drawing their attention, Elizabeth laid back down, making it look like she was still out. She kept her eyes open to just slits, so she could at least see what was going on. The doctor then stood up, having finished whatever he was doing, before backing away from Jason.

He stepped out of the cell and closed the door behind him; the guards moved with him. The old man wearing the doctor's coat tucked something away in a satchel as he moved. After a brief look at Amy, Eva and her, the trio of men then left the room, closing a heavy wood door behind them as they left. Elizabeth counted to two hundred before she dared to raise her head again. Once she was confident the men were truly gone, she bolted to her feet.

"Amy? Eva? Jason?" she called out as loudly as she dared. None of them so much as stirred as her call, so Elizabeth called out again, a little louder this time, but to no avail.

She kept trying, but her voice wasn't reaching them, and Elizabeth couldn't help but feel helpless. She had no idea who these people were and why they'd taken them or where they'd taken them. Elizabeth remembered her breathing exercises, to keep herself from panicking, as she wracked her brain, trying to figure out what was going on. She only hoped she'd come to the realization, before it was too late.

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"You have done well John! You are to be commended for your intelligence, which helped us recapture my wife and daughter!" Wayne Marston, said jovially, as they sat in the meeting room in the mansion above the dungeon.

"Thank you, sir!" John replied, smiling with pride.

"Because of your efforts, you will join me tonight when I take back the power that belongs to me. You will receive a small amount of it, as payment for your initiative and actions!" Wayne told him.

"Thank you, High Cleric! You are most generous!" John replied, bowing to the man. Many of the men in the room nodded in agreement, seeing such a gift as something generous indeed!

"High Cleric, I have wonderful news!" the doctor said, bursting into the meeting room.

"What is it, doctor?" Wayne asked, intrigued.

"That young man you've captured? He has power! Untold amounts of it!! His blood carries in levels unseen in centuries!" the doctor said excitedly.

"He is more powerful than Eva?!" Wayne asked, this news not only catching his attention, but the attention of every man in the room!

"His power dwarfs that of your wife! By at least sevenfold!" the doctor enthused, his excitement bleeding into his speech.

"Then we must make draining him our first priority! If he has that much power, then he could become a threat, if left unchecked! Prepare the ritual chambers immediately and send for his Holiness! We will take the power that man holds and bring our order back to the prominence it once held!" Wayne told them.

Everyone then exploded into action, eager to get things going! Many of them, who were lacking in power, hoped and prayed that the High Cleric might be generous with the power that was at his disposal to give. Those who were his closest friends hoped for this as they needed it, if they were to exert the same force of will in their own lives. After all, there was only so much power a man could hold before he went mad.

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That's a wrap for this chapter and yes, I know, I'm evil with the cliffhangers! But I have already made a fair amount of progress with my newest chapters, so expect to see teasers for them landing soon! What will happen to our druid and his companions? Will they be drained and made slaves of the Sons of Caesar? Will Luke, Karla and his Gaian friends get to them in time? Stay tuned for chapter thirteen to find out!

Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read my work and I do hope that you've enjoyed it! I'm open to constructive criticism and will seriously consider any suggestions made about various story arcs. Please feel free to rate and comment on my work down below. If you like what I write, don't be afraid to follow and share, though your views, ratings and comments are quite enough for me.

In the meantime, this is C.H. Darkstrider, signing off to grab a beer and some quality time with the wife! ;) You will attain whatever you most desire, as long as you believe in yourself. Cheers!