He’d stopped calling as he watched her form, and when her gaze turned to him, Kalona left his marble seat to kneel before her.
“Great Earth Mother! Thank you for answering my call.”
“Kalona? It is you, child. Have I slept long?”
“Yes, Mother, centuries,” said the immortal.
Earth yawned again sleepily. “And yet I am still weary. I must sleep longer. I will speak to you when I awaken, son of the moon and—”
“No! Wait! You cannot sleep yet. I need to say something to you, and I also need your help.”
She frowned at him. “Kalona, what have you done? Has Darkness entered the realm of my lovely friend, Nyx?”
“No! With Erebus’s help I was able to defeat my jealousy, and because I was no longer angry, Darkness was not able to gain entrance to the Otherworld.”
“Nyx is well?” asked Mother Earth.
“She is.”
“And my other son, Erebus? He is well?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Excellent. I must say that I am pleased that you have defeated your jealous nature. I feared that you would not, and that Nyx would eventually have to banish you to keep Darkness from her realm.”
“I was wrong before—during the tests you devised for Erebus and me. You were right to test me. I was not worthy of Nyx’s love. Mother, I apologize that I was so difficult—that I seemed uncaring and arrogant.”
Mother Earth studied her son. “You have changed. I can see it. Your eyes are no longer shadowed. I accept your apology—gladly.” She glanced around the clearing. As she noticed the raptly watching cows, she made a slight gesture with one hand, and tufts of impossibly sweet alfalfa materialized in piles before them. “Thank you for watching over my son,” she told them.
The cows lowed softly before they buried their muzzles in the alfalfa.
Mother Earth returned her attention to Kalona. “I do not see my other son. Is he not with you?”
“No, but he is the reason I called you.”
Her dark gaze sharpened. “But you said he was well.”
“He is, but he will not continue to be if you and I do not help him.”
Mother Earth sat up, resting her verdant back against the trunk of the rowan trees. “What is wrong with him?”
“He is lonely,” said Kalona simply.
“Are you not his friend? And what of my Goddess? Is Nyx also not Erebus’s faithful friend?”
“Yes! We love Erebus. We are family, but it isn’t a friend or a brother, or even a sister that Erebus needs. He longs for a mate—for the kind of love Nyx and I share,” said Kalona.
“Ah, I see. I assumed he would content himself with human lovers, and that his sense of fun and joy would enable him to move from lover to lover gracefully.”
“And I believe he would have been content with that life—had he not gifted me with some of his magnificent joy. And though I did not mean for it to happen, in return he received a measure of my anger.”
“And that sliver of anger allowed loneliness to enter him and to grow,” said Mother Earth. “I see. And has he turned to anger as well?”
Kalona shook his head. “It is not his way. I do not believe my brother will ever embrace anger. Instead sadness fills him, moving him to despair.”
“Yes, despair is more in your brother’s nature—anger is more in yours,” Mother Earth agreed. “You should know that both emotions are allies of Darkness. Both will eventually destroy Light if left unchecked.”
“I agree, and with your help we can stop that from happening.”
“What is it you propose?”
“It’s really quite simple. I only ask that you create one more immortal—a being brought to life especially for Erebus, who will live eternity at my brother’s side and save him from a life of loneliness,” said Kalona.
“I can do that, Kalona, but in order to create this incredible being I need an equally incredible sacrifice as I am too weary to seduce the sun or the moon again.”
“Could I be the sacrifice?” Kalona asked with no hesitation.
“Child, I said that I need an incredible sacrifice. You are immortal, so it is not your life’s essence that I can take. You need to understand that means what I take from you—what must be done—will be long and difficult.”
“He’s my brother. He’s worth it.”
Mother Earth’s eyes softened with warmth. “Then your sacrifice will be enough. I will help you. I am proud of who you have become.”
Kalona’s eyes filled with unexpected tears and his breath caught in his throat. He bowed his head. “Thank you, Mother. There was a time when I believed I would never hear those words from you.”
When Mother Earth made no response, Kalona lifted his head and his gaze to see that she was standing before him, her arms open. And then for the first time in his very long life, Kalona stepped into his mother’s embrace, rested his head against her bosom, and wept with relief and joy.
5
Other Kalona
“I do not understand why we couldn’t do this on the isle. This place does not hold good memories for me.” Kalona spoke as he looked around the area. Mother Earth had insisted he leave the grove and the island and meet her exactly where his last test had gone so very wrong and Nyx had had to create the first vampyre from a dead maiden.
“This is a place of special power. It is why you were drawn here for your last test,” said Mother Earth as she walked to the eastern section of the space, with Kalona following closely. “Ah, this is exactly what I need.” She paused before a huge east-facing oak that grew straight and proud. Mother Earth sat in front of the tree and began rhythmically beating her hands against the thick bark so that a sonorous pulse vibrated from the center of the trunk and spread through the ground around them.
“Is there anything I can do?” Kalona asked. “Maybe I should keep watch. The last time I was here a crazed Shaman did the unexpected. I wouldn’t want that to happen again.”
Mother Earth’s smile bloomed. “That old Shaman did nothing unexpected. He was following my command exactly.”
Kalona felt a lightning bolt of shock. “But he killed an innocent girl!”
Mother Earth nodded, still beating rhythmically against the tree. “Then you and Nyx saved her, creating the first vampyre.”
“I do not understand.”
“Kalona, my firstborn, I knew from the first moment you gazed on Nyx that your nature was going to be a problem. Instead of letting that make me sad, or instead of waiting until worse happened and your anger allowed Darkness entrance to the realms of the Goddess, I acted. I knew that the making of the race of vampyres would be your salvation.”