Blood Trouble — Connie Suttle

"Belen?" I blinked up at him. As usual, he was shining brightly, although he'd dampened it so I might look at him.



"Lissa, this is certainly the beginning." He gazed around us. At leveled homes and devastated bodies.



I understood what he said. All too clearly. It had been my suspicion, but I was too afraid to voice it aloud, as if saying it might make it real. It didn't need my words to make it real. It had already become real. The God Wars were upon us. "It'll only get worse, won't it?" I whispered.



"If this is not stopped," Belen lowered his head as if in thought. "Either the opposing forces know something we don't, or evidence we do not have indicates that the Three are now revealed."



"You don't know who all Three are, do you?" I shivered.



"We know of the Mighty Hand -- he has revealed himself to us, but he has placed himself behind a shield only the strongest might breach, and to my knowledge only the One might get past Strength's barrier. One other we have both felt," he nodded slightly to me. Neither of us was willing to speak Breanne's name aloud. She was in enough danger, I think, and I didn't want to add to that.



"The other I cannot say, although we have seen evidence," Belen sighed. He hesitated for a moment, as if he wanted to say something else and then thought better of it.



"I am afraid to say what I might think about this," Belen murmured instead. "It worries me that even the quietest voice might be heard if I speak my suspicions about this. Lissa, there's something you do not know," Belen continued.



"What's that?"



"I only removed the mind cloud from your son. The others -- it had already been removed when I arrived to do it."



"What?" I stared at Belen.



"Someone quite powerful arrived before I did. I believe Gavin and Cheedas benefited from a visit from one of the others. At this time, I cannot say -- am afraid to say -- which it might have been."



"I don't understand this," I rubbed my forehead.



"Lissa, do not make yourself ill, I beg," Belen knelt next to me. "We must be strong and vigilant in the coming days. It is up to us to do what we can to protect innocents during these times. As much as we can, for as long as we can. We cannot say if our enemies are destroying these lives, attempting to draw one or more of the Three out. After all, if one of them falls or turns to the other side, all will be lost. More than one destroyed will only hasten our demise."



"This is the flaw, isn't it?" I sighed.



"Yes. This is the flaw," he agreed.



* * *


Those among the powerful know the God Wars have begun -- except for Breanne. Without suspecting what she really is or that she has been targeted, she has chosen a new home for herself -- in Earth's past. When strange events begin to happen around her, Breanne's confusion ramps up considerably. Toss in a handsome stranger and a horrible past, and Breanne seems headed for destruction.