Seventh Seal - Jacquelyn Faye Page 0,48

Forces of nature, creatures and people of immense power, even weapons have become gods. The only thing they need is people worshiping them."

"Like movie stars?" I blinked in confusion.

"No. Humans, for the most part, stopped worshipping and believing in gods a long time ago. They worship their gold, their coins, and ideals that give them the belief they are better than their neighbor. They don't want to believe in gods. They want to believe they are right."

"They want to fear and believe in their righteousness," I added sadly. All too familiar with the issue.

"Exactly."

"Well, nobody worships me. I can't be a god."

Both the goddess and my grandmother laughed.

"What?"

"Child, you collect people who believe in you and love you with all the power of their people behind them."

"Huh?"

"Think of a god as a pentagram." She drew one in the air in front of us with her fingers. Glowing golden trails followed her fingers until the encircled five-pointed star hovered and stayed. People passing by did a doubletake and hurried away. I fought the urge to rub the bridge of my nose. "The four points below are the spheres. The apex is the god. The quintessence. That is you."

A sinking feeling welled up inside me. "And my four spheres are the dark elves, the demons, the shadows, and the vampires."

"Yes. Just like your father."

"How do you know it wasn't just his powers reacting with my lovers?"

"Because his powers are gone."

"Gone?"

"No longer inside you."

"Where'd they go?"

"I do not know. If I had to wager a guess, they went exactly where you wanted them to go."

"Back to him?"

She looked at me like I was stupid. I knew, because I got that look a lot. "No. You would've had to have given them to him personally to do that. What was your plan?"

"To put them into the gem."

"Exactly."

There was a glowing red ruby in the jewelry box on my dresser that I really needed to put in a safety deposit box. In Fort Knox. Staring at her in amazement, I started hyperventilating. "Why?"

"Why what, Sister?"

"Why does this shit keep happening to me?" Leaning forward, I put my head between my knees and sucked in lung burning gulps of frigid air.

The goddess placed Candace's hand on my back, and I was immediately filled with warmth and love as she stroked me comfortingly. "The universe gets what the universe needs."

"Needs, not wants?"

"Times have changed. People and races have changed. They need a hero. A savior. Someone to guide."

"Isn't that you?"

"My spheres do not reach the darker races. You are their goddess."

"I seem to be saying this a lot lately, but I'm just a Dot."

Nana humphed. "You are a Blackwell, Child."

Instead of taking offense, the goddess nodded and smiled at Nana. "Tis true. She has the blood of more than one god running through her mortal veins."

"What?"

Nana's face darkened.

"What does she mean by that, Nana?"

"Another tale for another time. Let us worry about your future."

The goddess must have agreed with her. She stood and turned to face us. "I cannot help you any more than I already have, Sister. Just know that not all of us agreed with the decision to incarcerate your father for his supposed crimes against the natural order. He is not the only one to have loved a mortal and born or sired offspring. His only crime was his atrocious timing. I have been working long and hard to see that you would have everything you needed to set things right. You have it all right now, you just don't see it."

"What? What do I have?"

"Everything you need to free your father."

"What is it I needed?"

"A way to get to him. A map to find him. And the key to free him."

There was a brief flare of golden light and Candace, the real Candace, blinked at us confusedly. "Dot?"

"Hey, Candy."

"Did you want a coffee?" She looked around the central square.

"Yeah. I think we could all use one."

Chapter 14

"Bill didn't want to go?" Jimmy sounded disappointed. Knowing Jimmy, he probably was.

"He said we should have fun. He had an event he needed to work."

Jimmy shot me a dubious look from the driver's seat of his truck and put it in reverse. Then he did that 'put his arm across the seats so he could look out the back window while he reversed' move. I didn't know what it was about the simple act that turned me on, but it did. It seemed so manly. But when I added in the factor that he had a