Zia… Dragofin Lair, 5th Floor Meeting Room

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“Yes, understood. You’re right, Hildy. Time is of the most importance.” Lina didn’t seem to take offense at Hildy’s abruptness. “First, Zia is a Siren Sorceress. It would appear that she was raised without the benefit of how to hone her gifting. Due to the limited time, I’ll make some assertions. If I’m wrong, please Zia, speak up,” she said, directing that part to Zia.

Zia nodded and motioned for the woman to continue.

“A Siren Sorceress is rare. Like other Siren she has the gift of persuasion through her voice, the ability to divine the true intentions of the heart and in some cases like Hildy to shift, fly, and exact fierce divine judgment,” Lina said, speaking to the group. “Zia’s Siren abilities are still muted. This may be due to never knowing they existed. Instead, it would appear that her Seductress ability was nurtured throughout her life. This affinity is a secondary gift of both the Siren and Sorcery. Zia, I hate to presume, but I would say you received a lot of unwanted sexual attention growing up.”

Again Zia nodded and clamped down hard on the sensation of an emotional outburst on the verge of erupting.

“If you don’t wish to answer, that’s fine, but based on this…” Lina pointed to a dark maroon color on one of the screens, “it would seem that a powerful sorcerer sexually invaded your body at an early age. Please forgive me for sharing intimate details about your life, I mean no harm, but you need to know he deposited his seed in you. Earth’s research is only recently catching up to reveal that each time a man has sexual intercourse with a woman he leaves some of his DNA inside of you. This is a low form of imprinting. This soul graft shows that this sorcerer did this to you.”

She paused. Zia gladly received the wave of Greg’s love that wrapped itself around her. As if sensing this, Lina continued.

“He impregnated you, but you didn’t carry it to term. This shows that rupture. Had you done so, his will would have dominated you for the rest of your life. As it stands, there was a remnant there. This is part of where your baby comes in.

“As a Gryphon, this child is blessed with their link to eternal wisdom and goodness. The babe was drawn to the residual dark energy and has been working to remove it. That is why he’s been so protective and blocking anything or one from invading your space. That included when his father was trying to speak with you. Until you identified Greg’s energy as good, he wasn’t about to let him near you.”

“But I’m his father. Wouldn’t he know that?”

“Most likely, but protecting his mother from all possible threats is his primary objective. For all he knew, that original remnant energy from that seed could have managed to bypass you, Greg. He was acting as a last line of defense.”

“It makes sense. I would have hoped that he had more faith in my abilities to protect his mother, but I would do the same.” Greg smiled. “I see my son is just like his dad.”

“Glad you have so much influence on him,” Lina said with a little laugh. “But I can’t dilly dally. Time is marching on. Zia, my sincere love to you for having endured that. I hope you’ll not take it against me for sharing, but it’s pertinent to what’s happening now.”

“It’s fine. I feel the love here and don’t feel judged.” Zia took a moment to see Quinn wipe a tear from the corner of her eye. She looked at Zia and gave her a faint smile as she tapped on her chest in a gesture of love.

“Thank you. Now, for the next part. The sorcerer that is sending this strong frequency isn’t the same but has a familial marker to the one from your youth. Like that of a child. This is conjecture on my part, but they used the parent’s residual seed as a base to anchor to you and exert power over your body. They used their father’s imprinting to hijack your body through this link that your baby has been working to break.”

“My precious baby,” Zia cooed and placed a hand on her stomach that Greg quickly covered with his own.

“Also, without having the specifics, the scar from your kidnapping is the target site they used to open a portal through you.”

Greg’s grip on Zia’s hand tightened. “How is that possible? People can’t be portals.”

“Zia can. That is one of the ways her gifting can be manifested. This rare ability is why it took us a while to figure out what was going on. Since Zia inherited the gift of the Sun through the Siren and the gift of the Moon through the Sorcery, she can walk between the realms, day and night, and most importantly—good and evil. The original sorcerer wanted to control her through her body to do his bidding. This one appears to want to turn Zia’s body into an actual transportation portal to the earth’s realm. I’d say Zia is still the prize they are gunning for. Her ability is unimaginable in scope and value.”

“There, all done,” Tina said as she removed the last of the sticky disks that had peppered Zia’s upper body until now.

Zia put on her top as her world tilted and spun. “How did they find me? I mean, how did this sorcerer know where to find me? I left home as soon as I graduated from high school.”

“This has been on the uprise and may be your case, too.” Lina looked like a wee bit of disgust etched her next words. “Did you by any chance take that popular DNA test that’s been marketed like crazy?”

Zia gasped and put a hand over her mouth. “Yeah, I took it late last year. My results came back at the beginning of this year, a little before I met Patrick.”

“My senses are tingling with a connection,” Mina said.

“So are mine.” Lina looked at Zia with a hint of pity. “That means they have everything they need to know about you. It’s been long suspected by some of us that this company is owned by The Paragons, otherwise known as The Group. We believe they’ve been collecting DNA to locate rare individuals to exploit them for their gain of complete power over this world. Having their private way to bypass the normal portals would be a huge step in that plan. Zia, this rabbit hole keeps getting deeper. Please, from here on, don’t trust anyone you’ve met except your family and this family,” Lina said motioning to the inhabitants of the Lair.”

“I am shook. I can’t begin to wrap my mind around all this. I didn’t know. I took that test and forgot about it when it told me what I always knew. I didn’t even tell my mother because I wanted to keep it to myself. I’m proud of my heritage, and I didn’t want to have to explain why I did it. Now, I wish I hadn’t needed to be so freaking rebellious about everything. That’s the only reason I ended up dating Patrick. I wasn’t even attracted to him—her—or whatever those things are.”

Lina spoke again. “Since you brought Patrick up, the third issue is the Egolars. Seems that they were able to imprint on Zia’s body by that scar as well. Since she’s so powerful in concentrated emotions, her essence is more powerful than the purest drug of emotional cocktails they could have. When Patrick exposed her essence to his group, she became known through their population as the ultimate find. When this sorcerer started trying to open her up as a portal, Egolars in other realms were pulled to her scent. Greg, this is why you saw them that night as you fought off the entities. There are other species signatures that were attracted to her as well. Ghosts addicted to the seductive frequency and some nasty alien matter that we only have a vague guess about what they are. Whew, that’s a lot, but I have one more to go.”

Lina walked over to the side table where the food had been placed, popped a few grapes in her mouth, grabbed a bunch of the plump fruit, and three bottles of water. She tossed bottles to her sisters and placed the grapes in Tina’s hands as they all picked and ate some. The scene was like watching synchronized swimming and just as mesmerizing.

After she swallowed some water, Lina continued. “This brings us to the fourth interaction of the anomalies going on with Zia—her sorcery element. This gift appears to be mounting and on the cusp of breaking forth. Your baby has been instrumental in helping to hold back the sorcery attempts to open a portal through you since you conceived. But he’s not strong enough to continue. That’s why we believe your gift for sorcery is being primed to emerge. It’s as if his energy is preparing a place for you to express the gift. I know this part might sound a little half-baked, but trust me, its true. This baby is a Gryphon, but he’s also your baby too. His magic is off the charts already. He seems to know you’re in danger. Your little one has been a busy little baby trying to help mommy to unleash the power needed to defeat whatever is trying to turn you into a portal.”

“Baby power, woot!” Wren said in a cheer. “That’s right, help your mommy.”

“Zia, have you experienced anything unusual? Do you have a desire to mix chemicals, any weird reactions when you’ve touched anything?” Lina asked.

“No, nothing. Wren had said that my power would show some of its expression once the joining had happened. I’ve had nothing new or unusual happen to me.”

“That’s not true,” Quinn spoke up. “The other night when Boogie was missing, you acted like a momma bear fighting for her cub. I could feel new power wafting off of you. I thought it had something to do with your Siren calling. It was big enough for me to notice, maybe its part of this sorcery thing Lina is getting at?”

“Zia, I know this is a lot to take in with us all coming at you from many sides, but it’s important that you try to remember anything that has been out of the ordinary. Oh, and while you’re doing that, would you tell us which side is which?”

“What do you mean?” Zia had no idea what she was referring to.

“Which sides do your Siren and Sorcery callings originate from.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Greg spoke up. “She gets the Siren from her father and the sorcery, from her mother.”

Zia looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “And, how are you so certain about that?”

“From you, speaking to your mother, and the way you describe your father, that’s how.”

“And, you’re sure?”

Greg tapped his head. “Yes, remember, Gryphon wisdom is at work here.”

A loud commotion sounded off from the direction of the other room Quinn had gone into earlier. Lucien, Matt, and Ajax came into the room ready for action.

“Quinn, I got your message. We’re ready. Greg, quick, bring us up to speed, so that we can get going. Quinn and Wren, it would be better if you all stay here. Ajax, go down and make sure our surface gear is packed in the vehicles with the highest battery levels. Make that the new vans.”

“Excuse you. We were talking,” Quinn said. “Lina wasn’t finished with her briefing. And Wren and I will be going. This involves our sister too. There’s no way we won’t be there if anything goes wrong.”

Lucien’s voice exploded. “Mate! Please, not now.”

Quinn surprised everyone when she calmly said, “You don’t know everything about everything. Now, please, sit down and get briefed like the rest of us, mate. Oh, and if my strategic inkling is right, you’re going to need to wake some of the others.”