Lucia stood on a balcony overlooking Orion's vast courtyard. The memories of a life she'd once lived filtered through her mind. She had been a priestess of a temple built of stone and marble. Magic wards had surrounded the premises, both as a call to the women of her kind and as protection from the immortals who would molest them.

The full truth of her own race was only now beginning to sink in. She'd learned some things about the desire of the vampires and the dragons for women like her. Now the memories were starting to become clear after Orion opened his computer databases to her curious eyes.

The evidence was too strong to ignore. She had lived thousands of years ago in a completely different world. It was a world where magic and technology worked hand-in-hand. It was a world where immortals walked the Earth and she was married to a dragon named Orion.

Orion had protected her temple then. She wondered what would become of the other witches of her coven now. Surely, the women of her kind would be awakening to their nature just as she had. The part of her who had been the arch-priestess of a coven two thousand years ago called out to the women she had once protected and taught.

The temple of the witches was necessary for their work as protectors of magic and humanity. The temple was also necessary to ensure that the vampires and dragons with less than stellar character did not kidnap and rape them.

Lucia was beginning to understand the reality of life as a witch in the ancient world. All the male immortals wanted to fill the witches with their offspring. For some men, love did not matter. They saw the witches as breeding stock.

The behavior of The Surge sickened her. In the old world and in the new. She had no doubt they would do the same thing yet again even if the sun was restored in the sky. Orion had warned her of as much. A desire to protect the other witches in the world gathered in her belly and blossomed through her heart.

She felt a call radiate out from her chest. It vibrated through the air, echoing out in all directions. She was sending a signal to any other witches who could hear it. She wanted them to join her here at Orion's fortress in the coastal mountains of northern California. Here they would work to regain the power they once held, and she would offer them protection.

Even if she was still unsure about her feelings for Orion, she knew she had a duty to the other women of her kind. If Orion was the man he claimed himself to be, he would help her as he once had. Perhaps if she could gain the assurance that he was truly on her side, and on the side of other women like her, she could finally believe in him. She wanted more than anything to believe in his love and to truly give herself to him.

Orion was the most beautiful man she'd ever laid eyes on. His six foot three broad-shouldered frame; his masculine face and smoldering eyes were enough to make any woman weak at the knees. When he touched her, she felt the fire brewing deep within, brighter and hotter than she could withstand.

He'd broken into her house and swept her up into a mythological world she didn't understand. She was trying to step into the truth of who she was and her own place in the world, but accepting an ancient husband was a whole other story.

She knew he wanted something from her. Something deep and permanent. She wasn't sure if she could give it to him yet. For all she knew, she was losing her mind or was under a black magic spell.

Before the sun went dark, she would have been thrilled to be approached by a dashing, handsome, rich man like Orion Silverdrake.

But Lucia knew now that immortal men could be cruel. How could she trust him? How could she trust anything?

Perhaps if she were joined by other witches here at the fortress, she would be able to get a better handle on her own feelings. She would have something to judge her own experience by. So far, the only explanations had come from Orion. She needed to hear it from someone like her. She needed to know that what she was experiencing was real.

As she stood on the third story balcony outside of her bedroom, she heard an alarm sound throughout the fortress. She gasped, turned back into her room, and then strode out the door.

She started down the hall and found Orion as he turned a corner and almost knocked right into her.

"What's happening?" she asked.

"There seems to be a woman outside the gates," he said.

"What is she doing?"

"It doesn't seem clear. In the video camera feed she is simply standing there, looking around curiously."

"Who is she?"

"From everything we can perceive, I would assume she is a witch, like you."

"Can we let her in?" Lucia asked.

"She could be dangerous."

"If she is another woman like me, awakening to her magic, we cannot turn her away.”

Lucia walked confidently down the hall. If Orion wanted to impress her, then he could believe in her and other women like her. He had fought for them long ago. It was time for him to do it again.

She took the grand staircase down to the main floor and found Benny standing beside the front door. She stopped short and Orion stepped beside her, holding his glass pad. He clicked on the tablet a few times and brought up the video feed to show Lucia.

"Does this woman look familiar to you?" he asked.

"No, but that doesn't mean anything. I was just standing on the balcony sending out a signal to other women like me to come here and receive shelter. Just like we sheltered them two thousand years ago. If I mean anything to you, you will help me do the same now," she said.

She was more sure of this than she had been about anything since the end of the world. Protecting other witches was all that mattered to her now.

“Open the gate, Benny,” Orion said.

Lucia and Orion walked out the front door and down the tall staircase to the courtyard. The iridescent blue lights cast a strange glow over the driveway and the fountain at the center. The tall walls around the grounds stood against the creatures of night and darkness. But there was an innocent woman standing at the gate, waiting to be brought in.

Lucia could feel the woman’s confusion. She needed to go to her and bring her into the protection of the fortress.

Orion showed Lucia a golf cart near the front of the mansion and they climbed inside. They zoomed down the driveway to the front gate and found the woman standing there, wide-eyed and holding a suitcase. When she saw Orion and Lucia, driving toward her in the golf cart, she didn't even seem surprised. Orion stopped the cart. Lucia got out and started toward the woman.

Lucia could feel all kinds of strange thoughts and feelings swirling around the stranger. She could feel a burning power inside the woman that was just like her own.

“Hello?" the woman said.

She had a mass of wild red hair in tangles around her pretty round face. Big green eyes looked up at Lucia questioningly. Lucia walked to her and stopped, sending the woman soothing feelings across the void.

"I'm Lucia Amador. Welcome to our fortress.”

"I’m Bridget O’Brian," the woman said. "I don’t even know how I got here. I narrowly escaped the chaos in my town, and I've been walking ever since. It was like I was pulled here by some strange force.”

“I sent out a call to gather women like us here. But that was only moments ago.”

“I’ve been walking since the sun went dark. But just now, I was wandering through the woods, and I suddenly knew exactly where to go. That’s how I ended up here.”

"Come, Bridget," Lucia said. “You and I have much to discuss.”

Orion waited for them in the golf cart, but Lucia could feel his cool eyes watching them. She felt his protectiveness wash over her as she helped Bridget into the backseat of the golf cart. When the women were settled, Orion started the golf cart and drove across the courtyard to the front steps of the mansion.

“How do you have electricity?”

“The Surge’s Dark Sun Machine doesn’t affect immortal technology,” Orion said.

Bridget looked at Lucia with wide eyes.

“That’s not the half of it. You are experiencing an awakening to your true nature.”

“I feel like I’m going to have a stroke at any moment. I’m only twenty-three. I can read people’s minds. Whenever I’m in danger or angry a ball of light gathers in my palm.”

“Exactly,” Lucia said.

They made their way into the comfortable sitting room Orion had taken Lucia to when she’d first arrived, and sat around the fireplace. Benny had lit the fire and prepared tea and cookies for the guest, but had remained out of sight so far. Bridget went to the fire and held her hands over the flames, drawing in the heat. Her jeans were muddy and torn.

“Are you hungry?” Lucia asked, offering a plate of cookies to Bridget.

“I’m starving. I haven’t eaten since yesterday.”

She took the plate and sat down on one of the armchairs near the fire. Orion offered Bridget a cup of tea that she accepted and sipped in between bites of cookie. Lucia sat across from Bridget and took her own teacup in hand. Now that she had another witch to talk to, maybe she could better understand what was going on.

“I felt like I was going to have a heart attack too,” Lucia said. “I had no idea what was happening. I probably would have been stuck in San Francisco if Orion hadn’t found me,” Lucia said, cocking her head toward the dragon.

“How did you get out of San Francisco? I was in Sweet Hill, a small town just ten miles from here, and it was like hell on Earth. People are going crazy. Violence. Looting. Rape. Murder. There are strange things happening out there. I swear I saw a vampire suck someone’s blood out on the highway. That’s when I took to the woods.”

“We flew out of San Francisco,” Orion said. “I’m an immortal dragon. I’ve been living as a human man for two thousand years. But the Dark Sun brought magic back to the world, and with it, my ability to shift into my true form.”

“Dragon?” Bridget said, blinking at him with wide eyes.

“Nothing we knew before the Dark Sun is the truth,” Lucia said.

“Why couldn’t you shift for two thousand years?” Bridget interrupted, fascinated.

“The veil stifled the dragons’ shift and the vampires’ ability to walk in the light.”

“And the Dark Sun destroyed the veil? But why?”

“The same immortals who sought to dominate and destroy mortals and immortals alike built the Dark Sun Machine. It caused a solar flare that created an EMP. It took down the power grid and the magic veil. The particle beam that is cooling the surface of the sun is also preventing human electronic devices from working. I think it’s Xander’s way of terrorizing the entire planet.”

“What is the endgame?” Bridget asked, looking nervously at Orion, clutching her teacup.

She’d taken off her fleece jacket and was sitting on the red couch in a yellow t-shirt that said North Coast 5k across the chest.

“To take over the world. Control everyone. I’m sure he’s enjoyed a good feed on the people of Denver with the rest of his depraved immortal legion. His minions are pouring into New York and Paris.”

“Will anyone stop them?” Bridget asked, standing to grab another few cookies from the tray.

“Our army is attempting to destroy the Dark Sun Machine and bring back the sunlight.”

“Why aren’t you there?” Bridget asked.

Lucia looked at him, surprised at the question for the first time. Orion had been sticking around the fortress with her rather than going to help in the fight against darkness. Suddenly she felt guilty for monopolizing him. Yet still she kept her distance from the man who professed to desperately love her.

“I wish to protect my bride,” he said flatly.

“Isn’t this place enough protection?” Bridget asked.

It was true, the entire estate was surrounded by a twenty-foot wall. Lucia had everything she needed to remain safe, yet he stayed.

“The immortals will be after women like you. To…breed. To create the next generation of immortal heirs. Breeding with witches is the only way to create immortal dynasties. Every immortal male will clamor to gain access to the wombs of the daughters of Gama.”

“Who is Gama?”

Orion explained to Bridget just what he had explained to Lucia about the mother goddess. She listened intently and then replied.

“Let me get this straight. Women like me were created by some mother goddess who had three lovers. Two of which were aliens. And then the aliens’ sons and Gama’s daughter all had more babies? That sounds pretty incestuous.”

“Things are different for immortals and gods. The female blood lines do not dilute when they mate with human males. There has been much diversity through the many centuries of immortals who were born on Earth since the arrival of Dahaki and Tartarus one hundred thousand years ago. Humans themselves have changed much in that time.”

“This is so much to take in,” Bridget said, sitting back in her seat with a sigh.

“Are you tired?” Lucia asked, feeling the woman’s fatigue wash over her.

“I haven’t slept since it happened. I don’t even know how long it’s been.”

“Forty-eight hours of darkness and counting,” Orion said. “I will show you to a guest room if you are ready to retire.”

He guided Bridget and Lucia up the stairs to the third floor and opened the door to another spare bedroom. The layout was much like Lucia’s. A warm fire burned in the fireplace across from the bed. Wide windows looked out at the darkened view.

“This is nice,” Bridget said, walking inside.

“There is a bathroom through there,” Orion said, pointing to a door.

“Sleep well, Bridget,” Lucia said as Orion shut the door.

Out in the hall, Lucia started to her own door. But she stopped before going inside. Orion stood beside her, waiting to see her safely to her room.

“Why haven’t you gone to fight Xander?” she asked.

“I can’t leave you vulnerable to other immortals, Lucia. I must claim you before I leave you here without me.”

“Claim?”

“A mark an immortal can give to his witch bride. It protects her from all other immortal males. They cannot take her if she’s been marked. It is a sign far stronger than a diamond ring or a marriage certificate. It is binding to all immortals, even the evil ones.”

“You want to mark me?” she asked, nearly breathless at the thought of it.

She didn’t know him. Not really. No matter what the strange new memories told her or what he said. She might feel something for him, but to be marked by him and bound to him by some magical ward? She didn’t know if she was ready for that.

“I can think of nothing else but putting my teeth to your flesh and giving you my bite.”

She gasped and took a step back. Her body throbbed at the sound of his words. The growl in his voice made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. Her panties dampened when she looked in his smoldering eyes.

“I don’t want to stop you from fighting for the sun,” she whispered, gripping the doorknob to her room.

“I will go as soon as I know you are safe.”

“That means marking me?” she said.

“Yes.”

“What if I refuse?”

“You cannot.”

“And why not?” she asked indignantly.

“You are my Selene. My eternal bride. Our love would blossom in the dead of a nuclear winter. We are meant to be, beloved.”

“Orion. This is too much.”

“You have seen the darkness over take the light, Lucia. You have seen the horrors rise from the shadows and take to the streets. You’ve ridden on dragon wings across California. Why does the question of our love baffle you still?”

“Orion…”

He stepped closer, his hot breath on her cheek. He was so close. The scent of his skin wafted into her nose. He smelled rich and clean and magnificent. The heat of his body radiated into her, and she felt herself grow warm from within. She bit her lip and looked up into his darkened eyes.

“What, my flower?”

“I want to believe this is real.”

“Then all you must do, is let go,” he whispered into her ear.

His hot breath blew over her sensitive skin, tingling down her spine and into her core. She wanted to let go, but she wasn’t sure she ever had. She worked. She studied. She talked to her cat when she stayed in on weekends. She was a librarian! Even if her eyes no longer needed glasses, the nerd inside her couldn’t believe this was happening.

“I’m not sure I know how,” she whispered, his arms enfolding her waist.

“Of course you do. Just look into my eyes and feel the truth of my love for you, my priestess.”

She gazed up at him, his face close to hers. His breath blew over her lips, and she could taste it, spicy from the tea. Her core clenched as he pulled her against him. She slid her hands up his biceps, feeling the rock-solid muscles of his arms.

“Orion,” she managed to say as his lips met hers.

His tongue slid between her lips, tasting her depths. It sent a shock wave of desire through her. Lucia took a sharp breath and wrapped her arms around Orion’s neck, kissing him back. His shaft rose hard against her stomach and the feeling made her gush heat from head to toe. She knew then that she could let go.