CHAPTER 25: Totally hypnotic...

Ricco
I trust my daughter more than anyone else in the world, and I know she is more than capable of executing this plan. The fact of the matter is, though, I am still scared shitless right now. She is going to be the only one out there without any secondary form of protection. I am very impressed by the elaborate and well - thought - out plan she was able to come up with on the spot, but why did she have to put herself at the middle of it? The members should be the ones on the front lines, not the heirs. While I truly do feel this way, I know Celeste. She would have fought me tooth and nail if I had suggested that. I know everyone thinks I am the most powerful one here, but they are wrong. Celeste's powers far succeed mine long ago. She has the power of the siren. The siren is now the most powerful demigod in existence. That's not all, though. She received telekinesis from me. She practiced long and hard to not only control it but also to learn how to amplify it. No one here, except Anthony and I, has seen her use it, but it is powerful. The telekinesis she possesses is stronger than mine now, even though I have quite a few years on her of practice. Even knowing all of this, I can't calm my nerves as we all head to our positions outside.
Once outside, everyone goes to the areas that Celeste has designated. She goes over all the signals and plan basics again before looking to me. "I love you, sweetheart. Please be careful."
"I love you too, Daddy. I'll be fine. You should be more worried about them." She then steps back and speaks loud enough for everyone to hear. "This is my family at this house. Some of you by blood, most of you not, but to me you are all equally family. I will try to hold my temper, but mark my words, if any of these men seriously injure anyone of you, I will personally rain hell down on them. Those of you who would try to stop me at that point shouldn't. The first siren was born of Hades and Aphrodite. Pure love and hate. Pur good and evil. Pure light and darkness. If one of them tests that, I am more than happy to tip the scales in the appropriate direction. Now, they should be approaching the tree line at any moment. Everyone, stay safe. Daddy. Ajax. I'm going to take my place. Raise your veils and make sure they are sturdy. Watch for my signals." With that, Celeste makes her way toward the clearing.
Ajax and I raise our veils over our designated spots. I look at Anthony. "Are you ready to help me reinforce when I have to send Ty and Devan out?"
He smirks at me, trying to lighten my mood. "Who do you think you're talkin' to, buddy? I was born ready."
Ah, my friend. My rock. He knows how hard this is for me, and he is right. The hardest part is that if something goes wrong out there, I can't rush out to help her. I know I have to keep this veil up. I have to trust that the heirs that are out there with her can step up and keep her safe. I'm not exactly a control freak, but when it comes to my daughter, I don't like having to relinquish that particular control.
This is Celeste's show this time, though. She is smart and capable. I have to show her that I have complete trust in her, even if I do grow a few ulcers in the process.
All of a sudden, I see small movements just beyond the tree line. Celeste looks to me, and I signal back that I am set. I see her look to Ajax, and he does the same. As I'm watching her, Celeste turns toward the movement and closes her eyes. I see her chest rise, as she inhales deeply, then falls as she exhales. This is it. She is readying herself. When she opens her eyes again, she will begin to sing. I hope this works the way she has planned it. I have seen her mad. That is scary enough. Vengeful may be more than any of us can handle.
I see Celeste slowly raise her head from the downward position she held it in. She opens her eyes, and a smirk comes to her face. Oh shit. I know that smirk. I say a small prayer that Donnelly's men won't cause waves, because if they do, everyone else will know what that smirk means too. Here goes nothing.

Celeste
I make sure everyone is ready when I reach my mark. I already see movement in the tree line to the west of the house, so I know the later party to the east can't be far behind. I steady my breathing. I close my eyes and calm my soul. I can feel the power inside of me raging to get out. I have to control it. I open my eyes and focus on the radius I think I need to cover. I know that I can cover twice that distance without even breaking a sweat. A "you guys are so fucked" smirk comes to my face. As long as they follow my plan, I will too. If the CPE decides not to, then that's another story.
I see the first glint of a scope lens in the sun. This is it. It's time. I open my mouth, and a hypnotic, melodious sound pours from my throat. It almost sounds like an echo in a cavern. It surrounds you and penetrates even the strongest mind. I watch the area where the movement was just moments ago, and sure enough, people start to emerge. Their weapons hang from straps across their body, eyes focused only on me as they come to heed my call. I tilt my head back and amplify my song to draw out the latecomers. I lower my head, but continue to sing. I look back at Daddy for a sign just as Ty is running up to him. After a short conversation, Daddy looks back at me and gives me a thumbs - up and swirls his finger in the air, signaling that the unit from the east is also starting to come out. The ones that came from the west are already waiting in front of me. I continue my song for a few more minutes until all the CPE men are in line in front of me.
Even though they are all under my influence, I don't dare lose focus. I stop my song, but keep my eyes trained on them. My eyes flash as I say, "Eyes on me. No one does anything but breathe until I give the command." Everyone's eyes snap to me. Good. I have control. Now to liberate them of those weapons. "I want everyone to take any weapons, radios, listening devices, or tracking devices that they have and put them in a pile in front of me. You have sixty seconds to finish and get back in formation. Go!" On command, everyone does as they are told and holy shit. They are armed to the teeth!
Once everyone is weaponless and back in formation, I raise my arms. As soon as I do, I see a streak of red take off to the east and a streak of sparking moonstone roar to the west. There are flashes of fur and blurred scenery rushing past me to the tree lines in all directions. I have the sentries out. Now I need my watchers. I point to Daddy, and he signals Uncle Anthony. I see Uncle Anthony start to reinforce. Everyone else stands ready and alert. Slowly a hole opens at the front of the veil. Two large wolves bound out of it, then it closes again. "Ty, eyes on Camon. Devan, eyes on Ryu. Signal the other shifters when you see their flames." I hear two barks and off they go. I need to get those tracking and listening devises behind that veil to block the transmissions. I hold one hand over the giant pile in front of me, and they rise off the ground. I use the other hand to signal Daddy to open the hole up again. They get it open and I shout, "There are tracking and listening devices in this pile. I need them behind the veil to stop their transmission."
"Got it. Send them over." I push them over through hole and drop them on the porch. "We'll start going through them now." Then the hole closes.
Across the property, I hear a howl. I know one of them has found something. I have to get these men into the holding cells so that I can go help the others. I turn my gaze back to the men, and my eyes flash once more. "Everyone, fall into formation in front of the porch. Now." They all hustle toward the porch. I run to stand in front of them and signal Uncle Anthony to come out of the veil. Daddy opens a hole, and Uncle Anthony slips out to stand beside me. "Does everyone see this man?" They all nod acknowledgment. "Until I return you will follow all of his orders. To. The. Tee. You will call him sir, and you will not do anything except breathe unless he tells you to. Understood?" Again, they all nod.
"Uncle Anthony, I think they've found the vehicles. I need you to lock them in the holding cells until I get back. Tell Daddy not to drop the veil though. It needs to stay in place just in case the guys have found any strays."
"I can handle them. Be safe." I hug him and signal for Daddy to open the hole again.
Once all the men are behind the veil, I run back to the clearing. "Ryu!" I scream in hopes he's close enough to hear me. Sure enough, within a few seconds a large dragon lands beside me.
"Celeste! Are you okay?" Smoke swirls from his nose as he says this, looking around for danger.
"I'm fine. I need you to get me to where they found the vehicles. Fast!"
"That, I can do. Climb up and hold on tight." I do as I'm told, and in no time at all we are landing at the site of three military - style LMTVs.
"What the fuck?" I can't believe my eyes when I get down. There, in front of the vehicles, are my wolf and tiger shifters battling it out with three very large grizzly bears. They appear to be defending the trucks. You have got to be kidding me. "Ryu, I need you to go get Ajax and get him back here now."
"I'm on it." Like a shot he was gone and already out of sight before I could blink.
"Guys, get back! I can handle them." Just as I say this, I see Kai. He leaps at one of the bears, but the bear is faster and slashes him across the stomach. Kai falls to the ground with a whimper and stops moving. "No! Kai!" Just like that hate, rage, and darkness flood my mind. With one swipe of my hand the giant bear goes flying and smashes into the windshield of one truck. Okay so maybe he smashed into several parts of the truck several times.
As luck would have it, lucky for Mr. Half Dead Bear that is, Ryu lands beside me at almost the same time with Ajax in tow. When I hear them land, I am able to calm myself slightly. "Ajax! Can you veil moving targets in two spots at once?"
"Uh, I think so as long as we stay relatively close."
"Ryu, take Kai and get him to the infirmary now. Be careful, he is severely injured. The rest of you run back to help the others. Stay in a tight group, all of you. Ajax is going to veil you from my song while you move back."
"Celeste, we are not leaving you out here alone!"
"Ajax, I swear to all that is holy if you don't move your ass and get him to the infirmary now, I will treat you just like one of these traitors."
"What do you mean traitors?"
"See that unconscious guy I used to demolish that truck? When I threw him up there, he was in bear form. These are shifters." Just saying that out loud I can feel heat and power rising up inside my body. "Go! It's harder to keep myself in check if you are here arguing with me." After a few growls and naughty words, everyone thought it would be a good idea not to piss me off further, and just do as I say. That was a good thought on their part since I am barely holding it together as it is. I can feel the dark side of what I am pushing at the surface. I have to calm my soul again. It is much more difficult to do this time, but I manage.
I see the glow of the veil from far off, so I open my mouth, and out comes that same song. Men exit the trucks to come forward. Beasts and men alike line up in front of me. I focus on them. "Is there anyone else in or around the trucks except the unconscious one I threw into the windshield?" In unison, they all shake their heads no. "Okay, we have two bears left. Since we have five humans you will split up. You three climb onto that bear's back. You two on the other. I will sit behind you two. Bears, eyes on me. You will run all the way to the house as fast as you can, on my word. You will not slow down until I tell you to. Understood?" They whine acknowledgment, and all the humans mount up. I, on the other hand, go and stand in front of the third bear. It takes all of my willpower not to kill him on the spot. Instead, I decide to carry him by the throat all the way home. At least it will be some fun for me, not enough considering what he just did, but some. I raise my hand and he floats into the air. I can hear him wheezing as I focus my grip on his throat. Good. I climb up, with the shifter still in my "grip," so to speak, and yell the command. We dart off toward the house.