Nothing’s gonna save me from
A love that’s blind
Slip through the Dark Side
Across that Line
On the Dark Side, oh yeah
On the Dark Side, oh yeah
The Dark Side
John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band

“All right,” General Hammond said through the phone lines, “their plane was diverted to Groton-New London Airport.”

“What?” Jack hissed into the transmitter. “Shit.” Maybe he should have had them stopped back at O’Hare after all.

“Calla rented a car at the airport and the rental agent said they were talking about going to one of the casinos there. David even took a map to the Mohegan Sun, that’s in Norwich, about 50 miles from where you are now. How’s Dr. Jackson holding up?”

Jack took a quick look at his friend and teammate who was sitting about fifteen feet from him in one of the plastic airport chairs, he looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks and she’d only been gone a few hours. “Not good.” Jack turned away from Daniel as he looked up at him. “I think he’s gonna crack.”

“Sorry to hear that. Anything I can do?”

“No, sir, I don’t think so.”

“Well, then, just keep me informed.”

“Will do, sir.” Jack hung up the cell phone. “Ok, kids, road trip!”

Daniel stood up. “They were grounded, weren’t they?”

“Yeah. Looks like we’re going to the Mohegan Sun Casino. Sound like fun boys and girls?”

“Why there?” Teal’c asked. “Seems like a strange place for him to take her.”

Daniel laughed right out loud. “No it doesn’t. Not for him.” He ran a rough hand across the side of his head. “She’s going to freak out when she sees all those lights for the first time, the noise, and the people.”

Quickly the members of SG1 began to make their way to the Enterprize Rent-A-Car station and used Colonel O’Neill’s credit card and ID to rent one of those huge gas guzzling Denali’s. It was luxurious all right, but most of it all it had 4 wheel drive, not to mention it was one of the last vehicles left at the airport. “Hammond’s not 100% sure that’s where David’s taken her but it looks like they were headed to that casino.” O’Neill informed them. Keys in hand now they hurried down the corridor and out to the tarmac where the oversized car and snow storm awaited them. “He’s got a tracer on her credit cards, he’ll call us if she uses them anywhere, until we hear different, we’re goin’ down I-95 to Norwich. Listen up, boys and girls, along the way we have to stop and change out of these clothes. It’s sovereign land, you all got that. We can’t show up in military garb and not expect to raise a few eyebrows. We gotta do this as quiet as we can.” The bags tossed into the storage area, Sam and Teal’c piled into the backseat while Jack took the wheel and Daniel the passenger seat. “Any chance you can find her?” Jack raised a knowing eyebrow at his friend while he turned over the ignition and backed out of the parking lot heading toward Interstate 95.

“I don’t know. Maybe if we get closer to wherever she is, but I don’t know.” Daniel’s voice sounded as weak as he felt. At least his headache had finally gone away and everything around him wasn’t tinged with that strange red light anymore. He had always understood that the phrase ‘seeing red’ meant someone was really pissed off but he’d never had the disquieting sensation of experiencing the phenomena for himself until today. From the moment he’d walked into the door of his new house up until this one, the entire world had just turned red, as though someone had replaced the lenses in his glasses with red glass. He couldn’t shake it, for hours all he wanted to do was scream and spit. The urge to spit had been almost uncontrollable but he had managed it.

As the last of the pounding in his head gave up the ghost, Daniel realized he still wasn’t sure just who he was the most angry with; Calla, David or himself. Everything that had happened to her because of his dear brother was not Calla’s fault. No, the blame there clearly rested upon David’s shoulders and his own. However, not telling him about how Aphrodite died and the extent of her ‘gifts’ was certainly her fault and so was her closet drinking and pill popping. Those two things were going to stop, if there was any prayer of this relationship going any further, here now and they were just going stop!

She was going to start telling him the truth, no matter what it was, just like he had told her before. But no. Every time, Calla just smiled and nodded at him and Daniel let himself believe that everything was all right. The same voice which had echoed in his head earlier today, the one which kept telling him that Calla was fine and there was nothing to worry about, had been whispering to him in the back of his mind the whole time. What had it been saying? Why, that everything was all right, friend, just fine. Don’t worry about her, don’t worry about anything. Everything is just fine. The last few days had only been an ‘adjustment period’ for her, that’s all. Everything was just Fucking Fine.

Worst of all, Daniel knew that he had only listened to that voice because it was telling him what he wanted to believe. He wanted to believe that she was just a normal woman with a few, oh, what shall we say?…extraordinary powers…and that, at least eventually, she would fit into his life and they would have the proverbial happy ending. For once, he would get his shot at happiness and no one was going to take it away from him. Or so he thought at the time.

Idiot.

But it wasn’t Fine. It had never been All Right. They both wanted things to be Fine and they both wanted Everything to be All Right. To finally get their hands on that ever elusive Happily Ever After. Yes, he was sure she wanted that as much as he did. How could they get it there if she wouldn’t talk to him?

Calla had hid from him, just as Maeve had said, she’d done it because she was trying to hard to fit into the mold he’d set before her and he hadn’t even known he’d done it. If Calla told him exactly what she was and what she could do, she ran the risk of him rejecting her, sending her away (and they ALL sent her away in the end, didn’t they? Wasn’t that the one thing she feared more than anything in the entire world? Of course it was.). But she knew, somewhere deep inside of her, Calla knew they couldn’t have that Happily Ever After and it was killing her. All that booze and pills. The Lady was waking and Calla was doing her damnedest to make her stay asleep because once she woke, Calla couldn’t control her. That’s where Kanan and the Bonding Rituals came in and Daniel had done what one would consider a ‘bang up’ job asserting his authority and being the Master, had he? No, he’d done a piss-poor job at that. If he found her, if she came back to him after all of this, Daniel knew he’d have to take a much firmer hand with her.

Maybe it was all just as much his fault as it was hers. Maybe. He should have listened harder and paid more attention to her instead of believing what he wanted to. That wasn’t all that hard was it? No, in his heart he knew everything he needed to about her, more than enough to know that he would never love anyone the way that he loved her, would never want another woman with as much passion as he wanted her. The way he wanted to hold her right now, just find her and wrap his arms around her, tell her he was never going to let her go again. Never. Fuck Maeve, he wouldn’t bring Calla to her or anyone else. Although, when and if he found her, he would have to tell her about his visit to Maeve, about her offer of sanctuary and (eventually) Kanan’s death. In the end, maybe she would be safer with Maeve in her Dark Realm then here with him. Wasn’t that what mattered most?

In the end, maybe, he would have to let her go. But he wouldn’t abandon her, if Calla chose to go with Maeve that was her decision but he wouldn’t just take her there and drop her off like so much unwanted trash.

“So, are you going to spill it or do we have to drag it out of you?” Sam asked from the back seat as the SUV began its slow journey down I95 in the blinding snow storm. “We let you get away with not saying anything on the plane but you know what’s going on, part of it anyway. So, before we go charging in to rescue her, you want to clue the rest of us in on what we’re risking our necks for?”

Daniel looked over his shoulder at her. “Sure, fine. Let’s do that.” Came the sarcastic reply. “Humm, now, where shall I start?” He rubbed his hands together for a moment and then brought his chin to rest upon the tips of his index fingers. “Ah, how’s this? Just sit right back and I’ll tell you a tale. Go on, you’re gonna like this, it‘s a real….Greek Tragedy.”

The roads were covered with two inches of thick wet snow, the SUV lumbered along at 45 mph on the deserted stretch of dark highway. Everyone in the SUV was quiet while they listened to Daniel unravel the mystery of the woman who had come to live with him and how their lives had been intertwined for more years than anyone present had thought. What puzzled him was where to start with his tale? Should he start with meeting her in Greece so many years ago? How about with the death of his parents? The death of Calla’s Mother? Well, then, what about with the plans that her Father had for her? That was as good a place as any he supposed. “Good news is, at least now I know who I’m supposed to defend her from. Believe it or not, it isn’t David.” He reached out and lightly punched Jack’s forearm. “Nope, it’s Ares.” Daniel turned around in his seat so that he could look at Sam. To her, his eyes seemed wild and dark, almost as though her good old pal, Daniel Jackson, just wasn’t there at the moment. “Do you know what he wants from her? Check this out. Calla was gifted all of the talents and powers of her entire family, right? So he figures he’ll use that and her to start his own race of gods.” Daniel was so very delighted that Kanan was dead, his only regret was that he hadn’t been there to watch--nor help--the monster go down. Kanan had killed five of her children, each one of them had possessed the powers of their ancestors. Each one of them could have ruled entire universes. Had Kanan known that when he choked the life out of them? Had Calla? Ares would walk through fire for those children, her children. After all there was so much on Earth to feed on, why shouldn’t he have a family with an appetite for war which was equal to his own? Why shouldn’t he be free to make the entire planet over in an image which better suited him?

“He wants to breed with his own daughter?” Sam asked but didn’t wait for a response. “That’s disgusting.”

“Oh, hell, yeah, it is.” Daniel shook his head very primly. “Very disgusting.” He agreed in a high and mighty voice. “But you know, he has to have me or, David, to do it.” Daniel remembered sitting by the fire with her the first night they moved into his new house. How she had looked up at him and told him; shhhh it’s a secret, you must never tell. “See, one of us has to be touching her while he…” Daniel stopped just sort of saying what he meant and instead gestured in a forward motion with his hand…”you know, while he…” his hand turned into a fist and pushed it forward and pulled it back in the a few times to emphasize his point. “Looks like I was taking too long to bring her to him so he sent David to collect her.”

Sam and Teal’c gazed upon him from the back seat and Jack turned from concentrating on his treacherous driving to look at his friend as well. It was clear to everyone in the vehicle that the good Dr. Jackson was about to simply cave in.

“But, since he is Ares, you know, God of War and all that, who’s going to stop him?” Daniel waited, looked around the car for a moment. “Oh, wait! Yeah, me. I’m supposed to stop him. That leads me to this part here. Do you know why my parents died?”

Teal’c took that one. “They were working in a museum and there was an accident. You were present.”

“Yes!” Daniel snapped his fingers together and nodded his head excitedly. “There ya go! But I said ‘why’ not ‘how’. I’ll tell you, they died because Ares wanted them to, wait, let me re-phrase that. Ares wanted me to die but Aphrodite thought that was a bad idea. So, she spared my life and took theirs.” Daniel’s eyes were wild and he was talking so fast he hardly had the time to hear what he was saying, small streams of spittle began to fly from his lips. “She was there, she was the woman who lead me away from where my parents were standing just before the chain snapped. I’ve been dreaming about it all my life!” His hand ran roughly across the side of his cheek, it bristled with shadow which had past 5 hours ago. “I finally got it! I finally understand. You were right, Jack!” Daniel tagged the Colonel’s forearm once more. “She did choose me for this, but not back on Tiberia, no. She picked me out of the crowd about 25 years ago. How do you like that one?” Daniel related the tale of meeting her in the shopping mall in Greece because his mother wanted a new bathing suit and he was too hungry to stand around and wait for her. What if David had been with him instead of running off to the arcade? Or if David had been in the museum when their parents died? Certainly he wouldn’t be sitting here now if someone had known there were TWO of them. “And wait! There’s more!” He turned around with wide blue eyes and focused in on Sam one last time. “Ares, he killed Aphrodite--I think-- and he blamed it on Calla. Do you want to know why Ares killed the only woman who ever loved him? Because Aphrodite spared my life. Ain’t that a kick?”

“Yeah, life‘s a real bitch, keep going Daniel.” Jack asked as he wiped the condensation from the windshield. He could barely see a foot and half in front of him and had been reduced to driving well under the posted speed limit for the last twenty minutes or so. The storm was picking up, the flakes were getting bigger and heavier. The only saving grace at the moment was the emptiness of the road, it was almost totally deserted. He hadn’t seen a pair of headlights for the last two miles or so.

Dr. Jackson slumped back against the seat. “I can’t take this shit!”

“It’s all right, Daniel.” Sam reached out to lay her hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t tell me that.” He hissed at her as he pulled away from her touch. “Such bullshit. It’s not all right, it’s not going to be all right. No one in her entire life has ever been straight with her, no one‘s ever told her the truth! How the hell was she supposed to give that to me? What fucking good am I to her, Sam? I was supposed to protect her, look what I‘ve done. She‘s out there in this shit storm with my dear brother because of me!”

“Let’s not play the Blame Game right now, Daniel.” Sam assured in an easy voice. “There’ll be plenty of that to go around when this is over.”

They were traveling down I-95 between two shopping malls. “Should we not stop here in an attempt to change clothes before entering this casino?” Teal’s inquired.

“Yeah, we should. Listen guys, when we get to the casino, no one says anything about the military or the government or anything. You all got that?” Jack asked as he took the exit which would lead them to the Marshalls department store. “We can’t afford to shake their feathers, no pun. It really is like going to another country or something. We probably won’t be able to get real police back-up if we need it either, or it’ll be slow in coming. We’ll have to deal with what or whoever passes for law enforcement on the territory.” Jack pulled into the parking lot and was more than just surprised to see that the clothing store was actually open in this shit storm. “All right, quickly, everyone. Quickly.”

They all jumped out and sorted through the civilian clothing inside the store. Within twenty minutes the four of them were emerging in their brand new outfits and climbing back into the SUV. Suddenly Daniel noticed that he was cold, his finger tips turned numb and the tip of his nose began to tingle. Daniel wrapped his arms around himself in an attempt to bring warmth. “Where are we?” There was a suddenly sharp pain in his chest, but it left as quickly as it came.

“Looks like we’re passing through New London, we’re going to turn up route 32 and take that to where it intersects with 395.” Major Carter informed them from her place in the backseat. Now the slush on the road was not as deep, it appeared a plow had been by on this stretch of road not too long ago. They were passing a complex which identified itself as the Coast Guard Academy, on the other side of what he was route 32, was a place called Connecticut College.

“How far are we from this casino?” Daniel asked hurriedly as he rubbed his hands together.

“I don’t know, about ten or fifteen miles, it looks like on the map but in this shit....”

Daniel turned toward Jack. “She’s cold. Wherever she is, she’s cold.” That figured. David would not be paying attention to her, he would not be taking care of her the way that Daniel would if he had her out in this god-blessed snow storm! She was probably hungry as well, his stomach was turning around. Maybe that wasn’t hunger. Daniel waited to see if the sensation in his stomach would turn to outright pain but at that moment it did not. It merely turned and burned. Hunger or an upset stomach, perhaps. Or too many valium and too much alcohol to wash them down. That was right up Davy’s alley. Let’s face it, Daniel told himself, Davy had been watching, he must know that Calla had been drinking during the day and about the pills she’d been taking. The true irony of it was that David had known before Daniel, he had full access to Calla’s inner life and what she did when Daniel wasn’t around.

“You can feel her?” Teal’c asked as the car continued its journey.

“Yeah, no, I mean,” he leaned his head harshly against the passenger window. “I don’t know. I know that I’m cold but it’s not me who’s cold, it’s her.” Daniel struggled to quiet himself for a moment as he drew in breath and realized his head was beginning to ache again. “She has a headache, or something, something‘s wrong with her head.”

“Carter, get Hammond on the horn, see if he can verify whether or not they checked into that casino yet.” Colonel O’Neill ordered.

“Got it, sir.” Major Carter flipped open the phone and punched the buttons to dial General Hammond back in Colorado.

“You, Daniel, you’ve got to try and reach her yourself. You got that? You’re the only one who can do it. So just sit there and do whatever it is you gotta do to make it happen.”

“Colonel, Hammond says Calla used the credit card to check in about half an hour ago. They’re in room 217.”

“Tell him we are en route now.” Jack turned to look at Daniel again. “Are you trying?”

“Yes!”

David opened the door to room 217 and dumped the bags by the dresser; he flopped onto the bed and let out an exhausted exhale of stale air. Jesus, he wanted that cigarette! Oh, to have a pack in his hands, smell that wonderful tobacco smell, just to run one under his nose and breathe in! That would be a great start. He had plenty of nicotine gum with him, which he kept chomping on during the flight, damn stuff tasted like stale cow turds. “It’s late, Callie, you should probably get some sleep. Why don’t you come and lay down here with me?” David patted the empty space on the queen sized mattress next to him. “I got something that will help you sleep; it’s been such a long day, hasn’t it?” He asked as he reached into his breast pocket and produced a small amber bottle of prescription pills. Instead of giving one or two of those little green beauties, he opted for two of the smaller blue ones. Morphine was a wonderful drug! Took the pain away, she should be able to appreciate that more than anyone. David held his hand out to her; she hesitated for a moment but took them from his hand. There was a mini-bar in the room, “Hang on a sec, let’s see what we got in here.” David said he rose from the bed and opened the door to the bar. Southern Comfort, one of her favorites. He plucked the small bottle from its place. “Here, wash them down with this, it’ll help.”

Quietly she took the bottle from his hand and opened it. David watched while she popped the pills into her mouth and washed them down with the alcohol. Such a good girl. “Come here,” he whispered as he reached out for her. A good stiff fuck and she’d be out like a light, which would leave the night free for him to enjoy.

“I have to use the ladies room.” She said in a calm tone. “Wait for me.” Calla crossed out of his line of sight and into the small bathroom. She spit the pills into the palm of her hand and then flushed them down the toilet. Since they left the Groton-New London Airport she had been trying to reach him with her mind and received no response at all. It was as though he could no longer hear her. Daniel didn’t even turn to look at her when she made her attempts. Why couldn’t he hear her? Why did he insist she keep taking all of these pills? Most of all, why did his stare upon her seem to make her skin crawl? A nasty little thought began to creep around in the back of her mind as she stood staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror; what if the man in the next room wasn’t Master Daniel at all? That was ludicrous, of course he was Daniel, who else would he be? How else could he touch her? Unless…..

“Breathe, Callestah.” She encouraged quietly as she continued to stare at her own reflection. “Don’t panic.” Calla ran her hands through her hair and then smoothed out the cardigan sweater she was wearing. Taking one last deep breath she opened the door and exited the bathroom. “Sorry to take so long.” She apologized as she gazed upon the man who was lying on the bed.

“I don’t really mind the wait.” David reached out and grabbed her by the waist, tossing her onto the bed with him.

Her stomach twisted and knotted with his touch. “I’m glad.” Calla did her best to keep her voice light and not turn away as he lowered his mouth over hers. Was there something different in his kiss? Perhaps those really weren’t the lips she had come to crave on her own.

Nothing. Just dead empty space lay between their minds. There was no such grace between his body and hers. Calla could feel his hard cock pushing the restraint of the khakis he wore. If he was not Daniel she should not allow him to do this, she could not allow him to do this. If he was, she could not turn him away.

David’s hand was sliding up her sweater now, reaching, pawing, grabbing at her breasts. “I want you,” he whispered against her neck. “To suck on my cock. Come on, Callie, no one does it like you do it.” David’s hand descended to his own zipper and freed his hot hard cock from its restraint. “Come on,” he whispered again. She didn’t move towards it, which was alright with him, he didn’t mind straddling her pretty little head for a while.

Callie, that was the third time today he’d called her that. Master Daniel never called her ‘Callie’. Sometimes he called her ’Cal’ and was known to say ’Red’ if he was particularly upset with her, but never was she ’Calllie’ to him. Master Daniel was slithering up beside her now with his cock in his hand; he was looking at her with hunger in his eye. As the soft tip of his hard cock brushed against her lips and he swung one leg over her head, Calla began to shake. “Please, Master Daniel,” she protested in a small voice, “I’m tired. Those pills you gave me….”

“Not that tired, babe. Open up, you can sleep later, when I’m done with you.” David looked down at her and thought he saw suspicion in her eyes, that didn’t stop him from coaxing her jaw open with his fingers and sliding his cock into her mouth. Calla choked and he backed off but only for a moment to allow her to catch her breath, she could take it all the way down to the end and she was going to. “Suck it.” David grabbed the back of her head and thick handful of hair as he brought her up to greet his hard cock. “Yeah, work it, babe.”

Calla lay on the bed with the weight of her Master on her chest and his cock in her mouth. She worked it as she always did, soon he was cumming, his cock sliding in and out of her mouth, down her throat, it began to pulse and as he cried out it ejected a harsh load of spew down her slender throat.

“Jesus, you’re good at that.” David remarked as he pulled his still throbbing cock out of her mouth. “Such a good girl, Callie, I love it when you do that.”

“I am glad that I can please you, Master Daniel.”

Soon she would say Master David, very soon. David ran a rough hand across her cheek and gazed down into her emerald eyes. Suspicion was still there, he would have to do something more Daniel-like. “Tired?”

“Yes.”

He wanted to get that piece of ass but his cock was happy for now, he’d let her sleep and then run downstairs to the casino for those cigarettes and some gambling. Who knew? Maybe he’d even win at Black Jack. “Why don’t you lay here,” he patted his chest, “and go to sleep.”

Hesitantly Calla moved toward him and laid her head upon his chest. His heartbeat was strong but there was something different about it tonight. She loved to lay her head here and sleep, Daniel was so kind as to allow her to do that every night, to listen to the sound of his heart and let it lull her to sleep. She had become very familiar with the rhythm of his heart. It was always a strong thump-thumpa-thump. Calla quieted herself and her mind and listened a little harder.

wump-thump-wump. She listened closer and heard a gurgling sound in between the beats.

That was not the rhythm of Master Daniel’s heart.

“Daniel?” She said quietly with her head still resting on his chest.

“What?” David answered as he waited for her to fall asleep but instead she sat up beside him.

“Do you remember the day we met? In the park. ” Calla waited for him to tell her that she had too much to drink but he did not. “It was raining and we both ran under the same tree for shelter.”

“Of course I do.” He lied. “How could I forget that?” David felt like he was being lead down a dangerous path but he had no choice other than to follow where she was leading him.

“I don’t know.” Calla whispered as the tears began to sting her eyes as she laid her head back down on his chest. One last test, one last try. She reached a hand under his shirt and smoothed it across his skin as it ascended upward to his shoulder. There was only smooth skin there, no scar whatsoever. That was why this man never took off his shirt when he took her. The man she was laying with was not Daniel. And Master Daniel had never returned to his home in the noon hour, it had been this one the entire time, fooling her, tricking her, using her for his own ends. Silently she chastised herself, she really should have known that he was not Daniel just by the way he touched her during those noontime trysts. “I’m tired. May I sleep now?”

“Sure, you go on. Sleep.” David wrapped his arms around her and within a few moments the soft pattern of her breathing greeted him, she was sound asleep in his arms. He rose from the bed and covered her with the blanket. That pack of Marlboros was calling his name and so was the gaming. He left her to sleep in the safety of the motel room.

Upon hearing the door close, Calla’s eyes opened. She tried to quiet herself and stay calm as she reached for the phone beside her and dialed Daniel’s cell phone number. It rang a few times in her hand before she was informed that the cell phone customer she was trying to reach was currently out of his calling area. Calla hung up and called home, there was nothing but the sound of Daniel’s voice on the answering machine. “Daniel, please pick up the phone.” She whispered. “Daniel, help me. Please. I want to come home. Daniel?” Tears flowing freely from her eyes as desperation rose in her heart. She hung up the phone. Daniel had gone through the Stargate this morning, he was off on some planet doing God only knew what and he could not help her. “Daniel.” She whispered to no one. She would have to find her own way out of this.

The lights across the river caught her attention as she stared out of the window. Hades was there or could be called there. He would help her. What if she was wrong? What if the man with her was Daniel? He wasn’t. No, he wasn’t Daniel. Maybe, if Fate was with her, the real Daniel had come home early and found her missing. Maybe he was looking for her. Calla felt a strong pull at her heart as she stared at the abandoned buildings across the water way. She grabbed her coat as she crossed the room and opened the door to see the hallway empty.

The night was dark and cold, snow continued to fall, there was already a foot of it on the ground at her feet. Calla stood on the bank of the Thames River staring across it to what could be sanctuary. To anyone else the place looked like a haunted house of the most massive variety and Calla didn’t doubt that the more sensitive mortals knew the place was crowded with spirits, some to be feared but most were just lost lonely souls. Though it was cold and the banks of the river had frozen enough to tip-toe upon the channel was clear and running free. “Poseidon, hear my plea.” Calla whispered. “Help me, uncle. I must cross.” Without further entreaty, she stepped upon the thin ice and ran across the face of the Thames River; the water froze at her feet as she sprinted across to the bank on the other side.

End Chapter Twenty-Four
Daughter of the Gods: Every New Beginning
By Moon Mistress
Continue to
Chapter Twenty-Five

This story and all stories in the Kingdom of the Gods & Daughter of the Gods series are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories may not be transferred outside of this URL in any fashion.