I’d just come home from a mission for the human police to find my father on my doorstep. Thankfully, Jason was still back at the station finishing up the paperwork. I could tell right away that he wasn’t here for anything good, his stance was stiff and his lips were turned down in the barest hint of a frown. That’s as much emotion as he usually shows and yet more at the same time.
“Such a disappointment.” He says in the flattest tone possible. He doesn’t even let me open the door before reaming my ass out, “Thank the Gods that I have another son or I’d be heirless.”
Normally I’d ignore his words, wait him out until he finishes his tirade, but the mention of another son has my eyes flying up to his face in shock. “What?”
“Don’t what meboy, clean your ears out and listen. I don’t need your bullshit and I don’t need to keep dealing with a fucking useless child who can’t even solve a simple murder case.” He grabs the front of my shirt, pulling me closer. I’m big enough now that I don’t need to let him control me like this, but honestly, I’m scared of him despite the fact that I tower over him by nearly a foot.
“Torren Falcon is turning out to be a far better candidate than you’ve shown yourself to be. If only his fucking mother had let me have the boy, I’d have been able to mould him into the man I need working by my side, but no, I have you.” He shoves me back, sending me sprawling to the ground on my own front steps.
I snap out of my thoughts with a jolt of pain. My own father has so little faith in me that he’s willing to bet his entire future on a hybrid who can’t even protect himself let alone the entire supernatural world.
Not that their birth rights matter much in the grand scheme of things. After all, they’ll all either bend to my father’s will or be eradicated. I’m hoping for the latter, but that would mean letting my father take Areyna from me and I can’t let that happen. Maybe I’d be better off taking a leaf from Jason’s book, it is better the devil you know after all.
THIRTY-TWO
Areyna
I waketo find my body stronger, but still starved for blood. Something is different now though. I can feel it deep inside me, as though the missing pieces of my soul have been reunited. I can feel those pieces so close, but not within reach. My body reacts of its own will, taking me from lying on the bed to clutching the bars in my fists in the blink of an eye. What I need is right there on the other side of the bars and I’m not going to be able to hold back any longer.
The bars part like spider webs beneath my fingers, floating around my head like they’ve taken on a life of their own. The now wispy metal settles along my shoulders, draping down my back like a heavy cloak. It feels natural to be coated in armour so I let my body do what it must without over thinking.
Ten steps is all it takes for me to be across the corridor and repeating the cool effect on the next set of bars. My feet stop dead as I see Rourke lying on the cot. I'd expected to find Torren, Remmie or Derrin lying there but the shock isn’t as great as it probably should be.
I kneel down beside him, placing my hand on his shoulder before pulling his body towards me. The call of Rourke’s blood has been strong since the moment I met him, but now it sings like a siren calling sailors to their deaths. The first taste is like biting into the sun, scolding and overpowering, but with every pull of his blood, I feel myself returning to the creature I was born to be.
Memories flood my mind, giving me a glimpse into the person I’d forgotten I was…
Sitting on the bed, I stare down at the boy who had once held so much joy. “One day we’ll be on opposite sides of our parent’s war, but I swear to you Eliza, I will never side with them. You are my best friend, my reason for living. One day we’ll rule the entire Supernatural world together and we’ll make sure people like us don’t get taken for granted.” Rourke’s beautiful eyes shine with his promise, but I can’t give him one in return, I’m only thirteen and promises like that aren’t in my limited knowledge but I feel the power of his words even if I don’t understand them completely.
Rourke has been my best friend since before I can remember, him and Ozzie were always right there by my side even when we were stealing cookies from my mother’s kitchen as toddlers. My brother and his mentor, his best friend, nothing will ever come between us.
I give Rourke a hug, telling him without words that I accept his promise, but it’s not meant to be. The man standing in the doorway behind him is proof of that. “I can’t let that happen.” My Talon growls as he comes into my bedroom followed by a man I’ve never seen before. He’s a man with gold hair and grey eyes but that’s all I have time to notice before he’s waving his hand and everything goes black.
The memory fades and another takes its place…
I’m covered in blood, barely old enough to understand what is happening to me. I’ve just watched my entire family get slaughtered by a boy only a few years older than me. I’ll never forget his face or the way he bit into my neck as though he couldn’t control his bloodlust.
I run out the door, through the woods and come out on one of the main streets of the small town I grew up in. The streets are all familiar, but I’m not sure who I could turn to for help. With no other option, I simply run. I know someone has found me when I hear heavy footsteps catching up to me. I jump the wall, feeling like I can fly, then I hear him shout, “Eliza… You can’t run forever. I will find you!” I keep running until I find myself in the woods, surrounded by the Seelie Court. The Seelie Queen took one look at my dishevelled, blood-soaked self and took me into her home, promising me that she’d keep me safe.
Again the memory fades being replaced by the next…
The Seelie Prince takes my hand, holding me tightly, “You have to run, my mother’s not going to keep her promise, the Vampire King has offered her something more valuable than you can give her.”
I’d only been with the Seelie’s for a few months but even I could tell that the Queen’s fascination with me had begun to fade. I knew I had to run or I’d end up being used as one of the Vampire King’s experiments. “Go to the shifters, ask for Francis Bach, he’s a good man, he can help you hide.” I’m pulled into a hug so tight I almost wish it wouldn’t end. “Until we meet again, my friend. May your path always lead you home.”
If only I knew where my home truly is.
Again the memory fades. I hear a sound coming from the cell to my right, so I let Rourke go, sealing the bite wound in his neck with the chemical in my saliva. I know he’ll be all right when he wakes, I’m not sure how I know, but I’m certain enough to leave him where he is.
The next cell holds the one man who has been a constant light since the day I met him. Remmie stirs as I approach the bars but doesn’t move beyond turning over in his sleep. I grasp the bars of his cell and allow them to dissolve before moving closer and inhaling his honey cake scent. He smells as good as he tastes. I don’t take much from him, knowing that he’s almost as weak as I was, but knowing that I’m going to need his blood as much as I will need that of the others.
His blood doesn’t give me a memory hit like Rourke’s does, but it does give me a rush of emotion, almost as though his subconsciousness is trying to reassure me that he knows I’m here and what I’m doing. I kiss his cheek lightly, leaving a mark in the shape of my lips on his flesh in blood.
I wish I were as confident in myself as he seems to be in my capabilities, but I’m literally making this up as I go. Acting on instinct alone.
I’m out of his cell and moving onto the next one, only to find Derrin and Torren lying on beds opposite each other in the one cell. I go straight to Torren first, taking his blood and savouring the vanilla hit that it gives me. Every mouthful makes me feel like I can fly, but it’s not until I’m pulling away and moving over to Derrin that I start to question why I’m doing this. My body doesn’t care that I’m questioning my own motives. It still drops me down beside him and devours his blood like it's the most powerful drug in the world.
I’m still questioning myself when I stand up and move towards the next cell. I find Jason passed out, his chest rising and falling in a steady hypnotic rhythm.What is the point in making myself stronger when they’re lying there unable to even talk to me, to give me the permission I should be begging for to drink their blood and use them to grow stronger?