Crimson Dawn (28 page)

"Over my cold, dead body! Do you hear me?" She didn't yell, but power laced her voice and underneath that, fear. "I almost lost you once, and now my hands are tied. He has the sworn protection of my family. If I go against him, they'll ban me from the FaeLands. Do you understand what that means? It means I’ll die. I'll die without being able to go home to renew. There's no way I'm letting you near him."

I pushed her arms away from me and pulled her into my own. "Baby, I love the fact that you want to protect me, but you can't, not from this." Kissing the tears away that had formed in her eyes, I pulled her even tighter against me. "He's in the FaeLands closing in on the missing pieces he needs to become the Vessel. I can't allow that to happen. I'm changing now. According to you, I'm only going to get stronger when I reach the FaeLands."

Irulan tried to pull away, but I held firm. "No, running isn't an option. Not for me, and not for you. I'm going after Tristan, period. I'm not asking you to fight alongside me, just lead me to Tir Na Nog after we leave Mag Mell."

The impregnated silence that followed drowned out the familiar sounds of the city at night. I waited, expecting her to explode in anger and frustration, but it never came. Instead, she pulled me tighter. "I don't want you to do it, but if you're bound and determined, I'll take you to him."

I sighed and pulled her chin up. The sight of the tears running down her face was like daggers to my heart. I wished that I could ease her worries and assure her everything was going to be all right. But I couldn't.

I refused to lie to her and offer empty promises of a safe return, so in the end the only thing I could so was apologize. "I'm sorry for putting you in this position, Irulan, but this is something I have to do. I'm just grateful you agreed to be my guide. Can you imagine me bumbling my way through the FaeLands on my own?"

Irulan laughed and pulled away from me. "Honestly? No. You've got a terrible sense of direction, baby. If it weren't for Google Earth on your phone, you'd be lost, and there're definitely no 3G networks in the FaeLands."

She walked over to the mini-fridge and looked inside. "What's your poison sweetheart?"

She pulled out a bottle of Jack Daniels, the half-empty blood bag and began mixing me a shot. "I thought you said alcohol wasn't going to work on me anymore." I said with a touch of confusion.

She shrugged her shoulders and held the shot glass out, "Doesn't mean you still can't enjoy the taste.” I took the shot and downed it in one quick swallow. The warmth was still there minus the buzz. I guess I could deal with my newfound imperviousness to alcohol. Maybe. Irulan laughed again and refilled my glass. "Don't worry, Valeria, we can pick up a few bottles of Fae spirits while we're there, OK?" Now she was talking.

I turned the glass up and let the alcohol-heated blood roll in my mouth. I flopped down in my recliner and held out my arms. Irulan wasted no time settling into my lap and making herself a home. "How can everything seem so right and be so screwed up at the same time?" I asked, not really wanting an answer.

Irulan pulled my head down to her level and captured my lips between her teeth. "Don't. Don't worry about anything else tonight. Today was so perfect, let's end our night that way.” She twisted her body to straddle my lap and claimed my lips.

There was no slow buildup, no stroking the embers to get the fire going, just instant conflagration. We made love under the stars for hours (there‘s something to be said for our Extras stamina). The only thing that put a damper on our night was the coming morning. The new day would pull us out of the safe little bubble of our new relationship and snap us back into harsh reality.

We were heading to the FaeLands to meet my long lost Fomori family, and I was going to kill Tristan. Before I did any of that, I'd have to tell my parents I was leaving for a while and why. Not only that, we were going to have to tell them the why and how behind my little trip. That part in itself wasn't going to bother me.

In a few hours, I was going to have to stand in front of my mother and tell her I was bopping one of her best friends. Lord help me. I felt as if I were going to hurl at the very thought. How in the world was I going to make it through the actual ordeal without throwing up on my father’s loafers?

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The ride to my parents’ estate felt more as if I were walking the green mile instead of going home. I leaned my head against the window, willing myself to relax and stared at the foliage as it flew by my window in a blur. I'd rather face an army of Extras, with one arm broken and body full of lead slugs than stand in front of my mother and father and tell them that I'm in a lesbian relationship with a woman my mother had known almost her entire life.. See, when I say it like that it sounds wrong on so many levels, but I've never felt more right in my life.

I reached across the armrest, took Irulan’s hand in my own, and pressed it to the center of my chest. "Feel that, my heart’s going to jump out of my chest if I don't get a grip, but the thought of them not..." I dropped my head as I searched for the words to convey what I was feeling. "I know my father and I have had our moments, but he's never let me down, Irulan. I don't know what I'll do if they don't approve of our relationship."

Irulan held my hand up and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "I'm not worried about them having problems with the relationship, your parents respect courage and honesty, and it's going to take both for you to get through this, if you’re still dead set on saying everything yourself."

She cut her eyes in my direction and waited for a response. I nodded my head yes, in reply. She sighed, "If that's what you want I'll respect your wishes, but telling Anya about Kemet’s manipulations is an entirely different ballgame."

My stomach took a turn for the worse at the thought of telling mother about her true birthright, and the danger I was now in because of it. Less than a month ago, I was an ordinary Vampire, well, with the exception of my eyes, but now I was changing into something new, something no one had ever seen before. Too much was happening too quick.

Irulan drove up the long driveway that lead to the main house and pulled around the back to park. We barely made it through the kitchen door when my mother flew down the back stairs, grabbed me in her arms, and began spinning me in a circle. "My baby, my precious girl, it's so good to see you out and about," she cried. She eased me to my feet, grabbed me by the hand, and pulled me through the house and into the family room where my father was sitting.

My father took one look at me and scowled, "Is this a social call, or business?” Damn that man, I could never get anything past him.

Mother reached over and slapped him across the shoulder. "What does it matter, Hadrian? Really, you need to take that stick out of your ass every once and awhile.” Irulan burst out laughing.

Me on the other hand, I dropped my gaze to the floor. "Actually, daddy, it's a bit of both.” My father looked at my mother with a 'told-you-so' look on his face, which earned him another slap, this time to the head.

"Anya love, would you refrain from hitting me in front of company, it doesn't go well with the image I strive to project," my father said with a slight smile on his lips. My mother was the only person that could break through my father’s tough guy persona and make him act Human every once in a while.

Mother laughed and motioned for us to take a seat as she sat down beside my father. "Tell us ladies, what does bring you here?"

I took a deep breath and started speaking, hoping I could get everything out at once. "Um, about that day in the hospital, when the power surge went through the building..." They both sat straight up in their seats while I pressed on.

"Well, Irulan and I know what caused it, we knew then, but were too embarrassed to tell anyone. You see it was us, or rather me. The blast happened while Irulan and I were...it happened because my emotions were out of control from making out with Irulan. We, I...Mama and Daddy, Irulan and I are together now.” I said the words in one big mash-up of syllables as fast as I could.

My mother fell back into the leather loveseat, her face clouded and unreadable. My father, on the other hand, his reaction was one for the record-books. The unflappable Hadrian Trumaine burst out laughing in a booming roar. My father was laughing so hard, he clutched his side and fell over into my mother’s lap. "Pay up, Anya," he said as he fought to catch his breath. "I told you there was no way in hell the two of them have shacked up for as long as they have and not getting it on!"

My jaw dropped open as I watched my mother reach into her pocket, draw out a fist full of bills, and slap in into my father's upturned palm. He sat up and popped a quick kiss on her nose. "Never bet against a sure winner, love. There isn't a woman alive that can resist a Fae, once they've got them in their sights.” My mother pushed my father away from her, thoroughly irked at having lost a bet to him.

“
I know the two of you didn’t seriously bet money on whether or not we were sleeping together!”

My father just chuckled and shoved the wadded up bills into his pocket. My mother scowled at him and folded her arms across her chest. “It’s not about the money, darling, it’s about being right. I hate being wrong.”

I heard the shuffle of feet and turned to see a group of household staff, hurrying away from the door, some with broad smiles on their faces and fists full of money. I looked over to Irulan, who simply shrugged then leaned over to give me a reassuring kiss. "I told you, Val, you were worried for all the wrong reasons."

My father’s laughter faded and his demeanor became serious. "What should she have been worried about, Irulan?"

Irulan turned her attention to my father. "The reason behind the blast, or should I say, how she was able to accomplish it in the first place," she answered. My mother and father both looked at us with worried expressions.

I took Irulan's hand before I spoke up. "Something's happening to me, I'm changing, developing new powers, powers unnatural to a Vampire."

I looked directly into my father eyes as I spoke. "It seems the blood Irulan gave me while I was in the hospital gave me a power boost."

My father stood and walked over to a window, while my mother looked from Irulan to me, totally confused. "That's not possible unless you're blood kin, Vampires and Sidhe don't mix," she said.

Irulan squeezed my hand as she spoke, "No, Anya, Vampires and Sidhe don't mix, but Sidhe calls to Sidhe, and that's what my blood did when it was introduced to her body.” She turned to my father, "Isn't that right, Hadrian?"

My mother stood and looked between my father and Irulan with hurt in her every movement. "What's she talking about, Hadrian? And don't dare give me some bullshit answer to placate me. I want the truth."

My father turned and took both my mother’s hands. The wild look of fear in his eyes was so foreign to him, that for an instant I didn't recognize him. "You've got to believe me when I say, I had no idea until after Constantine was born and grandfather came to see him for the first time."

My mother jerked her hands away from him and slowly backed away. "Tell me what's wrong and stop procrastinating!" My mother's eyes went black, and her nails began to elongate and harden into a wicked set of claws. My mother has always been fiercely protective of us, but I never thought that I would see that day that she'd draw on my father.

My father took a step back and squared his shoulders. "Sweetheart, your mother's not a full Vampire. Kemet knew, and he and my father arranged our marriage when we were both still children. They hoped that our children would benefit from the combined bloodlines. My grandfather has been manipulating the entire family for hundreds of years. I'm just as much a victim as you are, that's why I severed all ties with that damn Djin years ago."

My mother's head cocked to one side as she flashed to my father, hoisted him up off the ground, and threw him into a nearby bookshelf sending an entire row of books careening to the floor. "The same Djin that almost got my daughter killed with the half-assed job that he did? I love you, Hadrian, but I love my children more. If something you..."

Irulan walked over to my mother and laid a hand on her shoulder. "Let him down, Anya. If you hurt him, you'll hate yourself for it later. Hadrian had no control over your grandmother. She made the decision to consort with a Sidhe prince long before Hadrian was ever born.”

My mother dropped my father, and then turned on Irulan, "What are you talking about?"

Irulan held her ground as she pulled the same crest from her pocket that she showed me yesterday. "Your mother is half Sidhe, the daughter of the Fomori prince, Mikilos, which in turn makes you and your children part Fomori. The Fomori blood within you is dormant for the most part, but my blood awakened it in Valeria."