Feral (The Irisbourn Chronicles Book 1) (11 page)

“How do you know that we’re not
just Divinbloods pretending to be humans, like you?”

“Once you get used to being
Irisbourn, you’ll be able to subconsciously recognize who’s a Divinblood and
who’s not.
 
We have certain distinctive
characteristics – the way we move, the way we speak, the way we look – that we
can’t hide from each other, even for a Divinblood turned-human.
 
When I first saw you, I mistook you for a
Divinblood.
 
You wouldn’t believe how
surprised I was, finding you as a Divinblood in the human world.
 
It wasn’t until I got closer that I realized
that the blood that coursed through your veins was undeniably human.”

“You must have been sorely
disappointed then,” I muttered.
 
I
suspected it was probably my graceless fall from the gate that convinced him I
was a human.

“Actually, I was intrigued.”
 
Adrian’s eyes widened.
 
“You were human, but you also weren’t.
 
It was puzzling.
 
Afterwards I found myself watching your
family as they entered and left the house – not in a malicious way, I was just
curious – but they weren’t like you.” Adrian said it quickly, as if he were
confessing a crime that he wanted to get off his chest.
 
“Your brother was born human, I’m sure of
it.
 
I never saw much of your sister, but
I’m certain she’s human too.
 
You were
the only one who was different.”

I swallowed thickly and tried to
absorb this new information.
 
If I
thought about it, everything he said made sense.
 
It would explain my parents’ lack of
embarrassing baby pictures of me, while they had an endless supply of
photographs of Heather and Matt.
 
Plus, I
always knew that I looked nothing like my siblings and little like my
parents.
 
Sometimes, when I was younger,
I had even fantasized that I had been adopted.
 
Apparently I had been right.

I exhaled loudly in defeat and
moved onto my next question.
 
“Then how
did I become Irisbourn if I was human?”

Adrian’s brow creased in thought.
“To be honest, I don’t understand how you did that.
 
I’m only familiar with the ritual because I
knew one person who performed it.
 
Until
tonight, I didn’t think that a child could even survive it.
 
I think that when I met you, your human body
was already beginning to change into that of an Irisbourn.
 
Maybe it was stress or your new surroundings,
or maybe the ritual just wore off.
 
I
can’t explain it.
 
Whatever the cause,
the transformation must have been straining your human body.”

“I guess that would explain why I
keep fainting,” I grumbled.

“How many times has that
happened?”
 
Adrian asked with concern.

“Two?
 
Actually, three including this one.”

“When did they happen?”

I sighed.
 
“I know this is going to sound crazy, but the
first time, I woke up in the middle of the night and saw this pale face above
my bed.”

To my surprise, Adrian didn’t
laugh.
 
If anything, his expression grew
more serious.
 
“Describe it.”

“Ugly and white, with hollow
eyes.
 
What’s weird is that I thought I
saw two of them last night in the hallway, but no one else could see them.
 
Oh, and they were wrapped in some sort of
shroud as well.”

“Did they look like they were
screaming?”
 
Adrian asked slowly.

“Yeah, only no sound was coming
out.
 
How did you know that?”
 
I sat up straight, relieved that someone
finally understood what I had seen.

“They’re wraiths.”
 
Adrian’s voice grew heavy, his face solemn.

“Wraiths?”

Adrian shifted his weight to make
himself comfortable.
 
I knew I would be
in for a long explanation.

“They’re from our world.
  
Throughout the extensive Irisbourn reign
over Fallyre, the Irisbourn took many creatures under their protection.
 
One of these creatures was the sprites.
 
The sprites were quite striking, with their
flaxen hair and marble white skin.
 
When
fully extended, their spectral, translucent wings were said to be twice the
size of their entire bodies, and they were only slightly smaller than
Divinbloods.
 
No matter how much they
aged, they always resembled children, and perhaps that was why the Irisbourn
were so willing to take them in, despite the sprites’ reputation for
trouble.
 
With time, the Irisbourn were
able to gain their trust, and the sprites, in gratitude, wished to give back to
the Irisbourn for their generosity.
 
Most
sprites established roles in Divinblood society as servants to the Irisbourn in
their homes and palaces.
 
Each sprite
family would attend on an Irisbourn family for generations.
 
The sprites grew fervently loyal to the
Irisbourn.

“However, during the Blood King’s
invasion, the sprites were separated from their Irisbourn families and
captured.
 
The Blood King ordered a dark
curse to be placed on all sprites, condemning them to wander Fallyre in search
of any remaining Irisbourn, so that the sprites might kill the race they had
once served.
 
What the Blood King did not
realize was that the sprites’ devotion to the Irisbourn was too potent for such
a curse to break.
 
Instead of the sprites
carrying out the Blood King’s evil wishes, the sprites were transformed into
unsightly creatures torn between killing their masters and defending them.
 
They roam the darkness in anguish, hoping to
find their masters, but never able to hurt them.
 
We call them wraiths.”

“So they’re not dangerous?” I
stressed.

“Completely harmless.
 
They’re attracted to you because you’re
Irisbourn.”

My heart went out to the poor
creatures.
 
The fate of the Irisbourn had
already been bad enough without the sprites being dragged into it.

“Why are they invisible to everyone
else?”

“
Humans
,” Adrian emphasized, “can’t see them, because wraiths have
been touched by dark magic, and our dark magic doesn’t belong in this
world.
 
It’s literally purged from human
minds.”

“Ignorance is bliss,” I murmured,
as I broke a bead of water that had condensed onto my glass.
 
The liquid ran down my hand and dropped onto
the blanket, making a wet circle.

“And the second time…?” Adrian
inquired expectantly.

“The second time was in the woods
last night.
 
I was walking, and I guess I
lost track of time.
 
When I woke up, this
creature was there.
 
It was …” I shook my
head.
 
No single word could describe
it.
 
“I tried to run, but it caught up to
me.”

Adrian stared at me in horror.
 
“What happened?”

“Well, I lived,” I replied,
gesturing to my living, breathing body.
 
Adrian narrowed his eyes at me in impatience.
 
“Fine, fine.
 
I must have changed into a panther, or whatever, and attacked it,
because it turned into dust as soon as I hit it.
 
Like
poof
.”
 
I made a flowing motion with my hands.
 
Well, it didn’t actually go poof, but that
was a moot point.
 
“And when I got home,
my sister pointed out my purple eyes.”

“What did this thing look
like?”
 
Adrian spoke hastily, so hastily
that I had to take a moment to decipher what he had said.

“Uh… bony… bulging white eyes… and
needle teeth,” I remembered.
 
“Lots and
lots of needle teeth.”
 
I blinked to
clear my mind of the image.

“
And you killed it
?” Adrian’s voice was thick with disbelief.

“I guess so?
 
It kind of just disappeared, so I’m not sure
if you’d consider that killing,” I replied skeptically.

Adrian ran his hands through his
hair and groaned.
 
“
I’ve
been tracking that thing for a week, and now you’ve gone and
killed it.
 
And you haven’t even been a
full Divinblood for a day!”

I shrugged, unsure how to
respond.
 
“You’re welcome?”

“You shouldn’t be.
 
You should be dead, going after a caecus like
that.
 
You’re extremely lucky to be alive
right now,” Adrian warned me in a shaken voice.

“Caecus?” The word was unfamiliar
to me, obvious by the ridiculous way I had chosen to pronounce it.

Adrian didn’t seem to notice.
 
“The caecus demon is one of the dark beasts
under the influence of the Bloodbourn.
 
They’re not to be trifled with.
 
Their sense of smell makes up for their blindness, and they have an
incredibly… gruesome… way of hunting.
 
They play with their food – that is, they torture their prey until it
dies from its own agony.
 
The caeci have
become quite popular amongst the more sadistic Bloodbourn.

“The Bloodbourn sent many caeci to
Earth to track down any Divinbloods, usually surviving Irisbourn, who had
managed to flee Fallyre.
 
The caeci had
been instructed to ignore the humans, though.
 
After all, mysterious human disappearances wouldn’t help the caeci sneak
up on any Divinbloods in hiding.”

“That explains why it found me in
the woods, then.”

“Actually,” Adrian interjected,
“that one was tracking us, not you.
 
Coming across you was likely just an accident.
 
It helped that it was weak, too; there aren’t
a whole lot of large animals that it could feed on in the area.”

“See, I did do you a favor then,” I
pointed out.
 
I was trying very hard to
stay on the bright side, while Adrian overwhelmed me with this new information.

Before Adrian could respond, the
door at the side of the room flung open, and Arisella strode right in.
 
She raised an eyebrow at us, making me aware
of the fact that, throughout the conversation, I had been unconsciously leaning
toward Adrian in increasing increments.
 
I quickly returned to an appropriate sitting position with my back
ninety degrees to the bed.

“Listening to your conversation
from the next room is quite difficult,” Arisella pouted.
 
“Do I have permission to rejoin you?”

My knuckles grew white around my
glass, and for a moment I was afraid I would shatter it.

Adrian turned his head to me,
letting me know that I should answer.

“No,” I said adamantly.

“Adrian!” Arisella complained.
 
She looked so much like a frustrated child
who hadn’t gotten her way.
 
I had to
remind myself that underneath, she was still the same psycho killer who had tried
to skewer me with knives.

Adrian only shrugged.
 
“You probably traumatized her.
 
What would you expect?”

“Forgiveness?” Arisella said like
it were obvious.
 
“I had to do it; she
understands that.”

“Actually, please enlighten me,” I
encouraged sarcastically.
 
“Tell me why
in the world you thought trying to kill me was such a crucial procedure.”

Arisella’s eyes flashed toward me
in disdain.
 
“In case you haven’t
realized it by now, my brother and I
are
in hiding
.”
 
My eyes widened in
surprise.
 
To my irritation, I’d never
even considered that.

“From the Blood King?” I assumed.

“From everyone under the Blood
King’s influence.”
 
Arisella’s sapphire
eyes burned into mine.

“We may have sort of gone rogue,”
Adrian added nonchalantly, trying to defuse some of the tension that Arisella
had dragged into the room.

“And now the Bloodbourn are looking
for us.”
 
Arisella swept her dark hair
from her face and lithely fell into a large armchair by the bed.
 
“We should be safe, as long as idiots like
you–”

Adrian shot Arisella a nasty look,
and his sister gave an aggravated sigh.
 
“Fine – as long as ignorant individuals, such as yourself,” she
rephrased, looking at Adrian to gauge his approval.
 
Adrian shook his head, which Arisella somehow
interpreted as a sign to continue.

“… don’t attract attention to this
area by creating suspicions in the Divinblood community.”

I was appalled by her
accusation.
 
“I don’t attr—”

“Right now, your eyes are blaring
‘Hi, all murderous Bloodbourn!
 
I’m
Irisbourn! Kill me!’” Arisella said with mock enthusiasm.
 
Her face immediately darkened.
 
“If the Bloodbourn even suspect that an
Irisbourn is here, the entire area will be flooded with Bloodbourn, and then
we’re all screwed.”

I froze at that realization.
 
My eyes
had
attracted a lot of attention, but just from my classmates, not from any
Divinbloods.
 
But, then again, I couldn’t
tell who was from their world and who wasn’t.