Red Awakening: (Red Knight #2) (19 page)

“What will happen to the baby… me?” I gulp.

“After Adrien’s bite, the birth will come on quick.” Her tone is unconfident. “You need to be strong, because let me tell you this, giving birth to a Dhampir child, is impossible with your human body.”

“That’s why I need to be turned?” I ask.

“Yes, your baby knows, but will only wait so long,” she replies. “Liz, your child will be warm, gifted, and not the monster you seem to think. All you have to do is never allow him to blood feed.”

“Him?” I ask, emotionally stirred.

“Yes… a boy,” she smiles kindly.

I peer up at Adrien. I guess I’m wanting him to embrace the fact he’s just been told he’s going to have a son. But all he does, is look to the floor. My head spins and I feel nauseous. Any chance of normality for Adrien and I, has fucked off completely. I feel broken. Unwanted. Rejected.

“And Liz.” Adrien scowls at Gwen. “Why don’t you tell her what will happen, after she feeds from me?”

Gwen holds the back of the chair, her white eyes on me. “You know… she will awaken,” she snaps. “If you did what you should have done when you decided to take a beautiful young girl with everything going for her, then we wouldn’t be here right now. I always said that you pompous Executives shouldn’t be allowed to pick innocent girls as your Reds. Human and vampire love, has always resulted in disaster.”

I sink into the chair. Everything good that has happened to me, has now become shrouded in darkness. I hate this. I want it to be over.

“Why then, after all these centuries of infertility has this happened? What is it Selene wants?” Adrien angers as he strides up and down the room. “Was Laurie supposed to impregnate her?”

“Will you stop pacing, you’re irritating the hell out of me,” Gwen says in a demanding tone.

Adrien stops and glares. “The blood reading… that will tell you more; how and why?”

“Yes. God. I came here to do you a favour, not dive into purgatory for your answers,” she barks.

“Can we just… can we stop this,” I say in a shaky whisper.  

Adrien throws his arms up in fury. “Elizabeth, we do this… and don’t question me!”

He’s turning into some illogical bulldozer, and I don’t like it. Where has the gracious, polite, and loving Mr Knight gone.

“Stop Adrien,” Gwen yells. “She has done nothing wrong.”

He halts and watches me. His eyes relax a little, but I look away, down at my hands.

“I’ll do it,” Gwen huffs. “But I won’t use Liz, you’ll be the only essence I’ll use.” A stillness takes hold, as again they silently debate with each other. “I’m going to need a good quantity of your blood, Adrien,” she declares. “Go and get my bag.”

Adrien marches out into the hall. I watch as Gwen leans over the table, and sets the woolly grey substance on fire. It frizzles out into nothing. I frown and she grins at my naivety.

“It’s a cleanser,” she says. “Better than soap and water is harain grass.”

Adrien returns, holding a large brown duffle bag. He slides it across the table and Gwen’s hand stops it. She unzips, and starts to take objects out. Another bowl, but this one is black. More of that woolly material. A bag of what looks like animal bones, and a small old black book. She begins to organise the items next to three flaming black candles, placing them at each point of the triangle. Then she takes a rusty dagger out from her bag.

“Here.” She hands the knife to Adrien. “I’m also going to need something very valuable. If the offering is seen fit, Hecate may be merciful.”

Fuck this. With my heart in my throat, I shoot up from the chair. I can’t be expected to sit back while he does this. She said repercussions. What if this spirit, or whatever it is, decides to smite him down where he bloody stands? We know I’m pregnant, and he has to turn me. Why can’t we leave it at that, and use another source? Like the damn library or internet. Is it revenge he seeks?

I charge around the table and snatch the knife from him. No blade, no blood. We’ve just got married and I was happy, now this is destroying us. I bite my lips firm as my eyes brim with tears. I’m screwed up in every way imaginable, and this isn’t going to make things better.

“You’ve lost your mind,” I cry. “How can this make things right, Adrien? I want to know to, but this is frigging nuts… you know that.”

His teeth clench. “I’m sorry, but you need to let me do this.” He lies his determined eyes on me, and prizes the knife from my grip.

I sniff and turn away as he cuts deep into his forearm, allowing it to bleed into the black bowl. Quickly, I take refuge by the heavy cream drapes that swag over the bay window. He’s bleeding out fast. I watch as his stooped back flinches over the table, because he now needs to feed to make up for the blood loss. He billows out huge amounts of air, hissing, then looks over his shoulder at me. His pupils are entirely black, and his fangs begin to protrude. I wipe the tears from my face, watching his pain.

“Okay, that’s enough,” Gwen says. “Here.” She hands him a blue towel for his bleeding arm.

He charges head down through the door, clutching his arm. He’s sick and I have to help him.

As I pace fast toward the doors, Gwen takes hold of my bicep.

“This is all wrong and I feel for you,” she says. “He does it because he doesn’t want to lose you, and love makes us all fools.” She sweeps her hand down my hair. “You’re the strongest one of both of you.” I respond with a faint smile then hurry after Adrien.

I jog breathless into Sara’s modern unused kitchen, opening cupboards in a frantic search.

“Liz… what’s wrong?” Sara frowns.

“Blood, now!”

She points to a small cupboard next to the freezer. I bend and open. Artic air sweeps over my hand as I reach in and pull out two cool bags.

“Liz, where’s Adrien,” Sara asks as I hurry down the hall.

“Not now Sara.”

                                                       ***

Adrien is sitting on the bed in the spare room, his keeled over body, rocking. I hold out a blood bag, low enough for him to see. He releases his grip from the towel, and without looking at me, he snatches it from my hand. He rips off the cap with his teeth and vacuums the first bag dry. He wheezes, head back, still with shadow eyes. My hand trembles as I offer him the second. Again he seizes it with a desperate need.

With his chin to his chest, he extends his fingers up to me. “Please… forgive me,” he utters.

Without a second thought, I slide my hand around his. He peers up at me with fraught eyes as I rest my hand on his cheek. I carefully slide the towel from his arm, to see the top layer of his bloody skin interlinking. Healing.

“We have to know the truth… okay?” He slowly stands up, unsteadily.

“Yes,” I whisper. “Please don’t hate me.”

“I can never hate you.” He comes to stand before me. “I love you Elizabeth. But this situation you’ve been ensnared in, should have never happened. Someone needs to answer for it.”

I follow him to the door. It’s no good me begging him not to want revenge. It’s too late; it’s blackened him.

                                                       ***

We re-enter the dining room. Gwen has her hands in Adrien’s blood. She’s created another symbol with it. It’s unclear what it is against the dark background of the table. All I can make out is the shimmer of the blood inside the triangle. She mumbles with her eyelids shut, then sets the contents of the black bowl alight.

“I need something valuable, preferably gold,” Gwen requests.

I twiddle my fingers and glance down at my engagement ring.

“I don’t think so,” Adrien huffs. “Here.” He takes one of his platinum cufflinks out from his breast pocket, and slides it across the table.

Gwen picks it up and feels it. “You have two?” She gestures her fingers.

Rolling his eyes, he takes out the second and slides it over to her.

“Much better. Very flashy, Adrien. We might just pull this off.” From her bloody fingers, she drops the cufflinks into the flaming bowl. “Okay, this is the part where I go all exorcist.”

She slams her blood soaked hands down into the centre of the symbol. My mouth drops open, because what I’m seeing is like something you’d see in the movies, only messier. She closes her eyes, inhales, and raises her head to the ceiling.

She begins to sway back and forth. There are no sparks, and no ominous breeze whizzing around the room. Nothing supernatural at all. She’s listening intently with her ear directly over the bowl, nodding and uttering in some strange foreign language. I’m expecting any moment to see a puff of smoke, or some flash of light. Maybe even some kind of demonic voice echoing from her mouth. But all I see now is, Gwen, with her hands firmly pressed on the table, looking like she belongs in a straightjacket.

Five minutes of chanting, and I’m growing concerned she’s actually stuck like this. I take a step toward her, only to have Adrien grab my arm to stop me.

“Whoa.” Like her hands have been suddenly ejected from the table, she staggers back as the fire dies out.

“Oh,” she gasps, clutching her chest. “Not a happy goddess.” Adrien dashes over and guides her to a chair. “Water… please.” She blows out as she sits down.

I swiftly pour her a large glass of water. She snatches and drinks it within seconds, like she’s desert dehydrated.

“Gwen, what happened?” Adrien asks.

She looks right into my eyes. Her frozen features, and the brilliant white of her irises, scare the hell out of me.

“You know why this has happened?” Adrien bends over the table, his demeanour growing more and more commanding.

“All she needed was Liz’s blood for the spell to be made complete,” she says.

“Selene,” Adrien snarls. “Has the Sange Pentru sanctified this?”

“Selene has been very busy Adrien, and she couldn’t care less about breaking the codes,” Gwen nods. “And with Daddy Demetrius giving her free rein, the rules don’t stand any longer. This has been in the making for years. This is why Selene allowed your marriage. She’s been searching a long time for a girl like Liz.”

Adrien looks down at his crotch. “How the hell can I be fertile; I’m dead dammit?”

“With the blood of Meredith. Lilith the mother of all your kind. Her granddaughter,” Gwen replies.

“Are you serious? That’s all a myth,” he yells. “A story… nothing more.”

I drop down into a chair, completely gobsmacked. Shit, this is way beyond the realm of weird.

Gwen laughs. “Myths are born from fact. I’m a witch and you’re a vampire, and still you can’t work out if myths are based on realities,” she bites back. “Get with it Adrien. It is a big universe, full of different energies.”

Adrien walks to the far edge of the table. He’s cynically laughing in disbelief.

“You know the story of Lilin and Rosia. Lilin taking a human lover and producing the only ever known high Dhampir,” she says. “Lilin and Rosia were murdered for it, and Meredith, the child, was taken by the pure ones.”

“Kind of… but it’s all bullshit,” Adrien nods.

“God Adrien, you’re a pain in the ass to deal with,” she moans. “They raised Meredith as their own, doted on her. She wasn’t vampire, nor fully human. She was an eternal light, gifted and powerful. A never ending feed for the Sange Pentru.”

“So let me get this straight,” Adrien paces. “Selene cursed me with some of Meredith’s blood… for what… so another Dhampir can be born?”

“Bingo.”

“Why?”

Gwen lowers her head. I can see that what she’s going to say isn’t good. I stand up, now I need to know if the child inside me is in danger.

“Don’t you get it; why does Selene recruit humans like you? Making it imperative to use morality over the instinct to hunt.”

“To the point,” Adrien snaps.

“You’re breeding stock. Selene is looking for the perfect parents to create a powerful weapon,” Gwen states. “You cannot allow her near that child. Selene wants total control. To walk in the day. To feed at will. She wants a return to the old ways, and she has many followers. The Voax.”

“FUCK,” Adrien growls. “I should have known.”

“Adrien honey, what would you have done if you knew?” Gwen hums. “Love can’t be stopped, not even by death.”

I move to stand beside Adrien. He’s so tense. Even if I were to touch him, he’d just push me away. He’s discovered he is merely a pawn in Selene’s plan.

“What makes this baby so special to her?” I ask.

“The pure ones kept Meredith locked away for centuries. To prevent her leaving, they painted a picture of an evil world, where someone so special would be hurt,” Gwen explains. “They gave her everything she needed, and in return they took from her a thimble of blood each day. They fed off her power and beauty. Walked in the sunlight without a single burn. And they fed off the living when they wanted. Believe it or not, they were worshipped.”

“And this is what she wants our baby for?” I anger.

“Please Elizabeth… our baby?” Adrien utters, sarcastically. “This should never have happened. God knows what it is, but it is not some sweet baby.”

Gwen stands up as my heart breaks into pieces, and as if she can see the obstacles in her path, she snakes swiftly toward us. She stops directly in front of Adrien.