Sapphires and Desires (The Gem Fairy Series Book 1) (10 page)

“What?” I ask not sure if I heard him correctly.

“The guy you were dancing with…he was Prince. He marked you as his.”

I can’t tell what emotion is in his voice only that it’s one I’ve not yet heard from him.

“What does that mean?” I ask him slowly.

“Uh well it could mean that he doesn’t want anyone to eat you…Or it could mean that only he wants to eat you…or it could mean that he wants to turn you into a vampire.” He says gaging my reaction.

I don’t even know what to say. I stand there staring blankly into his eyes.

“Does that mean that you’re a
prince
?” I ask him finally making the connection.

His blank expression turns into a wicked grin. He doesn’t even have to answer my question. “Good job, Princess. It also means it’s your lucky day.”

“Don’t call me that, I’m not five. How is a vampire wanting to eat me or turn me into a freak make my day
lucky
?” I ask.

“I can’t erase the mark but I can overwrite it. I’m not calling you that because you’re little. I’m calling you that because you
are
a princess.” He grasps my hand in his tightly for a moment and the releases it.

I feel my brows merge in confusion then remember what he said about my parents being royal and what not. Technically, I guess, that makes me a queen. I nearly faint.

“There. Now you’re mine.” He says with a grin and points to a little red crescent on my palm. I can barely see it in the dark.

“So…now
you’re
gonna eat me?” I ask him.

“I might…watch out.” He jokes with a wink. “No I will not
eat
you.”

“What is the point of marking if you can just do that?” I wonder.

“Well only kings, queens, princes and princesses can mark. I am stronger than him so I can write overtop of it.” He explains.

“Okay so how did you know you were stronger than him?” I ask him.

He laughs without humor. “Because, Laytah, I am not a prince, I am a king.”

I feel my eyes bulge from their sockets. A
king?
“So wait, there’s more than one king?” I ask confused.

“I should’ve explained this better when I was telling you about your uncle. He is not the only king of the fae. There are four Kingdoms. Your family’s is the Ruby Court. It has always been the largest by area and also the strongest because of all the powerful fae in it. I am king of the Sapphire Court which is the largest by population it includes
all
of the made fae though many of them choose to live on earth instead of in our world they still must adhere to the Sapphire laws. Then there are two smaller Courts: the Emerald which is the smallest and is mostly made up of the lesser fae, let’s just say that it’s not somewhere you would willingly go; and the Diamond which is the second largest and mostly made up of non-magic fae, they are allies with everyone and are very kind. But it’s only a matter of time before the Ruby Court decides to expand and takes down the other Court’s Kingdoms starting with the weakest. The Kingdoms how they are now are set up to give peace. But Jadorn only wants power and is willing to break the boundaries and truces and treaties to get it.”

Just as I’m getting lost and confused by Damon’s words we are finally interrupted by my vibrating cell phone and I hastily answer it without looking at the caller ID.

“Hello?” I answer loudly over the music while pressing the volume all the way up so I can hear the speaker.

“Laytah? Oh my god is that you? Fuck. Fuck. Okay, I don’t know where I am. I went back to the other club to find Anna and I did but then I don’t know…I must’ve blacked out. Anyways I’m bleeding badly. I think someone knifed me. I think I got stabbed in the neck. I can’t call an ambulance because I don’t know where the hell I am. I’m getting dizzy. There’s blood everywhere!” Geoff calls through the phone on a terrified rant. He isn’t one to get scared easily.

Damon grabs my phone from me and says something to Geoff before hanging up and handing me my phone. My heart pounds in my chest and I pray that he’s okay. Then Geoff grabs my hand and suddenly we are in a dark room.

“What the hell?” I say shocked by the sudden change in scenery. I’ll never get used to this whole popping in and out of places. “How did you know where to go?” I ask him.

“Be quiet, I don’t sense anyone here besides Geoff but you never know. I followed his cellphone energy...” He says.

“You can do that?” I whisper.

“Yes, but it’s difficult because there are so many different pathways you know with everyone having a phone. He’s this way.” Damon says guiding me in the dark.

“How are you not tripping every five seconds?!” I demand while tripping over every particle of dust.

“I can see in the dark, silly girl. I have super sight and super hearing how did you think I knew Geoff was in trouble? I heard him on the phone.”

I’d assumed it was the look of worry and panic on my face.

“You think Anna did this?” I ask him.

“I don’t know. I thought I scared her off but apparently she went back to the club. You didn’t notice a ring on her you said?”

“No.”

“Everyone has a gem ring signifying their Kingdom. My usual ring is larger than this one, I am wearing a prince ring as a disguise. Prince rings look like the one I’m wearing now, regular people from the Court wear an even smaller one. It’s law to wear them. She’s obviously one of my people, obviously turned but I think she may be unaligned maybe new and doesn’t know the rules. It rarely happens but it does.” He says quickly. “If that’s the case, then she’s dangerous. Geoff could’ve been bitten but not healed afterwards as is the law.”

I try not to freak out.

“If we get to him before he bleeds out then he will be fine. I will heal him.” He reassures me only I’m not reassured.

“And if not?” I ask him.

“Then we’ll deal with that when we get to it.”

That doesn’t sound good.

“Help! Someone!” Geoff cries from down the hall a ways.

I want to scream out to him but I keep my mouth shut just in case. I’m so glad to hear him still conscious. That’s a good sign.

“It’s us, Geoff. Turn your phone flashlight on, he’s right in front of us, Laytah.” Damon whispers and I pull it out and shine it at the wall.

Finally I see him crouched in the corner of the room on the floor. He’s sitting in a puddle of his own blood. He’s not the only one in the room. There are four other young men slouched limply against the walls bloody and pale as hell. With the light now on Geoff notices this and pales significantly more.

I hold back a scream and try to keep my stomach from emptying on to the floor.

Damon cusses and rushes to Geoff’s side as his head lolls to the side. Damon examines his neck. “Look away, Laytah.” He says while rolling up one of his sleeves. “You won’t want to see this.”

Is he kidding? I can’t look away! My cousin is dying! What is he gonna do? Wipe the blood off? I mean what is there to see that’s worse than four dead guys and my almost dead cousin? I don’t look away. By now my cousin is passed out completely and looks as dead as the other guys.

I take my eyes off of Geoff and look back to Damon whose back is to me. I watch as he
bites
into his wrist with a disgusting crunch and shoves it into Geoff’s mouth. I choke back another gag but it catches up to me this time and I barf all over the floor. I should’ve looked away.

Damon slowly stands up right and turns to me. “I told you to turn away, you idiot.” He says shaking his head angrily.

“What in the hell are you doing?” I demand while barfing again.

“It’s how we heal other people, Laytah, our blood. Our magic is in our blood.”

I wipe my mouth with my sleeve and gawk at my cousin who is still limply still slouching.

“Is he going to okay?” I ask Damon.

He shrugs. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know, he should be awake already.”

Then we are in the bathroom of my apartment in Philly. Geoff is lying in the bathtub, I am sitting beside the toilet and Damon is grabbing towels out of the cupboard.

“Jesus Christ, will you stop doing that? At least warn me before you zap us somewhere it makes my stomach churn. We’re not all superhuman.” I scold.

“That’s why I put you by the toilet,” he says like it’s obvious.

I stand up no longer sick, just worried about Geoff.

“Is he breathing?” I ask.

“Yes, but his heart is very weak. He was bitten very badly.”

“Is there anything we can do?” I ask him.

“Get this blood off of him quickly so I can see if there’s another bite mark. He shouldn’t be bleeding this much.”

I turn the shower on overhead and grab a towel. “You can’t just magically make it disappear?” I ask him sarcastically.

“No, I can’t do everything.”

“So you can hop between worlds and continents in seconds but you can’t wipe blood off of someone somehow?”

“No.” he replies irritated.

I grab a towel and soak it under the water before wiping at my cousins skin with it.

“Maybe we should get him to a hospital?” I ask panicking because of all the blood.

“No, he won’t make it that far. We have to find the other bite, there must be another.”

Damon bites his wrist again, which was somehow already healed up and shoves it to Geoff’s neck. It heals almost instantly. Then he sticks it to his mouth.

Now I am too far in shock about my cousin bleeding to death to care about the nastiness of Damon making my cousin gulp down his blood.

Finally after what seems like forever I find the other bite on his thigh.

“Whoever did this slashed open two of body’s main arteries? If we would’ve been a minute later to that warehouse that we found him in, he would’ve been dead.”

“So he’s going to make it then?” I ask Damon again.

“I don’t know, it’s hard to say. Depends how much Venom is in his system.”

“Venom?!” I ask horrified.

“When vampires bite sometimes they release venom to incapacitate their pray like snake does. It’s against the law to do it but if it was Anna and she is new then she may have done it uncontrollably. It’s also used in making new vampires but you need a lot. That is highly unlikely in this case.”

“
Unlikely?
” I repeat sarcastically. Great. “You’re going to go kill whoever did this afterwards, right?” I demand.

“I have princes that send people to take care of rogues like this. She will be taken to our world and taught our ways before being allowed to be around humans. If she continues to disobey she will be silenced.” He assures me. I nod. I guess that’s all I can ask for.

Suddenly Geoff’s eyes open slightly and he takes a deep breath.
              “Geoff?” I ask. “Geoff can you hear me? Don’t move.”

He doesn’t reply just stares blankly at me and raises half his mouth in a smile. I can’t help but smile back at him.

Damon presses his wrist to Geoff’s thigh and it too heals up then he puts it back to his mouth. Geoff doesn’t struggle or try to move.

Soon Damon rolls his sleeve back down. “That’s all I can give him. I hope it’s enough,” he says and tries to stand up from the tub ledge. He stumbles a bit and catches himself on the vanity. He quickly pulls his sunglasses from his pocket and puts them on.

“Are you okay?” I ask him turning the shower off.

He nods. “Yeah, just a little weak. Let’s get him to the bed, I might need your help. I don’t have the strength to just pop him over there. I’ll take his clothes off first. Turn around unless you want to see your cousin naked and have him lose his dignity.”

It takes a few minutes but Damon manages to remove his clothes and set a couple towels over him. I grab his feet and Damon grabs under his arms and we carry him out my bed and lay him down.

“I’ll run to his room and grab some of his clothes I have key here somewhere. Thank god he paid for his room over break.” I say and grab my key to his room from my closet. “I’ll be back in a flash.

When I make it to Geoff’s room and get the door open I am immediately shocked by what I find. His rooms is a complete mess. I know what you’re thinking, what is so strange about that? He’s a boy, boys are messy. Thing is, Geoff is one of the cleanest and most organized people I know. I sigh and begin throwing dirty clothes from off the floor into his laundry basket. Wow, did he not take any of his clothes home after the semester?

I am about to walk over to his dresser to grab some clean attire for him when my vision goes hazy. I sit down on his bed. Everything is blurry as though I’m looking through water. My head soon after begins to ache violently and I grasp it between my two hands holding back a scream.

It’s not long before it subsides and I’m able to stand up again. God, did I just have a migraine? I never get migraines. I decide that it was probably from all of the stress and crap I’ve dealt with the last few days. I get Geoff a set of new clothes and rush back to my apartment before a second scorching head ache happens.

When I get into the room Damon is nowhere to be found, Geoff is lying on the bed sound asleep or so I hope he is asleep and not dead. I walk over to him and grab his wrist feeling for a pulse and sigh with relief. It’s faint but it’s there.

“Damon?” I whisper not wanting to wake Geoff and aware that Damon has super hearing.

No reply.

Maybe he went out to get something.

I grab a blanket and pillow from my closet and make a little bed on the floor closing my eyes and drifting to sleep.

When I wake up, the sun is shining through the window and my phone is vibrating like something else. I pull it from my pocket and check the caller ID sluggishly. It’s my aunt. What does she want? Then it dawns on me that we didn’t come home last night. She’s probably worried sick about us. Had we even told her we were going out?

I look at the time. It’s nearly noon. Holy crap, I slept through half the day.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Oh thank god! I’ve been calling and calling! Neither of you two would pick up your phones! Where are you?” She asks with a sigh of relief.

“Oh, we uh, left this morning for Philly. You know to make sure everything is ready for Geoff’s third semester and to move all my stuff out of my apartment. He didn’t tell you?” I ask hoping she doesn’t catch me in my lie but she doesn’t.

“Oh… no he didn’t. He never tells me anything. Oh Laytah, you watch him alright? He’s been acting strange. I think he might be doing drugs. I found an empty pill bottle on his dresser yesterday. Do you think?” She asks frightened.

“I don’t think he would do that, Aunty, but I’ll keep my eye on him.” I promise.

“Thank you Laytah. He didn’t take uh…losing you…very well…not at all. I didn’t see him smile for a whole month. I’m so happy you’re back. But enough with the depressing talk, I’m sure you kids are busy I’ll talk to you soon. Please come home soon.” She says and ends the call.

I get up off of the hard ground and grab some clean clothes from my dresser. Shower time. I walk over to Geoff and don’t even have to check his pulse this time as he’s breathing much heavier and I can see his chest moving. I dial my favorite pizza delivery restaurant and order a large cheese, also my favorite. As I walk into the bathroom I notice Damon lying on the floor, a towel in his hand. His sunglasses are smashed on the floor.  Has he been here all night? Wow, just one thing after the next. I feel for a pulse. I can’t feel one. Do fae even have a pulse? I try to remember anything that Damon might have said about the subject but come up blank.