Becoming a Legend (8 page)

Devin reached over and gently cupped her face in
his hands and raised her head until her eyes met his own.

“
Arianna Caiohme.” Devin used her middle name like he was scolding her. “I’ll never do, and have never done, anything that would ever physically harm you. I love you and would never let harm come to you.” Devin’s clear blue eyes stared at her, waiting for her to understand his words.

Arianna
’s heart raced. She had always felt the love Devin had for her when they were alone, but she had never heard him say the words out loud before. The gentleness in how he held her face was so different than when they were outside the bedroom. Arianna just stared at his intense eyes. Devin had always been true to her even when he had a controlled exterior in public. Arianna wanted to reach over and pull him closer so that she could kiss him. As he stared more, his eyes betrayed that he wanted the same thing. Arianna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. He was too mesmerizing sometimes.

“
Then why?” Arianna couldn’t help but ask the question that still nagged at her. The moment was broken.

Devin ran his hands through his now shortened blond hair and flopped back onto the pillows. He had cut his hair much shorter recently and was a stark contrast to Andrew
, who was his exact opposite with longer dark hair. He sighed and this time didn’t look at her as he spoke.

“
You can’t take this the wrong way, but I’m having them study you for the same reasons everyone stares at you. You’re different. We can’t deny that. But you’re not a monster,” he quickly added. He finally looked up after admitting the truth. “Ari, I’m worried about you. You hold so much more power than anyone has ever had before. I’m afraid what that power is doing to you physically. Night humans that hold more power always have shorter life-spans, and a lot of them tend to go a bit crazy when the power peaks.”

“
What do you mean?” His words were laced with concern, and now she was beginning to worry.

Devin reached over and pulled Arianna back down to him. He ran his hands through her hair as he
pondered, giving her shivers down her back. Arianna looked at his face, and he was temporarily lost in thought. His face was more beautiful than rugged most of the time. Now, he hadn’t shaved for days and looked a bit different. The slight stubble on his face aged him years. Arianna yearned to rub her hand against it, but refrained as he began to speak again.

“
Andrew’s older brother, Alex, was one of the most powerful baku Randolph had ever seen. When Alex was a teen, he began to come into his power. As he grew more powerful, it was predicted that he would surpass Gabriel. Your grandfather began to track Alex, fearing what he would unleash if Gabriel couldn’t contain him.” Devin paused and stared at the ceiling as he absent-mindedly continued to stroke Arianna’s head.

“
Did you know I actually attended kindergarten at Bradley?” Images of Arianna’s elementary school flashed through her mind, the large stone building that she had attended after moving in with her aunt and uncle. “My mother was a teacher, and my father a fireman. We lived over on Elm Street in a little house. We knew nothing of night humans. We were normal, oblivious day humans living a quiet, uneventful life. I had two older brothers and an older sister. I was always picked on for being the youngest, but then again, I always was surrounded by love. We had a happy life.” Devin drifted back into thought. Arianna sat quietly and pulled her arms around her knees, not interrupting him as he had never shared his past with her before.

“Your g
randfather had been tracking Alex for about two months before he met me. I was at Midland Park with my brothers. We were all playing tag, and of course as the smallest, I couldn’t compete. Randolph was there, watching the children play. I found out years later that he would go there as it was neutral ground and your father would take you there to play because it was the park your own father grew up going to as a child. Randolph would go there when he was in town, trying to remember your father and mother as children and hoping to see you. Well, as I lost in the game, I got mad and ran away from my brothers. I ran into your grandfather, who was distracted by watching you. He said something kind to me and patted me on my head, sending me back to my brothers. We think that was what Alex tracked. See, Alex was tracking Randolph as much as Randolph was tracking Alex.

“
I returned home that night with my brothers. We had a typical night, ate supper as a family and watched TV together before bed. Everything was normal. That night my life changed. I had a bad dream, which wasn’t unusual, but as I shared a room with Sam, I’d just wake up check on him and then go back to bed. So, I cracked my eyes open and looked across the room. Sam was lying in his bed asleep, I thought. I know now that Sam was dead by the time I saw him. So, I closed my eyes. I couldn’t fall back asleep, but just laid there instead. I didn’t hear him enter the room. He might have been there all along. All I did was feel the sharp pain as he bit down on my arm and then as he was ripped from me. Your terrifying grandfather stood between me and the monster that had just drained my entire family. Alex was subdued and killed. It wasn’t Randolph alone, but also Gabriel, that fought Alex. Alex had succumbed to the power that was building in him.”

Arianna
didn’t speak. What could she say? Sorry that your family is dead. Devin had come to terms with his past long ago. Arianna slowly reached over and took his arm with the long scar down the back of it.

“
How could you let me feed off you time and time again after that?” Arianna traced the scar with her finger. She could now see the indent of the puncture wound. She never questioned the scar before as it was only one of many.

“
It’s different with you.” Devin stroked her serious face. “Everything is different with you. That’s why I worry. Gabriel and Randolph found a balance with their power. Alex did not. I don’t want you to be like Alex. I don’t want you to lose who you are. Turns out Alex was a great and loving older brother until he turned. Gabriel didn’t believe Randolph that Alex was the monster killing all the day humans until he saw it with his own eyes.”

“Y
ou don’t want me to become a monster?” Arianna asked.

“I don’t want you to l
ose what is you.” He looked away. He continued to stroke the back of her head but didn’t continue talking.

“
You’re not finished, are you?” Arianna felt the worry pour off him. “What else are they researching?”

“
The lab is researching the strength and healing effects of your blood, but.” He paused and thought more before continuing. “I have two people I really trust looking into more.”

“
What more?” Arianna reached up and touched his face to get him to continue. Devin had been worrying about too much alone.

“
Your peculiar feeding habits,” Devin said as she began to blush. Once Arianna had turned into a night human, she could only drink the blood from a few people, Devin included. Nothing seemed odd to her about it as many night humans took a day human keeper to drink blood from, but she had put up with endless teasing from Molina over her pickiness. Even when she was desperate to feed, she refused to drink from anyone but Devin and Turner.

“
So I’m picky. What does that have to do with my blood?” Arianna still knew too little of the night human world.

“
You already know this. When in night human form, any blood should satisfy your craving. It doesn’t work that way for you.” Devin turned back to lazily combing his fingers through her hair.

“
But it’s not a problem. I have both you and Turner, and if needed Gabriel and Andrew. That’s four people. I’m not that much of a monster.” Arianna tried to reason through everything.

“
No, you’re not. But by being close to you, all four of us are targets. If anyone really knew the truth, they could easily keep you hostage by your need for us, and our blood.” Devin still oozed worry.

“
But I don’t refuse blood from an IV,” she replied.

“
Mentally, no. But it seems your refusal may be more than mental. I don’t think your blood accepts the IV blood. At least that’s what they’ve told me.” The gravity of his last statement set in. The four people she trusted the most held the key to her own survival.

“
Is that why there’s this legend, and I need five keepers? There’s something truly different about me?” Arianna added it all together.

“
I don’t know.” Devin wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. Arianna leaned into him. All traces of worry were completely gone and replaced by his love.

SEVEN

Arianna and her crew returned home to her aunt and uncle
’s diner early Friday morning. It was a late return, since she spent her birthday in Tricity, but a necessary one since she had yet another party to attend, this one being thrown by her uncle Gabriel. They had arrived home liked planned, and it would be an immediate trip to Gabriel’s house to get ready. Gabriel ruled in place of her for the baku family while she was gone or dealing with the everyday events of the dearg-dul clan. Arianna was thankful they didn’t expect her to completely take over like the Randolph estate had after her grandfather’s death the previous year. Arianna left her guards in the car as she ran back inside the diner to say hi to her guardians before heading to her uncle’s house.

“
Auntie,” Arianna called into the kitchen between the people running around.

“
She’s out front,” Lou replied from behind the large stoves. “I’ll keep some leftovers in the fridge for you. Who knows if they will actually have any decent food at that dinner? Baku may win the ‘I have more muscles than you contest,’ but they can’t ever seem to throw a good party.” Lou winked at her before she passed through to the front of the store. Lou had been running the kitchen at the diner as long as she could remember. It turns out that the lithe, long-haired, tattooed man was placed there on purpose by her grandfather, since Lou was also a dearg-dul and part of the Randolph clan. Thankfully, Lou was there the past year when everything exploded, since it literally exploded at the diner when her enemies tried to blow up her family. Lou had been the one to recognize the scent of the leaking gas and got everyone to safety.

“
Hi, Uncle Dean,” Arianna said, passing her sandy-haired uncle who was halfway inside the latest machine he had bought, getting it ready to start making some new delicacy for the diner. Arianna had yet to get a tour of all the new kitchen equipment. She didn’t know how to use most of the old equipment since she always worked in the front of the diner; she definitely didn’t know how to use all the new, shiny equipment in the rebuilt diner.

“
Ari? Back already? I thought the party would last longer.” Dean was always distracted these days. Luckily, they didn’t mind taking money from Arianna for the past year since she inherited the whole Randolph estate, but they were happy to be self-sufficient once again nonetheless.

“
No, I haven’t gone yet. Is Aunt Lilly up front?” Arianna tried to look into the machine to see what Dean was so intently studying.

“
Yes, at the register, I think.” Dean ducked back into the machine.

Arianna maneuvered through the waitresses and up to the register. When in front
of the diner, her aunt was the picture of perfection. Her hair was neatly pulled back into a bun with not a wisp free. Her apron was spotless. Everything about her appearance bespoke a woman in complete control. She smiled as Ari approached. Even her smile didn’t show any sense of lost control. Aunt Lilly was perfection, and it was great to see her back to normal.

“
Heading over to Gabriel’s now?” Arianna could still catch a hint of malice in Lilly’s statement even though her perfect smile didn’t waver. Lilly had grown up amongst the dearg-dul night humans, and just like the most of them, she was still having a hard time completely trusting the baku. Arianna’s mother had been a dearg-dul and Lilly’s best friend. Lilly couldn’t accept Travis Grace when they were alive, and didn’t approve of their marriage, but she loved Arianna like her own child every day of her life.

“
Yep,” Arianna reached over and swiped a cookie out of the dessert case.