Bound By Blood (50 page)

             
“I am told there is a hint of peace.
" He didn’t give her a chance to finish. She imagined he was just as uncomfortable as she was. He kept eyeing those passing or staring, his beast nearly hissing. "
With what I have been through, I welcome it
,
”
h
e
leaned towards her and
said softly into her ear.

             
“
You’re
not wary? I mean this
is
Evil we are giving
so much faith to.” She spoke with the same soft secrecy
so that her father could not hear. He was conversing with one of the other Elders, temporarily forg
e
tt
ing
her.

             
“
Remember
when we were young? How we used to run freely and
play
without fear? Children of our
kind
populated the
realm
s.
I miss those nights, don’t you? Maybe we will see those times again if all this is allowed to come about.” His mind w
a
ndered into the past before he snapped his attention back to the moment at hand.
“We all deserve second chances
,
I think. You are always mourning for the old ways, even if you know not what they are. Well these are the old ways, forgiving and accepting,
are they
not?”

             
“Yes but…”
S
he started to say that this was different
, t
hat this could be the fiends behind his famil
y’
s
attack,
and that because of her memor
y
of what was done to Dalaŕéah, she could not be so trusting. Yet the clanking of a glass and a
call
for attention silenced her
. Faces, which she paid no attention to crowded about and the masses,
joined
,
making the large ballroom seem
suddenly
far
too
small for her taste.

             
As an Elder began to speak, she tried to
stand on
her
tiptoes
,
looki
ng for Daŕ
ēus. There he was,
dressed all in black
,
his usual and preferred color
,
in
a long ta
il
coat making him look
completely and utterly dashing
.
She smiled, h
er eyes danced as
she felt his blood
literally
stir within her veins. Warmth drifted over her
entire being
until she saw Monéaklá squeezing in to take his arm. The sight of
that
repulsed her.

             
She s
a
nk back down
,
the essence inside her building in heat and anxiety,
feeling Dǒntáe pull her to a place where they weren’t
so
confined. There were others still crowding around, but it was a little better.
She became lost there,
stunned,
and now agitated
--
but why?

             
“I think you all know who I am.” Aréel called
out
from
beside Dĩas
forcing Samanthŕa's stare to now burn through her
. She was dressed
all in white
,
which seemed to clash completely with her pale skin and reddish hair. “I speak for the Lakééms, the Vãlãhs, Ve
ŕatüs, and M
ãrquis
ŕas.
"

             
Having
heard the names of three Evil families spoken aloud, made Samanthŕa's fists tighten. Her nails dug into her palms.

             
Aréel continued, "
There comes a time when one grows tired of wars and trickery,
unbelievably
. We also realize our
end
since
Daŕ
ēus
Dracuŕa
, of the Goddess’
s
thirteenth sacred bloodline
, comes back to us
.” She waved a hand
in
his direction. She seemed nervous, which was u
nlike her
;
not that Samanthŕa had
spent a lot of time in Aréel's cursed company
. Her eyes also seemed to water and her voice waver
ed
with regret and emotion.

             
A trick easily mastered by
one so deceptive
, she thought.

             
“As you heard, we renounced Evil
and
the Dark M
atter.
Yes, we even named the source of our power . . . Dark Matter . . . a name unspoken for longer than your memories can recall. We made all forget because you cannot destroy or have power over what you cannot speak of or name. We can no longer hold the illusion anyway since the Father of the Blood knows the source of us and he has clearly returned."

             
Something
rumbled outside the castle. Samanthŕa knew it was the backlash of secrets being released though she didn’t expect much of a noise since Daŕ
ēus had already named the source when he returned. He had even used the word Dark Matter with her.

             
"
We come to you for acceptance
, protection and pray we can now
make a positive difference concerning all life on TEŔAH. With
that being said, I bring to you
dark revelations, Evil’s secrets and prophecies
,
in hope that we can bring an end to them, prevent them or whatever the case may be.”

             
The room was silent enough that a pin drop
ping
could
have
be
en
heard. A
fter clearing her thro
at and taking a deep breath, Aréel
continued. “
Let us begin with Daŕ
ēus Dracu
ŕa and the time when he was taken from you."

             
Samanthŕa's interes
t peeked. She touched Dǒntáe's arm without knowing so that she could better balance herself on her tippy toes.

             
"
We
, that stand here now,
were some
of those
, not all, who tricked Dĩas centuries ago in
to
trapping your Fat
her of the Blood
with
the cursed Sleep of the D
amned.
With him gone, we knew that we could influence your bloodlines, tamper with your memories, and eventually cause each of you to turn Evil.
We openly admit that now and ask for his forgiveness of these things.” She paused as if waiting for
Daŕ
ēus to say something
,
but he did not. “I understand
;
I would not be so quick to embrace us eithe
r.” She forced a laugh, wiped
a bloody
tear,
and
went on. “We have meddled in many of your lives without your knowing
,
especially concerning your Awakenings. We have cursed you in hopes of preventing them, which we succeeded
with
until now. Now we revoke our part in that and free all the Vii’s from such a curse. So mote it be.” She raised her hands,
and then
bowed her head while a
nother
vibration of power filtered through the room.
More thunder pounded outside while t
he Vii
s seemed to feel whatever power Aréel released
and gasped in awe as a change rained over them.

             
Samanthŕa claimed a silent power over herself. She wanted none of what Aréel
vomited up throughout the room. She needed not her help at all concerning what she was . . . a Vii. She had tried to speak a spell to protect everyone else as well, but they had already opened themselves to receive whatever the serpent before them poisoned them with.

             
Fools.

             
“I would also like to break Evils' power and
release your bloodlines
for we
curse
d
you as to prevent your couples from
conceiving
. As I reveal these things
, may you become fertile and breed once again.”
Aréel looked up as another wave of power filled the room and the thunders above shouted louder. She
sighed again but in relief and then said
:
“Will the High Priestess step forward?”

             
Samanthŕa dreaded this and to her
dismay,
those in front of her cleared a path. Without choice now, she walked to the
center
where Aréel and her father stood. She felt the eyes of the room burning through her.

             
“There was a curse over your head
, sparing you the horrid details of course,
that if you Awakened, you
would
die
,
after unleashing a
greater horror and
curse that would befall your sisters and
consign
them
all
to madness.
"

             
"
What
?" Samanthŕa heard a few of her sisters gasp from somewhere within the room.

             
"We even foresaw the wicked herbs Dĩas would give you. We even influenced him a bit concerning that. We knew there was little chance you would survive them. In our hopes, either way you would be destroyed, Priestess, and we would then claim your powers since we set the curse in motion."

             
Samanthŕa wanted to rip her to shreds, but the constant sounds crying from her sisters kept her still. Let the menacing harlot speak. Perhaps when she was done, some of Samanthŕa's misery would be released. She forgot her better judgment for a moment and allowed herself too . . . hope. Her sisters could be free from this if Samanthŕa simply contained herself.

             
"
With us, we brought the bindings to such havoc and have rele
ased you and your people of them
, this night. To show our good and honest intensions, we have the name of your
A
wakener written upon this scroll that we stole from the Vestibule
of Scrolls
centuries ago
. I give this to you, to read and announce
if
you wish it.”

             
Samanthŕa took the scroll but did not break the seal.
She simply wanted her sisters free . . . she didn't necessarily want to know who her own Awakener was.

             
Dĩas stepped down from the platform and took her hand. “Please
,
daughter, open it. Undo the wrongs that I have
unwittingly helped them do
.”

             
“You helped them?” She raised a cold brow.
That's right, Aréel did make that claim, didn't she?

             
Aréel answered for him. “Not directly and of his own accord. We used his love for you and worked it against him. We fed his desperation to keep you safe which led to
the,
well
,
efforts he took, to keep you from Awakening.” She referred to the herbs. “You see we wanted you dead
,
and if you died by this curse or his efforts
to prevent it
, there would have been no bringing you back.
I am sorry
.” She looked away shamefully.

             
Dĩas raised Samanthŕa’s hands with the scroll. “Let me make it up to you. Let me read the scroll.” Before Samanthŕa could
resist
,
because she was
so
taken aback by Aréel’s confessions, Dĩas took the scroll and broke the seal. A wave of power rippled through the room
again,
which
nearly knocked everyone over.

             
With shaky hands, he brought it into the light. He read, he cried, “
Dǒntáe
Theŕéan is
to be your Awakener.
”
A gasp exploded in the room as he
collapsed
to his knees. Samanthŕa looked up to find Daŕ
ēus who just stood there, eyes blackened with rage. Before she could move,
speak,
or even scream, Aréel continued.