Crimson Dawn (23 page)

Seconds later, the world around me exploded. Flames turned the building's discarded rubble into a sea of fire, and Tristan's hold on me eased up. The cavalry was finally here.

My eyes rolled to the top of my head in time to see a twenty feet long red dragon drop down from the destroyed ceiling and wrap a humongous paw around Tristan's waist effectively pulling him away from me and hurling him into the inferno surrounding us.

The dragon morphed into Irulan sans the glamour she used daily. Flames engulfed her hair and her skin radiated with an otherworldly light from within, adding to the light show that the flames created. If I hadn’t seen it with my own two aching eyes, I would have never believed it.

Irulan spared me a quick glance before turning her attention to Tristan, who didn't have so much as a single burn on him, and with a slight wave of her hand, he was pinned spread eagle to the floor.

Jesus, if I'd known it would be that easy to catch him I would have kept her with me and let Priest run the chase alone. Tristan laughed at Irulan even as he struggled against her hold. "You, you're Tuatha De Danann. Imagine my luck at finding one of you on this plane."

Irulan made a fist and the metal scraps that covered the floor became a red-hot bed of spikes that drove itself through Tristan's body. "I'm afraid the only thing you've found is the means to your end. I warned you, didn't I? Told you to stay away from Valeria, told you your life was forfeit if you hurt her again. Did you think I was talking because I liked the sound of my own voice?"

Tristan's face went blank for a moment, and then the dawn of recognition graced his features, "Is that you, Irulan? I had no idea that you were of royal blood. Maybe I should have set my sights on you instead of Donnie."

Irulan balled her fist even tighter, and the spikes slid further into his body. Considering the shape that he was in, Tristan looked amazingly unconcerned. I don't think I could stare death in the face with a smile on my lips.

Irulan looked back at me, and a pained expression passed through her eyes as she took in my broken condition. Her other hand tightened into a fist, and blood began to pour faster from the wounds on Tristan’s body. She cut her eyes to Tristan and began chanting in her native tongue.

While I didn't know the language, it didn't take a genius to figure out her goal was his destruction. She was out for blood, but this wasn't my Irulan. If I had been able to move, I would have tried to stop her. Even in her fiery Sidhe form, the look of hatred on her glowing face cast it in shadows that had no business being there.

This wasn't right. I didn't want her to make this sacrifice for me. I was the one that should be responsible for his death. It was my job, and I had come to terms long ago with the fact I was a killer. My eyes darted to Tristan and found him perfectly at ease with what was going on. He seemed even more content than before, if that were possible. He looked up, caught Irulan’s gaze and spoke something in Elvish. Irulan's flames flickered, and a pained moan leapt from her throat. I'll be damned if Irulan didn't release Tristan from his bonds.

The intense light around me faded to nothing as Irulan's glamour covered her. As Tristan pulled himself up off the floor, she turned her attention to me, but she directed him with a few parting words, "Get the hell out of here before I change my mind, my family be damned.”

The last thing I remember was seeing Irulan's wet face covered in black streaks leaning over my own, feeling her arms pull me into them while she urged me to hang on just a little longer. Then everything became blessedly silent.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Disinfectant. I tasted disinfectant and the smell of bleach overwhelmed me. That meant hospital. I was in a hospital, and that meant that I was certainly alive! Props for that coup, although how I accomplished it, I couldn't remember. Everything was still a little fuzzy around the edges. I burrowed into the warm covers and reached out with my senses, just a touch.

Five people were in the room with me, but I was still too weak to tell who and what they were. I stretched just a little further to the only mind I could communicate with almost effortlessly, Valerian.
"Hey, Vedo, are you here?"

The mental yell from Valerian slammed into me with the force of a small tank. I drew back into myself, reeling from the shock as Valerian inched into my conscious.
"I'm sorry, sis, I didn't mean to hit you that hard. I'm so glad to hear your voice. I've been by your side this entire time trying to get a feel for you and got nothing."

If I could see myself I'm sure I would be smiling,
"I'm sorry, Vedo, I didn't mean to scare you, I don't know..."

Valerian cut me off,
"You don't have shit to apologize for, Valeria. None of this is your fault, if anything it's those damn Seers that Daniels employs. I don't know where they got their intel from, but after I'm done with him he'll make sure he's not sending another Sentinel into a situation unprepared."

I scoffed at his choice of words,
"Funny you should phrase it that way, Vedo, I thought that Descantes' Sentinels were unprepared too, but nothing could prepare us for what Tristan has become. If I hadn't felt it myself, I wouldn't have believed it."
I shuddered at the thought of his cold, black power running over me.
"He's an Abomination that must be destroyed, but I don't think any CMS is equipped to do it."

Valerian's mental shrug rolled through my mind, but it didn't hurt as bad as the yell.
"Then what the hell are they gonna do?"

"Not they, Vedo, me - I've got to be the one to do it.”
I formed the mental picture in my mind of the plan I would need my father’s permission to set in motion.

My brother’s gasp was audible this time, I felt everyone’s attention turn towards the two of us. My mother Anya’s voice had panic in it as she questioned Valerian about me. "She's fine, Mother, almost ready to come around I believe, give or take a few minutes, but she's fine," he soothed as he tried to mask the quiver in his voice, but Constantine caught it.

"If she's fine little brother, then why the nervousness I hear in your voice? What aren't you telling us?” I felt my oldest brother move to take a position near the foot of my bed.

"It's not my place to tell, Constantine," said Valerian. "Val will tell you if she wants to, when she wakes up."

I felt a flare of anger and knew I was the only one who was going to diffuse the situation. I reached out for Valerian again, "
Can you send for a nurse?
I'm going to try and sit up now."

I inched my eyes open slowly, expecting the room to be lit up like Times Square, but was surprised to find it dark. I opened them fully and Irulan's tear-stained, smiling face greeted me. "Funny, that's almost the same look you wore the last time I saw you," my voice sounded as if I'd been gargling broken glass.

The minute I spoke, my mother and Irulan burst into tears. “Oh, Jesus, if I knew I sounded that bad, I wouldn't have said anything, guys."

My mother flashed to the opposite side of my bed, and both of them grabbed me in a huge bear hug that threatened to crush me again. Lucky for me, a nurse came into the room and shooed them back from my bed. She looked around the dark room searching for the light switch on the wall behind my head, and flipping it on, flooded the room in brightness. I flinched, but rather than say anything, I just put a hand across my brow to shield my eyes. I didn't have the strength to try to lower my films yet.

"Everyone, I know you're glad to see her awake, but we need to give her a quick once over,” she said as she pulled a small penlight out of her pocket and leaned towards me. That light was an instant headache waiting to happen with all the other lights that were on.

I fumbled over my words, trying to ask her not to shine the light into my eyes, when Irulan snatched it from her hand and shoved the nurse away from me, "What are you trying to do? Kill her with a migraine or blind her?"

The nurse, who appeared to be some type of Elf, looked around the room eager for an explanation. My mother was the first one to speak up, "My daughter has a unique eye condition. In her present state, she can't lower and retract her films so any type of light in her eyes is going to cause her a lot of pain."

Mother pulled a chart from the wall pocket at the head of my bed and tossed it to her, "But if you'd bothered to read her chart first I'm sure you would have known that, wouldn't you?"

I flushed with embarrassment and tried to disappear into the sheets. No one would ever accuse my family of being subtle.

The nurse recognized a losing battle when she saw one. Without any argument, she threw her hands up in the air and, muttering about not making enough money to deal with Vampires, she walked out of the room.

Tino pulled my big toe with a wide grin on his face, "Glad you've decided to grace us with your presence, wooly-booger. I was actually starting to worry about you."

I felt the mental jab he directed at Valerian and kicked at him, "Damn it Tino, that hurt! You're forgetting, neither one of us is shielding too good at the moment. I felt that!"

Valerian looked sheepish and my mother reached over to smack him in the head. "Don't beat up on Vedo, Mama, it's not his fault. Constantine is hounding him for information that's not his to share."

Mama aimed her gaze at Constantine next, and I stuck my tongue out at him. Being the only girl has its advantages. "Neither one of you had better upset your sister in any way, shape, or form. Is that clear boys?" She barely raised her voice, but both of my brothers quickly nodded.

I yawned and pulled myself farther up into the bed, getting a shooting pain in both of my arms for my troubles. At once, everyone in the room moved to help me, but the face that surprised me the most was that of Marcus.

"Hey, Marcus, I didn't expect to see you here,” I said as Irulan and Valerian finally got me situated.

If I didn't know any better, I'd think Marcus looked hurt. I quickly tried to clear up what I meant. "I'm not saying you don't care, Marcus, I just didn't expect you to drop everything and come to Charleston, that's all."

The easy smile faded from Tino's face and an all too serious frown replaced his smile. "You're home, Valeria."

Home? If I were home in North Carolina, I'd lost more time than I could afford. There was no telling what Tristan was up to now. I was just about to ask about the case when Constantine cut me off. "Exactly how long do you think you've been out?"

I shrugged my shoulders and gave my best guess, "I don't know, Tino, two maybe three days tops."

Blood red tears pooled in my mother’s eyes as she sat down on the end of my bed to rub my leg closest to her, "You've been unconscious for almost two weeks now, baby. They finally transferred you to Charlotte nine days ago today. We would have had you here sooner, but they had to get you stable for transport first."

I tried not to absorb the full weight of my mother's words, but they hit home like a Mac truck. I'd almost died. When it came down to the wire, my being a Pureblood hadn't meant shit. I've always looked at my longevity as a given. I mean, we can die, and plenty members of my family have, but most of them had been during times of war or during service to the V.C.

A shudder wracked my body and tears fought to find purchase in my eyes, but somehow I kept them at bay. My mother moved to hug me, but I held up a hand to stop her, "I'm OK, Mama."

My pain took a three sixty to anger at Mach speed. I thought I was done letting Tristan make me cry. I may have not been before, but I was now. I didn’t need a mirror to tell me that my eyes had blacked over.

I looked up to find Marcus and demand information. "Who's been on the hunt, Marcus? Do we have any new information on Tristan’s whereabouts? Before he could reply, my mother and both brothers hissed. My mother warned, "I told you, Daniels, not one word!"

Marcus looked at my family and dismissed them as easily as he would me. I loved my C.O. He had moxy. "Priest has been in charge since you've become incapacitated. He’s leading Waters and a team of Weres and Shifters. We outfitted them with every type of protection amulet the Center’s arcane division could come up with, and they have instructions to follow every lead no matter how crazy it may seem. So far, they've got nothing..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence because my mother caught him by the scruff of his neck and promptly tossed him out of the room onto his ass. If it had been one of my brothers, they would probably have leveled this floor of the hospital with fighting, but his Alpha hardwiring didn't allow Marcus to see a female as a serious threat, even if she were his equal. Women were to be protected and revered. They were the source of pack life.