Crimson Dawn (27 page)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

I could feel the sun begin to set, as I lay wrapped in Irulan’s arms. What had happened between us was so much more than I expected. I didn’t know I was capable of the reactions she coaxed from my body. And, despite the beginning hesitation due to my inexperience, her body's reaction to me was just as intense. I was on cloud nine for the first time in a long time, despite the fact that every piece of electronics in our house was fried. We were going to have to get to the bottom of my weird power bursts soon.

I turned and pulled myself up on my elbow, so I could look down at her. My mind raced, trying to process the wealth of emotions I felt. Love, contentment, awe...a touch of sadness. I'd wasted so much time that we could have been spending together, all because I was too blind to realize the depth of her feelings, and the truth of my own. I had been too blind and ignorant to admit there was something there. To top it off there was a deep-rooted fear that was running neck and neck with love for first place in my heart.

What the enormity of our actions truly meant scared the shit out of me. Even as I looked down on Irulan's sleeping form with the hugest smile on my face, I couldn't shake the fears. What would my parents think? How would my brothers react, my grandparents? Hell, how would Irulan's family react? As far as I knew, she and her mother were barely talking now. Her bringing home a Vampire girlfriend one Lammastide wouldn't help matters. As I watched her stir in her sleep, only two things were certain. One, now that I had her, I'd do my damnedest to keep her, no matter what - And two, my stomach hurt like hell.

A gut-wrenching pain exploded in my stomach and doubled me over, causing the bed to shake. Irulan woke with a start and sat straight up. "Baby, what's wrong?” She asked, but I was hurting too badly to form a coherent sentence. I groaned in pain and pointed towards my stomach. Irulan hastily pulled the covers back and pressed her hand into my stomach. The warmth of her power surged through me and intensified the pain.

I slapped her hand away from me and shook my head back and forth, as I barely managed to croak out the word no. Irulan nodded and slowly scooted across the bed. "Listen, baby, I know it hurts, but that's because you're fighting it. Your body...” Her hesitation was totally out of character, but she pushed through it and continued, "Your body is changing, and you're fighting it. Don’t fight. Let go and it won't hurt as much."

The pain eased a little, and I was finally able to talk. "What the hell are you talking about? Changes...how, why?” My mind raced to figure out what she was talking about and exactly how I was supposed to let go of it. It went over major details and settled onto Tristan. I gasped and drew myself into a tighter ball. "It's Tristan, and what he did to me, right? He’s so wrong, and that wrongness has affected me somehow."

Irulan grimaced and reached for me, but I shied away from her. "No, don't touch me it might rub off on you."

Irulan sadly laughed and reached forward again to run her palm down the side if my face. “It's not Tristan, baby. It’s you- who you were born to be. It's finally awakening, and your body's trying to hold it in. Just let go and I promise you, your body will adjust to the transformations.”

Irulan was talking in riddles, and when combined with the pain, it irked me in the worst way. "Quit beating around the bush and tell me what the hell is wrong with me!" I cried as I broke out into a sweat.

Irulan dropped her head and turned away from me. "I'm sorry, Val. I can’t tell you any more than I already have."

Can't tell me?! After everything we'd been through together? After all the things we did to each other last night! Now she wanted to get all shy and non-talkative. I'll be damned!

"Can't, Irulan, or won't. Because from where I'm standing it looks a hell of a lot like won't.” She reached for me, and I jerked away from her and slid off the bed. My body was in so much pain that it was damn near impossible to straighten up, so I had to stand hunched over. "No, don't touch me, not until you answer my questions and answer them truthfully. I swear to God, Irulan, as much as I love you and want this to work, I won’t have a relationship where we make it a habit of keeping secrets from each other."

I fought against the pain, and forced myself to stand upright. I remained silent long enough to see that she wasn't going to say anything. "Alright then, fine. If you won’t volunteer the information, then at least answer my questions. Where's Tristan? I know you have some idea."

She weakly nodded yes before she reluctantly began talking. "Yeah, I have a pretty good idea of where he is. I received word that Tristan is in Tir Na Nog. He's been there since I injured him while saving you."

I knew. Deep down, I knew that she was aware of his whereabouts, but I wanted to believe that she would have told me. Even if she were keeping quiet to keep me safe, she could have at least told Marcus, so he wouldn't have wasted the resources. "Why, why haven't you said anything and why would he go there, to your home of all places?"

Irulan's eyes filled with tears as she spoke. "I can't answer all that, believe me, baby, I want to, Goddess knows I do, but I can't. What I can tell you is that he's there searching for the last puzzle piece that he needs to become the Vessel of Power."

My voice caught in my throat and I choked on the fury that enveloped every corner of my body. Her silence had given him valuable time to accomplish the very thing we were trying to prevent. I turned and stalked out of the room with Irulan hot on my heels begging me to stop and talk. "Talk?" I said. "What's the use in talking if I'm only going to get half-assed answers?" I slipped into a flash and pulled ahead of her to make it into my bathroom and slam the door in her face.

I had every intention of sitting in the bathroom and stewing for a while, and give Irulan time to think about the ramifications of her holding out on me, but it didn't exactly go the way I planned.

Once I flipped the light on, I leaned forward onto the counter top and looked at my reflection in the mirror. The sight that met me was enough to take my breath away. The ice blue of my irises had bled out to the whites until both eyes were glowing. It was almost as if they were feral, but instead of the all-encompassing black they normally were, blue had taken its place. In addition to that, my skin was glowing. I looked like a fucking Christmas tree.

Another pain shot through me, and my knees threatened to buckle under the assault. Sheer determination was the only thing that kept me from falling flat on my ass. My breathing was heavy and labored, every breath resonating through me causing the pain to intensify.

I tried to relax and let go as Irulan had suggested, but let go of what? I had no idea what she meant. The muffled sounds of her voice demanding entrance and the loud banging on the door were enough to draw my attention away from the pain. As mad as I was, she seemed to know how to help me, and I needed her.

I tried to right myself enough to move the few feet between me and the doorknob, but my feet refused to cooperate with my will. The pain hammered my body in excruciating waves. One after another, they slammed into me until my knees refused to hold me any longer. My body pitched forward into the mirror. Broken glass rained down around me, and jagged little pieces embedded themselves in my skin as I slid off the counter and fell to the floor.

The pain was now constant and so intense that I felt as if it were tearing away at the very fabric of my being. I held up a shaking hand and unimaginable panic filled me when I saw that description of the pain wasn't far off base. Right in front of my eyes, my hand was flickering, losing its solidness, and becoming see-through.

I was so distracted with my new ghostly status that I didn't even hear the heavy iron door ripping right off the wall. I realized it was gone when Irulan dropped to her knees beside me gripping her head with blood pouring out of her nose.

The scent of the blood was what caught my attention and drew my focus onto something other than hurt. Irulan leaned forward and began picking the glass out of my skin. "It's OK, baby," she crooned. "I'm going to make this right.” I felt my center of gravity sway as she gingerly picked me up, cradled me in her arms and carried me back to the bed. She lay me down as softly as she could and pressed her wrist to my lips. "Here, baby, my blood will help, but I need to get you to Mag Mell soon."

I looked up into Irulan's eyes and the wealth of concern that I saw in them chased away any lingering anger that I felt. I took her wrist in my hands, but before I bit into the skin, I had to ask one more time. "Why, Ire, why is this happening to me? Please..."

She wiped away some of the blood on her face with a thumb and looked down at me with a defeated looking smile. "I'll tell you everything. I've been released from my vow.” She pressed her wrist back against my mouth and waited until I was feeding, to start talking again.

She talked as I fed, and continued talking even when I was done. She spoke of Faerie vows and illicit love affairs, Dark High Kings and the mixing of bloodlines that evidently allowed me to change by consuming her Sidhe blood. She told me about my great-grandfather Kemet. How, with his meticulous arranging of the marriages in my family, he had played us all for fools.

She talked and explained for over an hour, topping it off by showing me a family crest that came from my mother's grandfather. When she was done, I felt halfway normal again, but despite the physical improvement, I felt empty and hollow.

I tried to pull away from her, but she pulled me even tighter into her arms and unsurprisingly, was able to hold me there. "No, I won’t let you go, I can’t. Baby, you don't know how many times I've wanted to tell you, to tell Anya, but I couldn't. Mikilos, your other great-grandfather, made sure of that by making me vow."

I realized she had no choice, but I couldn't stop my feeling of betrayal. Everything I'd believed about myself was a lie…my mother…my brothers, all of us freaks. We were all part Sidhe, UnSeelie Fomorians. A Fomori Prince fathered my grandmother, which in turn made us part of the royal family. Moreover, as members of the royal family, targets for the Dark Court's enemies if they learned of our origins.

It was too much and too fast. First Tristan, and now this. I was knee deep in Faerie drama, and it was coming at me from all sides. "I need some space, Irulan, I'm not mad at you. I realize you didn't have a choice, but still...please...just a little space, please.” She reluctantly released me, and I snatched on some sweats and hurried out of the room.

I flashed out of the garage bay doors into the side alley and leapt up onto the rooftop. The rooftop was my sanctuary, my escape under the stars when my mind became too crowded to deal with. An awning covered a small section of the roof keeping my mini-fridge and recliner safe from the elements. I flopped down into the plush leather of my chair and pulled a blood bag and bottle of sangria from the mini. With one long swallow, I had a fourth of the bottle gone. Replacing the contents with the cold blood, a quick shake and I had the perfect cocktail for drowning my sorrows.

I looked up at the stars in all their glory. When my world was going so wrong, how could anything have the right to be so beautiful? Secrets, lies, and Faeries had made my life a nightmare when it should be so wonderful right now. I took a long draw from the bottle and dropped my head down into my hand. "So much is so right...how can everything be so wrong? Too much happening, too fast.” I mumbled to myself as I tried to make sense of everything that was happening. I looked towards the heavens again and flipped the stars off. Take that beauty!

I drained the bottle and settled back to wait for the deadening oblivion that a bottle of mixed sangria should bring, but it never came. Instead of an alcohol-induced haze, I got Irulan. "That's not going to work anymore, Val, I'm sorry. Sidhe don't feel the effects of the spirits of man."

"That's just peachy.” I hurled the empty bottle into a nearby wall and screamed at the top of my lungs. I screamed until pink tears were streaming down my face and. I didn't have the voice to scream anymore. Only then, did Irulan take me into her arms and pull me to her.

"Feel better, love?" She asked. I pulled away from her and walked over to lean on the ledge and look out at the darkness of the city as it came alive with Extras.

"No, not really. I mean, physically, I feel halfway normal, whatever constitutes normal. I can't explain it, but on the inside, I feel different. I do know this, everything. I've been going through is connected. Some of the pieces of the puzzle are still hidden from me, but I'm going to find them.” I turned back around, so I could look at Irulan as I talked.

"I'll go with you to Mag Mell if you believe it's necessary. But after we're done I’m going to Tir Na Nog to end this thing with Tristan once and for all.” Irulan closed the distance between us and grabbed me by the shoulders.