Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (70 page)

Damian looks at Aideen again. She is standing
now, the rage has clearly left her. She looks fearfully at Damian,
expecting retribution. But more importantly, she keeps glancing
over at her mother’s inert form, obviously very worried about her
condition. Carrick, Bronwyn and Brigid are standing around Aideen
in case she decides to attack again, or run away.

Damian calms himself and speaks, quietly,
with unquestionable authority. “She’s a doctor, right? A healer
like the rest of you?” he asks indicating Aideen with a toss of his
head.

Brigid says uncertainly, “Yes she is a
doctor. And excellent surgeon and magical healer, too.”

Phillip moves so fast the others miss the
movement. He has taken Aideen by the arm and is dragging her to her
mother’s side. He forces her to look at her mother and says, “You
did this! You selfish, self-centered, stupid little brat, you did
this! You take care of her! And she had better not suffer unduly at
your hands, or your friends will not be able to protect you from
me. Is that clear?” Damian screams into her face, spittle flying.
Aideen flinches at his rage but nods and turns to kneel at her
mother’s side.

Elias and Micah look at each other
uncertainly. Micah looks at Damian and says, “Kid, are you sure?”
Damian nods mutely, his face a frozen mask of rage and
determination. The brothers decide Morna’s condition while very
severe, is not overly life threatening, at least for her. So they
back away and let Aideen take over. Rinda, however, refuses to
budge from Morna’s side. Aideen takes a deep breath and quickly
determines that Morna has a concussion, broken radius of the left
arm, shattered clavicle and probably a few broken ribs. She’s
worried about brain swelling and internal injuries.

She looks up at Damian. “We need to take her
back. Where we have our healers bags and a sturdy, level surface to
care for her on. Can you carry her back?” she asks quietly.

“YOU do it!” Damian spits out. “YOU did this!
YOU fix it!”

Brigid steps forward to object when Brian
stops her. “He’s right!” he says quietly, vehemently.

Aideen nods her acceptance and carefully
scoops her mother up into her arms. Morna whimpers in agony as
Aideen lifts her and turns for their headquarters. She takes off at
a steady run. Damian comes along beside her. “You can run faster
than this, do it now! Get her back and fix her! NOW!”

Aideen starts to run faster. Damian easily
keeps up with her. Whenever Aideen shows any sign of faltering,
Damian orders her to hurry. They are almost there when Aideen cries
out, “I can’t keep going! My spell is failing!”

“Too bad!” Damian responds harshly. “You were
strong enough to almost kill your mother, you are strong enough to
carry her back and heal her.”

During the last hundred yards to their
headquarters it is obvious that Aideen is struggling to carry her
mother with her own strength. She falters and would have fallen
except for Damian grabbing her arm and dragging her the rest of the
way. When they arrive back at the dining hall, friends come forward
to take Morna out of Aideen’s arms. Damian snarls at them and
orders them to back up. He directs Aideen to put his mother down on
the table in front of Luca. A quick glance at his mentor-father
figure tells Damian that is he still bound by Morna’s spell.

“Let your Daddy see what you have done to his
mate, to your own mother!” Damian turns to the others who followed
them in from the plains. “Elias, Micah observe her make sure she
properly cares for Morna.” he orders through clenched teeth.

“I need help!” Aideen whispers through her
tears.

Rinda has been stroking Morna’s forehead and
reassuring her, but when she hears Aideen’s whimpering for help,
she turns on the younger healer and says, “Dammit Aideen! Stop
acting like damned brat and do whatever your mom needs. She’s in
pain!”

“Your mother says you are probably one of the
strongest healers she has ever met. She says your gifts are great.
She is proud of you. Use those gifts to restore her. NOW!” yells
Damian.

Aideen nods. She knows it is useless and
dangerous to argue with the young vampire, and Rinda‘s censure
really stings. Elias opens his bag so that Aideen has access to the
tools of his trade. He is really struggling with not being allowed
to help his godmother, but he thinks he understands the vampire’s
motivation for not allowing anyone to help Aideen.

Aideen holds her hands over her mother’s
supine form and checks her from head to toe. “She has a concussion,
but I don’t think it’s too serious. The broken bones in her wrist
are starting to heal improperly, as is the collarbone. I need to
give her Valium and Morphine so that I can re-break and reset the
bones. I need someone to put her in a binding spell so that she
doesn’t hurt herself more and someone to get the meds for me.

Damian says, “Do it yourself Aideen!” Elias
starts to object but Micah holds up his hand and the younger
brother remains silent.

Aideen is crying now. “I can’t Damian, I need
help.”

“NO! You were strong enough to do this. Now
you will put someone else first for a change and take care of it,
without help, under your own steam.” hisses Damian through clenched
teeth. Aideen hesitates and Damian snarls at her.

She sniffs, wipes her eyes and nose. Then
gets what she needs out the bag. She dons surgical gloves, draws
the medication in the syringe, and sets it aside. She takes a deep
breath, looks into her father’s tormented eyes and then weaves a
binding spell on her mother’s unconscious body. She injects the
medication. Then starts an I.V. Once that is done she checks her
mother’s pupils again and says, “She is completely out, she should
not feel a thing.” And then she starts to re-break and re-set the
arm. Morna arches her back and grunts under the binding spell when
Aideen makes the first break. Morna continues to moan in obvious
agony.

Damian moves forward, Elias raises his hand
to stop his progress. “She’s doing just as she should,” he assures
the young vampire. Damian accepts Elias’ words and stands down.

Damian watches as Aideen splints the break in
the wrist and moves to re-break the collarbone. Morna again arches
and moans in agony. Damian snarls. Then his head snaps toward Luca.
He nods at Luca and looks back to Aideen. She is now immobilizing
the arm against Morna’s body. She looks up at Damian and says,
“That’s all I can do for her. The clavicle has already begun
mending. There is no sign of internal injuries and the concussion
is healing as we speak. I will weave some healing spells, and then
there is nothing more I can do for her.”

Luca steps forward. Aideen starts at his
movement. He looks at his daughter hard, and hisses. “Your mother’s
spell dropped when the medication took effect. I didn’t trust
myself to move until now.”

Luca looks away from his daughter toward
Almeda and Ari. “Please take her to Alfheim, now.” he says
quietly.

When he looks back at Aideen she looks very
young and very frightened. “IF you grow up enough to realize what
you have done, and IF you give up your petty jealousies, and
complaints against your mother. IF you become willing to put
someone else ahead of yourself, you may come back. But not until
you have met those conditions. I am certain your mother will
forgive you, hell, she probably already has. But child, it will
take a lot before I am able to do so. You need to leave, now!” This
entire speech was delivered at a barely audible whisper.

Aideen gulps and nods at her father, she is
wise enough to know she shouldn’t attempt to speak to him now. She
turns to Almeda and says, “Let me get my things.”

Almeda says, “You will not need anything.”
She nods at her son and the three of them disappear.

Luca turns to Damian and rubs his shoulder.
Damian asks Elias, “Would it hurt her more if I get clean water and
cloths to clean the dried blood from her?”

Elias assures Damian it should be okay, and
offers to do the job himself. But Damian shakes his head and goes
to get the water and the cloths. He lovingly cleans his mother’s
face and hair. He gently dabs at the dried blood on her neck and
fingers. He softly strokes her face and asks, “Why Morna? Why did
you just let her do this? If you didn’t want to fight back you
could have outrun her. Why did you let her do this?” He finally
finishes his ministrations and kisses Morna’s cheek and looks at
Luca. “I am sorry, I let you both down. I should not have allowed
this to happen.”

Damian turns on his heel and walks out of the
dining area. Luca watches him go and calls out softly, “You didn’t
fail anyone, Damian. The failure was not yours.” Luca notices
Breena start to follow Damian. “Wait, Breena. He probably needs to
hunt after being around so much of Morna’s blood. His thirst is
probably unbearable, he must be in dire agony with the burn in his
throat. Morna‘s scent particularly appeals to him, just as it does
to me, even with the vampire taint. His control for one so young is
beyond admirable. But I do not think he would appreciate it if he
knew you observed him now. I will get one of the warriors to go out
with you in 15 minutes to help you find him, then you can talk to
him. Okay?”

Breena nods, and looks to Brian. He assures
her, “I can help you find him after 15 minutes.”

Luca is standing by his mate’s inert form
now. He is watching her, his great love for her obvious in his
face. Then he looks up at the doorway the young vampire had made
his escape through. He looks back to the woman he loves. He rubs
his face with his hands and rake his fingers through his hair, and
sighs. “I am taking her to our quarters, if you don’t think it will
hurt her if I move her.”

“I am sure she can be moved, Luca, she is
well on her way to healing. The medication will hopefully help her
rest for a few hours.” assures Elias, then he turns and walks away.
He knows Luca will look after her from here on out. Rinda finally
moves away from Morna’s side after patting Luca’s shoulder.

Luca nods his thanks to his wife’s favorite
godson and her best friend before picking her up and carrying her
to their quarters and lies her on their bed. He kneels beside the
bed holding her hand. He buries his face in the bed and his body is
wracked with dry sobs. He has never felt so helpless, so angry in
his entire life. He is angry at his daughter for beating his wife,
and he is angry at his wife for preventing his intervention and for
allowing Aideen to beat her. But mostly he is angry with himself
for not raising their daughter better.

He raises his head when he feels Morna move
on the bed. “Stop it Luca. None of this your fault. I told you
things are funny with women.” she whispers. “Come up here and lie
with me, please. I will be much better after a few hours of
rest.”

Luca stands up, their eyes meet. “Dammit
woman, am I supposed to just accept what just happened because you
say things are funny with women?” he snaps. “Am I supposed to
pretend that I am not so angry with both of you, that I just want
to walk away?”

Morna flinches at his words. “I am sorry
Luca, but she was right, I am not much of a mother to her. I never
have been. And I certainly wasn’t going to risk hurting her. So I
just let her do what she wanted.”

“Morna, did it occur to you that Damian might
have killed her when he came upon her beating you?” he yells. “Did
it occur to you that she could have killed you? Did you think of
anything, or did you just give up?” Luca turns on his heels and
walks out of their quarters. Morna hears him ask Brigid to keep an
eye on her, then she can hear him no more. She knows he has left.
She’s not sure if he went out into the upper-world or down into
middle-world. But she knows he will probably be gone for a long
time, if not forever.

Grief and shame over her stupidity and
inadequacy wash over her unrelentingly. Silent tears roll down her
cheeks as the medication and the concussion draw her under again.
Shortly after she falls asleep Morna feels Rinda crawl into bed
beside her and gently pull her injured body into her arms. Rinda
softly sings the healing songs and other songs to help Morna rest
more easily.

MORNA & LUCA’S STORY CONTINUES IN THE
FIRST SPELL WEAVER OF AIRENDELL

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

Thank you for downloading this book. I hope
you enjoyed reading it. Please take a moment to leave a review
where you downloaded the book. As a writer I am always eager for
feedback. You can also read Breena’s personal diary. Breena has an
interesting take on things and there’s so much more going on
between Breena and young Damian than Morna and the others are aware
of. Check out Breena’s diary
The Airendell Chronicler
Diaries - The Young Vampire Mate - Book 1.5

Watch out for
The First Spell
Weaver of Airendell - Book Two of Airendell Chronicles
coming
out soon and available for download on Smashwords.com. I have had a
lot of fun creating these characters and the world they inhabit. I
hope you enjoyed getting to know them as well.

For more information about upcoming books,
free giveaways and general progress on the world of Airendell and
other magical realms you can follow me on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Airendell-Chronicles/661505083894452?ref_type=bookmark

You can also check out my blog on WordPress
at
https://jenbaileywritesromance.wordpress.com/

Thanks for reading my book and HAPPY
READING!

Jen Bailey

This is a work of fiction. All characters and
organizations are fictional and purely a product of my imagination.
Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and
not intended by the author.

AIRENDELL CHRONICLES -LOST WANDERER –
AWAKENED

(©) COPYRIGHT 2013 –