The Awakening (4 page)

The stranger turned towards the corner and strange
red eyes fixed on his. It suddenly became very hard to breathe. This man could
only be one person and it didn't look good at all. Tristan knew his name from
the old stories his people told a thousand years before, stories that were
still told today. His name was Aed, the only son of Lir, Prince of the Tuatha
De Danann.

The hybrid slid into the chair opposite, a sly
smile on his face. "What gave me away?" he drawled.

"Your eyes have red irises."

"Do they?" he asked in genuine surprise.
"How interesting. They used to be blue."

Tristan decided the best course of action was to
remain silent and let the hybrid ask the questions. One poke in the wrong place
and it might provoke him. Really, how was he supposed to handle a three
thousand year old psychopath on his own?

"This world really is something else,"
Aed continued. "Machines, electric lights… and these clothes." He
tugged at the collar of his suit jacket. "I like them. Fit for a prince
are they not?"

"You look…refined."

"Yes, I do, don't I?"

"Is there something I can help you with?"

The hybrid narrowed his strange red eyes and leaned
across the table. "The Celestine with the black hair…where is she? I know
she's here. I can smell her flowery stink all over you."

Tristan's skin began to prickle. Arrow had made a
point of telling him how their kinds had been at war. Something told him that
this guy hadn't got the memo.

"You will tell me where she is or I will
slaughter these people. Perhaps I will anyway." He looked around the room
at the various humans who were drinking and eating meals by the hearth.
"What do you care, hmm? You crave blood just as much as I."

"I don't kill innocent humans."

"You don't?" Aed asked. "Why not?
Isn't that against your nature? Don't humans eat animals? Cattle, sheep…humans
are our livestock. Our only food source. It is nature's way."

"Nature didn't create us," Tristan spat.

"No, I suppose not." He stood,
straightening his suit jacket, pulling at the cuffs of his shirt just so.
"Do you know what it's like to be trapped in a tomb for three thousand
years? It's disorienting and cramped and you wake with this insatiable
hunger
."

Before Tristan could open his mouth, Aed was across
the room, sinking his fangs into any flesh he could grasp onto. The old
boozehound by the bar was dead in seconds, his lifeless head lolling against
the ancient oak countertop. The elderly publican was snapped in two as screams
began to erupt through the remaining humans. The air was heavy with the stench
of blood as it splashed against the walls and floors, staining everything red.

What could he do? He could try and stop Aed, but he
was too far gone. They hybrid sunk his fangs into a woman by the hearth, the
air full of animalistic slurping sounds as he drained her dry.

"There," he declared with a gasp,
dropping her limp body to the floor, "that's a little better."

Tristan looked around the pub, dumbfounded. Seven
humans dead in just as many seconds and he hadn't lifted a finger to save them.
Why was he still alive?

"Now," the hybrid declared, wiping his
mouth on a serviette, "we wait for the star to return for her companion.
There is much I wish to ask her."

That's why.

CHAPTER FIVE

Gabby stood in front of the fireplace, watching the
flames crackle in the hearth.

The image of Coraline's last moments haunted her,
the bloodstained face of her killer was all she could see when she closed her eyes.
So, she tried not to close her eyes.

"Gabrielle."

She turned slightly at the sound of Regulus' voice
and sighed. He stood just inside the doorway, arms crossed. "What do you
want?"

"Time is short."

She sat in one of the armchairs closest to the fire
and waited.

"Can you show me his face?" Regulus asked
quietly, sitting across from her.

"Yes." She'd avoided it for as long as
she could.

As he leant forward, she reached up and placed her
hand on the side of his face, cupping his cheek. To her disgust, he let out a
small sigh like he was enjoying this. The image flashed through her mind again.
Deep red eyes, blood. Coraline's pain. She pushed it all into the Roman and
didn't hold back. Regulus' hand shot up and grasped her wrist and the transfer
was severed.

"Enough," he said firmly. "Do not
torture yourself, Gabrielle, and do not torture me."

"Why do you care?"

He let her go and regarded her with a guarded
expression. He was the master of containing his emotions. His two-thousand
years compared with her twenty-one? No guesses who'd win that competition.

"If you want my help, you have to start
talking," she said.

"That's what we're doing." He smiled
slyly at her, the asshole she knew coming back to the surface.

"Really?" she asked. "Because I've
been doing nothing but putting up with your sarcastic ass so far."

"Gabrielle."

"You love your games, don't you Regulus?"

"To an end," he smirked.

"Tell me everything or spend an eternity on
your knees."

"Do you say that to all the men you
meet?"

She stood sharply, snarling, "I'm not playing
your games, Regulus. Tell me everything or you'll be begging for your
life."

"I don't beg to anyone Gabrielle, but I'd beg
to you."

She narrowed her eyes at him, willing an aneurysm
to explode in his brain.

"God," he hissed, clutching his head.
"You really know how to turn a man on."

"Sadist," she hissed, sitting back down.

He shook his head as it healed itself. "I know
it's not easy for you, but…"

"But what?" she asked when he faltered.

"You're you and I'm me."

She knew what he meant. One of the most powerful
witches in the world and the last remaining Original Vampire.

"What is he?" she whispered.

"The old stories of Ireland talk about a race
known as the Tuatha de Dannan."

"He's a fae?"

"The Children of Lir," Regulus began, watching
her reaction. "The stories say Aoife turned them into swans. They also say
she was one of the Tuatha, but she was a true Celestine. But, in the end it was
Aoife's witch that turned the four Tuatha into hybrids. Katrin was a human
witch when she made us. Aoife's witch was driven insane by Celestine blood. Do
the math."

"There's an insane, psychopathic vampire, fae
hybrid on the loose?"

"That's a mouthful," he leered, letting
his gaze drop to her lips.

"How did they end up trapped in tombs?"

"Aoife. She realized she'd made a mistake and
tried to fix it."

"What about the Original Witch?"

"She lived on. Founded the Coven. They lost
the hybrids and have been searching for them ever since. Well,
had
."

Gabby knew the Coven was gone and Aya had destroyed
them in the middle of casting the spell that would awaken the Original. Now
they knew that the witches had succeeded. And who knew what this hybrid was
capable of? If what Regulus said was true, then the hybrid's mind would be
compromised.

"Do you want to know the reason the Celestines
were reduced to nothing?" Regulus asked. "It was the Tuatha. They may
have hidden underground for hundreds of years, but their demise was their own
fault. The Celestines won the war, but they both suffered the same
fate. Extinction."

"The Celestine's were at war?"
she asked, surprised. "I didn't think it was their style?"

"The Tuatha were a harsh race. They were known
as the devourers of worlds. They conquered and consumed. Why wouldn't
the Celestines fight that?" 

Gabby nodded slowly, not liking where this was
going.

"The Tuatha are still revered in stories and
heralded as gods, but those stories were only perpetuated by themselves. They
wanted the people of the lands they conquered to think well of them. Even after
they slaughtered hundreds of thousands and took their homes. They were the
ultimate brainwashers. And to think that one might still live? As a
vampire? And now he's awake?" he snorted, shaking his
head. "We're all fucked."

"We will stop him," Gabby said defiantly.
"Even if I have to work with
you
."

"You think I'm the bad guy?" Regulus
scoffed. "Just wait until you meet this hybrid. Then we'll talk about
bad."

"What do you know about him? Who was he?"

"He is the last remaining son of Lir.
They called him, Aed. The rest, his sisters, are dead."

"What happened to them?"

Regulus seemed to ignore her question. "Do you
know who Katrin really was? She was born into the Coven without any power.
They raised her to become one of the Five. They knew what the last Celestines
were planning."

"They planted her?"

"Yes, but they didn't count on her betraying
them." He let out a sigh. "Her plan at creating the first
vampires wasn't only to get one back on the Celestines. It was to hunt down the
Original vampires that Aoife's witch created. The Coven used her and
she wanted to see them undone. And out of the six vampires she created, she
trusted me with this task. 
Me
. You know why I've been trying to get
into the Coven all this time?"

"They woke one of the Children of Lir. A
founder who can't be killed." The enormity of what had happened began to
sink in.

"They were my only lead to finding Aed. And
now the Coven is gone, but their creature still lives on."

"You killed the others?" she asked,
suddenly understanding. He knew how to end them.

"Yes."

"How?"

"There are some things only a founder can
do."

"You're the only way to kill the hybrid?"

"Don't look so disappointed, Gabrielle. You're
hurting my pride."

"How?" she asked, ignoring him.

"With my cold, dead hands, that's how."

"Regulus," she scolded.

"I have to tear his heart out. Then for good
measure, rip his head off then burn him into a pile of ash. Only then, will I
be satisfied."

Gabby fell back into the armchair and sighed. This
was way too much, even after all the crazy that had happened in the last year.
It was like a three thousand year old conspiracy. It had nothing to do with
her, though if she didn't stand with Regulus, then who knew what would happen?
Disclosure, for one. The hybrid would run rampant and who knew how many people
would die in the process. So yeah, it had everything to do with her.

"So what now?" she asked, locking eyes
with Regulus.

"We go to this Brú na Bóinne. From there,
I will be able to track him."

"He could be anywhere by now."

"Yes, but there's no other way of knowing
where he went."

"Fine," she said, standing.
"Tomorrow."

Regulus rose as she turned to leave.
"Gabrielle."

"What?" she said with a sigh.

"I will protect you."

He said it with such sincerity, she turned to face
him, a frown on her face. He was standing right in front of her, a mere step
away. He'd moved so silently, she hadn't noticed.

"I thought I was just a means to an end?"
She shook her head.

"No," he murmured, letting his eyes rake
over her face.

She should have moved. She should have said something.
But, when he stepped into her, she froze. He slid his hands over her waist and
breathed in her scent deeply. What was this? Another of his games? As he
lowered his lips towards the crook of her neck, she stiffened. He wouldn't
dare...

"Stop me at any time, Gabrielle," he
murmured, pressing his lips against her neck.

Instead of the sharp pinch of his fangs like she
was expecting, she felt the tip of his tongue tease her skin.

"What do you want?" she asked, trying to
keep her voice even.

"You know what I want." He pressed his
lips against hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth as he tried to claim her
and for a moment she felt a searing need. She felt her body pressing against
his of its own accord and it was all the acceptance he was looking for. He
backed her against the wall, deepening his kiss, letting his hands wander.

What the hell was she doing? Gabby's eyes snapped
open as she reached for her power. Abruptly, Regulus tore away falling to his
knees, trying to draw in heaving breaths.

"Stop," she whispered, looking down at
him. Satisfied he'd learnt his lesson, she let him go and he pulled in
lungful’s of air, clutching his head.

"I've never met a witch like you,
Gabrielle," he said with a strange look in his eyes.

"I've never met a bigger asshole than
you."

"That mouth," he murmured, licking his
lips.

"You'll never be touching it again."

"Never say never."

He was a two thousand year old vampire. He had been
a Roman soldier who had attempted to assassinate his emperor. He had made Aya's
life a living hell. He had snatched the Celestine from her forest and
imprisoned her. He hadn't been the one who'd turned her, but he may as well
have. He had been one of the founders who had murdered Aya's family. He had
manipulated Zac for his own ends and almost destroyed him. He'd manipulated
Victoria, making her fall in love with him then sent her heartbroken into the
world.

After all that, how could Gabby let him have her?
That wasn't even taking into consideration the way he'd manipulated her into orchestrating
his own death. He'd threatened her
family
.

And now Regulus deigned that he was capable of real
love? He wanted to protect her? What a joke. That man was only capable of one
thing. Evil. And evil did not have a heart.

A vampire with a passport. Gabby stifled a groan at
the notion. It was an Italian one. She guessed Regulus looked a little…Roman.
Where was he from anyway?

She stood in the crisp Dublin air as Regulus worked
his asshole magic on the woman behind the rental desk. She kind of expected him
to compel what he wanted out of her, but he pulled out a platinum credit card
instead. When he saw her looking at him through the window, he winked like the
sly bastard he was.

Groaning, she turned her back to the car rental
office and scanned the surrounding countryside. The airport was on the edge of
the city and they grass was greener than she was used to and the sky grey with
the promise of rain. An hour and fifteen minutes saw them tarmac to tarmac and
another hour or so would see them to Brú na Bóinne. Then they would know
where to start. The sooner they found the hybrid, the sooner they'd find a way
to subdue him and the Roman would finish the job. Then she could go home and
never see the asshole again.

She jumped as Regulus appeared next to her, picking
up her bag from the concrete.

"This way, dear one," he said with a
grin, walking off through the line of rental cars. Pressing the fob on the
keys, he opened the trunk on a modest looking car. She thought he'd get
something flashier. He looked the type to show off.