Winning the Legend

by B. Kristin McMichael

  The blood wasn’t as repulsing as most blood seemed to be in the past for Arianna. Maybe it was the pathadh that needed to be satisfied, but she could actually drink Rhys’ blood. Maybe there was love somewhere that Arianna couldn’t feel, but something made her able to drink it. Arianna closed her eyes as she drew back from Rhys’ wounds. After she pulled back, she waited in her day human form. Counting to ten, the blood rushed through her body and energized her in a way that she had not felt since before she had fasted. Her senses completely stabilized. Arianna opened her eyes to stare shocked at Rhys.

  “I think we need to move this conversation inside the room now,” Gabriel added, joining the group and ushering them into Arianna’s soundproof bedroom to keep the conversation that would follow completely confidential in case there were any spies in the house.

  “He’s a she?” Arianna asked, looking over to Andrew for a confirmation as her keepers stared at Arianna like she was crazy.

  Chapter 13

  Rhys had promised an explanation, and it was obvious that Andrew knew part of it. Everyone waited while Rhys collected his thoughts. Turner and Devin sat down in chairs next to Arianna and Andrew, who were on the couch in Arianna’s sitting room. Thomas preferred to pace as they waited for Rhys to explain, and Gabriel stood behind Thomas, watching everyone anxiously. Gabriel had suspected something was off with Rhys when he first arrived, but he couldn’t say what, as he had never met the other leader before. Rhys relaxed, sitting in the chair across from Arianna.

  “Then it must be true,” Rhys explained. “You can see me, can’t you?”

  “You, as in Rhys McKinny, leader of the sidhe; or you, as in the girl whose name I don’t know,” Arianna asked. She stared at both at the same time. The man Rhys was a blurred shell outside the unknown girl.

  “What exactly do you see?” Thomas asked, trying his best to analyze the situation. All he beheld was an overly happy man smiling at Arianna.

  “I see a girl. Dark curly hair, green eyes, about my height, maybe a little taller, and around her is a fuzzy haze that is the shape and look of Rhys,” Arianna replied, describing the scene before her. Andrew didn’t see that, but he’d seen inside Rhys’ head to know that he wasn’t the leader of the sidhe, but was, in fact, a girl.

  “Impossible,” Thomas replied.

  “Not impossible,” the imposter Rhys replied. “She can see beyond my illusion.”

  “She’s not a sidhe,” Thomas replied. He knew how sidhe magic worked, and only another sidhe could see through an illusion if the caster allowed them to.

  Rhys smiled and nodded, acknowledging Thomas’ logic but not verbally agreeing. Even Rhys was in awe of the situation.

  “Who are you?” Andrew asked. He had seen inside her head already and knew she was a sidhe who was somehow closely related to Rhys. Devin was waiting for this answer as he was ready to pounce on the imposter, while Andrew relaxed. Rhys wanting Arianna as his wife was not likely, but to lie and pretend to be someone else did not sit well with Devin.

  “Nessa…Vanessa McKinny,” she replied, shaking her head of curls and dropping the whole illusion by allowing everyone else to see her. “Rhys is my older brother.”

  “And why are you here, pretending to be your brother?” Devin asked, starting the interrogation and still viewing her as a threat. Anyone who willingly deceived them was a threat. Even Molina wasn’t completely forgiven in Devin’s eyes for the betrayal they discovered a little over a month ago.

  “To avoid the princess’ fate over there,” Nessa pointed to Arianna. “If I agreed to compete as my brother, and make it through the first round, I’d be granted the option to not get married in three months to the fool my parents picked years ago. I’m not marrying someone I don’t love. I play pretend, and I get to go free. I wish it was that easy for her.”

  Nessa sympathized with Arianna, and that was what Arianna had felt all along: compassion. They were both stuck being females in a male-dominated world that had yet to decide how to handle powerful females. Nessa had grown up in the night human world and had known about the rules her entire life. She pitied Arianna being thrown into everything like it was a cold bath.

  “And you made it past. Now what?” Devin replied, knowing that Thomas was analyzing the situation while Mori was listening in and checking on everything the girl said. He didn’t need to be thinking of how to prove or disprove her answers. He needed to know exactly what she wanted. He wasn’t a fan of attacking girls unless they attacked him first, but this one rubbed him the wrong way.

  “Now I get to be his retainer while my brother returns and competes,” Nessa replied.

  Arianna couldn’t help the frown beginning to form. Rhys had been the one actual competitor that she wasn’t worrying about. Now that the Rhys she thought was safe was gone, she would have one more contestant to worry about. She didn’t want to have one more man actually trying to win.

  Nessa noticed and hurriedly added. “I only agreed to come here as long as he agreed that if he won, my brother wouldn’t make you marry him.”

  “And your father was fine with that?” Thomas added his own questions, trying his best to get the information they would need to change the game if needed.

  “Yes. And so are the sidhe people. We don’t want to be part of the merger of night humans. The sidhe are more ancient than all the current night humans in North America, and we wish to keep our independence,” Nessa explained, but sounded more like she was pleading with Arianna to believe her.

  “Merger?” Arianna asked. Nessa was one more person talking about things Arianna was never told about. Arianna looked over to the men in the room, but at least this time they seemed just as confused.

  “You guys don’t know what this is really about? I thought Arianna was just the one that didn’t know.” Nessa looked to Devin, Gabriel, and then Thomas. No one understood what Nessa was talking about.

  “What is what about?” Arianna turned to Devin and Thomas. Neither replied. Nessa was correct; neither understood what she meant.

  “Didn’t Randolph collect the complete legend?” Nessa asked Devin.

  “Not the complete legend. We only had parts,” Devin replied, still eyeing Nessa. Something about her didn’t sit well with Devin. She was too relaxed, sitting amongst enemies.

  “Then you don’t know the true purpose behind Arianna?” Nessa said as a question to Devin, but a statement to everyone else. “Arianna is special because she carries the blood of two types of night humans. No one else can do that. Her blood wasn’t just made to carry her parent’s night human blood, but all of the night humans. When the clans divide enough like we are now, a night human is born to bring them together. She isn’t a bridge to peace by marriage like all the brutes that will gather back here again think. She will literally merge the night humans in her blood. We are too diverse and need to become one species again.”

  “Is she really the one to bring us together again?” Andrew asked. He had seen it in her mind what was to happen and what was being foretold of Arianna. Andrew already believed Nessa, but the other men were not so sure.

  “And you know this how?” Thomas asked what everyone else was thinking. Nessa could be telling the truth, or she could just be a very good actress sent by her brother or the sidhe people to win their trust. No one at the competition could truly be trusted as they all had something to gain: Arianna.

  “Every few centuries one that is born is the bringer of peace or war,” Ness looked around the room. “That was our line of the legend. I guess your races must all be too young to understand what is happening. My grandfather told me that no one would remember, but that someday I would need this knowledge.” There was a bit more acceptance from the men in the room. They had all heard of the bringer of peace or war.

  “He told me that the special night human will bring war first as the various tribes will fight to own the night human. This night human will be more powerful than could ever be imagined, and each tribe will want it as their own to
dominate over the others.”

  “Meaning?” Arianna asked. The past few months had taught Arianna to ask more questions, especially if someone was talking and willing to answer.

  “They don’t want you for marriage like they all say. Every single competitor came here with the intention to bring you back to their own home, lock you up, and bleed you to bring power to their own people. With your blood they will be invincible.”

  “Bleed me?” Arianna questioned as Andrew tensed under her grasp. He too didn’t like the sound of that.

  “I think most of them plan to keep you alive, a few may not. If they do keep you alive, you will be locked away forever, never to be released again for a day of your life,” Nessa explained, trying to get the reality to sink in for Arianna. This was never about marriage. Not one clan here cared about marriage. All they wanted was the power she had.

  “The other option is that you’ll be the bringer of peace.” Nessa waited for the anger to die down a bit from around the room. Not a single man in the room was happy to hear of the other clan’s plans to treat Arianna as an animal. “But to bring peace, you have to be more powerful than everyone here.”

  “Which I am not,” Arianna whispered.

  Arianna still couldn’t beat Andrew in a fight, and even though he was a high-level night human, so were all the competitors. They were each a clan head and the most powerful or the next in line being trained to be their future clan leader. Alone she stood a good chance against them, but there were ten men. Together, she would never be able to beat them. Arianna shivered at the thought of ending up with any of those men. Actual marriage was repulsive to her as it was, this was even scarier.

  “No one will ever touch you,” Andrew replied, wrapping his arms around her to stop the slight shaking in her hands.

  “You need my help,” Nessa explained as if it was the only choice they had left.

  “We don’t trust the sidhe,” Devin replied. He had had a few encounters with the sidhe and never walked away happy. They were as tricky as they were powerful. Nessa, no matter how she spun her tale, was still a sidhe.

  Nessa nodded to Arianna as she disappeared. Arianna could still see her as she stood and walked across the room. The men were all growing frantic as they looked around for signs of her. Nessa reached Arianna. Arianna looked to the men around her. None saw or felt Nessa’s presence. Nessa wasn’t going to harm her, and when she reached down and pricked Arianna’s finger to draw blood, the room erupted into full panic. Nessa instantly moved across the room and hid against the wall. All five men were instantly on alert and Turner, Andrew, and Gabriel in their full night human forms.

  “Stop,” Arianna said to the men to get them to freeze. “She was trying to make a point.”

  Andrew growled, followed by Turner who was fully transformed also. Arianna reached up and touched Andrew’s pale night human skin. Devin and Turner began to pace around the room with Thomas. None of their anger simmered down. Arianna caught a glance between Gabriel and Devin, but neither moved near Nessa. Her guards were good as always. She had a feeling they knew where Nessa was.

  “Please stop,” she begged the men. Devin stopped his pacing with his back to Nessa. He turned and threw a knife that grazed Nessa’s upper arm, slicing a fine line and causing it to bead up blood. Arianna moved in front of Nessa before Devin continued his attack. The knife had dropped Nessa’s illusion.

  “How did you?” Ness asked, unfazed by the cut to her arm. Devin tried to get around Arianna, but Arianna kept her defensive stance.

  “I said stop,” Arianna used her authority to keep Gabriel, Andrew, and Thomas from joining Devin. “She was proving a point. I need to be safe enough to protect myself as you guys are not prepared for everything that all these other night humans can do.” Arianna reached up and placed her hands on Devin’s chest, since he was the only one still not obeying her.

  ‘Please Devin. She was never going to hurt me. I could feel her intentions. It was just a demonstration,’ Arianna tried to calm him with words, but it was her touch that brought him back from killing the girl that was only trying to help them.

  “Everyone sit back down,” Arianna told the men. They all returned to their seats with Devin the last to move. He didn’t trust Nessa.

  “If you ever draw blood on her again, she won’t be able to stop me,” Devin threatened. Nessa still stared in awe at him. She had never met someone that saw through her sidhe magic. She could never have imagined a day human with so much power.

  Thomas leaned against the window as tension filled the air. Nessa had very much proven her point, and all the men were being extra cautious, afraid that she would do something more. It was a reality check for Thomas. He’d only been able to plan their moves based on what little everyone knew about each clan, yet he had never met anyone outside of Arianna’s clans. Most hadn’t either. It wasn’t common for clans to mix. Devin was the only person that had ever met the other clans, and only Arianna was relaxed in front of the stranger. Clans didn’t make a difference to her since she hadn’t been raised in the night human world.

  “If you came here to stop all this from happening, what do you propose?” Thomas asked. Nessa had more information, and they desperately needed it. Thomas was willing to tentatively have an alliance with Nessa, even if Devin was not.

  “We work together to make Arianna into the bringer of peace, not war,” Nessa replied easily. That much was not up for debate with the men in the room.

  “And how do you plan to do that?” Devin was still skeptical of the young sidhe woman.

  “By me telling you how to get the power she needs to defeat everyone,” Nessa replied, smiling at Arianna.

  “And how does she do that?” Thomas replied, moving over closer to the conversation. This was the key secret he needed to know the answer to.

  “The same way she took my power; she drinks the blood of everyone competing, and she will have their powers. The best part is-” Nessa paused for dramatic effect. All eyes were glued to her. “She can give those powers to any night human that drinks her blood.” Nessa waited a moment for it all to soak in and then left after no one asked any more questions.

  After meeting with Nessa and hearing her explanations, the sidhe was escorted away so that all five men could argue about what she had told them. Arianna didn’t need proof; she trusted Nessa. The men, though, doubted that Nessa actually intended to help them. Arianna knew, after Nessa explained her blood could merge night humans, that what had happened was correct. Arianna saw through any of the sidhe magic Nessa used now.

  “She’s sidhe, and that’s enough of a reason to not trust her,” Devin replied, sitting next to Turner and across from Gabriel, who was now seated beside Arianna. Only Thomas remained standing.

  “But then how do you explain that Arianna can suddenly see through her sidhe magic?” Thomas replied. He wasn’t really trying to play devil’s advocate, but Nessa’s logic was sound.

  “Arianna is special,” Devin replied.

  “Sidhe magic is stronger and more ancient than our little one,” Gabriel replied. He was old enough to have heard the details Nessa mentioned, but he had never known such a thing to happen.

  “You noticed her, too,” Devin replied. “Sidhe magic isn’t all-powerful.” Devin did have a point.

  They all stared at each other. Thomas seemed more inclined to believe Nessa. Gabriel was also sensing that Nessa was correct. Andrew and Arianna didn’t argue as Nessa was telling the truth. The only one left to be swayed to Devin’s side was Turner, and he wasn’t taking sides yet.

  “How do we know it isn’t true?” Turner asked. He was inclined to believe Nessa, and that pissed Devin off the most. Turner had been his best friend forever. “Wait, before you start swinging,” Turner quickly added to Devin. “Haven’t you always said Arianna’s senses are beyond that of a normal dearg-dul or baku? She has an incredible sense of hearing, even better than mine. And her sense of smell is almost as good as mine. Maybe it’s because sh
e’s been taking my blood for a year, and she has a bit of lycan in her now.”

  Everyone stared at Turner. He wasn’t one for analyzing situations. His strength was usually more literal, but now he was making sense. Even Thomas was nodding his head at Turner’s very valid point. Arianna’s abilities were slightly lycanish.

  “And then what about transferring traits?” Thomas asked everyone but Devin. “Do you think that works also?”

  “Only one way to find out,” Andrew replied. “We test it out.”

  Chapter 14

  They spent the rest of the night trying different amounts of Arianna’s blood on both Turner and Thomas to see if they could pass on any other night human traits that they didn’t already have. With Mori’s help, they established that they needed at least 10cc’s of blood, which was more than they expected, but less than feeding on someone. Nessa was correct. Not only did Arianna now have more night human traits, but she passed them all on to Turner and Thomas. After that the argument died down a bit, even with Devin sulking over the rest of them trusting Nessa. No matter what, he wouldn’t allow himself to trust her.

  The next day, Arianna watched as man after man entered the dining hall ready to begin the competition again. She wasn’t happy to see any one of them now that she knew the truth. Not one was here to actually win her. All they wanted was her blood. They lined up and Arianna did her best to ignore them all. While Rhys was one of the last to enter, first having stopped at his room to bring Nessa with him, he was the one Arianna was anxious to meet. He’d been at the competition the whole time as Nessa’s retainer while she was pretending to be her brother. Arianna had met him, but meeting the real him was different. There was a new look behind his eyes. Arianna was beginning to trust Rhys as an ally, but now she was unsure. She couldn’t trust Rhys now. On top of her distrust, Arianna had to keep reminding Turner that they had to play dumb. Nessa had not told her older brother about what she had done, and that they could see through the illusion that was now covering Nessa. She now entered behind Rhys in the disguise of the older man Rhys pretended to be when he first arrived able to observe everything without anyone knowing whom he was.