Mariska ran to Jamesson. She could see from where Daemon had set her down that he was going to need medical care immediately.
“What the hell were you thinking you fool?” Asked Elso.
Mariska hadn’t seen the taltos come out, Elso had taken the words right from Mariska’s mouth. She was grateful that someone else didn’t see Jamesson’s actions as heroics but as a foolish act.
“I was thinking about saving your father and you.” Said Jamesson, glaring at Elso. “Don’t even start in on me either, you were going to sacrifice yourself to save us all, so there you have it. You don’t get to be mad.” He said.
“Bull!” Screamed Elso, “I can be as mad as I want! As soon as we know you’re okay, I am going to kill you.”
Mariska had to stop herself from laughing. She had reacted the exact same way, and she would do it again if it had been Daemon in that situation. She couldn’t believe how much Elso cared for Jamesson. That was something they would all have to share later on after everything was settled down.
“Elso?” Said Mariska cautiously.
“What?” Shouted the taltos before realizing who she was talking too, “Oh! Mariska, I am so sorry. What did you need dear?”
“Well, maybe we should get Jamesson some medical attention, so he can live long enough for you to kill him and all?” Replied Mariska, still trying to hide her laughter.
“Oh! Right! Bring him this way.” Said Elso, speaking to the guards to carry him.
“I can walk,” started Jamesson, before he saw Elso’s look and stopped talking altogether.
He put his head down and let the guards put him on a stretcher to carry him back into the castle where they no doubt had excellent medical care. Elso turned one last time and looked at the frail man that was being held up by the guard. She didn’t need to speak for Mariska to know that something was deeply broken in her relationship with her father.
Elso looked to Mariska, “My lady, would you please make sure my father is well and take care of? I know it’s not my place to ask, but,” started Elso.
“Say no more friend, I will make sure that he is well.” Replied Mariska.
“Father, we will break this curse soon.” Said Elso coldly.
Mariska watched as Elso stormed away to keep an eye on Jamesson. Suddenly, Mariska felt awkward and alone. Daemon was off making sure the guard was all accounted for and prepping to follow after the werewolves. Mariska was left along with the aging taltos and a few guards that stayed behind to help him stand and move.
“Right, well! My name is,” she started.
“Mariska Wasi, I know who you are. You are the one who carries the child that will change the world for us all, are you not?” He whispered.
Mariska looked at him in shock, “Huh, well I am pregnant, but I don’t know about all that other nonsense.”
The aging taltos glared at her but made no reply as the men who were helping him walk began to follow Mariska into the castle and to the lower levels where sick people were taken care of.
“No doubt my daughter and her lover will be getting special care,” the man said with envy.
Mariska did her best to ignore the old man’s gripping; he continued to complain about the conditions all the way until they arrived at the castle's infirmary. Two taltos were busy treating other members of the castle when they brought him in. To Mariska’s surprise, both taltos looked at the old man with just as much disdain as his own daughter had and the man glared back at them with so much anger she thought she was going to have to break up yet another supernatural fight.
“Jean, can you please check his wounds and get him something to eat. He’s malnourished.” Said Mariska, addressing one of the taltos.
“We will not tend to him, ma’am. He is a traitor and a killer. He should have died in the field like so many others.” Said Jean.
Mariska was shocked, she had never heard Jean speak a word of anger against anyone. She was known for her kindness to all creatures. Mariska didn’t know what Elso’s father had done to deserve the hate of such a kind race of beings, and she didn’t care. She only knew that he would need to be kept alive in order to answer questions for her and Daemon.
“Jean, I was asking to be kind, the order came from Prince Daemon himself, though, this taltos is to be tended too and treated with kindness and dignity,” said Mariska.
Jean looked at her with disbelief, “that is far more than he deserves or that he would offer others. I will do as you and the prince say, though,” replied Jean with some hostility.
“Thank you,” said Mariska before she turned back to the old taltos. “Sir, I hope you began to feel well, I know that the prince will want to speak to you very soon. You should remain here; I will ask a guard to stay with you, for your own protection.” Said Mariska.
The old taltos glared at her. The guard was for Elso’s protection, not his. So if anyone attempted to harm him, he would be protected until the spell could be broken. Mariska also didn’t want him to leave the castle. She knew that he would have information that could help them to make the world a safe place from all those who would seek to hurt them. Werewolves and vampires alike.
She was grateful when she ran into Elso on the main floor.
“How is he,” Mariska asked Elso, concerning Jamesson.
“He will live, for now,” she replied with a smile.
“Elso, I know you have much to do, but I need to know what is going on with your father. The taltos treated him with more hate than I have even before seen,” said Mariska.
“I am surprised they are taking care of him at all, he is a traitor to us all,” said Elso.
“They are only doing it because Daemon commanded it,” said Mariska. “Please, I need to know what he is so I can best diffuse the situation with Daemon.”
“My father is a terrible man; he has betrayed the taltos. That man is the reason why our numbers are so depleted, and we are scattered around the globe. Many years ago, over one-hundred, my father was a wise and fair man. All the taltos went to him to help them resolve their problems. He was loved by everyone, a little bit too much actually. I have many brothers and sisters; they all have different mothers. He loved my mother the most, and we lived with him in his home.
Unfortunately, not all the taltos were grateful for my father's seed, and one of them took vengeance on him and killed my mother. My father went into a dark rage and vowed to kill her. He found a plant that would grant him peace and intoxication for as long as he desired it. For many years, I would try to get my father to step away from the drugs, but he would not. One day, while I was out hunting, my father was approached by the werewolf Sangha. He gave my father the option to disclose the location of all known taltos or to die along with them.
My father, in his inebriated state, gave the wolf the information he wanted. It was a massacre. Hundreds of my kind were killed, those of us who weren’t, fled to these islands and sadness enveloped the people. We have had no new children since that time; our bodies mourn for the loss of our own kind still. My father left with the wolf then, and he had apparently been their prisoner ever since. I wish a thousand times that Jamesson had not saved him. If my life had been sacrificed, it would have been a just loss for the ending of his.
Mariska was stunned. She didn’t know that taltos could even be evil if that’s what you could call a man who would sacrifice everything for his own life.
“Yes,” said Elso, listening to Mariska’s thoughts, “you would call him evil.”
“I am sorry for your loss all those years ago. I regret that he is here now. I am not sorry that Jamesson saved him, though, he cares for you so much. I would have done the same for Daemon.” Said Mariska earnestly.
Elso smiled at the warm thoughts, “thank you, Mariska, I believe now I need to go face my father and find out why he is here. Would you and Daemon join me when you find him please?”
“Absolutely,” said Mariska.
The woman parted ways and Mariska left to find Daemon. Sh
e was grateful when she found him quickly and filled him in on everything that Elso had told her. As they walked back to the steps leading to the basement, a young woman stops them.
“Sir, it’s the wolf, something has happened. He stopped healing and is getting worse.” Said the woman to Daemon.
They looked at each other in fear and began to run up the steps. Mariska couldn’t lose her oldest and dearest friend.
Chapter Nine
They ran to the room that Jamesson had been occupying since his arrival at the castle with Mariska’s parents. Together they burst through the door to see the man lying on the bed, tossing and turning in pain. A cold sweat was dripping from his face, and his unconscious body was thrashing all about. Mariska ran to his side, and Daemon spoke with the taltos in the room.
“Sir, we didn’t take into consideration that he was also a wolf, it’s so rare for them to fight amongst themselves that we forgot they were the same species.” Said the taltos as him and Daemon moved over to the bedside where Mariska stood, watching her friend.
“What is happening to him,” whispered Mariska.
“It’s the bite,” said Daemon, “werewolf venom is poisonous to their own kind. It’s a sort of species protection, if they can’t bite each other, they won’t want to fight.”
Mariska had such little real world experience with fighting supernatural that she was once again overwhelmed with the information she was being given. She couldn’t talk but was able to whisper.
“What can we do?” She asked.
“There is nothing that can be done,” said the taltos.
He brought Mariska a chair so that she could sit next to her friend and then he and Daemon moved to the edge of the room to speak and to give Mariska the time needed to say goodbye to hear old friend. As she sat by the bed, the tears began to flow freely. She took Jamesson’s hand, holding it seemed to steady both of them.
“You are such an idiot, what were you thinking?” She asked the unresponsive man. “You were supposed to be the one to go on and have a normal life without me. You were going to leave all this chaos behind and find a nice girl and settle down. You were never supposed to follow me out to this place, where everyone is either hurt, sick or dying. What were you thinking? Why did you have to fall for that woman, that taltos? Now, now you’re going to die, and I am going to lose my best friend, the last person I had in a world of chaos.”
As she spoke, she held his hand and felt him growing warm. She couldn’t find any more words to tell him; she was so sad. She needed him to heal; she needed him to come back to her. Something inside of her told her to keep pushing, to keep fighting for what she wanted.
With all of her concentration, Mariska focused on the venom, she saw it in her mind’s eye leaving her best friends body and dissipating into the outside world. She felt the wound healing. When she looked up next, she saw her friend starting to stir. He was calm now and asleep.
“What’s going on?” Daemon asked the male taltos as they watched what was happening.
“I. I have no idea,” the man said in a breathless voice. “If I didn’t know any better, I would think that she was healing him. Is she a healer sir? Does she have the gift?”
“I have no idea, I didn’t think that was, but now I don’t know I guess,” said Daemon stunned.
Mariska looked at both of them and took her hand away. It was glowing a faint red color. She didn’t know what was happening to her, but she felt the power coursing through her body. She knew that if she put her hand on another person, she could heal them also.
“Oh my god,” she said, looking at Daemon.
“Did you know?” He asked her.
“I had no idea, could it be the baby?” She asked him.
“I don’t think so; I think you're growing as an empath. I have heard of empaths powers changing so that they can do more, but I have never seen it firsthand.” He said, stunned.
At just that moment, Elso walked in to see Jamesson resting peacefully.
“Oh my god, am I too late?” She asked the people standing in the room.
“What? No! Oh god no, Mariska healed him Elso.” Said Daemon.
Elso looked from the man on the bed to the woman sitting next to him and holding his hand once again. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Unsure if she should believe her ears or not, she rushed to the other side of the bed and lifted her lover’s arms to see that the wound that was once eating his flesh was completely gone.
“Oh my god.” Said Elso, looking again to Mariska, “you have saved him. I cannot thank you enough.” She went to the bed and to Mariska and embraced her warmly.
“I um, your welcome, but I don’t know how I did it, or even if I did do it,” She replied, stunned that it was happening at all.
Daemon stepped in to talk to Elso; he explained to her everything that they had seen.
Elso said, “it would see that you did, in fact, heal him. I am surprised; it's known that an empath can grow in powers, but I have never before seen one who can do as much as you can in as little time. I think your parents did the world and you a great service by hiding you for so long. If your powers continue the way they have, you will be more powerful than any I have seen.”
Mariska looked to Daemon; she felt sick for the first time since finding out she was pregnant. She didn’t know if she wanted to be anything other than just who she was. If she became some sort of influential person, no doubt she would be putting her family and those she loved in danger and that was not something she wanted at all. If she could be useful to any of the many people who wanted to hurt them, she could be more of a problem than a gift.
“I need some air,” she said to the room.
Daemon attempted to follow her but she raised her arm up to him, “please,” she said.
He nodded her head and let her go, he was concerned for her but wouldn’t force her to stay with him at all times. The castle was guarded enough that she could go where she wanted without being in any kind of danger. Mariska walked out to the castle wall. She needed time to gather her thoughts. As she did, she heard footsteps approaching her from behind.
“Hello Mariska,” said a voice.
“You!” She said as she spun around. It was Elso’s father. “How did you get away from the guards?”
She looked around her frantically; the man made her very uncomfortable. She had no defenses against him. She was trapped. She cursed herself for demanding that no one follows her on her walk.
“Ah, those vampires were young and stupid. I understand you know my Elso very well.” He said, moving closer to her.
“You need to go back inside,” She said hastily.
“I don’t think I am going to do that. You see, as long as I am linked to Elso, she cannot hurt me and neither can any of you.” Said the man as he moved closer to Mariska.
“You are carrying something very important to the people I work for,” he said, his eyes flickering down to her stomach.
“Get away from me. It was all a ruse wasn’t it? You just wanted to get into the castle” Mariska whispered.
The old taltos didn’t listen; he was walking towards her slowly an evil grin had crossed his face.
Mariska backed up until she couldn’t go any further, she was at the point where her back was literally against the wall. The taltos stopped moving and closed his eyes. Mustering his power, she began to lift from the ground. Mariska screamed as her feet left the firm surface and she started to move to the wall beyond it. Looking down, she saw wolves waiting near the tree line. They were going to kidnap her! She screamed as loud as possible.
“Daemon!” She screamed just as her feet touched the ground and the wolves grabbed her, she saw Daemon tackle Elso’s father and leap from the castle wall. Mariska was lifted up and put into a large canvas bag, kicking and screaming. She saw Daemon running for her before her head was shoved down and everything was dark.
***
The beasts moved through the woods with far more grace and sile
nce than Mariska thought possible. She screamed as loud as she could and fought for a while, but her energy quickly left her. The child inside of her was taking a toll on her human body. After several hours of movement. She felt the air change and the sounds fade away. They had moved underground and not left the island, that explained why they had no trouble getting to the castle, they must have been on the island already for a long time. She felt herself being tossed onto the hard ground and men talking around her.
When the sack was untied, she was facing a circle of five men. A woman, tall and flawless, obviously a taltos, was sitting on a throne made of stone. On her head sat a golden crown, dripping jewels. She looked at Mariska with disdain.
For several moments, she just looked at her until she spoke only two words to the man on her right, “kill her.”
Chapter Ten
Mariska knew she had to act fast.
“Who are you,” she said to buy some time.
The woman looked at her with amusement. She apparently didn’t feel threatened by the woman since she was protected by wolves on all sides.
“I am Mishna, leader of the night people, and you are Mariska, partner to the Guardian Daemon. You are carrying his child and his is a line that I will not allow to carry on.” Said the woman.
“Why would you work with Elso’s father thought?” Asked Mariska.
It was obvious the taltos liked to talk about herself already. Mariska could read vanity in her mind; there was something more too. Something very familiar about the woman.
“Ah, well you see, he owed me a favor from long ago, he took something of mine, and he had spent many years repaying that debt,” she said. She was growing bored though with the questions. Mariska knew she would need to act quickly, or else she would die.
“You, you are the one who killed Elso’s mother? You were the crazy taltos?” Said Mariska, hoping to get a rise from her.
“Watch your tongue empath!” The woman shouted. “I paid for that deed with the life of my son!”
VAMPIRE:Vampire Guardian Series: Paranormal Mystery Vampire Alpha Male Romance (New Adult Contemporary Paranormal Royalty Fantasy Romance Collection)) Page 9
