by Amber Flora
“Yes, touch me. I need you.” she growled with impatience.
Her body tensed and she screamed his name out in ecstasy. Mac nearly lost control hearing his name on her lips while she climaxed. It was the sweetest of sounds that made him dizzy with desire. He put his hand under her shirt and found her hard nipples; he lightly ran his fingers across her breasts and down her stomach. He ran his lips along her hips feeling her soft skin. She tasted like honey and her beautiful body felt like heaven in his hands. Her taut nipples beckoned him to keep going. He couldn’t look at her; if he did his whole world would unravel, knowing he could have her. But he knew this wasn’t what she wanted; that he wasn’t what she wanted. She would regret it in the morning and he would never be able to live with himself for giving into temptation. Ashtyn cried out so loudly in her release that he was sure all the realms had heard it. Her body finally relaxed and her breathing was going back to normal. When she began to cry he knew the blood lust had passed and that he was a bastard.
One minute I was watching someone I cared about being killed and the next all I could think about was sex. This had to be the weirdest day in history. It wasn’t my plan to start sobbing like an idiot, but I was riding a roller coaster of emotions and I couldn’t shut them off. Mac came up beside me.
“Please forgive me, Macree. I didn’t know what else to do. My heart broke seeing you like that.”
I wrapped my arms around him as he pulled me into his lap.
“I thought he was going to kill you, I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do, I had no idea what vampire blood would do to me. I just wanted him to leave you alone.”
He ran his fingers through my hair gently, trying to sooth me.
“Hush now, we are both safe. For the future though, lass, always know your enemy before you go into battle.”
That word— safe— brought me back to reality.
“Ben, he’s still there. We have to go back for him.” I shouted as I propelled myself off his lap.
“Easy tiger, Cody is there as well. He will find Ben and they will both come back unharmed.”
I looked at him with uncertainty.
“How can you be so sure? We can’t just leave them there. Mac, we have to.”
My sentence was cut short by the sound of voices coming from the living room. I scooped up my clothes, yanking them back on, and scurried out the door with Mac on my tail. Cody, Ben and to my surprise Brian were carrying on in the living room. I ran up to Ben, nearly knocking him down when I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“You’re all right. I’m so sorry, Ben, please forgive me. I never should have made you go with me.”
He looked taken back by sudden concern for him.
“He’s a general. We had those blood suckers on the run.”
I was surprised to hear Brian use that wording about his own kind.
When Brian spoke, he met eyes with his son and I saw the anger boiling up inside Mac.
“What the feck is he doing here? I ought to strangle him with my bare hands,” Mac spat out as he charged toward his father.
I quickly intervened.
“Mac, stop!” I yelled as I put my hands up between them.
“He fought with us. If it weren’t for him I don’t know if any of us would have made it out of there. Just talk to him; hear what he has to say.”
I saw Brian look between us and his eyes danced for a moment as if he knew what had just transpired between me and his son. I felt the redness of my cheeks.
“I don’t give a rat’s arse what he has to say. I know what he is, Gloria told me. That doesn't excuse what he’s done to me or my mother.”
I threw my hands up in defeat.
“Then kill him, but you will forever have questions with no answers. And trust me that is no way to live.”
A long awkward silence fell upon the room. Cody walked up beside me, nudging my shoulder.
“I’m starving. You hungry, Ashtyn?”
How could he possibly think about food at a moment like this?
“I’m famished,” Ben added.
I finally got the hint.
“There’s a great Chinese place down the street,” I replied.
“Excellent, shall we?” Cody motioned toward the front door.
As the three of us headed out of the apartment I turned and ran back to Mac, kissing him on cheek.
“Thank you for rescuing me. I know earlier was awkward for both of us but I want you to know it was me that desired you; not the vampire blood.”
I pulled back and saw him actually blushing. I didn’t know it was possible to make Fintan Mac Donagh blush. I ran back to the boys and saw Cody eyeing Mac with malice. I quickly ushered the boys out, closing the door behind us. Please don’t let them kill each other, I thought, as the elevator doors closed and I heard nothing but silence.
“So the person who was breaking into Mac’s place in the magic realm was Veronica Frost, the clairvoyant that poisoned me?” I asked Cody in astonishment.
“I know, we were shocked, too. Turns out she knew you would be there and wanted to talk to you. After you and Mac disappeared she left a note.”
He pulled out the letter in his pocket and handed it to me. I put down my egg roll and unfolded the paper.
A,
It’s time you learned the truth. He’ll be seeing you in your dreams.
With love,
V
My stomach was in knots. How much did she know and who was she?
“We have to get home. Do you think Mac and his father are done attacking each other?” Ben wiped his mouth with his napkin and stood up.
“Guess we’ll find out.”
I thought about how I would feel if I were Mac. Maybe I did the wrong thing finding Brian. Would I have been able to forgive years of mental abuse? I may have inadvertently opened a wound that should have forever been sealed. I had gone there with good intentions, but how could I live with myself if this permanently damaged Mac?
“Ashtyn, before we return there is something I need to be honest about.”
I stopped walking and turned to face Ben.
What other dirty little secrets could he possibly be keeping? I was furious with myself for ever finding such a snake in the grass attractive. I knew nothing of the general that stood before me. If my mother had asked, would he have abandoned his soldiers to run off with her?
“Well, this should be good,” I joked, trying to hide my discomfort.
Ben strategically placed himself between Cody and me.
“This was not my first encounter with Brian since the attack on Avonya.”
I looked at Cody for understanding, but he just stood with his hands in his pockets examining his shoes.
“Brian is an informant for the council. He keeps track of some vampires that have a reputation to create trouble and we occasionally go on missions together.”
My heart began to race. My thoughts were swimming and I seriously considered karate-chopping Ben’s throat.
“What are you saying to me?” I growled, clenching my fists.
“I knew where Brian was the whole time, I’m the one who told him where to find you. You were determined on going there and hunting the man down and my connection with him was on a need-to-know basis. Only I and a few others knew of Brian’s family history. I had not expected an attack and I wanted you to feel as though you had accomplished something on your own.”
That’s why they fought so well together in shadow realm. Who knows how many times they had battled vampires over the years. I internally scolding myself for being so blind. When they met on the street they acted as though they despised one another. They certainly had me fooled. I spun my head around to Cody.
“Were you one of those few? Did you know where Brian was the entire time? Did Mac?”
He rolled his eyes at Ben and took a deep breath.
“Yes, if I had any inclination that you would go there to find him I would have told you everything. Ben should have never ta
ken you to shadow realm regardless of his intentions. Since the day the Credo attacked, Mac made it perfectly clear that he wanted nothing to do with his father so we thought it best not to tell him. It would have only complicated things and Brian has proved a valuable ally.”
Did Brian play me? Had he known his son had lived this entire time?
“Did he know about Mac? Was Brian told he wasn't dead?”
The two men looked between one another but didn’t speak a word.
“You never told the man his son was alive? What the hell is wrong with you?! He mourned him, the man spent years thinking his son was gone and he never got to reconcile with him. How can you live with yourselves? You both know what it is to mourn someone you love. I don’t care what kind of man he is or was, he had a right to know his son was alive. That was not your choice to make.”
Cody tried to step closer, but I put my hand up. If he got within striking distance I couldn’t be sure I wouldn't take the chance to drop him to his knees.
“He never asked about Mac so we didn’t confirm. Brian is still half vampire and has never been a pillar of morality, we didn’t know what he would do with that information and we still aren’t certain he can be trusted.”
Ben’s idea of ethicality made me laugh. If that wasn’t the pot calling the kettle black. Cody keeping that kind of secret took me by complete surprise. He was all about rules and doing the right thing no matter the cost, but I seriously doubted Ben’s moral compass pointed due north.
“You better fix this, I don’t care what it takes. If they can’t reunite on their own then you give them a shove. Your debt to those men will never be paid in full. I’m ashamed of you both.”
I stalked back toward the apartment without once glancing over my shoulder to see if they were following. I couldn’t imagine how Cody could do that to his best friend, to live with a secret that could have changed Mac’s life. Suddenly I was less concerned about whether Brian and Mac would kill each other or whether they would team up to kill Cody and Ben. Well if they did, at least they would be together.
When we got back to the apartment Mac and Brian were still standing staring at each other from across the room. They both had their arms crossed, but no one was dead so I took that as a win. I went to stand next to Brian.
“I wouldn’t blame you for wanting to rip them to shreds for deceiving you.”
Brian looked at Ben and Cody then back to me.
“You’re sweet, lass, but I wouldn’t have expected anything else from them. They will always do what’s best for their beloved dreamwalkers. Just do me a favor would ya?”
I nodded, hoping I wouldn’t regret it.
“Don’t tell Fintan. He has always looked up to Cody; I don’t want to cause a rift between them. What’s done is done, best not to harp on the past.”
I tried to picture Brian the way everyone else had known him, angry and lost, but all I could see was a man who would fight to save a girl he had just met and ready to forgive the men that hid him from his son. Whoever Brian Mac Donagh was in the past I had a feeling that guy was long gone. I wanted to give everyone more time to process all that had happened, but time was not on our side.
“I need to fall asleep, I don’t suppose anyone has any sleeping pills?” I asked, looking around the men.
“No, but I have something just as good,” Mac said with a wink.
Ben and Cody simultaneously smacked him in the back of the head.
“I can give you a drop of my blood,” Brian suggested.
“No!” we all shouted in unison.
“It doesn't have the same effect as vamp blood. Being half dreamwalker, my blood took on a different form. I’m kind of like the sandman, one drop and you’ll sleep like a baby.”
“You are not giving her anything of yours, especially not your damn blood,” Mac snarled.
I placed my hand on his shoulder.
“I need answers, Mac, and I need them now. Let your father help us. I know I’m asking a lot of you, but this could be it. I could finally find out who my father is.”
“I hate to be the voice of reason, but before she goes anywhere we need to strategize. Someone needs to be watching over her in this realm and in her dreams,” Ben said.
“I’ll stay here and look over the lass.” Brian offered.
“I will stay with him; Cody and Mac, you should follow her into her dream.”
For a second I thought it odd that Ben was barking orders, but then he was the general and aside from Brian everyone was pretty used to him bossing them around.
“Now that we have that settled. Brian, would you do the honors?”
I lay down on the couch while the four men hovered over me. I considered just waiting until I fell asleep naturally versus taking the chance of drinking another drop of vampire blood, but I was tired of waiting. I had waited my entire life to find out who I really was, I refused to wait a minute longer. Brian took out a pocket knife and made a small cut on his finger reaching out to put a drop into my mouth. Mac snatched his hand.
“Just a little. We don’t want her going into a coma,” he commanded.
“Easy son, I’ve got this.”
I saw Mac’s anger rise to the surface when Brian called him his son. Was I so desperate for answers that I was betraying one of the few people who actually cared for me? As the warm liquid touched my lips I took in a deep breath, allowing my mind to clear, and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 15
I slowly walked up the path to the pond. I could sense Mac and Cody’s presence in the background, but I didn’t see them. The butterflies in my stomach fluttered with a voracity. I had to will my feet forward. As I neared the bench I saw a shadowed figure sitting there as still as a statue.
“You!” I gasped when I rounded the front seeing the man sitting on bench.
“Hello, my dear daughter.”
This couldn’t be real, there had to be some mistake.
“How is this possible? I have dreamt of you before. You use to come to me when I was a child.”
I looked upon the tall man with long brown hair and strong cheek bones in shock. The first thing I noticed when he turned to face me was his eyes. I had hoped the long burning question as to why my eyes changed to teal would finally be answered. They were a beautiful brown with a hint of green, but they did not match my own. Where did I get my eyes if not from my mother or father?
“I have always watched over you. I couldn’t reveal myself to you then for your safety and mine, but I never forgot you.”
I charged at him, hitting him with everything I had. All the anger I had been holding back I thrust into that man's chest.
“I've been alone my whole life, living a lie! I had no idea who or what I was, who you were. Why did you abandon me? You left me with a complete stranger,” I just kept blurting out questions and accusations.
I wanted to hurt him; I wanted him to feel just tinge of the pain I had endured. I didn’t know this man; I didn’t owe him compassion or forgiveness, but he owed it to me.
“You were never alone, child. You had worlds of people watching over you. Ken, Roger and myself. Someone was always there for you, guiding you down the right path.”
Clearly he didn’t understand the meaning of being there for someone. What good was having someone you could never see, never touch?
“Who are you and how did Uncle Ken come into play in all of this?”
The man who called himself my father removed my still pounding hands away from his chest, pulling me gently toward the bench to sit me down. I hesitated for a moment, partially because I was going into shock, and then unwillingly obliged.
“My name is Algon. I am as you expected, a wizard. You met my mother Victoria on your trip to Cardician. I must say you took us both by complete surprise when you walked into her shop. As for Ken’s role in all of this; you see, your grandmother has loved twice in her life. Once to a very powerful wizard, my father. The second time long after my father had past away, she me
t another man and gave birth to her second son, but this time was different. The man she loved was a human and so was her son, whom she named Kenneth. You see, child, not your entire life was a lie. Ken really was your uncle and I can assure you my brother loved you as if you were his own.”
I tried to fight the pain that was welling up inside of me. Ken was truly my uncle? Part of me wanted to jump for joy. Ken was the only family I had ever known. If it had turned out he weren’t related to me I would have felt like I lost the only constant in my life. The other part of me was angry at him. Ken knew everything, about my mother and my father, about who and what I was, but he said nothing.
“Why did he never tell me any of this?”
“You have always been in danger my dear, from the day you were born. We had to protect you. We had hoped you could go on living a normal human life, even if you weren’t immortal at least your life would be of your own making. We didn’t want you thrust into a century-long battle that you had nothing to do with.”
Why couldn’t he see what he did was wrong? That no one could ever be complete if they didn’t know who they truly were or where they came from? Shouldn't I had been given a choice?
“My mother, is she really dead?”
Algon lowered his head.
“Regretfully, yes. Giving birth in the human realm was too much for her. I wasn’t even by her side when it happened. I was in the magic realm. Deandra made me return home so no one could connect the dots. If somebody figured us out they would discover you and your mother wouldn’t risk it. I had to hide my tracks. Deandra was staying with my brother during the remainder of her pregnancy. After she passed, Ken told Victoria he would look after you. I wanted to come back for you, but the Credo were still looking for your mother; nowhere was safe. As much as my heart broke I allowed Ken to raise you; the human realm was the safest place for you.”
I don’t know why, but until that moment I had always held out hope that my mother was still alive somewhere waiting for me to find her, waiting to be reunited.
