The Scarlet Heron

by Sharilyn Skye

  Chapter Four

  I will not speak much of the night that broke Lara. I should have been there. I should have fallen upon my sword and died for what happened to her. I will not speak of it, for I know the pain that rape brings. It is one more commonality we share. The pain and stress of the evening broke the wall holding in her power and it was done. Immediately she went from Human to Faerie Healer and still she worried about me that night. Not herself. Never herself. I prayed the powerful prayers of the damned to the Goddess above to take that human's soul and place it somewhere most terrible. I destroyed what was left of his corpse, but it did not bring me peace and never will.

  The sight of her broken and bloodied body as she struggled for air, her eyes impossibly wide and full of terror will haunt me for the rest of my days. That a human had done it made it so much worse, I should have killed him when he hit her that night and averted the situation entirely. My desire to blend in and be mainstream has made me weak. I should have killed every man that left her house upon exit and erased them from her life so they never had a chance to taint her again. The blood on her body and the tears in her eyes destroyed any idea I held that I had grown into a prettier type of monster. I would lay waste to the world of men to keep from seeing that hurt upon her once more. She let me hold her mind then, normally I can not mesmerize her, Goddess knows I have tried, but she is immune to that. On the night of her attack, she clutched at me like a lifeline, shook uncontrollably and let me hold her mind. I took her pain from her and into myself, for that is how it works. I took her mental and physical pain into my heart to let it remind me always, that I must not hesitate to cut down threats to those I love. She was devastated and confused that someone she let into her life would do this to her. She did not understand that humans are the most dangerous of predators and can not be underestimated. She understands this now.

  I was crushed by her attack for I had broken my word, not only to the Guardian, but to myself. I had sworn to protect her and failed. A Faerie has nothing if he breaks his word. And still she smiled at me. She talked to me in that calm voice so used to dealing with the tragedies of others and tried to comfort me. Me. A two thousand year old amalgamation that has dealt more tragedies than I have suffered and was broken apart by the pain of this one tiny woman. With her broken bones and bloodied soul, she offered me comfort. She did not blink at what it would take to heal her body and accepted what must be done like it was an average day to her. As she drank my blood for the first time, overcome with the feelings that brings and got the first taste of my power, she still did not fear me. She did not fear me as I pushed her away, when all I wanted was to make her mine, but not like this. Not on this night. She healed and I split from the inside with pride and happiness that she lived. Oh, the look on her face when she saw herself, truly saw herself, with her multifaceted emerald eyes and inner glow will keep me chuckling for the rest of my days. My blood had healed her. Mine. No one else’s. We were partially bound and I knew no greater joy. It was like nothing I have ever experienced before. I would give up everything for her and that made me terrified of her. No one had ever held my soul this way. What had she done to me?

  She did not know that I could see into her heart now. She thought that I could catch random glimpses or emotions as I allowed her, but that is not true. She had no shields, no protections, because she did not yet know she needed them and I was not telling her. I had unfettered access to her thoughts and feelings. She liked me. She would not admit it, but she did. She thought me handsome and liked my eyes and the way I smelled. She also had many wanton thoughts about my backside and even more about my front side. She felt safe with me. She thought I was harmless, like a kitten with sharp claws and teeth, but no real desire to harm. She knew I was powerful, but disregarded it completely. It mattered not to her. That nearly undid me. No one has ever treated me so. I love it. Her thoughts are random and beautiful. Goddess, but she was innocent. I would be the person she thought I was. I would live to be good enough for her as she flit and fluttered about her day unaware and more beautiful than any butterfly to ever emerge from her cocoon.

  Tuffy did not blame me for that awful night. He explained that these things are unavoidable in the world of humans and that it was fated that she would gain access to her power in some awful manner. Isn’t that always the way of it? It was time, he said. He did regret that she was in pain, but said that I should not fall upon my sword because I had served her faithfully with the healing and repairing of the damage to her body and her house. He said that my task would become much harder, though. I had to somehow repair the damage her short life had caused to her soul. He did not envy me that, nor would he say what had happened to her over the course of it. He just looked sad and told me that he had failed her, too. We talked, sometimes for hours, while she slept. She did not believe anyone loved her, he said. Or that anyone could. She did not think she was worthy of love or even something so simple as loyalty. In her heart she had never loved anyone other than her parents and himself. That will have to change for her to become what she is meant to be. To be a true Healer, you must know love and pain, life and death. He explained this to me as he munched hay she had carefully chosen for him. He was a wise old creature. He became a true friend to me. Like Lara, he was without fear, guile, or politics. We shared a common goal and that was enough for him. I mourned his passing deeply.

  As my Queen grew into her power, nothing changed. I watched to see if the taint of Faerie would reach her in this plane, but it did not. She laughed, baring her neck, smiled, tried to learn and stayed herself. Ever humble, always worried about others. She was incredible.

  When Daniel attacked her the first time, I knew that my people would need to meet her. I should have killed him then and it is my deepest regret that I did not because that choice led to the death of her. Daniel was the last child I made and I had loved him to distraction. We were lovers for years beforehand. He wasn’t always selfish, defiant and cold. He became that way after he turned. I did not want our relationship to change, but he did not want me to outlive him. Some Masters can continue to share the beds of their children, but I cannot. Grania taught me that. I became her father in every sense of the word and to continue to share a bed with her had always felt…wrong to me.

  So I learned that to become their Maker I needed to also become their father. I explained all this to Daniel, but he thought our love so deep that he would be different. That we would be different. I wanted to make him happy, for he had served me well. Instead, I changed him and he became the monster I once was, not to the full extent, but he was petty and mean spirited. Not at all like the angelic young man he had been. It broke my heart and steeled within me the resolution to create no more children. I had had enough of being a parent. My other children, except Grania, had grown up and moved away. Seeding the world with those loyal to me. Not Daniel. He could not be trusted and so I kept him close.

  He often did things in an attempt to make me angry, jealous, or unbalanced. The night he dragged Lara through the mud and threatened her life, I knew he would have to be dealt with once and for all, I just never dreamed he would go to the ends he did to get back at me for not loving him anymore. He did not understand that he was not the one for me, that even had I not turned him, our relationship would have ended. I was not ready for the One until I met Lara, until I saw into her soul. I should have made him understand, before I turned him, that our sexual relationship was coming to an end regardless, It was a gross oversight on my part. Had she been at her full strength, she would have dealt with him herself the first night he went after her, but her power was a rosebud that had not yet begun to open.

  Then Daniel did the unthinkable and challenged me in the most direct way possible while being bound to me and still I did not finish him. He drained his Source, Maria, to the point of death. This is against our laws, old and new. He did it knowing that she had signed a living will stating that she did not wish to be Turned in the event of her death. All of our So
urces sign them so that their wishes are clear, it is a rare occurrence that they could be unintentionally endangered from over feeding, but it has happened and they have the choice to be Turned or not. Maria did not want this and had I Turned her against her will, we would have all suffered the consequences legally and socially. I am positive that Daniel did this to force my hand. He did not want us to be public and instead fought to keep to the old ways. It was times like this that I cannot believe I ever loved him and wondered why he had once been so dear to me. I could no longer see the attraction his love once held. I should have interpreted his act against Maria as the challenge to my authority he intended, but did not. He should have died in the courtyard that very night for his transgression. I was too focused on what such violence would do to our standing so soon after the announcement That I did not see the real long term threat that loomed by letting him live.

  Instead, he was punished in the old ways, he spent several weeks in a silver wrapped coffin, for silver does hold a vampire in stasis. I had hoped he would spend the time reflecting on his life and decide to clean up and join me in the new world, but he did not. He planned and schemed and immediately upon his release, he fled like the coward he was.

  Lara had not recovered from her own attack when she was forced to deal with Maria’s. It was not fair to her, but there was no other option. If Maria died, the consequences would resound through the community and our fragile peace since the announcement could be in jeopardy. I rushed her to Lara, begging her to heal the girl. The look of terror on her face was absolute when I laid the pale and and lifeless Maria upon her bed, I knew she could Heal Maria, but she did not believe me. Her abilities had been theorized, not tested. Yet she laid her hands upon her and even though it looked as if nothing was happening, Maria not only lived, she thrived. Word of Lara grew, those in my care became more eager to know her. Rumors began to spread in the community at large about who she is and what abilities she had, I am sure, spread by someone who was there that night. I have my suspicions as to who, but it matters not now. An unwanted side effect from what Daniel did was that it also gave Lara a look at the reality of life with us that I had not intended her to see. Not yet. While incidents like this are rare, they do happen. It is not common for a vampire of some power to decide that they are above the law and go on a killing spree, but that also happens. Having only recently introduced myself to Lara, it was unfortunate to show her this side of our lives so soon. She seemed unaffected by it all and behaved as if these things happen every day. It made me wonder about her former job and the things she must have seen there, to be so sang froid in the face of death. I have never seen one so young so calm under pressure. It is a testament to many things.

  Chapter Five

  I told Lara that she needed to know about the new world she lived in, but she did not agree, she continued to go out into it shining like a beacon and pretending nothing had changed. She did not understand that this fueled the urban legend that was being built around her. She did not know how many she encountered that would see the soft glow of her skin and the spark in her eyes and go and spread the tale. I argued that she could no longer live hidden among the supernaturals of the world and I pushed her into my world, perhaps too quickly. My greatest fear was that I would lose her, but she could not stay isolated and naive to the supernatural community, nor they to her. Her powers grew daily and while she needed protection still, it was only because she had not yet mastered her power. I sent to her my daughter, my most beloved child, the one who saved my soul, or what was left of it and I let Grania teach her. I wanted nothing more than to do it myself, but I could not let the others know just how much Faerie magic remained within my grasp. They feared me enough. So I turned her teaching over to my child and they became best of friends. My heart is glad for that. Grania needs her as much as I do. Lara healed a part of Grania that I thought would never mend and tried to teach her to stand up to me a bit, something I should have done long ago. As Grania learned the art of arguing with a Master Vampire from a newly born Faerie, my debt to her grew deeper for she was taking on a role I had never managed to excel at. Not with Grania.

  Grania is the light of my life, a favorite daughter. Everyone knows this, but I was incapable of loving her when I took her life. In truth, I hated her. I hated everything she represented the first time I saw her by that stream, watering her horse. I was polished by then, dressed nicely, moderately sane and could pass through the world and not be seen as the monster I am. I was wealthy by any standard, but still killing those with Fae blood when I found them. That old wound still fresh, even though I was over a thousand years old by this time. Mostly, I had grown tired of the killing and had begun to live the normal lifestyle like others of my kind, but I could not resist her that first time and it had nothing to do with love. I followed her for a few days and when I found out who her father was, her fate was sealed. He was one of a long line of Fae I thought destroyed by me. He was not pure Fae, but it did not matter. I could smell their family in their blood. His grandfather had participated in my punishment and this man was quite powerful and outside of the safety of Talamh na Sithe. I made a plan.

  I wooed Grania like the sixteen year old child she was. I brought her flowers and gave her secret rings. I said the right words and behaved as the upper class gentleman that I was not. I spoke of marriage and wealth beyond her wildest dreams, even though she was not poor herself. She was enthralled by me. She was also lonely and believed all the right words I said, but did not mean. Never has there been a more innocent girl. It did not take long to accomplish my goals.

  She gave herself to me. It was her first time and even though it started gently, it did not end that way. I hated everything her innocence represented, so I stole it all and much more. I gave her pleasure, but it was not the pleasure the first time should bring, for I had learned many things in my years. I made her love it and hate it in the same breath. I twisted her on that first night mixing pain with pleasure that only the experienced should endure. I reveled in it and she tolerated it out of love for me. I raped her then, in truth, I drank her blood without her consent. I drank until she was nearly dry and her heartbeat stuttered in her chest. She loved me, I tasted her love in the sweet life that I took from her. She loved me and I twisted that, using it against her. I do not know why I Turned her. Had I been acting like my normal self, I would have used her and cast her aside to fend for herself or die. Instead, I offered her my wrist and she took it, thus ending her life. The scent of her pleasure and pain still scenting the air as she drank me down. I had never witnessed the change in another. Not that I hadn’t Turned anyone before, I had, but I had never stayed to watch what happened. It is an awful thing. Something happened when I passed my pain onto her that I do not understand, but the experience changed me. I know it was wrong, from beginning to end, but I cannot feel badly about the outcome.

  She fought me like a dragon. For decades. She hated me after that night and who can blame her. Her power was not as great as mine, but it was no small thing either. It took every ounce of energy to keep her from running wild over the land and alerting others to our nature and presence. She would not listen. She would not learn. She did not bathe or care for herself in any way. I had to bathe and dress her while she fought me like an unhappy toddler. I did her hair and tried to make her presentable, I tried to teach her. She resisted and tried to kill me almost daily, but I did not put her down, for she was not a rabid dog. I had created her and somewhere deep in the blackness of my heart the seed of responsibility sprouted. She killed every meal she found, even as I tried to show her discretion. She became what I had been, only there was no thought behind it, no plan, just ruthlessness. We had to hide and I could not return to the home I kept for many years and when I finally did, I had to build special accommodations for her as she could not be trusted. I wore her down and she wore me down. I was changed even more. I grew to love her and regretted what I had done, but in a way I was glad to finally have a child of my own. Fo
r that is what she was to me. We came to a fragile peace and I was alone no more. I taught her the ways of our kind and together we made a new life. As family. I swore to never drink from her again and I have not. I have kept my word, even though many trying times have tested it. She would not mind, I know this, but I would. She is my daughter, I cherish her and I will not remind her of how it began those many years ago.

  As father and daughter, we moved from country to country. There was not much to do in those times and we would often fight in the wars of humans just to hone our skills and stay current on warfare techniques. I have always chosen to fight with a sword and that is the only thing I managed to salvage from my time in Talamh na Sithe. I carry the finest sword in the world, I have no doubt about that. It was made by a long line of Master Swordsmiths and it is truly fine. I have soaked it in the blood of many of my enemies. Thousands of years of this have given the sword great power and I will cherish it always, even though I rarely have occasion to use it in the age of firearms and smart bombs.

  Grania would fight in whatever way she felt like at the moment. Her height and slender build allowed her to easily disguise herself as a man and she slashed, whirled and danced her way through many a front line. She loves to fight. Her face would glow in delight at the heady rush of battle and never did her side lose a fight. They may have lost the war, but never a battle in which we fought. War is a good time to be a vampire, especially in those days. We were never so full as when we fought alongside humans and drank the blood of whatever enemy they had that year. We spent the entirety of the Hundred Year War staunchly fighting for the French, even though Philip VI was an idiot and Salic Law a farce. Only a small minded society would not see that women are the power of the world. They are the Queens and their sons should be taught this. The Goddess is a woman and all life springs from her. Yes, there must always be men. There must be balance, but only a dark and simple minded culture enslaves and minimizes their females. They should be held up and worshiped for what they are, life givers and mediators among the roughest of us males. Without them we are nothing, but lonely, bored and testosterone filled fools. Also, England was becoming too strong and encroaching upon our homeland. Though we no longer lived there, Eire is always home for us and I maintain a home there to this day. Someday, I will take Lara there and show her that part of my history.