Bloodlines

by Trisha Lynn

Chapter Forty-Eight

  “Don't you want to go back there? See what you can figure out? Find out something more about these guys?”

  He growled, and she knew she'd hit a nerve.

  “Of course but not at the expense of you! I have a team for that!”

  “Give me a day, Loki.”

  She could see that he was getting ready to advance towards her.

  “I need to officially say goodbye to my parents and I'm not doing that well after midnight.”

  He was already shaking his head. “Absolutely not, Adeila.”

  She needed to play this a different way, because Loki was like an unmovable brick wall of stubborn warriorness.

  “If I run off back to Faerie, with my proverbial tail between my legs, it will look as though I am scared.”

  “No, it will keep your little ass safe!” He was pacing in front of her, his eyes a swirling gray-green.

  Who was he calling little? She almost stomped her foot.

  He growled again, low in his throat like a primal animal. She almost shivered at the sound; caught between being amused and unexpectedly drawn by the excitement the sound caressed within her. Arguing with him sent exhilaration coursing through her. Which was really weird! What was wrong with her? The thought unnerved her further.

  “For fuck sake's, Adeila.” His voice was a low, dangerous timber.

  She smirked. “You have terrible language for someone who hails from somewhere with no social stigma or media.”

  She knew she was thrusting him into his last nerve, and she almost expected him to throw her over his shoulder much like Jake had done at the club.

  As if sensing her mind he said, “I should have just kept going when we left the club. Given you no choice in the matter.”

  “But your better than that and we both know it.”

  He sighed, long and deep. She almost felt bad for putting him through this, playing him. Manipulating him. Almost.

  He closed his eyes, shutting out the sliver of silvery green swirling of color. Wariness washed over him, and finally resignation.

  “You have until ten in the morning.” He growled out, between clenched teeth.

  She said a very quiet thank you so as not to press the smugness she felt into the words, and she turned on her heel and began to semi-stomp away.

  His voice, deep and dark whispered to her ears, and stopped her. “But sleep lightly, Princess, you can bet your ass I will be watching from your window. I will keep you in, and the monsters out.”

  A shiver ran through her at his words as she made her way up her steps. She didn't need to look back to see that Loki had turned into his falcon form and flown off. She also wasn't even slightly surprised to sense that he was peering through each window to ensure her safety as she walked through the quiet, sleeping household. They had both already sensed that no Fae or wolf or Goblin were inside, but knowing he kept a vigil on her as she made her way to her bedroom did make her feel slightly better. She hoped beyond hope that she wasn't making a terrible mistake; was waiting to leave for Faerie worth saying good bye to a family that didn't seem to care all that much about her?

  As she entered her room she stamped down that thought. They had housed her, and parented her for the last eighteen years; they deserved a real good bye.

  She sighed as she checked her window and ensured that it was locked. The blackness outside her window hid Loki, but the energy creeping up her arm gave her every indication that he made good on his promise and he was perched out there; listening and watching with a predators and protectors sense.

  She stubbornly slid the blinds down, and then went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and change into her thickest and most comfortable pajamas for the few hours of sleep that she would most likely not get.

  When she re-entered her bedroom she shut off the light and made her way toward her bed out of memory, but before reaching it, Loki's words filled her mind, and all she could think of were monsters. Of the true form of the creatures from the club, and her imagination ran wild. Like a child, she made a running leap onto her bed not letting her feet touch at least three feet of space before her bed; afraid of the possibility something might reach up and grasp her ankle on the way.

  Damn, Loki, for making her into a big baby. It was so childish, but she felt slightly better as she quickly pulled the covers up and around herself.

  Once she allowed the beating of her heart to slow, she heard the faint noises of the house settling about her, then her brother’s faint snores, the whistling of the wind blew against the panes of her window, and the hoot of an owl echoed through the forest beyond her home. A small part of her wanted to lift her blinds and peak out and see if she could see Loki, but instead she allowed her Fae senses to wash over her, and when she blanked her mind and sought out his essence she found him very close by. Right outside her window.

  He was right there, watching over her. That was her last thought as she fell into a restless sleep, plagued with dark, scary beasts, wolves, dirty cages and fire.

  .~.

  She was wide awake and pacing at six in the morning. Her mind was reeling from the attack last night, and her situation this morning. What the heck was really going on anyway?

  All this time she'd thought her father's precautions were ridiculous but now she was thankful for them. And Loki. And the team. But who was after her? What did the wolf mean that they called Jake? She'd been dreaming about wolves and the apprehension of that fact hadn't been lost on her. The Fae hadn't really tried to explain anything to her. Actually they had explained nothing to her. And considering she'd had to fight with Loki to allow her to stay, she imagined that an explanation from him was the last thing she'd get.

  And what did they say to placate Marissa? How the whole Jake thing was explained to her, or was it all? What did Marissa think?

  She herself didn't even know what to think. Then she remembered her phone, she looked around the room. She realized, with a sigh, that she must have dropped her clutch by the bar last night, during the whole scuffle. She put her face in her hands and wallowed in the self-pity of it all.

  Now, with morning looming on, she was struck with another pressing matter. How to say good bye?

  She lifted her head and sighed but then her eyes lit on her nightstand and the tan clutch with tiny printed birds all over it. Someone must have grabbed it for her. She gave a small tiny thanks in her mind to whomever was kind enough to grab this for her, and hoped inside would hold her slim silver cell phone.

  It did. She had about thirty missed texts and five missed calls. Sighing, she began making her way through them. She was shocked that a few were from Erik, asking what the hell happened. But the rest were from Marissa. And they consistently asked what the hell was going on. This was to be expected. She then listened to the voicemail's.

  The highlight of them was -

  Loki said that someone in connection with your real parents is trying to kidnap you for some ransom, and they hired Jake to do it! What the fuck, Adeila! I had no idea that he was involved in any of this. I don't even understand it. Loki was so weird and vague about the whole thing. Call me back!

  She exhaled a long, deep breath. Well, at least Loki had laid the ground work for a pretty convincing lie. She closed her eyes, and then sent Marissa a text asking if she was up. Within about five minutes she got a return. Well, thank goodness your alive! And then another one. Yeah, I am. Call me!

  Pushing her fingers into her eyes, Adeila took a steadying breath and made the call.

  Marissa was in an uproar of anger and confusion, and was making very little sense as she sobbed and yelled into the phone. It was obvious she had slept about as much as Adeila. She had no idea what was really going on, which was good and bad.

  The less Marissa truly knew the better. The safer it would be for her. But as her best friend, Adeila had a hard time coming to terms with entirely lying to her. Especially with the girl thinking that it was her fault that everything happened the way that it did. />
  Marissa was in tears, and Adeila tried to calm her down.

  “Like do you think he slept with me to get info about you? He did ask about you.. A lot. Like after I told him where I was from, he was like, oh, you got any good friends? And I told him all about you. He seemed really interested. It didn't seem strange at the time but now...” She paused and her voice turned slightly higher in pitch.

  “Oh God! I led him right to you! I told him where I lived! And I dragged you along with me to that stupid club! This is all my fault!”

  Adeila sighed as a new wave of sobs reached her through the phone. She certainly didn't want Marissa thinking that she, in any way, was at fault here, but in truth it was most likely her trusting nature that did indeed aid in Adeila's almost capture.

  After a forty minute phone conversation that led to many tears and a lot of convincing it wasn't her fault, she finally had Marissa at a better place in the situation. If only she herself were so easy to placate.

  “I have to go to my real parents. If someone wants to get at me, I am probably safest with them.”

  Marissa started crying again, asking what she would do without her, but even she couldn't convince herself that it wasn't the best idea. Finally, she saw the reality of the situation.

  “Will I ever see you again?”

  “Of course, you will!” But Adeila had no idea if that was a true statement or not. Could she come back to the human realm after this? Would her parents or Loki allow it? She was really afraid she already knew the answer to that but she couldn't very well say that.

  “Well, I can come visit you too, right? The Dakota's aren't that far.”

  “Absolutely! Once this is all figured out, we can plan something.”

  After a tearful goodbye from both parties she was off the phone. She sat on her bed and allowed herself a few more moments of tears and self-pity. Then she slowly gathered her resolve. She took a hot shower, got dressed in simple clothes, considering they'd be traveling through the realm in a few hours. The jeans had a large hole in the knee and were her favorite. She wore a white tank top, under a navy blue long sleeve. She put her still wet hair into a low pony tail, and proceeded to gather a back pack of some of her personal things. Adeila knew she would never return to this house, this room. She had all the amenities she needed at the castle, but with eighteen years of her life spent here, she knew that she needed to bring some of those mementos with her, into her new life.

  The journal Loki had given her went, along with a few favorite shirts, the sparrow bracelet Marissa had given her for Christmas, a framed photo of her and Marissa, and one of her and her brother. She grabbed a few other random things, and then she was officially ready to say good bye.