Chameleon (Supernaturals)

by Kelly Oram

  “And in much better spirits too I see. Truly this is wonderful news.”

  “Has the council been able to figure anything out?” Duncan asked. He, like me, didn’t seem to be in the mood for small talk.

  “As a matter of fact…,” The Councilor rubbed his hands together in excited anticipation. “…the council has decided it is best for Danielle to remain here at the consulate.”

  “But, sir,” Duncan began until I interrupted.

  “What?” I screamed. So much for playing nice. “For how long?”

  “Why, indefinitely child. You will be experiencing the cravings for months and you have so much to learn about your power and the supernatural world before you can be expected to face your enemies.”

  “Uh, they’re your enemies actually, and you can’t make me stay here!”

  “The council has decided it’s best. As a supernatural you are bound by law to abide by its ruling.”

  “That’s not fair!”

  “Councilor, we can’t continue to keep her locked up in the holding cell alone. The council must see that. I will gladly volunteer to go home with her while she trains, sir. I could keep her safe.”

  “I have no doubt that you could, my boy, that is why I assigned you as her guardian. But of course she’s not to stay in the white room. She is not our prisoner.”

  “Ha!”

  The Councilor ignored me. “She’s being moved up to the tower apartment. I’m sure she’ll find the accommodations more than adequate. I have also been chosen to be her mentor.”

  “Of course you have,” I said sarcastically. “Does anybody else see how he gets everything he wants?”

  “Dani.” Duncan shot me a reproachful look when the Supreme High Councilor’s smile turned forced. “Excuse me, Councilor, but the tower apartment? Do you mean she’s to stay with the Seer?”

  “Of course.”

  “You don’t think it inappropriate to leave them alone together? To make them live together?”

  “Why ever not? She’s to be his mate.”

  “Excuse me?” I don’t think I’d ever been more incredulous. “There’s no way you just said what I think you said.”

  Duncan was now nearly as upset as me. “But she’s just a kid. She’s barely sixteen.”

  “Come now, Duncan. Were you not married once in your human life? At what age did you and your bride enter into the sacred union?”

  “That was a hundred and fifty years ago. Things were different back then.”

  The councilor waved him off. “They’re old enough. The Seer has already given his consent on the matter.”

  “I’ll bet he has,” Duncan grumbled.

  “You know the prophecy, Duncan. You were there last night. It is their destiny. Why not let them move forward with fate as quickly as possible?”

  “Because Dani was raised human. You can’t expect her to just accept—”

  “I DON’T ACCEPT!” I screamed. “I WILL NEVER ACCEPT! You can lock me up in here until the day I die, but you can’t force me to do this. You can’t force me to do anything. Maybe when it comes time to fulfill the prophecy I’ll let your enemies win. Hell, I might just help them!”

  “You insolent, stupid girl!” the Supreme High Councilor hollered, suddenly wheeling on me. I was glad to see I’d finally driven him mad.

  “You can’t force me to be with someone! I won’t do it!”

  “Fine, child,” the Councilor spat angrily. “But I can’t let you leave either. Until you learn your place you are a threat to the whole of the supernatural world. If you do not wish to stay with the Seer, the only other place you will see is the inside of this room.”

  “Fine! I’ll stay here and rot!”

  “Very well. Come along, Duncan.”

  “But Councilor, the cravings.”

  “That is her choice. After a night on her own maybe she will be more willing to cooperate.”

  “Don’t count on it, you bastard!”

  “But, sir, with her aura, an entire night alone? That’s torture.”

  “No. It is discipline. The girl needs to accept her fate. Now I’ll have no more argument from you on the matter Duncan or you will be disbanded from the guard.”

  Even for a vampire Duncan suddenly looked entirely too pale. He turned to me then with actual fear in his eyes. “Don’t do this Dani. You don’t know what you’re up against.”

  I’ll admit his desperation was rather convincing, but still. “What do you suggest I do instead? Run upstairs and jump into the Seer’s bed like a good little slave girl and pop out some uber-powerful babies so that the council can claim them too? I don’t think so.”

  Duncan finally gave up his fight. “I’m sorry for this Dani.”

  “Not your fault. I’m stubborn and defiant, remember?”

  Duncan tried to smile and as he walked away I grabbed his hand. “Do me a favor,” I said. “When you can, find Russ and tell him what happened. Tell him I went down fighting. Tell him I raised all kinds of hell for him. And—” My voice hiccupped. “And tell him I love him too.”

  “I don’t need to give him your goodbye, Dani. You’re not dying.”

  “But I’m never going to see him again either. You know I’m not. Promise me, Duncan. Promise me you’ll tell him I love him.”

  Duncan sighed. “I’ll tell him.”

  . . . . .

  After an hour alone I was uncomfortable. By night I was completely restless. By morning the cravings were physically painful. Once it was afternoon and had been a full twenty-four hours I felt so hollow and empty that I was frightened.

  I wasn’t sure how much of this I could take, and I knew the Councilor would never break before me. I knew I could handle another day or two—but after that? What if it kept getting worse? In the end, what I thought I could stand didn’t matter. The Supreme High Councilor didn’t come back.

  I kept track of time for the first three days. I tried to read books or play cards to keep my mind off the pain, but the anguish overtook me and I spent the hours crying and trying to fill the emptiness inside me by wrapping my arms around myself. Even my quilt failed to offer comfort.

  After that I was no longer able to sleep. My body could not rest and I paced the room constantly until my body gave out from physical exhaustion. I only slept for minutes at a time. There was no rest. No relief.

  Eventually a new pain formed in my throat and a hunger different from that of the cravings plagued me. Instinct told me I was thirsty. Duncan had been the last person I’d come in contact with and I’d been left here as a vampire to starve to death slowly. I welcomed the sensation of thirst. It was agony, but it was a new agony and I was desperate for any kind of feeling.

  Eventually my thirst was not enough to occupy me and the madness came. I ripped out handfuls of hair at a time, I clawed the walls of my cell, I screamed at nothing.

  And then the deadness came. The cravings had starved me of any feeling at all. I wrapped myself in the quilt Russ and I made, lay down on the floor, and waited for death to take me.

  . . . . .

  I have no idea how long I laid there, or how long I’d been in the room. I no longer even remembered where I was or why I was suffering. I didn’t know who I was anymore, I just was.

  Time had no meaning.

  And then one day I felt a rush of something I could not describe. I thought I’d gone to meet the Creator.

  A pair of hands picked me up off the floor and a surge of feeling hit me so hard I screamed. After so long of feeling nothing at all, my body could not make sense of the energy being fed to it. I was on fire. There was pain like I never could have imagined and then it gave way to a feeling of relief.

  The love, comfort and warmth washing over me were too much to bear. My screams became sobs. I wished the goodness away. I didn’t want to feel anything anymore, not bad, not good, not neutral, not even relief. Everything I’d ever felt before became painful. Everything was too overwhelming.

  I cried for what felt li
ke hours, and then began to recognize bits and pieces of my surroundings.

  I was alive.

  I was on a floor.

  I was cradled in someone’s arms.

  Hands were stroking my face and hair.

  A pair of eyes looked down at me. Dark eyes. Glossy, soulful, beautiful eyes.

  A voice was whispering. Words came into focus. “It is over, Danielle. It is all over. Everything will be all right now. It is over.”

  I didn’t know what the words meant, but I found them comforting. I found the voice soothing. I closed my eyes. I felt his hands on me. Felt the heat and strength of his body. Without any thought, I clung to it. And slept.

  Finally.

  . . . . .

  When I opened my eyes I felt weak, but better. I was in a new place. A bed, softer than anything I’d ever felt. A strange face stared down at me. Someone I didn’t know, but the eyes seemed familiar.

  “Danielle?” he whispered.

  Was that my name?

  The boy brought his hand to my face and with it came feelings of peace, compassion, security, love, warmth and desire. This was a face I trusted. A person I needed. I covered his hand with mine and basked in my relief.

  . . . . .

  The next time I woke it was dark. For a brief instant panic seized me. “Gabriel!” I called out. It was just a name from a dream, but somehow I knew it was the right one. “Gabriel!”

  Then I felt his presence. Of course he was there. Gabriel would always be there. Gabriel would never leave me alone. His energy was my life force. Without it I’d be lost. Gabriel wouldn’t let me get lost again.

  “I am right here,” he assured me. He held out his arms and I climbed into them gratefully. His hands, as familiar to me now as my own, pulled me to his chest in a tight embrace and I knew then that I was safe. This was heaven and my angel was watching over me. He’d saved me. Set me free from my suffering. I nestled myself into his warmth and wept.

  There was a warm arm pressing me loosely against a firm chest, creating a sense of security and comfort that felt natural. Somehow I recognized this body. Fit against it perfectly.

  The person holding me was whispering words from my favorite play and reciting it so well I didn’t want to disrupt him. Instead of opening my eyes I stayed still and basked in the peace of the moment.

  “See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand! O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek! Ay me! She speaks! O, speak again, bright angel! For thou art as glorious to this night, being o’er my head, as is…”

  “…as is a winged messenger of heaven,” I finished, taken in by the beauty of the words. “I love Romeo and Juliet. You read it well.”

  The reading stopped. “You’re awake.”

  I still didn’t want to open my eyes. I was so comfortable. I nuzzled myself deeper into his side and laughed. “Russ Devereaux reading me Shakespeare? Just how close to death was I?”

  “Russ Devereaux?” the voice asked, confused.

  I opened my eyes and was startled by the face staring back at me. “You’re not Russ.”

  I sat up with a gasp and scrambled away from the boy I’d been sleeping with. He flinched as if the fact that I would run from him tore at his heart. “Danielle?” he asked confused. “Are you all right? Do you know who I am?”

  He did look familiar—a face from a dream maybe. I studied him a moment and then my memory came flooding back. “You’re the Seer.”

  The boy nodded slowly. “Gabriel.”

  My eyes filled with tears.

  “You must be very confused,” Gabriel said.

  “I’m not going to see my parents, or Russ and Alex ever again. The Supreme High Councilor—he said I couldn’t go home.”

  “This is your home now.”

  I began to cry and Gabriel reached for my hand. I pulled away and turned my back on him.

  “Danielle.”

  “Please go away.” I fell back to my pillow and pulled the covers up over my head.

  I heard the emotion in his quiet reply. “As you wish.”

  It only took a few minutes for that dreadful emptiness to consume me again. When my body started shaking, I became afraid. I remembered every agonizing moment of my torture. I knew what I would feel soon enough.

  I didn’t have any choice but to go to Gabriel. I found him in another room sitting on a couch. He’d gone back to reading the play. I barely had the strength to cross the room to him and when he looked up I burst into tears again.

  “I’m afraid,” I whispered. Admitting my weakness to him filled me with shame. “It started to hurt again when you left.”

  Gabriel sighed. “I am sorry for what they have done to you.” He put down his book and held a hand out to me. “Come. It is all right.”

  I hated that he was still being nice to me. I hated that I had to go to him, hated that I was so weak. But I couldn’t go through that pain again. I just couldn’t.

  I ignored his outstretched hand, even though my body longed to grab hold of it, and sat down on the opposite end of the couch.

  Gabriel watched me, and when I couldn’t stop trembling he held out his hand to me again. “You do not need to suffer,” he said. “Please.”

  I didn’t have any other choice. His body was calling to me, and I knew how it would ease my discomfort. Driven by physical need, I crawled across the couch and collapsed against him. I clung to him like my life depended on it.

  I hated it.

  “What’s wrong with me?” I cried.

  Gabriel wouldn’t let me pull away from him. “You are still very weak,” he explained. “You were without any supernatural presence for over two weeks. It nearly killed you. It will take a while yet before you can spend any significant amount of time without physical contact.”

  So this was my life now? Living a thousand times more addicted to this stranger than I had ever been to Russ? So weak that I couldn’t even last two minutes without needing him to hold me? What did they do to me?

  “You should have just let me die.”

  “Do not despair Danielle. These feelings will pass. Your strength will return.”

  We sat in silence a few minutes and then Gabriel asked, “Do you need anything? Are you hungry? Or some fresh air maybe? Would you like me to show you around? We have an amazing view of the city.”

  I didn’t respond. I may have been too weak to refuse his energy, but I didn’t need anything else from him. I didn’t want him to take care of me or be nice to me. I didn’t want to have anything to do with him.

  When I said nothing, Gabriel picked up the book and began reading to me again. I willed myself to go to sleep and prayed I’d never wake up.

  . . . . .

  It had been days now, a week even, since I’d awakened from my torture, and I always woke up to find myself with Gabriel. He left my side only when absolutely necessary. I hated that as much as I was comforted by it.

  He continued to talk to me whenever I was awake, and I continued to ignore him. Unfortunately I couldn’t ever be apart from him for long. I often tried to leave the room and always—always—I had to go back to him.

  Gabriel insisted I was getting stronger all the time. He promised me that I’d start to feel better soon, but it didn’t seem that way. I may have felt less weak physically, but if anything, the connection I felt with Gabriel, my physical need to be in his presence, was only getting worse. Sometimes I didn’t even think I wanted to be away from him anymore. Sometimes I was scared by the thought of being separated from him.

  I had been sleeping on the couch next to Gabriel as he made his way through Macbeth when a knock came at the door. I was intrigued by the idea of seeing another person but I pretended I was still sleeping when I heard the Supreme High Councilor’s voice.

  Gabriel carefully stood up and draped a blanket over me before joining his visitor.

  “I am sorry to interrupt you so late,” the Councilor said, “but I have brought the items you asked for. Shall we t
alk over a cup of tea?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I heard someone fill a teakettle and pull a set of cups and saucers from a cupboard, spoons from a drawer. I hadn’t really spent much time exploring my new cage, but I’d gotten enough of a look to know that it was essentially a lofty studio apartment except much bigger. It was furnished in that same gothic style as the consulate.

  The bedroom was the same as the one from the vision I’d had. It made me nervous to go in there but Gabriel insisted that I needed my rest, and we slept together each night in that bed made for a king. Every night I fell asleep wondering which night would it be that I would eventually wake up screaming and find myself lost in his kiss...just like in the vision.

  The Councilor’s voice interrupted me from my thoughts. “How is she doing?”

  Gabriel replied with a venom in his voice I didn’t think he was capable of. “How do you think she is doing?” It was even more shocking that this obvious rage was directed at the Supreme High Councilor. “She spends most of her time awake crying. She calls out for someone named Russ in her sleep. She does not eat. She will not talk. She responds to nothing I offer to her.”

  Gabriel took a deep breath and let it out, “She is completely broken.”

  “You must have patience,” the Councilor said in a wary voice. “It has been little more than a week since she came to you. She suffered a very traumatic ordeal.”

  “And at your hand!” Gabriel said with anger. “I do not understand how you could do such a thing! Why, sir? Why were you so cruel? Her pain must have been excruciating!”

  “Do not be cross with me Gabriel. I did it for you. Danielle has been manipulated into bonding with only two supernatural beings since she was three years old. Her bond with the Devereaux boy was so strong that she would not ever have been capable of loving anyone else. Even if she’d only felt a sisterly connection to Russell, it’s all she’d ever know. Any other romantic connection would feel wrong to her.”

  “But torture, sir? She did not deserve that. No one should have to suffer as greatly as she did. I cannot imagine such pain that could so wholly destroy a person the way she is now. It was too cruel.”

  I didn’t dare move a muscle—didn’t even let myself breathe—in fear that they would realize I was awake and stop talking. I was completely taken in by this conversation. It amazed me but I felt the weight of the Councilor’s grief even before he spoke.