Daughter of Darkness

by Daughter Of Darkness(Lit)

  I tried to draw my power back into myself. I concentrated on pulling it inward. I visualized a tunnel and in it, a glowing and green light that receded into me, in my mind. Through the glowing purple and green light a figure came towards me. As it neared, I recognized the long, wavy, hair and strong body. Pallo! He was working out in his home gym. He had on a loose pair of dark gray pants and was barefoot. His muscles rippled as he took varied steps, twisting and turning his body slowly. He was doing some sort of karate. I could see the sweat glistening from his white, pale body. I swept down next to him. My presence near him blew his hair back slightly. He stopped moving and turned to see what was near him. I let my hand run along his hard arms. He saw nothing, but felt much. His head tipped back and his eyes closed.

  I felt how much I cared about him, how much I loved him, how much what he had done hurt me. His words beat in my ear like a drum. "I didn’t make love to that whore, I fucked her." Each time I heard that, I pulled my projected presence back from him. I rushed over the glowing purple and green light like it was a playground slide. I came crashing through the tunnel and into my body. Hands were running all over me. I didn’t know whose they were. Two cupped my breasts, one touched my waist, and one was down the front of my panties caressing me gently. I arched my back. Caleb’s naked body was still wrapped around mine. Ken’s body was pressed against me from the front. He, too, was naked now. I reached down and cupped them both in my hands. They let out small moans. What should have been an awkward moment between three people felt beautiful, it felt right.

  Ken’s thick fingers slid between my legs, he worked one into me. I was moist and ready. I slid my hand around to Caleb’s butt and pulled him towards me. Caleb pushed into me. I moaned. Ken’s arm tensed. I reached down and stroked him, cupping him in my hand, moving it up and down slowly. Caleb pushed himself in and out of me so gently.

  Ken’s mouth pressed near mine, I put my tongue out searching for it. He caught it and we went at each other. Sexual noises filled the room. My hand slid up and down on Ken, mirroring Caleb’s thrusts. Caleb pulled out slowly. I tried to hold onto him, but he withdrew himself from me. I sat up with him. Ken followed too.

  Caleb sat on his knees on the end of the bed. He was hard and glistening from my wetness. I bent down and crawled to him on all fours, taking him into my mouth. Ken’s body moved in behind me. He pressed gently against me wanting to enter. I slid my hand up his thigh, he pushed in. I cried out with Caleb still in my mouth. I moved my head up and down as Ken pushed himself in and out slowly. Someone starting making primitive sounds, it was me.

  Caleb’s hands moved into my long hair as I moved my mouth over him. He tasted salty, yet sweet. I could feel Ken pulling out of me, so slowly. I grabbed at his leg. The feeling of Caleb tightening in my mouth took my attention from Ken. He pulled my hair back, gently bringing my face with it. Ken pushed in and he brought me. I cried out, and he came, too. He pulled himself out of me, and I crawled up and put my body in front of Caleb’s. He hadn’t yet finished. I ran my fingers over his chest and down the front of him. I felt Ken reach his hands around to my breasts, his body pressed close to mine. He whispered that he loved me in my ear, and pulled away. I felt the weight of his body leave the bed. I felt my eyes changing again. They got so warm beneath my eyelids that I thought they might burst into flames. I looked up into Caleb’s eyes they were glowing green. I touched mine, and looked at him.

  "Yes, yours are, too," he said softly, pulling me close to him.

  "Why?"

  He reached his hand down my back. He still hard was as he pressed against my upper stomach.

  "You are ready," he said.

  I looked up at him with a puzzled look on my face. He bent down and kissed me.

  "You’re body’s ready to create life," he said.

  I froze. Ken had just finished in me. Did that mean? I looked into Caleb’s eyes.

  "But, Ken just..," I said.

  He shook his head slightly. "Ken loves you, you love him, but he is not a match for you."

  "How do you know?" I asked.

  "Your eyes changed after he was done, when you came to me, ready for me to enter you and fill you with my seed."

  He was right, they had. I guess it was good to have your own built-in warning flag for pregnancy, but I wasn’t so sure about this. I touched his chest with my hand. He grabbed my wrist and laid me on my back, while he planted tiny kisses all over my chest. I wanted more from him. I tried to coax him on, but he didn’t waver.

  He kissed the top of my head gently. "Gwen, I’ve wanted to have this for over four-hundred years. It is the one thing I’ve dreamed about since I’ve known you, but I can feel your love for Pallo. I couldn’t share this with you and watch you go back to him."

  "That will never happen!"

  He put his finger to my lip. "Don’t make promises that you can’t keep."

  I protested. I would never run back to Pallo. "But, you don’t understand…"

  "No, Gwen, you don’t understand. The chances of a faerie finding a perfect match are stacked against us. Hell, the odds of finding a match, even one that’s not a faerie, are high. That’s how our numbers stay in check. We’re immortal, and if we had children all the time we would overpopulate the world."

  I thought about what he had just said. "It’s possible to find a non-faerie match, too?" Then it was clear. Yes, it was. Pallo had been the father of my child, and he had been mortal. Was it possible that I had managed to find two perfect soul mates? Was Pallo the one from the past, and was Caleb the present? Did that mean that Pallo could still be? I remembered my eyes burning warmly in the yellow room with Pallo. I had so many questions for Caleb. Asking him would mean revealing that I’d been with Pallo while he was gone. I didn’t feel like tackling that just yet.

  I kissed his lips to mine. He held me to him. Our naked bodies huddled together on the bed. The moment was right to continue, but the reality of what I had just done sunk in. I had just had sex with two guys at one time. A week ago, I hadn’t been having sex with anyone, let alone two at one time. I pushed away from Caleb and ran out the door and to the bathroom. I crashed onto the floor in front of the toilet and vomited. I was ashamed of myself, I had become what Pallo had accused me of being, I was a whore.

  I flushed away the old contents of my stomach, and turned to start a bath. I adjusted the water to get just the right temperature, hot, and sat of the edge of the tub, listening to it fill. The light flicked on.

  "Are you all right?" Caleb asked. He had put his jeans on, and walked towards me, he stopped. His gaze fell onto my neck. I had suspected that Giovanni’s bite mark was bruised now. I lifted my hand to try and cover my neck. He motioned me closer. I stood up, the cool bathroom floor felt good on my hot, bare feet. I walked over to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the toothpaste and my toothbrush.

  I saw Caleb’s reflection in the mirror. He stood behind me, looking down. Apparently the bruising was worse from the backside, because his eyes grew wide.

  "Gwen?" he said. In that one word he asked so many questions.

  I brushed my teeth frantically, like I needed to get every tooth at least six times. I mumbled that it was nothing through a mouthful of toothpaste. He wasn’t buying it. He was definitely not in the mood anymore. His eyes were shifting back to just green. I finished brushing my teeth and turned to shut the bath water off and climb in. He caught hold of my arms.

  "Its nothing, really, I’m fine," I said. I tried to convince him as well as me. I don’t think it worked. I made an attempt to free myself from him, he squeezed me tighter. "Caleb, you’re hurting me," I said. He scared me.

  "Looks like somebody already did that. What the hell happened while I was gone?" he held to me tight. I saw something in his face I had never seen before, anger.

  "Can I please get in the tub?" I asked. I felt how naked I was, it made my skin crawl. I wanted to climb in and let the water wrap around me.

  Caleb let go of my arms. I walked around
him and got in the tub. I was careful to avoid looking at him. I didn’t want to see the rage in his face. He turned and walked out, closing the door behind him. I was thankful. I didn’t want to talk about what had happened since he disappeared. It was not something I wanted to relive. What was I supposed to say, "After you left, my dead mother whisked Pallo and I off to a romantic location. Once there, I found out about having lived before, freaked out, and ran straight into the arms of a homicidal maniac, Talia. She tried to have her pets tear me to shreds. I ended up leaving there a murderer. But, hey, after we got home, I went out partying and managed to squeeze in a little bit of orgasmic dancing and neck-nibbling with an old boyfriend on the dance floor. Gee, wait, it only gets better. I left there and went and made love to Pallo. Turns out, he was just fucking me though, so don’t sweat that one. I was lucky enough to bump into the crazy lady one more time before returning to Pallo’s, where I willingly let Giovanni bite me again. That is how I got the bruises. But hey, Pallo’s free right, oh, I even managed to bump into my long lost father, the King. At least something good came out of it. Right?" Yeah, running this over in my head sounded worse and worse every time.

  Somehow, I didn’t think Caleb would want me to tell him what happened while he was gone. I didn’t even like thinking about it, let alone saying it out loud. I had to fight to keep from being sick again. I tried to rid myself of the suffocating feeling of shame. I knew better than to behave this way. Why I lost control so easily and frequently lately?

  Chapter 25

  I finished, and walked over to my room to get dressed. I decided on a pair of tan pants, and a blue cotton tank top. It was short and my belly showed again, but that was the style, all the girls were wearing it. I loved it. It was a throwback to the seventies. It was great. I picked out a pair of brown sandals and slid them on. I pulled all of my hair up into a loose bun, and headed downstairs. I could tell that the sun was on the verge of rising. Had we really had sex all night long? I should have been more tired than I was. I think stress will do that to you. When I turned into the kitchen, I smelled Caleb’s pancakes. They smelled delicious. I hoped my appetite was trying to come back. My jeans were getting a little loose on me. I was fine to start with. I had no intent on walking around looking like a stick figure. No thanks!

  I walked in and saw breakfast sitting on the table. Caleb was the only one in the kitchen. I hadn’t passed Ken on the way down. I wondered where he was. Caleb turned and looked at me. He answered before I could even ask.

  "Ken left a few minutes ago," he said dryly.

  I pulled a chair out to sit down. "He left? Why?"

  Caleb sat in the end chair and put his elbows on the table, propping his chin up with his large hands. He looked so beautiful in the light from the rising sun. It came in the kitchen door window and illuminating him. He was perfect in every way.

  "He said he had to think about some things. Can you blame him?" he asked. His tone was different, it was annoyed. He looked at me, and there was no love in his eyes. I picked up one of the pancakes, and put it on my plate. I tried to ignore him staring at me. His energy prickled up my arm. He used his power on me.

  "What?" I asked, still concentrating hard on looking at my food.

  "Ken told me everything."

  I stopped chewing and tried to swallow. You never really know how dry a pancake can seem until you are in a stressful situation. I picked up a glass of water from the table, and tried to help it slide down. Finally, I looked at Caleb. His normally soft face looked drawn and tight.

  "What do you want me to say? What will make it all right?"

  He let out a sigh as he tipped his head slightly. "I want you to deny it. I want you to tell me that Ken’s a liar."

  The prickling on my arm got worse. I wanted to reach down and scratch it, I didn’t. I looked into Caleb’s dark, forest green eyes. Ken wouldn’t lie to him. Ken had many faults, but lying wasn’t one of them. I learned that after meeting Talia, he had been telling me the truth all along. He didn’t know her and he couldn’t help himself. No, I knew that Ken had told Caleb the absolute truth. What I didn’t know was how much Ken let him in on, everything or just part of it?

  "Ken’s not a liar," I said. I looked down and fixed my eyes on my glass of water. I couldn’t look at Caleb, I couldn’t see the hurt and anger in his eyes.

  Caleb’s fist slammed down onto the table and water leapt out of my glass. I screamed. Caleb rose to his feet. He kicked the chair back against the refrigerator and walked into the hallway.

  "Caleb," I said softly.

  He stopped, but didn’t turn around. I said his name again. He stood very still.

  "I’m sorry."

  His head bent down, his hair had long since fallen out of its tight braid. It covered his back like a blonde mane. He took a deep breath as he headed upstairs. I wasn’t sure what he’d done. I had a feeling he packed his bags to leave. I had managed to be fooled by Pallo, left by Ken, and now Caleb. I was worried that if I blinked someone else would be gone too. With the way I’d been behaving, I wished I could get away from myself. I started towards the stairs. I heard his footsteps coming down towards them. Caleb had put on his black boots and a black tee shirt. He had something in his hand. It was his crossbow. I grabbed the railing.

  "Caleb?" I put my hand up to try to slow him down. He moved quickly, just missing knocking me backwards. "Caleb, what are you doing?"

  He stood before the door, his back faced me. "I’m going to kill him," he said and pulled the door open. I couldn’t get myself to let go of the railing. He was going to kill him? Oh my God, he was going to kill Pallo! I ran out the door and found him getting into his truck.

  "Caleb … no!" I screamed, running to block him from closing the truck door.

  "Don’t try to protect him," he said, trying to ease me out of the doorway. I didn’t budge. I would not let the two of them kill each other. Caleb’s power flowed like needles over my arms. I tried to rub it away, it did no good.

  "No, stay, we can fix this, please, I know we can. Caleb."

  A sudden wind rose, lifting my hair, pushing Caleb’s power away, surrounding me. Caleb stopped trying to push me away from the vehicle, and started trying to pull me into it.

  "No!" he shouted. He lifted his hand towards me, the wind lashed out at him. His arm ripped open.

  "Bella!" the wind whispered to me. My feet rose from the ground. I tipped my head back. I felt like I a bird, wind cradling me, lifting me from the ground. Something pulled on my waist. I looked down. Caleb had wrapped his arms around me tightly. He shouted at me, but I couldn’t hear what he said.

  "Come, Bella." The wind spoke to me again, so soft, so smooth, so Giovanni’s voice. Giovanni! I snapped my head up and looked around. I levitated in the air, three feet off the ground. Caleb fought to keep hold of me, yelling at me to fight it. I did the only thing I could think to do. I started screaming.

  The wind that had felt so gentle yanked at my hair and my arms. I tried to reach my hands down to grab Caleb, but the pressure was too strong. Something yanked my body up. I kept screaming. My waist slid up and out of Caleb’s arms. He tried to hold onto my legs, but it was no use. He would have to let me go or risk tearing me in half. He let go. My body lifted higher into the air. Air wrapped itself around me tighter and tighter, making breathing difficult. I closed my eyes.

  Something struck me from behind, crashing onto my back, sending me flying toward the ground. Caleb, with cat-like reflexes, broke my fall. I landed on him, and whatever hit me landed on me. The wind stopped. I no longer heard Giovanni’s call to me.

  Whatever hit me lifted itself slowly off of my back. I rolled over. Caleb and I looked up. We spoke at the same time.

  "Kerrigan?"

  We were lying on our backs in the grass, staring up at Kerrigan. He was in his normal black dress robes. He had a red sash tied around his waist--similar to the one Caleb had come home wearing. His hair was loose and hung down to his waist, and he looked a little out o
f breath. Good to know, I was beginning to think he was a superhero.

  He reached out and pulled us to our feet.

  "My King, thank you, we are honored that you assisted us," Caleb said, bending down on one knee. I looked at him like he was nuts, then faced Kerrigan. He nodded and winked at me. I shrugged and bent down next to Caleb.

  "Thanks, oh honorable one, who is the King … yeah, thanks," I said.

  Hey! It’s not like I was used to worshipping someone other than rock stars and the inventor of chocolate.

  Caleb snickered and covered his mouth. I laughed and fell back onto the ground. It felt good to smile and be happy.

  Kerrigan coughed. I stopped and let Caleb pull me to my feet. "Come, I need to pay my head counselor a visit," he said and walked down the lane.

  I looked at Caleb, he looked at Kerrigan. "My King, surely you can’t mean you are going back to the Dark Realm now, after all of these years?"

  "Stop, Caleb. You have known me all of your life, please call me Kerrigan. As for the Court, it appears that my presence there is much needed. Would you agree?"

  Caleb nodded and we followed him. Midway down the lane he veered off the path and into the woods. We headed down the slope towards the river. If Caleb hadn’t held tight to my arm, I would have tumbled all the way down the thing. I watched Kerrigan walk right out and onto the river. He walked on it, not in it. I looked at Caleb. He smiled and followed after him, holding tight to my hand. I stepped onto the river. It seemed to be made of glass. My feet stayed completely dry. I concentrated so hard on my feet that when a rush of air passed me I looked up to see us standing in a dark cavern. I could tell that we were no longer standing near the river, at least as I knew it. I watched Caleb and my father duck down to avoid hitting there heads on the top of the cave. I didn’t have that problem. I could stand on my tiptoes and touch nothing.