Becoming a Legend

by B. Kristin McMichael

  “I was out on patrol last night. As I was heading back to the base, I heard a noise further out in the field. My father told me to come back, but I didn’t. I knew that my job was to keep it safe for everyone in the clan. Therefore, I went to investigate. I found that vrykolakas hiding on our land. He attacked me as soon as he saw me.” Michael recounted as much of the story he could lying to them as little as possible. He left out the part where he attacked first after the vrykolakas asked for safe harbor and that the vrykolakas was a hybrid that they’d been tracking.

  ‘What is a vrykolakas?’ Arianna asked Andrew. It was a completely new term to her.

  ‘Another type of night human. I’ll explain more after we’re done with him,’ Andrew replied, not letting down his guard even a bit as he conversed with Arianna. Michael made him nervous. The way he looked at Arianna wasn’t normal. He looked like he would start worshiping her if she let him.

  “Were you on Randolph land or Grace land when you were attacked?” Devin asked for both his and Mori’s sake. Mori was tracking everything now and looking for the residues from the fight. “Could you have been on vrykolakas land?”

  “I’m not sure,” Michael replied. It was the first statement he made that was actually completely true.

  ‘Sorry Devin. Their residues are a mess. They were all over the place. Randolph land, Grace land, and Katsulas land. I don’t think we can pinpoint an exact start to this fight. It will be his word against the other and no proof to back it,’ Mori explained to Devin and Arianna.

  “Could you have been on the neutral land in between?” Turner suggested. They wanted Michael to be on the Grace land and thus the vrykolakas declared an intruder. Even if he’d wanted sanctuary from the rising sun, he would be considered a trespasser on Grace and Randolph lands. Sanctuary had to be asked for on neutral land.

  “Possibly, but I wasn’t going to take the chance that someone was sneaking onto our land. We need to keep Lady Arianna safe. That’s our duty.” Michael was solemn in his reply.

  TWENTY-TWO

  Michael moved carefully, secretly testing the bindings while continuing to talk with Devin and Turner to pinpoint the exact location Michael was guarding. He was still bound, which limited his movements, but something else was hindering him. Arianna stood and curiously moved closer. Both boys they rescued stunk from blood, but neither was showing any openly-visible cuts. Michael had his shirt still wrapped around him as he had done to shield himself from the sunlight. He was tenderly hiding something in his chest area.

  “You’re hurt,” Arianna said, interrupting his talk with Devin. Though they were no longer treating him as hostile, he was still bound. Arianna stopped only a foot away from him. She didn’t fear him moving as she could now tell that there wasn’t much he could do in his state. Andrew also could tell this, yet he still stayed right behind her with his hand on her back. No matter what, Michael Seeger would always be the enemy.

  “It’s getting better now that I’m out of the light,” he whispered. His awe of Arianna kept him from truly complaining.

  Arianna reached down and moved the shirt out of the way across his stomach. A large gash ran from one hip to the other. Skin had begun to knit back together. There was no fresh blood, but it was far from being healed. Arianna moved closer and traced her finger over the wound to gauge its depth. Michael sucked in a breath from a mix of pain and enjoyment. He was ecstatic that she was touching him. The gaping claw marks were unusual to her. They weren’t the size of anything she’d seen before. They were much smaller than baku claws, yet bigger than those of a dearg-dul. Arianna leaned back and took in the scents around her. The vrykolakas, as they called him, was a dearg-dul night human even though his scent a bit off. He smelled more like the girl and guy she had met over a week ago at the park.

  “Does it still hurt?” she asked as she carefully examined the wound.

  “Not now,” he replied, enamored with her.

  “What leaves marks like this?” she asked Devin. “This is neither a dearg-dul nor a baku.”

  “He was a mutant,” Michael replied, shutting his eyes to enjoy her touch. Arianna pulled her hand back, afraid she was causing him pain. “No, don’t stop.” His eye flipped back open. The pain instantly came back after she removed her hand. “It doesn’t hurt. I promise.”

  Arianna sensed more pain and distress from him now than she did when she touched him. Arianna put her hand back so that her fingers were barely touching him. Michael relaxed again. The pain leaving wasn’t real. A cut that deep would continue to hurt until it healed. Her hand on him was doing nothing to heal him; it was just making him forget about it. Arianna would need to do more, as she wasn’t going to sit touching him until his body fully healed.

  “We came here to find the mutants. Our sources said they would try to get through the border here. My father is searching to try to find out how they can sustain their mutant form.” Michael began spilling his secrets, but didn’t seem to care as long as Arianna was touching him. “And I came to make sure we don’t have anyone who is not of our clan making it into the cities.”

  “Mutant? Like me?” Arianna asked. She was getting more information out of him with just her touch than they had for the past hour of talking to him.

  “Yes… no… kind of.” He sighed. It was much more complicated than he was explaining, but right now, even talking was hard to do. Her touch was more amazing than looking at her was. She was pure energy.

  “Which is it?” Devin asked, now standing almost as close as Andrew. He wanted to pull Arianna’s hand off Michael, but the stories he now could tell exposed more detail than years of snooping around would. Devin gritted his teeth and buried his jealousy as best he could, hoping Andrew would do the same for the sake of getting information.

  “Yes, they are of mixed blood, but no, it’s not natural like Lady Arianna.” Michael opened his eyes a bit as he explained to Devin. It took a great effort to look at anyone beyond Arianna. “Everyone has been experimenting to try to make more night humans like Arianna—mixed blood. So far, two groups have found a way to combine the blood, but it never lasts. The one I was tracking had lasted the longest of any we’ve found, but as you can tell now, it wore off with the sunlight.”

  “How many groups is your father tracking?” Devin asked, reaching to also hold onto Arianna, ready to pull her away from Michael on a moment’s notice.

  “All of them,” Michael replied and closed his eyes again to enjoy the touch of Arianna.

  ‘This is worse than we expected,’ Devin said silently to Turner. ‘We need to send word to your father now. They’ll attack him first when war comes.’

  ‘And there’s no way to avoid war?’ Turner asked in reply. Arianna heard their conversation, but again, it sounded like they were speaking in code. So many details were never shared with her.

  ‘The alternative isn’t an option. We must keep Arianna out of all of this. Her life is the most important detail,’ Devin answered.

  “Devin, can we heal him?” Arianna asked quietly as it seemed Michael was nodding off to sleep from her easing his pain. “Would my blood help?”

  Turner flipped a vial out of his pocket and tossed it to Devin. Devin reached over Arianna and placed a drop on the wound. It immediately closed up.

  “My blood?” Arianna asked. It had only been her blood that was that effective in the past. Other night human blood helped wounds heal, but her blood caused instant healing.

  “No, that’s the new drug we came up with from your blood. Turner is the only one that can handle it since he’s the only one with sensitive enough smelling to tell if it’s leaking. We don’t need our secrets getting out,” Devin explained, stepping back only a step from Arianna. He wanted to pull her with him, but needed to find out more.

  Michael’s eyes shot open. The sleepiness passed with the healing of the wound. “You healed me,” he whispered, now staring longingly at Arianna.

  “No. Devin did that,” Arianna replied. She didn’t li
ke the way he was worshipping her with his eyes, but hearing Michael tell his secrets was worth the discomfort of being that close to him.

  “No. It’s you. I can feel it. It’s you. It’s that special something that’s just in your blood. That’s why everyone wants you. That’s why I want you. That’s why my father wants you. Everything about you is amazing. Marry me.” He stared up at her. Arianna stared back, trying to understand if she heard correctly. It wasn’t every day she got a marriage proposal.

  Andrew finally moved between them and pulled Arianna away. His arms looped protectively around her as he placed himself in front of her to stare down Michael. Anger coursed through Andrew. His baku form flickered and then stayed. He was gigantic, imposing, and threatening.

  “She belongs to me,” Andrew growled. “Only to me.” Arianna wanted to fight back at his caveman-like comment, but his touch told her she should not. He was angry, furious. It wouldn’t take much to set him off, and she might not be trained enough to stop him. She might be more powerful, but he had years of being a baku on her that she couldn’t match.

  Still tied to the bed, but now able to move, Michael jumped up and hissed at him. He pulled himself back onto the far corner of the bed. He was being threatened, and there was nothing he could do while he was tied down. Michael saw the anger behind the baku and didn’t care if he angered him more. This was a fight Michael couldn’t back down from. He needed Arianna.

  “She belongs to the dearg-dul. She doesn’t belong to you or your kind.” Michael pulled on the cords, but he was securely bound. “She needs to marry one of us to keep the bloodline clean.”

  Arianna placed a hand on Andrew’s chest as he began to build rage inside him. She needed to stop the situation from escalating, no matter the danger. He would tear Michael apart before anyone could stop him. Arianna kept one hand on his chest to keep track of him in case he bolted across the room and raised her second hand to his face. She deliberately pulled his face down to look into her eyes.

  ‘No,’ she sent the message across to him. He continued to stare across the room, ready to spring on Michael and rip him to pieces.

  “No,” she said out loud. Andrew finally looked down at the sound of her voice. He felt the certainty behind it, and knew that she was commanding him. He would have to abide; she was his leader. She would stop him if he chose to disobey. Andrew released the tension that was building within him. The hands that were balled into fists at his sides relaxed and moved around her waist. His thumbs stroked the space from her rib cage to her hip, trying to ease the last of his built-up anger out of his system. Arianna placed her face on his bare chest and kissed him lightly. Andrew sighed and reigned in the last of his anger. Everyone around them had disappeared in his mind at the first sign of his boiling anger. Now they came back into focus as Turner spoke.

  “Don’t you see it?” Turner asked Michael from across the room. When Andrew was starting to lose it, Turner knew enough to get away from him. If Arianna didn’t stop him, it would have been an easy massacre of anyone standing between the raging baku and his tied-down prey.

  Michael gasped. “That can’t be. She’s meant to find a dearg-dul, not a baku. Arianna is our blue-eyed legend. She belongs to us.” Michael whimpered his last reply. He’d been so sure before that he could win her over. Now, it would be impossible.

  Andrew’s arms wrapped tighter around Arianna protectively. “She’s mine and will always be mine. Do you get that now? Do you need any more proof?” Andrew needed to make a point to keep the lesser man away from Arianna.

  “Your father doesn’t realize we have the same goal. We also wanted to keep the clans away from her, but for this reason. Her baku found its partner,” Devin explained from next to Turner. Devastation ran through Michael, as he realized the truth Devin spoke.

  Arianna’s head snapped up from Andrew’s chest as she turned to Devin. He didn’t look her direction but kept his attention on Michael on the floor. Michael stared up at her in awe, as if he were truly seeing her standing there for the first time. Arianna looked around the room. Everything looked the same to her. Why would Devin make such a statement? It was true that she loved Andrew, but she was uncertain how Devin already knew that.

  “Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on now?” Arianna asked and looked from man to man around the room. Not a single person spoke. Arianna pushed herself off of Andrew’s chest. “Are you going to tell me?” Andrew didn’t reply, so Arianna started to walk out of the room, her anger building. Her world had been filled with new knowledge since the day she entered it a year ago, but it was also filled with secrets. Arianna knew that for as much as Devin told her, he held back just as much.

  “I think maybe our other guest might be more willing to share with me what you all see but I don’t,” Arianna threatened. Andrew hurried behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He was simultaneously trying to stop her and calm her resentment. Arianna threw his arms off in anger.

  ‘I’ll tell you anything you want to know as long as you go to our room,’ he said silently. Arianna nodded and huffed off to her room.

  ‘You better or all my promises to Gabriel will be shot,’ Arianna replied.

  “Feed her before we talk to the other one,” Devin commented to Andrew before he left the room with Turner right behind him. Michael stared at Arianna as she disappeared. She’d already been claimed, and by a baku, at that. His father was not going to like that news.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Arianna opened the door to her room and pointed for Andrew to enter first. Andrew complied so that he wouldn’t anger her further. He didn’t need his baku senses to see the anger pouring off her. Arianna stomped into the room behind him and slammed the door shut. She leaned back and slid down the door until she was sitting on the floor. Her energy was still not at a normal level, but she was able to hold her anger long enough to get this alone time with Andrew. And, if needed, Arianna would find the energy to run away from everyone.

  “I’m so sick of all the lying. Are you on their side now and will only selectively tell me details?” she accused him. Arianna wanted to be standing and poking his chest, but she settled for glaring at him from the floor.

  “Never. I’m only on one person’s side, and that’s yours.” Andrew slowly approached her, hands in the air in surrender.

  “And I’m supposed to just trust you on that? I’m sure Devin would have you lying to me. They’re all good at that. And you know what stinks the most about it? I can’t even catch them lying because it really isn’t lying. They just like to hold out specific details, and I’m too uneducated here to know the difference. Ugh. I hate this.” Arianna pounded her fist on the floor. She was too weak to confront anyone head on at the moment, and too uneducated to argue anyway. “Why did I have to grow up hidden from all of this? A lot of good that did me. Now I’m the head of two families, and I don’t even know the basics.”

  “I’ll tell you anything you want to know, and teach you everything else as it comes up,” Andrew finally reached her. His arms were outstretched for her. “Just feed first. Please. You can’t even stand.”

  Arianna pushed his extended hands away. “No. How do I know that once I feed you’re not going to just lull me to sleep?” It was a good possibility, now that she was sick. Before, feeding would make her tired, but she could always keep her senses and not go to sleep if she tried. The last few months, it wasn’t really a choice whether she slept or not, or even how long she slept.

  “Ari, I promise to tell you anything you want to know.” Andrew backed up a few steps and tried to plead his case with his eyes.

  “I can’t do this anymore. I can’t be left in the dark. If there’s something I should know, then everyone can’t just keep hiding it to protect me. I need to know what’s going on.” Andrew nodded his agreement as she talked, easing her anger down a notch. “If everyone wants to keep secrets from me, then I should have never been born in the first place. Everyone would be so much better off without me.”
Arianna was beginning her own pity party. She looked up at the perfect baku form in front of her. He was scarred across his back, but his front was as carved as the statues she saw during her last class trip to the art museum. He grew up in the odd night world and had the scars to prove it. She didn’t, and it showed in her actions every single day. Andrew had the knowledge to rule a clan. Arianna didn’t. He stood and waited for her to calm down. He didn’t run away or fear her strength, or her anger. He didn’t lie to her.

  “What can I do to make you understand?” Andrew asked. He was desperate to be close to her. Even Arianna felt the pull.

  “You promise on your life you won’t ever lie to me and leave out details,” Arianna replied, waiting for him to object.

  “Never,” he answered solemnly, his hand on his heart. “I haven’t lied to you yet. I don’t even think I could. You’re more important to me than my own life.” Arianna was convinced he spoke the truth.

  Arianna pushed up, using the door to stand. Andrew moved over to help her, but she refused. Her anger was still just beneath the surface. Slowly, she walked over to the bed. Andrew sat beside her, in his baku form. She felt the pull of him being so near. Squeezing her hands together, she kept from touching him. Andrew brushed his long white hair out of the way and waited. Arianna didn’t move.

  “I’m not used to feeding on your night human form,” she said, gazing over the perfectly smooth skin. It seemed wrong to bite such a flawless creature. Andrew smiled at her and took her hand. He slid it up to his neck enjoying her touch as much as she enjoyed touching him. He didn’t fear her biting him, and his blood was the only present he could give her now that he’d left his family and had nothing but the clothes on his back to his name.

  “You’ve used too much energy today. You need the strength of my baku blood to keep healing.” Andrew closed his eyes and waited. He felt her hesitate but could also sense the anticipation rolling off her.