‘He is dead because she believed she was better than us.’
‘She was young and reckless as we all once were and he knew the risks when he went in. Anyway, we both know that’s not what the problem is.’
‘She could have prevented Deonti’s death.’ The pain in Gabriel was raw, not unlike the night he had told me about love between his kind.
‘You know what Deonti was like Gabe. Nothing could stop her when she had her mind set on something.’
Gabriel opened his mouth to say something, instead his eyes narrowed and turned towards the lounge entrance. ‘You brought her here?’ he hissed.
I followed his gazed in time to observe Eris enter into the doorway, where she paused, her face still supporting a mischievous grin, only this time edged with apprehension.
‘You are not welcome here!’ Gabriel stiffly stated. I couldn’t understand his contempt towards her, especially as he was the one who called her in the first place and she had helped us.
‘Please Gabriel,’ she pleaded, the smile gone from her face. ‘I just want to talk.’
Gabriel tensed as if to launch himself at her.
Putting my hand on his chest to halt him, I spoke to Eris. ‘Come to the lounge with me please.’ My voice cracked with tension and I threw a glance in Adams direction. He may hate me for whatever reason, but he obviously cared for both Gabriel and Eris and I needed him to calm Gabriel down. I walked past Eris and was glad to see she followed me to the sofa.
Once we were both seated I studied the beautiful woman before me, unsure as how to proceed.
‘I know what it’s like to blame yourself for someone’s death,’ Eris said.
‘Did you kill your best friend too?’ I asked with more bitterness than I intended.
Eris sighed. ‘What happened to you was a case of wrong place, wrong time. I did so much more than that. That’s one of the reasons Gabriel finds it impossible to talk to me.’
‘Who is Deonti?’ Although I had a good idea, I needed to hear it confirmed.
‘She is my sister.’ Grief shadowed her face and I wondered if anyone from their race ever recovered from losing a loved one.
‘I’m sorry,’ I whispered, partly for bringing it up and partly for her grief.
‘Don’t be.’ She gave me a small smile and I had to marvel at the strange woman, who changed fleetingly between being a mischievous kid to a lost old soul who regretted the choices of her life.
‘It was just over two thousand years ago,’ she continued. ‘There was a great battle within our race. There were those that believed that we were superior because of our abilities and immortality, and that the human race was there to serve us. The rest of us didn’t think like that, we liked our solitude and had no wish to dominate others. There were also those that wished to study the evolution of humans as it gave insight into our own earlier evolution.’
‘You were human?’ I interrupted, shocked as I had believed that they had always been energy based forms, Gabriel never having told me any different.
‘No we weren’t.’ She laughed lightly at my expression. ‘However, we were solid forms once, some millions of years ago.’
I wanted to ask what they looked like and how they had evolved, but now she had started her story she wanted, maybe even needed to finish it.
‘The talks about whether we should show our true selves to humans broke down. The ones who agreed with it eventually got tired of our opposition, and took matters into their own hands.’ She gazed towards the far wall, though I suspected that she was focused inwards, rather than taking in my many photos.
‘Many of us had formed a settlement of sorts in order to figure out how to deal with the situation before it got out of control, bringing our families, including the children to it, in order to keep them safe. We did not expect them to attack, but word came that many of them were headed our way. We had no time to evacuate the children and some of us stayed behind to protect them, while the rest set off to fight.’ She paused. ‘Deonti was Gabriel’s life partner and he had specified that she was to stay and protect their child.’
I nearly choked.
‘Didn’t you know he had a daughter?’ she asked me, surprised at my reaction. I shook my head in answer, not able to speak as the new information vibrated around my head.
‘I’m sorry. I thought he would have told you by now.’
I shook my head again, still unable to speak, and gestured for her to continue.
Acknowledging my request, she continued. ‘Deonti was a great warrior and she believed that she would be better able to protect her daughter by fighting against The Others, which is what we call them. After Gabriel had left, she begged me to look after Suraya and I agreed willingly. I understood that she needed the chance to fight for her daughter’s life. I was wrong. I could have stopped her, yet I didn’t, and because of me she was killed in the battle.’
I reached forward to touch her hand. The contact brought her back to the present and she smiled.
‘So now you know the person I am and why Gabriel holds such animosity towards me.’
‘It wasn’t you fault.’
‘Yes it was,’ she argued without strength. ‘I will never forget my part in my sister’s death. But thank you for your kind words.’ She squeezed my hand slightly before pulling it away. ‘I should leave.’ She stood with ease. ‘It doesn’t look like he will see me today.’
‘Please come back again,’ I begged. I had so many more questions for her.
‘I don’t think time will change how he feels about me, but thank you for the invitation, you never know, I might take you up on it one day.’
‘I’ll talk to him,’ I promised. There was something about her that made me want to keep her in my life and this was only reinforced by my anger towards Gabriel, not only because of the revelation about his daughter, but for how he blamed Eris for something I may well have done myself.
‘Good luck with that.’ She laughed, all signs of her sorrow now locked away. ‘By the way, Ana…’ She paused. ‘You really need to get your ability under control before someone notices it.’ I looked at her dumfounded. ‘You must have noticed that you can read people’s emotions much more now.’
I had noticed, but had put it down to the bond between Gabriel and me. When I thought about it, I realised that I could also sense other people more than usual.
‘Oh my God, is that because of the Shi in me?’
‘Yes and it will probably get stronger. You need to be careful when around those of my kind as we can detect the changes in you, in response to what you’re feeling.’
‘Is that dangerous?’ My throat restricted, causing my voice to tighten.
‘It could be,’ she replied grimly. ‘But don’t worry about it now.’ She smiled easily again. ‘Just learn to shield yourself better and if anything else comes up, let me know.’
With those parting words she skipped out the still open door, leaving me to speculate what else could possibly come up.
I reluctantly returned to the kitchen to find Gabriel smiling happily once more. After offering them both a drink, I joined them at the table. I really wanted to shout and scream at him for keeping his daughter from me, but I had been brought up better than to air my dirty laundry in public. So keeping my mouth tightly closed, I took Eris’s advice and tried to shield my feelings from them.
Both of them were laughing, though Adam seemed a lot more in control than Gabriel.
‘What’s so funny?’ I asked, shifting uncomfortably on my seat.
‘Adam here has been filling me in on what he’s been up to for the last few years. It’s hilarious.’
‘What would that be?’ I was interested to get some insight into Adam’s mind as he scared the hell out of me.
‘He has spent the last few years in America playing werewolf.’
I turned to Adam. Even though Gabriel must have filled him in on the details of our relationship, his eyes were still full of contempt for me.
‘S
ay hello to the beast of Bray Road,’ Gabriel continued, again unaware of how uncomfortable I was. Being able to read my emotions was completely useless unless he was going to pay attention. He laughed so hard, I thought he might fall off his chair. ‘He’s been scaring the locals by changing into a werewolf. He even jumped onto the back of one of their trucks.’
‘That’s not very nice!’ I snapped at Adam before I could stop myself.
He stared at me with such annoyance that I wished I hadn’t spoken. Determined not to shrink under his glare, I stared back at him trying to be bold, but secretly shaking inside. Surely Gabriel could get a read on how I was feeling now.
‘Why do you say that?’ he asked me. He held me in his gaze and I was unable to pull away.
Trying to force my breath calmly in and out, I answered, ‘Just because you have powers doesn’t mean you have the right to use them.’ I couldn’t keep my voice as steady as I would have liked and was aware of the slight shake to my tone.
Adam opened his mouth to respond, but Gabriel interrupted him. ‘Come on Ana,’ he laughed as he pulled me closer to him. ‘It’s just a bit of fun.’
‘I don’t see how scaring people is fun.’ My frustration was getting out of control. It didn’t help that I had had enough of the distaste emanating from Adam for one night.
‘Do you really think I would spend my time bothering to scare the locals for fun?’ Adam glared at me, as if I was something bad he had accidently stood in.
Gabriel tensed. ‘Adam,’ he warned.
‘What?’ I asked, trying to ignore the narrow eyed scowl coming from Adam.
‘For some reason you claim to love this human,’ he said to Gabriel, emphasising the word love as if he was having to say something distasteful. ‘Maybe you should tell her what our world is really like.’
‘No,’ Gabriel told him stiffly.
‘How about you tell me.’ Although I couldn’t manage the same level of distaste Adam had when talking about me, I made a good attempt.
Adam lent forward on his chair so that he was closer to me. His intense stare pinned me once more, and I immediately regretted asking him anything that would draw his attention.
‘The reason I jumped onto the back of that truck was to claim another Siis that was hiding out as a deer. The human male had collected him off the side of the road believing he was dead, when he was only injured.’
‘Why would you be hunting a Siis?’ I couldn’t believe that Gabriel was friends with someone who would kill his own kind.
‘You do not know?’ I shook my head to indicate that I had no idea what he was talking about. He studied me in silence for a moment. ‘There is a war going on,’ he told me eventually. ‘One that we have to protect you humans from.’
‘That is enough,’ Gabriel said sternly. ‘It’s nothing to worry about,’ Gabriel told me. ‘It has no bearing on us.’
I wanted to believe him, especially as I already had to deal with the fact that he had a daughter. I was very much in the mind of one problem at a time.
Adam continued to watch me, as if he expected me to jump up and do something wrong. The weight of his stare frayed my nerves and I just wanted to be away from him and Gabriel.
‘I’m going to bed,’ I said stiffly as I stood up. I gave Adam a curt nod and stalked out of the kitchen.
Gabriel caught up with me as I was heading up the stairs.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked. What could possibly be wrong? His friend looked at me as if I was nothing more that faeces and I had just found out he had been keeping secrets from me. ‘You know that talk about war, was just talk,’ he continued. ‘There really is no need to worry about it.’ The war was the furthest thing from my mind.
I took a deep breath and turned towards him, only to find him looking at me with big doleful eyes. My resolve broke and I joined him at the bottom of the stairs, allowing him to take me in his embrace.
‘I’m fine, I’m just tired,’ I reassured him. ‘And I really want to do some more Uni reading.’ I smiled at him, while trying to lock my real feelings inside.
He visibly relaxed, obviously more willing to believe the lie than the truth betrayed by my emotions. ‘I will be staying up with Adam if that is okay?’
‘That’s fine, like I said; loads of reading to get through.’
‘Do you mind if he stays in the spare room?’
As much as I would have liked to have said no, I knew I couldn’t. The downside of living with someone was that you didn’t have a choice in who they let into the house.
‘Of course not.’ I smiled, indicating badly that it would be a pleasure.
I reached up on my toes to give him a kiss good night, with the knowledge that it would probably be the early hours before he came to bed.
As I was on my way up the stairs he stopped me. ‘Ana. What happened with Eris?’ His voice was tight, and he stood tense waiting for me to answer.
‘We’ll talk about it tomorrow.’ I continued up the stairs, not really caring what he took from my answer.
Even though I opened my books with the intention of reading, my mind kept wondering. I was hurt that Gabriel hadn’t told me about his daughter, and had full intention of giving him a piece of my mind. But my anger gradually dissipated and I knew that by the time we talked about it, I would be able to stay calm and objective. It wasn’t as if he had a small child I would have to care for. She would be at least two thousand years old now. Hopefully we could be friends.
Eventually my mind quietened and by the time Gabriel slipped in the bed beside me, I was dozing. He wrapped his arms around me and I snuggled into his embrace, no longer feeling anything except the pleasure of having him to myself.
‘Has something upset you?’
‘Not upset, just disappointed.’
‘Why? Is it Adam?’
I bristled at the sound of his name. Forcing myself to relax as there were other things I wanted to discuss, I turned to face him. ‘I know about your daughter.’
Gabriel stiffened. ‘She shouldn’t have told you about Suraya.’
‘She thought I already knew. To be honest I would like to know why I hadn’t heard of her before.’ His anger towards Eris only fuelled my earlier irritation and I sat up in order to see his expression better. ‘Well?’ I urged.
‘I apologise, it just never came up.’
‘How can you having a daughter not come up? It’s the sort of thing you tell someone on the first date. We have been together for months and in all that time it never came up. How is that possible?’
Gabriel waited until some of the anger had drained from me before answering. ‘Is it a problem me having a daughter?’
I groaned angrily and pulled myself even further from him. ‘It’s not that you have a daughter that bothers me. It’s that you never told me about her that’s the problem. I thought we were closer than that. You know everything about me, even what my uniform for secondary school was like. But I don’t know about the most important thing in your life.’
He gave up trying to pull me into his arms, and sat up with a sigh. ‘Really?’ he said calmly. ‘If that is so, then how did you get the scar on your back? And why won’t you let me heal it?’
I slumped back against the head board. ‘That has no bearing on what’s happening now,’ I said. ‘You hiding a daughter from me does.’
‘It’s not like that,’ he groaned.
‘What is it like then?’ I demanded.
‘You have to understand what time is like for me. Five months is so long for you, but I have lived for thousands of years.’
‘So this relationship is like having a holiday fling for you?’
‘Don’t be irrational.’ His voice was raised in frustration. ‘You know how much I love you and that will never change. Even if I live for another hundred thousand years you will always be in my heart.’
‘I know,’ I whispered. ‘You still should have told me about her. Do you not want us to meet?’
‘Of course I do.
And looking back in hindsight, I realise that I should have told you earlier. Strangely Adam and I were having a similar conversation tonight.’
‘Oh, and what did he have to say?’
‘He just asked if you knew about her.’ He paused to watch me. ‘What is your problem with him?’
‘He scares me and I know he doesn’t like me,’ I pouted.
He looked at me in astonishment. ‘Why on earth would you think that?’
‘I don’t know.’ Away from Adam’s crushing stare I was beginning to feel a bit foolish. ‘He just seems so hard and dangerous, and you have to admit that he doesn’t like me.’
‘Give him a chance. He has only just met you. I am sure he will grow to love you as I do.’
I almost shivered at the thought.
‘He’s just so…’ I paused to find the right words. ‘Un-human’
Gabriel bellowed with laughter, making the bed shake. ‘I’m not human either you know.’
‘Yeah, but your more human than he is. He’s more…animal. You know what I mean, he’s darker and harder and…..’ I flapped my arms in frustration. ‘I don’t know. He’s just scary.’
‘There is good reason he is that way.’ His smile faded and a shadow crossed his face. ‘He has lost more than most and in the most horrible of circumstances.’ He stared off, lost in thought, before a smile spread across his face. ‘Anyway, that is not a conversation for the night. Especially when there is a beautiful woman lay next to me whom I hope, has forgiven me my actions.’
As he pulled me towards him I couldn’t help but giggle, though I suspected it was his happiness that was affecting me, rather than my own state of mind.
Gabriel’s breathing settled into a relaxed rhythm as his eyes closed and he dropped off into a peaceful sleep. He was much happier having Adam around, and I silently vowed to make it as easy as possible for him, even if the man did grate on me something chronic.
Unfortunately, sleep evaded me. The doze I’d had gave me enough energy to keep going, and thoughts of Lexi were keeping my mind active. Deciding to get some milk to help settle my mind, I slipped quietly out of bed so as not to disturb Gabriel, retrieved my glass from the bedside table and silently made my way downstairs.
Night of the Fae (Ana Martin series) Page 12