Cardinal: The Affinity Chronicles Book 1

by K Kelly

  “Yes, of course, go fetch the books, Chris.”

  “Yes, father, and you don’t have to call me by my English name.”

  Aran smiles at him fondly. “I think she likes it. Now go!”

  Chris stands and bows, then hurries away.

  “Could I interest you in something to eat and drink?” asks Aran.

  “Will it mean I can’t leave here? Is it some sort of trick?” I ask.

  Janardan laughs, but Aran looks shocked.

  “Your highness, it’s an old legend about the king or queen of the fae, not elves. I’m afraid Angelica has gotten the two confused.” Janardan looks at me. “And it’s not true of either race, my love. Neither would trick you nor do I think they’d be able to.”

  “Yes, indeed, if she is, in fact, the chosen one, none will be able to trick her in such a way,” agrees Aran.

  I have superpowers? Cool.

  Angelica

  Aran put the most scrumptious sandwiches and drinks in front of me that I have ever tasted. I ate twice as much as anyone else, and I’m still hungry. I look longingly at the empty platter, and the old king chuckles. He signals to someone behind me, and a fresh platter is placed in front of me.

  “Where do you put it?” asks Janardan.

  “I don’t normally eat this much, but I’m famished.”

  “Perhaps it’s the feedings?” asks Chris staring at Janardan.

  “Perhaps? Although I don’t know what she was like before we met.”

  Chris looks at me thoughtfully. “She did like sweet things.”

  “Hello, sitting right here. I’ve always eaten a lot, but this is weird even for me.” I go to put the half-eaten sandwich down but decide against it. It would be wasteful.

  “Well, Aran, what have you discovered?” asks Janardan as he refills my glass with water.

  “The tomes… excuse me, books… say that Angelica will come into her powers one month after her twenty-fifth birthday. Until then, she’s vulnerable. Her powers will slowly emerge and then come to an apex.” Aran looks at me and smiles. “Your powers should enable you to bring peace and prosperity to all the races.”

  “Should?” I ask.

  “I’m unclear how that’s supposed to happen,” replies Aran as he closes the last of the books. “The humans have been blind to us for so long that I don’t know how they’ll react. My guess is badly.”

  “You know, we may not know you’re here, but there have been myths, legends, and TV shows. In a way, we’ve known all about you for years.”

  Chris spits his drink across the table.

  “Angelica!”

  “What?”

  “Humans don’t actually believe those things are real,” states Chris.

  “No, but what I’m saying is, we might not know for sure, but I think you’ll be surprised at how well humans will handle the revelation that you aren’t myth or legend.”

  “She has a point. Some of my…” I watch as Janardan tries to find the right words.

  “Feeders?” I suggest.

  Janardan’s face goes slightly red, and he nods. “Yes, feeders. Some of them asked me to turn them into creatures of the night. That stupid movie ruined a lot of things.”

  “Twilight? That movie was great. The books were better. Did people want you to go into the sunlight and sparkle?”

  “I don’t sparkle,” replies Janardan dryly.

  “I know that, but it’s what everyone will be thinking.” I shake my head at him and grin.

  “My angel, you have a strange way of looking at things.”

  I shrug my shoulders. “In a way, you’ve made my point. The people you fed off weren’t that scared of you, were they?”

  “In recent years, less and less.” Janardan smiles creepily. “But in the end, they were scared.”

  “Eww! I can’t believe you said that.”

  Janardan grabs my hand and kisses the back of it. My insides melt at his touch, and I can’t remember what I was talking about.

  “Angelica?” asks Chris.

  “Yes?” I look at him.

  “Well, you can see that the mating ritual has completed itself,” theorizes Chris.

  I scowl at him as Janardan rubs my back trying to calm me down.

  I swing my gaze back to Aran, who has a smile on his regal face.

  “What’s the plan?”

  Aran leans forward. “Janardan needs to keep you safe. I know he’s claimed you, but until the month is up, if another of the races mate with you, it could break your bond.”

  “Nope, not going to happen,” I state.

  Janardan growls low and deep, and I instinctively grab his hand.

  “Angelica belongs to me, and I her.”

  Aran holds his hands up and slowly lowers them. “None in the troupe will challenge your claim. You and Angelica are safe here, but you can’t stay here. We don’t want another war with any of the races. Can you go to your clutch?”

  “No. Levi would want to use Angelica to his own devices, and as I’ve never pledged myself to them. I fear I’d be disposable.”

  “You wouldn’t be that easy to dispose of. You’re the oldest and the most fearsome of your kind,” says Chris.

  “The witches?” asks Aran.

  I shake my head. “No, they turned out to be not so nice.”

  “We know we can’t trust the angels,” states Chris.

  “Where do I take her to keep her safe?”

  Captain Woodland clears his throat. I’d forgotten he was even near us.

  “Speak, captain,” commands Aran.

  “The herd, my Aran, they could protect her. I’m just not sure they would take the vampire into their fold.”

  “Their blood is intoxicating to my kind.”

  “But you have me now, right?” I ask Janardan earnestly.

  “Yes, my angel, I have you.” Janardan looks at Aran. “Make the request.”

  Aran nods and points to Captain Woodland. “Make it so.”

  Captain Woodland bows low and leaves us. I stifle a yawn, and Janardan looks at me closely.

  “Aran, would it be possible for us to sleep for a while?”

  “Of course.” Aran stands. “Please follow me to the palace. Our beds are the most comfortable you will ever sleep in.”

  As one, the rest of us stand and follow the elvin king. I stumble a couple of times, so Janardan picks me up. With my head cradled against his chest, I feel myself drift off, and although it’s not a bed, I am very comfortable.

  Janardan

  I felt Angelica as she drifted off to sleep. She didn’t even wake when I laid her down on the bed. Later, when I joined her, she stirred and rolled onto her side making it easy for me to pull her against my body, but still, she slept. I laid there for a long time listening to her breathing. The captain is correct, and the herd will not allow me into their borders. I am too much of a threat to them. In my younger days, I enjoyed hunting the imps, the bad fae. They are not common and cause much upheaval and mischief in the human world. I have never tasted a true faery, but I fear it would destroy me. Their smell alone is something to behold.

  Angelica stirs, and I whisper to her, “Go to sleep, my angel, and dream of me.”

  She settles, and I allow myself to relax and join her shortly after.

  When I wake, the space where Angelica once laid is cold. I sit up and look around the room. She’s not here. Breathing deeply, I follow her scent passing many guards whose hands tighten on their swords, but none draw them. I wind my way out of the palace and into the grounds where I come across Angelica with Chris laughing freely and trying to catch small balls of light.

  “Janardan,” squeals Angelica as she runs to me. “Faeries!” Angelica launches herself into my arms. “If you catch one, they grant a wish.”

  “That’s not exactly true.” I shake my head at Chris, who grins at me and shrugs.

  “No, it is. You try.”

  I shake my head. “They are pixies, who will one day transform into the fae
, and if you look at them now, they have banded together. They, like their older kin, fear me. I’ll not be able to catch one unless they allow me to.”

  Angelica frowns and looks behind her. The pixies are all flying in a straight line. She releases me and moves toward them, and they fly away from her. Angelica looks heartbroken.

  “He won’t hurt you. I promise.”

  One of the pixies flies up to her face, and tentatively, Angelica raises her hand. The pixie lands on it.

  “You’re so brave,” Angelica whispers.

  I approach the pair of them.

  Angelica turns, and the pixie lets out a screech and jumps onto her shoulder.

  “She’s right, little one. I’ll not hurt you.”

  The pixie tilts its head to the side and flies within inches of my face. I smile at it, and it flies closer looking into my mouth.

  “My fangs aren’t visible at the moment. Would you like to see them?”

  The pixie looks scared but nods. I let my fangs extend, and it screams, then I’m surrounded by all the pixies trying to get a better look.

  I chuckle, and when I look over at Chris, he’s doubled over in laughter, clutching his sides.

  “What’s so funny?” I ask.

  “The pixies don’t know what to make of you. Besides, if you try anything, there’s enough of them to knock you unconscious for a week.”

  The little one that started all of this flies right up to one of my fangs and reaches out to touch it. I retract them, and it jumps back, laughing.

  I bow my head to it. “On my life, I’ll not hurt you.”

  They all begin to wave and fly further into the garden.

  “That was awesome,” yells Angelica.

  “Indeed,” I agree.

  Chris is still laughing, wiping tears away. “They’ll be talking about you for a very long time.” He looks at me and begins to nod. “You know this might work in your favor. If they tell the fae what you did, they might allow you entry into their city.”

  “I don’t think the herd is that easily swayed.”

  Angelica puts her hand in mine. “If you don’t go, I don’t go.”

  “It will be safer for you there,” I state.

  “Don’t care. This isn’t up for debate. We’re a team. If you don’t go, I don’t go,” repeats Angelica more forcefully.

  Chris shrugs. “She can be willful.”

  “I am not! If I were a man, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.”

  “You’ve got that right,” I smirk.

  Angelica’s beautiful face breaks into a knowing grin. “You’d still love me.”

  “Yes, I’d still love you, but I wouldn’t have sex with you.”

  “You love me?”

  “That’s all you heard?” I ask.

  “You love me!”

  “Yes, my angel, I love you.

  Angelica does a small dance and then throws her arms around my neck. “I love you, too.”

  “I know.”

  “No, you didn’t know ‘cause I just told you.”

  I shake my head at her. “Some things don’t need to be said, they can be felt.”

  “I prefer words.”

  Chris barks out a laugh and shakes his head. “Come on, chosen one, let’s go eat, and then you can see if the herd will accept you both.”

  “Food. I’m hungry.”

  Angelica lets me go and follows Chris back toward the palace. The small pixie who was brave enough to approach me flies into my face.

  “What is it, little one?”

  The pixie appears to be holding something in its cupped hands. I lean in for a closer look. It smiles at me, draws back a hand, and throws what looks to be glitter into my face. I double over coughing and rub my eyes to get the substance out of them. When I can finally see and breathe normally again, I stand, and the little bastard is nowhere to be seen.

  “I thought we were friends,” I mutter to the garden then hurry to catch up with my mate.

  Angelica looks heartbroken as she says goodbye to Chris and Aran. Both men embrace her lovingly and make her promise to come back. While Chris says his final goodbyes to Angelica, Aran takes me to one side.

  “How did you do it?”

  “Do what?” I ask.

  “How did you get the pixies to bless you?”

  “What? One of the little brats threw grit in my face and flew away.”

  Aran chuckles. “It wasn’t grit, it was a spell. A blessing spell saying you’re a friend to the fae. Well done, Janardan. It may help you.”

  “He blessed me? I doubled over trying to breathe, and it stung my eyes.”

  “My guess is they were testing you. Had you not survived the blessing, say if your heart weren’t pure, it probably would have killed you.”

  “Killed me?” Bloody pixies!

  “Yes, but you survived.”

  Angelica and Chris join us.

  “Are you ready?” asks Chris.

  “Yes,” we both say.

  Chris smiles. “Father, if you’d be so kind as to open a portal to the herd’s homeland?”

  Aran smiles and cups Angelica’s face. “Be well and be safe, child. Trust your instincts, and all will be well.”

  A shimmering light envelops us, and one moment we are in the elvin kingdom, the next we are standing outside a grocery store in New York City.

  “What the hell?” I ask.

  “Oh, I think I know this place.” Angelica turns around in a circle. “I think?”

  “It’s New York City, not the herd’s homeland,” I state.

  “Did Aran make a mistake?”

  “More likely the herd wouldn’t allow me in, and we ended up here.”

  Angelica looks over my shoulder.

  “There’s chocolate in there.”

  I chuckle. “Would you like some chocolate?”

  Nodding her head vigorously, Angelica grins at me and drags me into the store. A tall blond man sits behind the counter and straightens up as we enter. I smile at him, and his eyes bulge from his head.

  “It’s the middle of the day. And who the hell blessed you?” he asks completely frazzled.

  Angelica smiles and walks right up to him and touches his hand, the man blinks at her and slowly transforms into one of the fae. He becomes taller, his hair longer, and has two long plaits either side of his face, but it’s his eyes that show the most change. They become larger, more almond-shaped, and the brightest shade of blue you can imagine.

  He flinches away from Angelica. “You again!”

  “Again?” repeats Angelica, tilting her head to the side.

  He’s backed himself into the corner, eyes wild, looking for an escape.

  “I’ll not hurt you,” I say as I take a few steps back.

  “Vampires can’t be trusted,” he hisses.

  With my hand on my chest, I bow slightly and say, “I’m Janardan, and this is Angelica. We were, in fact, searching for the herd. It appears we found you instead.”

  “Janardan? Liberator of the cycle of birth and death. Murderer!” screeches the fae.

  “Perhaps once…” I pause and glance at Angelica, who’s watching the man with unveiled interest, “… but to be fair, it was the great war, and there were deaths on both sides.”

  “You killed without remorse.”

  Angelica reaches out to touch him again, and he looks as though he’s trying to melt himself into the wall.

  “What’s your name?” she asks.

  The fae shakes his head violently from side to side.

  “You said you’d met me before?”

  “Yes. On the night of your becoming.”

  “Oh, you mean on my birthday? I met an angel, and he wiped most of my memories of that night. I’m sorry I don’t remember you. So much has happened since then.” As Angelica speaks, she inches closer to the fae, and she now has his hand in hers. “I’ve met demons, lycans, elves, and pixies. Have you met pixies? They are super cute.” Angelica gestures toward me. “They
’re the ones who blessed Janardan. He’s my mate, and he won’t hurt you. I promise.”

  “Truth,” sighs the fae.

  Angelica nods and smiles. “Truth.”

  The fae slowly relaxes but does not move any closer toward me. He’s hanging onto Angelica, and as he stares at her, he begins to glow and pulse.

  “Wait,” I yell.

  Angelica immediately drops the fae’s hand and moves closer to me.

  “Is it not why you brought her to us so that we might protect her from you?”

  “No, no, no,” says Angelica quickly. “We’re both seeking asylum with the herd. I can’t part from Janardan. He’s mine, and he protects me.”

  “You would be safer with the herd.”

  “We both know that your king would try to seduce her if he could. We’re as one. I’ll not let you break that bond. If we can’t go together, we don’t go at all,” I state.

  “But you’re a vampire. You know this will not come to pass.”

  I sigh, bow slightly, and place Angelica’s hand in the crook of my arm. “So be it. Clearly, your king and the pixies have misjudged me, and I’m not worthy. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. We’ll be on our way.”

  “Wait!” The fae’s face is a mask of confusion. “Let me summon my brother…” he looks at Angelica, “… you met him in the subway on your first night. He’ll know what to do.”

  The fae keeps his back to the wall, maintaining a watchful eye on me. He even walks backward toward the back of the store, making sure I do not attack him.

  “What did you do?” asks Angelica.

  “It was war. It was also many hundreds of years ago. The fae have long memories but so do the vampires. They killed many of our kind, too.”

  “How did you survive?”

  “That’s a complicated story. The easiest answer is, I didn’t care if I died. I had already lived a long time by the time the war came to pass. Most of my friends were dead, my children were killed, and I no longer mattered. When it got to the end, I was nothing more than a killing machine. It took a long time for me to accept the fact I was still alive, and all the races had agreed to peace. As the oldest of my kind left, it was assumed I’d take the mantel, but I retreated within myself. I guess you could say I was looking for something, only I didn’t know what it was until I met you.”