by Heather Karn
"If she wants to reach Gerald and involve another House, she's going to tell us," Edgar grumbled, backing me into a corner. When Kayla didn't argue with him, it verified she felt the same. Well, since the secret was likely never going to remain a secret, I stood and dug in my pants pocket as I spoke.
"My mother was human, my father vamlure. I didn't know that until recently. Anyway, my adoptive parents sent me a package that contained a few items. One was a letter from my father, and the other was this." I finished digging out the pendent on its thin, gold chain, and held it up for the two to see.
Edgar paled in a heartbeat while Kayla's mouth fell open and she covered it with a hand, both of their eyes wide. Yes, it was shocking, me standing in the middle of the office holding the symbol of the Third House, House Takal, a House that was supposed to have been destroyed long ago. Somehow, descendants had survived, but I still had no idea what it had to do with me. Or rather, I could suspect what it did. Only Gerald could tell us.
"We tracked Gerald to St. Louis, but with the city destroyed, he wasn't there. He left a note for us to contact him via Second House, but they wouldn't speak to either me or Raven because neither one of us are officially on any House listings," I explained further. "I'm not sure what this means, and I don't want to read anything into it, but I have to find Gerald."
Edgar pulled himself together first. "You do realize that he may in fact be dead."
"Yes, but I refuse to believe it until it’s proven otherwise. Please, I have nowhere else to turn for help. I'm begging you."
"You'd be better off burying that necklace," Edgar grumbled, pointing at the pendent. "It'll cause you nothing but trouble."
Raven growled. "Didn't you hear her? It already has. Someone knows she has it, and they likely know why, and they tried to kill her."
"So, yet again, I bring up that you brought them straight to us!" Edgar bellowed, his face turning a bright red, which made him appear purple in the blue lighting. "Are you trying to kill your family? Your friends?"
"What family?" Raven yelled right back. "You disowned me. All I ever wanted was to create a world where our women and children could be safe, and you turned your back on me."
Edgar motioned to me. "It's obviously working just how you like. You have a female out there, exposed, and someone's already trying to kill her."
"This is different," Raven argued, both men's voices making my ears hurt.
"Enough!" Kayla yelled over them, silencing the two men. "That's enough from both of you. This is a delicate matter. Let's handle it as such." She met my anxious gaze as I tried to shift closer to Raven, his dad making me nervous. "We'll help you find Gerald, but that's as far as we can go down this path."
"I understand."
Standing, Kayla crossed the room to lean against Edgar's desk, her walk so graceful it almost appeared like she was floating. I'd never be able to pull that off. I was a hulking beast compared to her smoothness. She lifted the phone and spoke into it after dialing a set of numbers I couldn't see.
"This is Kayla Cartana of First House. I need to speak with Alexander Roren. Thank you." She waited in silence as the man who'd answered the phone for us transferred her to who I assumed was the Head of Second House.
Chapter 7
"Kayla, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you so soon after our last discussion, and so late. Is something wrong?" a deep, gravelly baritone voice asked, filling the room as Kayla put the call on speakerphone. I was shocked the device even had the capability.
"Everything's fine, Alexander" she replied with a slight chuckle, her features smoothing out. "I need to know if you know of a Gerald-." She looked at Raven and arched a brow.
"Vancovi," Raven supplied.
"Vancovi. Gerald Vancovi."
When Alexander spoke again after a brief pause, his voice sounded hesitant, and slightly curious. "Yes, I know him, but what is it that you want with him?"
I couldn't help it, I slouched forward in my seat and breathed a heavy sigh of relief. He was alive. Somehow he'd survived St. Louis, and he was alive. A hand settled on my back, Raven's silent motion of companionship.
"We need to speak with him right away," Kayla was saying when I pulled myself together.
Alexander groaned. "It's late, Kayla, and he's old. I believe he's already gone to bed. I'll wake him if it's an emergency, but I'd prefer to let the man sleep."
Raven's mom turned to us, waiting for a silent cue that we should have the man woken up. I turned to Raven giving him the exact same look, but he shrugged and nodded his head for me to give the response. With my tongue lodged in my throat at the idea of me making these decisions, I turned back to Kayla and shook my head. This could wait.
"We'll wait until tomorrow morning," Kayla assured Alexander, a soft lilt to her voice.
"Good. You could always speak to him at the Moon's Glow festival," Alexander offered, and my eyebrows pinched together as I turned to Raven.
He ignored me, speaking to his mother. "We can't go. Neither one of us have a House."
"We'll escort you," she responded without missing a beat. "Alex, we have two young people here who are in need of speaking with Gerald immediately. If he's able, we'd like him to call tomorrow. If not, I'll be escorting them personally to the Moon's Glow festival to meet him. It is a matter of great urgency."
"Very well. We'll make sure he calls tomorrow as well as is available during the festival to meet with them. Thank you for the call."
"And thank you for the assistance." Kayla set the handheld receiver back on the telephone's base and smiled at us. "I know it's not convenient, being in such a hurry for answers, but this may be the best chance you have to speak with him."
"What's the Moon's Glow festival?" Lee asked from his chair behind me, speaking for the first time.
Raven chuckled beside me. "It's like Valentine's Day on the surface, a day to celebrate love. There are parties and games, and it's a way for the single members of each House to meet potential mates from other Houses."
I winced at his words. "It's like a party for single people to meet and hook up?"
"Something like that." Raven grinned at me, both of us knowing how I felt about marriage for the time being. I wasn't against it in the future, but for now, I wanted to focus all of my efforts on not dying as an Elite trainee.
Avery snickered and sighed. "Well, this is going to be fun to watch."
"I'll watch with you," I grumbled.
"Nah, I'll be watching you."
Snorting, I stared at him over my shoulder. "Then I'm afraid you're going to be bored silly. I'm not interested."
He shrugged. "We'll see. Maybe you'll find that man that you just can't live without." His eyes darted to Raven and I wanted to smack Avery.
Kayla moved, drawing our attention back to her as she sat on the corner of Edgar's desk. "Do not worry, little one. Like Raven said, it’s a celebration of love, and there is more than one type of love. I know I'll be happy to celebrate the love a mother has for her child by having my baby with me to celebrate again." Her eyes misted as she beamed at Raven, but the moment was ruined when Edgar harrumphed. I wanted to smack the man.
"Since they're coming with us, where do you suppose they stay?" Edgar asked his wife in a sarcastic tone. "Neither have a House, and apparently they have friends on the surface.
"I'll need to speak with them about our plans," Raven acknowledged. "I'm not sure you'd like them hanging around down here, but I can guarantee you they're safe to be around."
"Why wouldn't we like them?" Kayla asked, making Raven rub his face. He should've seen this line of questioning coming. Knowing him, he had, but it wasn't any easier to answer now or later.
"Two of them are magic users."
Silence followed, and it continued as both of Raven's parents stared at him. When it became uncomfortable, I fought not to fidget, failing miserably.
"Okay," I stated when I could no longer take the thick tension in the room. "Luella is a naiad and Shannon is
a witch. They're both wonderful women and the reason they're here is because they both want to protect me. In fact, they helped Raven save my life. Like Avery, I'm pretty sure they'd classify themselves as my bodyguards under the current situation."
Avery chuckled, the sound a bit odd considering the circumstances. "They're also considering themselves to be matchmakers too."
I glanced at Raven before I could stop myself and found him watching me, the sides of his lips twitching. So, he did know they were teasing me about him liking me. That they wanted us to be an item. Crap.
Kayla sighed and turned her attention on Edgar. "Against my better judgement, I say we let the magic users come down."
"What?" he bellowed. I'd never felt a room shake from someone yelling before, but I was pretty sure the room moved. Kayla didn't even flinch under the rebuttal and her husband's fiery stare, like she'd grown used to his outbursts over the years they’d been together. Meanwhile, I was hoping to melt into the chair I sat on.
She took her husband's hand, soothing some of the rage from his face. "They already know this is where we live, and if they're loyal to our son, then we don't need to worry about them. Honestly, Ed, I think our son has a point. We can't stay hidden forever, and look at his eyes. How bright they are. He's being fed on the surface, and down here we're barely surviving."
I'd thought it was the dim lighting in the room that made their eyes so dark they were almost black, but her words made it sound like I wasn't seeing wrong at all. They were almost black. Was that malnutrition like Raven had told me about?
"They will not harm anyone," Raven spoke softly, watching his parents. "I trust them with not only my life, but yours as well. I never would've brought them so close to your home if I didn't trust them completely and without any reservation."
"I don't like it," Edgar grumbled, sounding more like a grumpy toddler than an older man. It was hard to believe that he and Raven shared the same blood.
"I'm sorry," Raven told them, his confident air evaporating to leave behind a meek man I didn't know as he slid from his chair to kneel on the ground before his parents. "I know I've disappointed you in so many ways, and I shouldn't have come here, but Koda needs answers, and I didn't know where else to go. There is nowhere else to go. I'm a vamlure without a House, but I beg you to trust me. What I've done in my life, I've done for you and our people. I want peace, and for the children of our people to grow up without fear, and with strength and trust." He lifted his head to face them. "I found Koda participating in an Elite Interview, having no idea what and who she is. She knows nothing of her birth parents besides the information she's been able to find in the last few days, and she was lucky to have that. How many more stories like hers are out there? We can't become so out of tune with our surroundings that we forget who we are and we lose our young. There are also people out there willing to help us, just as there are those who wish to hurt our kind. I won't say anymore, but if you wish to see this for yourself, that not all magic users despise us, allow Luella and Shannon to show you."
Never in my life would I ever have imagined I'd see Raven beg anyone for anything, but as he knelt, with his head bowed once again, I couldn't help but be in awe of him. He was one of the strongest, bravest men I'd ever known in my life, and it took far more courage than even I possessed to open himself up like this. While his display may have come off as weak to anyone who didn't know him, my heart swelled knowing that I could be trained by someone strong, yet humble. He wasn't playing them with an act. All he wanted, all he'd ever wanted, was to help his people, and he'd lost so much trying to do it.
Edgar growled in frustration before slamming his hands on his desk. "I'll never understand how we could produce a boy with such ideas, but what do I know?"
"Easy," Kayla crooned, stroking her husband's hand while her son remained on the stone floor. "You both want what's best for our people, only you have two very different ways you wish to accomplish it. Neither is wrong as long as it doesn't bring destruction down on us. But, we've tried your way. Now, let's see what his way entails. It can't hurt to allow two people he trusts into our home."
"Yes, it can," Edgar growled back.
"Please," I squeaked, my brain to mouth filter evaporating. "I haven't known them long, but I know they won't betray you, or harm anyone. If you can't trust Raven's word, then trust mine. I've lived as a human most of my life, and I can tell you that most magic users, or even shifters, aren't blood thirsty. Times have changed. And if all you can do is come to the surface to meet them before you decide, then please, do that."
"Fine," he snapped. "Get off the ground, Raven. Take me to these two magic users. The rest of you, stay here, and don't touch anything."
Edgar stood abruptly from his desk, his chair flying out behind him to hit the stone wall. It was a miracle the chair was even still intact. Raven stood, and I reached for his hand, squeezing it. He returned the gesture before following his father from the room. When the door slammed shut, my new sensitive hearing had me gritting my teeth and wincing.
"Well, that was fun," Avery grumbled, rubbing his ears as I turned to face the two men sitting behind me. "I could've done without the added punctuation of a slamming door."
Kayla's lilting laugh filled the small space. "He has a temper, but it's usually not so explosive."
"Does he really hate Raven that much?" I asked, my question wiping the smile from her face.
"No, of course not. They have two different opinions which has always led to heated arguments between them, but Edgar loves Raven deeply, as any good father would."
"But he disowned him."
"Because Raven refused to come home, instead choosing to travel a path Ed disapproved of. He made the decision in the heat of rage, and once he calmed down, he regretted it. Well, not that he ever stated it, but I know Ed well, and I could tell. He's missed his youngest son for so long. I don't think he actually expected Raven not to come home."
Avery snorted, the sound sarcastic, as well as the tone of his voice, which surprised me. "Maybe he would've come home if the man who apparently loves him hadn't threatened to kill him if he did."
"Again, Ed spoke out of anger."
"Then he needed to reach out and correct his mistake."
"He's proud-."
"And Raven's stubborn," Avery finished, his voice softening. "I was Raven's first friend on the surface. I've seen him grow and change. I was the first person to offer him blood. And I was there the day he showed a group of Elite soldiers and magic users that a vamlure can be trusted. I've witnessed time and time again as he's shown to others that your kind aren't a blood thirsty species. If you’d get out of your tunnels, you'd find the world is a lot more friendly a place for you than you think, especially after the Great Reveal."
"It likely is," she agreed, then eyed me. "But someone has a problem with our friend here, and when one vamlure is attacked, more will be. Ed wants to make sure we're safe before we leap into the hands of dangers."
"Crawling instead of leaping won't help," Avery pointed out. "Like you said, Raven's eyes are bright. How much longer can you all hide down here before it's too late and you starve to death?"
Kayla shivered. "It's already begun. The infant mortality rate has spiked in the last five years, and we've lost as many pregnant mothers."
Avery's lips thinned, his eyes unfocused and thoughtful. "I can't do much to help your kind as a whole, but is there a female I can help now? A pregnant female I can offer a bit of my blood to who could use it?"
Whipping her focus to Avery, Kayla's eyes locked on him. "You'd willingly give blood to one of our females?"
"Me too," Lee put in, raising his hand briefly as he offered. "I wouldn't mind donating some blood to the cause of saving a life."
I shrugged. "I'm not sure if it's too early for me to donate, but I'm willing. I mean, that's why I wanted to become an Elite, to help people."
A sheen of tears filled Kayla's eyes as she covered her mouth with a hand as soft sobs
escaped her. And that was how Edgar found us a few minutes later: Kayla with tears streaming down her cheeks, and the rest of us sitting there, not knowing what to say. The man's eyes whipped between us and his wife before a soft growl rose in his chest.
"What happened here?"
Raven was right behind him, scooting past his father to run interference, giving us time to explain what was happening. Thankfully, Kayla pulled herself together and explained it all, easing Edgar's temper. Luella, Shannon, and a still wolfie Jackson stood just inside the closed door, eyeing everything with interest.
"Don't worry, I won't be volunteering. I know what my blood does to your kind," Shannon piped in after the explanation was over.
"We appreciate that generosity," Kayla snickered, rubbing Edgar's arm to finish calming him. "And I'm sorry I lost it. We've been so worried about our young and their mothers. It would be so gracious of you to donate."
"How do you want us to do it?" Raven asked, setting the bag he carried on the chair he'd sat in. It was his overnight bag, which also included his blood kit, which he used to take blood from others. Avery carried one as well so he could donate in a hurry without waiting for Raven to bring his out, but his was likely still in the truck.
"What do you mean?" Kayla asked, watching Raven dig out the kit.
"Do you want us to donate here and you take the blood to those in need, or do you want us to travel to them and donate in their sight?"
"Here is fine," Edgar hedged, finally relaxing. "You don't have to do this. We didn't ask you to."
"You didn't need to," Raven countered.
And that's when I jumped in, standing next to Raven and waiting for my turn to donate. "I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing it for the women and their babies. This is how I help my species."
"This is what we do. Save one life at a time," Avery spoke, lining up beside me.
In the end, I filled two vials, and the others, including Luella since her blood was safe, filled three each with the knowledge they'd each donate another vial in the morning. Well, everyone except Raven would be donating to the cause. Raven would be donating to me.