Chapter 5

Instead of having the erotic romantic encounter with Luthias that I’d grown so accustomed to having when I slept, my dreams were filled with agonizing encounters with Geo.   I flitted from scene to scene, never staying with one for very long.  I saw him standing off to the side while Luthias made love to me.  His face was dark and threatening.  I saw him arguing with Luthias over me until it became a physical fight.  Then, a second me appeared and soothed him.  He responded to whatever it was she whispered in his ear like a babe to his mother.  She took his hand and started to pull him away from Luthias and me.  He stopped at the door long enough to look at me and tell me he would always love me, but he had to go with her.  He assured me that I was in good hands with Luthias.  The scene changed to Geo and my doppelganger admiring my two children. When they picked them up and my children waved good-bye to me as they walked away, I screamed so hard for them to come back that I woke myself up.

One of the females assigned to tend to my needs came rushing to my aide.  My body was covered in sweat as I continued to scream for Geo to give me back my babies.  I thrashed my arms out to ward off her attempts to calm me down until she finally called for help.  It took three females to finally wake me fully so that I could understand where I was and that I was having a bad dream.

I asked for Luthias, but was told that he was hunting and wasn’t expected back for several hours.  One of the women offered to sit with me.  The other two thanked her and assured her they’d return in a few hours to relieve her.  Apparently Luthias gave orders that I wasn’t to be left alone for even a nano-second.

I lay in misery while I did my best to clear my mind of the nightmare.  The female warily watched me from the chair she’d placed in the corner of the room. I wondered if she thought me crazy and was waiting for me to throw another fit.

“I had a bad dream,” I sighed.

“As well you should,” the female spat.

“Excuse me…. err... what’s your name?” I said with arrogant surprise.

“Emily.  My name is Emily,” she replied with hostility.

“Excuse me, Emily, but I don’t understand why you are being so hostile toward me,” I said.

“I’ve met your fiancé,” she practically hissed, “and I heard about how you play one brother against the other.  Now I’ve seen it firsthand.”

“What are you talking about?” I exclaimed.

“You two weren’t exactly discreet,” she said with disdain. “With only a thin door between us, we heard everything.  I mean… everything.  If those two kings come to blows over you, it will be all your fault.  Your selfish, wanton ways could destroy two kingdoms.  Luthias was being kind by calling you a nymph.  What his subjects call you is much harsher.”

Tears of shame and hurt burned my cheeks as I ordered her out of the room. I didn’t even have the right to be angry with her because she spoke the truth. I was being selfish in my inability to choose one brother and stick to that decision. I knew I was risking the welfare of both kingdoms by laying with Luthias.  He’d changed since he became a hybrid.  The werewolf in him made him far more aggressive than he’d been as a mere vampire.  His temperament shifted along with that aggression. Where he might have refrained from fighting with Geo over me before, I didn’t believe he would anymore.  It was a risky game I played that had to stop.  I just didn’t know how.

To add to my misery, I was human again. I’d barely begun to appreciate being a vampire and now I had to adjust to being an ordinary human without magic.  Even though I lived like that for the first eighteen years of my life, I questioned how I would manage after experiencing and enjoying vampire powers and magic.

When Luthias returned, he found me sitting on the edge of the bed.  I was exhausted after performing a thorough search of the room for my clothes.

“Where are my clothes?” I asked as soon as I saw his smiling face.

“Do you plan on going somewhere?” he asked with surprise.

“I don’t want to stay here anymore,” I pouted. “They hate me here.”

“Who?” he asked with confusion.

“They think I’m a viper.  They say I’m playing you and Geo against each other,” I explained.

“You spoke with Emily,” he said with a slow shake of his head.  He walked to me and knelt so that his eyes were level with mine. “Emily has been trying to hook up with me since she first arrived. She speaks from jealousy, not truth.  What she doesn’t understand is that whether you are in the picture or not, she will never be with me.”

“She said that everyone heard us making love and that you were right to call me a nymph,” I pouted. “She said they call me worse than that.  What’s worse than that?”

“A nymph is a beautiful, mystical creature,” he cooed. “Why would you think that is bad?”

“You know very well that’s not what you meant.  Nymph is also slang for nymphomaniac.  I’m not that naïve, Luthias.  Don’t treat me like a child,” I roared.

“I shouldn’t have called you that. I was upset with myself and I took it out on you.  I’m so very sorry,” he apologized.

“It’s been days and Geo hasn’t been to see me,” I blurted out.  “Do you think he knows what we did?”

“He was here,” Luthias said, quietly.  “You were sleeping.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I cried.

“He asked that we let you rest,” Luthias shrugged.  “He couldn’t stay long enough to justify disturbing you.  He was on his way to investigate a rumor about Bartholomew’s army moving in again.”

“Moving in where?” I gasped.

“I believe he’s hunting down the remains of Sybil’s kingdom, at the moment,” he said thoughtfully, “but there’s fear he’s discovered the Fae community.”

“Why didn’t you tell me he was here?” I asked.

“Emily was supposed to tell you,” he replied.  “I see she and I need to have a talk.”

“I don’t want her near me again,” I said as I placed my hands on his shoulders to assist me with standing.

He stood along with me and held me close to his chest.

“You shouldn’t be up yet,” he whispered near my ear. “Your skull was cracked by that cougar.  You need more time to heal.”

“Your blood has helped me,” I said firmly.  “I’m tired of being in that bed.  I hate it. I hate being human again too.”

“I’m so sorry,” he said.

“Do you think it’s permanent?” I asked.

“I hope not,” he replied.

“Can’t you bite me and turn me back?” I asked, hopefully. “You wouldn’t have to worry about overpowering Charles’ venom like Geo did. It shouldn’t be as difficult. You’d just be returning me to my natural state.”

“I asked Gwendoline the same thing, but she’s afraid to do anything until she’s able to find the source of the magic.  Trying to turn you could kill you if the spell they used is strong enough,” he said with a sad voice.  “If I could, I would.”

“What about the blood you gave me?” I asked hesitantly. “I know it helped heal me, but do you think it will harm me because of that stupid mysterious spell?”

“Both your grandmother and Gwendoline had the same worry, but they soon changed their minds when they saw how much you improved in such a short period of time,” he said.

“Then, give me more, please,” I said quietly.

“What?” he asked with disbelief.

“I want to get this healing over with. Give me more blood so I can be done with this,” I said.

“Casey, my love,” he said as he pulled me to sit on his powerful thighs. “I’ve told you that I love you, but I don’t think you realize the intensity of that love.” He put his hand over his heart. “I’m filled with love for you- in here.   There’s no room left for anyone else.  You’re my everything.  Whether you are with me or not, you are and will always be my everything. I’d do anything for you, but I’m afraid to give you more of my blood.”

“I enjoyed being a vampire. I want to be one again,” I said as I tried to encourage him.  “Are you afraid I’ll become a werewolf instead?”

“I’m a hybrid,” he reminded me. “I’m just not sure what a large amount of hybrid blood will do to a human. If you were vampire or werewolf I probably wouldn’t be as concerned.”

“Then, don’t give me a large amount,” I shrugged. “Give me a little at a time.”

He looked at me long and hard before dropping his fangs and biting his wrist.  He held it to my lips and I sucked greedily.  It tasted strong and bitter, but I took it in anyway. 

Even if I wanted to take it in large doses, I wouldn’t have been able to.  After a very short time I was overcome by the bitterness and began to gag involuntarily. He pulled his wrist away. I covered my mouth while I tried to control the gag reflex that threatened to purge the blood I’d just ingested.

He rushed to the door and shouted for someone to fetch Gwendoline before finding a basin for me to vomit in.  I wretched so violently I was sure my entire stomach was at risk of climbing out of my esophagus.

Gwendoline teleported into the room and immediately set to work examining me.  Grandmother made a rather clumsy appearance shortly thereafter. It was centuries since she’d teleported and it showed.

Luthias expressed his confusion over my reaction to his blood since I’d already been given it and responded so well to it.

“Did she drink it or did ye give it to her intravenously” Gwendoline asked.

“She was unconscious,” Luthias stammered.

“She also didn’t have our potion inside her,” my grandmother interjected.

“Argh,” Gwendoline moaned as she slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. “I completely forgot about the healing potion.  ‘Twouldn’t be compatible with the wolf in ye.”

“I feel like I’m going to die,” I managed between gags.  At this point I had nothing left to vomit so my body just gagged for the sake of gagging.

“Do something, please,” Luthias begged.  “I can’t lose her.”

My grandmother studied him for a moment before coming to my side and carefully placing one hand on the crown of my head and the other hand over my stomach.  She said a few words that I understood to be Gaelic, but had no clue of their meaning.  Within seconds my gag reflex was settled and my body was relaxed.

“You’re rather good at this, grandmother,” I said, admiringly.

“It’s in our bloodline, child,” she said.  “It may lay dormant, but it never goes away.”

“Does that mean I can still do magic even though I’m human again?” I asked hopefully.

“You were never fully human, Casey,” she replied. “You just thought you were.”

“Then, I can still do magic, right?” I asked.

“I don’t know if it’s safe for ye to try doing magic until we figure this mess out,” Gwendoline said as she removed the bandage on my head to inspect the healing process.  “This looks good.”

“Can the bandage stay off?” I asked. “It feels so tight and binding.”

“We did that to keep your bones in place,” my grandmother offered. “You wouldn’t want to look deformed, now, would you?”

“No,” I gasped. “Put it back, then.”

“You are so lucky to be alive,” Luthias interjected. “Every time I think about it, I shudder with dread.”

I caught my grandmother glowering again. I understood her fear of his putting his hybrid blood in me without checking with them first, but I felt it was more than that.  I just couldn’t figure out what.

“I’d like to return to Verso soon,” I said.

“Absolutely not,” Luthias said, firmly.

“You can’t keep her here against her will,” my grandmother barked.

“I can and I will, if that’s what needs to be done,” Luthias replied, defiantly.

“We can protect her with our magic,” my grandmother said.

“That’s been working so well, now, hasn’t it,” he said between clenched teeth.

“Son!” Gwendoline shouted.  “King or no king, ye show your elders respect!”

The old Luthias would have humbly apologized, but the new Luthias simply stood with his chest heaving while he focused on calming down.  

When he finally managed, he said, “Try to understand my fear. Not only will she be vulnerable to the Verso rogues, but the fairy blood in her will accentuate that. You two are powerful magicians, but your focus needs to be on working out what’s happening, not following Casey around to adjust her protection spell every time this mysterious spell caster shifts the energy; which seems to be quite often.  It would take only one… just one time for you to be focused elsewhere for us to lose her.  Please see my point of view.”

“Geo is expected to return in another day or two. He’ll want to see her,” Gwendoline said.

“He’s already been here once.  He can come again anytime,” Luthias confirmed.

“How did he find ye?” Gwendoline asked with curiosity.  “’Tisn’t an easy task.  If we weren’t teleporting to your energy point, I question how we would have managed.”

 I wasn’t certain, but I thought I saw a brief flash of light in Luthias’ rich blue eyes before he told them that he’d sent someone to fetch him.

 “You knew he was on his way to the mutant-vampires?” my grandmother asked. “He asked to see Casey before he left, but she was nowhere to be found and there was an emergency.  He didn’t know about her brush with death. I find it difficult to believe that, once he did, he’d continue on.”

 “Then, ye don’t know my son well,” Gwendoline sighed.  “He’s a king, first and foremost.  I have no doubt that, whether he was happy about it or not, once he was assured Casey was on the mend and in good hands, he would have continued to do his duty.”

 “The mutant-vampires aren’t his duty,” I said.

 “That’s right, lass.  They’re yours,” Gwendoline said.  “My son has adopted that responsibility on top of monitoring Vampire Land and his own kingdom out of his love for you.  ‘Tis a mighty daunting task he does for love.”

 “I appreciate him monitoring Vampire Land, but I could care less about what happens to those damnable mutant-vampires.  He can let them rot for all I care,” I said.

 “That’s a bit ungrateful, wouldn’t ye say?” Gwendoline said in a tone that reminded me of when my grandmother reprimanded me when I was a child. “If I’m not mistaken, didn’t those very same mutant-vampires rally around their queen to help save Luthias when Abigail and Pierre held him captive? Maybe it’s time to opened your mind and your heart to those vampires. They may be mutant, but they’re still vampires.  Most of them are the way they are by circumstance, not by choice.”

 Her words were like a slap in my face.  It was as if she’d held a mirror up for me to see myself through other’s eyes and I didn’t like what I saw.

 “Do they really think of me as their queen?” I asked, hesitantly.

 “A few resist your claim to the throne, but, for the majority…. Yes,” Luthias offered.

 “I’ve been acting like a child,” I mused.

 “You’ve been acting like a young woman who was sheltered from the world and its woes most of your life and then thrown into it just like that,” my grandmother said, defensively. “Arthur and I are proud of how well you’ve handled things, Casey. You’ve become a woman before our very eyes.”

 “Not just a woman, but a queen,” Luthias said proudly.

 “Let’s not forget the fact that you’re almost ready to become Verso’s witch.   I don’t believe any of it is lost.  I just think someone very powerful has managed to cloak and disarm your traits and powers. Once we figure this out, all will return to normal,” Gwendoline said with confidence.

 “I hope so,” I mused.  “In the meantime, I‘m going to do my best to change my attitude toward the mutant-vampires.”

 “We’ll need them if it comes to all-out war,” Luthias said, thoughtfully.

 “Does it look like it will come to that?” my grandmother asked anxiously.

 “It does,” he replied.