CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE #2
“I said—” My jaw clenched, every muscle tightening as I focused on him, on the distance between us, on the frustration clawing its way up my throat. My hand lifted without thought, fingers splaying slightly as something began to build beneath my skin. “Again.”
This time he stopped.
Stopped dead in his path.
Completely unmoving.
My breath caught and the energy within me surged.
It crackled through my arm, and down my fingertips, wild and uncontrollable.
But then—
It became too much.
A sharp, unbearable pressure snapped through me and I dropped to my knees with a strangled scream, clutching at my head as the sensation tore through me.
And then… Gone.
Just like that, the power was gone.
I didn’t even know what it was.
I wasn’t strong enough to hold onto it.
“Ailsa—” He was there instantly, kneeling in front of me, hands on either side of my face, forcing me to look at him. All traces of his earlier annoyance was gone. Replaced with… concern?
“What was that?” he demanded, eyes wide, searching me like I held the answer to something he’d been chasing for years. “Can you do it again?”
“I don’t even know what I did.”
He hesitated a heartbeat, as though deciding whether or not he should divulge a weakness against him. “You pulled the air tight around me,” he said, quieter now. “Leaving me unable to move an inch…”
This time I looked at him, eyes wide, because… what?
What did he mean I controlled the air?
He stepped back and held out a hand for me, and when mine locked with his, he pulled me to my feet, getting into a fighting stance. “Again it is.”
I could do this. I would do this.
I stepped back, mirroring him as best I could, rain dripping from my hair, clothes clinging to my skin as the storm continued to rage around us like it was as invested in this as I was.
He moved.
I reacted.
Again and again.
By the time we were done, sweat coated my skin and my heart pounded in my chest. I’d pushed harder than I ever had, pushing my new body to the bounds of what it could take.
Discovering my new strength, honing my new skillset.
But I failed to summon more magic. It alluded me once again.
It seemed to only show itself when I was in danger or angry beyond reason.
No otherworldly beasts descended upon us either, and I didn’t know whether to be relieved or offended.
I brushed my fingers through my wet hair.
At least this little dump had a shower. Davien and I hadn’t spoken since getting back, aside from his usual orders.
We leave at sunset, blah blah. And he of course showered first and was now tucked into bed.
Not that he’d sleep, though. No, his dagger eyes followed my every move.
I swear he slept with one eye open—that’s if he slept at all.
I still wasn’t sure. Unlike him, I seemed to be so damn exhausted.
He claimed that to be normal for someone who had recently emerged and apparently with age I’d require less and less human-like necessities.
I sighed at the reminder that I was still none the wiser on who the fuck I actually was. I’d gone over the possibilities countless times, and still nothing. Nothing could explain how this—I—happened.
“I can hear you overthinking.” The sound of his husky voice startled me.
“I was just thinking. I don’t understand how I could possibly be a born vampire.”
“It’s a mystery alright, but there’s no doubt that you are.”
“I know,” I’d accepted that part. “You said there hasn’t been a true born in over a century.”
“To my knowledge, yes.”
“I’m only twenty-seven.”
“Yes, I know.”
I sighed. Would it kill him to say more than a few words to me at a time? “So all of this doesn’t seem strange to you?”
“Not particularly.”
“So why are you ‘hiding’ me?”
“I ask myself that on a daily basis,” he drawled.
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“I beg to differ.”
“Well I beg to be left alone.”
That peaked his interest enough for his eyes to snap to mine, that tiny fleck of silver within them shining brighter tonight. I’d noticed they did that sometimes. “Why are your eyes almost silvery sometimes?”
He paused, seemingly deep in thought before he answered. “Sometimes, when humans are turned, they take on part of their maker’s aura—if said maker is powerful enough.”
“So your maker was powerful? And their eyes were, what, silver?”
“Pretty much,” he said, rearranging the pillows as if that could make this bed more comfortable.
“So why are yours sometimes more silvery? I've noticed it changes depending on your mood.”
“Studying my eyes now are you?”
“The change is hard to miss.”
He hummed in response, running a hand through his tousled hair.
“Are they still alive? Your maker?” I knew it was most likely a sensitive subject, but curiosity got the better of me.
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? Do you not feel like a tether or something?”
He chuckled low. “No, nothing like that. I once felt his closeness, but that was a long time ago. I haven’t seen him in over one hundred years.”
His features changed then, like he was recalling difficult memories and I knew better than to prod further, so I opted instead to bring the focus back to me. “It doesn’t seem likely for a true born to be born without anyone noticing. Who was my mother? Why would she leave me?”
“Perhaps she was doing what she thought was best. Trying to protect you. Vampire society isn’t kind to women.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re either breeding stock or—”
“Or…”
“Killed—if deemed too powerful or dangerous.”
My heart sank. The patriarchy was ever present even within supernatural societies. Just fucking great.
Wait, is that why he’s been so adamant about hiding me?
“Is that the reason we’re on the run?”
His eyes met mine once more before he shifted and looked toward the ceiling on a large exhale.
“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but yes.
I don’t agree with how things are run. A lot of us don’t.
And I know it seems absurd, but I don’t believe in coincidences.
I believe our paths were meant to cross and I’m just doing my part. ”
I wasn’t sure how to take that. Did that mean he cared or did he genuinely believe this was a part he had to play? And this was supposed to have been better treatment?
“What do you think they’d do with me?”
“I honestly can’t say, but my guess would be as I said earlier. You’re undoubtedly powerful but you lack skill and ability, so you’d probably make a decent enough wife. To them that is… not to me.”
I swallowed hard. “So I’m fucked, basically.”
He nodded. “You and me both.”