Bloods Gem (31 page)

She nodded. “I’m sorry. I was not thinking.
I just wanted to be with my friends.”

She kept apologizing. Faith held her stomach
like I’d just punched her in the gut. I knew how much pain what I
said caused her but I needed her to understand where I was coming
from. Now that she understood, I told her my lie. She stopped
crying and hugged me tight. “Oh. So, now your glad I’d never had a
girlfriend huh?” I asked. She chuckled. “I love your beautiful
smile baby” I said, kissing her head.

“
I want to go with you. I’m sorry I
hurt you and I’m sorry I wasn’t using common sense,” she said,
softly.

“
Love, I don’t mind you being friends
with Chris but what I do mind is you staying the night with Chris.
Or staying the night close to Chris. I still don’t trust that boy
and doubt I ever will.”

“
I understand,” she said glancing up
at me.

She walked upstairs giving me a look. I
followed her lead. She walked in the bedroom and I was not far
behind. She stood by the bed and turned around, gesturing with her
finger to come here. I obeyed. She threw me on the bed glaring at
me. I started laughing.

“
Can your ex-girlfriend do this?” She
asked, smirking as she crawled towards me seductively. I bit my
lip, watching her in slow motion, captivated by her sexy dance as
she crawled on top of me.

Faith

I slept on the jet. I was exhausted from
arguing with Daniel, emotionally drained. I couldn’t believe how
foolish I was. The way I hurt Daniel drove me insane. Often, I
didn’t think things through, not realizing my actions could hurt
someone that bad. I knew for future reference not to make the same
mistake.

It didn’t help that my ex-boyfriend was
still totally in love with me. Kate and Mike told me that he wont
move on. Chris told Mike in confidence that he would find a way to
win me back. I figured when we got back from our trip, I’d keep my
distance from him. If I knew all this before I called Kate and told
her I wasn’t coming, I wouldn’t have agreed to go in the first
place.

Daniels Father Marshall, sent a driver to
pick us up at the private airport strip. Daniel held my hand the
entire way. He seemed anxious to get out of the car. Pulling up to
the castle, Marshall, Mary his mother and Celeste were outside
waiting to greet us. He quickly flung the door open before we came
to a complete stop and jumped out. I struggled trying to get out. A
hand reached for mine and I took it. Daniel pulled me to his side,
placing his arm around my waist. He walked me up to his family with
more confidence then usual. “Mother, Father. My wife to be,” he
said, proudly. I smiled. They clapped and each one embraced me with
a gentle hug. They congratulated us and Marshall patted Daniels
back.

Daniels Father was a little intimidating. He
was a bigger man with broad shoulders. His dark hair settled just
right below his shoulder blade. He also looked quite older then I
expected him to look. Daniels mother however was a petite woman.
Her hair red with streaks of gray. But she had a round young face.
Mary's eyes were a beautiful greenish yellow color. She was a very
warm and sweet woman. I didn’t mind having her as my mother in
law.

Inside the castle, people were running
around putting up decorations, replacing lights, and setting up
tables. I glanced at Daniel, confused. “Whats going on?”

He tilted his head and grinned. I extended
my arms with open palms. He whispered in my ear, “It's sort of for
us. Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner but I know how you hate crowds
and I didn’t want to scare you off if I told you.”

“
Great” I mumbled.

“
Don’t worry. It will be fine,” he
said chuckling.

I didn’t want a huge engagement party but it
was out of my control. I didn’t want to say seem ungrateful. It’s
probably a customary thing and I didn’t want to be rude. I squeezed
his hand. “You're going to be by my side the whole time, right?” I
asked, almost begging.

“
I wont leave your side if I can help
it,” he promised.
Thank you
,
I mouthed.

Daniel took me to my room. It was huge. The
size of my moms whole house.

I shook my head as I looked around.

“
What?” He asked.

“
It’s so…. Big!”

“
Well yeah. What did you expect? It’s
a castle, and you will be treated like my queen now,” he said
smirking.

I shrugged. “So, we cant sleep together
still? Like last time or.?” I asked, hoping the answer would be
yes. He shook his head. “Nope. They are still set on the rules
until we are married,” he said.

I tossed him a burning stare. “How am I
going to manage this huge bed all alone?” I said, walking around
the bed sliding my finger across the comforter.

He chuckled. “You know… you're going to get
me in trouble, if you get me going,” he said walking towards
me.

I stopped. “Well, I guess I should just
apply some distance then?” I said biting my lip teasingly.

He tackled me to the bed, kissing the side
of my cheek. “So, if we’re going to do this, and since I'm the one
taking all the risk’s, would you mind putting that black silky
thing on for me that I bought you?”

I shook my head. “Not a chance. But, maybe
if your nice enough… when we get to Jamaica, I might put it on just
for a little bit.”

He raised a brow. “It wont be a little bit
before it’s tore to shreds on the floor.”

I shook my head, smiling. “What a waste of
perfectly good fabric and money.”

He slid his finger across my
lips,.“Shh--”

“
What?”

He motioned towards the door. I looked,
wondering what he was shhing me for. Then I heard a loud knock. We
both jumped.

Daniel glanced at me. “It’s father.”

I clamped my teeth together pulling my
bottom lip to the side. “Yikes”

He shook his head. “Its okay. He just told
me we need to come downstairs soon. He wants to read a little bit
of our history to you.”

“
History?” I asked.

“
Yeah. About the first born Ill-suen.
He wants you to be educated about us.

“
oh, okay.”

He smiled and grabbed my hand. “I'll sneak
into your room tonight so you can put on that thing I bought
you.”

“
Your not going to let up are
you?”

He cocked his head in my direction, like I
knew the answer to my own question. “Whatever,” I said, rolling my
eyes teasingly.

Faith

We all sat down on red velvet antique
chairs. The fireplace inside the dimly lit room emitted a warmth
that made me feel at ease. Daniel sat beside Mary and across from
me. Marshall to her side and Celeste sat quietly next to me.

Marshall held an old leather book in
his hands. On the front, I could barley make out the words
Ill-suen,
It was pretty
worn.

Marshall glanced up at me with his dark eyes
and started. “Our kind have been around for many many years. Yet we
are the rarest of them all. Very few exist anymore. Most, when
seeking out our gem, get killed in the process by the shifters. Not
many are as fortunate as we are. Meaning, we have the resources to
get to the gem quicker then most.

“
Most Ill-suen live in the jungle, or
in distant places, as far away from civilian life as possible. When
we do survive long enough to find our gem, our strength and will
become crippling in their presence. Often times the scent
overpowers our better judgment and we kill our gem along with
ourselves. But the need for their love is the only thing that can
stop us from attacking. A look if you will. that one look can
determine the fate of both individuals.”

He picked the book up off his lap and slowly
opened it. “In the beginning, there lived a spiritual shape-shifter
called, Maurice. He set off on a journey and stumbled upon a
vampire. Her name was Samone. He was overwhelmed by her beauty and
didn't noticed the act she was committing. She was feeding off a
human in the jungle. When he became aware, he slowly stepped back
but it was too late. She launched at him quickly and as he tried
escaping his reaction was to leap from his body, but as he did,
Maurice leaped into Samone. Setting the process in place. Their
souls intertwined communicating in ways never known before. Their
bonding complete.

“
That was when the unold process was
first born. She was his mate for life. Body and soul, their minds
linked forever. Samone quickly became pregnant and not long after,
they had their first half-breed. They lived in the shadows for fear
of being hunted by their families if found out. But both families
set out to find their missing loved ones. The first to find Maurice
and Samone were the vampires. They found them hunting animals on a
small island, next to them stood the first half breed. Maurice and
Samone quickly hid their child once they noticed the vampires were
there. The vampires were furious but didn’t react
harshly.

“
Samone's family decided to stay with
them for protection. They knew if anyone found out about the
half-breed child they would be killed. A few months later the
shifters came. They assessed the situation by reading Maurice's
mind and became enraged. They seen vampires as bottom feeders, scum
of the earth. They were enemies and the thought of a half-vampire
half-spiritual shape shifter disgusted them. The shifters tried
attacking the child and his mother Samone. The vampires fought back
but were unable to save Samone. Maurice was so enraged to see his
queen torn into pieces, his anger turned into power. His strength
increased as Samone died and he killed his family. Looking at the
field of bodies he cursed the shifters but hated himself for what
he done. He knew he had to protect his son and vowed to only live
long enough until his son didn’t need him anymore. He wanted to die
too and be with his queen in spirit.

When Maurice family never returned, the
village decided to do a spiritual wake. They dropped their bodies
and turned into spirit form to communicate with the others. The
dead spirits Maurice had slain were still lingering long enough to
tell the others what happened. The shifters quickly vowed to avenge
the deaths, by not only hunting Maurice and his son, but the
vampires who helped. They also agreed that if any half-breeds were
born beside this one, they would exterminate them at once. That’s
when the war started. They began hunting vampires and sucked the
energy from them to become stronger, more powerful creatures. They
were soon able to take down larger covens in the process. The
hunters would also use mind control on the vampires to kill their
own kind along with Ill-suens.”

Marshall closed the book. “That’s enough for
now. We’ll read more another day my dear,” he said, smiling at me.
I smiled and thanked him for sharing with me.

Daniel and I went back to my room. I was
deep in thought. He stared at me for a long time until I cleared my
throat. He jumped. I glanced at him holding back a laugh. “What?” I
asked.

“
I was trying to read your thoughts,
you caught me off guard,” he smiled, embarrassed.

I laughed. “Can you tell me what your
thinking?” He asked.

“
So, you still can’t read me that
well?”

He shook his head. “Today it’s a little more
difficult. I don’t understand why.”

“
Oh…” I said, thinking. “Well, I was
just curious about the child that Maurice had. The boy?”

“
What do you want to know
love?”

“
What happened to them? Him and his
father?”

He sat down next me. “Maurice eventually
died when he was four-hundred sixty nine. He lived a long life but
the boy is now an elder.”

“
Whats an elder?”

He chuckled. “An elder is the one who
foresees certain events. They keep us posted if we are to be in
danger, but it’s only for larger groups of Ill-suens, and doesn’t
necessarily impact the vampires.”

“
Danger how?” I asked.

“
Well let’s say if the shifters I
dunno Were to get hundreds together to come try to slaughter us
all, the elders would see their plan and then notify
us.”

“
How do they notify you?”

“
Well there's a few ways. One, they
drop in spirit form to communicate with us, or they send word out
by newspaper.”

“
Newspaper?”

“
Yes, we have our own
newspaper.”

“
Um, Like. For just ill-suens
or…?”

“
Yes. We are given one everyday.
People subscribe to be on the list.”

“
But I thought there weren't many of
you guys left?”

“
Compared to humans and vampires,
there's not a lot of us. But. There's enough. And we also want to
know whats going on in the world of the other Ill-suens. Just like
we advertise things in these newspapers to gain more financial
status.”

“
You mean like your fathers blood
business?” I asked.

“
Precisely, Love,” he smiled and put
his arm around me.

“
Am I asking too many
questions?”

“
Nah. I love that your so interested.
If you want, I'll get us a subscription to the house.” “Hmm Okay
that would be neat. They just throw it on the doorstep?”

He busted out with a loud laugh. I
jumped.

“
Gotcha back,” he said
laughing.