Legacy of Blood (17 page)

“We have decided to let you live,” Ruarc said plainly.  My knees immediately gave out upon hearing his words and I floated to the ground. 
Life.  Living, breathing LIFE
!  I let out the breath I had been holding and sighed in immense relief.

“You are definitely a unique individual, Miss Morrison,” Ruarc continued, “but we see no cause to end your life at this time.  You successfully passed our tests and you did it with dignity and a strength that impressed us all.  Your skills are quite desirable, I must say.  Would you ever consider fighting for the side of good and joining the Army of
An Dilis
?”

I felt my jaw drop and I stared at him like he had just grown an extra leg.  “Are you serious?  I’m just a bartender.  And besides, I didn’t think you had any women in your Army.”

“We don’t.  You would be the exception to the rule.”

What?
 
That’s crazy!
  The thought of being around Oleif all the time made me immediately baulk at the idea.  “As flattering as your proposition is, sir,” I sighed, “I just want to go back to my normal life.”

“I’m afraid that’s impossible, Miss Morrison,” Ruarc shook his head.  “You are a vampire now.  Your life is going to drastically change whether you are ready for it or not.  Don’t forget there is still the matter of Amun to handle.  We won’t discuss it now, but I will be in touch with Archer later today.  We will formulate a game plan, involving you, to take down Amun.  Get some rest.  You’re going to need it.”

I bit my bottom lip and tried to hold down my anxiety.  “
Seven days, Skye.  And you had better be wearing the presents I left for you when you come to me.
”  Remembering Amun’s words brought me back to my new reality.  Some ancient asshole monster was gunning for my hand in marriage and the blood of my maker and new family.  Renewed feelings of anger coursed through me and I nodded my head.  “I’m looking forward to it, sir.”

“I bet you are,” he nodded, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth.  He turned to his men and barked out an order in Gaelic.  I watched as they all turned and flashed up the stairs, leaving the room empty except for me and Hagan.

I leaned forward and put my forehead to the cold, polished cement floor in relief. 
It’s over.  It’s all over.  I get to live
.  Hagan reached down and patted my shoulder.  “I told you he was a fair asshole.”

With a tired chuckle, I let him pull me up and escort me upstairs.  When I got to the foyer, I saw Archer shaking Ruarc’s hand.

“I’ll be in touch,
Fearchar
,” Ruarc bowed his head.  “Take care of our girl.”

My eyes widened in surprise at his words.  It seemed Ruarc now saw me as an asset and the revelation was stunning.  To go from potentially being killed to liked in the space of a heartbeat sent my head reeling. 

I watched Hagan escort him out the front door and I turned to Archer.  We stared at each other for a few tense seconds, absorbing that I was actually still alive, before I smiled and ran to him.  I jumped up into his strong arms and wrapped mine around his neck.  I was suddenly flooded with feelings of happiness, gratitude, love, and relief.

“You did it, baby,” he whispered as he buried his face in my neck and took a deep breath in as I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist.

“I did,” I sighed, hugging him tighter.  I was so happy to be back in his arms.  “I don’t know how, but I did.  That was so intense, Archer.  I honestly didn’t think I’d walk out of that basement alive.  I thought he was going to kill me as soon as he found out that I could absorb powers like Amun through the consumption of Day Walker blood.”

Archer lifted his head from my neck and set me down.  He put both of his hands on my cheeks and delicately held me.  “I heard,” he said as his eyes roamed my face, drinking me in.  “Trey told us.  Are you okay?  Your face is bloody.”

I nodded my head and smiled.  “I’m perfectly fine, Archer.  It’s nothing.  Oleif just packs a serious punch.  He landed some pretty good hits on me, but you should have seen it… I crushed his windpipe like he did mine this morning.  Man, was he pissed!”

Archer chuckled and wrapped his arms around me again.  “I am so proud of you,
Cion
.”

“I have to be honest, I’m a little proud of me too,” I sighed, looking up at him.  “I really started to lose it when Black broke my leg for the second time, but I focused on the things that Hagan taught me and quickly reined it in.”

“You had your leg broken?” Archer asked, worry furrowing his handsome brow.

“Twice,” I smiled brightly then shook my head, dismissing the comment.  “I’m fine, honey; better than fine actually.”

Archer pulled me to his chest again and hugged me.  “It was driving me crazy being up here knowing you were going through that all alone.”

“I had Hagan, thanks to you,” I whispered, rubbing my hands on his back, comforting him.  “I wasn’t alone and you were always on my mind.  I’m glad you weren’t down there, though.  It wasn’t very pretty, honey.”

He kissed the top of my head and squeezed me a little tighter before finally letting go again, taking my hand.  “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

I allowed him to lead me into the living room where everyone was waiting.  Seamus was the first to start clapping when he saw me and everyone else joined in.  The emotions in the room were overwhelmingly happy and thankful.

“Looks like we ‘ave a wee warrior on our ‘ands,” he smiled proudly as he came up and patted me on the shoulder.

“Welcome to the family,
deirfiúr
,” Lochlan grinned, smacking my ass as I passed him.

“You’re quite the badass I hear,” Quinn smirked as he pulled me into a side hug.

“Maybe I can keep up with you now,” I winked at him as Aoife pulled me into a tight hug.

“Now, I’m really jealous of you,” she teased as she squeezed.  “You were hot and smart before you turned, but now you’re hot, smart, and super talented.  How’s a girl to compete with that?”

“It was never a competition,” Hunter winked at me over Aoife’s shoulder and I caught his double meaning by the look in his eyes.  My brow twitched in surprise.  Was Hunter flirting with me?

I let go of Aoife and went up to hug him.  As he wrapped his arms around me, I was hit with a hurricane of emotions; pride, lust, relief, desire, happiness, longing, and contentment. 
Holy shit!
  Lochlan wasn’t the one who Oleif said lusted after me; it was HUNTER!  All this time I thought it was Lochlan because he was so flirtatious.  I was dead wrong apparently.

I pulled back and looked up him with wide, confused eyes.  “Hunter,” I whispered his name softly in shock.  I had no idea he had felt that way about me.

He looked down at me a bit bashfully and if a vampire could blush, he would have.  How long had he felt this way about me?

“You owe me a drink, sugar,” Trey said, pulling my attention away from Hunter.  I was glad for the interruption.  I didn’t know what to say to him or how to act now that I knew how he felt.  God bless Trey for feeling my confusion and rescuing me.

“No, I owe us a bottle!” I smiled brightly as I ran into his arms and hugged him.  The emotions between us were powerful.  Hugging another Empath was an experience, let me tell you.  “Thank you so much, Trey.  Thank you for allowing me to drink from you.  I know it wasn’t a great experience, but the fact that you would do that for me means the world to me.”

“Well, honey,” he said seriously, pulling back to look at my face, “YOU mean the world to me and like I’ve said before, I’d do anything for you.”

“Love you, Trey,” I whispered as I looked up into his big blue eyes.

“Ditto, sister,” he whispered back, his eyes tearing up.

Archer interrupted us, handing me a steaming hot hand towel to clean up with and a big bottle of Macallan 1939 to Trey.  My mouth opened in surprise when I saw the prestigious label.  “That’s a $10,000 bottle of scotch!” I squeaked. 

“This is a special occasion,” Archer smiled, pulling me to his side and slinging one arm around my neck.  Aoife flashed into the kitchen and I could hear her getting out glasses for everyone.

“Not that special,” I laughed as I looked around the room at my new brothers.  Everyone was smiling and for the first time in weeks we were all happy; the problems of our world forgotten for this one moment.

Aoife doled out the glasses as Trey broke the seal on the bottle and poured everyone three tall fingers.  Lastly, he poured mine and Archer’s.

Archer raised his glass and we all followed his lead.  “To family! 
Sláinte
!”

“
Sláinte
!” we replied, clinking lowball glasses together.

*****

“Skye, are you almost ready?” I heard Trey call out to me from my bedroom doorway.

“20 minutes,” I called back as I dusted my face with finishing powder.

“Get a move on, sister!  I’ll meet you in the living room.”

I was putting the final touches on my makeup.  I had to beg Archer to let me work tonight; he almost made me stay home, but I ultimately got my way in the end.  Turns out he can’t resist my blinky doe eyes and full lip pout.

Being a newborn vampire didn’t mean I should have to be cooped up in the house while everyone else pulled double duty to run the club.  We were shorthanded as it was with Jameson being out on tour with his band, The Manky Langer.  Besides, I needed to get out of the house and do something normal.  I came way too close to death this morning and was feeling like I needed to live a bit.

As I fixed the eyeliner on my left eye, my colorless globes caught my attention again.  It looked like I was going to be living an eternity with shocking white irises.  I guess I should have been grateful that my pupils still showed.  Having completely white eyes would have been unnerving.  The only change in eye color I had to look forward to now, was when my eyes turned completely black… but that was only whenever I felt extreme anger.  That, in itself, was nothing to really look forward to.  Having no whites in my eyes when I was angry was just as freaky as my colorless, un-angry eyes.  It was pretty much a lose-lose situation any way I looked at it. 
Oh well
, I thought silently. 
Things could always be worse
.

I sighed as I swiped on another coat of red lipstick and then stepped into my six inch red stilettos.  I adjusted my boobs, smoothed down my black, pleated micro miniskirt, and headed into the bedroom to grab my messenger bag. 

“Knock, knock,” Archer purred from my doorway as he rapped on the frame.  I turned and smiled at him as I fixed the back knot on my red handkerchief halter top.  “Wow.  You look incredible.”

“Thanks, honey,” I grinned and allowed him to give me a hand.

He tied the string behind my back and then softly, slowly ran one fingertip up my bare spine, across my right shoulder and down my arm.  I shivered slightly at his touch and closed my eyes as he leaned into me, grabbing onto my hips, to whisper in my ear, “I love you in this outfit,
Cion
.”

“You say that about every outfit I wear,” I chuckled.

“Maybe because it’s true,” he whispered softly as he kissed the hollow behind my ear. 

I smiled, closed my eyes and tilted my head further away, giving him better access to my neck.

Archer kissed a delicate trail down my neck before sighing and pulling away.

I turned to him with a questioning look.  “Is something wrong?”

“No,” he smiled.  “I would like to talk to you about something, though.”

“Oh?” I asked, surprised.  Normally he came right out and said whatever was on his mind.

He took my hand and led me over to the white chaise lounge by my bed.  “I want to talk about what happened in the basement earlier… about what happened between us,” he said as he squatted down in front of me.

“Okay,” my brow furrowed slightly.  I was worried he was about to tell me that he thought what we shared before my testing was a mistake.

Archer took a breath and smiled as he tucked my hair behind one ear.  “I want you to be mine.”

“What?” I asked, not sure I had heard him right. 
He did not just say what I think he said.

He chuckled and tried again.  “I want you to be mine, Skye.  I would ask you to be my girlfriend, but that word is so trivial.  It doesn’t even begin to convey what you mean to me.  You would be much more than a girlfriend to me; you would be my life partner.  I want to share everything with you; my bed, my home, my heart.”

I gasped softly as the full weight of his words sank in.

Archer gently took my hand again and stared up into my eyes.  “I have waited centuries for you, Skye Morrison.  Will you be mine?”

A wide smile slowly spread across my face and I leaned forward to interlock my fingers behind his head.  “Yes,” I whispered happily.  “Of course I will.”

Archer’s eyes lit up and he smiled as he stood up and lifted me with him.  He captured my mouth with his and I wrapped my legs around his waist and held on as he kissed me until both of us were breathless.

“You’ve got no idea how happy I am,” Archer whispered as he rested his forehead against mine, his hands gripping my ass.