Legacy of Blood (28 page)

I tried to sit up and hug him but a sharp pain in my chest and stomach stopped me cold as soon as I moved. 

“You lie still now,” Trey tsked as he leaned over and hugged me.  “You haven’t fully healed yet.”

I nodded my head as he stood up and gave him a tired smile.  “Thank you for the flowers, honey.  They’re beautiful.  It was the first thing I smelled when I woke up.”

Trey’s face fell and he was silent for a long moment.  “I wanted you to be surrounded by something beautiful when you woke up.  Ever since you awoke as a vampire, you’ve had to deal with a whole lot of ugliness.  I wanted you to have better this time.”

“Oh, Trey,” I whispered as tears fell anew.  I was deeply touched by his thoughtfulness.  “I don’t know what I did so right to deserve a friend like you, but I’m glad.”

“Me too,” Trey managed a small smile as he gently patted my ankle.

“Dinner is served,” Archer said as he entered the room carrying three bags of blood.

I watched Trey walk out and then turned to Archer with wide eyes.  “I can’t drink bagged blood.”

“It’s fresh,” Archer smiled.  “I just drew it from your three feeders.  They’ve been here all afternoon.  I wanted to make sure you had food in case you woke up.”

Archer sat down next to me and handed me the first bag.  “Í think the citrate phosphate dextrose preservative solution that’s in most collection bags is what makes you ill after consumption.  The citrate, when combined with blood calcium, acts as an anticoagulant.  This blood here is additive free.”

I sucked on the tubing that was still connected to the bags and drank deeply.  The blood had only cooled by a degree or so, but it was delicious just the same.  I quickly polished off the three bags and felt stronger almost immediately.

I tried to sit up again and Archer gave me a hand.  The pain in my stomach and chest were still intense and I lifted my nightgown to see that I was heavily bandaged.  The gauze was tinted in two areas with my blood.

“Why haven’t I fully healed yet?” I lifted my eyes in confusion.  “I don’t understand.  I’m supposed to heal faster than any of you.”

Archer frowned as he looked at my bandages.  “Amun’s cuts were inflicted by the Sword of Saint Patrick.  It is not a mere sword, Skye.  If you had not been half Day Walker, you would not be here right now.  It’s a miracle you survived and I’ve thanked the good Lord every chance I’ve gotten.”

“If I’m healing, does that mean Amun is healing too?”

Archer nodded his head and explained what happened after I drove the sword through Amun’s chest.

“We thought you were dead.  You stopped breathing and your heart stopped beating.  Amun, on the other hand, had signs of life so Ruarc and his men withdrew the sword and carried his body to their van.  They heavily chained him in silver and draped him with rosaries.  Ruarc thought there was a chance you were still alive because Amun was, so he refused to kill him.  Ruarc’s remaining men helped me carry you to the car before they gathered their fallen and left for the airport.  Trey, Hagan and I brought you home and Trey cleaned you up while I called Jameson.  I needed him to come heal you, even though I wasn’t sure if you were alive or not.  Jameson immediately chartered a private jet from New Orleans and was here less than three hours after I called.  As soon as he touched you, your heart started to beat.  After he healed you the first time, your head wound was gone and you were breathing steadily again.”

“Jameson came?” I whispered in shock.

“Aye,” Archer nodded.  “He is still here.  He’s been healing you every 6 hours for the past five days.”

“Oh crap,” I cringed.  “You took him away from his tour?  Is he mad at me?”

“Yes I took him away from his tour,” Archer said, raising his voice a little.  “What part of ‘we thought you were dead’ do you not understand?  I’d trek through the nine circles of hell and fetch the devil himself if I knew there was any chance of saving you, Skye.”

“What about his tour, though?”

“He rescheduled the last eight stops,” Archer sighed.  “You are far more important to us, to him, than some
bualadh craicinn
concert.”

“At least he isn’t mad at me,” I whispered and worried at my bottom lip.  “How did he take finding out that I was a vampire?”

Archer sighed again and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes.  “Not well… not well at all.” He was quiet for a few moments and then began speaking again.  “He was angry at first that I had turned you but when I explained what Amun had done by sharing his soul with you, he calmed down; he realized that I didn’t have a choice.  Jameson was also angry that no one told him that you had joined the family.  He’s very upset with me over that… and I probably don’t have to tell you that he’s upset over our relationship.  He is hurt… and rightfully so.”

I pushed back the covers and tried to get out of bed but the pain was too much.  I gasped and leaned back against the headboard as Archer stood and covered me up again.  “You can’t get out of bed yet, baby; don’t even try.  You still have two gaping wounds.  What do you need?  I’ll get whatever you want.”

“I need to speak to Jameson,” I whispered tiredly.  “I need to… apologize to him.”

“No, you need to rest right now,” Archer frowned, tucking the covers around me and fluffing the pillow behind my back.  “You can talk to him when he comes to heal you again in two hours.”

I sighed unhappily but didn’t have the strength to argue with him.  “Come lay down with me?” I whispered with pleading eyes.  I just wanted to be close to him.

Archer slipped off his shoes, gently adjusted me so that I was lying down again, and crawled into bed beside me.  He propped his head on one hand as he ran his fingers soothingly through my hair with the other.   “I can’t wait until you are well again.  It’s been so hard not to touch you these last five days.  I want nothing more than to take you in my arms and kiss away the memory of your brush with the final death.  I don’t care what happens in the future, Skye; you will never, ever do something like that again.”

I nodded my head and looked over at him.  “I’m sorry,
athair
.  I just wanted to make Amun pay for everything he’d put us through.  And to be honest, imagining eternal life connected to that monster is not very appealing.”

Archer gently leaned over, his face hovering inches above mine.  “Imagining the rest of my life without you in it wasn’t very appealing either.  I love you, Skye Morrison; I love you from the deepest part of my being.  I never want to go through what I’ve been through in the last five days ever again.  It was soul crushing not being able to look into your eyes or hear your voice.”

“I’m so sorry, baby,” I whispered as I cupped his cheek and gazed back and forth into his beautiful ice blue eyes.  “I didn’t-.”

Archer silenced me with a slow, sweet, toe-curling kiss.  My body responded automatically and I fisted my hands in his soft brown hair.  All too soon, he pulled away before things got any more heated between us.  “I don’t want to hurt you.”

I nodded my head in understanding and closed my eyes as he resumed running his fingers through my hair.  “How did you find me at Mount Bonnell? I made sure no one saw me leave the club.  Amun said he’d kill Trey if I told anyone.”

“It was luck really. 
An Dilis
and I pulled up moments after you left.  Hagan came out the back door looking for Trey and said one of the dancers saw you running out.  I knew something had to be wrong so we took off after you.  One of Ruarc’s men used his Divine Power and finally got a hit on which direction you were heading.  It wasn’t hard to find you after he got a lock on you, but we were several minutes behind because we had headed in the opposite direction at first.  It’s a good thing Ruarc’s man was with us or we never would have found you.”

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to all these powers everyone has,” I shook my head.  “It’s crazy to think about, from a human standpoint.”

“Well, good thing you aren’t human anymore,” Archer whispered as he kissed my forehead.  “Those powers saved your life, baby.  The sooner you accept and embrace all the wonders of our race the better.”

  I nodded and grabbed on to Archer’s hand, taking it away from my hair, and kissed the palm of it.  “What happened to Amun?  What did Ruarc do with him?”

Archer sighed and for a minute, I didn’t think he was going to tell me.  “They flew to their US headquarters in Massachusetts and put his chain-wrapped body in a specially made, silver-lined coffin.  After he was secure, they flew him to Ireland and placed him in a secure location.  Upon your death, which I pray is never, they will administer the final death if he happens to live through it.”

“Amun got out once.  What are they doing to make sure he doesn’t again?”

“Baby, you have to trust they know what they’re doing.  No one knew when Cináed entombed Amun the first time.  Now that An Dilis are aware of his existence and know full well what he is capable of, Amun will never see the light of day again.”

“I hope so,” I whispered as I closed my eyes, suddenly exhausted.

Archer was quiet for a long time and I had begun to drift off to sleep.  “I think there is something you should know,” he whispered.

“Hm?” I mumbled tiredly.

“During the battle with Amun, someone had Lorcán take you away for your safety.  Lorcán informed us you were in the parking lot with him, almost to the van, when you suddenly just vanished from his arms,” Archer explained, caution in his voice.

I slowly peeled my eyes open and glanced over at Archer.  “I remember seeing a bright white light one second and then the next, feeling myself hit the ground.  What happened?”

Archer’s eyebrows rose fractionally and he took a deep breath before slowly blowing it out.  “You teleported.”

“I what?” I asked, confused; my eyes now fully alert.

Archer nodded his head and then he shook it in astonishment.  “You actually teleported from Lorcán’s arms at the bottom of the mountain, to a mere ten feet away from Amun who was at the top.  One second you were with Lorcán, the next with Amun.  It completely shocked the hell out of everyone.  No one, in the entire history of our race, has ever been gifted with Teleportation as their Divine Power.”

I drew in a quick breath of air.  “Teleportation?  That’s… crazy.  You mean I actually have a Divine Power?”

“It would seem so,” Archer nodded slowly.  “Ruarc figures your ability to absorb one’s Divine Power, and your rapid healing, are merely a byproduct of whatever Amun is.  That being said, the only other thing left as an explanation is that you were given a divine gift.  As far as we know, Amun can’t teleport so we’ve ruled out his influence.  It looks like God has indeed gifted you with something truly remarkable.  You are the first of your kind, Skye… in many ways.”

I sighed deeply and closed my eyes again; the conversation completely draining me.  “I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing yet, Archer.”

“It will always be a good thing, Skye.  You are a good person and you have to start believing it.”

“I’ll try and start later, baby,” I mumbled and yawned.  “I’m sleepy.”

Archer chuckled softly and his soft kiss was the last thing I felt.

“Rise and shine, Valentine,” Trey sang softly and I slowly pulled my eyes open to see him standing by Archer’s bed holding a massive red first aid kit.  “It’s time to change your bandages.”

I nodded my head sleepily and allowed Trey to do what he needed to do.  I watched as he gently pulled the tape off the skin on my abdomen and lifted the bulky gauze.  I cringed when I saw the deep wound.  It was a red, angry mess.  The wound was about five inches wide, the width of the hilt of the Sword of Saint Patrick, and it was open about three inches deep.  “Holy shit, Trey.”

“This is nothing, sugar,” Trey smiled kindly as he lightly began cleaning it.  “You should have seen it five days ago.”

“Ugh,” I cringed again as I turned my head away from the sight.  “No thanks.  This is bad enough.”

The wound on my chest was a bit worse, but not by much.  As Trey was putting the finishing touches on the bandages, Jameson popped his head in.

“Can I come in?” he asked softly, his eyes a bit weary.

“Jameson,” I breathed, a smile instantly lighting my face.  “I can’t believe you’re here.  Please, come in.”

“Almost done here and then she’s all yours,” Trey smiled and started affixing the last three strips of translucent surgical tape.

“I don’t mean to interrupt,” he said as he walked in, his hand awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. 

“You’re not,” I quickly answered, not wanting him to leave.

“There,” Trey smiled widely as he started pulling my gown down.  “All fixed up.  I’ll come back in a bit with some blood for you.”  I watched him gather up the kit and head out the door, but not before he gave Jameson’s shoulder a light, reassuring squeeze.

“I can’t believe you’re really here,” I whispered again, trying to break the strange silence between us.

“I came as soon as Archer called,” he said, stuffing his hands into the front pocket of his ripped Levi’s.

“I’m so glad you did.  I hear you saved my life… again.”

He shrugged and stepped a bit closer to the bed, but not much.  “I, uh, came by a couple of times to heal you last night.  You were asleep.”