The Legend of the Blue Eyes (30 page)

The crowd began to whisper. No one had ever
refused their sacrifice before.

“Without blood, the transformation won’t be
complete,” Gabriel explained as Arianna stepped on the stage.
Arianna shrugged.

“That means I need to drink some blood?”
Arianna asked, and Gabriel nodded. Arianna’s baku form faded. “I
can take blood whenever I want. I fed earlier today. I feel fine
right now.”

“But you won’t if you keep avoiding drinking
blood,” Gabriel replied.

“I’ll feed when I get
home,” Arianna replied, reaching for her uncle’s hand.
‘
It’s not safe to feed on either Devin or
Turner, as they need to protect me with someone hostile
around.’

Gabriel looked down at her
hand, which wasn’t making a direct blood connection.
‘That is true. When did you figure out how to do
this?’
he asked.
‘Only high-level baku can talk through blood without a direct
connection.’

‘
Aren’t I a high-level
baku?’
Arianna teased.

‘I meant a highly trained
baku,’
Gabriel replied.
‘And you do need blood. The baku transformation
probably used up most of your blood from this morning, and that’s
why it wasn’t painful to transform. If you keep denying what you
are, you will get hungry, and then it won’t matter who it is. If
they have blood, you will attack them.’

Arianna let go of her uncle’s hand and
looked at the crowd. She didn’t want to be the monster everyone
feared, but most of the people were beginning to look tasty.
Arianna turned back to Turner.

“I think we should leave,” she added to him.
He nodded and offered his hand to her. Turner led her back inside
the house with Gabriel right behind.

“If she needs to feed, we need to leave,”
Devin explained. Gabriel nodded. “I’m sorry for our quick exit, but
we need to protect her most of all.” Gabriel agreed. Devin led the
way through the house to the front door. “Please explain to your
guests she’s not trying to be rude, but there are two sides of her
that need to be taken care of. If you arrange everything with
uncle, she will be present at all the baku functions required of
the family.” Devin moved to open the door but stopped. Andrew was
standing in front of the door.

“If you need a little snack, you can have my
blood,” he offered. Arianna turned red, remembering their meeting
inside. He just calmly smiled and turned his wrist up towards her.
“In my human form it’s not as strong as pure baku blood,” Andrew
turned to answer Devin’s unspoken question. “And don’t worry,
puppy, I’m not trying to drug her.” A slight growl escaped Turner’s
mouth. “It would be extremely rude to leave now, before meeting the
people you are going to have to spend your life protecting.” Andrew
smiled up at Gabriel as his last remark was directed more towards
him than Arianna. Arianna closed her eyes and felt the rush of his
blood through his body. As much as she wanted to deny the fact, she
was, indeed, hungry for blood. Her dearg-dul form flickered before
she returned to being human.

“Do you trust him?” Devin asked. Arianna
nodded. It was his blood that changed her to begin with. He could
have poisoned her then. And she could not deny the loving feeling
she felt before continuing to radiate from him.

Andrew’s hand gently stroked the side of her
face. Arianna closed her eyes and felt the rush of his blood
through his veins. Without thinking, Arianna took his wrist and bit
down.

Arianna walked back out to the party of
people that hated the dearg-dul they felt feeding inside the house.
The mood changed as she returned, for they sensed the new, and very
powerful, baku. Arianna sat beside her uncle and tried to ignore
the curious glances she received throughout the meal. She tried to
follow the conversation he was having with Rafael, but her mind
kept wandering to Andrew, who sat silently beside his obviously
upset uncle. He didn’t fear her dearg-dul form, even as she was
taking his blood. He merely smiled and thanked her when she was
done. As blood was brought to the tables for a toast, a flash of
dearg-dul instinctively washed over her. Arianna tried to suppress
her dearg-dul form as the people around her hissed their
disapproval. Arianna pushed away the glass of blood in front of her
and stood up.

“I need to use the restroom,” she said, her
uncle stared curiously.

Arianna walked back into the house and
didn’t go down the hallway to the bathroom. Inside she turned and
walked back into the family room where Andrew had been waiting
earlier. He was right. It had the best views. She walked back to
the window where there was a good view of the people outside.

“Not enjoying your party?” Gabriel asked, as
he silently followed her. He wasn’t far behind her when she entered
the house.

“Not really. This sort of thing just isn’t
for me,” she replied.

“And that has nothing to do with how the
people out there react to your dearg-dul form?” Gabriel knew the
truth.

“How can they hate a part of me but love the
other part?” Arianna wondered, not really looking for a reply.
“Dearg-dul,” Arianna turned into a dearg-dul and immediately felt
the seething hatred from the people at the party before reverting
back to human. “Or baku.” Arianna turned into her new baku form and
felt the overwhelming love. Arianna returned to her human form and
looked at her uncle. “Your response doesn’t change. Why can you
look beyond what I am and they can’t?”

“I wasn’t raised to hate
dearg-duls, as this generation was. You know that I was a friend of
your grandfather’s long ago. I may be leading the war against him,
but I hate neither him, nor his followers.” Arianna nodded at the
facts she already knew, but it still didn’t change the situation.
“Besides,” Gabriel added. “You are not
just
a dearg-dul or
just
a baku. You are
both, and you will always be both. In dearg-dul form you can walk
through daylight like a baku can. I’m just guessing, but I bet you
can change into baku form even during the day just like a dearg-dul
can. You cross the boundaries between the two night humans. There’s
nothing for me to fear or dislike. You are you.”

Arianna reverted back to her dearg-dul form
and closed her eyes. She could still feel traces of her baku blood
running through her veins. Opening her blue dearg-dul eyes, she
stared over at her uncle. “I can feel it. You are right. I’m both
at one time.” Arianna closed her eyes again and tried to change
over to her new baku form. Arianna noticed, as she opened her eyes,
that her uncle actually looked surprised as he stared back. Arianna
felt the change. Where she had been mostly dearg-dul and a little
baku before, she was now evenly split. “This is my true form, isn’t
it?” Gabriel smiled and nodded.

“You are not one or the other, you’re both,”
Gabriel replied.

“Took her long enough to figure that out,”
Devin replied, stepping from the shadows.

“I couldn’t explain to her how to do that,”
Gabriel replied. “She truly is the first of her kind.”

Arianna continued to stare at Devin. She
closed her eyes and opened them again. Arianna didn’t doubt the
connection she was feeling. Arianna could sense his blood without
seeing him, and knew exactly how far away he was. Arianna closed
her eyes and searched the party. Turner was standing outside the
doorway, and Andrew was still sitting beside his uncle. Things felt
different now. She could always sense her uncle before and those
she had drank their blood, but now she was even sensing the
slightest movements as Andrew flicked his hair out of his eyes.
Arianna turned back to Devin and her uncle.

“It seems she can control it now,” Gabriel
explained to Devin. “She didn’t even use any of her blood to do
that.” Devin smiled.

“About time. That will make my job so much
easier,” Devin replied.

Arianna’s thoughts continued to jump between
the people she could now feel before she realized what Gabriel had
said. “I’m not using up my blood?” she asked.

“Not now,” Gabriel replied.

Arianna stared at him. She hadn’t changed
anything, but he was right. She didn’t feel exhausted at all.
Arianna looked to Devin, and he nodded in agreement. She closed her
eyes and began her search across the country. Nothing changed. She
wasn’t tired at all. She found her connection easily, Grandfather.
His heart beat slowly. Arianna looked down at her watch. It was
early in the night, but he seemed to be resting. Arianna waited a
second before she heard it.

‘Ari?’

‘Grandfather? Are you not sleeping?’

‘Ari, promise me you will never leave
Devin’s side. He is all you have left to protect you. Gabriel and I
failed you in the past. I’m so sorry. We cannot keep you safe.
Devin will never fail you.’

‘What are you talking
about?’
Arianna felt the soft prick of her
finger as Gabriel entered into the conversation.

‘Grandfather, what is going on?’

‘Randolph?’
Gabriel asked.
‘You can
communicate with Randolph?’

‘Joining the conversation,
kid?’
Randolph asked
weakly
. ‘Quite a child we have there, huh?
There’s a blood connection with over a thousand miles between
us.’

‘Old man, quit rambling.
What’s happened?’
Gabriel demanded.
Arianna felt Gabriel’s concern.

‘Poison,’
Randolph replied.

‘Details, now, before she
starts to use up her blood,’
Gabriel
ordered.

‘Lord Winter and I have been poisoned. We
are currently in my wing of the house under lockdown. I do not know
who poisoned us, but we do know that the Tricity has been left
unguarded with Lord Winter here. It’s an inside job.’

‘How long?’
Gabriel asked.

‘Six, maybe eight hours,
max. We’ve been poisoned by two different poisons. I can tell that
I’m the cure for him, and he’s the cure for me. I explained that to
Bran, but he won’t take my blood and be cured. We both refuse to
let the other die, so now it’s a challenge of who passes out
first.’
Arianna felt the heartbeat turn
faint before it started back up again.
‘Take care of the child. She will be amazing.’

‘How could she not?’
Gabriel asked back.
‘She’s Travis’s child.’

‘And Tiffany’s.’

‘Hold on old man. We will
be there soon.’
Gabriel broke his
connection, bringing Arianna back to the world around
her.

“Get your plane ready,” Gabriel ordered
Molina, who was now standing next to Devin and Turner watching
Arianna and Gabriel. “Lord Randolph and Lord Winter have been
poisoned.”

Arianna stared out at the crowd of people
that were blocking their chances of a quick exit. Gabriel had
explained that the party was over, but they refused to move. Each
person there had felt the presence of Arianna’s new form and was
curious. Arianna pulled at Gabriel’s arm as he looked like he was
truly getting angry.

“They are just all curious,” Arianna
replied.

“We don’t have time for this,” Gabriel
reminded her. The crowd was complaining, and Arianna listened to
the various conversations.

“We are leaving to go help Lord Randolph,”
Arianna said to the crowd, and they booed. No one wanted to let
their precious female baku go wandering over to a clan of
dearg-duls. “You just don’t get it. I can feel how much you hate my
dearg-dul form, but it’s part of me. I’m both dearg-dul and baku.”
As Arianna spoke, she changed into her new night human form. The
crowd was silent. “I belong to both sides. So if you continue to
hate the other side, you hate part of me.”