The Legend of the Blue Eyes (6 page)

“Gabriel?” she asked quietly, as she made
out the older man’s figure in the dimly-lit tunnel. Molina moved to
attack Gabriel, but he instantly vanished.

“I’m not here to fight,” he said to Molina
as she continued to swing at him. Devin held Arianna closer.
“You’re being tracked from each direction. Their intention is to
kill Arianna. We need to move now to get her out of here.”

“Why would you help us?” Molina asked.
“She’s another of those purebreds you hate so dearly.”

“Because she is his niece,” Devin replied.
“He wants her alive as much as we do.” Gabriel nodded and
smiled.

“I was wondering why you were the only one
who knew where to find her last night,” Gabriel added. “So the old
man told you about Arianna’s parents?” Devin nodded. Gabriel placed
his hands on the stone floor, as Arianna had done earlier, and
listened. After deciding the best route, he stood.

“I smelled your blood earlier. Are you
okay?” he asked Arianna. She nodded as she stared down at the
now-healed place the knife had pierced her. Gabriel followed her
gaze and nodded. “Follow me.” Devin moved to be between Gabriel and
Molina. Gabriel led the way through the maze of tunnels. At each
turn, he cautiously listened before turning the corner. As he
twisted through each, he brought them closer to the surface.
Arianna could begin to hear voices outside. Gabriel finally stopped
at a large, solid wood door.

“This leads into the east-side garden,” he
explained. “From there, use the servant entrance to keep her
hidden. This is a list of those involved.” Gabriel handed the list
to Molina, who was still glaring at him.

“What’s the real reason you are helping us?”
Molina asked. She knew the list wasn’t needed to get Arianna to
safety, but he was offering them something to save their time.

“I want access to Arianna whenever she
wishes to see me,” he replied. Devin smiled. Gabriel was not one to
offer information without a catch. Gabriel took off his coat and
wrapped it around Arianna.

“As long as Lord Randolph says that it’s
fine,” Molina replied.

“He already did,” Devin answered. “I found
your letter to Lord Randolph when we met the fake Arianna in the
house. He has agreed to all of your demands for access to Arianna.”
Gabriel nodded as he opened the door.

Molina looked out the door and into the
darkness. Placing an earphone into her ear, she began talking to
someone on the other end. Arianna turned back to her uncle standing
in the doorway.

“I hear she’s picky,” Gabriel said to Devin.
“There’s a pack in the coat pocket. If she’s anything like her
mother, she probably has a taste for a bit of something else.”

Molina and Devin quietly escorted Arianna
back to her grandfather’s house. Their caution indicated that they
didn’t wish to meet anyone along the way. As they twisted and
turned through new passages in the ornate building, Arianna was,
once again, being led to an unfamiliar place. She stared at the
walls they passed as they became less and less ornate. The
surroundings had changed to normal, simple decorations. Molina
pushed Arianna into a room in front of her, and turned to secure
the room. Arianna stopped in her place and stared at the five extra
people sitting in the room.

“Meet your Personal Protection Unit:
Jackson, Nelson, Mica, Nixon, and Mori,” Molina introduced the five
men. “Including Devin and me, we make up your PPU.”

“Why are all of you here?” Arianna asked,
not understanding Molina. Sitting in the dingy, dark room, several
familiar faces stared back at her. Jackson was the businessman that
rode the Friday bus with her, along with Mica and Nelson as they
went to the gym to play basketball. Mr. Nixon was Arianna’s teacher
for several classes at school. Mori was the only unfamiliar face in
the group.

“Your grandfather hired us about five years
ago to watch over you. We started twenty-four-hour protection a
year ago,” Molina explained. “Mori should be the only unfamiliar
face because he mainly stays by his computer.”

“Hired you? But why would he do that?”
Arianna asked. “Is there something I don’t know about?”

“A lot,” Devin said, offering her a seat
next to him. Molina flashed Devin a quick glare, and he smiled in
return.

“I don’t know if you noticed yet, but you
come from a very prestigious, ancient family,” Molina continued.
“For people like you, it’s fairly common, around their sixteenth
birthday, to be assigned personal guards.”

“Personal guards?” Arianna complained. “This
doesn’t make any sense.”

Molina shrugged. This was going to be harder
than anyone thought.

“She doesn’t know anything?” Jackson asked,
rubbing his bald head in surprise. In jeans and a black shirt he
didn’t look anything like the businessman she was familiar with.
“Hasn’t anyone told her yet?”

“No,” Devin replied. “Lord Randolph was
going to talk with her this afternoon and explain everything.”

“Then who gets the honor of having ‘the
talk’ with her?” Nixon, the blond, basketball-playing brother of
the duo, asked.

“Not me,” Jackson quickly said.
“Particularly since I’m not one of you.” Jackson stood and moved to
Molina. “Did you find out which group took her?” he changed the
subject.

“Yes,” Molina replied. “Mori, can you find
these people?” Molina handed the list Gabriel had given her to
Mori, and he hurried to the closed door on the left of the room.
“You four go take care of this,” Molina ordered, and the rest moved
to the same room. “Devin and I’ll watch over Miss Arianna.” Arianna
could see the relief in each face as they followed Mori into the
additional room.

“We get to have ‘the talk’ with her?” Devin
asked with a sly smile.

“‘
The talk?’” Arianna
asked. “Don’t worry. Aunt Lilly already had ‘the talk’ with me,”
she added, remembering the embarrassing way she had to actually
help her aunt make it through their talk.

“Not the same talk,” Devin replied. Molina
looked from Devin to Arianna. Arianna could see her confusion, and
it just made Devin smile more at her squirming. “Sorry, I’d love to
be the one to explain sex to you, but this talk is about who you
really are.” Arianna felt her face turning several shades of red
before she comprehended what he had said.

“Arianna Grace?” Arianna questioned. “Who
else could I be? Did you guys all lie to me about my name
also?”

“No, that’s your real name. It’s not so much
who, but rather what,” Molina corrected.

“A girl? Homo sapien?” Arianna responded.
Molina sighed. It was going to be hard to have a serious talk with
Arianna if she kept answering every statement.

“Three have already arrived at the dinner,”
Jackson said, returning from the side room. “The other six are not
attending, but they are on the complex.”

“We will take Miss Arianna to the dance, but
we will wait for your signal that the threat has been eliminated.
Lord Randolph will be anxious to see she’s alright,” Molina
replied. Jackson nodded and left the main room followed by Nixon,
Mica, and Nelson.

“Why does everyone do what Molina says?”
Arianna asked as Devin relocked the doors.

“Because she’s the boss,” Devin replied,
before laughing at Arianna’s shocked face.

“But she looks younger than everyone except
you,” Arianna responded.

“I am,” Molina replied.

“But by ability, she far outweighs them
combined,” Devin replied. “We’re running short on time,” Devin said
to Molina. “We should get her ready, and then tell her about
everything, if we have time. We really shouldn’t keep Lord Randolph
waiting to meet her.” Molina nodded.

Molina escorted Arianna into the room on the
opposite side of Mori’s room. Arianna stared into the dimly lit
room to find it was a bedroom. Two sets of bunk beds lined the left
wall, and a full-size bed was near the right wall. At the top of
the wall in front of her were small windows that were six inches
from the ceiling. Shades covered the windows, and they didn’t allow
Arianna to see where she was. Molina walked over to the trunk by
the full-size bed. Inside, she removed several pieces of clothing,
throwing them lazily on the bed before she found what she was
looking for.

“This was my sister’s,” Molina explained.
“She was about your size, so it should fit. I know it isn’t that
wonderful pink number your aunt picked for you, but it should
do.”

Arianna took the deep green, strapless
dress. It was so much better than the pink frilly dress Aunt Lilly
told her she would be wearing. “What is this for?” Arianna
questioned.

“There’s a masquerade dinner and dance being
held in your honor tonight. Once everything is settled with those
who planned to kidnap and kill you, you can finally meet your
grandfather,” Molina explained. “You can change in here, and the
bathroom is that door,” she said indicating to the right. “Once you
are dressed, I can do your hair and makeup.” Arianna looked
shocked. “Contrary to what your grandfather wants to think, I’m a
girl,” Molina joked.

Molina left the room, and
Arianna was alone. Quietly, she sat on the bed. In the farther
room, she could hear Mori clicking away on a computer, periodically
stopping to talk to an unknown person. Molina and Devin sat
silently waiting in the main room. Arianna stared at the dress
lying beside her.
I’ll finally meet
him
, she thought, and she began to get
nervous. Until two days ago, she didn’t even know she had any
family. Now she had an uncle, whom she had met twice, and a cousin,
along with a grandfather who had disowned her mother. Arianna
contemplated not meeting her grandfather, but he held the answers
to too many questions, just as Gabriel did.

Once dressed, Arianna soundlessly opened the
door to the main room. Molina ushered her to a seat and began to
comb her hair. Arianna waited patiently, pondering what they needed
to talk about. Devin did not look up from his papers once as she
got ready. After Molina finished her hair, she began to put makeup
on Arianna. Arianna wanted to ask about their talk, but knew she
needed to stay still while the makeup was being applied. When she
was finally finished, and Molina approved, Arianna turned to Devin.
Devin smiled as he placed his papers down, but just as quickly
became serious again.

“We don’t have much time to explain this to
you, so please don’t interrupt,” he asked. Arianna nodded. “You
come from a very elite family that can trace their ancestors back
hundreds of years before they came to this country. Both you and
your grandfather are direct lines to the Randolph family, and
therefore very important to this community.” Devin paused, thinking
of how best to explain everything to her.

“Did Gabriel tell you anything about the
baku?” he asked, and Arianna replied by shaking her head no. Devin
paused again, staring at Arianna’s questioning, bright blue eyes.
She wasn’t making it easy for him.

“Do you see many horror movies?” Molina
asked, interrupting Devin, who obviously didn’t know where to take
the conversation.

“Sometimes, but not much because Tish gets
too scared,” Arianna answered.

“Did you know many things in horror movies
are based on partial fact?” Molina asked. Dumbfounded, Arianna
stared at her. She couldn’t understand to what Molina was
referring.

“Really? Like what?” Arianna wanted to know
exactly what Molina wanted her to ask.

“Like vampires,” Molina replied, and Arianna
laughed.

“Sure, and the tooth fairy too,” Arianna
said flippantly, after she stopped laughing. Devin and Molina both
stared at Arianna, neither of them laughing.

“Remember, I said we needed to talk to you
about what you are,” Molina added. “Rather, what your family is?
Well, that would be the answer.” Arianna turned from Devin to
Molina, and then looked around the room.

“Is there a hidden camera somewhere?” she
asked, lifting up the pillows on the couch near her. “Where is the
person that’s going to jump out and say surprise?” Arianna
continued looking around the room. “Did Mary Ellen and Tish put you
guys up to this?”

“We’re not joking,” Devin answered. “Molina
is telling you the truth.”

Arianna’s laughter began to turn to fear.
She was sitting, locked in a room, with these two people she knew
very little about somewhere in her grandfather’s home. How many
turns did they take to come down to this room? Could she find her
way back through the halls to the outside? Could she make it out of
the room before Molina and Devin caught her? She had seen them
fight. They were both strong. Devin cautiously moved from the couch
across from her to sit beside her.

“You are looking for a way to escape,” he
said quietly. “You may leave at any time you like; we won’t stop
you. Just know this, we may sound a little crazy to you right now,
but we are the safest people for you to be with at the moment. We
don’t want you dead like those men that took you.” Arianna stared
at Devin. His kind voice and actions made her feel safe, yet she
still was hesitating. “I promise you, we’re not crazy,” he tried to
assure her. “Your grandfather was going to explain everything to
you this afternoon when you met him. Your grandfather, like both
you and your mother, is a dearg-dul. To be exact, you are a
purebred dearg-dul.” Arianna was still confused. “Or what you’d
call a vampire,” Devin added. Arianna continued to stare at him in
disbelief. How could he talk so calmly about such a crazy idea?