A Loyal Companion
TWELVE: Unexpected

This time before I even opened my eyes I felt a sudden sharp pain on my right arm, while my nose picked up the scent of a demon, and my brain registered that it was biting my arm as I felt an instant pull with another sharp pain followed by my skin breaking. Finally my eyes adjusted and saw what was clinging on my arm. Demon alright, its teeth sank into my arm, as if it was about to chew through the bone and rip my arm apart. I cringed as it hissed at me.

“Oh don’t you dare!” I balled my right hand into a fist, raised my arm, and slammed the creature, causing it to bounce a few meters away, which luckily didn’t take my arm with it. I shook my head to shake me out of shock, and looked down on my hurt arm. The wound caused by the creature was nasty, though it was something I didn’t have to worry about. Within a minute the flesh had managed to stitch itself and form a new layer of skin, leaving my arm whole and unscarred. I thank the gods for my ability to heal like one. If I was just a normal immortal it would take me almost a day to heal from major wounds.

When the pain disappeared, I stood to see where I was. It took me a few minutes until my brain registered the exact location. I cursed at the sight of the killing field that lied before me. I was right back where I started, the battle ground, only now it was more like a mass grave. Heavily, I walked through the scattered corpses to make my way back to the safe house.Where the hell is everyone? I looked up to the sky to replace an orange ray gleaming across the horizon.

The safe house was quiet, too quiet, I started to panic as I sense something wasn’t right. But it put my mind at ease when I saw Gin.

“Where are the others?” I asked as I walked towards him.

“I sent them home. There is no use to keep fighting them and loose men, I’d rather have them guarding the passage and their own headquarters. It would be easier to go into Absolon with only a few of us”

My eyes widened as I heard what he said.

“Are you crazy? Going into Absolon?” he nodded.

“You see, I realized something, and it made me feel very stupid for not thinking of it before” he opened the door to the great hall and led me in.

“Antheon only led his men to war and eliminate most of our army. He could raise another batch of army within a day while we can’t. With the five other Ancients with us from now, we should be able to rise up to the challenge, while the others go home to re-group” I raised an eyebrow at his comment. I sensed something was off, I knew the fact that Antheon could raise an army overnight, but sending everyone home wasn’t an option, Gin knew that going into Absolon was highly dangerous, especially if the backups were already sent home. I stood stern as he took my hand in his, there was a weird pull towards him that made me wanted to agree with him, but somehow something else anchored me back. I didn’t like the whole situation.

“Who are you?” I held on to his arm and look for his eyes. The eyes were Gin’s but what’s inside were not. The corner of his lips curled up to a small smile.

“You’re good. So far my cover had not been blown, but you… you’re good” I shudder as he said the last words. As I suspected, someone had gone inside the safe house and posed as Gin. Taking my hand away from him, I went to fasten on Crimson Tears. The creature changed into someone else, someone I didn’t know could do such thing.

“Ulyn? Why?” my heart roamed with disbelief as I saw Gin dissolved into one of his own follower. I didn’t even know he had shapeshifting ability, and it was that good. Ulyn wasn’t even a shapeshifter, he was a sorcerer. At least it explained why I hadn’t felt a foreign element in the house.

“Where is Gin?”

“He’s safe… so long you agree to corporate”

I snorted at that comment, after so many years knowing me he should have known that I answered to no one.

“What in the right mind are you thinking anyway? Gin gave you shelter and a family, and you’re doing this to him?” I saw the smile on his face quickly disappeared.

“You think you know Gin so well, don’t you? He’s more than what he seems, and maybe not as innocent as you think he is. He killed my family, Ondine. I learnt that awhile ago, the only reason why I kept quiet was because I want him dead, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to kill him, not without help”

I swore and I felt my heart jumped. Gin killed Ulyn’s family? That’s not even possible. I knew that Gin most likely have hidden past that he didn’t want anyone to know, but all of us had that. Knowing Gin for centuries, I knew he wouldn’t do such thing.

“You lied” and I kept telling myself that, Ulyn is only trying to mess with my head.

“Well… let’s see who lied, maybe you should’ve asked Gin about his family as well, why he killed them all. Oh no, Ondine, he didn’t lose his family in a plague, and then you can ask him why he killed mine” he was breathing down my neck by then, slowly approaching me. I thought I could beat him then, but I thought maybe I should give him a taste of his own medicine. Revenge was indeed sweet.

“What did you do to Gin?”

“Poison… is a great invention… not just any poison” he took a vial out of his pocket. The clear vial contained some kind of blue liquid, which I knew was the poison he was talking about.

“Faye’s tears do some marvelous things, and helped with a gift Antheon gave me, Gin couldn’t even fight it” he griped the vial tight and put it back into his pocket. I had heard about Faye’s tears being poisonous, I knew Gin was immune to it, perhaps it was Antheon’s gift that had made the body accept the poison.

“Well… I’ve played my part, so I would be going now, and claim the prize of my work, Antheon on the other hand, is waiting for you” before I could do anything, he dissolved into the thin air, another magic I didn’t know Ulyn had. Well, I had two choices from what I had gathered, I could walk straight into Antheon’s trap to recover Gin, or I could stay here for now and well… re-group?

A wave of panic washed me again, I mentally slapped myself, trying to think clearly.

Where’s everyone? Where is Aranthias? Where is Aidan? Shush! Get a grip, Ondine! Breathe, think, observe and act!

Before I could mentally slap myself again, fire broke out from the library. Well, I thought that it was fire anyway, because I sensed heat coming from the library just behind the great hall, and it was the heat of something burning… badly.

I bolted through the door and my instinct was right, it was fire, only it wasn’t the library that was on fire, it was Aidan. Lying in the middle of the library, the man writhed in pain. I took a few steps closer, until he raised his hand in the middle of his painful fight against himself.

“Stay there” he managed to whispered coarsely. I wanted to help, but I knew I couldn’t. I watched him burn, the fire burst from every fiber of his body, his eyes were as red as the fire itself. I knew he was struggling to control his power, which had never gone out of control unless someone had mess with him, and I knew that Ulyn had something to do with it.

I desperately looked for help, screamed for help, stormed down the other door to the library where I saw Anzu through the glass door. I tried to open the door but it wouldn’t open. I banged on the door loudly, but it didn’t seem that she heard anything. I swore I could’ve broken the door down but it stood strong. Someone had put a shield there and it was something I couldn’t break down. The magic of the shield was way older than I was, and with spell casting as my secondary ability, I couldn’t break the shield. I tried going back to where I came from, but when I walked in I had triggered a trap door, which now wouldn’t open.

Fine, if he had counted my spell casting ability into account, then I would use something else he had no control of… the spirits. The ghosts most probably couldn’t get through the shield, but I had sense ghost in the great hall before, maybe there were some in the library. I could at least try. It was my personal preference that I refused to ask for help from the dead, because once the door was opened, it could never be closed. The last thing I need was ghosts asking my help for their mortal purposes to be fulfilled. But for times like this I didn’t have a choice, Aidan would need help I couldn’t give, and soon he’d loose total control and set the building on fire or blow the whole town and perhaps the neighboring towns into pieces. Not that any of us would die from it, but human around the area would, and the vampires would be in grave danger if they had no shelter while it was still daylight outside.

For the first time in so many centuries, I intentionally opened up my eye to the passing spirits. I heard them clear enough without opening it up, this time I saw, heard and feel their presence as if they were living being. I caught a glimpse of a maiden spirit by the door and a couple of little girls near what use to be a bookshelf. The little girls were twins, they ignored Aidan who was in great pain or most probably couldn’t see him, and kept playing with their doll. The maiden on the other hand, saw what was happening but didn’t interrupt. I acknowledge the maiden’s presence and moved towards her. Judging from her look, she must’ve been around her late twenties. Her face was smooth and young, her dark auburn hair fell freely to her shoulder. From the clothes she was wearing, I guessed she was from around 1800s. Her dark brown eyes showed through a happy, love-filled life, so I wondered why she was there.

“Miss?” I approached her slowly as she turned her gaze to me. When I knew she wouldn’t run away from me, I bowed my head slightly and pressed my hand to my chest,

“I need your help"

Okay, so there was a language barrier, but I just hoped she understood what I was trying to say. She slowly shook her head.

“I’m not from here” she answered in my language. She tried hard to say those words. I nodded, and gave a deep sigh, while I was forming up a sentence, she pointed at Aidan,

“What’s happening to him?” she asked, in her language this time. I recognized the language, something I had not used for at a hundred years, but I could get by.

“He’s hurt, I need you to get help from my friend” I told her in her own language, she turned back to me,

“I can help” she said. I shook my head, and gave her a quick smile of appreciation for her good will, but as much as I was desperate for instant help, I knew she couldn’t.

“Thank you, but he needs special help" I tried to make it as polite as possible, I hoped she wasn’t offended should I said something in the wrong manner. Before I could explained any further, she glided towards Aidan.

My hand stopped in mid motion, suddenly remembered that I couldn’t touch her, not physically anyway. She stopped by Aidan and crouched, bringing her head near his ear, almost like kissing his ear. Her hair fell to touch Aidan’s cheeks, if only she could touch him. Her skinny fingers trailed his cheekbone. I frowned and wondered what she was doing until she started singing. As soon as her beautiful voice filled the room, the twins came over with their happy faces, little did they know that a man was burning between them and the maiden. Aidan was still writhing in pain, the whole body curled like a cat, body shuddered as he tried to contain the burst of energy. Another minute he stayed that way, the place would blow. I felt beads of sweat started to form on my forehead, my clothes started to pierce my skin with the heat. I wanted to ask the maiden again to get help from the next room, but I saw Aidan’s fire was gradually fading and his eyes were getting heavy. When she finished the song Aidan was completely asleep and the fire had faded, leaving his naked body lying on the floor. The heat was quickly absorbed back into Aidan’s body, giving me a wave of chill that made me shivered. The twins clapped their hands and wanting more, but she simply shook her head and gave them a hug instead, looked like she promised them to sing a different song next time, because the twins went back to their doll and continued on playing.

The maiden stood up and gave me a sincere smile.

“See? All done” there must be something funny with the expression on my face, because she burst out laughing.

“You might want to bring him to his bed. He’d need the rest” she commented. I nodded, a little speechless, but I finally found my voice again.

“Thank you. How did you do that? What are… were you?” I couldn’t help to ask, I had never heard such a voice, especially the one that could put a creature out of control to sleep.

“I was an opera singer if that’s what you’re asking” You know that’s not what I’m asking. Though I settled with that, whatever she was, I was just glad that she was there when Aidan needed help I couldn’t give.

“My name is Peta”

“Thank you Peta, for your help”

She only gave me another sincere smile and disappeared when Anzu burst out of the other room after hearing the delayed crack on the glass door I banged on. The shield must’ve deactivated itself once Aidan fell asleep. I crouched to take one of Aidan’s arms around my shoulder, I cringed as I felt his extreme heat.

“What the hell happened?” her gaze was locked on the burnt wood where Aidan’s burnt clothes were scattered, he eyes widened as she realized the black marks throughout the room from the heat, if Aidan hadn’t succeeded in controlling a bit of his power, it would have been ugly. Her gaze soon traveled to Aidan who was unconscious in my arms.

“What happened to him?”

“He was burning, someone had made him loose control of his power. I tried to get help from you but a bloody ancient shield made it rather impossible. I banged on the door and screamed, but no one heard it. Luckily Peta helped”

“Who is Peta?” She examined the burnt wood.

“A resident ghost”

“Faye’s tears” she whispered as she saw a drop of blue liquid that somehow didn't evaporate on the patch of burnt wood. She looked up at me with a worry look, Moora was swirling uneasily.

“I’ll go check on the others, you go take Aidan to rest”

I carried Aidan to his room as Anzu stormed off to see the rest of us left in the house. Carrying Aidan wasn’t a trouble at all for me, but dealing with the heat that still nestled on the surface of his skin was. I was afraid that he might actually set the bed on fire, I cast a layer of shield before I put Aidan in it. It should hold the heat long enough until he cooled down. I brushed my fingers on Aidan’s fiery red hair, freeing his face from the fallen tangle of his hair. His face was peaceful now, asleep like a baby. His chest rose up and down as he breathed, sending faint pulsing glows, it was the residual of his power surge. I let go of a deep breath I didn’t realize I was holding when I know he’d be safe for now. I settled a quick kiss on the tip of his forehead and left to my room.

I stood in front of the mirror to examine the burn damage on my skin from carrying Aidan. Within seconds the burns on my skin disappeared, sadly, my clothes needed to be thrown out. After putting on some fresh clothes I quickly made an exit to look for Anzu.

“The rest of them are okay, the vampires are safe too, but I couldn’t replace Gin” Anzu approached me as I walked across the hall to the entrance.

“I can’t replace Aranthias anywhere. And where the hell are the thralls? Aren’t they supposed to be guarding?” we spoke almost at the same time.

“Gin ordered them to leave, there are only a few of us left in here, the army had been sent back, which now I couldn’t understand why I had agreed to the idea”

I took a deep breath, the army would’ve taken the underground passage, there was no way that we could reach them.

“It was Ulyn. Gin was taken to Absolon, Ulyn had been covering as Gin for gods know how long. I hope not long enough to fool everyone, at least not Cael. As for you, I think he might’ve had put you under his charm or something like that”

Surprise hit Anzu. I wasn’t sure whether it was a surprise or whether it was a shame that she didn’t notice a change in Gin. Most probably Ulyn’s magic was so strong that he covered even his trail of magic while he ordered the people to move. I didn’t mean to be vain being the one who blew Ulyn’s cover, because I could have been fooled too, I thought that Ulyn probably had overused his power and by the time I turned up his energy was drained already from all the magic.

“Faye is still resting somewhere in the woods. The rest are out of the house at the moment, including Aranthias. Looks like Aidan was the only one affected” she finally told me, answering my previous question.

“Yeah, and looks like Ulyn had taken advantage of the almost empty house. There was no way he could affected everyone”

Moora wiggled around Anzu’s arm, the demon in Anzu was feeling uneasy. Yeah, Anzu was a half demon, descended from her father’s bloodline. I had seen Anzu’s demon figure, the demon was more destructive than ever. When she invoked the demon in her, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near her, not if I still wanted to live in one piece. Anzu hissed and shook her head, silently telling her demon to stay put, she swept her hand on the back of her neck where the protective devil mask tattoo was embedded. I knew the tattoo wasn’t just a protector, it was the demon itself, which wouldn't get out without Anzu summoning it, unless Anzu failed to protect herself, or simply when Anzu did something stupid that would jeopardize her life. Her grandfather had planted the tattoo at the back of her neck to contain her demon, so she could live without her demon popping in and out.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, my demon wasn’t too happy”

“It’s not your fault, it’s no one’s fault. I feel like shit too that I couldn’t break the shield down” I answered in agreement as I sat down on the hallway, leaning my back against the wall, quietly taking a little bit of rest after the little burning incident that just happened. Aidan had never lost his control over his power since the day he mastered the fire power, and I regretted that I didn’t have much spell casting ability to be able to go through the shield.

Anzu joined me on the floor, heels on the ground, elbows propped on her bent knees. She didn’t look any happier than I was, no shit, Gin had gone missing, Ulyn had moved around freely in Gin’s form and no one noticed, and Aidan was on fire… and for me, I was topped with the news that I’d die no matter who I picked. In short, it wasn’t the ideal morning.

“I thought Ulyn doesn’t have the ability to shapeshift” she mentioned, hands propped on her jaws.

I snorted “Neither did I”

Hurried stomps rattled the stairs, it was the sound of Eos and Toric running downstairs. Somehow I was amazed that the building hadn’t collapsed yet with the way they were running.

“What the hell happened?” they spoke almost in unison.

I told them the short version of the story, they could fill in the blanks themselves. I also told them about the woman I met in the gods plain. Shock filled their faces.

“Naal took you?”

At least someone knows her name.

“Perhaps, she didn’t mentioned her name”

“Yeah, sounds like her” Toric explained.

“You’ve been blessed lil sis. She never took anyone of us home, she never even spoken to any of us… not that she had any business with us anyway, but I heard she is a real beauty”

“Well, Eos, then I assure you that you wouldn’t be disappointed” I added a smile, but the smile quickly worn out as I remembered what Ulyn had told me about Gin. I hadn’t told the others about what he said about Gin, I wanted to replace out about it myself, but I did wonder about Gin’s hidden identity.

“Any of you know what Gin is?” I finally asked. Almost everyone shrugged.

“That’s a question you should ask Deirdra. She’s the one sleeping with him” Eos said.

My eyes widened to that statement. I had never seen him and Deirdra together.

“They keep it very quiet” Anzu explained.

“But not doing a very good job at it” Eos added.

“I think I’m the only one who’s out of the loop here. I had no idea whatsoever about Gin and Deirdra” I finally admitted the fact, and tried to picture Gin and Deirdra together, the picture was a perfect union. I wondered why I didn’t see it before. I stood up and straightened my crumpled clothes

“I think I should check on Aidan, see how is he doing”

Allegra raised an eyebrow “What happened to him?”

Saving myself from another explanation, Anzu filled in the blanks for me while I went to check on Aidan. I took the shield off from Aidan’s door before I went in, and found Aidan was still peacefully asleep on the bed, and I praised the gods that the bed wasn’t on fire. I checked the layer of shield on the bed and fed more into it to make it stronger. I laid my palm on Aidan’s chest which now was warm instead of scorching hot.

“He’s beautiful isn’t he?” I turned to face Peta who suddenly stood next to me. Damn, I forgot that I’ve established my existence to them. I nodded slowly, still keeping my palm on his chest.

“Thank you again, I didn’t know what could’ve happened if you hadn’t helped” She gave a smile again, and moved to the end of the bed

“He’s someone who’s dear to you?”

“He’s my friend throughout the ages” I took his hand and squeezed it in mine. I didn’t know what I would do if I failed to save him. The thought of it sent anger to each fiber of my body. I shuddered trying to shove it away. It wouldn’t be wise to fight in anger.

“You’re a great warrior, Ondine. Don’t blame yourself for what just happened” Peta whispered without taking her gaze from Aidan.

“Why are you here, Peta?” I finally asked. I was curious of her purpose of being there. She looked happy and she knew what she was, so I really didn’t understand why she lingered on earth.

“My purpose hasn’t been fulfilled yet. I won’t be free until I’m done. I’ve been waiting for many centuries and will be waiting for many more until the purpose is completed”

“You have magic in you even after your death. That amused me”

She looked at me with her beautiful eyes.

“I’ve never been dead. This is my form, my true form” I frowned at her answer.

“But you said you were an opera singer” I was half asking, and she nodded.

“Yes, and I was, only that my audience weren’t human, and don’t mind the clothes, that’s just for appearance sake” I got very confused.

Sighing, I stood up before I gave Aidan a kiss on his forehead.

“Where are you going?” she asked me.

“I have to go check on Chloe, the teenage witch, she got injured. Just making sure she’s safe” I walked out the room and placed a protection shield soon after Peta followed me out. She followed me to Chloe’s room down on the other side of the hall. I stripped the door from its shield, it was Margaret’s shield on the door.

Chloe was still asleep as I expected. After the sleeping charm that was given to her, it should take her out for probably a week.

“Peta, meet Chloe”

Peta was already by her side. She trailed her finger on Chloe’s injured arm, which now was fully healed and the scar was getting less than the last time. It was as good as it gets. Then I saw something that I didn’t know could happen, a drop of tear trailed down Peta’s cheek and dropped on Chloe’s arm,physically dropped on her arm. I squeezed my eyes, trying to register what just happened.

“Peta, are you alright?”

She turned to me with a smile, it was a smile of happiness and relief.

“Thank you, Ondine… my wait is over” I gave her a questioning look

“She’s your purpose?”