Revelation of Blood (18 page)

I pulled back from the kiss and held the back
of my hand to my mouth as I took in Ruarc. He was also in last
night’s clothes and he was covered in blood as well. “Sorry, I
didn’t see you there,” I mumbled before addressing the blood. “What
the hell happened to you guys?”

“No,” Archer growled, “you first. I want to
know where the fuck you’ve been. What happened to you, Skye? I’ve
torn this entire city apart looking for you.”

“Well, that was a little pointless. I wasn’t
in Boston, babe,” I sighed as I folded my arms under my chest.

Archer’s eyes began to rapidly fade color as
his anger took over. “Speak. Now.”

I knew better than to argue when he used that
tone, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him to the love seat.
Jameson and Ruarc followed suit and sat on the couch across from
us.

“Just do me a favor and please try to stay
calm,” I said as I looked at Archer and then Jameson and Ruarc.
“Keep in mind that I’m alright, okay?” They grumbled and I took
that as an understanding.

Taking a deep breath, I launched into the
story, picking up where I’d left off with Jameson. When I got to
the part where I was injected in the heart, Archer growled loudly
as his fangs snapped down. I stroked his arm soothingly as I worked
up to the part where I woke up in front of Atticus. As soon as I
said his name, a fierce growl ripped itself from his chest and he
flashed to stand.

“I’m going to kill that opportunistic
cac
ar oineach
!” Archer yelled as he picked up the crystal vase on
the coffee table and launched it across the room with surprising
force. The harsh sound of glass exploding made me flinch and I
hugged myself. Archer was livid, as I knew he would be, but I still
wasn’t fully prepared for his temper

“
Ní fiú tráithnín é, dheartháir
,”
Ruarc said, slowly standing and holding his palm out in a calming
gesture. “He’s not worth it.”

“He kidnapped my mate!” he yelled, his eyes
completely white now. “My MATE, Ruarc! That is an act of war!”

The anger in the room kicked up a notch and I
was starting to choke on the emotions. I couldn’t seem to shut off
my empath powers and felt like I was drowning. I did the only thing
I could think of to potentially calm the situation. “My dad was
there,” I whispered, swallowing hard as I tried to breathe.

Every head in the room swung to me. “What?”
Archer whispered.

“Atticus asked me to join the Dark Ones
because he’d heard from someone that I had part of Amun’s soul
inside me. He thinks I should be among my own kind. I told him that
I was a Day Walker, no matter what he’d heard, and I politely
declined the invitation. Then he said ‘Maybe this will change your
mind’ and my father pops out.” Archer’s eyes narrowed and his scowl
deepened as I continued, “Someone from our side is obviously
oversharing here. I expected my powers to get out but I didn’t know
someone would tell the Dark Ones about Amun’s soul. That’s a little
fucked up.”

“It was inevitable,” Ruarc sighed as he ran
his fingers through his thick, shaggy dirty blond hair and sat back
down. “Nothing as salacious as this stays quiet for long,
unfortunately.”

“Wait, your Da?” Jameson asked, totally
confused. “What the hell was your Da doing there? I thought you
didn’t know who he was.”

I quickly filled Jameson in on what happened
at The Mausoleum between my mother and me. When I was finished, he
sat back on the couch, astounded. “Jesus. Miss a little, miss a
lot. Why does the good stuff always happen when I’m gone?”

“Maybe that’ll teach you to keep your ass at
home where you belong,” I said, giving him a quick smile before
turning my attention back to Archer.

“What happened with your father?” he asked,
looking down at me, the scowl firmly planted on his face.

“We talked,” I shrugged my shoulders. “It was
surprisingly normal.”

“So I take it you didn’t kill him then?”
Archer cocked his eyebrow skeptically.

“No, though I was pretty pissed at first. He
told me that he had to leave my mom because he had a disease which
only vampirism could cure and he only had the best intentions when
doing it. He said he wanted to be a father to me but that Grace
wouldn’t allow it.” I shrugged my shoulders and sighed. “I don’t
know whose story I should believe…mom or Lucian’s. Regardless, it
was nice getting to talk to him. It felt…I know this is going to
sound silly, but it felt like I found a part of me that I didn’t
know I was missing.”

“Lucian?” Archer asked, confused.

“He said Steven was his human name,” I
shrugged. “I guess he wanted a new identity or something, I don’t
know. Funny thing was I met him the night we went to Les Oubliette.
He sat down next to me and we were going over the donor menu
together.” I frowned up at him, suddenly remembering the Cocaine
Cowboy option. “Speaking of which, there’s something I’d like to
talk to you about. What’s up with your feeders using illicit
narcotics? Why would you allow such a thing?”

Archer’s brow furrowed and he took a deep
breath. “We cater to a large group of individuals and some have
specific desires. I personally don’t like it, but who am I to judge
them?”

“So you provide the drugged blood?” I asked
with an unhappy scowl. “What about the humans? Cocaine is no joke,
Archer. It’s highly addictive and can ruin lives. I can’t believe
you employ drug users just so vampires can get high off them.”

Archer cupped my cheek with one hand and
looked deeply into my eyes. “
Cion
, I do not turn the humans
on to the drug and I only hire experienced users. They are not
provided with the drug by me or my staff; they use their own
supply. If an employee ever wants to get clean, I cover all
rehabilitation costs and outpatient treatment for a duration of
five years, even if they no longer work for me. I do not judge my
employees or the vampires who desire the altered blood. Ultimately,
it’s their choice how they want to live their lives. I only provide
a safe blood service. My employees are clean and well looked after.
It’s better than the alternative.”

“What’s the alternative?” I asked curiously.
I was so new to the vampire life and felt I was just now beginning
to scratch the surface of what I was and what was out there.

“Underground and back alley blood banks,” he
answered, leaning back against the couch. “They are unsafe for all
involved. It’s an unpredictable and dangerous world out there. I
only do what I can to help my fellow vampires and the humans who
choose to live the donor life.”

I still didn’t fully agree with it, but
Archer did have a point. People were going to do what they wanted
to do and he was providing both parties a safe environment to do it
in. I was happy that he at least provided the humans with the
option of rehab if they ever chose to stop using.

Archer saw that I had come to terms with the
issue, so he continued our previous conversation. “Now that that’s
settled, back to Lucian. They must have somehow known you were
coming to Boston. What did Lucian look like?” I started describing
him and Archer nodded his head. “I’ve seen him around the club a
few times, but not often. I don’t think he lives in here.”

“No, he lives in Atticus’ colony somewhere
under New York City.”

“They took you to the colony?” Ruarc asked,
exploding up from the couch in shock. He turned to Archer with wide
eyes. “They allowed a Day Walker to enter their most guarded nest.”
Ruarc’s eyes moved back to me and I shrugged at the wonder in his
eyes. “They must have thought you would accept their offer,
otherwise they would have never let you down there.”

“Well,” I drew out on a grimace, preparing
for their anger, “I kind of told Atticus and Lucian that I’d
consider the offer.” I clenched my eyes closed as the room exploded
around me.

“What!”

“I forbid it!”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“Over my dead body!” Archer fiercely growled
again, his eyes completely faded. “You are mine!”

“Calm down!” I huffed as I stood and folded
my arms under my chest. “I said I’d think about it. Thinking about
it and agreeing to it are two totally different things.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Jameson
asked angrily, motioning with his hands. “You can’t just up and
decide to be a
bualadh craicinn
Dark One! You were born Day.
Jesus! Ruarc, tell her!”

“It’s unheard of, Morrison,” he shook his
head, his eyes faded too.
Damn, why is he angry
? “This whole
situation is unprecedented.”

“You’re NOT leaving and that is FINAL!”
Archer yelled, motioning with his finger to the floor.

“Chill out!” I yelled, my fists clenched
tightly at my sides. “I love you, you possessive pain in my ass!
I’m not going anywhere. Why would I leave you?” I took a deep
breath and rubbed my forehead. “I considered it, okay? I gave it
five whole seconds of actual consideration before I realized that I
could never be without you, Archer. The thought of knowing and
being close to my father was tempting, but ultimately not important
enough to me. You and our family are the most important things in
this world. I could never give that up…I could never give YOU up,
so stop yelling at me, okay?”

Archer closed the small distance between us
and slid his hands up my neck to hold my head. “I love you so much,
cion
,” he said softly as he tilted my head back so our eyes
met. “You have no idea how much you mean to me. I can’t lose you,
Skye.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered. “I
never want to be anywhere other than in your arms, Archer. YOU are
my home. You always will be.”

His mouth descended on mine and I fisted his
shirt as I pulled him closer to me. Archer’s kiss had an edge of
hungry desperation to it and I quickly lost myself to him.

“I’m glad you two are happy,” Jameson groaned
uncomfortably, “but this is just a little too soon for me.” I
pulled away from Archer and looked over my shoulder apologetically
at Jameson. His face looked pained as he ran his fingers through
his hair and looked down at the floor.

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled and went to sit back
down on the love seat. “I didn’t mean to-”

“It’s fine, little sister,” Jameson cut me
off with a sigh, finally looking up at me. There was a barely
masked sadness there and it made my chest ache. I didn’t want
Jameson to hurt. I guess I just figured he had moved on, what with
all the groupies he’d been banging on a nightly basis. I wasn’t
judging him, though. We all handle breakups differently.

“I sincerely apologize, Youngblood,” Archer
said, bowing his head and putting his right fist to his heart.

“So let us get back to the issue at hand,”
Ruarc sighed as he sat down again. “Did they harm you in any way?
Mistreat you? Make you feel uncomfortable?”

“No, no, and no,” I said, answering him.
“They were…nice? I don’t know how else to describe it. Atticus even
brought me a feeder and let me sleep in the guest wing.”

“Where’s your dress? Where did you get the
one you’re wearing now?” Archer wondered aloud.

“My dress is ruined and I definitely wasn’t
happy about that,” I frowned. “Some lady brought this dress when
she came to wake me up. She put my other one in that duffle bag by
the door.”

Ruarc flashed to the duffle bag and began
digging around inside of it. A few seconds later we heard him call
out, “Tracking device.” He re-entered the room holding a small
blinking chip in his hand and I frowned.

“Where I live is common knowledge, so I don’t
understand why they put a tracker on her,” Archer raised his
eyebrows.

“Beats me,” he shrugged his shoulders as he
closed his hand and crushed the little electronic device. “But they
aren’t tracking her anymore.”

“Okay,” I said as I crossed my legs and got
comfortable. “Now it’s your turn to start explaining some things.
What’s with the blood? You guys are covered in it.”

Archer and Ruarc stared at each other for a
long few seconds and I grew impatient. Thankfully, Jameson finally
filled me in.

“Ruarc and our fearless leader went all Vlad
the Impaler on some Dark Ones when they couldn’t find you,” he said
with a shake of his head.

“You…tortured people?” I gasped, thoroughly
shocked as I took in their bloody clothes again.

“Tortured is such a strong word,” Ruarc
sighed as he tugged on his shirt cuff. “I prefer duly
motivated.”

“We figured Dark Ones were behind your
disappearance and it turns out we were right,” Archer explained. “I
wanted to know where they took you and no one would talk, so we
gave them the motivation we thought they needed.”

“And did they tell you where I was?” I asked
in a huff. “Did they say specifically say that Atticus had
coordinated my kidnapping and was hiding me away in some secret
underground lair?”

“Well…no,” Archer finally conceded. “We never
did find out who took you but we made sure the message would get
back to Atticus in any event.”

“You unnecessarily ‘motivated’ innocent
people,” I frowned. “You say that taking your mate is an act of
war, but what about torturing innocent Dark Ones? Atticus might see
that as an act of war.”

“I don’t give a damn what Atticus thinks!”
Archer suddenly roared. “He kidnapped you; MY WOMAN! Let him come
at me. We had a hunch and it turned out to be correct. I had EVERY
RIGHT to do what I did! And you know what? I’d do it again in a
heartbeat. You DON’T take what is mine! And you especially do not
fuck with the love of my life.”

I sat, stunned, as I stared at Archer. His
eyes were completely white and his body was trembling with fury.
I’d never, ever seen him so angry before. Archer in protective mode
was a little scary, but I understood how he felt. If someone had
kidnapped him, I would have done anything I could to find him.
Maybe even use a little ‘motivation’ of my own, who knew, so I
guess I shouldn’t have judged him.