The Awakening (25 page)

Gabby watched the vampires depart and wrapped her
arms around herself with a shiver. Nye offered her a lopsided smile as she sat
on a crumbling brick wall. Closing her eyes she cleared her mind best she could
and reached out into the void, searching for the one man she didn't want to
find.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Aed had found a perfect house in the middle of the English
countryside. A stately manor with a skeleton household staff that was employed
to keep the property in order over the winter, until it's owner's return in the
summer. A home fit for a prince and a home fit for his one true love until they
could find something more suitable for his plans. He'd slaughtered the staff
and made them his own and the grounds were now protected as well as he could
manage.

The moment he'd seen Siobhan at the University
library three, or was it four, days ago, he knew it was a sign. The blood of
the founder, Regulus had compelled him to come for the grimoire that held the
key to his demise and it was her that he'd seen entering the vault where it was
kept. It was fate. He would go back to Oxford and get the grimoire but for today,
he would watch over Siobhan and see her rested. A day was nothing in the
shadow of three thousand years.

His thoughts went back to the day before, when he'd
followed Siobhan on the street. The human man who'd been with her had
called her Isobel. What a curious name. He longed to taste her blood, to
read into her human life, but he found himself reluctant. He didn't want to
hurt her, despite her humanity which he found so insulting.

Now she was asleep in the best room of the house,
resting from her ordeal. Aed sat on the edge of the bed and let his eyes
wander across Siobhan's features, taking her in. She had died a long time
ago and to add to the madness of this world, his love had been reborn human. It
wasn't like there was another option for nature to take. Their kind were
extinct and the life they were destined to live was a mere fabrication. He
would not rule the Tuatha and he would not have Siobhan stand at his side
as his queen. He would not rule as he was supposed to, but he would still rule
another kingdom. The human one.

Siobhan stirred, her eyelids fluttering and he
resisted the temptation to reach out and run his fingertips across the
soft skin of her cheek. He regretted having to compel her, but there
was no other way to calm her down. The poor girl had been terrified of him, but
it was no wonder. Aoife had turned him into a monster with red eyes that lusted
after blood and Siobhan did not remember him, but she would in time. He'd
help her remember if it took forever and even if it forced him to make her like
him.

Siobhan's eyes eased open as she slowly woke from
her slumber and he looked down at her with a smile. She was just as beautiful
as he remembered. Her long flowing red hair, the color of a flaming sunset, her
hazel eyes…her perfect pink lips. He remembered what she could do with those.

She licked her lips and peered up at him and he
knew she still didn't remember, but of course that would take time.

"Are you thirsty?" he asked, frowning.

She nodded, her eyes wide, but they never left him.

"You," he said, clicking his fingers at a
slack jawed man who was standing in the corner. "Fetch some water for your
mistress and be quick about it."

The man shuffled from the room, closing the door
behind him.

"I'm sorry I scared you," he murmured.
"But I had to take you when I had the chance."

Siobhan just stared at him, the terror he'd
seen yesterday still in her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words
came forth.

"I know you have a lot of questions and I am
willing to answer as many as I am able, but you first have to ask them."

"Who are you?" she rasped.

"I am Aed," he said, trying not to let
his disappointment show. "We were to be married once."

"Married?"

"Yes. You were to be my princess and one day,
my queen."

The door opened and the man came back in and her
eyes jerked away from his.

"Who is that?" she asked, jerking back as
the butler set a jug of water on the bedside table.

"He's the help," Aed said.
"Reanimated, of course. I can't have an inferior race in here doing
whatever that want."

"But…" she began, but stopped suddenly as
if she was going to say something she didn't want him to hear.

"But, what, my love?" She clutched
the blankets around her, like they were some kind of shield. "You don't
have to be frightened of me. You can tell me what you're thinking."

"But can't you compel him? Did you have to
kill him?" she whispered. Her entire body tensed as if she was readying
herself for a blow.

"He is human and I cannot allow him in my home
as such."

"But I'm human."

Aed sighed, his eyes searching Siobhan's.
"You are, aren't you?" She stared up at him like a frightened
animal, like a baby fawn in the forest, innocent and naive. "You
don't need to be frightened of me, Siobhan." He reached out and pried
her fingers from the blankets and pulled her into his lap. She cried out and
tried to push away, but he was far too strong for her.

He cradled her in his arms, breathing in her alien
scent, relishing the feel of her against his chest. Her hair smelt like some
kind of flower he didn't recognize, the sweetness ingraining into his memory.
Aed supposed he would have to make new ones now.

"What do you want from me?" Siobhan
asked, her voice muffled against his neck.

"I want your love," he replied and
pressed his lips against the top of her head. "I want your love and when I
have it, we will rule this world together. We will have our revenge and the
world with run red with our triumph."

There was no denying it. Aed was bat shit crazy.

He held her in his arms like a lover, like he knew
every intimate part of her body, and it scared her shitless. Gabby and the
others, they'd warned her that he was unstable, which was just a kind word for
'totally fucked in the head', but this was an other level. It was an off this
world kind of level and she wasn't getting off any time soon.

"Please get dressed, Siobhan," Aed
murmured. "I have instructed some breakfast be prepared for you. I know
you must be famished."

"Breakfast?" she asked, a little worried
as to what that might entail.

"Yes. I understand that you need to eat real
food, my love." Luckily for her.

He set her down on the edge of the bed and rose,
his stature a little dominating for her tastes, but as if she had a choice.
Leaning down, he caressed her cheek with a strong hand before tucking a strand
of hair behind her ear.

"Breakfast will be served downstairs in the
dining room shortly," he said. "Don't be late." Then, in the
space of a blink, he was gone.

Isobel looked around the room, but she was alone.
Her clothes were folded on top of the dresser and she cringed a little at the
nightgown she wore, wondering who had put her in it. The last thing she
remembered was being in the hybrid's arms, flying over rooftops, trying to
fight him…terror…then he'd set her down in the woods and… He'd obviously done
that freaky eye shit to make her shut up and put her to sleep. It annoyed the
hell out of her, but if she fought him again, he'd just make her stop. The more
she thought about it, the sicker she felt wondering what else he would make her
do.

Not wanting to push Aed any further, she quickly
dressed and cracked open the bedroom door, peering out into the hallway. A set
of eyes peered right back and she let out a yelp of surprise and stumbled back.
The door eased open and the zombie-butler stood, staring at her with dead eyes.

"Shit," she hissed at him. "Do you
have to be so creepy?"

He just stood there and continued to stare. She
wasn't sure if he was still able to speak, let alone understand her question,
but he'd followed Aed's order. Maybe it had to do with his weird-ass fairy
power? Anyway, he'd left his zombie to guard her door, but he'd probably know
if she tried to run anyway.

Isobel shivered as she edged past the butler, her
skin pickling with revulsion. It wasn't the poor guy's fault he was dead, but
it still freaked her out. He followed her down the hallway with a lumbering
gait and when she got to the bottom of the stairs, she turned to watch him.
Surprisingly, he was pretty sure on his feet for a dead man.

When he reached the bottom, Isobel felt her
curiosity spike and she reached out and poked him in the chest. Nothing
happened, of course. He just stared at her like before, waiting for her to
continue to the dining room.

"Siobhan," Aed called out. "Leave the
help alone."

Startled, she looked around and found Aed standing
in the foyer and she grimaced. "Sorry?"

"Come." He offered her his arm and
reluctantly, she took it.

He led her through the house and her eyes took in
the eighteenth century decor. The entire house was a thing of the past, full of
paintings and furniture and the only modern fixtures were the electric lights
and heating that had been wired through every room. Whoever the real owner was,
they were filthy rich and would be majorly pissed off to find an interloper
when they came back in the summer.

The dining room was just as lavish at the rest of
the house with a long table made from mahogany and a crystal chandelier hanging
from the high celling. The walls were lined with landscapes of the English
countryside and at one end a portrait of a black stallion took up most of the
space. Aed sat her down at the head of the table at a place setting for one,
with what looked like to be the best silver and crystal in the house. He sat
beside her, his graceful motions almost cat like. He was a predator in every
sense of the word. A dangerous, unpredictable, predator.

It was a woman this time who shuffled into the
room, her black dress and white apron marking her as the maid, but that's not
what made her stare. Her apron was speckled with drops of dried blood and her
face was pale to the point it was almost blue. Another corpse reanimated by
Aed's creepy fae power, then. The zombie-maid set a plate of food in front of
her and to her surprise it actually looked edible. Glancing up at Aed, he
gestured for her to eat.

"It's quite edible," he confirmed.
"She might be, what you call
zombies
, but she is still quite
capable of cooking a meal."

Tentatively, she poked at the plate of bacon and
scrambled eggs. A plate of toast and a glass of orange juice appeared and she
almost dropped her fork when she caught sight of the maid's sickly bluish grey
hands. How could she eat anything that was prepared by a walking corpse? Gross.

Aed leaned back in his chair and folded his arms
across his chest, watching her every movement like she was some kind of toy.
Waiting for her to slip up or waiting for her to give in and remember some past
life that she was sure didn't even exist. His red eyes freaked her out and the
longer he stared, the more her stomach churned.

"
Eat
," he said a little too
forcefully when she didn't move.

Isobel jumped at his sharp tone and picked up her
fork again and stuffed a mouthful of eggs into her mouth. If she had to choose
between suffering Aed's wrath or eating eggs made by a dead woman, she'd take
the eggs.

All Isobel could do was play along with Aed's whims
and hope to god that Gabby, Alex and the others would come and find her before
it was too late. She knew her brother and he would've made Gabby turn him by
now. They would be plotting Aed's death, they had to be.

There was no hope of escape on her own and if she
tried and failed…she'd either die or he'd lose interest and turn her. And if he
turned her into a vampire, then what kind of monster would she become with his
blood in her veins? Somehow, she knew she'd rather die before letting that
happen.

Shivering, she cast her eyes down and ate her
breakfast as she was bade and prayed that Alex would hear her prayers. He was
her only hope now.