Gwenyth Stevens - Daughter Of Darkness Part 23

"Its nothing, really, I'm fine," I said. I tried to convince him as well as me. I don't think it worked. I made an attempt to free myself from him, he squeezed me tighter. "Caleb, you're hurting me," I said. He scared me.

"Looks like somebody already did that. What the h.e.l.l happened while I was gone?" he held to me tight. I saw something in his face I had never seen before, anger.

"Can I please get in the tub?" I asked. I felt how naked I was, it made my skin crawl. I wanted to climb in and let the water wrap around me.

Caleb let go of my arms. I walked around him and got in the tub. I was careful to avoid looking at him. I didn't want to see the rage in his face. He turned and walked out, closing the door behind him. I was thankful. I didn't want to talk about what had happened since he disappeared. It was not something I wanted to relive. What was I supposed to say, "After you left, my dead mother whisked Pallo and I off to a romantic location. Once there, I found out about having lived before, freaked out, and ran straight into the arms of a homicidal maniac, Talia. She tried to have her pets tear me to shreds. I ended up leaving there a murderer. But, hey, after we got home, I went out partying and managed to squeeze in a little bit of o.r.g.a.s.mic dancing and neck-nibbling with an old boyfriend on the dance floor. Gee, wait, it only gets better. I left there and went and made love to Pallo. Turns out, he was just f.u.c.king me though, so don't sweat that one. I was lucky enough to b.u.mp into the crazy lady one more time before returning to Pallo's, where I willingly let Giovanni bite me again. That is how I got the bruises. But hey, Pallo's free right, oh, I even managed to b.u.mp into my long lost father, the King. At least something good came out of it. Right?" Yeah, running this over in my head sounded worse and worse every time.

Somehow, I didn't think Caleb would want me to tell him what happened while he was gone. I didn't even like thinking about it, let alone saying it out loud. I had to fight to keep from being sick again. I tried to rid myself of the suffocating feeling of shame. I knew better than to behave this way. Why I lost control so easily and frequently lately?

Chapter 25.

I finished, and walked over to my room to get dressed. I decided on a pair of tan pants, and a blue cotton tank top. It was short and my belly showed again, but that was the style, all the girls were wearing it. I loved it. It was a throwback to the seventies. It was great. I picked out a pair of brown sandals and slid them on. I pulled all of my hair up into a loose bun, and headed downstairs. I could tell that the sun was on the verge of rising. Had we really had s.e.x all night long? I should have been more tired than I was. I think stress will do that to you. When I turned into the kitchen, I smelled Caleb's pancakes. They smelled delicious. I hoped my appet.i.te was trying to come back. My jeans were getting a little loose on me. I was fine to start with. I had no intent on walking around looking like a stick figure. No thanks!

I walked in and saw breakfast sitting on the table. Caleb was the only one in the kitchen. I hadn't pa.s.sed Ken on the way down. I wondered where he was. Caleb turned and looked at me. He answered before I could even ask.

"Ken left a few minutes ago," he said dryly.

I pulled a chair out to sit down. "He left? Why?"

Caleb sat in the end chair and put his elbows on the table, propping his chin up with his large hands. He looked so beautiful in the light from the rising sun. It came in the kitchen door window and illuminating him. He was perfect in every way.

"He said he had to think about some things. Can you blame him?" he asked. His tone was different, it was annoyed. He looked at me, and there was no love in his eyes. I picked up one of the pancakes, and put it on my plate. I tried to ignore him staring at me. His energy p.r.i.c.kled up my arm. He used his power on me.

"What?" I asked, still concentrating hard on looking at my food.

"Ken told me everything."

I stopped chewing and tried to swallow. You never really know how dry a pancake can seem until you are in a stressful situation. I picked up a gla.s.s of water from the table, and tried to help it slide down. Finally, I looked at Caleb. His normally soft face looked drawn and tight.

"What do you want me to say? What will make it all right?"

He let out a sigh as he tipped his head slightly. "I want you to deny it. I want you to tell me that Ken's a liar."

The p.r.i.c.kling on my arm got worse. I wanted to reach down and scratch it, I didn't. I looked into Caleb's dark, forest green eyes. Ken wouldn't lie to him. Ken had many faults, but lying wasn't one of them. I learned that after meeting Talia, he had been telling me the truth all along. He didn't know her and he couldn't help himself. No, I knew that Ken had told Caleb the absolute truth. What I didn't know was how much Ken let him in on, everything or just part of it?

"Ken's not a liar," I said. I looked down and fixed my eyes on my gla.s.s of water. I couldn't look at Caleb, I couldn't see the hurt and anger in his eyes.

Caleb's fist slammed down onto the table and water leapt out of my gla.s.s. I screamed. Caleb rose to his feet. He kicked the chair back against the refrigerator and walked into the hallway.

"Caleb," I said softly.

He stopped, but didn't turn around. I said his name again. He stood very still.

"I'm sorry."

His head bent down, his hair had long since fallen out of its tight braid. It covered his back like a blonde mane. He took a deep breath as he headed upstairs. I wasn't sure what he'd done. I had a feeling he packed his bags to leave. I had managed to be fooled by Pallo, left by Ken, and now Caleb. I was worried that if I blinked someone else would be gone too. With the way I'd been behaving, I wished I could get away from myself. I started towards the stairs. I heard his footsteps coming down towards them. Caleb had put on his black boots and a black tee shirt. He had something in his hand. It was his crossbow. I grabbed the railing.

"Caleb?" I put my hand up to try to slow him down. He moved quickly, just missing knocking me backwards. "Caleb, what are you doing?"

He stood before the door, his back faced me. "I'm going to kill him," he said and pulled the door open. I couldn't get myself to let go of the railing. He was going to kill him? Oh my G.o.d, he was going to kill Pallo! I ran out the door and found him getting into his truck.

"Caleb ... no!" I screamed, running to block him from closing the truck door.

"Don't try to protect him," he said, trying to ease me out of the doorway. I didn't budge. I would not let the two of them kill each other. Caleb's power flowed like needles over my arms. I tried to rub it away, it did no good.

"No, stay, we can fix this, please, I know we can. Caleb."

A sudden wind rose, lifting my hair, pushing Caleb's power away, surrounding me. Caleb stopped trying to push me away from the vehicle, and started trying to pull me into it.

"No!" he shouted. He lifted his hand towards me, the wind lashed out at him. His arm ripped open.

"Bella!" the wind whispered to me. My feet rose from the ground. I tipped my head back. I felt like I a bird, wind cradling me, lifting me from the ground. Something pulled on my waist. I looked down. Caleb had wrapped his arms around me tightly. He shouted at me, but I couldn't hear what he said.

"Come, Bella." The wind spoke to me again, so soft, so smooth, so Giovanni's voice. Giovanni! I snapped my head up and looked around. I levitated in the air, three feet off the ground. Caleb fought to keep hold of me, yelling at me to fight it. I did the only thing I could think to do. I started screaming.

The wind that had felt so gentle yanked at my hair and my arms. I tried to reach my hands down to grab Caleb, but the pressure was too strong. Something yanked my body up. I kept screaming. My waist slid up and out of Caleb's arms. He tried to hold onto my legs, but it was no use. He would have to let me go or risk tearing me in half. He let go. My body lifted higher into the air. Air wrapped itself around me tighter and tighter, making breathing difficult. I closed my eyes.

Something struck me from behind, crashing onto my back, sending me flying toward the ground. Caleb, with cat-like reflexes, broke my fall. I landed on him, and whatever hit me landed on me. The wind stopped. I no longer heard Giovanni's call to me.

Whatever hit me lifted itself slowly off of my back. I rolled over. Caleb and I looked up. We spoke at the same time.

"Kerrigan?"

We were lying on our backs in the gra.s.s, staring up at Kerrigan. He was in his normal black dress robes. He had a red sash tied around his waist--similar to the one Caleb had come home wearing. His hair was loose and hung down to his waist, and he looked a little out of breath. Good to know, I was beginning to think he was a superhero.

He reached out and pulled us to our feet.

"My King, thank you, we are honored that you a.s.sisted us," Caleb said, bending down on one knee. I looked at him like he was nuts, then faced Kerrigan. He nodded and winked at me. I shrugged and bent down next to Caleb.

"Thanks, oh honorable one, who is the King ... yeah, thanks," I said.

Hey! It's not like I was used to worshipping someone other than rock stars and the inventor of chocolate.

Caleb snickered and covered his mouth. I laughed and fell back onto the ground. It felt good to smile and be happy.

Kerrigan coughed. I stopped and let Caleb pull me to my feet. "Come, I need to pay my head counselor a visit," he said and walked down the lane.

I looked at Caleb, he looked at Kerrigan. "My King, surely you can't mean you are going back to the Dark Realm now, after all of these years?"

"Stop, Caleb. You have known me all of your life, please call me Kerrigan. As for the Court, it appears that my presence there is much needed. Would you agree?"

Caleb nodded and we followed him. Midway down the lane he veered off the path and into the woods. We headed down the slope towards the river. If Caleb hadn't held tight to my arm, I would have tumbled all the way down the thing. I watched Kerrigan walk right out and onto the river. He walked on it, not in it. I looked at Caleb. He smiled and followed after him, holding tight to my hand. I stepped onto the river. It seemed to be made of gla.s.s. My feet stayed completely dry. I concentrated so hard on my feet that when a rush of air pa.s.sed me I looked up to see us standing in a dark cavern. I could tell that we were no longer standing near the river, at least as I knew it. I watched Caleb and my father duck down to avoid hitting there heads on the top of the cave. I didn't have that problem. I could stand on my tiptoes and touch nothing.

I followed behind them, still holding Caleb's hand. The cave was damp and smelled musty. I used my free hand to steady myself. Slime stuck to my fingers, and I yanked my hand away. I let out a small gasp. It echoed in the cave. Caleb turned around and looked at me as I tried to get the slimy goop off of my hand. He smiled and took my hand and wiped it on his shirt. He bent down and kissed my cheek. I immediately looked to my father. He was still walking ahead of us, but he had his head turned towards us, he smiled. s.e.x was not shameful in the faerie community. I had never learned their ways. I was not really one of them, I had never been raised with them. I felt like I should hide my feelings for Caleb in front of my father, but he seemed pleased.

"Caleb, when you were with me you never mentioned if the two of you received the gift I sent," Kerrigan said. He tried to speak softly because his voice was so low it would have shaken our eardrums if he used his normal voice.

Caleb looked at me, and I shrugged. "I'm sorry, Your Maj--Kerrigan, I'm not sure what gift you mean."

"The fruit, of course," Kerrigan said.

Caleb and I both stopped walking. He had been the one who put the platter of fruit in the garden. When I had awakened after being bitten by the troll, I had eaten one of the pears. It had contained a l.u.s.t spell. Did my father put that on the fruit? I looked up at him walking. His broad shoulders were hunched to avoid hitting his head. His long hair hung down his back. Could he really have done that? He was King of the Underworld, King of the Dark Realm. I was surprised he was as nice as he was. Did I really know anything about him?

"Why the h.e.l.l did you put a spell on it?" I asked. I didn't hide the fact that I was mad.

Caleb clutched my hand. He leaned over and whispered something about him being the king. I didn't care who the h.e.l.l he was, he had no business in my love life.

Kerrigan turned around slowly, looking very intimidating. "And if I did?" he said, with one eyebrow raised slightly.

I walked up to him and put my finger in his chest. "It's none of your business who I choose to share my bed with, are we clear?" I wasn't really asking, I demanded.

Caleb pulled me back towards him. "I'm sorry, Kerrigan. What she means to say is thank you for trusting that we were meant to be together again. She was brought up by humans, she doesn't know any better."

I turned and glared at him. How dare he try and speak for me? How dare he think he could smooth this over with a little b.u.t.t kissing? His eyes pleaded with me. He begged me to let it go. I ignored him.

"Well, I think the good King here is well aware of the fact that I was not raised by fairies, and I think he is well aware of the fact that I am not happy with him right now!" I said.

Kerrigan smiled. "Caleb, I do not envy you. No, I do not." He laughed so hard as he said it that I thought he might cry. He turned the corner and I saw the exit.

Caleb grabbed my arm and pulled me close. "Please, Gwen, he is powerful. He could kill you without even laying a finger on you. Please, don't make him angry."

I had to smile. I didn't think Ken had told him everything. "When you said Ken told you everything, what did you mean?" I asked, as we walked out of the cave behind Kerrigan.

Caleb gave me a look that said he didn't want to be talking about this right now. Oh well, he was going to have to. "He told me about the h.e.l.lhounds, and Giovanni." He looked down. "He told me about you freeing Pallo."

So, Ken didn't mention that I had slept with Pallo, or that I had found out who my real father was. I started smiling. Caleb had no idea that Kerrigan was my father. G.o.d, he probably thought I was the stupidest girl in the world to speak to a King that way. Ha! I loved it!

"What part of what happened to you was amusing?" he asked seriously.

"No, it's not that. It's just that...." I started to tell him that Kerrigan was my father, when Kerrigan called to us.

We had walked out into an open, gra.s.sy field. The right side of it was lined with brush and trees. Kerrigan walked up to a ma.s.sive mound of ivy and reached out his hand. It separated into two equal halves. It was beautiful. I followed the two of them in. We stepped through and into a large city. It looked like every other city I had ever seen, right up until I turned and saw the people walking around here. Well, I think the term 'people' would apply. Many fairies walked about. Most had on long robes, similar to the one that my father wore. The colors varied, but it was clear that black was favored. Almost everyone was armed in some fashion, with swords, guns, knives. It didn't seem to bother anyone. They walked about on the sidewalks like it was perfectly normal to be armed and, I presumed, dangerous.

A nagging feeling started in my gut. I couldn't quite identify what, but I knew something wasn't right. I looked at Caleb. His tall, slender, beautiful profile confirmed that he was fine. I looked to my father, who walked just a few paces ahead of us--he, too, looked fine. My thoughts went to Ken. Had he made it home okay? I let this play about in my mind, then let it go. No, I knew in my heart that he was fine, too. It hit me then. Pallo! Something was wrong with Pallo. Giovanni was behind it, I knew it. I stepped up my pace. I needed to get back home quickly.

We walked down the center of the street. This place was dimly lit. It was a cross between night and day, it was dusk. I wondered if it was always this way here. After all, the Dark Realm was called the Darkness. As we walked, I looked down between the tall buildings, and the alleys were full of strange looking creatures. One had at least fifty eyeb.a.l.l.s plastered all over its purplish head. I think it looked at me, too, although I couldn't be sure. I think it looked at everyone. A man walked a ghoul. He had it on a chain--that was something you didn't see everyday. I had always wondered where creatures from nightmares lived. I knew that only a few lived among the humans. They feared the creatures too much and were not tolerant of them. Many of the creatures from the Darkness court were harmless. Some were a little dangerous, and others were down right lethal.

I could see a large building up ahead of us. It looked like a cross between a stone castle and a church. I highly doubted anyone in here sought religion. As we came closer to it, I saw the stained gla.s.s windows didn't hold images of the Christian church. They held images of the creatures of the night-sinister things that no one ever wants to think exists. One picture was of a werewolf in mid transformation. My body had chills running through it. Was I really part of this world? How could my father be King? He seemed so nice.

I watched him start upstairs to the large, gray, church-like building. Two goblins stood guard at the door. One was about a foot taller than the other. It had a snout that looked similar to an alligator and the rest of its face looked like it was a boar. Tusks poked from the edges of its mouth. Its skin was pasty gray. It was hideously wonderful, in its long red robe with a gold sash. The other goblin looked a little less overwhelming. It, too, was a grayish color, but lacked the tusks. Its nose was nonexistent, only two large openings were on its face. That made it appear more pig like than the other. He looked at us as we approached.

"Halt!" he shouted. I had to laugh. "No one may enter without an appointment."

The Queen of the Dark had appointments? Did she have a secretary, too? He looked at my father, then at Caleb, and a look of shock came over his eyes.

"My Lords," he hissed.

Lords? Whoa, did I travel in good company. He moved and opened the large black wood door for us.

"Thank you, Deaglan." Kerrigan said. The goblin dropped to his knees before my father's feet. My father reached his hand down and told Deaglan to rise. He did.

I just stood there, watching the entire thing in awe.

"Where is she?" my father asked Deaglan.

He looked at him with wide eyes. "She is in her chamber, she is..." he fell silent.

My father smiled, "She is entertaining, isn't she?"

Deaglan nodded and avoided looking my father in the eye. I wasn't sure what he meant by entertaining, but I a.s.sumed that it was not good. Caleb walked out and stood near my father.

"I will get her," he said, and walked towards an enormously wide staircase. The stairs were covered in red carpet, the stone beneath was painted black. I looked around. We were standing in a huge room, which for the most part was bare. A few paintings hung on the black walls. They looked to be of past Kings and Queens. I looked at them. One thing they all had in common was that in each picture, one person looked like me. No, not exactly like me, but close. I could tell I was related to them in some fashion. The long hair that curled on the ends, the shimmering skin, a mix between bronze and cream, and the dark navy blue eyes. I knew none of the faces.

"Caleb, you go and change. She will not be pleased to see you in those," he said, pointing to Caleb's jeans. "I will go and get her. Gwyneth, you stay here. Deaglan will look after you," Kerrigan said, and walked briskly upstairs.

Caleb turned and looked in my direction. "Deaglan, let nothing happen to her, understand me?" he asked.

"Yes, my Lord, I will look after the lady."

Caleb took off down a long hall to our right and disappeared. Deaglan turned and looked at me. He looked as though he were seeing a ghost. I'd been getting that a lot, so I became immune to it.

"Pardon me, miss," he said softly, with only a slight lisp.

I looked at him, eyes wide. "Yes?" I asked.

"Is it really you, Miss Gwyneth?" he asked, coming closer to me. He lifted his hand out to touch my face. He had a thumb and that was all. Where the other four fingers would have been was one fused--together lump. I stood still, and tried my best not to jerk away as he touched me. I a.s.sumed he would feel like a pig. I was wrong, he felt like a frog. His skin was cool, clammy, and smooth.

His huge yellow eyes lit up. "It is you, Miss Gwyneth, it is! But how?"

"I'm sorry, Deaglan, I can't explain it."

He nodded and stopped touching my cheek. I wondered if he had known me well before. I thought about asking him, but it seemed a bit insulting to not remember if you knew someone or not. I stood there with him a few minutes, then someone called my name. It sounded like Pallo.

Pallo? What could he be doing here? I knew the guy was a Master Vampire, but he didn't seem the type to hang out in dark, creepy places like this. He called me again. This time he sounded like he asked for my help. I had been right. There had been something wrong with him. I looked at Deaglan. If he heard this, he wasn't letting on. He just stood there looking at me. I heard it again.

I turned around and stopped to listen. Nothing. I closed my eyes. Was I imagining him? I hated him, right? Why would I imagine hearing his voice call to me? I thought about him. I though about his big brown eyes, his wonderful, pale skin, and how broad his shoulders were. I thought about his touch--how loving and gentle it had been before he turned on me. I tried to pull an image of him in my head. I kept seeing him against a stone wall. He was not wearing a shirt, but what else was new? I blew my energy at him. He didn't move. I let my mind focus and pull back from him a little. He was not standing against the wall, he was chained to it. I kept my eyes closed and ran in the direction I felt him. I was not running blind. My third eye guided me.

Chapter 26.