Becoming a Legend (13 page)

“
No, he was alive until thirteen years ago,” Devin corrected. Devin nodded at Turner, who was asking permission to leave the room. “Gabriel and Randolph killed him together.”

“
That’s not possible. He died with my family.” Andrew was now sitting on the edge of his seat. He didn’t break the contact with Arianna either, but he was much more alert now. “Everyone died together in the fire.”

Devin gave Andrew
a pitiful smile, and tried to ignore Arianna and Andrew’s hands placed so close together. “Is that what Lucan told you?” Andrew didn’t reply.

“
Did he ever say what started the fire?” Devin turned to look out the window. It was easier to ignore Arianna’s pull toward Andrew that way.

“No,” Andrew replied. “I don’t have much more than fuzzy memories from it. Lucan lied to me?”

“It appears so,” Devin replied, not surprised by that fact. Devin sat at the window and appeared to relax a bit, but nothing was really relaxed. He was ready to pounce at a moment’s notice. Two fully-transformed, purebred baku were in the backyard having a showdown. Nowhere was safe at the moment.

Andrew shook his head in disbelief that his past was a lie
, and even more so that Devin knew more than he did. Andrew looked closer at the man across the room. Devin was poised perfection, a perfectly-molded soldier. He was relaxed, yet attentive. He never missed a beat, and was ready for a fight at a moment’s notice. Randolph had done well picking and training Devin. Andrew had no doubt Devin spoke the truth and had more access to information than Andrew ever did.

“Your
uncle and father turned your brother when he was only twelve. He went crazy. Lit the house on fire. It killed your father, mother, and sister, but Lucan and you got out. When Lucan went back in, he found your brother and brought him out as well. Knowing that the kid was crazy, and there was nothing he could do to fix that, he chained him in the basement.”

Mental pictures flooded Arianna of the basement in Lucan
’s house and the thick chains to the wall. Arianna looked up at Devin, but he was as closed off as ever. She turned back to Andrew. The hands she saw in the memory were right in front of her. Arianna reached over to his hands and took them in hers as she examined them closer. They were the hands in the chains. In Andrew’s mind, the hands balled into fists and pulled against the chains. There was pain, and desperation to be free. Andrew reflexively did the same, pulling his hands from Arianna.

“
He chains you up too,” she whispered. Andrew didn’t reply. Turner returned and threw two packs of blood at Andrew. Arianna looked up and noticed the same thing as Devin already saw: that Andrew, while fed, definitely needed more blood.

“
I figured Lucan did that to you too when I saw you earlier. You still had the lines around your wrists until you changed. Is that why you’re here?” Devin asked, knowing there was more than the need to get away from Lucan that brought Andrew to them.

“I’m
here for the same reason all three of you are.” Andrew bit into the blood pack and guzzled it. “Arianna is special and needs as many on her side as she can get. I will protect Arianna with every cell in my body.” He ripped open the second pack and finished them both in less than two minutes.

“
Have any more?” Andrew asked. Devin turned to Arianna. She nodded, and Turner left again. “If you doubt me, ask her. Ari can now read people’s thoughts. I can lie all I want, but anything that I think, she can see if she tries.” Devin nodded as if he already knew. “But you know everything now, don’t you.” Devin smiled. Andrew stared over at Devin. How could he be so perceptive and still be just a day human?

Arianna yawned
, ending the conversation. “Are they going to take much longer?” Arianna nodded to the window and the tent below in the yard. Power levels were finally steady as each man reached their peak. Gabriel was, by far, the stronger baku, but Lucan wasn’t backing down.

“
They are still flexing their power. It will start soon, but nothing will change. Uncle can’t stand up to Gabriel. He’ll use as many tricks as he can and then disappear.” Andrew tipped back and closed his eyes; now that he was actually fed, he was sleepy too. “He’s been waiting years to challenge Gabriel, but it won’t make a difference.”

“Does he have a plan in place?” Devin asked nonchalantly.

“Me,” Andrew replied chuckling. “And I don’t think that’s going to work now. I’m guessing from here on out he’s winging it.”

“
Maybe I should go out there. What if something happens to Gabriel?” Arianna asked, standing and walking a few steps toward the door.

“
No,” all three men in the room replied in unison. Andrew reached up and took her hand. Electricity zinged through it, even though they were in their human forms. The momentary distraction allowed Andrew to pull Arianna away from the door.

“
Let’s just rest a little.” Andrew pulled Arianna back down to the couch. Turner returned with two more packs of blood.

“I’m
a bit tired,” Arianna added as she sat. Andrew moved her hand from his and placed it on his knee as he took the blood from Turner.

“
Then sleep,” Andrew replied, opening the blood. Arianna wrinkled her nose at the smell. This time, Devin didn’t protest at his suggestion. Something passed between Andrew and Devin, and they now didn’t want to kill each other.

“
How can you drink that stuff?” she asked, leaning over and taking a closer whiff. It smelled just as bad close up. Arianna pulled back and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Andrew laughed.

“
Um, we’re night humans; that’s what we do,” Andrew replied and drank the first bag all in one gulp. “Relax and get some sleep.” Andrew patted his lap, offering her himself as a pillow again.

“
I don’t need Devin skewering you while I’m trying to get some rest.” Arianna yawned again. She snuggled into him and felt his warmth around her. His warmth was different than Devin’s or Turner’s, but Arianna was too tired to ponder it further.

‘
Is he safe?’
Devin asked to be sure.

Arianna reached up and touched Andrew
’s face. He let all the images in his head fall freely for her to pick through. Arianna smiled as she saw some from his childhood, and then she was fast-forwarded to the first time he met her. Arianna watched through his eyes as he saw her lying on Turner in the choir room getting some rest that she’d desperately needed. Arianna had opened her eyes to stare at him, and he was hit with an incredible desire to just scoop her into his arms and run away. His feelings were overwhelming, and she had to break the connection. He loved her more than anyone she had ever met. Arianna nodded to Devin as she slid closer to Andrew to rest on his bare chest. Turner and Thomas left the room and Arianna was alone with Devin and Andrew. She hesitated slightly, hoping that it wasn’t a set up so that they could finally kill each other. Arianna looked from Devin to Andrew. Neither held a bit of violence between them, but that could always change.

“
Ari, get some sleep, please,” Devin begged. Arianna looked back at him and tried again to crack his silent exterior. There was nothing. Devin had complete control of his emotions, as always. Arianna nestled closer to Andrew and closed her eyes. This new warmth overwhelmed her, and she couldn’t remain conscious for long.

TWELVE

Words floated through Arianna’s mind. She felt the warmth of Andrew beneath her, but the words floated in nonetheless.
In a half-dreamlike state, Arianna lay and listened to Devin and Andrew talk. Andrew’s words were a bit muffled as she lay against his chest, but she heard them, waking her a bit.

“Did my brother really
live for two years without me knowing?” Andrew asked Devin as Arianna snuggled into his lap to get comfortable. Andrew shifted his arms as she moved, and didn’t look down at her.

“
Yes. From what Gabriel has uncovered, Lucan rescued him from the fire. Lucan had the choice of who to save in your family as your father was unconscious. He could have taken any of you—you, your mother, your father, your sister. He chose your brother.”

“
And me.”

“
No, not you,” Devin replied, shuffling papers working on endless paperwork.

“
But he saved me. That’s the only way I got out of there.” Andrew was confused. When the fire first started, he was in bed. He woke to the smoke and crawled downstairs. Maggie’s door was already open as he passed, and he assumed she was gone as he didn’t feel any life in the room. Andrew wondered why no one came up to get him when they got his sister since there was no feeling of life in her room. After he was rescued, he found out that Maggie was already dead and that’s why he didn’t feel any life in the room. Andrew didn’t have any memories beyond looking for Maggie. He woke days later in the hospital to find that his family was all dead. The nurses told him that Lucan had saved him.

“
No. Turns out you got out on your own, probably because you were smaller and the smoke didn’t reach you as quickly. Lucan’s men found you outside the house and assumed he saved you first and went back in. Turns out he didn’t. He only saved your brother.” Devin had read Lucan’s personal account of the fire from the stolen diary Randolph found years ago.

Andrew reached down and str
oked Arianna’s head, twirling her hair between his fingers as he thought. Andrew didn’t doubt that his uncle had been lying to him. A man who saw fit to chain his nephew to the basement wall was capable of anything. Andrew’s hands through her hair relaxed Arianna, but she was still awake. Arianna didn’t overhear and intrude on his thoughts, though she wanted to. Andrew mindlessly rubbed his sore wrists. They wouldn’t heal completely until he changed again with the new blood in him.

“
How long has he been holding you in the basement?” Devin asked. Andrew’s head snapped up, and he considered not answering.

‘
Trust him,’
Arianna said sleepily. ‘
If you trust him, maybe he can trust you.’
Andrew kissed a lock of her hair that he held in his fingers. She wanted peace between them. He would do anything for her, including befriending the Randolph dog if she asked.

“
About a year now. He finally figured out that I actually have been a baku longer than he thought. He’s a bit pissed and greatly afraid. He suspects that I have more power than I let on, but there’s no way for him to know for sure. I’ve been hiding my strength my whole life, and am very good at it.” Andrew already knew Arianna was awake, but didn’t tell Devin. Though he might not need to; Devin knew Arianna better than anyone.

“
And why don’t you just leave?” Devin asked, not returning to his papers.

“
And go where? Anyone that found me half-starved would send me back to Lucan. And on top of that, what would I do to get blood? Attack innocent people? As much as you want to think I’m my brother, I’m not.” Arianna felt anger course through Andrew, though it was directed at his uncle rather than Devin.

“
Did you truly not know your brother was alive?” Devin finally asked.

Andrew shook his head
no
. “If I’d known, I’d have done something. Monster or not, he was still my brother.” Andrew remembered his older brother. His broad shoulders and wavy blond hair were so much more like his father and the Lucan family than Andrew ever was. Andrew’s own dark curls were completely from his mother’s side. Alex was the future of the family, and they had so many hopes riding on him. Lucan and Andrew’s own father suspected Alex would one day rule the clan. Plans were always made for Alex, and Andrew was left forgotten.

“
There was nothing left of your brother after he set the fire. He was completely crazed, and it didn’t help that Lucan kept him locked away and underfed.” Devin looked over and watched Andrew rub his wrists more. They had done surveillance of the basement chamber during a mission in the baku territory. After Alex attacked his family, Devin was granted full access to the data, and he had watched all the tapes they had acquired.

“The notes on the night my family died are lost, but from what Gabriel and Randolph could tell, your brother broke free of his bonds and tried to run. Alex was too lost in his hunger when he stopped by my neighbor’s house and killed both of them. He wasn’t satisfied and came to my house. He killed my father, who was downstairs asleep in front of the TV, first. We were day humans and had no idea about this other world of night. Then he went upstairs and killed my mother and older sister. Randolph found him when he was killing my sister, but didn’t act since he didn’t want to start a war over a dead child. She was already gone. When Randolph realized I was still in the house, he went up to my room to confront Alex. Your brother had tried to bite me while I laid there, awake. It was this that probably saved my life. Your brother was equal in power to Randolph when he was fully fed. He couldn’t feed on me because I was awake. Alex was a tough match for Randolph, and fought evenly with him until Gabriel arrived. Gabriel and Randolph together took him out as they tried to subdue him. Your brother wouldn’t let them, probably for the same reason you wouldn’t run. They found me next. I was bitten but unharmed. Randolph took me in.”