Becoming a Legend (4 page)

THREE

“Man, that leaves quite a head
ache,” Turner complained, as he sat at the diner with Arianna and Thomas. Thomas nodded in agreement. Turner sat next to Arianna in the newly rebuilt diner. After last year when it was blown up, it was rebuilt to better than new condition. The squeaky red vinyl seats looked like the old ones, but shinier. The new color theme added a touch of black to the red and white décor. The diner owned by Arianna’s guardians had always been a bit run-down, now it only looked old in a retro way.

“
I could give you a little more blood,” Arianna offered. “Maybe it would help make it go away faster.”

“
No, I think that’s what’s causing the headache,” Molina said, sitting down beside Thomas. “Mori analyzed what was found left over in Thomas’ blood, and it was a drug specifically designed for your blood. It’s twice as effective when he has your blood in him.”

“
Someone is making drugs based on my blood?” Arianna was a bit alarmed. “When did they get hold of my blood?”

“
Not your blood,” Devin added, seeming to still be mad from earlier. He sat in the booth behind Thomas and Molina with his back to the four of them. He didn’t even turn around to talk to them. Arianna didn’t need her sensitive baku night human form to pick up the slight anger he was still radiating.

“
They designed the drug for both dearg-dul and baku blood, and put it together, as if they knew they would be shooting someone who had both blood in their veins,” Molina replied when Devin didn’t continue.

“
Like the girl? I think she had baku blood in her,” Arianna added, alarmed that someone would target her. What would have happened if she’d gotten the triple dose? The double dose dropped Thomas in less than a minute.

“
Like you, but not specifically you,” Molina replied

“
Thank goodness,” Arianna replied, relaxing into Turner’s arm. “Here I was thinking someone was actually spending time researching me.”

“
They are, and we are,” Devin replied, standing up and finally facing the table. “Everyone is researching you. Why don’t you seem to understand the danger you’re always in?” Arianna was thankful the diner was empty.

“
What do you mean,
we are
?” Arianna questioned. It had been almost a year since she learned of this new world of night humans, yet there was so much she still didn’t understand.

Molina gave one harsh look to Devin who threw his hands in the air and walked away
, only to return to his seat after a moment and ignore them as they talked.

“We’re
researching your blood to see how to use the healing properties,” Molina explained. “What you did last year with only a few drops of blood was miraculous. If we can harness that trait, you can’t imagine how much suffering could be eased.”

“
And everyone wants to know why I can be both dearg-dul and baku at once,” Arianna added, more quietly for herself, but Molina heard. She didn’t deny the accusation. Since Arianna had discovered her true self, that had been the same question everyone had wondered.

“
Who authorized it?” Arianna asked. In her new role as the head of the Randolph estate and family, she was actually in control of their clan.

“
You did,” Molina replied.

Arianna thought of the hundreds of documents she had signed over the past year. Anyone of them could be the authorization she was talking about.
Arianna would scan the documents, but since there were more each day, she never really read completely through all of them.

“
But you didn’t know.” Molina added as a statement more than a question.

“
No,” Arianna replied. Arianna had trusted that Devin had read over everything before she signed it. He spent hours each night making sure each form was thoroughly examined. Arianna wanted to ask more, but the bell chimed to indicate some customers arriving.

“
The leader said he had the clan’s approval to be here,” Turner said, changing the subject.

“
No outsider has approval to be here,” Devin replied, still not looking up. “I’ll double check the files online. It might be that he was just using Seeger’s name, or that Seeger lied to him.”

Arianna stood abruptly and stared at Devin
, who was back reading his stack of papers at the diner counter now. He didn’t comment even though she was staring at him. Arianna turned next to Turner, who knew just as much as Devin most of the time. He stared down at his hands, confirming that they both knew what she was not asking. Arianna huffed, trying to keep her anger in check and not accidentally change forms while other people were seated across the diner. Arianna quickly ran back through the diner kitchen. Turner stood to follow, but Devin stopped him.

Arianna began to climb the stairs behind the diner up to the apartment she lived in half the week with Aunt Lilly and Uncle Dean.
The two most trusted people Arianna had, both agreed to let the lab do research on her like a test animal
.
Arianna felt tears building up inside her. Stopping on the last landing, Arianna changed her mind and hurried back down the stairs. The cool wind hit her face as she burst out the back door, gulping for air. She needed more air.

Her shoes glided softly over the pavement as she began to run. She
hadn’t intended to go anywhere in particular, just somewhere away from the constant people following her. Running seemed like the best option if she wanted to lose anyone that would follow her. Before she’d changed, Arianna hadn’t been good at many physical activities. It wasn’t that she was uncoordinated; it was just that she lacked the motivation to do anything related to sports. Now, though, there wasn’t much that she couldn’t do. Her feet continued to pound against the asphalt as she slowed her pace through an orderly neighborhood. She began to walk as she neared a day human walking a dog. It was normal here. Everywhere she could feel, it was all day humans. A mom was across the street opening her front door with a bag full of groceries on one hip and a child on the other. In front of Arianna a man and his dog, who jogged faithfully beside him. Behind another house, she heard children laughing. It was normal. She was not.

Arianna
didn’t hesitate at the white picket fence. She walked around to the backdoor of the house and reached above the door for the spare key. Pressing it into the lock, she hesitated. Thomas was near-by. He was the only one who could keep up with her a little bit when she ran, if he took to the air. His wings shifted in the air, but he made no move to come closer. Arianna unlocked the door and walked into the home her father had left for her. Outside, Thomas landed, but stayed in the backyard.

Arianna went upstairs to her
parents’ bedroom. There was a faint, lasting scent of her father. Arianna walked over to the pictures on the dresser and smiled. The only photo of her family, taken before her mother died, was sitting in a frame, faded from the years. Arianna lightly touched the picture. Did they know they were creating a monster? She gently touched her mother’s face. Why did they have to go away? Arianna’s parents had both been murdered when she was a child: her mother for bringing her to life, and her father for protecting her. A car door slamming shut outside told her the others had caught up to her. Several people surrounded the building. Her guard was punctual, as usual. Arianna walked down the hallway to the playroom and sat down on the couch.

“
It’s your job to scold me and take me back to my aunt’s place?” Arianna asked Thomas as he entered. He was the only one she would even talk to at this point, and her guards all knew that.

“
Seems so,” he said, sitting down in one of the oversized, plush chairs.

“
And what if I say no?” Arianna added.

“
Not much I can do about that,” he replied, closing his eyes and leaning back. He was good at ignoring the orders coming from either dearg-dul or lycan. “Just please give me at least ten minutes for a nap before you decide to go running off somewhere else.”

Arianna
felt the tension rubbing off him. “Are you feeling okay?”

“
Don’t tell the mutt, but he’s right. I don’t know if I’ll voluntarily take a dart for you again. Ugh.” He didn’t move or open his eyes as he talked. “It’s worse than he was describing.”

“
Sorry about that,” Arianna replied quietly.

Thomas bolted up.
“No, I didn’t mean that.” He tried to cover up his words. “Really. I’m just a bit tired, and my head’s pounding. That’s all.” Arianna nodded, a little relieved. Thomas saw that she wasn’t completely convinced.

“
I’d prefer to stay here a bit,” Arianna added. Thomas nodded and went back to resting. Arianna didn’t want to disturb him as she sat, quietly staring outside at the sky through the old window.

“T
hey just want to be prepared to keep you safe,” Thomas said, while not opening his eyes.

“
That’s what they always say.”

“
And it’s true. Your blood healed everyone so easily.” Thomas opened his eyes to see if she was paying attention. She was still staring outside. “If your blood can heal everyone that means you’re the strongest. But what we don’t know is, if you get hurt, is there any blood strong enough to heal you.”

“
What do you mean?” Arianna finally turned back to Thomas.

“
When one of our kind gets seriously hurt, there are only two options. One, find a stronger night human and give some blood to the one who’s hurt. Or, two, put them out of their misery.” Arianna’s mouth dropped.

“
I’ve never seen that done before,” Arianna replied.

“
You’ve only been a night human for one year.” Thomas paused. “I’ve seen it done on multiple occasions. The stronger only share with those they choose to share with. So, poorer night humans have to pledge allegiance to those stronger to stay safe. Even then you’re not completely safe.” Thomas spoke from experience.

“
Is that why your parents offered your sister as my sacrifice last year?” Arianna asked the question she had been dying to ask for some time. When Arianna changed into a baku the previous year, she had a sacrifice waiting to fulfill the blood rite of the ceremony. The child was Thomas’ little sister.

Thomas opened his eyes and considered his answer before speaking.
“Your uncle is a fair man, but sometimes people would just prefer to be free. My kind is especially known for wanting to be free. Must come with the wings.” Thomas, in his night human form, always felt free. Arianna preferred not to have Thomas fly her around as it was terrifying, but she could feel his freedom even from the ground. “But when you’re free of bonds, there’s no protection.” Thomas closed his eyes and lay back down. Arianna still didn’t get a straight answer, but she didn’t push the subject.

“
I was ten when Sara was born. She was actually born as a sacrifice because of my stupidity. I had been out with my friends. We were having fun, flying around and racing. We began a competition that now sounds so stupid.” Thomas rubbed his forehead. “There was this especially witchy lady that lived on our street. She had an immaculate lawn and garden and would spend hours daily picking weeds. She loved her garden, and hated us kids. Every time something went bad, she blamed us for it.” Arianna raised her eyebrows and Thomas smirked. “Well, I guess, okay. We mostly caused all the bad stuff. But not that time. She had got us all grounded for two weeks for something we didn’t even do. So, we began a stupid game. We’d start up on her house and dive down to pull her hair and then fly away. The goal was to get close enough to do so without getting caught. My friends all tried, and no one was brave enough to go close enough to her. We weren’t that good at flying. I figured they were all just scared of her. I decided that I’d be the one to do it. Well, let me tell you, you shouldn’t dive down at someone that’s squatting on the ground. Long story short, I ended up hitting the ground at full force, never having the chance to change my direction. I should have died, but your uncle saved me. With his blood I was able to heal over a two-week period. I’ve had no side effects from it. What he required in turn was my parents’ devotion to him, and another child that he wanted to use as a new member sacrifice. My parents then had Sara.”