Tainted Crimson (24 page)

“This is important. He wouldn’t miss taking Marco down for the world,” my father chimes in, and begins punching numbers into his phone. No. No. No. If anyone on the white side finds out that D is part vampire, they’ll kill him. I try to restrain myself from hyperventilating.

“Are you okay, Ariella?” Jacob asks.

“Just nervous about today,” I admit. It is true after all, but it’s not why I’m freaking out.

“You have no need to be nervous because you won’t be coming with us. You’re going to stay here and not leave this room. We can’t risk anyone in this city knowing who or what you are if they don’t already, so you must stay in this room where father will put down his best protection spell to hide your essence,” Jacob tells me. My heart falls into my stomach. As much as I don’t want to go, I also don’t want my father, Jacob, D, or anyone to lose their life because of me.

My dad gets off of the phone and shoves it into his pocket. “Ready, Jacob?”

Jacob nods and begins following my father out the door.

“Wait!” I call out.

“What?” my father asks, confused.

“I want to come,” I try, unsure of myself.

“No, you don’t. You’ll get yourself killed. That, or you’ll get in someone’s way and get them killed. This war has been a long time coming, Ariella. You shouldn’t have to be a part of something that you’ve never been a part of. All of this started long before you were born,” my father tries. I know that I won’t win this war, but I have to try.

“But I am a part of it, dad. I’ve been a part of it since you brought me into the world. I am a
big
part of it actually,” I argue.

My dad looks at me sadly and he knows I’m right. Of course I’m right. I
am
a big part of this. I’m the reason that they’re going to storm Marco’s headquarters, although all the other white witches and immortals are unaware of my existence. Sure, a war against white and dark was bound to happen someday, but today? That, is because of me.

“There is a very real chance that after tonight, the white witches will know about your existence. I’m sure Marco will try and use your existence as a way of making our side turn against itself. I don’t want you to be there when that happens, because you won’t make it out of there, Ariella,” my father explains and he has a point. My chances of getting out of there would be slim. Very slim.

“Fine,” I give in defeated, and slump onto the bed. I knew I wouldn’t win.

With a curt nod from my father, the two of them leave the room and I’m left alone worrying about D and my father and brother’s survival.

I flip on the TV and after twenty minutes of staring at the screen and realizing that I haven’t been paying a lick of attention to it, I switch it off. I’m unbelievably anxious. Every second feels like hours while they’re gone. I pray to god that no one has found D. That’s all I can do, pray and it’s so absolutely
painful.
You’d think sitting back while all the shit goes down would be easy, safe, whatever. It’s not. I’m constantly worrying about everyone. Even the people I don’t know who will be risking their lives tonight.

This is what my father has been working on for months, he’s been planning it for months. What can go wrong? Okay, besides
everything
. I just hope that dad has planned this out to a tee. I hope that he hasn’t missed any details. Why didn’t he ask me about a floor plan or something for the headquarters? I’ve been there, he hasn’t. Wouldn’t that help? Or has he been there? Suddenly, I’m not sure. It’s not something that’s ever been brought up.

It’s around two in the morning when the front door of the room bursts open and a heap of man scurries in. I’m lying awake in bed waiting for some sort of news. I scream out in surprise and jump up out of bed, expecting to be met by an attacker. When the lights flip on magically, and a familiar face is poised in front of me, I let my heart calm. It’s D.

Before I have a chance to react, D grabs me around the waist and the familiar heat that popping in and out brings, warms my body. Suddenly, it’s no longer a hotel room making up my surroundings, but an unfamiliar forest. In fact, this forest looks like a rain forest.

“What the hell?” I demand.

“We’re both busted, Ariella. Your father told me to take you and run so that’s exactly what I’m doing,” he informs me, while slinging me over onto his back like he’s going to give me a piggyback.

“If they know about us, then my father knows about you. Why would my father trust you to take me?” I wonder confused.

“I don’t know. Everything happened at once when we got to Marco’s headquarters. We lost a lot of people, though so did they. Marco is still alive and your father and Jacob as well. My grandmother Arianna on the other hand, is no longer with us. May she rest in peace,” he continues stone-faced, while beginning to run with me on his back. He begins running
fast
. Like faster than anything I’ve ever seen. I can’t even make out my surroundings as we head through the trees. What if he trips? We’ll be toast. My eyes begin burning from the wind whipping at them and I’m forced to close them. The dizziness quickly becomes overwhelming and I have to focus on not puking.

“They had Marco cornered and then he spat out something about hybrids and at first no one believed him but then he had Nathan, his son, there and Marco somehow forced him to drop his shield.”

“Shield?” I ask.

“Yes, since us hybrids are part light and dark, others can naturally sense this. In Nathan’s case, he used his magic to hide his dark witch side probably to make him seem weaker. Attackers would underestimate his strength. I hide my vampire side with my own magic because I was originally a warlock. It just makes sense. You have no shield because you haven’t learnt how to do that yet. Anyway, I had a spell over Taverd to keep you safe and Denver was safe, now however, you’re not safe especially since Marco told everyone that Theenis has a daughter who is a hybrid. Then, in front of everyone, he called me out. Your dad looked, oh my god, his face was priceless but terrifying. At first, I don’t think he believed it but then I saw it click. I thought he’d kill me himself when he began hurdling towards me. I think everyone did, everyone stepped out of the way. Maybe he was going to kill me, I don’t know. While Marco had everyone rattled, he broke free and disappeared. They’re looking for him now but my guess is that they won’t find him. Not soon anyways. They’ll look for a few hours and then give up and go back to life the way it was before. Some of them though, will come looking for you. It was at the mention that Theenis, Arriana’s prized possession, has daughter who is a hybrid, that my grandmother was caught off guard, succumbing to her surprise and stabbed through the back by a vampire. At least she didn’t get to hear about me, I guess. That would’ve killed her on the spot, no stabbing needed.” He chuckles although not humorously. “Anyways, once Marco broke free, the room was in chaos. For a single moment the room was too busy being pissed off about Marco disappearing and them not killing him once again, that I was unnoticed. Your dad grabbed me and popped us out into some random alley. I assume no one followed because, again, they thought he was taking me to get rid of me himself. First, he looked like he would snap me in two, but then after a moment he sighed and said ‘go to the hotel, get Ariella, and go’. That was it. He left and you know the rest. He saved my life. If I’d stayed there, they would’ve killed me and if I’d have popped out they would’ve killed me. I don’t know if they believed Marco that you or I are hybrids because that would be an excellent move on his part to fake that tidbit of info. It would have light turning against light rather than on dark. It would shift the focus from him for a while, while they investigated. Most of the white are smart and wouldn’t let this fool them even though it’s actually true. They will investigate it soon, why wouldn’t they? But right now, all bodies will be looking for Marco. You’re pretty easy to trick people into thinking you never existed and your father could easily tell them that he killed me. It only made sense for him to send me with you to get out of there.” He has to holler so I can hear him over the wind whipping past us.

After this, he gives me a chance to think about what he’s said. It’s going to take me a while to sort through all of the information he’s given me, but I do my best to sum it up for now and tuck the rest in the back of my mind for now.

“Where are we going?” I ask.

“There’s a village here, in South America that is full of...well...you’ll see when we get there. They’re supernaturals of a variety that you haven’t learnt about yet. Not many people know they exist, if any, they’re very secretive and they have good reason. I only know of them because I ran into one in my travels once years ago. She happens to owe me a favor, if she’s still alive, it’s been quite some time. I’m going to ask for sanctuary for a while until I can find something else.”

At the thought of another type of supernaturals, I’m both excited and terrified. How much more to this world can there be, which I grew up unaware of? Which most of the population of earth is unaware of? I hope these people are nice. I hope they don’t try and kill us or something crazy.

“There’s one more thing,” D says nervously.

“What?”

“Our curses haven’t been lifted,” he reminds me.

I cuss under my breath. This means that he is enduring terrible thirst and my mind will begin to deteriorate irreversibly in only days and there’s no way of stopping it. That is, unless we find Marco who even if we did find, would probably kill us.

“Ariella, I can live with being thirsty for the rest of my life. It won’t be fun nor easy but I can live with it, maybe even eventually be able to deal with it. You cannot let your mind disintegrate. You have another choice,” he reminds me slowly, as if talking to a child. I try and understand what he’s saying but I can’t.

“A curse can only be broken three ways,” he starts, when I don’t answer. “The one who made the curse removes it, the one who made the curse dies, or the one cursed dies,” he explains. “If you die, you’ll come back.”

‘Yeah, as a vampire!’ I want to scream. I don’t want to be a vampire, no way in hell. I’d rather die. Wouldn’t I? My father and Jacob’s terrible words towards vampires invade my mind. Then I see Nathan and D in my mind. Are they that terrible of people? No, but who’s to say I’ll be the same as they? What if I end up like one of the ones I saw in Marco’s headquarters while I stayed there? I recall those tortured creatures. They were
exactly
how my father and Jacob described them. They were lifeless, their eyes dull. They had no remorse, but then did I? Did I look that lifeless during my time there? What if I end up like them? What if the darkness overwhelms me to the point of no return this time around? I shudder.

“What if they kill Marco before the 21 days are up? Then we’ll be free?” I wonder.

“Yes.
If
. I doubt they will, don’t get your hopes up,” he suggests, through clenched teeth.

“So you’re suggesting that I kill myself so I’m dead, and then come back as a vampire? Isn’t this a theory? What if I don’t come back? What if I’m better off just having a deteriorating mind?” I ramble off questions.

“You’ll come back. Either your vampire blood will bring you back, or your immortal blood. Maybe both. We have to try it. Marco doesn’t want you dead or your mind deteriorating. Although he knows we’re not on his side, he still wants us. He won’t kill us. Right now, we’re running from the white witches not the black ones,” he reminds me. “If he wanted your mind to actually deteriorate he wouldn’t have left such an obvious loophole for your curse, or given me something that I can live with. If he wanted to really threaten us, he would’ve cursed us with something far worse.”

“Then why don’t we go ask him to take the curses off? Why don’t we just rejoin his team so we can get the curses off and then escape again?” I blab off.

“Do you really think it’s that easy? He’s in hiding right now. There’s a bunch of white witches with tracking spells on him who will probably come up empty. We have no way of contacting the guy. Even if we did, would you really want to join his team? What is that going to get us besides killed or flipped back into the dark?”

He’s right. Dammit, he’s right.

“Take the spell off of my head. Make it so he can get into my head again. Like when he was in my dream. Take it off. Maybe he’ll try and find me. His two best warriors are gone and he’s being searched for by tons of immortals and witches. He needs us. He
should
be looking for us. At least give me a couple weeks to think this through. We have some time,” I suggest.

D considers this and nods. He never thought of this I can see it in his eyes. Why? It’s obvious.

“I’m so thirsty. I’m not even thinking straight.” He cusses. “I need to eat something but yes, you can have your two weeks.”

“I’m sure there’s...something out here for you to eat,” I say, trying not to sound disgusted.

He ignores me. “Did you hear that?”

I listen. I hear nothing. He stops running and drops me from his back. I open my eyes and try to stand. I’m too dizzy. I fall onto my butt. The world spins around me.

I vaguely see D scanning the forest.

“Hello,” a sharp, very high voice chimes from somewhere that I can’t place. D moves closer to my side and motions for me to stand. I can’t.

“Hello, my name is Daymon and this is Ariella. We are seeking sanctuary with the Tario. I’ve heard your society runs off of favors as a currency so to speak. One of you, who goes by the name Layli, owes me a favor,” D requests confidently, although I see right through his facade. He is terrified. I’ve never seen him so terrified. For something to terrify this man…
Who
are these people?

A very small petite woman, maybe even shorter than me, steps out from the trees as my vision stops blurring. She is short with long blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. She’s the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen.

“Ah, she’s been expecting you. This way.” The girl beckons us with a small nod and a seductive smile. Somehow, I don’t think D called ahead to warn her that we were coming, yet she’s been expecting us? This freaks me out.

D hesitates slightly, before following the girl. I follow close behind into the trees. The woman and D are completely silent during the long walk to wherever our destination is. I wish D would carry me, but I'm too afraid to speak. Something tells me not to.

I wonder what awaits us at our destination. Who are these people? What are they? How is hardly anyone aware of their existence? I also wonder about my future during this long walk. What if D and I run out of time to figure out another way to break the curse? What will become of D? Will he get over his thirst or learn to manage it? What about me? Will I be forced to commit suicide in order to survive with my mind? What will happen to me if I do? Will I come back a vampire? What if I don't come back at all? Is my father okay? Jacob? Where is Marco? Will they kill him? And what about the white witches? Will they believe my dad when he tells them that I don't exist? Somehow, I feel they won't. Lastly, I can't help but wonder about Mindy. Where is she? How is she? I have so many questions and so little answers. Vaguely I even wonder about Natalie and Blake and even Nathan. How are they? Are they alright?