Becoming A Legend Part 12

TWENTY-ONE.

"What do we do now?" Arianna asked Gabriel. They were standing outside in the noonday sunlight. Most night humans couldn't do so even in day human form, but it was fine for baku. Arianna did find that was one of the perks of being of mixed blood.

Each of her night human guards were a.s.signed a room to watch with a prisoner because they couldn't go outside into the sun. Meanwhile the day human guards ran the perimeter looking for trouble. Arianna stood outside with her three keepers, Gabriel, and Devin, the newly-appointed leader of her guards. Devin didn't look either surprised or uncomfortable in his new position. In fact, it was as if nothing happened to him, duty always took precedent his own feelings. His previous anger at Arianna running outside the house was stored away. Arianna was, on the contrary, a wreck. Andrew kept rubbing his hands over her arms. Not for warmth, but for releasing the feelings pent up inside her. It took Andrew taking away the pain for her to even talk to the rest of the group. Molina's betrayal was the last straw after Devin's emotional break from her.

"We need to question each one and find out what they know and what's going on. From what it seems, Michael and the other one were fighting for some reason. We need to find out why, and what they were doing on our land. Neither was invited or had permission. Molina also needs to be questioned, but she's not a matter that we need to deal with immediately. Mori informs me that you're clearing the poison from your system, but not completely free of it. That would suggest that even if Molina set the poison, she hasn't had time to do so here," Gabriel calmly a.n.a.lyzed the situation and summed it up for everyone.

"Or that was what she was doing when I caught her," Andrew suggested. He hadn't given her time to actually act on what she was doing.

"I can check again for you," Thomas added. "I found an active one back at the Randolph estate before we left and dropped it off with Mori. I actually didn't have time to tell Molina about it, so she doesn't even know that. It kind of makes sense now though," Thomas opened his wings to block the sun beating down upon Arianna though she didn't notice it in her stressed state.

"What?" Devin asked.

"I was wondering why Molina was so good at finding them. When they were inactive there was nothing to detect them. I tried every day and spent hours searching the rooms. I had nothing else to do. The only one I did find was very obvious once I knew what the poison was like and what I was looking for. If she set them, then she would have known where to find them if they were turned off and hidden."

"Good. Then get inside and start checking the house. We need to be sure Arianna is free of that poison and that none of us have been exposed. Her entire food source is right here, and we can't let her go without," Gabriel explained as if Arianna wasn't there. In fact, she wasn't really there mentally as she continued to contemplate how Molina could betray her.

"I'll be leaving this all to you guys to sort out. I need to go prep another safe house, and doing that might require me to call in a few favors. I'll be back within two days to move you all to another location. Keep her safe until then." Gabriel stared at Andrew with his last words. Gabriel trusted Devin with Arianna, but Devin was still only human.

"Wait," Arianna finally came back to her senses. "Is it safe to have them locked up in the house?" Arianna remembered watching Gabriel bind Michael in Molina's thoughts. It didn't look like much to hold back a night human.

"Yes," Gabriel replied, noticing she was finally returning to her senses, though Andrew was still rubbing her arms to help.

"But that was just rope. I could easily break through rope like that in my night human form." Arianna was truly confused.

"You could easily break through most of everything, but those two won't be a problem. Michael Seeger is levels lower than even your guards. Actually, it's quite a pity for a purebred, and I think his father knows that. The other one is also at a lower level, probably around Molina's strength. He's a young one, so his power will grow with time, but not in a few days. You'll be safe with them bound."

"Grow in power?" Yet another new detail about her new night life.

"Yes. I believe he's as young as you," Gabriel explained, looking to Devin for some sort of recognition of what Arianna was asking.

"And that means the power for both of us will grow, why?" Arianna looked to Devin too.

Gabriel continued when Devin didn't answer. "It can take up to five years for a night human's powers to mature. Being that Andrew here hasn't changed much in power for the past two years, I'd guess he turned himself around the age of twelve."

Andrew didn't deny the statement or agree.

"Eventually my power will be stronger than I am now?" Arianna asked. The thought frightened her. Everyone already wanted her for her power, and it would only get greater.

"Yes, that's what I was trying to tell you before," Devin complained. He looked at Gabriel while he spoke. Together, they were silently planning something. Arianna was still too much in shock to try to listen to them as they talked. She was already a sitting target. Now she was a sitting target that had more value than she ever thought.

Gabriel leaned over and gave Arianna's forehead a fatherly kiss. "Stay safe, and no more running through the woods while I'm gone." Arianna nodded, and Gabriel vanished.

"I'll start checking," Thomas said before excusing himself. Arianna was left with Devin, Turner, and Andrew, the three guys she would always love and who would always protect her. They were her safety, but Arianna even had doubts that they would all survive what was coming. She would be hunted. She already knew how the night humans worked. Three guys would not be enough to keep them away.

"Does that mean you'll finally listen to me?" Devin asked, obviously still upset with her run through the woods, but unwilling to show that in front of Gabriel. Now that Gabriel was gone, he was a bit hostile toward her.

"I won't let her go anywhere," Andrew replied, not waiting for her to answer. Devin gave Andrew a curt nod, turning to leave without her reply.

Turner nodded his agreement with Andrew. "She has yet to get by me either when I'm awake. I think that together we can keep her here," Turner tried to rea.s.sure Devin.

Devin paused. He nodded to Turner but glared at Arianna. He needed a verbal confirmation from her.

"I'm not going anywhere," she added, exasperated. "You think I have enough energy left to go running around? Come on, let's go interrogate our prisoners."

Arianna followed the three men back into the house. They all filed Michael Seeger's room in front of her. Arianna hesitated. Would she still be a target if she were the night human in the legend? Or would that make everything worse? Devin may not want to tell her the details, but that didn't stop Arianna from wondering. Would she have the power to keep everyone safe?

Michael Seeger sat tied to the bedpost. As Gabriel said, he couldn't break through the bindings if he'd tried, but now he was pretending to be asleep. Arianna and Andrew, with their baku senses, could tell he wasn't asleep. Sleeping prey smelled different than when it was awake, and baku could only feed on the sleeping. Devin walked over to Michael and tapped his face. Michael continued to pretend to be sleeping. Turner tried next, a little harder, but Michael still didn't move.

"How about I feed on him?" Andrew suggested so that Michael would understand that he knew Michael was awake.

Michael's head immediately snapped up at the suggestion, and he glared at Andrew. His stare turned more into hatred as Andrew laced Arianna's fingers in his own and pulled her to sit in a nearby chair. Devin nodded his approval. Arianna wasn't doing well on her feet, and he didn't need her pa.s.sing out at this point. Her skill entering minds could still be needed. Though she didn't want to admit it, running through the woods had tired her out. Arianna let herself be pulled onto Andrew's lap, but found immediately the mistake. He was still s.h.i.+rtless and any skin contact made her lose her train of thought. Devin noticed this as well and grabbed a s.h.i.+rt off a nearby pile and threw it to Andrew. Arianna couldn't tell if it was jealously or the need to use her powers that made Devin notice.

"We have a few questions for you," Devin began, but Michael wouldn't take his gaze away from Arianna sitting with Andrew. Andrew slipped his arm around her waist once he got the s.h.i.+rt on. Arianna leaned back and enjoyed his warmth.

"You'd let filth like that touch our princess? Do you not care now that Randolph is gone?" he spat out at Devin with vengeance. Michael was flexing his power as much as he could and pulling against the bindings. He was still not powerful enough to break the ropes. The last of his blood would be used up soon as he didn't have enough to even make it back to the base after the fight he got caught in. His decision to try to appear powerful was a stupid mistake.

Devin ignored him and said again, "We need you to answer a few questions. Are you willing to cooperate or not? We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Michael continued to glare at Andrew. Andrew didn't anger, but he held the stare. Letting go a little, Andrew flexed his power as Gabriel had done at Arianna's birthday party. The release startled Michael, who quickly broke his gaze. Andrew was much more powerful than anyone had known. Michael knew then that there was no way he could even attempt to intimidate the baku holding Arianna. Arianna placed her hand on Andrew's chest, and he reigned in his power to normal level. Arianna smiled and leaned back against him.

"I'll cooperate," Michael replied dejectedly.

'Michael, Michael, are you all right?' A female voice came into Arianna's head. Arianna tried not to show what she heard.

'Mom, I'm fine,' Michael answered.

'I'm going to get your father to send someone to you right away. He's being so unreasonable,' the lady replied.

'Mom, I said I'm fine,' Michael said a second time.

"We will start the question with: who are you communicating with and where are they?" Devin asked. Michael was a weaker night human and thus the limits to his communication mentally would be within miles. That was too close for Devin to like, thinking that Seeger was nearby.

Michael snapped his head up to look at Devin. Devin stood as proud as Randolph always did, but he didn't even have a drop of night human blood in him. Devin was just a measly day human, breakable. Even so, Devin was a threat. He was better than even some of the purebreds in the Randolph clan. Michael knew enough to not underestimate him.

"And I'd advise you not to lie to us," Devin added. Michael had considered this. Would Devin really be able to know if he lied?

Michael looked around the room. All the faces were looking at him, Turner, Thomas, Andrew, Devin and Arianna. Suddenly Michael stopped looking. Molina wasn't with them. She was the only one that would support his lies and keep Devin from actually following through on threats. Michael began to sweat knowing he wasn't in a good position. His only ally was gone "My mother," Michael replied. Arianna nodded discreetly to Devin. Michael didn't even notice.

"And where are your parents right now?" Devin continued.

"Walking Station," Michael replied. Something about Devin made Michael know not to cross him today.

Arianna heard the typing in the background of Devin's headphones. Mori was listening and now would be tracking them. Arianna hadn't even noticed that Devin had put it on. Devin was always prepared and two steps ahead. Arianna was glad that, no matter her feelings toward him, love or hate at this point, he was on her team.

"Why are you all out here at Walking Station? There's not much cover for daylight hours around here," Devin asked as Mori continued to type.

"We were sent to protect the borders," Michael replied proudly. It was actually the first time his father even allowed him to partic.i.p.ate in the clan. Lord Seeger was more of a leader than a doer. "I was doing my job."

"More like volunteering to do his job," Mori answers to Devin only, but Arianna heard it also. "Seeger volunteered to watch the borders right after you left."

'Were they looking for me?' Arianna asked silently across the miles to Mori.

"No Ari, they didn't even know you were gone. Our plan worked well. They still think you're sick and sitting in your apartment. This might have been the plan all along. If you were sick, you wouldn't know what they were up to." Mori kept clicking in the background. "I figure they are up to something as per usual."

"The Seeger family is into clan security now?" Turner asked, not privy to the conversation between Devin, Mori, and Arianna.

'I highly doubt it,' Andrew replied. He held tighter to Arianna as Michael's gaze came back to her. His gaze went up and down her body before resting on the arm comfortable around her waist. Out of fear, Michael tried his best to suppress the anger welling inside of him. He didn't make it a habit to confront such a foe without his father around. For now, all he could do was glare at Andrew and try to will Andrew's hands off of Arianna.

"So this mess you've made was a security detail?" Devin asked. Michael nodded. "Explain what happened."

"I was out on patrol last night. As I was heading back to the base, I heard a noise further out in the field. My father told me to come back, but I didn't. I knew that my job was to keep it safe for everyone in the clan. Therefore, I went to investigate. I found that vrykolakas hiding on our land. He attacked me as soon as he saw me." Michael recounted as much of the story he could lying to them as little as possible. He left out the part where he attacked first after the vrykolakas asked for safe harbor and that the vrykolakas was a hybrid that they'd been tracking.

'What is a vrykolakas?' Arianna asked Andrew. It was a completely new term to her.

'Another type of night human. I'll explain more after we're done with him,' Andrew replied, not letting down his guard even a bit as he conversed with Arianna. Michael made him nervous. The way he looked at Arianna wasn't normal. He looked like he would start wors.h.i.+ping her if she let him.

"Were you on Randolph land or Grace land when you were attacked?" Devin asked for both his and Mori's sake. Mori was tracking everything now and looking for the residues from the fight. "Could you have been on vrykolakas land?"

"I'm not sure," Michael replied. It was the first statement he made that was actually completely true.

'Sorry Devin. Their residues are a mess. They were all over the place. Randolph land, Grace land, and Katsulas land. I don't think we can pinpoint an exact start to this fight. It will be his word against the other and no proof to back it,' Mori explained to Devin and Arianna.

"Could you have been on the neutral land in between?" Turner suggested. They wanted Michael to be on the Grace land and thus the vrykolakas declared an intruder. Even if he'd wanted sanctuary from the rising sun, he would be considered a trespa.s.ser on Grace and Randolph lands. Sanctuary had to be asked for on neutral land.

"Possibly, but I wasn't going to take the chance that someone was sneaking onto our land. We need to keep Lady Arianna safe. That's our duty." Michael was solemn in his reply.

TWENTY-TWO.

Michael moved carefully, secretly testing the bindings while continuing to talk with Devin and Turner to pinpoint the exact location Michael was guarding. He was still bound, which limited his movements, but something else was hindering him. Arianna stood and curiously moved closer. Both boys they rescued stunk from blood, but neither was showing any openly-visible cuts. Michael had his s.h.i.+rt still wrapped around him as he had done to s.h.i.+eld himself from the sunlight. He was tenderly hiding something in his chest area.

"You're hurt," Arianna said, interrupting his talk with Devin. Though they were no longer treating him as hostile, he was still bound. Arianna stopped only a foot away from him. She didn't fear him moving as she could now tell that there wasn't much he could do in his state. Andrew also could tell this, yet he still stayed right behind her with his hand on her back. No matter what, Michael Seeger would always be the enemy.

"It's getting better now that I'm out of the light," he whispered. His awe of Arianna kept him from truly complaining.

Arianna reached down and moved the s.h.i.+rt out of the way across his stomach. A large gash ran from one hip to the other. Skin had begun to knit back together. There was no fresh blood, but it was far from being healed. Arianna moved closer and traced her finger over the wound to gauge its depth. Michael sucked in a breath from a mix of pain and enjoyment. He was ecstatic that she was touching him. The gaping claw marks were unusual to her. They weren't the size of anything she'd seen before. They were much smaller than baku claws, yet bigger than those of a dearg-dul. Arianna leaned back and took in the scents around her. The vrykolakas, as they called him, was a dearg-dul night human even though his scent a bit off. He smelled more like the girl and guy she had met over a week ago at the park.

"Does it still hurt?" she asked as she carefully examined the wound.

"Not now," he replied, enamored with her.

"What leaves marks like this?" she asked Devin. "This is neither a dearg-dul nor a baku."

"He was a mutant," Michael replied, shutting his eyes to enjoy her touch. Arianna pulled her hand back, afraid she was causing him pain. "No, don't stop." His eye flipped back open. The pain instantly came back after she removed her hand. "It doesn't hurt. I promise."

Arianna sensed more pain and distress from him now than she did when she touched him. Arianna put her hand back so that her fingers were barely touching him. Michael relaxed again. The pain leaving wasn't real. A cut that deep would continue to hurt until it healed. Her hand on him was doing nothing to heal him; it was just making him forget about it. Arianna would need to do more, as she wasn't going to sit touching him until his body fully healed.

"We came here to find the mutants. Our sources said they would try to get through the border here. My father is searching to try to find out how they can sustain their mutant form." Michael began spilling his secrets, but didn't seem to care as long as Arianna was touching him. "And I came to make sure we don't have anyone who is not of our clan making it into the cities."

"Mutant? Like me?" Arianna asked. She was getting more information out of him with just her touch than they had for the past hour of talking to him.

"Yes... no... kind of." He sighed. It was much more complicated than he was explaining, but right now, even talking was hard to do. Her touch was more amazing than looking at her was. She was pure energy.

"Which is it?" Devin asked, now standing almost as close as Andrew. He wanted to pull Arianna's hand off Michael, but the stories he now could tell exposed more detail than years of snooping around would. Devin gritted his teeth and buried his jealousy as best he could, hoping Andrew would do the same for the sake of getting information.

"Yes, they are of mixed blood, but no, it's not natural like Lady Arianna." Michael opened his eyes a bit as he explained to Devin. It took a great effort to look at anyone beyond Arianna. "Everyone has been experimenting to try to make more night humans like Arianna-mixed blood. So far, two groups have found a way to combine the blood, but it never lasts. The one I was tracking had lasted the longest of any we've found, but as you can tell now, it wore off with the sunlight."

"How many groups is your father tracking?" Devin asked, reaching to also hold onto Arianna, ready to pull her away from Michael on a moment's notice.

"All of them," Michael replied and closed his eyes again to enjoy the touch of Arianna.

'This is worse than we expected,' Devin said silently to Turner. 'We need to send word to your father now. They'll attack him first when war comes.'

'And there's no way to avoid war?' Turner asked in reply. Arianna heard their conversation, but again, it sounded like they were speaking in code. So many details were never shared with her.

'The alternative isn't an option. We must keep Arianna out of all of this. Her life is the most important detail,' Devin answered.

"Devin, can we heal him?" Arianna asked quietly as it seemed Michael was nodding off to sleep from her easing his pain. "Would my blood help?"

Turner flipped a vial out of his pocket and tossed it to Devin. Devin reached over Arianna and placed a drop on the wound. It immediately closed up.

"My blood?" Arianna asked. It had only been her blood that was that effective in the past. Other night human blood helped wounds heal, but her blood caused instant healing.

"No, that's the new drug we came up with from your blood. Turner is the only one that can handle it since he's the only one with sensitive enough smelling to tell if it's leaking. We don't need our secrets getting out," Devin explained, stepping back only a step from Arianna. He wanted to pull her with him, but needed to find out more.

Michael's eyes shot open. The sleepiness pa.s.sed with the healing of the wound. "You healed me," he whispered, now staring longingly at Arianna.

"No. Devin did that," Arianna replied. She didn't like the way he was wors.h.i.+pping her with his eyes, but hearing Michael tell his secrets was worth the discomfort of being that close to him.

"No. It's you. I can feel it. It's you. It's that special something that's just in your blood. That's why everyone wants you. That's why I want you. That's why my father wants you. Everything about you is amazing. Marry me." He stared up at her. Arianna stared back, trying to understand if she heard correctly. It wasn't every day she got a marriage proposal.

Andrew finally moved between them and pulled Arianna away. His arms looped protectively around her as he placed himself in front of her to stare down Michael. Anger coursed through Andrew. His baku form flickered and then stayed. He was gigantic, imposing, and threatening.

"She belongs to me," Andrew growled. "Only to me." Arianna wanted to fight back at his caveman-like comment, but his touch told her she should not. He was angry, furious. It wouldn't take much to set him off, and she might not be trained enough to stop him. She might be more powerful, but he had years of being a baku on her that she couldn't match.

Still tied to the bed, but now able to move, Michael jumped up and hissed at him. He pulled himself back onto the far corner of the bed. He was being threatened, and there was nothing he could do while he was tied down. Michael saw the anger behind the baku and didn't care if he angered him more. This was a fight Michael couldn't back down from. He needed Arianna.

"She belongs to the dearg-dul. She doesn't belong to you or your kind." Michael pulled on the cords, but he was securely bound. "She needs to marry one of us to keep the bloodline clean."