"We keep going on to Grasmere. I may need to make peace with that part of my life, but there may also be something there about the Tuatha that could help."
They drove in silence for a while, villages and towns passing them by. Rain turned to sleet and the sky cleared before greying again the further north they travelled.
"How long does a Celestine live for anyway?" Tristan asked like he'd been thinking about it for a while.
"I was very young when I was changed," Aya sighed. "A life span would sometimes stretch to a thousand years for the strongest."
"How long would you have lived if you hadn't of been turned?"
"It's hard to say. I was strong, I'm not modest in saying that. I would have been one of the oldest. Still, I've gone on for twice as long as nature intended."
"Through no fault of your own."
"No." For a split second she considered telling him about the white flowers, but decided against it. She had tried to tell Zac, but he'd stopped her. The secret was best left to her and her alone. After all, she had plenty of experience keeping them. Instead she said, "If there is one thing this long life has taught me, is that it's no use dwelling on what can't be changed. We can only keep going forward."
"And our next order of business is to find a way to stop this Tuatha hybrid."
"You know I can't ask you to help, Tristan. There's no telling what will happen next and I cannot protect you."
The knight laughed out loud and she glared at him. "When will you learn, Arrow, that I'm with you till the end. Certain death or not?"
"A thousand years can addle your brain."
"And two thousand?" he asked with a wink.
"Don't even start," Aya replied and smiled her first genuine smile in days.
Tristan pulled the car into a spot behind the only pub in the main street of Grasmere. There were about five houses and a few little tourist shops with glowing lights in the windows. Christmas displays twinkled warmly through the misty rain and the afternoon light that was fading fast. He looked across at Aya, who was staring out into the night.
"You can wait until morning," he said. "It'll be dark soon."
"It's not far."
"Do you want me to come with you into the forest?"
"No, it's raining out here."
He didn't know how he should answer that, so he replied with, "I'll wait in the pub until you return."
"I might be a while. Time acts differently there."
Nodding, he said, "I'll still be at the pub. They seem to have rooms there. Or I'll just wait in the car. I won't be far."
Without another word, she opened the door and slipped out into the dull winter air and disappeared across the street into the woods. He knew better than to worry about Arrow. She had taken care of him when he was at his worst and every time he tried to repay the debt, he never came close to doing anything that mirrored her efforts. When she said she would be okay, she would really be okay.
Getting out the car, he opened the side door into the pub and waved his foot through the threshold. When he found he was able to enter, he walked into the warm light and ordered a beer from the elderly man behind the bar. Finding a spot in the corner, he settled in for the long haul.
There were about half a dozen people spread across the homely looking room, some drinking with friends, others enjoying meals by the open fireplace. If it weren't for their current predicament, he would have enjoyed himself.
Something was weighing on his shoulders and for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what. It felt like someone was looking over his shoulder, waiting. Glancing around the pub, he saw nothing out of the ordinary. He was certain everyone here was human. As his thoughts turned to Arrow, the outside door opened and a man walked in. Tristan's eye instantly fixed on the stranger, who looked out of place in an expensive looking suit, sans-tie. The weight that that been pressing on him since he'd sat down began to constrict heavily against his lungs and he knew something was wrong.
The stranger turned towards the corner and strange red eyes fixed on his. It suddenly became very hard to breathe. This man could only be one person and it didn't look good at all. Tristan knew his name from the old stories his people told a thousand years before, stories that were still told today. His name was Aed, the only son of Lir, Prince of the Tuatha De Danann.
The hybrid slid into the chair opposite, a sly smile on his face. "What gave me away?" he drawled.
"Your eyes have red irises."
"Do they?" he asked in genuine surprise. "How interesting. They used to be blue."
Tristan decided the best course of action was to remain silent and let the hybrid ask the questions. One poke in the wrong place and it might provoke him. Really, how was he supposed to handle a three thousand year old psychopath on his own?
"This world really is something else," Aed continued. "Machines, electric lights… and these clothes." He tugged at the collar of his suit jacket. "I like them. Fit for a prince are they not?"
"You look…refined."
"Yes, I do, don't I?"
"Is there something I can help you with?"
The hybrid narrowed his strange red eyes and leaned across the table. "The Celestine with the black hair…where is she? I know she's here. I can smell her flowery stink all over you."
Tristan's skin began to prickle. Arrow had made a point of telling him how their kinds had been at war. Something told him that this guy hadn't got the memo.
"You will tell me where she is or I will slaughter these people. Perhaps I will anyway." He looked around the room at the various humans who were drinking and eating meals by the hearth. "What do you care, hmm? You crave blood just as much as I."
"I don't kill innocent humans."
"You don't?" Aed asked. "Why not? Isn't that against your nature? Don't humans eat animals? Cattle, sheep…humans are our livestock. Our only food source. It is nature's way."
"Nature didn't create us," Tristan spat.
"No, I suppose not." He stood, straightening his suit jacket, pulling at the cuffs of his shirt just so. "Do you know what it's like to be trapped in a tomb for three thousand years? It's disorienting and cramped and you wake with this insatiable hunger."
Before Tristan could open his mouth, Aed was across the room, sinking his fangs into any flesh he could grasp onto. The old boozehound by the bar was dead in seconds, his lifeless head lolling against the ancient oak countertop. The elderly publican was snapped in two as screams began to erupt through the remaining humans. The air was heavy with the stench of blood as it splashed against the walls and floors, staining everything red.
What could he do? He could try and stop Aed, but he was too far gone. They hybrid sunk his fangs into a woman by the hearth, the air full of animalistic slurping sounds as he drained her dry.
"There," he declared with a gasp, dropping her limp body to the floor, "that's a little better."
Tristan looked around the pub, dumbfounded. Seven humans dead in just as many seconds and he hadn't lifted a finger to save them. Why was he still alive?
"Now," the hybrid declared, wiping his mouth on a serviette, "we wait for the star to return for her companion. There is much I wish to ask her."
That's why.
CHAPTER FIVE
Gabby stood in front of the fireplace, watching the flames crackle in the hearth.
The image of Coraline's last moments haunted her, the bloodstained face of her killer was all she could see when she closed her eyes. So, she tried not to close her eyes.
"Gabrielle."
She turned slightly at the sound of Regulus' voice and sighed. He stood just inside the doorway, arms crossed. "What do you want?"
"Time is short."
She sat in one of the armchairs closest to the fire and waited.
"Can you show me his face?" Regulus asked quietly, sitting across from her.
"Yes." She'd avoided it for as long as she could.
As he leant forward, she reached up and placed her hand on the side
of his face, cupping his cheek. To her disgust, he let out a small sigh like he was enjoying this. The image flashed through her mind again. Deep red eyes, blood. Coraline's pain. She pushed it all into the Roman and didn't hold back. Regulus' hand shot up and grasped her wrist and the transfer was severed.
"Enough," he said firmly. "Do not torture yourself, Gabrielle, and do not torture me."
"Why do you care?"
He let her go and regarded her with a guarded expression. He was the master of containing his emotions. His two-thousand years compared with her twenty-one? No guesses who'd win that competition.
"If you want my help, you have to start talking," she said.
"That's what we're doing." He smiled slyly at her, the asshole she knew coming back to the surface.
"Really?" she asked. "Because I've been doing nothing but putting up with your sarcastic ass so far."
"Gabrielle."
"You love your games, don't you Regulus?"
"To an end," he smirked.
"Tell me everything or spend an eternity on your knees."
"Do you say that to all the men you meet?"
She stood sharply, snarling, "I'm not playing your games, Regulus. Tell me everything or you'll be begging for your life."
"I don't beg to anyone Gabrielle, but I'd beg to you."
She narrowed her eyes at him, willing an aneurysm to explode in his brain.
"God," he hissed, clutching his head. "You really know how to turn a man on."
"Sadist," she hissed, sitting back down.
He shook his head as it healed itself. "I know it's not easy for you, but…"
"But what?" she asked when he faltered.
"You're you and I'm me."
She knew what he meant. One of the most powerful witches in the world and the last remaining Original Vampire.
"What is he?" she whispered.
"The old stories of Ireland talk about a race known as the Tuatha de Dannan."
"He's a fae?"
"The Children of Lir," Regulus began, watching her reaction. "The stories say Aoife turned them into swans. They also say she was one of the Tuatha, but she was a true Celestine. But, in the end it was Aoife's witch that turned the four Tuatha into hybrids. Katrin was a human witch when she made us. Aoife's witch was driven insane by Celestine blood. Do the math."
"There's an insane, psychopathic vampire, fae hybrid on the loose?"
"That's a mouthful," he leered, letting his gaze drop to her lips.
"How did they end up trapped in tombs?"
"Aoife. She realized she'd made a mistake and tried to fix it."
"What about the Original Witch?"
"She lived on. Founded the Coven. They lost the hybrids and have been searching for them ever since. Well, had."
Gabby knew the Coven was gone and Aya had destroyed them in the middle of casting the spell that would awaken the Original. Now they knew that the witches had succeeded. And who knew what this hybrid was capable of? If what Regulus said was true, then the hybrid's mind would be compromised.
"Do you want to know the reason the Celestines were reduced to nothing?" Regulus asked. "It was the Tuatha. They may have hidden underground for hundreds of years, but their demise was their own fault. The Celestines won the war, but they both suffered the same fate. Extinction."
"The Celestine's were at war?" she asked, surprised. "I didn't think it was their style?"
"The Tuatha were a harsh race. They were known as the devourers of worlds. They conquered and consumed. Why wouldn't the Celestines fight that?"
Gabby nodded slowly, not liking where this was going.
"The Tuatha are still revered in stories and heralded as gods, but those stories were only perpetuated by themselves. They wanted the people of the lands they conquered to think well of them. Even after they slaughtered hundreds of thousands and took their homes. They were the ultimate brainwashers. And to think that one might still live? As a vampire? And now he's awake?" he snorted, shaking his head. "We're all fucked."
"We will stop him," Gabby said defiantly. "Even if I have to work with you."
"You think I'm the bad guy?" Regulus scoffed. "Just wait until you meet this hybrid. Then we'll talk about bad."
"What do you know about him? Who was he?"
"He is the last remaining son of Lir. They called him, Aed. The rest, his sisters, are dead."
"What happened to them?"
Regulus seemed to ignore her question. "Do you know who Katrin really was? She was born into the Coven without any power. They raised her to become one of the Five. They knew what the last Celestines were planning."
"They planted her?"
"Yes, but they didn't count on her betraying them." He let out a sigh. "Her plan at creating the first vampires wasn't only to get one back on the Celestines. It was to hunt down the Original vampires that Aoife's witch created. The Coven used her and she wanted to see them undone. And out of the six vampires she created, she trusted me with this task. Me. You know why I've been trying to get into the Coven all this time?"
"They woke one of the Children of Lir. A founder who can't be killed." The enormity of what had happened began to sink in.
"They were my only lead to finding Aed. And now the Coven is gone, but their creature still lives on."
"You killed the others?" she asked, suddenly understanding. He knew how to end them.
"Yes."
"How?"
"There are some things only a founder can do."
"You're the only way to kill the hybrid?"
"Don't look so disappointed, Gabrielle. You're hurting my pride."
"How?" she asked, ignoring him.
"With my cold, dead hands, that's how."
"Regulus," she scolded.
"I have to tear his heart out. Then for good measure, rip his head off then burn him into a pile of ash. Only then, will I be satisfied."
Gabby fell back into the armchair and sighed. This was way too much, even after all the crazy that had happened in the last year. It was like a three thousand year old conspiracy. It had nothing to do with her, though if she didn't stand with Regulus, then who knew what would happen? Disclosure, for one. The hybrid would run rampant and who knew how many people would die in the process. So yeah, it had everything to do with her.
"So what now?" she asked, locking eyes with Regulus.
"We go to this Brú na Bóinne. From there, I will be able to track him."
"He could be anywhere by now."
"Yes, but there's no other way of knowing where he went."
"Fine," she said, standing. "Tomorrow."
Regulus rose as she turned to leave. "Gabrielle."
"What?" she said with a sigh.
"I will protect you."
He said it with such sincerity, she turned to face him, a frown on her face. He was standing right in front of her, a mere step away. He'd moved so silently, she hadn't noticed.
"I thought I was just a means to an end?" She shook her head.
"No," he murmured, letting his eyes rake over her face.
She should have moved. She should have said something. But, when he stepped into her, she froze. He slid his hands over her waist and breathed in her scent deeply. What was this? Another of his games? As he lowered his lips towards the crook of her neck, she stiffened. He wouldn't dare...
"Stop me at any time, Gabrielle," he murmured, pressing his lips against her neck.
Instead of the sharp pinch of his fangs like she was expecting, she felt the tip of his tongue tease her skin.
"What do you want?" she asked, trying to keep her voice even.
"You know what I want." He pressed his lips against hers, his tongue sliding into her mouth as he tried to claim her and for a moment she felt a searing need. She felt her body pressing against his of its own accord and it was all the acceptance he was looking for. He backed her against the wall, deepening his kiss, letting his hands wander.
What the hell was she doing? Gabby's eyes snappe
d open as she reached for her power. Abruptly, Regulus tore away falling to his knees, trying to draw in heaving breaths.
"Stop," she whispered, looking down at him. Satisfied he'd learnt his lesson, she let him go and he pulled in lungful’s of air, clutching his head.
"I've never met a witch like you, Gabrielle," he said with a strange look in his eyes.
"I've never met a bigger asshole than you."
"That mouth," he murmured, licking his lips.
"You'll never be touching it again."
"Never say never."
He was a two thousand year old vampire. He had been a Roman soldier who had attempted to assassinate his emperor. He had made Aya's life a living hell. He had snatched the Celestine from her forest and imprisoned her. He hadn't been the one who'd turned her, but he may as well have. He had been one of the founders who had murdered Aya's family. He had manipulated Zac for his own ends and almost destroyed him. He'd manipulated Victoria, making her fall in love with him then sent her heartbroken into the world.
After all that, how could Gabby let him have her? That wasn't even taking into consideration the way he'd manipulated her into orchestrating his own death. He'd threatened her family.
And now Regulus deigned that he was capable of real love? He wanted to protect her? What a joke. That man was only capable of one thing. Evil. And evil did not have a heart.
A vampire with a passport. Gabby stifled a groan at the notion. It was an Italian one. She guessed Regulus looked a little…Roman. Where was he from anyway?
She stood in the crisp Dublin air as Regulus worked his asshole magic on the woman behind the rental desk. She kind of expected him to compel what he wanted out of her, but he pulled out a platinum credit card instead. When he saw her looking at him through the window, he winked like the sly bastard he was.
Groaning, she turned her back to the car rental office and scanned the surrounding countryside. The airport was on the edge of the city and they grass was greener than she was used to and the sky grey with the promise of rain. An hour and fifteen minutes saw them tarmac to tarmac and another hour or so would see them to Brú na Bóinne. Then they would know where to start. The sooner they found the hybrid, the sooner they'd find a way to subdue him and the Roman would finish the job. Then she could go home and never see the asshole again.