Blood Oath (A Gabby Girls Adventure Novel, Book Two) (8 page)

"Why?" I screamed with a pain-filled voice, wrapping my arms around myself protectively.

She softly pulled me into an embrace. "Gabi, this life is not easy. A life of a
Circle
and
Eternal
is never easy. Always remember that."

"But why, Grandma Celeste? Why would she lie to me about my father? And most importantly, who is he?" My voice was muffled against her body.

She sighed as she rubbed her face with weariness. "Aether….this whole thing with Aether, frankly, should not have happened. And the only reason that your mother didn’t tell you the truth was to protect you from those that would take something so pure and good and bend it to do harm. And that’s you, Gabi."

I was frightened by the chill that suddenly ran down my spine. "I just don’t understand."

Grandma Celeste smiled sadly. "Honestly, even I can’t unravel the mystery surrounding your mother and father’s relationship—believe me, I’ve tried. Your mother always"—her voice cracked—"believed that anyone could be saved, even the most dark and lost souls. She was a tough Warrior and fulfilled her duty faithfully, but at times…she struggled with the rightness of our cause, especially after your father turned to the
Banished
."

I felt absolutely woozy—my father, a
Banished
?

"He was born into the Euros—the Air Conclave, one of the most powerful and respected family of the royal
Elementi
. His birth was celebrated by everyone, for the birth of an
Elementi
is indeed a rare event. It was so special that he was marked by the gods with power to control all four elements—fire, earth, air, and water. No other
Elementi
has ever been bestowed such a powerful gift."

Something tickled my memory. "Wait, isn’t there another element?"

She looked at me curiously. "Yes, spirit. The fifth element. But there has never been a Conclave of Spirit, and none of the
Elementi
has control of this element." She paused, sitting down on the stone bench.

I still didn’t get it. I knew from my limited
Eternal
lessons that all
Elementi
were considered the pure, and could manipulate and control the energy of only one element. Why was there none that could control the spirit element?

She patted the space beside her. "I guess I should start at the beginning, right?"

I looked at her gratefully as I sat down, pulling my knees up to my chest, hugging them tightly.

She sighed loudly. "
Elementi
and
Eternals
101, it is. The
Elementi
are essentially the personification of elements. They are the creation of the gods and are considered the pure breeds because of the immortal blood that runs through their veins. In essence, they were created as the true controllers of the elements. They are the conduit to both worlds, immortal and mortal."

"But they’re immortal, right?"

"Well, yes and no. Like us, they can live forever, but obviously they can be killed."

"Okay, so this is a win-win situation. They have control over elements, and they live forever. So what’s the problem here?"

Grandma Celeste laughed. "As usual, I love your enthusiasm but that’s not totally accurate. There’s a fly in the ointment. They are bound to this planet forever, and without them, life on this planet would not survive. And without this planet, they would not survive. Imagine working twenty-four-seven to keep the natural balance of life, but not having the freedom of choice to stop. They work tirelessly behind the scenes to keep the
Daemons
and
Banished
from destroying this balance. And let’s not talk about how hard it is to balance the challenges of managing the expectations of the Supernaturals."

My head was bursting from all of the possibilities, the very bad possibilities. I never knew that these things even existed, except for in the movies. "Supernaturals?"

She looked at me quickly. "We lump almost everything that goes bump in the night into the Supernatural category…including us." She looked at me pointedly.

I gasped with shock.

She continued, "Supernaturals have been around for centuries, before the caveman was even a thought. We are the things that fairy tales are not made of, and in reality, we surpass all myths and legends. We come in all different shapes and sizes, from looking like everyday humans to extraordinary beasts. We can be evil or good, dangerous or benign, depending on the path that we choose to take." Her eyes took on a strange glint like she was trying to pass on something that she wanted me to get without outright telling me.

I looked at her quickly, tossing the words around in my head like a ball. "This is how the
Banished
are made, because of the choices that they make to use their powers for good or evil." I tossed the words around some more, tugging at an important thought that flitted around the edges of my mind as if hoping not to be discovered. "It’s their actions—the harming or helping of others by the abuse of gifts and powers."

She looked at me sadly, frowning as if she had hoped that I would not understand this point. "Exactly, choices that, on the surface, seem simple, but under the surface have deep rippling effects." She smiled in a melancholy way that wrenched my gut because she was talking about me. But what choices would I ever have to make that could be so important to anyone?

A chill ran down my spine. I started a mental rundown of every monster story that I’d read in books or seen in movies, and my eyes widened with shock.

"So, all that stuff is real? Vampires, fairies, and werewolves are real?"

"Yes, yes, and yes; but they are nothing like the books and movies depict them," she responded calmly. "Supernaturals walk among the
Normals
every day, disguised by glamours to hide their true nature.

Normals
could never deal with knowing that we do exist or that the war we fight every day is to preserve their lives."

"Glamours?"

"Glamours, it’s the oldest form of magic. It disguises anything," she whispered softly, waving her right hand along her left arm majestically.

I watched in amazement as her perfect, smooth mocha skin transformed, displaying intricate marks of inky twirling vines laced with bits of gold that trailed up the left side of her neck, intertwined with inky, squiggly dashes.

She smiled. "Supernaturals use glamours all the time. The
Eternals
and
Elementi
use them to hide our marks when around
Normals
." She smiled before I could get out my next question. "Our marks are given to us by the gods. It tells others what our powers are and our power status."

I almost fell off the bench with shock. Oh boy. I was seriously freaking out. "So what does that have to do with my mother and"—I swallowed painfully—"my dad?"

"History, it’s all about history…The gods wanted to make another race of Warriors, but not as pure as the
Elementi
. So they ordered the
Elementi
to mix their blood with a group of
Normals
that the god of war, Ares, and the goddess of divine law, Themis, took favor on. As you can imagine, this order displeased the
Elementi
, and they only agreed to this creation if the
Normals
made a blood oath binding them eternally to act as powerful weapons against the
Banished
and
Daemons
and to guard the Gates—in other words, making them the
Elementi’s
own personal legion of Warriors. In exchange for the blood oath, the
Normals
were gifted with some
Elementi
powers, minus the immortality."

She continued, "But what the gods did not know is that the
Elementi
wanted to make sure that they remained the pure and most powerful race. They did this by making sure that the
Eternals
would always have to rely on them for survival. Genetically, an
Eternal
cannot have children with another
Eternal
, but we can with an
Elementi
. That’s the unbreakable tie. We need the
Elementi
to survive. Remember that, Gabrielle."

"Wait, are you saying that this all breaks down to who you can date? Really? That’s so lame. Just date who you want. Who cares if it’s an
Elementi
or
Eternal
?"

She laughed loudly. "Oh, to be young again. I agree with you. Times have changed. Having an
Elementi
as a mate is okay
now
. But as with any society, there are those who are
lame
and believe in a society that keeps us separated, with the
Elementi
at the top of the food chain and the
Eternals
right below and the
Banished
as enemies. Do you see the dilemma this caused when your father turned to the
Banished
?"

"So you’re saying that my mother crossed enemy lines when she had me with a
Banished
?"

Grandma Celeste’s eyes saddened. "Yes, but it was much bigger than that." She stared into the distance as if she were reliving the painful memory. "As an
Elementi
, he was your mother’s mate, and she loved him dearly, but when he turned to the
Banished
, she couldn’t do what was necessary, which was to kill him." She looked at me with tearful eyes. "Then she discovered that she was having you, a child created with a
Banished
."

I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. I still couldn’t believe that my father was a
Banished
. "But why did he turn to the
Banished
?"

She looked at me sadly. "Why does anyone turn to the
Banished
? The lure of the darkness? More powers? But whatever the motivation, it was strong. The pull of the
Banished
tempts even the strongest
Eternals
and
Elementi
." She stared at me expectantly. "So, when the time comes for you to choose, what will you choose?"

I crossed my arms stubbornly. "The
Eternals
, of course. I would use my kick-butt powers to crush the
Banished
into dust. And if my father is a
Banished
, then he’s dust too."

She held my face between her hands gently. "Would you, Gabi? Would you really have the will to do what’s necessary when the time comes? Because it will. It does for all of us."

A weird feeling floated around in the pit of my stomach, like butterflies fluttering anxiously. I knew what she was asking. I swallowed hard, then whispered, "You mean would I kill my father?"

We just stared at each other silently. The truth is I just wasn’t sure. Could I? Obviously my mother couldn’t, so what made me think that I could?

She sighed softly. "And that’s the problem, Gabi, that one moment of hesitation, that one moment of struggling with your feelings of love and hate—of right or wrong. No matter what happens along your journey, never lose that hesitation, for someday it will save your life or the life of someone you love."

I’d never seen her like this. She suddenly looked so tired, so sad. I wanted to comfort her, to wash away the painful past, but I knew without it, I wouldn’t be here.

She continued, "It is the blood oath that keeps the delicate balance between the
Eternals
and
Elementi
and, in turn, governs our way of life. This alliance is held together by very tenacious but delicate threads that some eagerly seek to sever. The blood oath should never be broken."

I tried to absorb everything she said, but there was one nagging question that ate at me. I looked at her hesitantly. "So who was the man that I thought was my father? My mother told me that he died. That’s way horrible, Grandma Celeste."

I saw a flicker of raw emotion in her eyes; then it quickly disappeared. "He was an
Eternal
who loved you as his own. He also acted as a smoke screen so that others would not find out the truth about Aether. Believe me, she did what was best for you."