Fire in the Darkness (15 page)

Furious with myself and everything associated with the Otherworld, I rushed out into the forest, needing to be away from everyone. I walked for a bit before plopping down under a tree, where I inhaled the cool air. Earthy scents filled my nostrils as I inhaled, immediately relaxing me. A humming force flickered through me. It was so minute, I was sure I imagined it. I looked down at the Goblin-crafted bracelet on my wrist. It weighed next to nothing, but its significance weighed heavily on me. I stayed under the trees for a long time before the copious fog clung to me, not distinguishing the difference between me and the trees.

When my blood began to fizz in my veins, I moaned. “Go away, Eli. Leave me alone.”

“Not possible or likely.” A large, dark mass emerged from the mist.

I rubbed at my forehead, trying to keep myself from snapping into a million pieces. “Why? Why can’t you leave me in peace?”

He moved closer, a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Because you really don’t want me to.”

The memory of him saying something similar to me in the woods months earlier, before he first kissed me, produced heat, which stung my cheeks and body.

My eyes shot up to his. “Oh, I do. I really do.” Ignoring my words, Eli sat down next to me. His shoulder brushed against mine as he adjusted himself closer against the tree.

“I probably deserved the knee to the groin earlier.”

My smirk told him I agreed.

“Do you feel better now?” His tone held slight amusement.

With my head down on my arms, I tilted it to look at him. “I did in that moment.” We sat in silence for a while, watching the fog weave over the ground and plants.

Eli let out a sigh. “Do you know, Brycin, how easy it would be if I wasn’t attracted to you? I want nothing more than not to care about you.”

His words only invoked resentment and riled my anger further. “Gee, I am so sorry. I’m sure you’ll get over it.”

“Em . . .” he groaned.

“What Eli? Was that supposed to flatter me? Make me feel better?”

“It wasn’t meant to do either.”

“Plus, it’s probably the blood. Something you will get over in time.”

“Em—” He tried to cut in, but I continued over him.

“I mean do you even like me? As a person? Or is it completely superficial because I have your blood?”

“Yes—”

“Yes?” I cut in again. “Are you kidding me?” Fire burned deep in me. I rose with ignition. “Why should I be surprised? From the first day you met me, you looked at me like I was a bug under your shoe. Being attracted to a repulsive Dae must make you sick. How do you stand yourself, Eli?”

“I don’t.” Eli was suddenly inches away from my face. “You have no idea how hard I fight this—fight you. These feelings are my own personal hell.”

My palms met his chest, half hitting him, half pushing him away. “Fuck you!”

“That’s the problem.” He threw his hands up. “That's exactly what I want to do. I fight wanting you every minute of the day. And I shouldn’t. I should be disgusted by you, by the mere idea of kissing you. But, I’m not. I like you—as a person. You make me laugh. You
constantly
challenge me. I like when you are around and I hate that. You are everywhere and in everything,” he fired at me.

“Then trade me. Give me to the Unseelie King. Problem solved. All of them.”

“I wish it were that easy.”

“You’re the one who gave me your blood. I didn’t want this connection either.”

A growl erupted out of Eli, his hands tearing back through his hair. A sign he was hitting high levels of frustration. “This has nothing to do with my fucking blood.”

“Then what does it have to do with?” I screamed back.

“I don’t know.”

“Does this have to do with your hatred of Daes? Tell me what happened, what occurred to create so much disgust towards them.”

He turned away, his jaw gritting together. “You don’t understand,” his voice was low and cool.

“No, I don’t. So tell me.”

His eyes swung over to mine.
I can’t.

Can’t or won’t?

Eli sucked in a swig of air, his attention going up to the tops of the trees. “Daes slaughtered my clan. They took away my family and everyone I loved.”

My jaw went slack. “What?”

“Don’t think for one moment your kind is a defenseless, misunderstood species. They are not. We aren’t the only soulless monsters out there.”

“My God, Eli. I’m so sorry. What happened?”

His gaze snapped away from mine. I could feel the shift in his body. He was shutting himself off from me again. “I don’t want to talk about it. I actually came out here to give you this.” He moved back over to where we had sat on the ground and picked up an object. I hadn’t noticed it when he first walked up.

He twisted around, shoving at me. It took me a moment for my brain to comprehend what he had given me. When I did, intense emotions swelled. “My sketch pad?”

“It’s a new one. I wasn’t able to grab yours from your home. I know how much you enjoy drawing and thought you might like having one here.”

I stared at the brand new drawing booklet. “You went out and bought me a sketch pad?” My head shook in confusion. Eli shrugged, keeping his eyes on the trees. “Sometimes I really don’t get you, Eli.”

“Me neither, Brycin.”

I felt so disoriented. A moment ago we were fighting and the next he was handing me a present. A very thoughtful present. He went all the way down to an art store to buy me something he knew I’d enjoy. My heart reacted before my brain could weigh in. I stepped up to him, placing my free hand gently on his cheek. My lips met his in a soft kiss. His lips didn’t hesitate in reacting to mine. Heat charged instantly between us. I quickly pulled away. Without a word I turned and rushed out of the forest.

When I returned to the infirmary, my room for now, Jared was sitting up, showing minimal signs of his injuries. He smiled. His cheerful personality was back in abundance.

“Hey. You feeling better?” I asked.

“Yeah, Dad says I’m healing quickly; not as quickly as they do, but I’ll be up soon.”

“Good.” I sat down in the chair next to his bed. “I’m sorry . . . this shouldn't have happened to you. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have asked you guys to go there.”

“Are you kidding?” he spurted. “I actually got to fight and not with a punching bag or with one of the guys going easy on me. I won’t lie and say it didn’t hurt, but it was the first time I actually got to fight something real.”

A laugh of relief erupted out of me. “You’re not upset?”

“No, not at all. It was awesome,” he replied. “I know these guys protect me because I’m not quite a Dark Dweller. They’re afraid my human part will be killed. I’m much more vulnerable than them, but they forget I’m still hard to kill and not a baby anymore. I’m going to be seventeen in eight months. But because I’m not centuries old like them, they treat me like a kid.”

“Yeah, but they do it because they love you.”

“I know, but I’m grown up now. I want them to start treating me like I’m a part of the clan. Do you know what it’s like to have
all
these guys treating you like a kid, acting like fathers, mothers, older brothers, sisters, and uncles? Telling you what to do, never letting you really do anything, always trying to keep you in this safety bubble? I feel like I’m in a prison and it's making me crazy.”

I smiled. “You know, I’m starting to.”

ELEVEN

A while later Owen came in and smiled to find both his patients in one place. Being looked over like a lab rat was becoming second nature to me.

“Both of you are healing well. One more day in bed, Jared, and you will be good as new.” Owen ignored his annoyed huff. Jared was so full of vitality, getting him to sit another twelve hours was going to take a miracle. Owen moved towards my bed. “Ember, I got the results back from the blood I took earlier . . .” he trailed off, which made me gulp. When a doctor's voice becomes quiet, it was never good.

“What?” I asked. “Is it bad? What’s wrong with me?”

“Nothing’s wrong with you
per se
.” He sat down in the chair next to my bed, his face turning serious. “You keep changing. The combination of your blood and Eli's has morphed your DNA again.”

“What does that mean?” A strange feeling came over me. My skin prickled. It was an odd sensation, like I was being watched but not by either Jared or Owen. Rubbing my arms I let my eyes scan the room. Nothing. I was being silly; my emotions were just running high.

“I told you before mixing blood between different Fae species has never been done. Humans, if given the wrong blood type, would likely die. Their immune systems would attack the red blood cells in the donor blood if the bloods were incompatible. Fae can only take blood from the same species or we can die. This has always been the case, until you. I don’t know if it is a Dae quirk, which allows this, or if you are just different. But, surprisingly, your own blood has not only accepted Eli’s, it has taken it on as its own, creating another strand in your DNA.

“Since you didn’t die from Eli’s blood, I figured your blood would dilute his until it matched yours. And maybe, only at the beginning, you would show symptoms or traits like ours before going back to normal. You aren’t merely taking on our traits, but merging your traits and ours into your own special category. You are still Dae, but now you have a strand of Dae and Dark Dweller along with your Dae DNA strand.”

Alarm was seeping through my forced-calm exterior. “Okay, your lips are moving, but all I hear is blah, blah, blah. Dumb it down for me.”

Owen’s mouth cracked into a smile. “You don't need anything dumbed down, Ember, but I'll break it down." He sat forward, clasping his hands together. “You grew up familiar with human anatomy so I'll start there.

“Simply put, humans have DNA in every cell. Each DNA helix is made up of two twisted strands with twenty-three pairs of chromosomes. Well, Fae anatomy has similar DNA cell structure, but ours are made up of eight strands, plus or minus, depending on the type of Fae you are.

“There have been a few discoveries of some humans having three, sometimes four strands, and studies have shown that humans who have more than two strands have ‘special abilities.’ They are looked at as medical marvels. Those humans probably have Fae heritage somewhere in their background. There was a time when Fae mixed with unsuspecting humans much more freely
.”
Owen gazed over his shoulder at Jared. Jared looked bored and restless, flipping through a computer gadget magazine. “Jared, for instance, because he is part human, has six strands.”

I kept hearing how Jared was half human, but I never heard about Jared’s mother. I knew there was a story there. Curiosity won out. “Was Jared’s mother aware of what you were?”

Owen bristled. His jaw snapped together as his eyes flashed, his pupils elongating. It was the first time I ever really saw the Dark Dweller part of him. It was more unsettling than seeing it in any of the others. With Owen you could almost forget what he was; with the others that was never the case. Owen obviously had worked hard at hiding his predatory nature. His reaction solidified there was more to the story and more to Owen than met the eye. What was his story? What caused him to react so out of character? My gut told me it was not a happy story.

“No. She was not aware of what we
are
.” Owen’s tone was clear—do not push.

Clearing my throat, I went back to the original topic. “Okay, I am getting everything so far. Humans two, Fae eight. So what’s weird about me?”

“Our DNA can copy itself but does not usually form new DNA molecules. This is where you differ. When I first tested your blood, you had ten strands per helix, which seemed high, but might be normal for a Dae. You no longer have ten.”

“How many do I have?”

“You have thirteen.”

Stunned, I sat with my eyes and mouth open wide. I heard his words and understood them, but my brain was having a hard time comprehending the information.

Thirteen strands in my DNA?
Guess I couldn’t play the human card anymore
.

"They are also different. You have made new DNA molecules."

“What does this mean for me?”

“This is all so new to me, so I am not sure. But your test results show you are extremely healthy and strong. Even more so now.” He opened up his hands in a display of bewilderment.

I had barely gotten used to the idea I was a Dae, now I was something different?

Sensing my fear, he quickly added. “Don’t worry. You are still Dae. Think of it as you are Dae with Dark Dweller on the side.”

“So I’m a Fay-Demon-Dark Dweller mix? I am a mutt of the Fae world?” I screeched. “Are you kidding me?”

“Afraid not,” Owen replied.

“Awesome . . .” Jared spoke up from the other side of the room. “Ember, the Otherworld's wonder mutt.”

Both Owen and I turned to glare at him. His smile grew bigger.

“Not helpful, Jared.” Owen shook his head.

“Why? That’s so cool. You are even more powerful. You could probably kick anybody’s ass now that you have some of our traits.”

“Jared,” Owen’s tone warned. Jared sat back sulking but stayed silent.