Within The Shadows (27 page)

“
Antoine, how am I meant to do this without him? He saved me
from them more than once, and now I have no one. I am totally alone
again.”

“
You seem to have overlooked one thing.”

“
Yeah, what’s
that?” I asked.

“
Me! You have me, Giselle. I am not going
anywhere.”

His voice
was so soft
. I knew he meant what he
said, although I did not believe him. I knew Atarah and Alex would
somehow eventually get to him, and I did not want to be responsible
for his death as well.

“
Antoine, I think it would be better if you were to . . . I
don’t know – forget about me. I know they’ll try to get to me
through you, and I can’t have that on my conscience. If I’m to have
this baby, then I’ll do it alone.” I walked away from
him.

“
Sorry you feel that way, but the way I see it, you don’t
have much of a choice in the matter. I’m staying, so get used to
having me and my rugged good looks around.”

Sometimes,
he infuriated me to the point were I wanted to punch the crap out
of him. Other times, I wanted to hug him. He had a funny way of
showing it, but I was pretty sure he cared about me.

“
But what happens if they come? Leo . . .” My voice broke.
“He thought he could protect me, and look what happened to
him.”

“
Leonid was blindsided by his love for you. He
underestimated Atarah.”

“
He didn’t
know she’d send the Nelapsi after me?”

“
Of course, he did. He just didn’t expect so many of their
young in the tunnel. He fought like a true warrior. Even as he
died, he was relentless. Now, stop blaming yourself, and think of
the one person we all need to protect. Your unborn child needs
nourishment and sustenance. Our standing here debating who we
should blame for Leonid’s death will not accomplish
anything.”

“
But . . .”

He cut me
off. “Take my hand,” he commanded. “It is time.”

And like a child, I held on
tight.

* * *

The fire
blazed as it spat bright colours of orange and yellow out amongst
the burning embers. Its heat radiated the area around us. I watched
Leonid’s body burning, and felt a piece of my heart dying as he
slowly perished under the tremendous heat. I watched in silence,
unable to cry. My sudden loss of emotions came as relief to me. I
felt numb, and accepted that I would feel like this for some
time.

Bylun stood
close to the other three lesser gods as they, too, looked on
earnestly. I saw grief in their eyes, and this was something I
thought would never be possible. Considering what Leonid had been,
it was hard to imagine a source of goodness feeling anything other
than contempt for a vampire.

Leonid’s
death had clearly moved them, just as it had affected Antoine. He
stood back on his own. His eyes glazed over, and through the
reflection of the flames in his eyes, I saw tears. I knew they had
been close, but I had not known enough about their relationship to
make any kind of presumptions. I was moved by his demeanour, and I
knew that he, too, had been changed by what was
happening.

Slowly, the
fire consumed what was left of Leonid. He was now nothing more than
ash in the late evening sun. Moments later, I was left alone as
Bylun and Atone retreated back inside the medieval looking castle.
Walking up to the remains of the fire, I watched as a gentle breeze
carried the ash into the air, spreading it out across the water
below.

From inside
me, I could feel anger swell. I could not understand why this was
happening to me. I had always thought I was a good person. I had
never done any wrong to anyone. Yet in such a short period of time,
my life had fallen apart.

“
Why me? Why couldn’t you have chosen somebody else?” I
shouted towards the sky as the sun began to set.

From out of
nowhere, a white light appeared before me, hovering in the air. It
hurt my eyes to look at it, but through my fingers, I could make
out the silhouette of a man. He drifted closer to me, and became
more and more recognizable.

“
How?” I
asked as I began to shake.

“
Do not be frightened. I have a message for you from the
Goddess,” he said.

I shook my
head in disbelief at what I was seeing. “No! I am seriously out of
it right now. This cannot be happening!”

“
It can, and it is. Giselle, look at me,” he
beseeched.

I stared hard at my feet,
trying my best to refuse to believe what I was seeing.

“
Very well, then. I come with news of the
unborn.”

Now I looked
up at him. His face was exactly the same. He was how I would always
remember him, strong, beautiful, and completely in love with
me.

“
What about
the baby?” I asked.

“
Your child is destined for great things, but, as with all
journeys, yours has only just begun. You have many hurdles to
cross, and given time, you will learn to accept your fate. Do not
trust those who insist that they have your best interests at heart,
for it is they who will push the dagger in deeper.”

He began to
fade into the evening sky, and my heart started to crumble. I felt
as though I was losing him all over again.

“
Leonid!” I yelled his name. “Please . . . don’t go!” My
voice was failing me, and just when I thought I’d heard the last of
him, his voice came to me through a gust of wind.

“
Giselle, you will learn to love again. Trust your heart as
you did me. Farewell, my love.”

And then he was gone.

I gripped
the stone wall tightly, and anxiously waited for him to return, but
he never did. Inside, I fell to pieces as I began to realise that I
would never ever see Leonid again. Instead of crying like any
normal person, I roared out loud, screaming obscenities at the sky.
I was seriously pissed off, and I had just about enough of having
my heart broken.

In such a
short time, I had been turned into some new breed of vampire,
married, knocked up, found out my mother was seriously ill,
kidnapped by creatures of the shadow world, slept with my
father-in-law, and just when I thought I loved him, he was taken
from me. It was quite a heavy load to bear, and I had just about
had my gut full.

Pacing like
a mad woman, I wanted to make Atarah and Alex pay for what they had
done to me. I wanted to see them suffer the same pain I had
endured. The only way I knew of involved me returning to Armenia,
and taking action myself.

Antoine
would be pretty pissed, but I did not see any other way. I waited
until the sun had disappeared from the sky, and watched the dark
clouds consume the land around me. The only noise I heard was from
the surf lapping against the overhanging rocks below.

“
I think you ought to retire,” a voice said from behind
me.

“
Nah, I’ve
too much on my mind,” I replied.

“
Sweet Princess, we both know you have experienced a little
too much. I suggest you take some much needed rest.”

“
Oh, cut the bullshit, Antoine!” I barked back at
him.

“
Not the language you’d expect from a princess. But under
the circumstances, I dare say things have taken their toll on you.
Please, Giselle, rest a little. If not for you, then for the
child.”

I shuffled
my feet as I struggled to ignore him. He, like Alex, had a way of
making me succumb to his way of thinking. I looked at him, and his
perfectly formed face. I hated to admit it, but he had won. It was
pointless in trying to argue with him, and I accepted
defeat.

“
Okay, but only for the sake of the baby,” I said as I
walked towards a wooden door.

“
Of course. Only for the sake of the child,” he agreed as he
raised an eyebrow, chuckling to himself.

I refused to
be self-
destructive. My main driving
force was now my unborn child. I had a responsibility that
concerned more than me. For once in my life, I was willing to think
of someone other than myself.

This
time
, I was not scared. It was as though
I had woken up from a bad dream. All I needed to do was to place my
trust in Antoine, and somehow, together, we would defeat the
Nelapsi. From where I stood, it was going to be a simple battle.
There could only be one victor, and I was determined that it would
be me.

I was led
into a small, quirky room that reminded me of my best friend Erin’s
room back home. Bold colours of green and purple covered the walls,
and neatly tucked away in the corner was a small bed. Admittedly,
it was a welcome sight. My now exhausted body craved the warmth and
comfort of a pillow and blanket. I think Antoine was pretty
convinced that I would rest as I had said I would. Without a fight,
I lay down, and closed my eyes.

My sleep was
sound, and undisturbed by dreams. The only thing that hurt was
waking and knowing that it would be Antoine greeting me, and not
the greenish-grey eyes belonging to Leonid. My heart sank to new
depths.

I tried to
ignore the growing feeling of the presence of someone in the room
with me. He stood in the corner watching me, observing my thoughts.
With a little more fight in me than I had expected, I shouted out
at the dark shadow.

“
For Pete’s
sake, can’t I even think in peace any more?”

“
I just
wanted to make sure there would be no repeat of the little episode
that involved you hanging out of windows,” Antoine joked
sarcastically.

“
That’s not
funny you know!” I lowered my voice.

“
No. It wasn’t. Yet I have my suspicions. Remember, I know
you, sweet Princess. I can tell when you aren’t exactly
yourself.”

“
Oh, come off it. When have I ever been myself around
you?”

“
I can think
of a few times, but I we can save those for a time when ‘life’
isn’t so precarious.”

Scoffing, I
pulled the blanket off of my legs. That was when the usual nausea
overcame me. Without much of a warning for Antoine, I vomited on
the ground. I retched as I held back tears. I was embarrassed that
he had witnessed me at my worst, but also relieved I had not choked
to death on the amount of liquid that came up.

As I wiped
my hand across my mouth, Antoine handed me his handkerchief. I
looked up at him, and accepted it, using it to remove the residue
from my chin.

“
Thanks,” I
muttered.

“
Are you
okay?” he asked, concerned.

“
Yep! It’ll pass. It normally does.”

“
Right, then I guess we’d best hurry. Bylun is sending us on
a little trip,” he exclaimed gleefully.

“
What?”

“
Mmm, a
little round trip that should last around seven months or
so.”

“
Antoine, stop talking in riddles.” I grew mad at
him.

“
We’re going to secure you and the child, one way or
another. Of course, the only way to do that, is to make you
disappear off the planet altogether.”

“
I don’t like
the sound of this,” I said cautiously.

“
Don’t be such a wimp. We’ll have a blast. Now come. Let’s
get accrue the intel, and make haste.” He held out his beautiful
hand to me, and like before, I took it. He held onto me tightly as
we left the room, and walked towards the rest of our lives. Or, at
least, the next seven months of it.

Or so I thought.

Chapter Twenty-Three

SOME THINGS
HAPPEN
for a reason. Others happen
because of circumstance, but with me, it was a case of being
god-damned unlucky. I had finally accepted the path my life had
taken, and was preparing myself for the changes that would begin to
take place within my own body. Although, nothing could prepare me
for what I was going to go through during that process.

Antoine was
in his typical hyper mood. It seemed as though nothing affected
him, or so I thought. I had not given him or his feelings much
thought. After what had happened to Leonid, I really was not
bothered.

As we
approached a long, narrow hallway, it was hard to ignore the
bizarre illustrations that were displayed upon the wall. Stars,
circles, and odd sentences had been drawn in white along the whole
length of the hall.

“
What is this
place?” I whispered.

“
This, my
sweet Princess, is the portal to another dimension,” he casually
replied.

“
What? Seriously? Like, for real?” I was slightly
tongue-tied.

We reached
the door, and as we entered the round room, the strangest feeling
came over me. The numbness had gone, and in its place, a sensation
I had never felt before rippled though me. My hands and arms
tingled as if tiny needles were compressing my skin. The more
intense it became, the more I liked the feeling. I felt completely
out of it, as if I was high.

I could
sense Antoine’s glare as I smiled to myself, intoxicated by the
unknown substance that was penetrating through me.
He looked on, amused by my foolish behaviour,
and, unlike him, I lost control of my senses. I burst into a fit of
giggles as I sat in the centre of the room. It spun as I tried my
best to sit up straight, but the more I tried, the more I slipped
to the side. I was almost wetting myself with laughter, and then
everything came to a stop. I immediately sobered, embarrassed by my
behaviour.