Chapter 06
A leg slid over Tina’s hip and an elbow poked her in her rib, waking her from her slumber. She turned, her arms bent and she shoved an arm against the body that threatened to roll over her.
Beside her, Muriel moaned and draped his chest against her side despite her efforts to push him away.
She yawned and opened her eyes. In the semi-darkness lit by the small button of light set in the middle of the Sarniikzi’s cover she could see Muriel’s sleeping face resting on her shoulder. She flicked his forehead. “You are heavy.” And his body warmed her more than any blanket would. She tugged the blanket up until her feet were exposed, but it was still too hot to fall back into drowsiness, even though the comfortable cloud of blue that had invaded her mind as soon as she lay down on the padded surface of the Sarniikzi still lingered just behind her eyelids.
“Hey.” She pushed against Muriel, who slipped down from her shoulder, but before Tina could release a sigh of relief, he stretched out his limbs, pushing her against the soft wall.
“You are like a child -- no, worse than a child.” Tina was wide awake now; she doubted that she would get sleepy soon, and she also had to pee.
For a moment, she stared at the red velvet covering the inside of the case, wondering how she could get used to sleeping in this box so quickly when in the beginning she had loathed the thing. She sighed and pressed the lever hidden under the padding by her hip. The lid rose up. She climbed out of the large case and padded to the toilet.
After she came out of the bathroom, she went to the living room. She fell on the couch, her gaze drawn to the coffee machine. She was tempted to go to it, to open the drawer under it, but she knew that she wouldn’t find anything except decaf; Uriel and Irene had made sure of that.
“Why aren’t you sleeping?”
“I had to go to the toilet.” She looked over at the Uriel, who stood with crossed arms by the door, and she could hear the noise of rushing feet coming from the hallway. “What’s going on?”
“We got a visitor.” Uriel moved toward the couch.
“Oh, anybody important?”
“Not important, just inconvenient.”
“Yeah?”
“It’s that Macele girl, she found out that you are here -- not that that surprises me -- and demanded to see you.” Uriel sat beside her. “Of course, Irene refused.”
Tina pulled her knees up, drew them against her chest and leaned her arms on them. “So why are those men running around?”
“The girl insisted on spending the night here, and they are preparing rooms for her and her escort.”
“You are kidding, right?” Tina raised her brows. “We are not housing a person who attacked us not a week ago?”
“Yes, we are.” Uriel leaned back and put his elbows on the back of the couch. “Apparently Irene couldn’t refuse a purebred. They are only Beliyas and they have to offer hospitality to everybody of higher station; if they didn’t, it would be like declaring war on Macele.”
“The Lost have too many rules.” She rested her cheek on her arms, her eyes on Uriel. “Maybe, since you are technically a purebred, and Damon’s child at that, you could throw her out.”
Uriel’s fingers touched the side of Tina’s face; they slid over Tina’s temple before he tucked the strands of her chocolate-brown hair behind her ear. “I’m afraid that that would be even worse. And besides, we don’t want her to learn about us, do we?”
A pleasant shiver ran up Tina’s spine. She ignored it. “No, I guess not, not if she doesn’t know about you already. And we are leaving soon anyway, so as long as we stay in our part of the house, out of her sight, her presence here doesn’t matter.” She straightened. “When are we leaving? Have you heard from the Damned yet?”
“I talked to Nat. He told me that Prva will be unavailable indefinitely.” He furrowed his brows together. “Apparently she has isolated herself from everybody, even from the Numuns, but since she left them in charge we are welcome to come; our old house is at our disposal.”
“Even from Numuns? But they are her beloved children. Why would she do that? Not because of Abbas?” Tina frowned. As much as Prva’s presence always made her feel unpleasant, Prva wasn’t bad, or at least her actions weren’t.
“Abbas was what she lived for, and sometimes when people lose the focus of their lives they also lose the will to live.” Uriel tilted his head up, his gaze fixed on the ceiling. “It’s hard to go on if there is nothing to hold on to.”
Yes, she knew that, had experienced it firsthand. But she wasn’t the only one who had lost somebody. She waited for Uriel to continue, but he didn’t. She turned sideways and pushed out her leg, slowly, until it touched Uriel’s hip, like the contact of their bodies could give him comfort. Comfort he probably didn’t even need. “Has something like that happened to you?” she asked, hoping that maybe he would mention Trinity and they would finally talk about what happened.
“I do have something to hold on to. Muriel and Haniel.” He looked at her. “And you.”
A wave of warmth washed over her. Uriel’s words made her feel so... so honoured and happy and hearing them, the last doubts about them being a family disappeared. She was one of them now and nothing could change that. She would have wrapped her arms around Uriel -- she wanted to -- but this was Uriel. She fiddled with her fingers before she touched his forearm, not knowing what to say.
He put his hand over hers, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “Don’t get too overwhelmed.” He squeezed her fingers then released her.
“I’m not overwhelmed.” She bit her lip. He was teasing her. “I’m honoured that you feel that way. You are important to me too, you all are.” She rested her hands in her lap. “In this short time that we have known each other it feels like I have found my long lost family in you. And not just because Trinity felt so strongly about you, and not because I can still feel traces of her love for you lingering in my soul, but because we are connected somehow.” She looked at the hem of her shirt and tugged on it. “It’s weird, right?”
“No, it’s not weird at all. We are connected. Through blood and through Muriel’s mental link.”
“Through blood?”
“You have been drinking our blood since you came into our care.”
“The shake, right?”
Uriel nodded.
Tina furrowed her brows. The copper taste, the thickness. Oh, yes, she knew that it was blood, didn’t like knowing that, but after that time in Angelica’s lab she knew how important those shakes were for her. She had suspected that the blood came from Haniel, but she had never asked to make sure. Like she had never asked a lot of other things that nagged at the back of her mind. It was easier not to ask, to pretend that it didn’t matter: the tables with hooks, the rumours about the Elders of the Damned, the armoury in Damon’s basement, Angelica’s hatred, the Mamaels; the things she’d heard, the things she’d seen and the things she’d experienced. The depravity that lurked beneath the surface but that she pretended wasn’t there, because pretending like everything was normal was easier. A soft sigh left her mouth. She hadn’t even talked about her guilt over Trinity’s demise. She snorted. She might be coming to terms with what she had become, but she hadn’t accepted what had happened or the society of which she had become a member for what it really was. The Bloodeaters.
“You should go back to sleep.”
“I couldn’t.” She shook her head and grabbed the edge of Uriel’s shirt before she raised her head. “Why do you -- we -- need to drink blood?”
“It’s the haemoglobin, I thought you know that.”
“Yes, I do know that, but I don’t know why you need it,” Tina said.
“I see. Well, our body can’t produce it and we need an external source: Mamaels’ blood -- that’s why Mamaels were made, to feed Bloodeaters, to be for us what cattle are for them.”
“No.” Tina’s brows rose and she loosened her hold on Uriel’s shirt. Angelica may have made humans, but it wasn’t like that. It couldn’t be like that.
“Oh, yes. We are quite the monsters, aren’t we? We had to be, to make our food in our own image.”
“Don’t do that!” She released Uriel’s shirt.
“Do what?”
“Try to make me afraid of you or even hate you. Things are different now; you don’t kill them anymore.”
Uriel leaned over her. “But they did, you know. And Elders at their annual feasts still eat their flesh; they tear their limbs off them, gorge on them like a starving person would devour a piglet, with the Mamaels and Deadeaters still alive when it’s done to them.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Tina pushed herself deeper into the softness of the couch, her fists pressed against her chest. “I don’t want to know about that. Why did you have to tell me that?”
“Because you need to know.” Uriel stood up and offered her his hand. “Come on, I have something to give you.”
She refused to take it, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her up. He led her out into the hallway where they almost collided with four men in dark suits and purple ties.
“Who are you?” Uriel pushed Tina behind him.
Tina peeked over Uriel’s shoulder.
The men moved aside and a girl with high ponytail and clothes that looked fresh out of the latest fashion magazine stepped forward. “I’m Verina Macele, daughter of the Lost’s leader.”
“Could you step aside, please? We would like to pass.” Uriel wrapped his arm around Tina’s shoulders and they took a step forward.
Macele narrowed her eyes at Uriel before her gaze went to Tina. “I wish to talk to you.” She stretched out her manicured hand, her long silver and black nails looked like talons. “Come.”
Tina stepped closer to Uriel. She had no intention of spending her time with Damon’s stalker.
“Come.” Macele closed the distance and tried to grab Tina’s hand.
Tina stepped out of the way and Macele’s hand seized thin air.
“I said, ‘Come!’” Macele made another attempt to grip Tina’s wrist.
“Look.” Tina stepped backwards. “I’m not going anywhere with you. If you want to talk, talk.”
“Do you know who I am? I’m the daughter of the new leader of the Lost.”
“Yes, you said that already.” Uriel stepped between Tina and Macele, not the least fazed by Macele’s men circling them. “And she said that she isn’t going anywhere with you.”
“How dare you interfere?” Macele swung her arm.
Uriel blocked the slap and pushed Tina backwards.
“You are rude.” Tina felt annoyance bubbling inside her. What gave Macele the right to behave like she owned the place? Tina wanted to move in front of Uriel, but his hand wrapped around her arm prevented that. “Is this the way the purebreds behave? Attacking guests in their host’s house, having no manners whatsoever?”
“I don’t have to be polite to you, you are not even a fully-fledged Bloodeater.”
“I see.” Tina slapped Uriel’s hand away, but when he wrapped it around her arm again, she released a short puff of air. “Uriel, stop it. I don’t need your protection. I’m not going to do anything stupid. I promise.”
When Uriel loosened his grip Tina moved to his side. “Bloodeater or not, you are a visitor here and you should show some manners. Even though Damon is not the leader of the Lost anymore, this is still his house, not yours.”
“Who are you to lecture me?” Macele’s upper lip curled and her eyes scrutinised Tina, from bottom to top. “You are not fit to be Damon’s Beloved.”
Tina became conscious of what she was wearing: sweatpants and Haniel’s oversized shirt, but she held her head high and stubbornly stared at the girl. “And you are?”
“I’m a purebred, a member of an old and respectable family and you are nothing but a Mamael.”
“Lady Macele, this is a private part of the house; please return to your quarters.” Irene pushed her way past Macele’s men; Tristian followed her.
“I wanted to talk with her.” Macele pursed her plum lips. “But she's behaving irrationally, like a Deadeater.”
“Of course, talk.” Irene gave the girl a polite smile, but Tina could see hints of unpleasantness in its corners.
“Alone.”
“I’m afraid that that won’t do. We are a little too protective of her, you do understand.” Irene stepped around Uriel and wrapped her arm around Tina’s waist. “Especially when she is so fragile. She’s still Mamael, and she survived an attack just a week ago.”
“What are you doing?” Tina hissed under her breath.
“Indulging her, what else?” Irene whispered before she addressed Macele. “We better move this into the meeting room.”
“No, I'm sick of this chitchat. I only came into this house for her.” Macele crossed her arms and her men pulled out guns “She’s leaving with me.”
“How amusing. It’s seems that you don’t know who you are dealing with.” Irene chuckled before her face smoothed into an expressionless mask. “You can’t use your abilities in this house. And if you didn’t know, Tristian and I are the strongest Beliyas in the Lost clan, we are stronger than you and your men, and Lady Blackdart’s bodyguard is even stronger.”
“It doesn't matter if I can't beat you in close combat. You can't harm me. If you try, the whole Lost clan will become your enemy.” From her pocket Macele pulled out a delicate-looking gun that looked to Tina more like a pretty toy than a dangerous weapon, and aimed it at Irene. “What are you going to do?”
Do we really need to deal with this? Tina leaned her cheek on Uriel’s arm. She could have used her ability as soon as those men flashed their guns, but Irene, Tristian and Uriel looked too calm and unconcerned, and she suspected her interference would only be in the way of whatever Irene planned. Because that smile Irene flashed meant nothing good, especially for an opponent.
“Do you think that the same rules don't apply to you, my child?” Irene leaned closer and the barrel of Macele’s gun touched her chest.
Tina could see Macele’s finger on the trigger. She wrapped her fingers around Uriel’s wrist, her fingertips just above Uriel’s pulse. She focused on the slow beat of his heart and adjusted hers to his, hoping that this would work on him as it had on Muriel and she would pull Uriel with her into her ‘time bubble.’
Macele’s jaw tensed and she moved her finger on the trigger.
Tina jumped forward, ready to slap Macele’s hand, when an arm around her waist pulled her back. “Uriel! She’s going to --”
“Don’t worry. Irene has everything under control.”
“How can you say that?”
“Look. She already took care of Macele’s gun.”
Tina’s gaze followed and saw Irene’s fingers over Macele’s wrist, Macele’s hand going limp and losing its grip on the gun. Tina looked sideways at Macele’s men. “What about --” She saw Tristian hit one of the men with the side of his hand against the neck. No, she didn’t have to worry about those men either, not when Tristian had put all but one ‘to sleep.’ She released a sigh of relief. Her eyes followed Tristian’s sluggish movement as he slowly turned toward the last standing man, and disappeared for a long moment to appear behind the man. “How does he do that?”
“He distorts space, the same way you distort time.”
“Oh.” Was that what she did? Her shoulders slumped. They never talked about her time thing, and since she assumed she got it from Trinity, she never asked questions about it. She had it and she was happy to have it, especially when she thought that her ability was something out of the ordinary and that she was the only one who had it; it made her feel special. “Are there a lot of people who can distort time?”
“No, don’t know anybody besides you.”
“Oh.” A ghost of a smile graced Tina's lips. She wanted to ask more, but the time around them started to accelerate.
“...assaulted members of Blackdart family. You have to prepare yourself for the punishment.”
“My father is the head of the Lost now; you can’t do anything to me, and, after he learns about your behaviour, he will have your heads.”
“Perhaps, if he is willing to suffer the disapproval of the clan, but I doubt it.” Irene kicked the small gun away. It slid over the stone floor and bumped against the wall. “Tristian, could you remove her from here, and call the men, please, to remove that.” She distorted her face in distaste as she looked down at the bodies lying on the floor.
“Why wouldn't he? You are just a Beliya, nobody cares for Beliyas, nobody -- where are you taking me?” Macele’s voice got higher in pitch as Tristian grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the hallway.
“What are you going to do with her?” Tina asked.
“Dispatch her to her father together with the evidence of her misconduct.”
“Evidence?”
“The hallways in this house have cameras.” Irene pointed at the corner of the hallway.
Tina stared at the wall where she couldn’t see anything except something that looked like a dark stain. That was a camera? “And then what?” She raised her brows. “You heard her, she believes she has done nothing wrong and we are the bad guys here.”
“It’s not my fault that she is delusional.” Irene crossed her arms. “She is young and she probably thinks that the world revolves around her. She will just have to learn that every action has its consequences.”
“I bet she can wrap her daddy around her little finger and get you in trouble, since you are nothing but Beliya,” Tina said. “I was supposed to be safe here, safe from her, and look what happened.”
“And we will use that to our advantage,” Irene said. “Her father will not want other families and Mesedi to learn about her threats and how she pointed a gun at a member of the clan, Beliya or not. To keep us quiet he will have to return all the Aradmas to us and maybe even lend us some additional resources.”
“That’s blackmail.”
“And?” Irene smirked.
“It sounds like you planned this from the start.” Uriel glared at Irene.
“Not exactly planned,” Irene said. “And stop acting like you didn’t know.”
“You are unbelievable.” Tina shook her head and pushed her way past Irene.