Fangs of Fate (Untish #1)

Chapter 53

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

TATE

The air was blissfully cold. I opened my eyes and noticed the snow in the sky. No not snow, ash. Its grey and white flakes danced through the air with bits of black charcoal.

“She’s up,” Vala’s voice registered along with its taxed tone.

“Thank blood,” Aether responded.

Aether.

The hellish scene I’d just witnessed played before me. Aether was a dragon. A DRAGON. I sat up and suddenly wished I hadn’t. The whole world was spinning.

“Woah, take it slow, Tate.” Aether’s face came into view. He steadied my shoulders, shoulders that were wearing his jacket and nothing else. I didn’t just see a dragon—I’d also made out with him in his other form. Shit, I climaxed in that river. Clearly, I’d lost my mind.

“Who would’ve thought you have a gentle touch.” Vala smirked at Aether.

He shot her a glare before slowly letting go. I pulled my knees to my chest under the jacket, cause yes, it’s that big, and then wrapped my arms around myself. My whole life I’d been taught that dragons were mythical, that the Untish Tribe was pure fiction. And yet, here I was sitting right in front of one that I’d just witnessed in his dragon form.

I could feel him. His breath seemed to echo my own. My inner pool of truth had awakened. I knew if I looked there, I’d see a fierce creature. I wasn’t ready. Not yet.

“How is any of this possible?” My voice was hoarse and dry.

“It’s a lot, I know, but you’ve spent enough time in the human realm to know they think vampires are a myth and absurd, and yet, here we are.” Vala gestured to herself and then spun. She looked better, much better. The fatigue I noted before was mostly gone and she appeared to be her perky self again.

“It will all make sense in time. Meanwhile, how do you feel?” Aether asked, holding out a blood bag for me.

“Is this more of that good stuff, you know the blood you gave me earlier?” I ripped the top of the bag and began to drink it before he even answered. Nope. Boring, human blood.

“You gave her ‘good’ stuff?” Vala’s eyes sharpened, and the air charged. Not the usual charge, this one felt hostile.

“I made necessary choices. I’m head of this unit.”

“Aether, if she had dragon blood then you…and she’s…this is not OK…” she couldn’t finish a thought. “What will Arithi say? I mean Tate is positively not ready for that?—”

“Enough.”

“Not to mention the bonding effects,” Vala ignored Aether’s command, clearly finding her words again. “You know there’s a reason that blood sharing is outlawed until they’ve completed the reformation!” Vala raised her voice at the end. She was clearly upset.

Aether just clenched his jaw. He said nothing. He let Vala admonish him?

“Mother Blood, what were you thinking?”Vala’s hands flexed.

Dragon blood?

“Hold up.” I tore my lips from the bag. “Are you telling me he gave me dragon blood earlier?”

Aether glared at Vala. “Now who is breaking protocol by giving out classified Untish Tribal info?”

“Ooops,” Vala responded sarcastically. “Well, it’s not like I started it. I mean look at her, it’s clear you’ve crossed many lines and barriers with her tonight.”

“As the leader of this group, you will stand down and let this go.” The tension in the air increased as Aether took a step toward Vala.

“Fine. But Jared saw it too. You’ll need to address this with him as well.” Vala huffed before looking at me. “Sorry, Tate. I mean no disrespect to you. I’m all for a girl getting hers it’s just?—”

“Vala!” Aether cut her off, violence radiating from him in waves of heat.

My nakedness. How had I forgotten? I needed to find some clothes.

“Find her some clothes.”

“I will, but have you seen what you did to the place?” Vala gestured to the decimated village. “Tell me where she lost hers and I’ll go hunt it down and see what else I find.”

“Enough. Go,” Aether commanded.

She mock-saluted him before turning and leaving, anger simmering on her normally peaceful face.

“Thanks,” I mumbled before putting the bag back to my lips. I was starving.

“You’ll be hungrier than normal for the next couple of months until the reformation is complete.” Just fricking-tastic.

“So...” I broached the topic. “Where uh, did you get dragon’s blood?” I averted my eyes. For some reason I couldn’t focus on his now dark chocolate ones. Ironic considering what we did in the river, and yet he felt like a completely different person.

“It was mine.”

I choked on the blood.

“What?”

“Don’t look so surprised. It used to be common to have dragon’s blood when going through reformation. It steadies you when your body is craving more nutrients than human blood alone can give. Ideally, you’d be in the birthing grounds for this, and able to draw magic from the volcanic land itself to sustain you and supplement, but as you can see, we don’t have that here.”

“Birthing grounds? You’ve lost me.” Pulling magic? That was yet another foreign concept. As far as I knew, some of us had magic gifts but that was it: gifts given through hereditary lines. Drawing magic from this planet? That sounded wacked.

“How are your senses? You seemed overloaded last night.”

“I was. But things are…” I searched for the right word. “Quiet.”

“Good. It’s common to have heightened senses when in a reformation surge, usually when absorbing magic, like from the blood, and then it lessens as your body changes on a cellular level, and you master control. It will likely happen again until the change is completed.”

“Fan-freaking-tastic,” I grumbled before downing the rest of the blood.

He’d seen me last night. Hell, I saw me. Who—what I really was. I didn’t want to face it, not yet.

Instead, I scanned the village. Fire was still burning in places, but most of it was just embers. Bodies littered the ground along with black puddles and piles of ash and bone fragments. The village was destroyed.

“Did anyone survive?” I thought back to the elderly man who’d handed me my bedroll, he was missing his left arm. How could he have survived those things when Aether and Jared had their asses handed to them?

“A few. About a dozen villagers survived by hiding in an underground bunker when the attack started. We have about eight dokimoses left as well.” Twenty. Twenty out of nearly two hundred individuals survived. It was a slaughter. Now I understood.

“Fletch was trying to stop this.”

“He was.” Smokey air burned my lungs as ash coated my hair, my jacket, and the ground around me.

“He was a good male. He would never want this. He told me stories of the Great War and feared another one. If he’d known this could happen, I don’t think he would’ve stopped at anything to stop this evil from permeating,” I spoke softly as I started to draw his name in the ashes.

“You sound like him.” Aether’s eyes filled with thoughtfulness as he squatted down so he wasn’t towering over me. Equal.

“You knew him well?” This was the second time he’d compared me to Fletch.

“Not well, but I’d been working with him for months. He was a huge help to the effort, and if he’d been able to finish getting us the data, we could have been even closer to stopping them. They’re evolving, have you noticed?”

Months. Fletch had been working with Aether for months. So many secrets. If Fletch had told me the truth, would I have listened?

“Seeing as I didn’t know seethings existed more than two days ago, no, I did not notice them evolving,” I spoke through clenched teeth. I had been left out of critical info, not just by Fletch, but by Arithi, Aether, and likely my mother. Hell, was this why she died?

“Is this why they killed her? Irene?”

Aether averted his eyes as he drew in the ash.

“I don’t know. Irene’s death was before I was working on the front lines with Arithi.”

“Ah.” Another dead-end or lie, which, I didn’t know.

“But from what I’ve heard about your mother, she was an incredible female and an asset to the cause. Arithi depended on her a lot. From what I know, they worked together closely at the end, and her death…it set Arithi’s plans back, by a lot.”

“Just a cog on a wheel.” My mother’s death was inconvenient for Arithi. It cost me my world.

“I’m sorry,” he spoke with such sincerity and his tone held no bite.

I looked into his eyes. Truth. Perhaps he really was offering me the truth. More than anyone had, Fletch included.

He brushed his hands on his pants. “We leave in twenty. I’ll see to it that Vala gets you some clothes.” Ash covered his black pants. “If you feel lightheaded,” he continued, “start seeing double, begin shaking, or feel heightened senses that are overwhelming, let me know immediately. This is a very delicate time for you.”

He turned on his heel and left before I could even respond. I glanced to the ground where he’d been drawing. Two interlaced circles were drawn in the ash.

We had been hiking for about two hours. Vala had secured me a change of clothes that were too big, but I wasn’t complaining. I still had no idea where she’d even found them. I’d rolled the pant legs up twice and sinched the pants to my waist with a belt. Not perfect, but I could walk in them. Thankfully, I’d put my boots on before leaving the river so at least my shoes fit correctly, and I could walk evenly.

Rain pelted the forest floor as we trekked through it. The smell of smoke still clung to the air and the surviving vampires in our party were silent; no one wanted to talk. Trauma. We’d all been through the impossible. Seethings, dragons, total destruction? All of it wasn’t supposed to exist and never should have happened.

I inhaled searching for the deep pine scent. It was barely there, mingled with that of smoke. But the rain was cleansing. Washing the air. If it could only wash my very soul. Fletch had known. He’d tried to tell me, and I dismissed it as a drunken episode. What is it he had said?

“Knowledge is power.”

So why did he leave me powerless? Why did my mother not teach me the truths? I thought back to that fond memory of the female I trusted teaching the girl of freedom.

Our space.

That’s what she had called it. She could shift too. She’d lied.

I kicked a pinecone and savored the crunch of it as I crushed it with my other foot. At least some things were still the same.

I’d beheld a dragon. Touched it with my hand. I should be terrified, shaking in my boots, vomiting my guts out, and yet, I felt oddly at peace with this revelation. Somehow, it felt like a puzzle piece had clicked into place for me, something I’d been missing my whole life.

Nervously anxious. That’s what I felt. I still wouldn’t look within. I didn’t want to see that part of myself. Some truths were still too scary to accept.

I needed to be logical. I may not know much, but I did my fair share of reading thanks to Fletch. What did I know about the not-so-mythical Untish Tribe? They were rumored to support nature’s laws and fight justly. That lined up closely with the values that both Fletch, and my mother, instilled in me from a young age.

The most feared warriors in mythology and they were real. Are real. I exhaled and the air around me puffed from the heat of my breath. My nerves began bouncing. Even if I accepted the Untish as real, how was I supposed to reconcile that I was one of them? I was changing, I could sense it, but my mind was lagging. These facts seemed impossible.

We turned around a bend and Aether stopped the somber procession by holding a fist to the air. I nearly slammed into the dokimos in front of me. Shaking my head, I tried to focus on what Aether was saying.

“We’ll rest here for a half hour while we scout ahead. If we keep this pace up, we should reach the SO by this evening or tomorrow morning at the latest.” Scout ahead?

The group nodded as one and several elderly vampires found seats by leaning against the trees or various boulders scattered across the forest floor. Vala and Jared approached Aether who was discreetly stepping into the brush away from prying ears, away from me.

Uh-uh. I’d had enough of secrets. Aether wanted me to believe I was the same as him? Fine. Then I’d be privy to all their plotting.

I followed their movements and cut through some bushes until I was just behind Jared, with only some thick scrub oak between us. Squatting down, I could just make out their shapes, well within earshot.

“You sure this a good idea?” Jared asked.

“We know where they’re gathering, and it’s close. If we can get eyes on the plant, we may be able to gain some valuable intel,” Aether replied.

“But Aether, what about the group? If we leave them here and go scouting, there is a very real chance they could, you know, be attacked and not make it.” Vala’s voice sounded genuinely worried. She brought up a good point. Surely, they wouldn’t leave these defenseless vampires to themselves, would they?

“Natural selection will play its role. We won’t stop it.”

I guess they would.

“I can’t believe you, Aether. I thought you had a high moral code and all. What would Arithi say?” Vala’s voice was incredulous.

“Arithi?” Aether released a bitter chuckle. “She’d have already disposed of them as a potential risk to the cause. Tell me, did Arithi ever tell you what protocol she established for a member who was seen using magic in front of non-tribal individuals? If I had to transform and be exposed?”

No one responded.

“Let me enlighten you then. Your loving Arithi instructed they be terminated. And while I don’t believe these vampires are any threat to us, the knowledge they have definitely is. If they saw me transform yesterday, our secret is out. So yes, according to protocol, we leave them here and go scout.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. I pushed back from the ground and a twig snapped. Damn it!Aether and Vala’s eyes turned in my direction.

“What about her? She’s not Tribal until she’s passed the Judgement and completed her Reformation. Do we eliminate her?” Vala’s voice dripped sarcasm, but the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I’d seen a lot. Too much really.

“That’s different and you know it.” Aether jabbed a finger at Vala. “All Untish blood is given a chance to pass Judgment, and so will she. Not to mention, Arithi has a vested interest in her.”

“OK, look I’m all for keeping her alive. I like her, maybe not as much as you do given her utter lack of clothes last night and the fact that she still smells like you…”

What the hell, Vala.

“But,” she continued, “what if any of those dokimoses or elderly vampires wanted to join the cause? What if they have the gene?”

“Vala, you know that’s highly unlikely, and even if they did, it’s too late to vet them. We’re in enemy territory,” it was Jared’s calm voice that did it for me.

“Excuse me, hi, yeah over here.” I stood up out of the brush. Lightning filled my veins and I felt oddly powerful. “Yeah, so...I have a say in all of this. I am not going to be killed or used by some stranger who claims to have known my mother and Fletch. So, this is how it’s going to go.” I approached the group and leveled my gaze at each of them, one at a time. “First,” I held up a finger focusing on Aether, “I will be going on this scouting mission; I refuse to be left in the dark, again. Secondly,” I glared at Vala, “you will refrain from any mention of last night’s supposed dalliance with thatone.” I jabbed a finger in Aether’s direction. “Lastly, you will stay back and guard these innocents or so help me, I will be a whistleblower, and believe me, you don’t want to see that.”

“I bet she’s quite the blower. Tell me, Aether, did you have your whistle?—”

“Vala!” I interrupted her. Unbelievable.

“What?” She winked at me, actually winked.

“Pretty impressive that you think you can march in here and give orders.” Jared snarled. Clearly, he was pissed, but at least he was taking me seriously, unlike Vala.

Aether took a step toward me. His face was unreadable. “Why do you think we’d listen to you?”

“Because you need me.” I gulped but refused to back down.

“I need you?”

“I bet you did last night,” Vala snickered.

“For the love of blood, Vala, shut up.” Jared rolled his eyes as he grabbed her elbow and pulled her further away from Aether who was currently circling me like I was his prey.

I looked into his eyes. Eyes that somehow were more golden now than black. How had I missed that before? Had they changed…or had I?

I saw you.

My jaw tightened. It was only in my head, it had to be. And yet, I swore his eyes knew what I’d heard.

I reached out to the air and pressed gently against it, willing my energy to fill it. I could be threatening, I was last night. But nothing happened.

“You’ll get there.” Aether took a step forward, his voice lowering. “Tell me though, what would happen if we didn’t listen to your, requests.”

“Demands,” I clarified.

“Sure.” He grinned.

The bastard.

I tried to reach for the air, to demand it close around Aether to suspend him, but it didn’t respond.

“Tell me, if we leave Jared and Vala behind to protect them and they die trying, would you be okay with that? With risking everything our cause is working toward for a few unimportant lives?”

“Screw you.” I dug my finger into his chest while holding a hand up to Vala. Now was not the time for her jokes. “I believe in protecting all—no matter what they offer or if they can be useful. I thought that’s what your group stood for?”

“And what if doing as you suggest, we protect them, and it costs us two lives of our members and puts you in grave danger? What if we are unable to fulfill our mission because of this and let the tribe down, let Fletch down?” He grabbed my hand that was poking in his chest.

“Not that you’d understand, but Fletch believed in protecting the vulnerable, those who can’t protect themselves. I grew up believing this, it’s in the very core of who I am. So yes, I will stay back and protect them if no one else will.” I yanked at my finger, but his grip tightened. “And so help me, I will not help a movement that slaughters innocents.”

Anger exploded in me. He would not use Fletch to justify murder. My blood sparked and I could feel fire racing in my veins.

Aether’s nostrils flared as his eyes deepened.

There she is.

“You heard her.” He let go of my hand and turned to Jared and Vala. “You two stay here. I’ll be doing a solo mission with this one.” The look in his eyes heated my blood. What had I gotten myself into?