Of Fate & Forbidden Desire (The Gatekeeper Duet #1)

31. Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One

I’m at the end of my journey but I dread it actually being over… - Dina

T he more I saw of Charleene’s Grandmother Agnes, the more I despised the woman. I knew I could be a grumpy sod, but she took it to a whole new level, inflicting her own pain on everyone around her. I was almost certain that she wouldn’t even know a smile if it jumped up and bit her on the mouth. I watched each time she interacted with Charleene and how she sucked any happiness from her. Over the last week, Charleene’s mother Aradia and little sister Angelinia had been making some progress towards actually being somewhat of a family. After Charleene’s last blow out something had switched in Aradia, and slowly she began taking the side of her eldest child over Agnes.

Angelinia seemed to have a much easier time of it; she seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with her new big sister and sought out Charleene’s opinion when it came to one of the Coven boys that she had a crush on. Ally had also finally woken up earlier in the week, but Lilah had asked us—well Charleene specifically—to let her rest, so neither of us had seen her yet.

Tomorrow was the Winter Solstice but I found myself torn; the Coven was going to attempt breaking the block on Ally’s mind, hopefully meaning that the Fae would then be able to return to where they’d come from. However, that also meant that both of my jobs would officially be finished, and I’d have to return to the London Coven. Just the thought of going back there without Charleene made my heart ache. One, I didn’t trust the Coven to look after Charleene and two, it was like she’d become the other half of me, filling a hole I hadn’t even known existed until her. The more I thought about leaving, the more I found I didn’t want to. What was the point of eternity if you couldn’t have what you wanted? And I wanted her. Coven Laws be damned.

“What ya thinking about?” Charleene’s voice interrupted my stare off with the window, drawing a smile to my lips as I looked across at the bed. We’d fallen into an easy rhythm in the week we’d been here. Charleene slept in and I watched her, she had a small breakfast and then she’d head out with Sophia, then Angelinia or her Mother would call round. It was simple, easy and surprisingly; I found I kind of enjoyed it.

“Just about leaving you here alone tonight,” I told her honestly.

“I’ll be fine,” she answered quickly, not alleviating my fears but making them worse. “I’m seeing Ally in the morning, me and Sophia are taking her dress shopping for the Solstice.” She continued, sounding a little more like her old happy self.

“Ok, fair enough,” I said with a shudder at the thought of dress shopping. Never in all my life had that particular activity ever appealed to me. Give me trousers over a skirt with frills any day.

“Since you’re going to be away, I’ve invited Sophia over for a girls night, she has homemade face masks and everything.” Charleene giggled, before sliding out of bed and padding over to me on her tiptoes and giving me a quick peck on the cheek.

“That sounds…” I trailed off not really knowing how to finish my sentence and slapped her arse as she walked past to the bathroom.

“It sounds like something I need more of in my life.” She called back, before shutting the door and I left her to get ready.

I’d had no signal on my phone since we’d arrived, the spells used to keep the Coven hidden interfered with them, or so I’d been told. The nearest place you could use a phone was the car park where we'd left my car. So I had two reasons for leaving this evening. I needed to feed or find a blood bank—vampire’s had established one of our own in most of the major cities— and I had to update Tilly on our progress here. I’d let her know about the bad reception on our first night here, but if I didn’t contact her soon, she’d be on her way here to find out what was going on and I had the feeling that wouldn’t go down well with Agnes.

I heard the water shut off in the bathroom and went to the kitchen to fix Charleene some breakfast. The witches had stocked our kitchen with everything we could possibly need in the days after our arrival, so I grabbed everything to make pancakes and fruit. I had them ready and on the small coffee table in the living area as Charleene walked out our bedroom.

“So what’s your plan for today?” I inquired as she sat down and dragged the plate towards her.

“Not much, I’m meeting with Aradia and Angelinia to go over what to expect tomorrow, then I was thinking of seeing some more of the village.” She answered around a mouthful of pancakes.

“Would you like me to join you?” I was envious of her ability to eat human food, it was the one thing I missed about being fully human.

“You can if you like.” She answered diplomatically, giving me the option of declining, which I wouldn’t do. I was beginning to see our time together as precious and fleeting.

“I’d love to.” I said, giving her a smile and going to wash the pots and pans I’d used.

We spent the morning with Aradia and Angelinia, hearing more about the Winter Solstice celebration and how they usually went. This year would be slightly different with having two Ancients here, but it would mostly run the same.

Lilah had explained the block on Ally’s mind a little more while she’d still slept after her stabbing. It served a couple of purposes; one being to keep her looking human and blocking her magic. The other was to suppress her memories of her own past, it was this last element that was now causing her pain. It had been designed to allow her to remember things naturally but if things were revealed too quickly or before the weaving thought she was ready it would cause sharp pain to stab through her head. She’d also told us a little about the reasons behind them coming here to hide Ally and while I understood their reasons the spell itself seemed a little barbaric.

“Do you think Ally will be ok with having her block broken?” Charleene asked, voicing simpler thoughts to my own as we walked casually down one of the many streets.

“I don’t know. I suppose it will depend on how complexly the block is woven in her mind.” I said, thinking out loud. I didn’t understand much about magic, either Witch or Fae.

“I hope she will be,” she went on, chewing her lip worriedly.

“Me too.” I agreed, mainly for Charleene's sake. She’d become close to Ally during our travels and I didn’t want her to feel responsible for anything that happened to her friend. Silence reigned as we turned another corner and began walking around the outer perimeter of the village.

Birds chirped, happily filling the air with their songs, while wild rabbits darted across the fields and the shadows cast by the houses lengthened as we wandered. Our peaceful day together was quickly turning into late afternoon and I knew I’d have to leave soon if I wanted to make it to Glasgow and back again before morning.

With a heavy heart I walked Charleene back to our combined house and waited until I heard Sophia’s cheerful humming approach our door. Then, after placing a quick kiss on her forehead, I left them both to their evening of movies and sped to my car.

The drive back to Glasgow didn't take too long thanks to my car's powerful engine and the fact that there were hardly any cars on the road. I pulled into the small parking lot of the private blood bank around eleven and walked slowly inside. The blonde vampire behind the white desk looked up as the automatic doors opened.

“Do you have an appointment?” she asked, politely with a sincere smile.

“Yes, it should be under Adrina.” I informed her, falling back into the monotone voice I used to use all the time .

The woman typed on the keyboard before looking back at me with a smile, “Please take a seat, the doctor will be out momentarily.”

Giving her a nod, I retreated back to the row of five chairs and tapped my foot. The clock on the wall ticked by slowly as I waited for the doctor, being virtually immortal made vampires less aware of how long a minute actually was, so I wasn’t too surprised when it took him fifteen minutes to appear with a small cooler in hand.

“Adrina, I was told you needed a week's supply.” He said by way of greeting, handing over the red and white cooler.

“Thank you,” I replied, liking him more for his lack of small talk, as I flicked open the lid and checked that there were in fact enough blood bags to last me another week. Happy with the contents, I closed it and gave the male “Doctor” a nod.

Taking my phone from the front pocket of my jeans I thought to kill two birds with one stone and dialled Tilly’s number while walking back to my car.

“Hello sunshine,” she said by way of greeting, making my eyes roll at just how happy she sounded.

“Well someone’s happy.” I grumbled back, storing the cooler in the boot of my car, tucking it in the middle of a coil of rope to keep it steady.

“Certainly happier than you. What’s got your knickers in a twist?” she pushed in true Tilly fashion.

“Nothing. The Coven are going to attempt to help the Fae woman tomorrow night.” I said, slipping into the driver's seat and closing the door to keep our conversation more private.

“And has the rogue been seen again?” Tilly replied, meeting my business-like tone.

“No, it worries me that he hasn’t attacked. It wouldn’t have been that hard for him to trail my car.” Voicing it didn’t make it any less worrying.

“Maybe it’s the witches keeping him away. ”

“Maybe, but I think it’s bigger than that. In the clearing, he said his Master wanted Charleene.” I reminded her.

“The Council of Five find the fact that our rogue vampire is acting on behalf of an unknown master to be troubling. You’re being ordered to try and find out who is pulling the vampire’s strings.” Tilly’s words gave me hope that I would be staying with Charleene a little longer.

“Have you found anything more out, regarding the Vampire Law against interspecies relationships?” I asked, not really hoping for anything. Our Laws had been created a millennia ago.

“Actually I have,” she said, raising my hopes a little even as I tempered it back down, “I found out that drinking witch's blood was forbidden by the Covens back in the 11th century.”

“Why?” I asked, my curiosity raised.

“Because it was highly addictive and gives the vampire a high that is similar to when human’s take drugs like acid and magic mushrooms. It made them highly volatile and seemed to shut off the rational part of their minds.”

“Well shit, that could account for relationships being out-lawed as well.” I surmised aloud.

“It could.” Tilly said, and I could hear the lecture coming from her tone. “You need to keep distance between the two of you.” She went on, using the serious tone she reserved for new vampires.

“I think it’s more than just an infatuation Tilly.” I said, knowing I needed at least one vampire in my corner if I was to ever have any hope that me and Charleene could one day be openly together.

“Dina.” Tilly using my favoured name made me pay more attention, “if fate has dealt you this hand you need to be careful, even we can’t fight against fate.”

“I know.” Tilly didn’t answer and after a few more minutes of silence I ended the call, flinging my phone into the small compartment to the side of the steering wheel in frustration. Why was fate such a bitch? I wondered, twisting the key and starting the engine .

I drove slower on the way back, needing the time to mull over everything Tilly had told me, and stopped near Culloden Moor to hunt in the woods. The sun had already well and truly risen by the time I drove back into the carpark and even speeding back to our shared house, I found it empty and a note laying on the coffee table: Gone dress shopping will be back later. Charleene.