Blood Moon Ch. 04

"Please," Lilith begged. "I have nothing to say to you." Lilith knew she couldn't lie to Rowan. He had honest and kind eyes and having to look into those eyes while she had to lie to him wasn't something she could do. It wasn't as though she had lied to Derek. But she had a feeling Rowan wanted to ask something much more personal than what Derek asked her.

Rowan took the seat beside Lilith and studied her for a bit. "Why did ye betray yer own clan tae the vampires?"

Six hundred years ago, Lilith wouldn't have had any clue what Rowan was talking about. "Rowan..." Lilith began, unable to look at him. "I've always respected you and you're the one person I can't lie to. And for you to ask me to open old wounds likes this...I can't. Please don't make me remember." She had spent so many years burying those memories. Now he was asking her to chip away at her strong hold that kept her together.

"After the attack on the village, Roderick pushed himself tae become stronger.. 'e was stubborn and wouldna stay in bed and rest. Everyday 'e would be outside training. 'e promised tae avenge everyone's deaths. Many later died from their wounds. Our village numbered near seventy. And only six survived. Roderick began the body count on the vampires. No fear of death. That's whit made 'im invincible. Killing blood suckers had been 'is obsession." Rowan swallowed and continued.

"Sara's father died during one of the vampire raids. Roderick loved ye Lilith. 'e was waiting for ye tae come back. I wedded Sara in Roderick's place. And I really did love 'er. She was my whole life. And when she told me she was with babe, I doona think I could 'ave been 'appier. Sara birthed me two beautiful babes. One was a boy and the other a girl. The war was escalating. I dinna want Sara and our children involved so I sent them away. By then our children were about five. I got a message that they were 'urt, so I rushed back to them. Only I ended up leading a group of vampires who followed me tae them." Rowan stopped, unable to continue.

Lilith sat in silence, lost for words. "Why are you telling me this?"

With a sad smile, Rowan looked at Lilith. "I know what it is like tae hide painful memories. My wife and children were kidnapped. In exchange for them back, they wanted Roderick. There wasn't any 'esitation in Roderick's compliance. We did get him back...but he was never the same. When my wife Sara and children, Haden and Jenna, were returned-" He stopped when he saw Lilith's confusion.

"Sara had wanted tae name our children in 'onor of my siblings passed. We promised each other that we'd 'ave at least enough children tae name after each of my siblings. Well, when I got them back, they had turned our daughter into a vamp. And they cut out Sara's uterus and punctured Haden's ear drums." Lilith had gasped and Rowan paused again.

He remembered it like it was all just yesterday. His beautiful wife and daughter had come back so sick and his son never made a sound since then. Haden had always been so loud and full of life. When he was returned, Haden was silent and docile. Rowan wouldn't have been able to keep it together if it wasn't for Sara. She held their family together and kept him sane.

"There were many nice people who allowed Jenna tae drink from them. But as the years passed, Jenna didn't want tae drink from anyone and despised the fact that she couldn't go out in the sun. She grew tae 'ate 'erself. Imagine being a fourteen-year-old trapped in a five-year-old's body." It took Rowan a moment to continue.

"Please Rowan. No more." Lilith said desperately.

" I want ye tae understand that yer not the only one who suffered! Jenna 'ad starved herself and attacked Sara one night. Sara was my mated, I could feel her dying. I was off 'unting and tae far away tae get back in time. I found Haden 'olding Jenna's little corpse in a puddle of Sara's blood. 'e tried tae stop Jenna but she was so small and Haden just 'it puberty. 'is powers were new tae 'im. 'e accidentally killed Jenna. The next day, I found my son had committed suicide." Rowan bent his head down and hid his face from Lilith.

Lilith was crying. She knew the pain of having lost a child. Rowan had lost both his children and his wife within a couple days. He was so strong to keep living.

"Yer not allowed tae cry, Lilith." He said softly, his voice was a rasp. "Now, will ye put that wall down and tell me why?"

Tears were falling and Lilith nodded. "Yes," she whispered brokenly. "I-I'll tell you. You would understand why I did what I did."

Rowan passed Lilith some tissue. She accepted it and wiped her eyes then blew her nose.

"The night Roderick's engagement was announced, I went to see him." Lilith felt her face heat. "I spent the night. When I woke up, I realized that he could never be mine. He was betrothed. I ran away, it was because I couldn't stand having to see Roderick with another woman. So I went to a distant village and lived with my aunt Isla. It wasn't until a few months later that I realized I was with child." Rowan looked stunned and Lilith nodded again. "I named him Bran Roderick in honor of my father...and the father of my child."

"Whit 'appen tae Bran Roderick? All these years and ye kept Roderick from 'is son?" Rowan demanded.

"No!" Lilith shouted. "A few years later, Danny found us. He had made a pact with vampires to destroy Roderick and the clan. They took Bran and threatened to kill him unless I cooperated. So I did everything they said. When I finished my part of the deal, I went crazy looking for Bran." Lilith swallowed against the tears. "And when I found Bran, your brother was standing over him with a sword. The moment Roderick's sword fell, I wanted to die as well. Danny told me how he taunted Roderick that Bran was our child and Roderick killed Bran to get back at me."

"Are ye really that stupid? Ye believed that?" Rowan had jumped out of his seat.

"Of course not! But I began to doubt everything. William, the vampire Danny made the deal with, sealed my memories and it wasn't until much later I even knew what happened. When I was turned, I ran away. My aunt and child had been killed. I had no family. I couldn't trust anyone. Do you see now why I did what I did? I ken full well why Roderick hates me, but why did he have tae kill Bran?" She demanded.

Frowning, Rowan tried to remember that night. As if it could be forgotten. There was a toddler who was of were blood. That couldn't have been Bran could it? "The only boy I can think of is the one who 'ad been attacked by a vampire and was bleeding tae death. Roderick did a mercy killing. And Roderick dug that boy's grave 'imself and cried over 'is little corpse. It near broke Roderick tae put the poor child out of 'is misery."

"You're lying." Lilith cried. "All this time?" She sobbed. She had harbored such deep hate and bitterness only to find out six hundred years later that it was unwarranted.

"I need a drink." Rowan stood and then left.

Lilith sat crying. She heard the door click, but realized that Rowan hadn't locked it. Opening the door quietly, Lilith snuck out. She stole one of the coats hanging by the door and left. Afraid, that she'd bump into Derek by waiting around for the elevator, Lilith took the stairs.

She wrapped the large coat around her tightly as she made her way outside. Lilith hailed a taxi and gave the driver directions to her apartment. She could pay him when she got to her place. Right now Lilith needed to think where she could go. Lilith needed to get out of the state if not the country. The thought of Casey being in danger struck Lilith. She gave the driver new directions.

Derek got home after meeting with Jake. He was the leader of one of the ally were clans. The meeting was tense and Jake sent out some members to search into the newly gained information. Since Derek had promised to cook dinner, he stopped by the market to buy some ingredients. Rowan insisted that they have home cooked meals as much as possible. He wandered through the store, picking up this and that. It wasn't until he paid for his items that he realized he bought the ingredients to make stew. Lilith's favorite dish.

"Fucking coincidence." Derek muttered as he got into his car and tossed the food onto the passenger's seat. He drove back to his apartment and sat in the silence of his car for a few minutes before heading to his penthouse. When he got home, he immediately sensed something was wrong. Rowan was just coming out of the kitchen with a drink. A coat, Derek could have sworn he left on the coat hanger was missing. He rushed to the bedroom and yanked the door open with such force it almost came off at the hinges.

"Rowan!" Derek roared as his brother quickly came to stand beside him.

The room was empty. No sign of Lilith. Derek threw open the closet and raided the bathroom. Lilith wasn't anywhere to be seen. Where the hell would have she gotten off to? She wouldn't be so stupid as to return to her place. She might go to her friend's place though.

"We need to find her. Now. What's the name of her friend that night? Tracy?"

"Casey." Rowan said. "I didn't catch her last name, but I'm sure I can pull it from an article about Lilith getting kidnapped. From that I can get her address."

"Find it." Derek growled as he stalked back to the foyer and grabbed his keys. "Call me when you get it. I'm going out to look for that bitch."

"Roderick!" Rowan called after his brother. "There's something I need to tell you about Lilith."

"Later." Derek snapped and he was gone before his brother could say anything else.

"Stubborn bastard." Rowan growled as he hopped onto the computer and began pulling up files. Within two minutes he had Makalani Casey Pukui's information. He text messaged the information to his brother. Should he really leave his brother to deal with the situation alone? Probably not.

Rowan got up and grabbed a coat and his set of keys. He went down to the lobby and hailed a cab. He gave the driver the directions and told him he'd pay him double if he could get him there in twenty minutes.

Lilith felt sick. She walked up to the second floor of the modest apartment complex to Casey's residence. She had begged the cab driver to give her time to get her friend who could pay for the ride. Lilith knocked on the door frantically.

Casey was drinking hot chocolate, on the phone with her mother. Her mother wanted her to go back to Hawaii until the whole kidnapping thing blew over.

"I'm fine, mom. Please, I can't run away from this. I'll be fine. If anything else happens, I promise I'll come back home. I have to go now and make myself some dinner. Aloha nui loa." Casey hung up the phone just as the frantic knocking on her door started.

She really hoped it wasn't the police again. She just got rid of them. Looking through the peep hole, Casey gasped and she pulled the door open.

"Lilith! Come in. What happened? I have so many questions. You don't look well, sit down." Casey tried to usher Lilith into a chair, noticing that under the coat Lilith was naked. Questions ran rampant in her head and anger and bewilderment grew as Casey began to draw her own conclusions.

"I'm so sorry to come over here like this. Could you please pay my cab driver downstairs? I promise to pay you back." Lilith stumbled inside and took the nearest seat.

"Of course, I'll be right back." Casey snatched her wallet and bolted down the stairs. She quickly paid the driver who was looking pissed and he sped off. As she reached her apartment, she had a sinking feeling that her world was going to be turned upside down.