New Kingdom: Australian Court Ch. 02

"How did you know they were girls?"

"I was talking about you! What the hell did you hit me with? And why?"

"A rock," she answered quietly. "You seemed convinced to stay and ... and... and die so I had to do something."

"Next time," Alex said throwing his arm over her shoulders, "just tell me and I promise to listen. Next question, how did we get here?"

"I carried you and ran."

"Down the mountain?!"

"Yeah. I seemed to have discovered new abilities," she answered quietly.

"It always comes back to that," he said removing his arm. "The differences will always be there."

"If it repulses you so much," she said after a few minutes walking behind him, "then how can you stand the woman that you were with yesterday?"

"Easy," he answered without looking back. "Her name is Arianna. And she's my mother."

***

Gabriel and Conlaoch approach the base of the mountain before the rest of the party. Both mates were close behind but the brothers had decided to move alone to assess the situation. As soon as they starting climbing, the scent of blood became overwhelming.

"Smells fresh," Gabriel commented. "Less than twelve hours old."

"Smells familiar," Conlaoch murmured. "I think it's from someone I may ... Oh god, I have to stop Arianna from..."

"Conlaoch!" his mate screamed. "His blood. Oh god, Alex's blood. It's everywhere."

Arianna ran pass the men searching for some sign of her son while the others stood by helplessly. She chased every drop of blood until she had established the path of his movement.

"It started higher up the mountain," she said.

Receiving a look from Gabriel, two guards ran up the hill to investigate.

"He moved this direction," Arianna continued. "But something is not right."

"He was carried," Gabriel added kneeling by the footprints. "By Abigail."

***

"We should stop," Abigail said. "You need rest."

"For the last time, I'm fine. Of course a nice thick steak would be nice. That's nothing you would know about though, right?" he asked over his shoulder.

Abigail was tempted to remain silent until he finally faced her but under the circumstances she supposed that he had every right to be upset.

"I can eat food. I enjoy steak."

"Let me guess. Medium rare?"

That was it. Upset was understandable but rude was inexcusable. Searching the ground for the perfect rock to toss as his noggin, she stopped when he added, "Cause it would be too good to find a girl that actually enjoyed a decent steak instead of ashen charcoal or plate of vegetables. God can you understand how anyone can eat a salad as a meal?"

Finally, he turned to look at her. The smile on his face dropped when he saw her skin, pale with dark circles under her eyes.

"We'll stop here," he said walking to her.

***

"So Alex found her," Alena said quietly to Gabriel. "You've known this would happen."

"I had hoped he cared enough to bring her home."

"He was obviously injured and she's leading the way."

"If his injuries were severe then she would have brought him home."

"Maybe she took him to a neighboring village?" Alena asked.

"No," Gabriel answered shaking his head. "She's managed to do it again."

"Do what?"

"Convince someone to follow her ideas."

"And that's bad."

"Not really," Gabriel said wrapping his arm around his mate. "That's a sign of a great leader. Now, if she will just learn to seek some counsel before she jumps into action."

***

"Sit down, love," Alex said gently. "Tell me what you need."

"I'm fine," she answered weakly.

Alex moved closer causing electric waves to move through her body. She felt her blood racing through her veins only to discover another feeling lurking beneath the surface. The closer Alex moved to her the more she felt her control slip. Suddenly her mouth felt full and she moved her hand over her lips to cover the elongating fangs. She turned away to hide the signs of the monsters he hated so much.

"Abby, what's wrong?"

"Please go on without me," she cried with a muffle. "Please leave me alone."

"Abby? Are you sick?"

"No," she said with a sob. "I'm fine. I'm just hungry. And I don't want steak."

As the truth of the matter sunk in, Alex remained silent staring at Abigail's back. The girl had needs just like he did. Could he leave her alone? He surveyed the sky to find the sun in the early afternoon location. They would need to find shelter before dark. Dropping his gaze back to his companion's back he reminded himself that they had an immediate problem.

The pain would be tolerable. Offering himself as a donor would be intolerable. He had lived his life with a very thick line of demarcation between humans and vampires. Sure, had Conlaoch saved his life and had been better than most fathers were to their kids. But that was Conlaoch. The typical vampire was driven by lust that was barely sated through brute force. He had trained hard at killing those monsters.

Not all vampires were created equal. His mother had never needed to feed from him. But she had needed blood and somehow had managed to find it. Now, this girl was standing in front of him needing the sustenance to continue living.

"Abigail," he said firmly, "we will need to find shelter soon so try to make this fast."

He moved behind her and presented his bare arm before her eyes. She fleetingly wondered about the tattoo on his forearm but focused on the blue vein at his wrist.

"Well go on girl," he whispered in her ear. "Thanks to that bastard on the mountain, I'm no longer a donor virgin so have at ...Ow! Oh, wow. Oh, Abigail."