Alastair:
“He was the first known Gold Blood created by the Goddess Moon.” she said, and immediately everyone’s attention was captivated everyone in the room. Including me.
No one had ever heard of ‘the first Gold Blood in history’ but everyone had always been curious about it. How could you not be?
“He was human, of course, as normal as you’d imagine a young boy to be,” she smiled. I wondered why. It bothered me that someone else’s memory…another man’s memory was something that she found some sort of solace in.
“Well, obviously he didn’t stay that way,” I retorted with a bit more aggression than intended.
Merari noticed this and with her brow now raised with irritation, she continued. “He was was killed just any of our kind are killed,” she said with malice. “By the grungy, greedy hands of an oversized dog.” that was definitely directed at me and Caris. “Or a humanoid leech with fangs and a pretty face,” she added. “You know…inhumans,” she said just to make sure that she had left no stone left unturned when talking about our kind.
One thing was for certain about Merari, she knew how to shut me up. She handed my tail to me, shut me down cold. And I deserved every second of it. I decided then not say another word and let her continue with her story uninterrupted.
“He was a child, playing outside of his mother and father’s little wooden shack, when his whole family was attacked, his mother and father torn to shreds while he was forced to watch. Then he dragged into the woods where he’d be next.”
There was obvious sorrow in her eyes as Merari told the story of this nameless man. It was evident that whoever this man was, he didn’t up taking the right path in life but there was some cause for sympathy in terms of his earlier life. Even I could see that.
“Fortunately, a miracle saved his life,” continued Merari. “One that was once in a lifetime. One that would most certainly never happen again,” she said. “The Goddess Moon, herself, intervened before the wolves could finish off the little boy. Unfortunately, his life was already fading. So, she turned him…into something else. Something that would be able to fend off those who were there to tear him down.”
“What was he turned into?” Asked Talon.
“I’m not sure,” she answered truthfully. “The truth of the matter is, when a Gold Blood is turned, we never know…what form of inhuman we will take,” she confessed. “I…am a shapeshifting inhuman, but I am not limited to just that.”
“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” Harlyn asked.
Fortunately, Valene hadn’t done too much damage when they fought. She was adamant on still being apart of the solution to keep Shadow Veil safe. Despite her injuries.
“It means that I can do more than just change into another human or animal. It means that my power extends in ways that I have not yet discovered yet.”
“And so does, Valene,” Harlyn added. It was neither a statement nor a question.
“Valene-for some reason,” Said Merari, “May be even stronger than me. No one can ever really know.”
“Is this story going to end soon?” asked Penelope’s aunt. She was quite impatient, that one. “What does this have to do with what is happening now?”
“It has everything to do with what is happening right now,” Merari growled. “It’s because of inhumans like you that he is on a warpath now. All you do is take what you want, and leave everyone else to pick up the broken pieces of the destruction you created to get it!” she snapped. “It was beasts like you who mercilessly hunted him and his family until they were extinct! You took innocent lives because you wanted something more than what you already had. He has been angry every since. Now everyone…everyone is going to pay for it!”
“Who is he?” I asked before Minken’s sister could even say another word. “What is his name?”
“The name that has adopted over the last millenia…is Dronnigan Wales,” she replied, her gaze now shifted from me. There was something else about this inhuman that she was keeping from me. Something that she seemed to not be so proud of.
“And what exactly is your connection to him?” John asked.
Good question.
I was glad that John had asked. Me asking would have only made me look like jealous mate that I was.
“He’s the one…” she started and then immediately hesitated. She regarded me with hesitation, for a few seconds-seconds that felt like eternity.
This was Merari’s truth to tell. No one should take the right to share it from her. Not even me. Regardless of what the truth would expose. I nodded to wordlessly give her my support.
“He was the one who saved my life that night,” she finally finished saying. “Or, well…” she scoffed, “I guess that is the wrong way to phrase it. He brought me back to life.”
“What happened to you?” Penelope asked.
I was surprised that she was even in attendance let alone parted her lips to ask a question. Though, I guess anyone would be curious to know what happened the night, Merari lost her life. Even I wasn’t completely in the know concerning it.
“Why is that even prevalent to answer?” Harlyn countered in annoyance.
“It has nothing to do with the story at hand, Pen,” hissed Talon. It was evident that he was still upset with Penny for deserting Harlyn that evening at the beach when they were under attack.
“I was only curious.”
“As usual, you’re always curious about the wrong things,” hissed Harlyn. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Harlyn, too, was still holding a grudge as well.
“Alright, that’s enough, you three,” I interrupted.
I truly did believe that it was Merari’s story to tell, and I would not stop her from telling it. However, I also wasn’t willing to just offer Caris’s reputation on a platter to be tarnished. Harlyn and Talon was right; it would do no good to know in-depth what happened that night with Merari and Caris. We needed to stick to the facts.
“They’re right,” Merari seemned to agree with Harlyn and Toran. “Knowing my story will not help you understand his. All you need to know is that he was there when I needed him the most. He saved my life and in doing so, he saved my daughter’s life.”
There was something painful about what Merari had just said. The fact that another man was there for her. For our daughter…when I should have been the one to save her from the horror of Caris’s feral rage.
“Unfortunately,” Merari started again. “I thought he was good,” she said. “Until he wasn’t. I fled, and now he is looking for me,” she said.
“So then, all we need to do is lose the dead weight,” said Agnes as she glared at Merari.
“Excuse me?” Merari glanced at me and then back at Agnes with renewed amusement.
“Agnes,” both me and John spoke up. Even he seemed to know that she was way out of line. Although, I, unfortunately, understood why she would make such an assumption.
“What?” My Delta’s sister quipped. “He’s after her, so why if she leaves or dies then we will no longer have a problem. Am I wrong?”
“You are…dead wrong,” said Merari with a bitter smile on her perfect lips.
“Oh?” Agnes stepped forward in a challenging manner, arms crossed with a sneer as she said. “Enlighten me, Ms. Van Doren.”
I started to step in when Merari immediately pushed her hand gently against my chest to shove me back to my position.
“She asked a question, Alas,” she said to me. “I’d be delighted to answer it.”
“Well,” said Agnes, “I’m waiting.”
“You know why Dronnigan Wales is after me?” asked Merari. “Of course, you don’t.”
“I fail to see how the why is relevant to the solution.”
“The why is very relevant, you see,” said Merari. “Because it has everything to do with you…and every one of your kind.”
Now, we were getting somewhere.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that…” she paused and watched Agnes for a silent moment. Something caught her attention. She was distracted for a moment. “He wants me…so that I can help him…” her words slowed…became more drawn out.
“Merari?” I took a step forward. “What is it? What is it that he want you to help him with?”
I asked this question but the truth, I wanted to know was going through her mind at that moment. Something caused her mind to lose focus on the subject at hand. I needed to know what it was because whatever it seemed to be, it bothered her.
“To kill you,” she said in a near murmur. “To kill every single one of you.”
“What?”
“Yes,” she answered, now distantly. “He wants to eradicate inhumans and create a new breed. One of Gold Bloods.”
“Well, that’s heavy,” Talon remarked.
“Very,” Merari said. “And he will try to make his goals a reality. With or without me. So, I suggest you come up with something more sophisticated then dropping ‘dead weight’ as it seems that I am not the one who’s dead weight. In fact, I and my daughter may be the only thing that comes between life and death for you. Remember that.”
Merari was done with Agnes at this point. She turned her back on her, and the regarded me with a glint in her eye; one that spoke of concern and….alarm. But why?
“With this news in mind,” I began to speak before I even realized it. I knew that it was Aziz pushing my thoughts forward so that I could call the meeting and tend to whatever it is that was heavy on Merari’s mind. “We need to be far more vigilant. I need every single piece of intel on this Dronnigan Wales. Somehow, I get the feeling that he is the reason for the recent spotting of young Tobias.”
“We need to find him as soon as possible.” I knew that Toran was saying this from more of an emotional standpoint than a logical one. He was right, however; I was beginning to think that maybe Tobias could provide us with more pivotal information as well.
“We do, and we will,” I said. “Until then I need-”
My words were suddenly cut off when I felt Merari clutch the chest of my shirt. I looked down.
“I need to talk to you!” she interrupted me.
“Okay. I-”
“Now!” she snarled.
When she spoke with such urgency, I couldn’t very well finish barking orders. I looked at Toran, and he immediately got the message. I relayed to he and John what roles needed to be played at this point, and then I left with Merari in tow.
She wouldn’t dare speak inside of the packhouse. She wanted no one to hear what she was about to say. What on earth could have been so important.
When we finally went outside and was far away from the packhouse, she shiftily looked around, garnering concern from me.
“Rari, what’s the matter? What happened? Are you okay?” I shot off questions, hoping that she would answer one.
“I…I didn’t want to tell you in there…I didn’t want to say anything just yet…I…if I would have confronted-” she clenched her jaw and her eyes began to darken with rage.
“Merari!” I exclaimed as she began to pace, agitation in every move she made. “Merari, what the bloody hell is the matter?”
“It’s that woman!” she growled, pointing her finger toward the packhouse.
Without much thought, I knew that she was talking about Agnes. Was she jealous? No, that couldn’t be it.
Still. “Merari, Agnes, is certainly no one to get bent out of shape about. She has far more bark than bite.” She turned away from me, facing the house with laser focus. “Merari.”
“That woman!” she hissed again. “Mist…she told me…the voice is telling me…I just…”
“Merari!”
“You don’t…understand, Alastair. I…” She was about to get lost. I could feel her getting lost again. Like she did the night that she and Valene had it out. I couldn’t let her do it again. I refused.
I grabbed her shoulders, letting her know that I was there. She needed to know that I was there to listen. That I wanted to understand. “Then help me Merari! Help me understand!”
It was at that moment that she finally responded. Merari whirled around to face me. “I believe she had something to do with our daughter’s murder.”