Here Be Monsters [2] (18 page)

Since vampire Siobhan O'Donnell had given him her blood. She'd insisted she hadn't turned him into a ghoul. Elves weren't by nature able to be ghouls or vampires.
 

But Abyssinian was different than other elves. He was UnSeleighe, and he was Winterbourne. Since the beginning a vampire could never drink from an elf. An elf's blood was poison to them. The physical reaction to it was violent and messy. But Abyssinian's blood…could create a daywalker.
 

Before Maeve had drained him till death.
 

Abyssinian looked down at the rabbit again. His face became a twisted mass of emotion. "I—Ron I think I—"
 

It warmed Oberon's heart when his brother used the old name he'd given Oberon as a child. But it worried him as well. Since waking, Abyssinian seemed almost childlike in so many things—as if he were relearning certain aspects of life.
 

And he cried…pinned for Siobhan. For several nights their sister Illeië had held him as he slept. She believed he was tormented with nightmares. And no one in Underhill knew what to do.
 

They needed Siohban.
 

But she hadn't returned for nearly two weeks. An no one in the mortal realm had seen her.
 

Their last meeting had been days after the incident in Grant Park when Silira's spell had drained Maeve the Fallen, and together she, Siobhan, and Keith Song, Siobhan's ghoul, had destroyed the monster. Abyssinian had been brought back by blood, and then cared for here. Siobhan had promised to return the next day—having gained the ability of daywalking from drinking the Fallen's blood.
 

But she didn't return, and Oberon feared that ability had already faded.
 

A day became two, and then became four. He'd sent men out to find her, but there was no sign of her. Even her friend and sometimes boss, Captain Miller, hadn't heard from her and was worried.
 

Keith Song had contacted Oberon earlier in the day. He was running out of his blood supply as well, and was panicked. He swore he could sense Siobhan, and knew she was alive. But he couldn't sense where.
 

Abyssinian looked stricken as he held the now limp rabbit out in front of him. "I—I was going to eat it—just like this—"
 

Oberon took the dead animal from his brother and handed it off to a waiting guard. They were watching Aby. No one knew what to make of him. He dressed himself in loose shirts and breeches. Barefoot. And he prowled the forests and spent hours in the library. Reading.
 

"Oberon—" it was Illeië coming up behind him. "I sense Abyssinian's—"
 

Aby saw and heard her and immediately ran to her. He wrapped his arms around her. Against her, he looked like a garish splash of color. Illeië was a monochromatic picture. Pale skin, silver eyes, white dress and snow hair. A contrast to Oberon's wheat color, and Abyssinian's auburn.
 

She saw the rabbit in the guard's hand and turned a panicked face to Oberon. "We have to find Siobhan."
 

"He's not ghouled."
 

"Then what do you think is happening, Oberon?" she held onto her younger brother and lead him away from the garden and into the castle.
 

Oberon turned and looked up at the sky. Again the breeze moved his hair against his face. He closed his eyes. "Where are you Siobhan, my love. What happened?"
 

INSTRUMENTS OF DARKNESS, Coming soon.