Dark Secrets (9 page)

If only you would realize what you’ve got”

Fifth Chapter: Secrets Unfold

A deafening roar filled the area, reverberating off the trees and through my body. Every muscle in my body tensed. I scanned the area for my son, but couldn’t see him anywhere. I can’t see the beast clearly; it’s hiding in the shadows. I start shaking uncontrollably. What is happening? Where is everybody?

A large, almost feline, beast comes into view; the beast’s shoulders alone are nearly twice my height, it stands about eight feet tall on all fours. It has eyes of blood and dark black fur covering it entirely.

Lachlan is crawling his way back to the house, toward a blood covered axe on the ground, as the beast circles around him preparing to strike again. Derek wastes no time, he immediately jumps in the fight, clothes burst through the air as a giant wolf bounds through the air in place of the man I just saw.

Derek’s werewolf form is the most magnificent creature I have ever seen; coal black fur with hints of red, the same height as me when he’s on all fours, a long strong jaw, and the same crimson colored eyes; human looking eyes.  I am even more drawn to him now than when he was a human. I don’t bother trying to rationalize that thought.

The fight is happening so fast I can hardly tell which one is the beast and which one is Derek. Jaws are snapping, teeth clashing, fur is being torn and thrown across the yard, and claws are leaving marks up and down the yard. The trees are being knocked sideways, the garden is trashed and Lachlan hasn’t moved in over five minutes. I am worried he may be dead.

I look beyond the snarling beasts to see Damien holding Kai behind the window. Kai doesn’t look so good; he’s crying and holding his arm close to him as if he is hurt. I look closer and see a small bloody handprint on the glass. Fury ignites me.

My attention diverts back to Derek who has been thrown across the yard, directly into a great oak tree. I hear something crack and I am pretty sure it came from Derek’s back. Derek goes limp and falls to the ground. A single whimper escapes his mouth.

The creature suddenly turns my way; a low growl arose from his throat. A cold sweat slithers down my body. I take a step back as the beast stepped closer. I shoot a glance toward the window one more time, taking in my son’s face one last time… and then lunge for the beast.

I leapt onto its shoulders, grabbing a fistful of fur as I went. The creature roared loudly as he reared up on two legs, trying to shake me off. I held on for dear life. It started turning in circles and biting at me, missing by just a few inches. It swung to the left suddenly and the force threw me off. I landed beside Lachlan.

I lost my train of thought for a moment, forgot who I was and what was happening for just a split second… A split second too long, the beast was now upon me. One of its enormous paws crashed into me and pinned me to the ground. I look around frantically; searching for something, anything that may help. I try to reach for Lachlan’s axe but can only barely touch it with my fingertips.

The beast puts more weight on my chest; a low chuckle reverberates from its chest. Pain shoots through my body. To my right I can see Derek waking up. When he sees me he tries to get up, but is struggling to do so. “Get off of her!!!” He screams just before he passes out once again.

The creature looks towards him once, raises his paw off me long enough for me to scoot back to reach the axe, and then crushes me once again. I grasped the handle of the axe hard and with all my might I raised the blade above my head and drove it into the beast’s ankle. A high pitched scream filled the air. I drew the axe out as the beast jumped back.

I felt as if every bone in my body had been crushed. I was about to pass out when I heard my son’s cry from inside the house. I look back to see Damien putting him down, about to head outside to help. “NO!” I want to scream, but can’t. “Don’t leave him alone”, I thought frantically. I look back at the beast, which has changed focus. His beady, red eyes are now set on my precious baby and Damien is standing between them.

The creature leans down into a crouched position, as if to lunge. “NO!!!” I scream out loud this time, jumping up despite my injuries. I place myself directly in front of the beast, hands out. A power surges through me and something buried deep inside my being awakens. Something takes over and I am no longer in control of my own body.

The Elven Princess has risen!

A faint blue glow begins emanating from my center, quickly working its way up above my shoulders, down my arms, and through my fingertips. The beast leaps towards me, pushing me back to the ground.

I grab hold of his fangs as he is about to dig into me. Fire spreads throughout my entire body, instantly burning through my veins. My skin tingles with energy as fire shoots through me and into the creature’s mouth. The beast howls as it rears up to get away. It was suddenly completely encompassed by my blue flames, incinerating it from the inside out…

Where the feline once stood, a pile of ash remains.

“Ember?” I hear Damien ask, astonished. I don’t have the energy to look back. My body has been drained completely, my vision has gone blurry, I have nothing left in me… I feel void. I get lost in the darkness. I can faintly hear my name being called.

I wake up in Derek’s room, confused. How did I get here? Better question, how long have I been in here? It is dark in the room, like it is night time, but I can faintly hear voices in the distance. I briefly wonder how long I have been out this time while trying to find my way to the light switch. It hurts to move but I need to know what is going on. My ribs feel bruised, but I no longer have that ‘just got trampled on’ feeling.

I feel the light switch beneath my hand and idly flip it on, jumping back immediately. There’s a mirror on the wall that wasn’t there before and I look awful. I have bandages wrapped around my ribs tightly, emphasizing my curves, and the only thing I am wearing are shorts and a sports bra. I have gauze on my arms… which is funny considering I don’t remember getting hurt there. I look around the room for something to cover up with and find a robe hanging off the chair by the bed. I wrap it around me, carefully making sure not to disturb any of my injuries.

I open up the door and tiptoe out, hoping I don’t wake anyone who may still be sleeping. I make it to the edge of the hall and stop. I hear voices coming from the living room and they are talking about me. I peek around to watch them. Lachlan, Derek, Damien, and Laura are all sitting on the couches.

“Do you think she will wake up soon, mom?” Derek asked in a hushed tone.

“She should wake up any day now. I can’t believe you still haven’t told her though. What were you thinking?” Laura replied, aggravated.

What has he not been telling me? I knew he was hiding something, but never knew what… I listen more intently.

“He didn’t exactly tell us either, you know. I thought she was supposed to meet up with her ‘fiancé’ when we got back the Land of the Elves. Nobody knew who she was engaged to. I don’t see why it had to be some big secret.” Lachlan remarked, glaring at Derek.

“I knew all along. That’s why his behavior has been pissing me off so much.” Damien hissed at Derek.

“It only pisses you off because you care for her too.” Derek grunted. “Which, since I brought it up… you should back off. I’m tired of seeing you look at her with your love sick eyes.”

Damien got up and started pacing the room, hands clenched into tight fists.

Derek’s head is in his hands. I’m staring at him in shock. Did they just say what I think they just said? No way. No. I would have known about this. Wouldn’t I? How could I be the last to know about my own engagement? Several emotions pass through me: excitement, confusion, wonderment and then finally anger.

I step out of the shadows. I throw my hands up on my hips and regret it immediately. I make a grunting sound as I bend over hugging my ribs.

“Ember! You’re awake! Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Laura came running over.

I rise up my hand to stop her, “I’m fine. I just moved my arms up too high and jostled myself a bit. Ugh.”

“Well come sit, dear. Quick like, now. I will check your bandages.”

“No.” I reply as I stand up straight again. “I want to know what the hell is going on here!” I raise my voice, pointedly staring at Derek.

Derek’s eyes grow wide, “What all did you hear?”

“Oh… Nothing much… Just that I am
engaged
to you!” I say, sarcasm dripping off my voice. “Why is it that I am the last to know about this? I mean, what the hell man??”

“I’m sorry. I am so sorry.” He said as he rose up, hands in the air. “I just didn’t know how to explain it to you. Your mother was supposed to tell you everything when you reached the age of sixteen. I never imagined that you wouldn’t have any idea who I was.”

“How would I have any idea who you were, even if I did know about the engagement? It’s not like I knew you already, right?”

“Well… actually you did. The last time we saw each other we were seven years old. That was the year you were sent to live with your mother. You were excited about it then. You even told me you loved me…” He explained slowly.

I just stare at him for a moment, shock coursing through my body. “Then why don’t I remember you? Why don’t I remember any of this? I thought I left as a baby…”

“No, honey… your father erased your memory before you left so that you would never draw any supernatural forces your way, and so you could start fresh… as a human.” Laura interjected. Sympathy was apparent on her features.

I look at her and back to Derek. “Erased my memory…” I repeated, slowly. “Well, whatever. It doesn’t change the fact that you lied to me!” I pointed at Derek.

“How did I lie to you?” He said, confused.

“You have had plenty of chances to tell me the truth! Especially when we were in the field and you were talking about being engaged and how you thought said fiancé was in love with someone else…” I stopped to breathe. “You could have told me that it was me! Which begs the question, who the hell do you think I am in love with?!” I yell.

Everyone in the room freezes. Derek’s face goes blank and then turns furious.

“Don’t raise your voice to me little miss! You are obviously in love with Damien! Everybody knows it. Everybody sees the way you ogle at him and vice versa. You have no right to be angry with me.” He yells back.

Damien’s face turns fifty shades of red.

“
Excuse
me?? I have every right in the world to be pissed at you for not telling me this sooner. Instead, you’re talking about it behind my back!” I screech. “And how in the
world
did you come to the conclusion I must be in love with Damien? I have barely spoken to anyone but you since you all popped into my life. If I am in love with, or ogling over, anybody… it would be you, dumbass!”

Dead silence fills the room. Laura’s mouth drops open. Lachlan seems bored and gets up to leave. Damien on the other hand storms out... Derek stares at me completely dumbfounded. “If you feel that way, then why does it even matter if I told you yet or not?”

“You really don’t get it, do you? It’s the principle of it all. Here I am putting all my faith and trust into these three men when I find it so hard to trust anybody these days… only to find out that you, the one person I trusted most, have been hiding something this life changing from me.” I whisper. Tears are beginning to build behind my eyes.

“Well, you know now…” Derek said as he reached for me. ‘
As if that would fix it all’,
I think to myself.

I pull back immediately. “Don’t touch me. It’s not the same as if you had told me from the beginning. I wouldn’t be standing here right now, questioning every word that has ever come out of your mouth, if you had just said something before… All trust I had for you has gone out the window.” Tears start to fall.

Derek’s hand drops, anguish fills his features. He takes a step back, turns around, and lunges out the front door in wolf form, running off into the darkness.

I contemplate going after him, but decide against it. I don’t know what I would say even if I did. “Laura, will you help me back to my room? I don’t feel so good.”

“Of course, come on.” She said with a sad look in her eyes. She wrapped her right arm around my shoulders and grabbed my hand to lead me out.

Once we reached the room, she opened the door for me and sat me down on the bed. She redid my bandages quickly in silence.

“How’s Kai?” I ask softly.

“He’s doing just fine. That creature scratched him, but I have been tending to it. It is healing nicely. He’s sleeping in my room for now.” She answered.

“Thank you so much… Where did that beast even come from?”

“He belonged to a distant cousin of mine. They came to visit. They wanted to meet you.” She said as she raised her head to look at me. “Apparently, they keep him as a pet. I sent them away after what happened. They weren’t so happy about you killing it.” She rolled her eyes.

I scrunch up my mouth, “What was it and why on earth would anyone want that
thing
as a pet?”