Keeper of Fire Chapter 9-11

9.Among Shadows


Destiny looked up at the imposing house that towered over her small form. Shardow held her arm, and Wick gripped her hand in fright. And no wonder, she thought. Those gargoyles look like could simply fly off of their stone ledge and attack. Wick whimpered. Destiny picked him up, and Shardow stepped in front of them, doing something to the door and causing it to swing inwards. He turned his head, inviting her forward in on fluid motion. Destiny hesitantly stepped into the dark, foreboding building.
Once inside, Wick pointed down the hall. Pointing down the long hallway Wick spoke softly, “My room is over there…" He glanced at his father. "May I show her, Dad?”
Shardow looked at him “You may show her…" Destiny set Wick down, and he scrambled toward his room before Shardow had finished his sentence.
"C'mon, Destiny! This way!"
Destiny laughed, pushing a piece of violet hair behind her ear. She could feel Shardow's gaze on her back. "I need to speak with you after he is sleeping,” he whispered to her. Destiny stood still for a moment, letting him know that she had heard his words, then followed Wick’s small voice to get to his room.
Wick asked to be put down, opening the large oak door in front of them. Destiny smiled as she walked into his room; it was a dark blue with silver trimming, small toys scattered over the boy's floor. She walked across the room and pulled the heavy navy curtains aside. Moonlight spilled in, washing the room in a soft silver light. She turned toward Wick.
“Well… I must say that your room is impressive.
Wick nodded and then spoke.“I must warn you… my father is dangerous. No matter what… don’t forget that. He has contacts that are just as dangerous; when they come over, stay out of their way. Also, when father comes home after being gone for a long time... that is when he is at his most deadly.”
Destiny smiled and knelt down next to him,“Alright, I'll remember. Now, let’s get you ready for bed. You’ve had a long day.”
Wick yawned. “But I’m not sleepy," he said, while his eyes began drooping. Destiny scooped him into her arms and placed him on the bed. She slipped his shoes off of his feet, and gently covered him with his blankets, “You sleep now, little one.” She kissed his forehead then left the room as Wick drifted off.
Shardow was waiting for her just outside of Wick's door.
“I’ll show you to your room,” he told her softly. He began to walk further down the hall. Destiny hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow him. He stopped at another door, and pushed it open.
Destiny walked past him, and gasped in surprise. Her room was a warm gold color that seemed to glow in the faint moonlight, her bed the shape of a beautiful black rose. Shardow chuckled in amusement as she moved about the room in a trance-like state. “Do you like it?”
“Yes... I mean, it's beautiful!" She turned to him, the smile slowly melting from her eyes. "Now, you said you wished to speak with me?” Shardow nodded, moving further into her room.
“Yes... What are your conditions for staying here?” he inquired. Destiny took in breath.
“I’m not sure I can tell you that now…” she told him frankly, he leaned back.
“Oh? Why not?” he asked looking curious,
“Alright… I need help in locating someone…” he tilted his head and she continued, “I’m looking for my brother… I believe that he was here recently.” His curiosity seemed to intensify when she said that.
“Oh and his name is?” his asked, Destiny hesitated, “Well? Are you thinking of my son’s warning?” Destiny looked down at her feet.
Shardow walked towards the window,
“Would it make you feel better if I gave you my word… that I will not harm you?” Destiny bit her lip, and nodded slowly; Shardow smiled wryly, “I, Shardow Kinsblack, swear that no harm or accident will befall you, Destiny, while you live under my roof. There is that better now?” he asked, when she nodded again he continued, “Now what was it you where saying…”
“My brother’s name is Evan…” she paused when he leaned forward, “Freestone … though he most likely changed his name.” Shardow fiddled with the earring in his ear,
“Is your brother human or vampire? Or is he something else?”
“I… I don’t know… they never told me…” She covered her mouth in mortification.
“They?” Shardow asked sharply, Destiny shook her head,
“No I’ve said too much already… more than I should have. Can you help me find him?” she asked changing the subject from the people, who had given her the information,
“We shall see… you are tired. I’ll let you sleep now… breakfast is early in the morning. Sleep well.” He told her as he melted away into the shadows of the hall as the door swung shut behind him.

***

Shardow shuffled through the papers that rested in front of him; someone’s footsteps caused him to look up. Gaven, Shardow’s only friend, stopped and raised one of his silvery white eyebrows,
“I hear your son ran away again. Also that you have acquired a young woman to watch over him for you. Since you seem unable to do so…” Gavin draped himself over the chair as he spoke. Shardow growled angrily and flicked a bolt of lighting at him, Gavin yelped as he toppled to the floor. “Whad ya do that for!?” Gavin snarled, Shardow glanced at him then spoke,
“You know very well why I did that. That girl has asked for my help and in exchange she has promised to take care of my son. Speaking of which, have you heard of anyone whose name is Evan Freestone?” Gavin stood slowly looking thoughtful,
“I don’t know… would you like me to ask around?” Shardow nodded and Gavin sighed, “Alright, but this is the second favor you owe me.” He warned.
Shardow watched as Gavin stalked off; the sound of something crashing to the floor made him leap to his feet. Destiny stood barefooted in what looked like a sea of glass; her eye seemed strangely vacant. Shardow just stood there and watched her, mesmerized. She moved easily through the glass shards without touching any of them; her hand reached up as if touching something that he couldn’t see then her eyes closed and she slumped forward. Shardow caught her then pulled her up into his arms to carry her; the floor crunched under his feet as he walked. The door in front of them swung silently open; Shardow carried Destiny to her bed. Her violet hair fanned out across the pillow and Shardow hurried out of the room for fear of losing control of himself and breaking his oath to her.

Destiny stretched like a cat and looked around herself; Wick came bounding in and jumped on her bed.
“Destiny! Come on, come on! Let’s go and eat!” she laughed “Let me get dressed and them I’ll meet you outside my room.” He nodded then scurried out.
Destiny stood and moved towards the wardrobe; it swung open silently. Destiny pulled out a honey colored dress then slid it over her head; it seemed to melt against her body until it slid over her hips then flared out. Destiny moved towards the door and opened it; Wick smiled when he saw her then gripped her hand. He drug her towards the kitchen, Destiny laughed,
“Easy, Wick slow down!!” He looked back at her but still tugged her along.


10. Reuniting and a Snake570

Trinity pulled the hood of her cloak over her head and followed Dylan into the White Rose Inn. The smell of ale and sweat almost caused Trinity to gag; Dylan spoke to the innkeeper who glanced at her then nodded nervously. Dylan motioned for her to follow him; she kept her head down as he led her down a dark hallway, he opened a door and shoved her in. Trinity yelped as a hand clapped over her mouth and a sharp point of a knife touched her neck; heat seared up from the point where the knife had touched her, she felt herself melting away into a liquidy blackness. 571

Trinity woke to the sound of angry voices,572

“… You idiot! You almost killed her!” someone spat, 573

“Ha! Who cares if this human lives or dies?! It will be one less human to worry about!” someone grunted and then fell to the floor with a dull thud. Trinity shivered and opened her eyes slowly; a man with moon white hair turned towards her, 574

“Logan?” he knelt down next to her and brushed a strand of black hair away from her face.575

“It seems you found me Trinity. Though I have to question your methods of finding me.” She smiled wanly, 576

“I seem to be lying down a lot… who is that?” a young woman with matching moon colored hair placed a silken hand on his shoulder; Trinity shuddered as she felt… something evil about the Reas woman. 577

“This is my betrothed Rain, Rain this is Trinity.” 578

“Why do you have a snake coiled around your arm Rain?” Trinity sat up and Rain recoiled as if she had been struck, Logan looked at Trinity then at Rain and back again. Anger blazed in Rain’s eyes as she raised her arm to strike her; Logan grabbed her arm and whispered something, Rain cast one hateful glance at Trinity then left. 579

Logan turned towards Trinity and told her in an icy voice,580

“That was uncalled for human,” Trinity looked up at him hurt, 581

“So I’m just another human am I? Well let me tell you something Logan this human came to look for you because she was worried about you. Now that I see you are safe I’ll just be going,” she stood and made her way to the door; Logan’s hand locked around her forearm. She looked at him,582

“You are not going anywhere, my people need you here and until the battle with the humans you will stay here!” an iron like mask slid over her face, fire jumped to life in her eyes,583

“I will not stay anywhere I don’t want to; you are almost as bad as the humans you hate so much. I’m leaving!” he shook his head, 584

“I think not,” fire crawled up his arm as he finished these words. Pain danced up his arm causing him to jerk away; the door melted away and Trinity ran. Men shouted and the sound feet came towards him,585

“My lord are you alright?” 586

“I’m fine, just catch her and get me some cold water.” A woman appeared before him after the guards had left, the Queen of the Night laughed coolly.587

“You are a fool to try and force the Keeper to do anything you want her to do. That mark you have will not leave your arm now, it is permanent. You will have to find a way to make up for what you’ve done; she will not easily forgive you.” 588

“She is just a stupid human, why should I care if she…”589

“You seem to have forgotten what just happened, Logan! That mark she left on you is going to be the sign of your own stupidity. She proved she was willing to help you until you told her you where going to keep her here and then you also made it worse by siding with that snake Rain.” With those words she disappeared.590

Logan looked down at his arm and flinched; a red spiral circled his arm up to his elbow. He hissed as he poured the water over his arm, the water splashed onto the floor and his arm was almost back to normal. His skin was scarred but the red had subsided only to flare to life sending warm fire up his arm then it was gone. Two guards saluted stiffly and Logan looked up at them, 591

“Yes what do you want?!” 592

“She got away sir; the girl lost us in the city.” He nodded angrily, 593

“Very well then you are dismissed, tell Rain that I won’t be dining with her tonight.” 594

Trinity looked up at the dark sky in disgust, and then pulled her cloak closer to her. She rubbed the scar that marred her cheek absently and turned down into an alleyway; Marcus scrambled to his feet as she approached.595

“Welcome back, my lady. Sir Rouel is waiting for you inside,” she nodded and opened the door to the home, an older man stood to greet her. 596

“Ah… Trinity there you are, we have a problem.” Trinity raised an eyebrow and nodded for him to continue, “You see…” the sound of metal grinding on wood caused him to cut off and reach for the ever present sword at his side. Trinity opened the door and Marcus turned towards her,597

“They took Marie,” Trinity merely nodded then scaled the wall, 598

“She’ll find your wife Marcus just wait and see,” Rouel muttered as he led a shaken Marcus inside. 599

Trinity ignored the slick tiles of the roof as she ran almost silently across them, someone screamed but it was cut off. Trinity gripped the handles of her twin swords and stalked to the edge of the rooftop; a woman struggled to get away from the men that held her. Trinity tensed getting ready to jump on the man that held Marie when another man’s voice interrupted,600

“Is there a problem gentleman? Or it the young lady merely acting like she’s in distress?” 601

“Mind your own business Reas, just because you conquered the city doesn’t mean you own it!” one of the men growled, Trinity jumped down as thunder and lighting flashed. She wasn’t going to let Marie fall into either one of their hands, a man howled as the first sword slammed into his belly. Trinity swung the other one into a man’s hand as he reached for his weapon, Marie ran to her and Trinity moved her behind her and tensed as the Reas laughed. 602

“I’m impressed, I’ve never seen a human use that kind of style before.” Trinity stiffened and Marie whispered,603

“Trinity I just want to go to my husband,” Trinity glanced back at her, and then nodded. Marie left quickly, the Reas’ blade clashed with Trinity’s and she stepped back then shoved forward bringing her blade around. The Reas’ silver hair flashed as the lighting danced across the sky, he grinned at her wickedly as the blade swung towards her face. She didn’t block it but merely allowed it to whistle by; it snagged on her cloak and she ripped it off of her body. Rain soaked her and she waited for the Reas attack again, it never came; he was staring at her. 604

“Trinity,” she backed away from him, “Trinity, is that really you?” she looked at him stonily, “I never thought I would find you here in this city. Where have you been?” She merely shook her head and sheathed her swords, “You are alive.” The Reas stepped towards her, anger twisted her features and she turned away from him, “You are still mad at me?” she didn’t answer but just ran away from him. He followed her and caught her around the waist; they crashed to the wet stone ground and the Reas pinned her arms down. She snarled in rage but he merely sat on her until she quit struggling,605

“What is wrong with you?!” she looked at him through narrowed eyes, “Trinity for heavens sake it is me!” she snorted and pulled away again. 606

Logan watched in bitter amazement as Trinity struggled to get away from him; this wasn’t the Trinity that he had met six months ago, was it? His scarred arm throbbed and Trinity’s eyes widened. She stared at him then blinked, then blinked again. Her eyes darted to the scar that was under his now very wet shirt, “Trinity will you say something?” she shook her head, but she stopped struggling; Logan looked down at her trying to catch her gaze. She squeezed her eyes closed as his long fingers gripped her chin, 607

“Look at me… please,” he pleaded, she opened her eyes slowly, she stared up at him defiantly with silvery-violet eyes. “Do you know who I am?” she shook her head once then a puzzled look crossed her face and then she nodded ever so slowly, 608

“Y-you are Logan…I met you…” her voice was soft as if she hadn’t spoken much in a long while. Logan released the breath he had been holding and slowly got up, he grabbed her wrists and pulled her up beside him, and that was the last thing he remembered before he was enveloped in darkness.

The Rebels and Reas

Trinity ignored Raoul’s complaints about bringing Logan to their hideout. She looked out at the rain that streamed down the window; her thoughts where troubling her but she merely shoved them away and turned to Logan; who was draped across the cot in an unconscious mess. A lump began to form where he had been hit; Raoul gripped Trinity’s arm, jerking her back into reality. “ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME!!?” he shouted, her eyes narrowed angrily but she turned away from him again. His grip tightened and swung her back to face him, “You are to get that…!” he waved towards Logan, “Out of here. NOW!” Trinity stiffened and she felt her anger spark, Raoul yelped and jumped back. He blew on his hands that had been burned and glared up at her, “Please remove him… It can put us in danger.” He pleaded softly then left.
Trinity waited until the heavy wooden doors swung shut behind him before turning back to Logan, who was stirring. She walked towards him and knelt down,
“That hurt you know…” Logan’s eye slid open. Trinity look puzzled and he continued, “Who ever hit me on the head hit hard. You channeled fire again too.” She shot him a surprised look and he moved his arm, “You don’t remember do you?” Trinity looked down at the smooth red spiral that twisted up his arm then back up at him,
“I was mad at you… I wanted to help you but…” she told him,
“Yes I know my mother brow-beated me for my pigheadedness.” He smiled then closed his eyes in pain. “I don’t suppose you have a healer here that can heal this goose egg on my head.” Trinity stood and nodded,
“Yes… I will also send food.” Logan nodded, but she had already disappeared.

The healer came but Trinity didn’t come back. Logan found himself feeling almost disappointed but he quickly shook off the feeling. He ate ravenously finding himself famished from the healing magic. Logan looked up as an older man entered the room,
“Who are you?” Logan asked the man just stood there looking at him.
“You are lucky that Trinity has put in a good word for you or else I would run you through. Reas trash is not normally tolerated among the Rebels.”