Crossing Paths

Oceania was not what I had expected.

First there was the lack of water. It was an undersea city, but it wasn’t wet, and you didn’t need to swim through it. It was very much like Dolly’s rooms back in the Fae realm. The difference being that this was an entire city.

How much Fae magic did it take to hold back the ocean?

The second thing was that only a few of the residents of this underwater kingdom had tails or fins. Most of these Fae were formed very much like humans, aside from the scales and colors. Most of the Oceania Fae had skin in different shades of coral or patches of iridescent scales that glittered as they passed under light.

There were no sandcastle style palaces here, and neither King Marlin nor Queen Finna sat in a giant clamshell throne. The Fortress, as the royal building was called, was a tall, shining, coral structure. It reminded me of a theme park palace, only made of a deep, blue coral instead of stones or wood.

I had been here three days and while it was much better than the Fae realm where I was tortured and imprisoned, I was very homesick, but today was the day the queen had set up to contact Gideon through whatever secretive methods they used.

I hoped she would be telling me I could go home soon.

The healers here had done a few tests, but nothing painful. Each time they wanted another test, they would ask me when I would be comfortable doing it and explain the reason for the test.

I didn’t mind these tests. I wanted answers about what I was now. I needed those answers.

‘We’re on our way,’ I heard Gerritt say in my mind.

The connection between Gerritt and I had not gone away when we’d escaped. Instead, it was getting stronger, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

I got up and faced the giant entryway to the ridiculously sized suite of rooms Dolly had insisted I stay in. I smoothed my gown and made sure my hair was fairly neat, knowing the queen always looked immaculate and I always looked…. Not.

The doors opened and, in my mind, I said to Gerritt, ‘Maybe knock? I could have been naked.’

But it wasn’t Gerritt that came through the doors. It was Gideon.

He saw me and I saw him, and we both ran towards each other, shouting ‘oh my god’ and ‘what happened?’ and ‘thank god’.

Gerritt thought to me, ‘We wanted you to have a moment to yourselves.’

‘Thank you! Thank you so much!’ I thought back to him, feeling truly grateful.

“My dear, what on Earth am I going to do with you? You turn the loveliest plans into a kidnapping,” Gideon said, as he squeezed me in a tight hug.

I was, of course, crying like a little kid who dropped her ice cream cone.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” I said, through sobs, “He drugged me, Gideon! Those Fae in that place...” I started, but he put his hand over my lips.

“There is no need to go into this now, Melissa. You’ve been through an ordeal, I understand. Now it is time to recover and rest,” he said.

I nodded. I really didn’t want to start thinking about what I’d been through yet.

“I can see it, dear, in your mind,” he said, closing his eyes and poking around in my thoughts.

“Ugh! No more mind-reading, please!” I said, shaking my head.

Gideon looked at me with confusion.

“Hold still, Melissa,” he ordered.

He is my sire. I did as he said, holding still so that he could comfortably peruse my brain.

“Oh my,” he said, then, “Hmmm,” and finally, after about a minute of silence, he chuckled.

“What is funny about any of that?” I said, looking at him in shock.

He laughed, “Gerritt,” then he laughed harder.

I didn’t understand why he was so amused by Gerritt.

“He’s a pain in my ass,” I said, trying to sound angry.

In my mind, I hear Gerritt chuckle.

‘Shut up, guard!’ I thought to him.

I hear his laughter in my mind and Gideon’s outside my head and I realize this mind reading stuff was about to get a lot more irritating if the two of them were aware of each other.

“I’m so glad you both find this funny,” I said, plopping down on a fluffy, pink jellyfish chair.

They stopped laughing after a few seconds and I felt Gerritt getting closer.

I sighed, “They’ll be here soon. I just want to go home.”

Gideon sat hesitantly on the jellyfish chair across from me, testing it to see if it held up, then smiling as he sunk into the squishiness.

“You look pale. Have they fed you?” Gideon asked, quietly.

I shook my head and said, “No, but not for lack of trying. Gideon, that Fae prince did something to me.”

Gideon’s expression turned dark, “What do you mean, dear?”

Then, the doors opened again and in came Queen Finna with Gerritt and about a dozen guardsmen and servants. After that, more servants pushed in carts full of what smelled like the usual Oceania food, but I also smelled fresh, human blood.

I sucked in the scent and my mouth watered. I hadn’t had human blood in months. Fae blood didn’t seem to nourish me in the same way.

Queen Finna’s voice boomed through the room, “Gideon, my dear friend, how have you stayed away from us for so long?”

Gideon’s usual sense of formality took over and he stood, bowing to the Fae queen, saying, “Your Highness, you look as lovely as the day we met. I apologize for the long silence. I have been quite busy with this one.”

The two laughed and glanced my way, which was embarrassing and irritating.

“Hey!” I said to Gideon, but he had already started chatting with the queen again and didn’t respond to me.

Gerritt sat down on the edge of the fluffy jellyfish I was occupying.

“Excuse me? Haven’t you ever heard of personal space?” I said, trying not to sound rude.

He smiled, “I know you’re not as put off by me as you say. I’m in your head, remember.”

I rolled my eyes. It was kind of true that he was growing on me. Or at least I wasn’t as angered by his intrusions anymore.

“I guess I should work on getting into your head. Find out what you’re thinking about me,” I said, laughing as I turned to him.

The expression on his face made me stop laughing. My insides suddenly felt warm and tingly. I felt my cheeks warming.

No one had ever looked at me the way Gerritt looked now. I could see admiration, awe, the desire to protect me, and something I had only recently learned to identify. Love.

I looked away from him and cleared my throat of the stupid lump that had formed there.

“Melissa, you don’t need to read my mind to know how I feel about you. You feel it, don’t you?” he asked, softly.

I didn’t answer him. I was fighting back tears. Why? Why did his feelings mean anything to me?

“My feelings are not what’s bothering you,” he said, placing a hand on mine, “Those are your feelings.”

I looked at him, angrily.

He just smiled sadly and said, “I’ll wait as long as it takes you to get it.”

“Get what? Ugh! You Fae are so irritating!” I said, loudly enough to draw the attention of the queen.

She looked at me with annoyance, “Melissa, is there some reason you choose to insult an entire race just to ward off my nephew’s advances?”

“No, Your Highness. I apologize. It is only this Fae who is irritating,” I said, glaring at Gerritt.

“That is quite unfortunate for you, since you will be spending a lot of time together,” Queen Finna said.

The servants had set up a beautiful table with dishes and foods and tall carafes of what I assumed would be blood.

The queen motioned for all of us to sit at the table.

“What do you mean?” I said, before moving to the table.

“Come, Melissa, sit at the table.” Gideon commanded.

There I went thanks to the power of the sire connection.

Gerritt sat across from me with the queen and Gideon on the other two sides.

‘What the hell is she talking about Gerritt?’ I thought to him.

Gerritt simply shrugged, looking as uncertain as I felt.

The servants placed napkins in our laps and began dishing out the different delicacies. One came beside me and poured a thick, sweet, red fluid into my glass.

Blood!! Human blood!

I took the glass and emptied it in one gulp.

The servant was refilling my glass, but she suddenly gasped, dropped her carafe and moved back away from the table.

I jumped up, covered in blood from the dropped carafe, and looked at her, “What the hell, lady?”

Her eyes were wide, and she smiled suddenly and dropped to her knees at my feet.

“The Argent Queen!” she said as she placed her head on my feet, “We have waited so long!”

I had no idea what was happening, but when I looked to the others in the room for help, they all seemed to be frozen in shock or fear or something.

“What? What the hell?” I said, frustrated.

“You’re glowing,” Gerritt said, chuckling.

I looked down at myself and saw that my skin was indeed giving off a pearly, silverish light.

“Your eyes,” Gideon said, leaning closer to me, “They’re sparkling.”

“Servant! Clean this up immediately” Queen Finna demanded.

The servant, looking frightened and confused, got up off the floor and looked around as if unsure what to do to fix the mess. Finally, another servant handed her a towel and motioned towards my dress.

“I’m not worried about the damn dress!” I said.

I had been trying to be polite to these Fae who had helped me at their own expense, but I was tired of feeling as if a new horrible reality lurked around every corner. I wanted answers.

“What is going on with Gerritt? Talk! I can’t do this small talk thing when my life is literally on hold.” I said, angrily.

The queen looked amused.

“We are quite aware of your situation, Melissa. Tantrums will not earn you privilege from me,” she said, and then she returned to her conversation as if nothing had happened, “As I said, Gerritt will accompany you while you are under Gideon’s care, so that we are informed and ready to assist with any issues that may arise from what the prince did to you.”

“I don’t need a babysitter,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Actually, Melissa, I think it would be a good idea. You will need to return here often to continue learning the truth of this change you’re undergoing. With a member of the royal family in residence, we can have access to portals.” he was staring at the space around me in an odd way, “Just look at this, Melissa. You are something completely new, dear.”

I looked around me and saw that I had sparkly, silver orbs floating around me. Every few seconds, another group of these lights would burst from me, then float in midair only to finally lazily descend to the ground and turn to a silvery ash.

“What the hell are they?” I asked, speaking to no one in particular.

“We’ve been trying to tell you, Melissa. You’re not the same vampire anymore. Dolly and I saw the tests in the Fae realm. You have a lot of other things going on in your body,” Gerritt said.

The idea of him having access in any way to my body was…. confusing. I didn’t like that anyone knew things about me that I didn’t, but if Gerritt and I were connected, he would know anyways.

‘I want to go home, Gideon,’ I thought, hoping he was listening.

Gerritt was.

“I think all of this,” he waved at the many servants and guardsman lolling about, “might be making this conversation harder than it needs to be.”

‘I want to go home,’ I thought to whichever of the two men listening to my thoughts.

“Give us our privacy, servants. Guards, outside the door and at the windows.” the queen said.

We watched for a few moments as all the other Fae left the room.

Now, only the queen, Gerritt, Gideon and I remained.

‘My aunt forgets that not all of us were raised in a palace. Some of us prefer less of a fanfare,’ Gerritt thought to me.

I nodded, but I wondered if he meant that he had not grown up as a royal. I would have to ask him later.

The queen sat back in her chair and sipped a bubbly, blue liquid from small bowl.

She said, “You are indeed something we’ve not encountered before. I believe the essence that was fused to you by that...prince,” she made a face like she tasted something bad, clearly not a fan of Prince Almin, “I believe the essence belonged to a very powerful and respected Argent queen who disappeared from existence.”

“What does that mean? Am I in trouble?” I asked, suddenly picturing going into that black room again, being burned with the lights.

“It means, my love, that you are now Fae royalty and deserving of all the privileges that come with that,” she said, smiling, then added, “and the responsibilities.”

I was wondering how I had heard her words so completely wrong. Royalty? No, that wasn’t right.

“Oh dear,” I heard Gideon whisper to himself.

“Gerritt must accompany you as your Royal Guard. It is of absolute importance that you remain safe, and all of this remains a secret until we learn more,” the queen continued, looking at me then at Gideon, “Do you understand that?”

“What is an Argent?” I asked, as Gideon was nodding slowly in response.

“That is the most secretive part. The Argents were hunted down and slaughtered by creatures looking to increase their own power by consuming the… parts of Argent Fae. Yet, here you are, clearly of the Argent bloodline. The orbs and the Argent dust are clear proof.”

“That doesn’t mean it was a queen,” I said, rubbing my forehead.

Gerritt informed me, “The Argents are royalty amongst royalty in the Fae world. You are, technically, in command of all Fae and Fae armies.”

“Oh my god.” I said, holding my breath because I didn’t want this and maybe I could suffocate myself to death except that I was a vampire, so I was already dead.

“Breathe Melissa,” Gideon said, “No one expects you to pick up a crown and scepter and lead the Fae.”