Chapter 9

Miaka’s P.O.V

“Help? That’s what you want?” I asked him incredulously. “You’re working with people who capture innocent immortals and torture them to get a kick out of it; who hurt people when they are down to feel empowered! And you are saying that you are one of them…to get my help?”

“I never had a choice!” He raised his voice only the slightest before lowering his head and clenching his hands into fists by his side. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to control his anger and then, he took off his glassed once again as he looked into my eyes. “I never had a choice.”

“Everyone has a choice.” I told him.

“Do you?” He fired back, catching me off guard. “Do you have a choice in being the King? Of ruling over the council? Can you take off your disguise right here, right now, and announce your identity without fear of being swarmed by everyone at the park?”

He was right…I didn’t have a choice. But I was different…and maybe, so was he.

“I was born with a purpose, Kaleb.” I told him. “I was born to be the King. It’s not just my only choice, it’s my destiny.”

“And I might not know what my destiny is or where my fate would lead me, but I know my purpose.” He told me just as seriously, never breaking eye contact. “I have a sister and she is terminally ill. I have to save her…if you are willing to help.”

I took a second to think about the absurdity of the situation. This could very well be another trap, another set-up to gain my trust. I didn’t trust easily, never have and never will…but something about the way he looked at me, made me was to believe that there was a grain of truth in what he was saying.

What was wrong with me? Anyone else, who would have gone so far as to try to even think about betraying me, would’ve been dead long ago. Then why was I being this lenient with this man?

“I know you can’t trust me and I’m not expecting you to.” Kaleb said, probably sensing my hesitation. “If you need proof, read my mind. That should help you right?”

I was surprised into a laugh. “Not everyone can read minds, Kaleb, this isn’t a supernatural drama!” I shook my head at the thought.

“You can’t read minds anymore?” Kaleb frowned, his confusion appearing genuine. God, what kind of misinformation was he being fed? Was this another thing the humans were doing? Spreading wrong information and fear that demons could harm them or steal their memories or some other shit like that?

“Demons can’t read minds, Kaleb. You shouldn’t trust everything your employers tell you.” I told him. “But a mage can detect if you are lying or not.”

“No.” The answer was immediate and that made me frown. “I trust you, but I don’t trust mages! If you want to verify my truth then you have to do it yourself.”

I didn’t push him further on his dislike of mages. Maybe he had a bad run-in with a mage? They don’t usually mix with humans and the few covens that we had around tend to hate anyone who wasn’t their own kind.

“Fine.” I told him. “Take me to your sister then.”

*

Twenty minutes later, I stood in front of a glass window, separating outsiders from the ICU bed on the other side of the window, looking at a frail looking girl of about six or seven years of age. Her dark hair had a bluish tint to it, just like her brother. Her eyes were closed, so I couldn’t tell what colour of eyes she had, but I had a suspicion that they would be the same. I had never seen a more identical looking pair.

From the face shape and bone structure…they were more like father and daughter than, brother and sister. If only the child didn’t have so many tubes, or hooked on to so many monitors…poor thing.

“Was this why you saved the vampire child? Because they’re the same age?” I asked him, not moving my eyes from the steady rise and fall of the girl’s chest.

“I never expected to see that.” His voice held untold horrors. “To see a child, the same age as Tyanna…I just couldn’t…I knew I was in the wrong place, helping the wrong people. How is he?”

“Stable but unconscious.” I shifted my gaze to Kaleb. “Tyanna? It’s a lovely name.”

“My mother died giving birth to her.” He looked at his sister with lonely eyes. “My father died a year later. I’m all she has and she’s all I have. After she fell sick…I became desperate.”

I didn’t have any biological brothers or sisters, but the members of the council, my uncle’s children, they were my family, and I would be just as desperate if something happened to any of them and I was powerless to help them.

“What’s her diagnosis?” I asked. I needed to know what I was dealing with. “Anything to do with cancer?”

“No.” He immediately shook his head. “But the doctors are clueless. Everything keeps coming back negative, cancer markers, blood tests, CT’s, ultrasounds…and yet, she has trouble breathing and can hardly keep her eyes open.”

Was this the right thing to do? I asked myself as I looked back at the child. Should I be risking it all? Should I be helping him at all after what he did?

But I wasn’t helping him. I was helping the girl…and now, I could have an upper hand.

“Let’s go inside.” I pointed towards the door.

Kaleb looked at the closed door and then back at his sister before nodding. He was having trouble trusting me as well, no matter what he had said to me a few minutes earlier. And I could totally understand the dilemma. I wouldn’t trust me either if I were him.

We entered the room quietly and I went to stand next to Tyanna while Kaleb stood next to me, taking up a protective stance. But it was too late.

I took off the oxygen mask from her face.

“What the-” He went to stop me but I put a finger on my lips, indicating him to stay quiet.

The girl began to breathe heavily, almost immediately. Her chest heaving as she opened her mouth slightly to gasp in deep breaths. The monitors on the side showed elevated heart rate and a beeping came from the monitors. Her condition was real.

“What are you doing? She’ll die!” Kaleb’s voice was panicked.

“I won’t let her.” I told him and then brought my thumb to my canine and let the sharpness of my teeth break the skin.

A trickle of blood appeared on my thumb and put in on the girl’s open lips, letting a couple drops trickle down before I removed my hand and the wound healed on its own.

One second. Two seconds. Three…

The monitor stopped beeping and her heart rate dropped down to normal. Her breathing evened out.

“How?”

It was a whisper of a sound that left Kaleb’s lips. When I turned to face him, I saw that his eyes were huge as he took in his sister’s form.

“Sir? Ma’am? Is everything alright? There was an-” A nurse came running in as they saw us, but even her eyes widened when she spotted Tyanna breathing without the help of the oxygen supply. “How?”

“She’ll need that mask back on by tonight.” I told the nurse. “For now, she’s safe.”

Then I turned to a stunned Kaleb and motioned for him to follow me outside.

“How did you do that?” He asked; his voice shaky as he watched the nurse check his sister’s vitals from outside the window. “How is she breathing normally? And what do you mean it’s not permanent?”

I save him a sly smile. “My blood can heal people, as long as I want it to.”

“There’s a catch.” His eyes snapped to mine, narrowing in worry. “What is it?”

“I control my blood…even if it’s inside her body. So if I want to, I could just snap my fingers and…” I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “She burns from the inside out.”

I didn’t like threatening him, not one bit. And I especially didn’t like the look of horror on his face as he realized what I had done.

“Relax, Kaleb.” I reassured him. “I don’t get off of killing children and I won’t harm her even if you betray me; that’s not how this works.”

Kaleb gulped, his eyes narrowed as he looked from Tyanna to me. He was trapped from all sides; I could see it in his eyes, the dilemma, the anguish and the helplessness. “What do you want me to do?”

“Tell me everything you know about the people you work for.”

“Okay.”

He didn’t have a choice.