Page 121 of Destined to Fight

Kade looked down, then back up at Kelly.

She followed his gaze and saw a good two inches of water pooling on the floor.

“Shit!” She sent it to the bathtub, and it sloshed as it overflowed the tub before it could drain completely. Cleaning up would be fun, but she’d deal with it later.

Kade didn’t say a word about it, thankfully. His tone was a little softer this time. “Yer not just something to protect, Kelly. None of us have dealt with something like this before, and it’s a big lift for everyone. Aye, I’m mad at ye for the way ye handled that night. Had ye come to us to talk about it, we could have saved ye all the trouble of trying to rescue Ginna on yer own. It’s in the past now, though. Fabian has been working with the new people to get them trained and up to speed so they’re able to protect ye. It’s not that he doesnae want to work with ye, just that he felt some rest would be good for ye, and three people protecting ye is better than ye fighting for yerself. As for me, I came up here because I had some news for ye. It’s one of the reasons I’ve left ye alone most of the week.”

Kelly’s blood boiled. “If you say Darlene is back, it’s going to get physical.”

He gave her a half smile. “And here ye are accusing me of being jealous.”

She managed a shrug.

Kade walked over to the bed and sat next to her.

“Ye scared the shit out of me the other night. First, ye disappeared without a word, and ye didnae trust me to handle the situation but rather took it into yer own hands. Then, when we found ye nearly dead, and ye drained me almost dry through an animalistic instinct for my blood. The power ye used shouldnae be something an unbonded mage has access to, and it nearly killed ye. While ye recovered, ye continued to exhibit a sort of bloodlust for my blood, and that scared me. None of this is normal, and frankly, it’s got me stumped.”

Kade’s tone and what little emotion she felt through their closed link showed her he cared.

“How do you think I feel dealing with all of this? You’re used to Arcane shit. I’m used to being human, and now I’m stopping time and starting wars purely by chance. I don’t know how much more I can take, Kade. But I can tell you I can’t do this alone. I refuse to be kept in the dark while everyone goes about their job to protect little ol’ me.”

Taking a deep breath, she centered herself.

“Can we at least open the link back up? I feel you trying to shut me out, so I haven’t pushed it, but sometimes just knowing how you feel about things is all the reassurance I need.”

“Aye, why don’t we do that now? What I have to tell ye should probably stay between us anyway.”

Kelly opened her mind and felt him welcome her in. The feeling of joining with his mind was almost better than a giant bear hug. It just felt right.

Thank you. So what’s this news you spoke of?

Hope and excitement bled through to her.

Connor finally found the answers we’ve been looking for.

33

He was able to speak with an elder who told him exactly what’s going on. Ye and I share what is the result of a centuries-old pact between vampires and mages. Thousands of years ago, mages and vampires made a pact to keep the races safe against a rogue group of shifters and demons. They felt the only way to defend themselves was to bond their powers together and create a sort of hybrid. They chose specific bloodlines to receive the powers and bound it with a spell that cannae ever be broken. A hybrid pair was stronger than any enemy and was able to fight against the shifters and demons with much greater success. After the war ended, though, one couple branched off and tried to take power over all Arcane. Hundreds died fighting them, but eventually the couple was beheaded, and their families were exiled. After that, the Council was formed, and they ordered the pact between vampires and mages to be erased from history out of fear. Races were ordered to segregate from one another in everything but business, and interracial relationships were strictly forbidden.

It took a moment for all of that to sink in.

I don’t understand. It doesn’t seem possible that something like this could have been hidden for so long.

Aye, but how the pact was formed makes it hard to stumble on by accident. Ye see, the hybrids were formed through a blood bond. Each had to take the other’s blood in order for the bond to seal. Because of the Council’s rules against interracial relationships and the nature of the bond, it was very improbable that a mage and a vampire of the right bloodlines would find each other and become hybrids.

Holy shit. So what does this mean?

The elder said each hybrid pair was different. Each of them would take on some strengths from the other, but they also developed weaknesses. There is a good chance ye have a bad reaction to silver and shifter bites now.

Oh, great. But with my affinity to earth, I can maybe control that, right?

I dinnae ken. Ye may lose yer affinity to earth.

Well, shit. So what about you, will you gain anything?

I think our telepathy is a hell of a start, but aye, I’ll probably gain something. It’s harder for me to adapt to these powers after hundreds of years of just vampire abilities. It wouldnae surprise me if I gain some sort of mage abilities, but only time will tell.

What about the blood exchange, do we keep that up?

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