Onbekend(75)

“So, what comes next?” she asked. Turner and Devin sat at the kitchen table as Molina continued to pace.

“One of these should do,” Gabriel explained, putting the vials on the cupboard in front of Arianna. Arianna wrinkled her nose at the blood. “Baku blood.”

“Your blood?” Arianna asked.

“Not my day human blood, as you have tasted before. My baku blood.”

Arianna looked at the three vials. Each radiated the same sour smell of power that her grandfather’s blood did. Arianna stopped at looked at the second vial. It looked identical to the other two, but it was somehow different. Arianna uncapped it and took a sniff. It was different. Gabriel took her hand, and with quick, painless jabs, immediately made blood to blood contact.

‘What’s wrong?’ he thought.

‘This just seems strange,’ Arianna replied. ‘I don’t think it’s your blood.’

Gabriel picked up the vial and took a sniff of it also. He couldn’t tell the difference.

‘I don’t know why, but it just doesn’t seem like it’s yours,’ Arianna explained.

‘Do you know whose it is?’

Arianna closed her eyes and tried to watch the people outside the house. Gabriel smiled, fascinated with watching how she saw the world as it flickered by. The scent wasn’t outside. Arianna moved her search into the house. The white flickering of Devin’s heartbeat made her pause. She slowly looked to Turner and sensed it again.

‘It’s like them. The blood is from someone that loves me the way those two do,’ Arianna explained. Gabriel smelled the vial again. Now he could slightly sense what Arianna had felt immediately. ‘And he’s in the house.’

Arianna used her incredible senses to find Andrew in the front room. He was sitting on the couch, in his baku form, intently listening to the kitchen. A smile crossed his face as Arianna found him.

‘It’s Andrew’s baku blood,’ Arianna paused. ‘You know how we were rating everyone before?’

‘Yes.’

‘You and grandpa were at an eleven or twelve. Andrew is at a sixteen.’

Arianna now watched as Gabriel searched the house and found Andrew’s uncle upstairs. The irate man was pacing around an upstairs bedroom. ‘The old man has no clue. What a cunning boy,’ Gabriel commented.

‘Please explain,’ Arianna begged, not understanding.

‘It seems Andrew hid his own baku blood in mine for you,’ Gabriel replied. ‘The higher the power of the blood you drink, the less painful the change is. That’s why all baku changes are done with my blood. I’m currently the strongest baku. At least that’s what I thought. Because I’m still in charge, I can assume that even his uncle doesn’t know his true strength. The strongest baku is always the leader.’

‘Why would he hide that then, if he could be the leader?’

‘I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him that yourself. I can only speculate that there are secrets in that family that we don’t know.’ Arianna nodded, as she finally noticed Devin and Turner tensely watching their silent conversation.

“Drink one vial now, and then, after you change, drink the other two vials. It should be enough to last you through the evaluation by the present purebreds,” Gabriel explained, and the tension eased in the room.

“Which one should I drink?” Arianna asked, knowing that Andrew was intently listening to the conversation.

“Are you sure about what you told me?” Gabriel asked. Arianna nodded. “I don’t smell any poisons, so it should be safe.”

“I can go ask him,” Devin replied, understanding the situation. Turner stared from Devin to Gabriel.

“That’s not needed,” Arianna replied, taking the vial with Andrew’s blood and drinking it. Arianna fell to her knees and the pain rushed over her, forcing her eyes shut.





TWENTY-FIVE




Arianna slowly opened her eyes to find herself in Devin’s arms. An overwhelming sense of concern came over her as she watched his face. Arianna turned slightly and looked up at her uncle, who, unlike Devin and Turner, actually appeared to be happy. Arianna sat up slowly and took Turner’s outstretched hand. In a fluid movement she was standing eye-to-eye with Turner, her arms wrapped around his neck. The sensation she felt as their hands touched made her not want to let go. As she grazed over the skin at the back of his neck, she paused. The warmth that was radiating from him caught her attention. Arianna paused and smiled. She felt nothing but an overwhelming warm sensation of love from Turner. He smiled back and put his hands at her waist. Arianna shivered. Everything seemed to be amplified a hundred times from what she felt in her human form. Arianna was completely blind to the world around her as she gazed at Turner. His emotions read loud and clear. It felt like direct energy to her, more powerful than any blood she had drank.