Blood and Apples: An Annora Park Novel: Book One

Chapter Twenty-Six: Cravings under a darkened sky

    This was not okay. This was not okay. And stranger danger. Stranger danger, kept screaming out at me. I wasn't sure how to make myself okay with the situation I was currently in.  I'd gone from having no boyfriends to, two potential fucks and two potential mores, and I was freaking the fuck out. The fact that the Dark Fae King kept staring at me like I was some particularly tasty morsel he wanted to consume wasn't helping matters any. I mean, did he want to fuck me or eat me? I was't sure. God. Some f'ing quandary I was.
"I seriously need you to back the fuck off," I bite out finally, at the Dark Fae King.
"Do I make you uncomfortable, mo bhanrigh meadhan oidhche?" he asks, a sly smile on his face.
I snort "You know you do. So why even ask?"
"Interesting," he says.
"What's interesting," I snap, my patience gone.
"Most women wouldn't admit it, you know. They would play coy...play the game. But you came right out and told me that I make you uncomfortable."
"I'm not most women," I snipe, instantly regretting my words because he only brings his chair closer to me, his eyes getting even more...hungry.
"No...no...you certainly are not, mo bhanrigh meadhan oidhche. You certainly are not." His eyes gleam brightly and God, oh God, they are filled with a terrible yearning...a terrible hunger. "Are you my salvation, mo bhanrigh meadhan oidhche, or my ruin?"
    I swallow, convulsively, and try to regulate my breathing. I do not need this shit right now. Well. I never needed it, but right now, I definitely didn't.
"I'm..." And I try to get my throat to work properly, and form actual words. "I'm...not sure what you mean...sir." I'd look back later and play back that second a million times, but what in God's name had brought forth that word...that sir at the end of my question, I'll never know. The Dark Fae King's eyes go completely black, as in BLACK BLACK, and his nostrils flare right before his eyes burst forth with a million starbursts.
    HOLY SHIT!
"BACK! GET BACK, my beloved," this from Chamuel as he grabs me and hauls me back right before the Dark Fae King lunges forward trying to grab me.
    Again, HOLY SHIT! What the fuck had just happened? I'd had one moment to register the Dark Fae King's Dark as midnight eyes before everything was blown all to hell. What. The. Actual. Fuck?
"Calm!" Terrenel is shouting in the Dark Fae King, Branuel's face, "Calm, you MUST remain calm. The Miann Ban-Dia is riding you. You MUST calm...and control yourself. Listen to my words. You WILL lose her if you lose this battle, Branuel Or De A'lanuel. She will never come to you if you do this. Calm. Control yourself, NOW!" This last is shouted in his face and seems to break him out of his horrible rage and internal battle.
    OH MY GOD! What had just happened here?
"My amour..." Chamuel breathes into my hair. How had I not realized that he was still holding me? "Beloved one, do not allow this moment to pull you further from us. This was...slightly unexpected. And yet, expected at the same time. You are not to blame for any of it."
I blink, and then blink again. Blame for what? What the heck had just happened? I'm not even sure what I'm feeling badly over right now. "I...I'm...I'm a little..." I try to get my racing thoughts under control. I take a few deep breaths, and then exhale, deeply. Okay. Okay. I was just fine. I was still standing. The men around me were all still standing. No one had died. Sooooo...everything was just...fine—right? "I'm...uhm, I'm good, Chamuel. You can let me go now. I'm not going to freak out. And I'm not going for my knives, soooo yeah, everything is okay, for now..." I finish.
"I find I'm a bit reticent to let you go," Chamuel breathes in my ear. His soft breath stirs things deep within my belly, and I fight to keep my emotions in check.
"Uhhh," I laugh nervously. "Well, you can't just keep me in this position," I shoot back. Chamuel licks the shell of my ear and I feel as if my body goes supernova. Oh. My. Gah. And just like that my brain goes haywire? Do these men have some weird pheromone that is calling to me? Why, God, why do I feel this way?
"Can you not just accept that it was His will, my amour?" Chamuel murmurs.
Just roll back and show my belly? Like some beaten down dog? Nope. No. I couldn't. "So, NOT, my style," I shoot back on a snarl.
Chamuel laughs, but it's a harsh, hiss of laughter. "I told Them it would not be easy. I told Them you were not a conquest easily had."
"I'm not a conquest, period, asshole."
"Just so, my amour, just so. For a moment there I 'forgot myself,' and for that I'm sorry, my beloved."
    HIS beloved. But not JUST his, right?
"No, amour, not just mine, my beloved, by His design never just mine."
Annnd there I went...back to being freaked out again. No. I had to get my shit together. "Seriously I feel like I'm in some bad supernatural sitcom, but I know I'm not. And that freaks me out more than anything else does." I rub my temples and resist the urge I have to rub myself against Chamuel. Sex thoughts would really not help right now. Definitely wouldn't help me to get my shit together. "Okay...okay...so somebody care to tell me why big bad Dark Fae King over there totally lost his shit a moment ago?" I hear Chamuel sigh deeply, and I watch the waterfall of emotions flit across Terrenel's face. Walker. Well. Walker looks totally blank, as always. Yup, total psychopath was my Walker boy.
"King Branuel Or De A'lanuel was suffering from Miann Ban-Dia...Goddess desire," this finallly from Terrenel.
"I'm sorry," I say, "What?"
"When you meet your perfect...match...your mate...and she brings forth the..." Terrenel seems to search for the right words, "...the...wild...urge, the NEED. It burns through you until there is nothing left BUT the desire, the want, the very need to make her yours...to claim her completely. We call it Goddess desire, for it was the Goddess that stoked such a yearning in our soul."
I gulp. "I...I...I didn't mean to uhhh awaken anything." I say carefully, eyes now affixed on the Dark Fae King. The Dark Fae King is sitting, completely still in his chair. His eyes are no longer midnight black shot with stars, and for that I'm grateful...as beautiful as it was, it was also completely creepy.  But his rigidity is a scary thing in and unto itself.  He continues to stare at me with those dark, dark eyes, not moving a muscle and it's like all the tension in the universe is bleeding into his soul keeping him immobile and quiet...oh so quiet.  When he spoke he freaked me out.    But this unnatural stillness and silence, it freaked me out equally so.
   "It can be a movement, an action...or..." Terrenel sighs before adding, "...a word.  That is all it takes to awaken the Miann Ban-Dia."
   I bite my lip and instantly regret the action, as the Dark Fae King's eyes follow the motion.  Oh my gah!  "I...I only said—"
   "NO!" Terrenel yells, "no my beautiful queen, do not say it again, not while he is so close to the edge.  You musn't say it."
   I roll my shoulders.  "It wasn't meant in any sexual way, Terrenel," I finally manage to say.  Trying to ignore the heat that is burning in my cheeks.  Shit.  Stupid Asian flush!  "It was just a stupid word."
   "Not to Branuel Or De A'lanuel...NOT to the Goddess." Terrenel snaps back.
   I rear back, stunned.  "I meant nothing by it," I say on a near whisper.
   "To you...my beautiful warrior queen...to you.  You meant nothing by it.  But you brought forth the Miann Ban-Dia in the Dark Fae King.  You cemented what I so hoped to deny." He sighs and runs a hand though his beautiful silver hair.  "I so wished to deny it.  I wished it not to be true.  When your angel spoke the words I laughed at him.  I accused him of having a false tongue." Terrenel turns tormented eyes on mine and I go almost breathless at what I see shining forth from his brilliant orbs.  "But...I cannot call false what I have just witnessed with my own eyes.  If I was not here, my beautiful queen, if my power hadn't tempered his...he would have taken you, he would have taken you and damned the consequences.  You brought forth the Miann Ban-Dia, and nothing else mattered.  His universe was singularly set upon you."
   I shake free of Chamuel's embrace and stand up.  I face Terrenel then, and the look on my face wasn't pretty.  I knew that.  "He would've tried.  But he wouldn't have gotten far," I spit out angrily,  "I'd have stopped him."  No way in Hell would I have let the Dark Fae King just 'take me.'  I'd have stopped him, or died trying.
   "And that is what Terrenel's fears," Chamuel says quietly.  "That you would have died trying to stop him."
   I whip my eyes to him.  "Listen buddy, no way in Hell would I have let Big Baddie over there rape me." Before anyone can stop me my face is a mere inch away from the Deark Fae King, and I didn't even realize my dagger is at his neck. For his part his stoic face breaks and a small smile crosses his lips. "Listen you Dark Crazy Motherfucker!" I let him see the intent in my eyes. "YOU EVER, EVER come at me like that I will fucking cut off your nuts and feed them to you."
    The Dark Fae King's eyes gleam, losing some of that harshness and he leans into my blade. "Promise, my midnight queen, promise I will feel the bite of the blade in flesh. For if you bleed me...I shall certainly return the favor. Ohhhh what fun we shall have."
I drop my daggers and gulp. "Just stay the fuck away from me you total psycho and we'll be just fine," God I hoped we would be. I really didn't have time for more lunacy in my life.
   "It wouldn't have been rape," Terrenel says, and I shoot him a disgusted look before he continues, "The Miann Ban-Dia is all encompassing.  It takes you over completely...leaving no room...for...for anything else.  It was designed such.  Once you meet your perfect match your walls crumble, your inhibitions fade and you fall completely into one another.  To Branuel Or De A'lanuel it would not have been rape..."
I blink and then blink some more.  Holy Shit.  I run my hand through my hair, and try to keep my breathing in check.  I do not need to have another panic attack right now.
   "Fuck!" I finally shout out, ignoring how my guys flinch at the word.  "Seriously, just FUCK, FUCK!" I burst out in hysterical laughter before turning my eyes onto the Dark Fae King.  "So...you okay now, Mr. Big Baddie Fae King? All your marbles there? And working properly?  I mean, we cant really continue if you're completely lost in this...this...what did Terrenel call it, the Miann Ban-Dia?  Nope, can't really have a cognizant conversation with you when you're all lu-lu in the head because of a stupid, simple, word.  I mean, that won't work at all, will it?"  I'm only slightly aware that I'm pacing back and forth.
   "I am...that is to say, mo bhanrigh meadhan oidhche...I believe myself to be...in control...now."
I stop pacing, only to come face-to-face with the beautiful Dark Fae King himself.  And oh jeezum, he is seriously too beautiful to be believed.  No, his beauty is no illusion.  There is no trickery or magic at play here.  He is, just simply put, this beautiful.
   "You scare the ever loving shit outta me!" I find myself spitting out and gasp.  Oh my God.  Had I just really admitted that to him?  I'm not mollified by the beautiful smile that spreads across his face and spills into his eyes.  God.  Even when he's scary as fuck he's beautiful.
   "Ach...Goddess be, I love that.  I love the tremor I see in your face, the scent of your fear...it is...it is intoxicating," The Dark Fae King says quietly.  "Ohhhhhh my beautiful midnight queen ohhh the things I shall do to you...the things I cannot wait to do to you...wrought upon your flesh..." his face gets a dreamy quality as he continues... "...sooo supple and white...bleeding to midnight black and red...I will bring you flush within our marriage bed. Rivulets from white to red...the ultimate sign of our bound within our bed"
My eyes widen and my mouth drops open in utter astonishment.  What.  The.  Hell.  I look over at Chamuel who hasn't moved an inch, and point a finger at him wildly.
   "Fix this," I screech, not caring if I sound crazy or not, "Oh my God! Chamuel, you need to fix this!" I'm left utterly defeated by the fact that he doesn't move, and that his face remains staunchly impassive.  "Chamuel?" I say hesitantly.  I must finally get through to him, or my pain gets through to him, because he finally moves.  He gets out of the his chair and comes to stand behind me, wrapping me within his arms.  I don't care if if makes me weak, or if I look weak, I fall into his embrace.  I'm seriously a second away from losing my shit all over again.
I gulp, and see the Dark Fae King's lips tighten and eyes narrow into tiny slits.   He doesn't like how Chamuel is holding me.  He wants to be the one holding me right now, that much is clear.  Oh my God.  Oh my God.  Does the Dark Fae King really think we are bound?  We.  Are.  Bound.
   "How I wish I could spare you this journey, my amour," Chamuel breathes into my hair, and I stiffen.
   "Spare me?" I spit out.  And suddenly the anger, the fury is back in force.  "Spare me?!  You wish you could spare me the journey?" I wrench myself free of Chamuel's embrace, and spin around to face him.  "God! Oh my fucking God!  I don't even know what to say to that, that is just how fucking crazy all this shit it!  Ever since you entered my life, well, my life has completely imploded!" I continue to rail at him.  "I was just fine with how things were, Chamuel!  My life, though far from perfect, was just fucking fine! DO YOU UNDERSTAND!!" I scream! And I feel with the scream as if I'm letting out all my rage, anger, hurt and fear.
   "Humans are still getting murdered, Annora darling.  And they're still getting...eaten.  You were bound to come to me eventually, baby girl.  And the angel was bound to appear in my house."  Walker's oh-so-calm voice interjects.
   I blink, as if coming out of a bad dream and swallow—hard.  "Walker..." I say quietly.
   Walker nods and comes to stand at my side.  He cups my cheeks and I feel the heat of his touch as if it's scorching my skin.   "Hey baby girl.  You okay, now, sweetheart?"
   I take a deep breath.  "Uhmmm...I haven't killed anyone yet, so that's a good sign, right?" I mumble, and Walker laughs.
   "Yeah, baby girl, that's a good sign.  So...let's try to back up a bit...let's try to put aside the crazy rage, okay, and focus on why we came here in the first place, sound good?"
   Holy Shit.  Was Walker being all practical and reasonable and shit?  Wow.  The world really had to be ending.
   "Romanoff is merely pointing out what we all need to be focusing on right now," Chamuel says curtly, and I give him a pointed look.  "We have allowed our emotions to rule us.  But there are larger issues at hand.  Issues that will not be resolved unless we all get ourselves together," Chamuel finishes and I stare at him with wide eyes.  "What, my amour, you know what I say is true.  I speak only the truth.  Will you punish me for it?"
Would I punish him for it? No. No. I wouldn't punish him for it, per se.  Hold it against him...yeah, that I'd probably do.  I couldn't help myself.  It was just my nature. 
God.  I was a bitch. But hell, it had kept me a live this long.
   I rub my eyes, and take a deep breath before I begin.   "You're right.  You're both right." I look first at Walker, and then to Chamuel.  "You're both right.  I...I allowed my emotions to get the best of me.  In doing so, I lost focus on the real reason that we're here."  Okay.  Okay.  I could totally do this.  I could speak to him without having a total freak out attack.  I turn my attention to the Dark Fae King.  God.  Oh God.  He really is so fucking beautiful. Also, scary as all fuck.  I have a good idea as to what foreplay in this psycho's mind was, and I really didn't feel like taking part in his sick fantasies, even if my stupid soul seemed to crack with the admission.  Get.  Your.  Shit.  Together, Annora girl.  I totally had this.  I take a deep breath, "...We came to you in regards to murders occurring on the human plane." I don't allow him time to interject or interrupt, I barrel on, "...The murderer is a member of the Dark Fae Court, and he has been slaughtering innocent humans.  After he sucks out their life force he morphs them into apples and eats them.  We need your help Branuel Or De A'lanuel to catch this killer.  Will you help us?" How was that for diplomacy? See, I could be diplomatic if I wanted be—sort of.