Halfling;The Sentinel Chronicles. The Rod of Ardum.(Complete

Sunrise.

I came awake wrapped tightly in my sheets at an uncomfortable angle.  I’d lost all feeling in my left foot and, having slept with my mouth open my tongue was firmly stuck to the roof of my mouth.

After drinking what seemed like half the ocean. I turned around in my kitchen, checking the clock glowing neon green from my microwave.  It was two in the morning and I could hear a piano!

Was the music in my head or was it somewhere else?  Slowly I crossed through into my living room and out my front door.  I followed the haunting strands.  So real, I could almost see them before my eyes.

The mournful sound of the piano grew louder in my ears; the call of its hunting notes drawing me closer.  I found myself at Seth’s door. I could hear him singing, a rich deep resonating sound, which wrapped itself around my heart. I felt tears fall onto my cheeks.  I opened the door.

Seth sat at his magnificent grand piano, fingers flying gracefully over the smooth ivory and black keys, his head flung back on his neck, eyes closed his usually serene face creased with a soulfully tormented expression.  I sat in the opposite seat from the one I had perched on earlier in the evening.  His black hair was loose again; he wore no sunglasses and only a pair of long black silk pyjama pants.  He looked relaxed, yet at the same time so very sad.  I found myself shedding more tears for the creature before me. His life must be filled with unimaginable and unending heartbreak.  I found myself unconsciously moving to the music, it swelled up within me until all thought pushed from my mind except the sound of the sorrow-filled melody.  The ancient’s voice resonated with the feeling of loss and price one must pay for eternal life.  Within his song, I heard a depth of sadness that crashed against my being like an unrelenting wave against the bow of a boat.  My heart hurt, with his loss.  I thought I could hear my soul crying out in tune with his playing.

Seth played and sang with the same passion to which he fought, all-embracing, no thought just unwavering action.  He’s so beautiful, deadly as sin, lonely, a cold precise killer, methodical and so completely magical! I thought.

I could not make the beast within me fear him, my mind screamed danger, but my body purred, barely containing its hunger for the ancient and the addictive liquid singing through his veins.

Damn traitorous body why cannot it be good for once but no!  Even when Seth seemed to be in the thick of despairing emotions, I practically jump him with my eyes.  Body, you are despicable!  I snarled a silent reprimand with self-loathing.

I looked up suddenly realising the music flowing around me had ended.  Sprung!

I hesitated before making eye contact, thinking he was going to be pissed, to have me invade his privacy.  Seth was…Smiling!

“Do you always berate yourself so harshly?”  Oh.  He was laughing at me.  A blush crept up my neck.

“Sorry, I forgot you could hear me and yes, I do. I am my worst critic, not counting my mother, of course, she tops me on a level you would never believe without witnessing it.” I replied tapping the side of my head with an index finger.  His smile grew wider.

“I like being privy to your thoughts Lisa, they are very…Intriguing. I like the way your mind works, it is so ordered. A rare thing.” Yeah, that cemented it.  He was laughing at me. I huffed; way past embarrassed. I flounced to my feet planning to make a hasty retreat to my quarters.

“I’m sorry I disturbed you. I’ll see you later. I heard the music and followed it without thinking, it won’t happen again.” I managed to get the quick apology out without stammering as I practically leapt for the front entryway.  Seth beat me to the door. I had not seen him move from the piano stool to where he stood, looming over me in the dim light of the small lamp tucked into a tight little corner.

“I thank you for the company. Over the years, I have only ever had one visitor down here and even then, Malok stays on the other side of the wall.  Your presence here is a very welcome surprise, Elisabeth.”

I blushed not knowing why, but somehow his admission made me feel warm inside.

“Why don’t you get visitors?  I would have thought that Ben, Drake, and Cooper would visit and Edward?”

Seth sighed.  My eyes flashed back to his.

“Before you came, emotions were not something I felt or allowed myself to feel in a very long time.  Your presence here has turned me inside out. I am not the same as I was.” I frowned, his voice was tinged with confusion and more than a little self-loathing.

“I’m sorry.  I am a disability carer for my mother, the position is sucking the life out of me and turning me into a bitter, twisted person shackled firmly under a parent’s thumb with no chance of reprieve or escape. Then bang!  I answer a letter offering me a life jacket when the waves are pulling me under for the millionth time and here, I am!  My life has turned upside down again. Never in my wildest nightmares did I think this life could be possible, let alone happen to me.  This kind of stuff does not happen to people like me. I am not much of an adrenalin junkie, and I am not even very brave.  I learned to fight because my mother and uncle forced me to learn. Not because I thought I was going into battle against fairies, trolls, and gnomes.” I felt guilty for what my presence was doing to his ancient emotionless state, but it was nothing, compared to the fear crawling inside my mind with its insidious venom tipped little whispers.

Since my entry into Seth’s suite, my skin began to prickle incessantly. I could smell the spicy scent of his blood; hear it whispering beneath pale skin.  A sound penetrated my ears; I was unconsciously humming in the back of my throat again.  Where had that come from?  Seth pressed closer, his nose touching into the crook of my neck.  I heard him breathe into his mouth filling his lungs with my scent.

“You’re hungry,” he whispered against my skin.  I groaned trying to pull away, one hand clamped around the back of my neck, the other pressed to my lower back.

“No. I’m fine; I had a big dinner remember!”  I murmured fixating on his deliciously tantalizing scent. I could see his veins pulsing slightly under his pale almost translucent skin.  I caught myself as I leaned forward to press my mouth against the small blue veins scattered across his chest.  I swore, hastily stepping back.

“Lisa, stop tormenting yourself.” Seth grabbed one hand and pulled me past the piano and into the lavishly furnished living room.  He sat down in the middle of a cream leather three-seater couch.  Retaining my hand, he pulled me down to him. My knees bracketing his hips as I sat astride his thighs.  Seth guided my head down to one side of his neck, my eyes zoned in on the vein popping out of one side of his throat.  I shuddered, my mind trying to shy away from what I was going to do. The human side of me finding the consuming of blood repugnant.  The beast within me took over, silencing the objecting part of my consciousness.  The humming in my throat grew louder.  I heard Seth breathe a small exhale in my ear.

“In all my centuries, you are the first I ever let at my vein.” I pulled back peering into his black eyes, only to discover that they were no longer the glittering obsidian, but a deep emerald green.

“Your eyes are green!” I pressed a finger to the corner of one eye.  Seth smiled.

“Yes.”

“But they were black earlier,” I grumbled, bewildered.  He laughed, reaching out to remove the gold cuff protecting my throat.

“They turn black when the demon rises, just as yours are brown and turn red,” Seth responded softly, making that same humming noise from his throat.  I made a mental note to ask him about the weird vocalizations.

“Green eyes; I was seeing through your eyes the day I arrived here.”

“Yes, you told me you had the wrong number.” Seth chuckled pressing my face back to his neck. I breathed in the scent of him through my mouth, my fangs burst forth in an instant.  I struck his vein, swiftly, clean, and deep.  I shut down my brain. I could not think about what I was doing. I would run mad. Seth groaned in my ear, wrapping both arms around my waist he pulled me closer.

All the books ever written about vampires feeding were right. It was incredibly erotic, the feeling highly s****l.  My skin felt electrified, the more I drank the stronger the buzz in my body became.  I walked my knees forwards until they pressed into the back of the couch, plastering my body to his chest as I started to pull harder at his throat.  Hands roamed up and down my back, the humming in my ear growing louder.  My mind reached for his without thought, locking him to me, so he lived all I felt.  I pressed my tongue to the backs of my fangs before sucking the remaining blood from the surface of his skin.  I pulled back, in body and mind, breathless and mortified at what I had just done.  I could not look him in the eye, so I stared at the gold cross hanging from the chain around his neck.  The one I noticed earlier and told my mother of. I touched the cross lightly with a finger.

“Are you going to look at me anytime soon?” he asked softly running one hand up my back and into my hair.

“I’m sorry; you must be feeling pretty much like a happy meal right now,” I muttered still painfully mortified.  He chuckled in my ear.

“Feeding between mates is very much the same as human couples making love.”  That brought my head up, the one subject I wished to avoid.

“So, you can’t- is that why you were with me in your mind?”  I looked down in the general direction of his lap.  He laughed, shaking his head.

“I’m not dead Lisa.  What I was trying to say, is when mates feed on one another the body's reaction is the same as if we were making love. The same endorphins are released into the brain and therefore into the bloodstream.” Ooh boy!

I felt my face turn bright red.  Seth laughed again softly; he pulled me against him in a solid hug.  I could hear his steady heartbeat...heartbeat!  Hold the phone!

“What the hell!  You have a heartbeat, is there anything from the stories, that’s real about vampires?” I practically yelled leaning back to glare at him with my hands on my hips.

“Plenty, the old stories about vampires were started by vampires, being sensitive to sunlight is a big yes, but not because we have fallen awry of God or anything.  With all gifts, there must be a price, you as a witch, should know this?”

I nodded.

“Longevity, super-human speed, strength, naming a few of the bigger gifts, comes with the price of forgoing direct sunlight and drinking blood, the latter does of course have its perks.  Just like humans, vampires are born not turned, although in your case, being a witch means you have some of our blood in your ancestry already. The vampire who bit you was probably young and did not know this.  Your human ability mixed with the vampire blood in your system increased your magical output exponentially.  Your magic is now greater than it ever was before, creating a perk and a price.”

I slid off Seth’s lap coming to my feet I began to pace.  I could not shake off the feeling of dread that begun bothering me when I first entered Seth quarters.  I touched on something in his mind as I was feeding, but I had not been able to wrap my mental fingers firmly around it enough to examine what it was.  There was something about the summit and something, about me.

“You’re hiding something from me.” I saw Seth stiffen in my peripheral vision.  A name flashed through my head before he could censor it.  Goddard! I made a sound of triumph, comprehension, and discovery.

“Goddard, I should have known that little bugger was still up to no good, what happened now?  Did you get in trouble for me anyway?  Is he threatening to banish me to a hell realm or something now?  I think I’ll just eat him on principle.” I snarled flinging myself back onto the couch.

“The idea I grant you does have merit, but you should know that Goddard can’t touch me, and eating humans is repulsive.  Feeding on them would be akin to drinking toilet water.  I did it once when I was desperate, it was disgusting. I do not recommend it”.

“Which one are you referring to, the toilet water or the humans?”  I asked in a teasing tone.  Seth shot me a bland look.

“You’re hilarious. I think another change in subject is in order.” I froze at the foreign note in his voice; I felt as if my spine had turned to ice.  Goddard cannot touch me.  He had said.  I latched on to his meaning with blinding clarity.

“But he can touch me, which is what you’re saying?  Damn it this is no time to be mysterious.” I glowered. I moved shockingly fast, putting a hand on either side of his face.  I leaned back into him.  Once again, I was seated close, straddling his thighs, hoping if I were there he would not just get up and walk away to evade my question.  I met his gaze; his eyes were shimmering black as if the light had leached out of them.

A sliver of fear slid down my spine as the demon within basked in the sensation, the human quaked in fear.  I could taste the scent of his anger, a mixture of ash, and sulphur on my tongue.  My blood started to heat, rising to meet his fury.  Something within me struggled to break free.  I leashed it tightly, suddenly too terrified to let it out. I wished he would just tell me what happened and get it over with the anxiety was killing me.

“Goddard formally petitioned the paranormal council and the summit to have your existence terminated. He told them you are a danger to those around you. You attacked and threatened him.  Your future is to be decided at the summit. The end of October”.  Seth hissed through his clenched teeth.  I swore under my breath.  Figures!

“Well, that’s bloody inconvenient. Morgan’s getting married and I am not sure when the wedding is. I told her about us, she’s added your name to the invitations. I should have asked you first before she did it. Sorry.” Seth’s dark gazed flashed with surprise while I changed the subject in case I’d inadvertently offended him.

“I still have three months before the summit though. Hell, in three months you might want to kill me yourself, so we will burn that bridge when we get to it.  Stop robbing mountains to build molehills.  You on the other hand should be thinking about what is going to happen in the two weeks over Samhain.  This year marks number six hundred, the year when the underworld veils get especially thin.” I said seriously.

Seth grinned suddenly, his eyes becoming their beautiful green again.

“Where on earth did you hear that?” he sounded pleased, his men had, had no idea about the significance of this year, yet the new little Halfling did, extraordinary.  I grinned smugly.

“Felix told me on the plane when he was explaining to me what craziness awaited me. I thought ‘if you can’t beat ‘em, join 'em!’  I didn’t mean it quite so literally.” I replied derisively, arching one eyebrow.

“I’d believe that.  What did you think, when Felix told you about what we do here?” he appeared genuinely interested, which I thought was cool.

“I assumed he was certifiably insane or he was sniffing something that had begun to eat at his brain cells.”

Seth threw back his head and laughed.

“It’s not funny, I felt as if someone had just pulled the rug out from under me. When I saw Tartarus for the first time.  It struck me dumb.  The beauty of this place is astronomical.  There is no way my imagination could have prepared me for the sight, or for the week, I had. It has taken everything within me to stay on my feet and not hide under my bed.” The last I whispered; allowing the fear to reach my voice.

“You may not believe me when I tell you, I understand how you feel.  Yes, I have lived this life thousands of years, but I can see your memories as clear as if it were happening to me.  The emotions attached to them astound me, it is as if I am seeing everything around me again for the first time.  Thank you.”

I blushed looking away trying to hide my embarrassment.

“Was I right, is this year number six hundred?”  I asked blatantly changing the subject.  Seth chuckled.

“Yes, this year is number six hundred.  Well done Halfling.”

Halfling! There it was again. Where had I heard it before?

“I know the veils get thin and stuff, but what exactly, happens? Felix, glossed over that part.”  I asked chewing nervously on my bottom lip.

“It is more likely, he didn’t know. Demons and all matter of evil creatures try and cross over onto this plain, it is our job to stop that from happening. We are the first and last line of defence.”

“Creatures you say. Would there be a Queen?”  I asked nervously.  Seth stiffened in his seat; his face looked almost carved from stone.

“Keeping secrets, Elisabeth?” he purred dangerously. I gulped a shiver ran up my spine at his tone.

“No, I just forgot what the vampire said before he bit me. I was a little preoccupied with the pain and the conversion, oh, and the three-day coma”.  I murmured shying away.  Seth rained in his run-away emotions.

“Continue.” he breathed out slowly. I leaned sideways sliding off his lap back onto the couch cushions.  I curled up in the corner, knees to chest. I wrapped my arms around my legs, my chin on my knees, deep in thought. I was trying to remember the vampire’s exact words, not wanting to leave anything out.

“Come Samhain little witch, the crown jewel will fall, and my Queen will feast for a thousand years.  Then there was screaming and…chomp! I was lunch. Now I think of it, Merdath said the same kind of thing. They keep talking about a Queen.”  I said dryly.  Seth pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut muttering a string of very naughty obscenities.  Something over Seth’s head caught my attention I looked up at the grandfather clock in the corner.  It was a quarter past four in the morning. Yee gods!

My eyeballs felt as if they had been rolled in sand and stuck back into my sockets. I got up slowly, fatigue hit me suddenly I tripped falling backward.  Seth caught me before I could smash any part of myself on the coffee table, which was a glassed topped half of a giant thunderegg. That landing could have twinged a bit.

“I’m so tired, it came on like a lightning strike. Add uncoordinated and I’m surprised I’m still alive.” I murmured acidly feeling my eyes begin to close.  Seth was openly laughing above me as he bent swinging me into strong arms.  I sent him a dry look.

“You don’t have to carry me, I can walk,” I muttered around a yawn.

“You just proved you can’t. Besides, the dawn is coming; it will knock you out wherever you are for a few hours, make sure you are undercover before the sunrises. Your body will warn you; didn’t you feel strange?”

“Thanks for the heads up. I thought my skin was reacting to you again. When you get close to me, my skin tingles driving me mad.” I replied archly succumbing to the encroaching dawn.  My last thought was where Seth was taking me, but even that slipped away as unconsciousness found me.