Remember

Chapter 18

After my parents had gone to bed Ares had warped in and taken me back to his place where I stayed religiously every night ever since he branded me. Things were different it and the dreams that had harbored my sleep were getting stronger, but I never told Ares. We made love and I had fallen asleep tucked in his arms. 

The man concealed under the cloak road me to the border. I tasted the magic of sweet vanilla and lavender and had fallen asleep awkwardly as we rode through the night. I finally woke and it was daily light we had reached the outward lands of the realm and toward the human border. I knew because I could smell their blood. It was a fresh distasteful scent that caused me to feel nauseous. 

"Where is mama?" I asked him as he was leading the horse now 

"She will meet you soon Emma." 

"I don't feel well." 

He stopped the horse and went around to the satchel. He handed me a small cub and I took it. 

"This should help. Your senses are strong and they will be like this for a while until you get used to them." 

"Humans, why am I having to go live with humans?" 

"To keep you safe." 

"Safe from who?" 

"I can't explain. One day I'll come for you." 

"Who are you?" 

He removed his hood and there below me, those green eyes. 

"I am Ares the nephew of the King of the Fae." 

I thought the dream would startle me awake, but instead, it wasn't a dream. It was a memory...they were all memories and someone was responsible for erasing them. 

I got up and went toward the paintings on the wall as if prompted by a whisper. The gothic arts of them all were very unique and yet I realized they were all truths of the fairy realm. The giant crow was the same crown from the insignia paintings of war, death, and one that struct out-hidden on a small bookshelf was that of a witch-graceful and stunning. My mother. 

I returned back to bed and snuggled up next to Ares and listened to his heartbeat and wondered if I had one too. One that beat just as he did for him, but I had to be sure. It would have explained a lot of things in my youth that I never questioned until now and why she was so vigilant over me. She was a witch and I was the product of a half-breed gone wrong. No wonder she had migraines all the time. 

Morning came and I hadn't slept well. I had gotten dressed and waited for Ares to wake up. He began to stir awake as I started to make him a cup of coffee. He turned to me his hair messy and his tattoos bright and very visible in the morning light. 

"Hey" He smiled 

But I didn't respond as I sat his cup down in front of me at the bar. He got up and went toward the coffee. 

"You are up early."

"I couldn't sleep." I snapped 

I watched him as he sipped his coffee. 

"I've been having dreams...or memories. Please explain this to me and why are you in my dreams?" 

I sat the picture of my mother on the counter. 

He didn't say anything. 

"How long have you known?" He asked 

"I should ask you the same question?" I clapped back 

"Emma... it's complicated." 

"Who erased my memory and why?"

"She was trying to protect you and give you a normal life." 

"Protect me from who?" 

"My uncle..." 

"Do I need to drag it out of you or her to know what is going on?" 

He let out a heavy sigh. 

"Probably best to hear it from her." 

"This is madness. Did she not think I wouldn't find out? Are we even supposed to be mates or is this just all a joke?" 

"No Emma!" He got up from the stool and came over to me. 

My face was hot from anger and tears streaming down my face from sadness. 

He lifted my chin up and kissed my cheek and then the other side and finally my lips. 

"We are mates for a reason. I made a vow to protect you. I knew you were my mate when I first saw you." 

A memory of the King's Army and amethyst purple flags-the insignia of the crow. 

"I helped your mother get to the human world safely and set her up. I wasn't planning on running into you but it just happened that Jenna and Casey were friends. I saw you and you looked so human, but I knew you weren't." 

"So what am I, my guess I am part witch, but what else? Fae?" 

He gave me a sad look

"I'll take you back home. I can't answer those questions only she can." He nodded to the picture 

"She won't tell me." 

"Her powers are very weak Emma. She isn't a strong witch anymore. That's what happens when you spend half a century protecting someone." 

"Half a century?" I sat down and put my head between my legs trying to figure it out. 

"I remember being little and my parents getting married having a childhood. How can I be half a century if I don't remember?" 

"I told you the fae realm is on a different time. When I brought you to the human realm you were barely a year old, but looked as if you were about 7 because of what you are." 

"What am I Ares? As my mate you should tell me the truth." 

He sighed, "I'll take you back home." 

"Don't bother I'll take myself." I said as I grabbed my book bag and began to walk out the door. 

"You'll be reprimanded." 

"Oh please like that is the least bit of my problems. I'm pretty sure being half a century old and half-witch and half something else gives me the free pass to make my own decisions." 

"Emma please wait." 

"Forget it! You won't tell me the truth then I'll just ask her." 

I slammed the door and began to run back to my home. I was in good shape to run and had always been faster than all of my teammates. I ran as hard as I could back home. I saw that Jake's car was already gone from the drive way and that my moms car was still parked. Good she was home. I opened the door and walked in to her suprise. 

"Emma...I thought you were still sleeping." 

"Emma." I heard Ares voice coming down the hallway. 

"Leave me alone. My business is with her and her only." 

He looked over towards my mom and he was in his full form. She had to have known who he was the whole time. 

I held up the picture of her. 

"Care to explain this?" I asked her 

Her face changed from the surprise of me coming through the front door and seeing Ares to sadness. 

"We were just trying to protect you." She began to say as she came around out of the kitchen. 

"From who?" 

"My Uncle." Said Ares 

"I don't understand..." 

'"Sit down Emma..." 

"I'd rather stand." I snapped, "Tell me did you know who he was? Did you know Jenna was part fae?" 

"I know and I knew. I just knew that I couldn't keep you two apart for much longer. It had already been so long and I knew Ares would be strong enough to protect you from his uncle once the time comes." 

"He is coming?" 

"We aren't sure if he has gotten word that you are here. There are spies everywhere Emma." 

"I tried to keep a low profile trying to blend in." She explain

"Is that why you erased my memory?" 

"I was just trying to keep you safe. The King is very evil and very powerful." 

"Why does he want me?" 

"Because you are the most dangerous weapon on earth and if he doesn't kill you first. He will use it to gain power even over the human world." 

"What am I, mother?" 

"They are called Heteric. Very rare creatures." Said Ares 

"Oh my god just someone just say it." 

"A vampire. You are half-vampire." Yelled my mom as she mulfed her voice with her hand and began to cry. 

I began to feel dizzy as I processed the information. 

"I was betrothed to the king, but he only wanted me for my powers. I was sold to him and was to bear an heir to the throne. He went off to war and his best friend, your father and I became close. He was a vampire-he was handsome, smart, funny, all these the King was not. We made love and conceived you. It is rare for vampires to have children. When the King found out he was mad even madder, but his councilmen knew how lethal a witch and vampire child would be. Witch and Fae would be powerful, but a blood-sucking and witch would mean a key into the human world to control them." 

"The rule of humans going into the realm was not his doing Emma." Said, Ares

"I cast a spell making it impossible for humans to cross over because it would be a death sentence if they were to ever go over there."

"I am not human." 

"No, but I have spent years trying to make you be human!" 

"Stop trying to protect me!" I roared and something in me snapped. The house shook and I could feel something inside me burning as if it had been hidden deep within. I turned to Ares who was trying to comfort me. 

"No! You stay away you knew this whole time and didn't bother to tell me."

"Emma please let me help you." 

"I don't want your help or need your help." I growled, "You both just leave me alone!" 

I ran away out the front door before even Ares could try and stop me. 

I ran as fast as I could into the woods and made sure Ares wasn't following me. I was angry and upset. I had lied to my whole life and now I felt like my perfect world was crashing down. I ran until my lungs felt like they were to catch on fire and my heart would burst out of my chest and die. So it did beat. 

I finally made it to a clearing and I had no idea where I was. Where my legs had taken me, but I knew I was alone. I sat on an old broken rotting tree and cried trying hard to remember what was taken from me. The silence was distributed by the snapping of twigs and I felt in my bones I wasn't alone.