23. Anevae

Iwasn"t sure how long I"d been crying when I heard a loud pounding at the front door. The sound startled me, but I rushed to peek out the window. I was confident that if it were the unfamiliar man, he wouldn"t be knocking on my door. But with what had just happened, I wanted to be sure of who it was. Outside, pounding on the door again, was Maeyve. She had blood smeared across her face and was visibly favoring one leg over the other. Her shirt was torn in spots, and her hair was a mess. I hurried to the door and fumbled with the locks to let her in.

A wave of relief washed over me as I ran to the door and pulled her inside. "Oh, thank God you"re okay."

After guiding her to the couch, I rushed to grab first aid supplies and washcloths to clean her up. When I returned to the living room, she was pacing.

"What are you doing? You"re hurt! Please sit," I requested.

She turned to me, eyes a fluorescent orange, and murmured, "Anevae, we need to talk about what happened outside."

When I focused on her eyes, I remembered the fox staring at me as the man held me. She was the fox, and she saved my life. Rushing over to her, I urged her to sit. I had to make sure she was okay and clean her up. Sitting down next to her, I began to wipe away the blood from her face.

Still looking at the floor, she asked, "What are your parents" names?"

My hand froze. "The man mentioned my mom. Her name is Cordilaen. My dad"s name is Roarc."

She closed her eyes and cursed, "Shit. This is bad, but things are starting to make so much more sense. What have your parents told you about themselves?"

Her question confused me. "My parents never talked about where they came from, and I knew very little about their lives before I was born. Things may make sense to you, but they don"t make any sense to me right now. Why don"t you just tell me what you have to tell me? I need you to explain to me what"s going on."

"I"m very sorry you"re hearing this from me. Your parents should have been honest with you. But they had their chance…" she trailed off before sucking in a deep breath and blurting out, "The man out there wasn"t really a man at all; he was a vampire. From what it sounds like, the king has sent him here to retrieve you –"

I could feel my eyes double in size. "What king? The king of where? Why would he want me? Is my mom royalty of some sort?" My mind ran a million miles a second.

She placed her hand on my face and brought my eyes back to hers. "Your mom, Cordilaen, is a faerie princess who has been missing for decades, and your dad, Roarc, is the shifter lord"s second son. We all come from another realm that is interconnected with this one called Caellaias."

As soon as she mentioned Caellaias, I gasped and shoved at her. "No. No. No. That"s not true. That can"t be true. Caellaias is just a place my mom made up to entertain my sister and me."

Her voice was soft as she took my hand. "I assure you that Caellaias is real. It"s not something your mom just made up. I"m not sure why your parents didn"t tell you about who they are. No one ever knew where Cordilaen went or who she went with, but everyone knew she had glamour magic, making the efforts to locate her that much more difficult. Roarc disappeared around the same time that Cordilaen did, but his disappearance wasn"t as concerning because he wasn"t as important to the king. I"m sure no one thought they"d left together."

While I sat there, trying to process everything, Maeyve got up and began pacing. Suddenly, she stopped in front of me and said, "That explains why there was a ward around your cabin. There"s a portal to Caellaias in these woods. Your parents likely wanted to protect you, but why the hell wouldn"t they tell you about Caellaias with you being so close?"

"There was a what? A ward? What is that?"

"A ward is a type of spell that protects an area, acting like a barrier between your home and the rest of the world. As long as you were inside, no magical being could cross it until they were invited. Could you not sense it? Did you even realize when it was destroyed?"

"No, I had no clue anything was out there; until a few minutes ago, I didn"t even think Caellaias was real. When was it destroyed?"

"It happened the night before I came pounding on your door frantically. Do you remember anything about that night?"

"I watched movies with Eiri until really late, then she went home, and I went upstairs to bed."

"Was anything odd to you that night?"

"Well, I was really tired, like more so than normal. But it was the first day I hadn"t done much, so I attributed it to that."

"Hmmm. That"s weird," she said, then started pacing again. Coming to another stop, she met my gaze. "I wonder why I still can"t sense your magic. There"s no way you"re powerless with your parents" lineages."

"You said my mom has glamour magic, right? Could she have covered things up with that? I have no clue how all of this works."

"That"s definitely how she hid you all for so long, but that wouldn"t be the reason I can"t sense it now. I wonder if she"s been giving you a suppressant?"

"How would I know? This is just so much to process."

Maeyve came to kneel before me. Grabbing my hand, she said, "You likely wouldn"t know. As long as I"m around, I won"t let anything happen to you. I"m sorry you haven"t been told about the world your parents come from."

"I know more than you think. My mom used to tell my sister and me stories about Caellaias and all of the beings from there. Maybe she knew she couldn"t protect me forever. My dad always told me that Caellaias and everything my mom told me wasn"t real. Why? Why not prepare Eiri and me? Why get mad at my mom when she was just trying to educate us? Did he think he could protect us forever? I"m sorry. I have so many questions."

Maeyve sighed as she looked at our hands. "I know this is a lot. I wish I could answer every question you have, but I don"t know what their intentions were for keeping things from you girls. That"s a question for them."

Gasping, I remembered one of my mom"s stories. "Oh my God. My mom was Princess Laeney—Laeney is short for Cordilaen. My dad is the shifter lord"s son. I know why they ran away! My grandfather tried to force my mom to marry a wealthy faerie, and she didn"t want to. She never told us how they ran away. Shit. Then that means the king is my grandfather. But why did he send a vampire to bring me back to him? Why does he want me at all? Is he trying to lure my mother home? Or does he have ulterior motives?"

When Maeyve looked up at me, I didn"t meet her gaze. We sat there in silence for several minutes until she whispered, "Anevae?"

Sliding my hand from hers, I finally looked at her again. "This can"t be real. I have to be dreaming. I"m just an ordinary, boring woman; there"s no such thing as Caellaias; my mom isn"t a faerie, and my dad isn"t a shifter; I"m not royalty. This is just a dream." Then I began shaking as other realizations hit me. "My lover isn"t also a fox… shifter? And a vampire isn"t trying to capture me to take me to my grandfather…" Burying my face in my hands, I began hyperventilating.

Maeyve climbed up on the couch next to me and pulled me onto her lap, encasing me in her arms. I hadn"t had a panic attack in many years, but this was all too much information at once. My mind kept swirling as I tried to wrap my head around everything. Tears welled in my eyes, and I tried to wipe them away without success.

After a few moments, I unraveled myself from her arms, wiped my tears, took a few deep breaths, and looked at her. "I know why you got concerned when I mentioned the black fox now. It was you. Were you watching me before we met?" I asked, concern lacing my voice.

She dropped her eyes to the floor and nodded. "Yes, the fox you"ve been seeing is my fox form. I was curious about you and the ward surrounding your house. My intrigue intensified when you visited my house, and I checked on you more often. I haven"t wanted to take my eyes off you since then."

"If it"ll help me come to terms with all of this, will you do something for me?" I lifted my gaze to Maeyve, who stood silently, waiting. "Will you…show me? Your transformation, I mean?"

After taking a deep breath, she said, "If that"s what you need, I"ll happily do it."

She took a few steps back and then began stripping off her clothes. As she removed each layer, my eyes skimmed over her body, drinking her in. When she started to transform into her fox form, I was awestruck. Fur began sprouting all over her body, black and orange, just like her hair. The shape of her face changed, and the bones in her extremities broke, repositioning themselves; it looked painful. But just as fast as it had started, the transformation was complete. In front of me was the black fox I"d seen numerous times over the last few days.

Once she was fully shifted, she looked up at me with her beautiful orange eyes. I stood to approach her without thinking, but her ears flattened, and she whimpered.

"I"m sorry. I just want to get a closer look at you. This is all new to me, and I want to know everything. If you don"t want me to get close, I will stay right here, but I won"t hurt you," I said as I knelt on the floor.

Maeyve"s eyes locked onto mine through thick black fur. Hesitantly, she slunk forward and sat directly in front of me. She was larger than the other foxes I had encountered in the past; her head was still easily as large as mine, and her paws were still about the same size as my hands. Her shoulders were up to my hip when she stood on all fours. Her black and orange fur looked soft and fluffy. I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers through it.

I raised my hand as a request to stroke her fur if she"d allow it. She bent her head toward me and bumped my hand with her wet nose. When I didn"t move my hand, she licked it. The sandpaper-like texture of her tongue made me snatch my hand back. I didn"t expect her tongue to have such a rough texture.

She whimpered and lay down with her head on her paws. I slowly reached out to pet her soft head and ears and gave her a small, sad smile. I couldn"t believe it was all real.

We stayed silent as I stroked her fur, and after a few minutes, I sighed with regret. "We need to talk some more. Can you please change back into your human form and get dressed?"

Maeyve got up, licked my face, and stepped back over to her clothes, where she returned to her human form. The transformation was so fast I might have missed it if I were to blink. She put her clothes back on and pulled me onto the couch. When she sat beside me, she was ready to listen.

We sat silently for several moments before I began, "I don"t even know where to start. I"m worried that if I confront my parents, they"ll never let me out of their sight again. Or they"ll find a way to force me back home. Fuck. What if the vampire is going after Eiri, too? Why does the king want me?" All the questions continuously circling through my head had my pulse quickening, and my breathing grew ragged.

Maeyve grasped my hand, and a jolt went through my body that was different from the one I usually felt when she touched me.

Ripping my hand from her grasp, I asked, "What the fuck was that? That is not like the normal tingling sensation I get when we touch."

She let out a nervous laugh before she spoke. "That was me. We"re not going to get anywhere with you panicking, and one of the many benefits of being a succubus is my calming ability. Please take a deep breath. Let"s tackle one thing at a time."

"Wait a minute, did you say you"re part succubus? Like ‘luring people in and attracting them" part succubus? Oh my god. Is that why I"ve been so attracted to you?!" My voice raised an octave with every question spewing from my mouth. Now, not only was I confused, but I was furious. "You made me like you, didn"t you? You attracted me and used me, didn"t you?!"

Maeyve"s jaw dropped at my accusations. Her eyes darkened with anger as she lowered her voice and grasped my chin, "You listen to me right now. Luring people is an ability that succubi have, and yes, some use it for evil. I can"t help what I am, but I can control my abilities. I have never once lured you to me since we met, and I would never do that to you. This connection between us has been genuine. I"ve felt the same pull you have since we met. Do not come at me with the human myths of my kind again. I"m sure you know nothing about what a true succubus is."

The anger in her voice put me on the defensive, and I felt angry right back, but her grip on my chin was comforting. Whenever our skin touched, it felt like the world was right, and I didn"t want to leave her. I was conflicted about whether to pull back from her or lean in closer. Something about her anger turned me on, which only irritated me. What if she was using this to convince me to stay? She sent the jolt only moments ago to calm me down. Finally, my brain took over, and I ripped my chin out of her grasp.

Once free, I pushed back and rose from the couch, wanting to be anywhere but there having that conversation. I didn"t know what to believe besides what I had seen. I knew she was indeed a fox shifter, but I knew nothing about her succubus powers or what they could do. I needed to process everything; I could only think of doing that if she wasn"t in the house with me.

"I want you to leave. I need you to leave. I can"t do this right now. I can"t even think straight when you"re around. This is all too much, and I don"t even know how I feel right now."

Panic took over Maeyve"s face as she scrambled to her feet and attempted to grab my hand. I shuffled backward to stay out of her grasp. Then, the anger returned.

She stopped and screamed, "Fine! You want me to leave you alone?! I"ve done nothing but try to please you these last few days. I"ve put myself at risk for you numerous times now, and I haven"t even expected any appreciation! I just wanted to explain things to you. I wanted you to understand. I showed you my fox, which I have never done for anyone before! I"ve never trusted anyone the way I trust you. I"ve never felt this way about anyone before, but you want me to leave? Fine. Good luck figuring things out with the vampire stalking your home. You don"t know anything about our world." When she finished, she marched around the house, grabbing some of her things before she stomped out the front door.

For a moment, I just stood there, staring at the door. Then, the weight of what I had just done settled over me. I scrambled to the door and threw it open, but Maeyve was already gone, her things scattered on the ground. As I stood there, my mind began to race, and panic took over.

My heart pounded a million miles a minute, and my breaths became more rapid and shallow. Everything she said as she left had come at me full force. I had no clue how I would handle the vampire, and I didn"t want to include my parents unless I had to. They"d kept enough about Caellaias from me, and I didn"t want them fighting my battles anymore.

Slamming the door shut, I placed my back to it and willed my fear to ease, but the more I thought about going outside, even just to get away from the property and the vampire, I began to shake and feel lightheaded. Fuck. There"s so much to process. I just need a minute.

As I slid down the door, I closed my eyes, covered my ears, and screamed at the top of my lungs, letting loose all of the pain, fear, and anger until my throat was raw. When I couldn"t scream anymore, I went back to the couch. I"d figure everything out at some point, but at that moment, I needed my sister.

Just as I sat down, a text came in.

Are you okay?

Perfect, but strange timing, I thought to myself.

Zoning out for a few minutes, I weighed my options. I could tell her everything and have her think I was insane, or I could lie and try to handle all of this on my own. Whatever my decision, I needed to make it before Eiri got too concerned.

Pulling up her thread, I decided to lay out the truth.

I"m about to sound really crazy, but I just found out some crazy shit and that a vampire is stalking me. I"d love for you to come over, but I"m worried the vampire might attack you. I think he might be after our family.

Once I hit send, I started crying. I was scared and didn"t know what to do. I also didn"t want my sister to think I was crazy.

Whoa. Are you for real?!

Momma always insisted there were vampires, but Poppa said she just liked to make up things for her stories.

I"m on my way with a necklace of garlic, sis! I"ll be there in a jiff!

What would I do without you?

After sending the text, I wandered to the kitchen to get some water. My stomach was ready to empty itself again, but my mouth and throat were dry from the screaming I had done. I poured myself a glass and took a few sips. When I was done, I set it down on the island and sat at one of the barstools to wait for my sister.