Grey Eyes: Book One of the Forever Trilogy

Chapter Twenty Three

I was lying in bed when Tristan arrived.  I still hadn’t stopped shaking.  I was thankful that my grandmother and Helena weren’t here to see me because that would certainly raise questions that I didn’t want to answer.  The look in Tristan’s eyes matched Duncan’s when I told him what had happened.  I had to stop him from going after him.  It was the first time that I saw Tristan battle with his anger like Aiden had to back at the club.

“He had no right to threaten you like that,” he said, holding me.  The anger added a kind of growl to his voice.  “If you say the word…”

“No,” I whispered.  “I could never condone something like that, no matter what he thinks of me.”

He sighed.  “Ana, you’ve always been a conjurer.  Every time you’ve come back.  But I want you to know something, you have the most beautiful soul I’ve ever known, and I have lived for hundreds of years.  I wish now that you could have enough of your memories to see what a magnificent spirit you have—that you’ve always had.  You are the same girl who saw a monster in her cabin that night—the girl that feared me but did not judge me, that had the patience to teach me how to love and reconnect with my own goodness… That is you.  That’s why I love you.  Why I’ll always love you.  I will protect you from anything that wishes to hurt you, Ana.  Fear nothing.  Not now, not ever.”

I closed my eyes and began to relax into the safety of his arms.  I understood now, why I needed to tell Darren that we could never work.  Because while I had feelings for him, and truly did care for him, the things I felt for Tristan were beyond definition.  Words didn’t capture how close I felt to him right now, as if I could disappear into his soul and exist there forever.  I did feel safe with him, and my fears just seemed silly after hearing his words.  Of course, he would protect me.  

“Ask me something,” he said in a much lighter tone.

“Huh?”

“Ask me something,” he repeated.  “You’ve always had a…curious streak.  Always.  I’m sure you still have questions for me.”

I laughed to myself.  He did know me well.

“Why are you so pretty?” I asked.  That made him laugh.

“What do you mean exactly?”

“The vampire under my bed was so different—he didn’t look human at all, but you, I wouldn’t be able to tell that you weren’t human just from looking at you.  Plus, you and Aiden are so…good looking.”

“Becoming a vampire won’t make you ‘pretty,’” he laughed.  “I remain the same as I was in life, as far as my appearance goes anyway, but that’s because I was bitten by The Source.  The venom that turned me was pure, undiluted.  You see, every time a vampire turns another, the venom in the subsequent vampire is less concentrated.  Because it‘s the venom that preserves your human body, diluted venom preserves less.  For instance, weaker venoms will preserve the inner organs but not the skin and eyes.  That’s where the partial myth, about vampires being unable to survive in sunlight, comes from—when exposed, unpreserved skin will dry and harden, to the point it cracks and crumbles.  Such was the case of the vampire that attacked you.  Aiden and I on the other hand, can heal from almost anything, at a rate that we could walk through fire if we had to.”

“And what exactly is ‘The Source?’” I asked next.  I tried to remember what Duncan had told me about vampires, but the thought of Duncan was too jarring to think clearly right now.

Something dark flashed in his eyes.  “The source being Daemon, the first born son of Merline.”

My head jerked up.  Now I did remember.  “You were turned by him?”