Glamour Bites

Our little troupe walked into the hospital and was the immediate center of attention. I don’t know if it was Raiden’s gold armor or the elegant green dress I was wearing that flowed around me like was alive. Hell, for all I knew it was my bright hair and moving tattoos.



Either way, it didn’t take Dr. Gordon long to find us. He came around a corner looking angry and walking forcefully, but stopped when he saw me. “Ms. Mooren, what the Hell happened to you?”



“I took my father’s throne and became Faerie Queen. And it’s Autumn now. Alexia Autumn.” I felt Raiden smile beside me and knew that my face held a similar smile. “Why did you want to see me, Dr. Gordon?”



“Come into the back office and we’ll tell you.” He didn’t look too happy, but he never really did. “Doctors Vaughn and Martin are waiting for us. Quickly, please. Leave Erin and her friends.”



I nodded and Erin remained with Kingston in the waiting room while Raiden and I followed Dr. Gordon. At the door, Dr. Gordon turned and looked at Raiden. “I should have asked him to stay as well.”



“I don’t go anywhere without him, so he stays with me or I leave.” I put my hands on my hips and stared at Dr. Gordon, daring him to tell Raiden to leave.



Dr. Gordon groaned and opened the door. “Fine, he can stay, but he must stay silent.”



We walked into the room and Malcolm Vaughn and David Martin looked at me. As soon as David saw me, he fell to his knees, head bowed in respect. “My Queen!” I had known that David was a Dimensional, but I had never known what kind. Faerie would have not been my guess.



I lifted his chin and looked into his eyes. “David, we’ve been friends for years. I am no different than I was a week ago. Just a little more powerful with some Fey blood in me. Stand up and greet me as your friend.”



David stood and wrapped his arms around me, hugging me to him. He kissed my cheek and then pulled back, wiping tears from his eyes. “For a moment there, Lexi, I thought being queen had changed you. It’s good to know that it hasn’t.” He looked over my shoulder and spotted Raiden, smiling wide. “Cousin! What are you doing here?” He walked over to Raiden and they hugged like that hadn’t seen each other in forever.



“I am, afterall, head of the Imperial Guard, Davey.”



“Liar.” They both looked at me, David with a confused look and Raiden with a wide smile. “You are no longer the leader of the Imperial Guard and you know it, Raiden. David, he is my husband and King.”



David looked at Raiden and frowned. “Is this true, Raiden?” Raiden nodded and David looked at me before turning back to his cousin, his voice barely a whisper. “She’s the One?”



Raiden looked at me and smiled before turning back to David, nodding. “That she is. The Mound speaks to her, so we have no doubt about it.”



“David, darling, what’s going on?” Malcolm had remained silent the entire time we had talked about Fey matters.



“Oh, Malcolm, this is my cousin Raiden Autumn. Apparently, he married Alexia in Fey terms and is now her King. I told you the other day that something in the Faerie Mounds had changed. Alexia taking the throne was it.” David walked to Malcolm and took his hand before turning to Raiden. “Ray, this is the love of my life, Dr. Malcolm Vaughn.”



“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Raiden.”



“And you as well, Malcolm. It’s nice to know that Davey is happy.” They shook hands while I watched, a smile on my face. It really was a small world when Dimensionals were involved.



“It’s so nice to know that you’re all bound in some way, but we brought Alexia here fro a reason.” Go figure that Dr. Gordon would ruin a nice moment.



“Fine, what am I doing here, Dr. Gordon? And why are David and Malcolm here?” I moved to sit in the chair beside David and Raiden sat on the other side of me.



“We have gone over the blood test that we took from you and found some interesting things. I needed Malcolm here to assess if what we found makes you a threat, and David to do a possible scan of you brain to analyze you.” Dr. Gordon sat as far from me as possible, as if afraid of me.



“Robert, I’ve already told you that Alexia is in no way a threat. David has refused to scan her because he doesn’t find it necessary, so why do you keep insisting?”



“This is about the vampyre and demon in me, isn’t it?” Everyone turned shocked eyes to me and I shrugged. “I was born with them both on top of the witch. If it makes you feel better, my Fey outweighs all others now.”



“Unfortunately, ALEXIA, that doesn’t make me feel the least bit better.”



“I’m sorry, ROBERT, but it’s all I can give you. I can’t help what my parents were. I have spent nearly twenty-two years of my life without taking a life with the vampyre in me. Ask any vampyre and they will tell you that that is no small feat.” I stood quickly and knocked the chair over, looking at him angrily. “I am not a dangerous person.”



Dragonflies appeared out of nowhere and began to flutter around my head angrily. I felt Raiden move a second before his hand took mine. The dragonflies disappeared in a spray of dust.



“Not dangerous? What was that all about then?” Dr. Gordon was racking my nerves to the point where Raiden’s hand was the only thing keeping the vampyre back.



“Dragonflies are not a danger to you, Robert. Leave her alone.” David, who never did confrontation, was the one who stood up for me, shocking everyone. “They’re her Mediums and keep her from going Faerie postal on you.”



“How would you know about Faerie Mediums, David?”



“If you have to ask that, Robert, you obviously didn’t pay attention when I introduced Raiden, the Faerie King, as my cousin. I’m half-Fey.” David spoke it out loud for the first time and caused Raiden, Malcolm, and I to smile.



“Is it your professional opinion or personal opinion that makes you say that Alexia is not a threat?” Dr. Gordon kept pushing, and I could tell we were all drawn thin.



“Both, Robert. Professionally, I know her mental states, because I have given her an MRI before. She’s mentally stable. Personally, I know that Alexia’s will power is strong enough to keep her from harming others. She’s less of a threat then you as a doctor are.” David took my empty hand, patting it gently. With him on one side and Raiden on the other, my anxiety level decreased and I moved to sit in the seat that had upturned for me.



“Fine. She’s no threat, but she left out that on little part of her that had me worried.”



“And what part is that, Robert?”



“The dragon.” I must have look shocked because he continued, triumphantly. “You didn’t know? How delightful!”



“How is that delightful?” Panic rose in me and my voice grew in volume. “I was already enough of a freak!” My voice changed and I was suddenly speaking a language I didn’t know I could speak.



Raiden wrapped his arms around me and began to respond in the same language. I began to calm, but the panic was still there, below the surface. “Why would you tell me something like that, Gordon? You have spent more years than anyone trying to get me to tell you what I was I told you that what I was horrified me, so why would you add to that list? Do you hate me that much?”



“You took her from me, why wouldn’t I hate you?”



“How could have taken her from you, Robert? I was barely five when she was turned. It would be another thirteen years before we would meet. You can’t keep blaming me for something I didn’t do.”



“I stayed with Cassie those thirteen years even knowing she was a vampyre. You were the one that convined her it was dangerous to stay with a human.” The tension level rose and Raiden’s hand clenched mine, though I wasn’t the one who was angry.



“She caught me drinking my human boyfriend in an alley and didn’t want that for you, Robert. If she hadn’t smelled the blood and shown up with she did, he wouldn’t be alive today.”



“She told me you convinced her that humans had no worth!”



“I told her to blame me if she had to. If only to keep you safe, Robert, not because I don’t like humans.”



Dr. Gordon seemed to think about it a moment before standing quickly and turning sad eyes to me. “I’m sorry for blaming you, Alexia. Can you ever figure a naïve human?”



I nodded. “You are forgiven.”



“I have to go to my office to look at something. I’ll be back in a while.” He disappeared out the door, leaving the rest of us stunned.



“Wow. He never apologizes.” Malcolm looked at the door and we all nodded in agreement.



We sat in silence for a few minutes, waiting for his return, but he didn’t come back. That’s when I began to smell the blood, thick and heavy at the back of my throat.



I was moving before anyone knew what had happened, moving down the hall towards Robert Gordon’s office. I hit the door hard and it shattered in, revealing the blood that covered the floor and desk. Dr. Gordon lay in the middle of that blood, throat slit. There was a note in his hand and I pulled it out as Raiden, Malcolm, and David came up behind me.



“‘I have been mislead in life and have done horrible things to innocent people. I don’t deserve to live. Tell Cassie that I’ve always loved her and always will. RM Gordon.’” I finished reading the note out loud and barely made it into the hall before I lost the contents of my stomach.



I stood in the hall as the police arrived and knew that this was all my fault. Only Raiden’s arms around me kept me up and answering the officer’s questions, but I knew that I couldn’t stay conscious for long. I seemed like I was doomed to watch people die. It would explain my life. So much for a happily ever after with Raiden. With this start, we’d be lucky to make it a week.