chapter One
Familiar Dreams
The small light in my apartment flickered with the thunder then went off altogether. I sat in the dark of the room watching the lightning flashes and listening to the thunderclaps and the over powered sound of the rain falling on the balcony.
I had always wanted a balcony; I had always been a romantic. As a child I had hoped that, one day, I’d be living in a big house with a balcony. And one special night a handsome young man would see me in my balcony and we would reenact the Romeo and Juliet balcony scene. Even now, twenty-two years old, I still go out onto that balcony waiting for my prince. Every night except tonight.
There was a strange aura touching my wards tonight. Something familiar, some kind of power I knew once. I wasn’t going to go out in the rain but I felt drawn out. I went to the sliding door that led outside to my balcony and pressed a hand to its cool glass. Someone was beckoning me outside. That familiar energy was touching my wards but not in a hostile way. It was as if they were trying to make me remember them just by the gentleness of their caress of power on my wards.
It wasn’t my mother that’s for sure and for damn sure it wasn’t one of my fathers. They would have stormed in by now. No, this was probably a scout my mother sent to find me. Someone she knew I would trust, open up to. I wanted to know who it was but I didn’t push my luck. Tonight wasn’t the night to be too trusting.
I moved to New York because this was the busiest town in America. It would be difficult to pinpoint my aura here. When I got here I took a job with the local police. It was more of a special units department. We deal with the supernatural things like Sidhe, Vampires, and Lycanthropes. I was their Sidhe specialist. Any cases that dealt with Seelie or Unseelie Sidhe were immediately sent my way for investigation.
A few days ago we received a visit from the special units team from Saint Louis. Anita Blake herself talked to me about my mother’s kingdom. Since then she’s kept in touch with me. Nobody knows who I am though. To them I’m just a local Sidhe.
Earlier this night I accompanied Ms. Blake on an animating assignment. With all of the magic and the fact that she was disturbing the natural balance of the earth, I lost a lot of energy and collapsed. All of my senses were opened and extremely sensitive to other powers. In Anita I could feel two other people in her aura, two others who reached out trying to figure out what I was. When I asked her about it she avoided the question with “That’s not important. Are you alright?”
We had arrived to my apartment shortly after the rain had stopped and I had asked Anita to stay. After five minutes and about a hundred pleas, she agreed. She made a phone call to someone named Jean-Claude. The call didn’t last long but I heard most of it. Of course she was unaware that I had been listening.
She had fallen asleep on the sofa sitting up in a rather stiff and uncomfortable looking way. She seemed to be someone who always wanted to be aware of what was going on so I figured that she had fallen asleep like that so she wouldn’t sleep heavily. I was right. She had woken up when she heard me stirring to get up to go to the balcony door.
“Is something wrong?” She asked in a surprisingly non-sleepy voice. I looked over at her and smiled.
“No. Just admiring nature.” She gave a short nod. Even in the dark I had amazing sight. I was like a cat; I could see every little detail.
“What happened to the light?” I walked back over to the recliner and sat down.
“The lightning must have knocked out a power plant. Not a problem though.” I touched my hand to the light bulb and pushed some of my power into it. The light bulb lit up like a firefly and stayed on.
Anita Blake was short, not like troll short but human short. She actually reminded me of the facade my mother uses from time to time. She had curly dark brown hair that went down past her shoulders and deep brown eyes. Her skin was a silky pale white, as white as a human could get, short of an albino. She was strong, probably due to the many years that she’s been the Executioner. There was a darkness in her eyes that I had seen a few times at court. A darkness that says that she’s seen things in her life that one could not even fathom.
“I’ve never seen a Sidhe with your kind of powers. I’ve also never seen one react like you did tonight.” She looked at me with her blank careful look. I looked at the mirror beside the couch and caught my reflection.
That’s because this isn’t me. I thought. When I didn’t have the glamour up had long, straight, beautiful black hair with fire red streaks that flowed down to my thighs and bright glowing green eyes that were rimmed with black. My skin was so pale and translucent it almost glittered. I’m thin and strong, I always have been.
Now, with the help of glamour, my hair was long, dark brown hair that was curly with tight ringlets. Subdued, normal green eyes and normal pale skin lightly dusted with freckles. My ears were slightly pointed to make it look like I was half Sidhe even though I’m more Sidhe than anyone in this world. I kept the thin look and definitely the strong. If someone were to cross me I wanted that person to know that I was strong enough to fight back.
“I guess I’m a little different.” I looked at Ms. Blake with my blank face. “Aren’t we all a little different?” She returned my blank face but I saw a glimmer of something behind her eyes. Something that almost made me pity her.
“So tell me, Ms. Pound, what brought you to New York?” She avoided the question again, which made me believe that she had had practice avoiding them. When I moved to New York I changed my last name from NicEssus to Pound. Pound was the name of Ceara’s grandmother. Ceara was my best friend at court. She and Seki were the most important things to me. Thinking of both of them made my heart hurt.
I had taken the name to make sure my mother couldn’t find me. It’s kind of hard to hide if you use the one name they’ll be looking for.
“I’m in hiding, and please call me Orianna” I didn’t lie to her because I as sure she didn’t know who I was, which is good because the truth might kill her someday. A bit of surprise flashed over her face but it was gone as quickly as it came. She hadn’t expected me to be so honest.
“In hiding? From someone in England?” I smiled at her assumption. Somehow, though, I wasn’t sure she really didn’t know anything about me. I had a feeling that she was playing dumb.
“What makes you think I’m from England?” She paused as if she were uncertain.
“You have an English accent. It’s not exactly hard to miss.” My smile only widened at her confusion.
“I’m not English. I use it as a disguise.” The truth is that I’ve gotten used to the accent and I’m sure that it would be hard to get rid of now after so long.
“Who are you hiding from?” I got up again and went to the door. I looked out hoping to see the familiar person but I saw nothing.
“Now Ms. Blake, how can you expect me to tell my secrets if you are not willing to tell yours?” I didn’t bother to look back at her when I spoke or even after. I just kept looking for that power.
“Please call me Anita.” She had avoided the question again as I had thought and had taken the bait at the same time. She had shown me that she trusts me to a degree and therefore let down a wall. Soon, I would find out all about Jean-Claude.
“Anita,” I turned to her letting my emotions show on my face. “May I ask you a question?” She nodded. “When your power spilled over me I felt two other powers. One actually introduced himself as Jean-Claude. Who is this man and the other person that shares your power?” She took a deep breath and paused. She seemed to consider it for a moment then decided on an answer.
“Part of my triumvirate.”
“Ah, I see.” I left it at that. She had been caught by my question and I didn’t want to push anymore. I actually believed that someday we would be friends. So now I would not push her.
I turned back to the door and looked harder. There was still nothing in sight. I pushed out some power trying to tell it that I remember it but I can’t place where. When there was no reply I frowned.
“There is a power calling to my wards.” I frowned. I was beginning to get annoyed.
Anita got up and came to the door and we both looked out. “Do you see anything?”
I looked at Anita’s eyes. I was almost surprised that she knew what I was talking about but almost not. Most people don’t know what a ward it. They didn’t know that they were our walls of magic that kept us safe.
“No. The power is familiar, friendly even. It is someone I knew back in the Unseelie court.” It was her turn to look back at me with surprise. I sighed, I was feeling a little homesick. I missed the court, being surrounded by the ones I loved. Mum, Ceara…Seki… Seki is my mother’s most trusted advisor was also one of mother’s most handsome and charming subjects. Seki and I had been friends ever since I was born. He had watched me grow up at the quick and quite abnormal rate that I did. By the time I had reached my twenty look, I realized that there was an attraction between us.
The thought that this power touching my wards could be Seki made my heart jump. My hand went for handle but Anita stopped me.
“If it’s from the Unseelie court, and correct me if I’m wrong, but if you’re running from the court why would you willingly go outside for them to get you?”
I smiled amazed. She had figured out most of it. I had given her too many clues but I didn’t mind. The thought of someone finally knowing who I really am excited me. I could finally stop hiding. However I knew that was highly unlikely. Anita would be in danger if she knew.
“Because that power out there reminds me of a good friend. One I could never replace and I miss with all of my heart.” Anita took my arm and gently pulled me back to the sofa. We both sat down and she looked at me with an emotion in her eyes that I couldn’t quite place.
“You have a secret Ms. ...Orianna.” She caught herself before she got too formal again. She wanted to stay in a friendly way of speaking because it would serve her purpose. “I have many secrets, Orianna, probably more terrifying than yours. Will you please explain what is going on?”
I took a deep breath and thought about her request. Before I could even think my wards dropped and my glamour fell. I watched in the mirror as my features bled away to totally different ones. My hair bled black and red. It straightened causing it to look longer. My skin became so white that you could almost see through it and my eyes glowed as if someone had turned on a light behind them.
I quickly returned the wards but I kept the glamour down. I touched a slender hand to my face then to my hair, bringing some of the black strands around to play with. I finally looked at Anita whose face was a perfect mask of blankness but I knew what she was really feeling. She was surprised as hell.
“Nothing could be as dangerous as my secrets Anita.” She blinked once.
“There was a rumor floating around the press a few years back about Queen Meredith and her daughter.” She began speaking carefully. My heart jumped when she mentioned my mother. She knew too much already. “When the Queen fought the Nameless a child was born. A child unlike any Sidhe have ever known.” She spoke carefully almost hesitatingly. “You are unlike any Sidhe I have ever met. Your powers are more amazing than any I’ve known.”
Had I given that many clues? I suddenly regretted telling as much as I did. I stood up and looked out of the door again. How could I fix this now?
“You can tell no one. Not only my life is in danger here but possibly yours now. Goddess only knows who else will be hurt for this secret.” I turned back to face her and started to put my glamour up again. Before I got anywhere near finished a wave of power crashed into me causing me to scream and fall to the floor. All of my glamour started to fade again.
Copyrights: This is a fan fiction. All original characters from Laurell K. Hamilton's Fae series are hers and hers alone (too many to count sorry) this includes the Anita Blake series. All characters that weren't in her original series are MINE and I will kick any one's ass that steals them.