Beyond Beta's Rejection

(Harper’s POV)

Elias pulled the car up in front of what looked like a large stately manor. From first glance at the imposing structure, it looked to be three stories plus an attic. There were tall windows lining the front of the building, each flanking an impressive double door entrance, which was up a set of three steps.

“Do you think it’s haunted, too?” Marcus said to me as he looked up at the place. I grinned at him. It certainly looked like the type of place to have a ghost or two.

“Dude, we are not going in there,” Alex said. “Its ghosts or zombies.” I rolled my eyes at him.

“You play too many video games,” Elias said, although his face said he wasn’t so sure either.

We were all still gawking at the building when the great doors opened, and a woman walked out. She surveyed us all with varying interests, leaving me to last. When her eyes set on me, she smiled. She was a stunning woman. Her hair was red, and not ginger, but actually a deep fiery red. Her features were soft, almost like she was blurred out a little, or that my eyes couldn’t quite focus on her. She wore a knee-length dress that accentuated her slender frame and walked with an air of strict importance that seemed in direct contrast to her other features. As she neared us, I could see the faint shimmer play along her skin, one that I had seen on only one other person. Drake told me I had the same shimmer, and it was a side effect of the angel side of us. This must have meant that this was Brighid, the Divine Warrior for the faeries. I didn’t know much about her, only that she was older than Drake, so ancient, and that she was an unseelie faerie.

She smiled as she reached me and held out her hand.

“Harper,” she said, her voice held a high, almost playful tone, “It is so nice to finally meet you. Drake said you would be arriving.” I took her offered hand, not sure if I should shake it or k**s it. I settled with a quick, loose shake. She turned to the guys and smiled.

“Ah, Mr Farwell,” she said to Marcus, “It has been a time since we have had one of your line grace us with your company.” Marcus furrowed his eyebrows, but took her hand.

“My line?” he asked, and she just smiled and turned to the entire group. I noticed a slight drop in her smile as her eyes landed on Elias, but only because I was watching. I was fully aware that he, being a demon b***d in the angels’ headquarters, might be uncomfortable. But if they wanted me here, then they needed to get over it.

“Well, Mr Owens,” Brighid said, “I must say that you have done good work for The Order, despite your own natural afflictions.” Elias stiffened a little and then smiled.

“Trust me, if I could help it I would,” he said and Brighid smiled.

“Well yes, Drake tells me that your erm…” she trailed off and waved one hand towards Elias.

“The word you are looking for is demon,” I said sharply, and she grimaced.

“Yes, of course,” she said. “Well, Drake informs me it is acting differently to some of its counterparts. I would be interested in talking to you in more detail, if you don’t mind.” She looked at Elias expectantly, who shrugged in response.

“Sure, whatever helps,” he said, and I narrowed my eyes at Brighid.

“But just talk, right?” I said, and she smiled.

“Of course, my dear. What else would I want?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I scoffed. “Might wanna ask Colton Stokes that as they prod at him.” Brighid nodded in understanding.

“Ah yes, I heard the council were carrying out experiments on a demon b***d,” she said, “But I also heard the results were encouraging too.” I rolled my eyes at her dismissal, which she clearly saw. Elias squeezed my hand and smiled at me before looking back at Brighid.

“I would be happy to talk to you,” Elias said with a finality.

“Well then,” Brighid said with a clap of her hand, “Why don’t I show you inside? You’ll be wanting to see your friends, no doubt.”

“Friends?” I asked, and she smiled.

“Of course, they arrived yesterday,” she said. “I must say, Mr Jacen seemed very excited when he saw our library.” I looked at Elias, who was looking as confused as I felt.

“Aaron’s here?” I asked, and he shrugged and shook his head.

“News to me,” he said. I looked back at Brighid, and her smile widened, although there was an edge to it.

“I’m sure you can speak to them about it.” I narrowed my eyes at Brighid. For some reason, I got the feeling that she was trying to get away from us. I saw her eyes shift slightly towards Elias before smiling again. I took a deep breath and forced a smile onto my face.

“Fine, lead the way,” I said. I was getting annoyed at the way people were acting around my mate. Brighid nodded and turned on her heel. She began walking towards the house and I looked at the others before shrugging. I guess we were meant to follow her.

We followed Brighid through the big doors. The inside was pretty much what I expected. High ceilings and old ornate style decor with large paintings of stuffy looking people in fancy gold frames. Although one thing struck me as interesting as Brighid led us down a side hall.

“They are all women,” I said, more to myself than anything.

“What was that?” Elias asked. I pointed to the paintings on the wall.

“The paintings,” I said, and Brighid stopped and turned to face me. “They are all women. Normally, these types of things are the great men of the time, unless they are a ruling queen or something, right?” I looked at Brighid and she raised one eyebrow. She went to speak, but then her eyes set on something behind me and a coldness set over her eyes.

“They are Divine Warriors.” I turned towards the voice behind us and saw Drake standing at the end of the hallway. He smiled and strode towards us, taking my hand and kissing it. Elias growled, and I rolled my eyes at him but pulled my hand back all the same.

“One day, we will also grace this majestic memorial to the dead,” Drake said with a flourish of his hand.

“But they are all women,” I said again.

“How very astute of you,” he replied with a wink. Then the realisation hit me and my eyes widened.

“Wait!” I explained. “Are you saying that all past divine warriors are women?” Drake’s smile widened.

“That is correct, sweet girl,” he said. “The divine warrior is a strictly feminine essence. Look here, you will see the name and the symbol of the warrior, depending on which bloodline they are.” He pointed to a plaque underneath one of the pictures. It had the name Piper Heathwood embossed into it and then a circle with a five-pointed star in it. I looked back at Drake and pointed to the symbol.

“Magic worker?” I asked, and he nodded with a proud smile.

“Good girl,” he said, and Elias growled again. I shook my head at both of them.

“But you ain’t a woman,” Marcus said, and then looked Drake up and down. “Are you?” Drake turned to Marcus.

“No, my young protector friend, I am in fact a man.” He then winked at Marcus. “But if you ever want to find out for sure, just let me know.” Marcus grinned in return.

“You’re not my type,” he said, and Drake held his hand to his chest in mock upset.

“Okay, so how are you a divine warrior, then?” Elias asked and Brighid made a hmm noise. Drake glanced at her and then back at us.

“Hard to say really,” he said, “But I am the first-”

“And last,” Brighid cut in, which earned her a scowl from Drake.

“The only,” Drake emphasised, “Male Divine Warrior in known history,” he finished in a proud tone.

“Yes, well,” Brighid said, pulling the attention to her, “Since you are here, Drake, I will allow you to continue showing Miss Kirby to her friends. You can call for me when we are ready.” Then she turned and walked past us towards the stairs that we had passed.

We watched her go, and then I turned to Drake.

“Well, she’s a delight,” I said, the sarcasm dripping from my tone. He chuckled and strode by us.

“You don’t get such a winning personality when you have been around for a few years,” he said.

“You do okay,” I said, and he smiled.

“Why thank you,” he said, “But Brighid is at least a thousand years older than I am. I’m not sure exactly how old she is. It isn’t a polite question to ask a lady.” My eyes widened. Drake himself was one of the oldest vampires I had met. I was sure he was actually from the Greek times that his sharp bone structure always reminded me of. So for Brighid to be so much older than that was pretty impressive in my book.

Drake led us through a heavy-looking door at the end of the hallways. The door had a fingerprint scanner and turned green when Drake used it. He turned to me before opening the door.

“We will need to get your details into the system so you have your own access to the vault.”

“The Vault?” I asked, and he grinned and opened the heavy door. I looked through and saw stone steps going down. I glanced at Drake, who just smiled in return and nodded his head in the direction of the stairs. I looked at Elias before taking a breath and heading down the stairs.They seemed to go on forever, but I finally got to the bottom and saw another set of doors, although these were metal set into the stone walls. Drake pressed his fingers to another pad, and it lit up green and the doors slid open. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I saw.

I walked through the doors with my mouth open in shock. The room was all stone walls and floors, but was lit up by many electric lights. The ceiling was high enough that there was a second level made from metal with metal stairs going to it from different areas. Areas seemed to be sectioned off with glass walls, and the whole thing had a futuristic vibe. The walls held large bookcases that were stuffed with books, and there were tables around the place, some with computers, some not. There must have been twenty people that I could see wandering around or looking through books.

I was still staring in wonder when I heard a squeal of excitement.

“Oh my goddess, Harper.” Then I was hit by something blond and excited. I smiled as I pulled away from my best friend, Katie.

“I am so happy you are finally here,” she said excitedly. “I have been so bored.” She took my hand and walked us over to one of the tables where Aaron was busy looking through one of the many books that he had open. He looked up as Katie moved to his side and smiled at her and kissed her head. He looked over the table at us and his smile grew into a grin.

“Hey guys,” he said.

“Erm, hi,” I said and narrowed my eyes at him. “Why are you two not on your honeymoon?” Katie scoffed and Aaron chuckled at her.

“I am asking the same thing,” Katie said. “We were at a big castle in Scotland when he phoned.” She nodded to Drake, and I glanced at him.

“Baby, I said that we can resume our honeymoon after. I promise,” Aaron said to Katie, and she just huffed at him. He shook his head and then turned back to me.

“Apparently I am a Divine Order specialist,” he said, “So when the issue with the seal was discovered I was called in.” He glanced at Drake nervously and then back at me. “It appeared a lot of us were.”

“About that,” Drake said, and turned to Marcus. “I would like a private word with you at some point.” Marcus furrowed his eyebrows, but nodded.

“Sure, about what?” he asked.

“I will go into more detail when I can,” Drake said.

“There is another thing, as well,” Katie said, also looking nervous. “Alex, there is something you should know.” Alex looked at Katie and grinned.

“What’s wrong?” he asked and Katie looked like she was trying to say something but was struggling. “Katie?” Alex looked worried. “What is it?”

“Hello Alex,” I turned towards the voice behind us and my mouth fell open for the second time today.

Standing behind us was Julia Bennet. Alex and Louise’s mother.