Rebellion (Risen Series Bk1)

Chapter 14: Rebels

~

It was still bright outside, yet sleep escaped me. Every time I closed my eyes, my thoughts changed between the grotesque injuries Atanas had given to Mirdull, to the way Atanas' lips felt against mine.

My legs were tangled in the duvet from all my tossing and turning and that ache between my thighs refused to leave as I once again felt lost to the ghost of lips on my jaw.

Pressing my thighs together, I groaned in frustration. I didn't understand what the feeling was, I didn't understand why my body felt so hot nor why my fingers kept slipping down to press against my core.

I was embarrassed by my lack of knowledge of my own body.

Closing my eyes, I imagined his lips on mine again. Touch had always been something I struggled to get over, but there hadn't been the slightest tinge of fear when he'd caged me to the wall, only anticipation. Everything from the way his fingers had held my jaw, to the way his fangs had teased my lip brought a flood of heat.

My fingers trailed slowly down again, hesitating for a moment by my hip before I let instincts guide me.

He had been going to feed from me, his lips had hovered over my pulsepoint, his body had pressed harder against mine...

I gasped as my fingers pressed against my core, shocked by the bolt of pleasure that rocked through me. My head fell back against the pillows, my eyes staying closed as I thought about what could have happened if he hadn't run, if he'd given in and fed from me like I'd wanted him to. I was lost to the way my body reacted to my own touch, my breath coming faster, harsher. Moaning, not even aware of the noises that carried through the room, my fingers circled until something low in my belly tightened. My whole body shuddered and a shout of ecstasy left my lips as whatever had been building suddenly came crashing over me.

I lay panting and trembling on the bed, my eyes opening slowly only to see colours flash before them. Whatever that had been kept me from being able to even form a coherent thought.

A few moments later, I heard a low groan from down the hall that I knew instinctively had been Atanas. I froze, wondering what he could possibly be doing until I heard him growl my name.

Turning onto my side, I strained to hear more but everything fell silent again.

Still feeling from the explosion of pleasure, I sorted my duvet, cuddling under the heavy weight that brought some comfort. Closing my eyes, I took a chance that maybe he was listening to me as I had been him.

"Goodnight." I whispered.

~

I snorted at the black dress that hung over the back of the chair. Whoever had been lending me clothes had a sense of humour and I had the feeling it was Padraig.

"Nice try." I muttered, turning my back to it.

Picking up the clothes from yesterday, I found myself pausing and looking back at the dress. Was I brave enough to try and play temptress? Could I make myself believe the excuse that I was only even thinking about wearing the dress because it would be rude not to accept it?

"You've not worn a dress since it became legal for you not to..." I mumbled to myself.

"Then you should definitely wear the dress."

I screamed, the clothes falling from my hands. My heart skipped a beat and I almost doubled over at the way my body reeled.

"For the love of the gods, Anna! Why didn't you knock?" I cried, leaning against the bed.

She grinned, shrugging, "I did knock, twice actually, but you must have been too busy thinking about whether or not wearing a dress would be too obvious a move to make with Atanas."

"That is not what I was thinking." I grumbled, grabbing the dress off the chair.

I couldn't get changed with her in the room thought, I didn't want her to see the mess of my body.

"Then maybe you were lost in thought about whatever you were imagining in bed before you went to sleep..." She replied smugly.

Blushing, I nearly choked, "You heard what I was doing?"

"The whole house heard!" She laughed, pushing away from the door to sit on my bed.

I fiddled with the fabric of the dress, dropping my gaze to the floor, "What was I doing?"

Anna frowned, tipping her head, "What do you mean?"

A whoosh of air left my lips as I struggled to make myself continue. I sat next to her, chewing my lip before continuing.

"I've never done that before...I'm not sure I really understand what it was." I said honestly, cringing as Anna's eyes widened.

"Oh no!" She yelled, jumping off the bed, "Nope, I'm not doing the sex talk, it's one of the reasons I'll never have children. You can go ask someone else about that. Ask Atanas, he'll have the most experience, he'll tell you everything you want to know. Gods, he might even do a demonstration and that'd be a night to remember."

Sex? That made no sense, at least not to me. Last night had felt like fireworks, like every ounce of pleasure I could ever experience in a lifetime. Sex was painful, uncomfortable, something to avoid and something only men seemed to enjoy.

"Get changed, Shylah. The rest of the weirdos have arrived, one of them is even stranger than Zena. But I promise I'll supply you with steady string of drinks."

I forced a smile onto my face and nodded, not moving until she closed the door and her footsteps moved away from the door. Staring at the wall, my brow furrowed. If Atanas hadn't run away, was sex where it was heading?

Sliding out of the shirt I'd worn as pyjamas last night, I picked up the dress once more. It wasn't as bad as the skin tight pieces of fabric that barely covered everything it needed to I'd seen girls wear at clubs at least. It was soft against my skin, and fit surprisingly well. Long sleeves hid the scars that wound around my arms but unfortunately, the ones on my legs were still visible. Tugging on the boots I'd been wearing for the last few days, running my fingers through my hair, I stared at the woman in the mirror.

She looked terrified and a nervous laugh bubbled up. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the faint jagged white lines that marred my legs.

The door swung open and Atanas stopped short, his eyes raking over me, a small smile tugging at his lips.

"Padraig?"

"That's who my money's on. I'm a little worried about how he knew my size, this would never fit Anna so it's not hers." I replied, turning to face him, "You and Anna really need to learn how to knock."

"Forgive me, but everyone's waiting on you." He said, looking around the room, inhaling deeply.

His eyes were a darker blue when he looked back at me again and I did my best to pretend it had no effect on me.

"Why are you all waiting on me?" I asked, turning back to the mirror to make sure I really had fixed my hair.

"You're my mate remember, their Queen."

I rolled my eyes at my reflection. That explained the dress. Now I had to go play the happy couple in a room of dangerous strangers while feeling completely uncomfortable in my own skin. I fretted over the length of the dress again, trying to tug it down.

"You look beautiful, Shylah. Scars aren't something to be ashamed of, they're a testament to your strength. I promise once we're done for the evening, you can talk to me about whatever it is you need to, Anna didn't say what it was about."

My skin must have been as red as a traffic light by the time he finished talking. At first my heart had softened, nobody had ever called me beautiful before, but I made a note to kill Anna.

"Let's go then." I mumbled, slipping past him.

"Before we go, about last night-"

"Don't. You made yourself pretty clear." I interrupted, "It's not important right now."

I ignored his sigh, feeling a little smug at my words as we headed towards the stairs where I stumbled at the sound of a busy living room. Peering over the banister, I swallowed. There was definitely more people down there than I'd been around in a while.

Atanas' hand slid to the small of my back, a comforting strength to his touch. He pushed gently, his lips brushing against my ear as he whispered, "You'll be fine. Stay near me or Padraig, and show them that inner steel I know you have."

I nodded, lifting my chin, trying to keep my features relaxed. Not showing my fear was one thing I was good at, I just had to hope the sound of my heart wouldn't give me away.

We took the stairs at an agonisingly slow pace and I felt the burning stare of many eyes turn to us. I would have faltered and run back to my room if Atanas' arm wasn't in the way of my escape. Without really thinking, my fingers slipped through the loop of his jeans, clinging on for dear life.

Anna was grinning at me before sharing a look with Padraig. If there wasn't so many eyes on me, I might have stuck my tongue out at her.

"I have the pleasure of introducing my mate, Shylah." Atanas boomed, making me jump.

Murmurs drifted around the room as we reached the bottom stair.

"Shylah, this is the rebellion." He whispered to me.

Something between a laugh and a squeak left me, "Darth Vader beware."

Anna snorted, covering her mouth with a hand when Padraig gave her a disapproving look. Atanas gave my hip a squeeze, a silent demand to try and keep my mouth in check. I looked at him from the corner of my eye and was pleased to see him doing his best not to laugh. I was happy he understood my jokes now at least.

Most of the room were still as statues, giving away their vampire origins. I didn't bother counting how many new faces were here because I worried a head count would press my panic button. I took a slow, deep breath, trying not to laugh as Anna held up two glasses of whisky and shook them about. I had the feeling Anna and I were going to get into trouble this evening...

Una was glaring at me from where she stood across the room, her arms folded and jaw clenched tight. I gave her a smile, taking a little satisfaction in the way it made her bristle.

"Behave, Shylah." Atanas warned, pushing me further into the room towards the empty couch.

Taking a seat, I tugged again at the hem of my skirt in an attempt to cover more of my legs. Under the light, my scars shimmered a soft silver.

"Our King back, and with a Queen by his side. Who would have thought." A man sang from the opposite couch.

His green eyes were piercing, his brown hair pulled back in a pony tail. He didn't look happy to be here, and gave me an uninterested once over.

"Enough, Thierry, we don't need one of your jealous rants tonight." A woman scolded from next to him.

She had what I could only describe as war braids going through her flame wild hair.

"You two can bicker away in your own time, we have more important things to discuss right now." Una cut in, stomping her way forward to lean against the back of their couch, "We have Mirdull downstairs, what are we going to do with him?"

"We're not just going to kill him?"

My mouth fell open as I found the owner of the voice. A young boy that looked no more than eleven or twelve sat in a chair far too big for him. Big doe like eyes stared back at me, eyes that looked far older than he did, as if he'd seen more than his fair share of pain. He grinned at me, showing pearly white fangs that seemed almost too big.

"Don't let my body fool you, girl, I'm older than most in this room." He chuckled.

I snapped my mouth shut, my cheeks burning as a few more in the room shared in the boy's amusement.

"That's Dvij, he's been by my side since Leyla disappeared." Atanas murmured to me before raising his voice, "we're not killing Mirdull, at least not right now. We need information he has."

"And how do you know he'll tell us the truth?" The braided woman questioned, "He's lied to us more than once before."

"We're going to be more...persuasive in our questioning tactics this time." Atanas replied, avoiding my gaze.

They were going to torture him. I shivered, my own screams ringing in my ear.

The room burst out in a wave of voices that fought and argued about what should become of Mirdull and the sound was overwhelming. I closed my eyes, trying to block them out.

The couch shifted as Atanas stood and the room quieted immediately. I opened my eyes to watch, just as everyone else did. Power seemed to beat out from him, demanding attention and silence. Even Una had relaxed to listen to him.

"We're not going to act like children when so much is at stake. To win, we all have to be of one mind, we all have to strive for the same goal. Squabbling and throwing blame around about what happened last time will get us nowhere. I have Mirdull and we're going to use him, there's no argument to be had about it. We need to know what Airell is planning now he knows I'm free, we need to know where he's using as a home right now. Last time we tried to work from the ground up, this time we're going to cut off the head. Our target is Airell and those close to him, that's how we take control back." Atanas spoke firmly, walking along the length of the room.

"And you take your place as King again? You sit on your throne and just hope the rest of the council and all the vampires siding with Airell just fall into line?" Thierry snorted, "Most young vampires don't even know of you."

"Most new vampires don't give two shits who's ruling the council. Airell has surrounded himself with his brainwashed army of ignorant turned, they're too far gone to be brought back." Una added, her eyes flicking to me, "There's no saving them."

My hands fisted on my lap and the press of fangs against my bottom lip was hard to ignore. I wanted to swipe the smirk from her face.

"It's not the younger vampires I'm relying on, but the older who do remember. Those that can see how our species has crumbled under Airell's rule." Atanas explained, giving Una a look as if daring her to continue her digs at me, "We aren't going to slaughter newborns because they're by Airell's side. They're forced to be there, they've been drugged, tortured and starved into compliance. Given the chance, I believe many will reach for the freedom we offer."

Just like I had...

But I couldn't speak for them. Una may have been right, more than a few of Airell's enslaved were no more than beasts, all of their humanity had been beaten out of them. I'd seen it happen. There would be no saving them. More than once I'd felt myself slip as I'd fought for what was left of a human body so I could feed, or fought for my life in the scraps that had broken out between us. I had Airell being my maker to give thanks to for being strong enough to stay alive, I was the only one he'd turned himself.

I'd only seen one of my fellow captives out in the real world, and Morfran had lowered himself to selling Ailill blood in exchange for things I didn't want to think about. If he and I were the example of what to expect from Airell's vampires, there was little hope.

"And what of our new Queen? Are we going to find out what she means to Airell?" Zena asked.

Atanas' eyes fell on me, his expression blank and giving nothing away. It had been an issue that niggled at the back of my mind for days now, even as much as I had denied I was anything more than a trophy. Zena's questions about my human family, her curiosity about my past meant there had to be something more to it.

"I want to know." I blurted out before I could think about it, "Even if it turns out that I'm right and he wants me just to prove he can take me, I need to know."

"Apart from asking Mirdull, there's not much we can go on, Shylah. We need to make him talk." Atanas said.

I knew what he meant. He was asking for my permission to torture somebody. The crueler part of me came to the conclusion that if they were going to torture him anyway, they might as well press him on answers for me, but the side that remembered every scar given to me was disgusted.

All I could do was shake my head, unable to give him an answer either way. He seemed to understand my silence and let the topic go.

"Once we get an idea of how Airell is moving and even gain knowledge of a small part of his plan, we can begin to move forward ourselves. I won't have us going in blindly, not this time."

The room mumbled their agreement and I could feel a few eyes turn to me. Daring to lift my head, I clenched my jaw in determination, not willing to seem vulnerable.

"Shall we see to Mirdull then? Or are we going to let him recover from the wounds you inflicted last night, Atanas?" Padraig inquired, a knowing glint in his eyes.

"I'm sure he's quite recovered." Atanas replied stiffly, "I need some time with Shylah. You can decide amongst yourselves who would like to go talk to our friend downstairs."

Thierry jumped up with a deadly smirk, cracking his knuckles eagerly, "It's about time he and I got introduced."

The braided woman rolled her eyes and stood as well with a weary sigh. I gave her a look and she shrugged.

"Someone has to make sure he doesn't have too much fun and I guess as the wife, that makes it my duty."

"Ex wife, Elaine." Thierry corrected, heading for the door.

At least I had a name for the fierce warrior woman now but the look of sorrow that passed over her features gave me a glimpse of what was beneath her armour. An awkward silence filled the room, looks of pity were shot Elaine's way as she followed Thierry down to the basement without a word.

Padraig coughed, looking a little uncomfortable, "The hall has been cleared as you requested just...try not to break anything, please."

Atanas chuckled and gave him a grin, "We'll do our best."