The Mate of Two: The Ruby Wolf Series

Darkness. That's all I saw. I couldnt feel anything. It's as though my body is numb. I felt like I was lifeless. I couldnt remember why it was so dark. What happened to the lights? What happened? The silence of everything made my stomach turn.

I heard a faint rumble. Then the pain hit me in a bright flash of light. Burning my eyes.

I screamed. The pain was unbearable. It was as though I had a red hot poker running through my veins. I felt everything. I could feel my body thrashing around in pain as I screamed.

It continued for what seemed like hours. Before the darkness returned and my body once again went numb. It felt as though I was floating in mid-air. Suddenly my whole body began to shake.

__/_/____//__///////_/_____/

"Shes been out for 6 months now." I snapped at my brother. "I gave you all one thing to do. That was to bring me Rose. Alive. But instead you bring me the fake Rose. Who turns out to be a witch. You will know if it is her. The ground will begin to shake. Her vow is strong. There is no way she was able to reverse it. This is why I had Lucian gather up people to help us get her. As soon as you knew it was her. You were to leave and they were to get her. And bring her to me. Because I was going to RIP out her heart before the ground swallowed her up."

My family all stood watching me. All silent. None of them dared to fight me on anything. My mother stood and made her way over to me.

"This is what she wants. You to turn into her. Shes showing you how she felt. Dont let her win. The difference between her and you is that your mate lives. Hers has been dead for years."

"You-" My words were cut off.

"Damien?" Her sweet voice echoed through me.

We all looked over to the door. She was standing in the entrance, her skin as pale as ever. Her hair was longer. Vibrant and kinda brown with a red hue to it. Her eyes red.

"Ariel." I rushed over to her.

_______^^^^__________

My eyes shot open. The room was cold and dark. I looked around. Confused. My eyes began to focus. Damien. I was in Damiens room. I got up and went to the bathroom. I flipped on the lights just to flip then back off. Once my eyes focused better I noticed that I could see just fine in the dark, it was as if the lights were on.

When I faced the mirror I gave a small yell. I didnt recognize myself. My skin was pale, my eyes red, my hair.... it was still it's natural brown but red. I began to breath heavily. "What happened? Why the hell do I look like this?" I said aloud. My hand came up to my mouth. My voice. It sounded so soft. So sweet.

I looked down at my clothing. It was bloodied and torn. I looked at the shower, I headed over and turned it on. Then went and grabbed a clean pair of clothing.

After I showered, dried my hair and dressed, I headed down stairs. When I headed down to the first flight I heard a door slam and then Damiens voice. All the sounds were loud when I walked out of his room. My head hurt.

Shes been out for 6 months now." I heard Damien snap. "I gave you all one thing to do. That was to bring me Rose. Alive. But instead you bring me the fake Rose. Who turns out to be a witch. You will know if it is her. The ground will begin to shake. Her vow is strong. There is no way she was able to reverse it. This is why I had Lucian gather up people to help us get her. As soon as you knew it was her. You were to leave and they were to get her. And bring her to me. Because I was going to RIP out her heart before the ground swallowed her up."

"This is what she wants. You to turn into her. Shes showing you how she felt. Dont let her win. The difference between her and you is that your mate lives. Hers has been dead for years." His mom said.

"You-" his words cut off when I spoke his name. He froze. I watched him before I looked around the room at everyone else. My father stood among them.

My eyes went back to Damien. "What happened?" I asked.

"Rose killed you." Caleb spoke up when no one else spoke for a while.

"If Rose killed me how......" my words tapered off when as my eyes landed on Damien, who shifted in place. "You turned me? That's why I look like this, sound like this."

His eyes held fear, regret, guilt, anxiety.

"I couldnt lose you."

"So you turned me instead of letting me die! I didnt want this. Not right now. I wanted the choice. I cant be a vampire. I can't drink blood." I began to hyperventilate, dropping to my knees.

Damien came over to me. He bent down to touch me.

"Dont." I wheezed.

The look on his face full of pain and fear.

"Just calm down. Your emotions are heightened. Everything you feel right now is multipled from what youd feel if you were still human. Let's get you something to eat." He spoke, his hand held out.

"Damien." Grayson said, his tone full of warning. "Tell her."

Damien looked at his uncle. Then down at me. Before he gave a sigh of defeat. "Right now it's your choice. If you want to still live. You need to feed, on fresh blood.... dont worry I'll be there to make sure you dont kill anyone. If you decide to just die. Then you will. You have 48 hours to decide. By the end of the 48 hours you are either a vampire or a corpse."

I nodded then glared at him, "Were you not going to tell me?"

Guilt played in his eyes. He stayed silent.

"Really.. you were just going to give me blood and make me turn. How selfish are you?"

He began to laugh. "Oh I'm the selfish one. I'm not the one who offered myself up to Rose in the first place."

"If it wasnt for you, I would never have had to be in that situation in the first place."

"You should have just ignored me in the beginning. Kept being cold towards me."

"Guys that's enough." Kameran said.

"You should have never talked to me. You should have left me alone. When I told you too. You should have kept me out of your life."

"Ariel, enough." My father said.

"Why is he here?" I snapped at Damien.

"You have been out for 6 months. We had to tell him. He had to fix things around at school for you. You graduated already. But we told them you were comatose."

"I was out for 6 months and you didnt bother cleaning all the blood off my skin and changing my clothes."

"Why are you being so difficult. You are worrying about the tiniest of things."

"I died. I came back to life and I'm being told I was out for 6 months. I'm being told that my life is changing now and I dont like it. How am I supposed to react?"

"How about stop complaining and sit down. So that you can be caught up with everything you missed."

"This is not at all like the reunion that I thought they would have." Christine said.

"Okay. Enough you two. Damien she has the right to be upset right now. You were born into this life. You weren't turned. You didnt have the choice to be human. You were never human. Ariel, please try to calm yourself. We dont know if you have any special abilities. So for now please calm down." Kameran said.

I looked over at Kameran and then back at Damien. "I never wanted to be a vampire. Maybe when I was older. But right now I never wanted this. I'm stuck being something I hate. Because you were selfish and couldnt let me just die."

Gasps rang out through the room.

Grayson stood. "Damien, Ariel is just very angry and confused. Things she says doesnt normally regulate the truth."

"Yea." Damien said as he turned and walked out.

Everyone stood silently before Angie began telling me everything I missed.

"You left Victoria?" I looked over at my father.

"She would make comments about you never waking up. Hoping you wouldn't wake up. So I left her."

"Oh."

"Ariel, Please don't leave me again." My father said pain in his voice. "Please." He came over to me and wrapped his arms around me. The scent of his blood hit me like a wrecking ball. One minute I was in his arms the next I was across the room, away from everyone.

"Ariel?" Kameran asked, saying my name questionably.

"I smelled his blood..... I couldn't......."

"I understand that. I want to know how you just got to the other side of the room without any of us seeing you move. You aren't a full vampire yet. There is no way you used our speed."

"I don't know. I smelled his blood and the need to get away from him hit me and then I was over here."

"Ariel. You need to think about Damien." Abigail said to me. "If you die. He will become a version of Rose. Maybe even worse."

I looked over at her. Her words cut me deep. I didn't think of it that way.

Everyone looked at me with concern as I stood there silently. I finally turned and walked out the door. Heading up to Damien's room.

I opened the door slowly. He was sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.

I slowly moved over to him. "Damien."

"I'm sorry. I just.... I couldn't lose you. Ar.... I can't survive if you are gone." He said, I could hear the tears in his voice.

"I'm not leaving you, Damien. I shouldn't have exploded. But there's just so much. I can't fully comprehend it. It doesn't feel like any of this is real."

He looked over at me, it was obvious he had been crying.

"I did what I thought was right. I saved you the only way I could. If you hate me for it, then that's the price you pay. At least you're alive."

"Well, I wouldn't say that." I said with a shrug.

He chuckled. "Right."

"You haven't caught her yet.."

"No. But as soon as she is found. I will be killing her before the ground swallows her."

"That will actually happen?"

"Yes. Oathes like this are serious. They are between supernatural creatures. If a human made this oathe with another human. Nothing would happen. Itd just be some stupid thing that they did and regretted because of the pain from the cut."

"Oh. Okay. Cool. That's good."

We sat there in silence before I spoke. "I am sorry for the things I said. I just wanted to live a little more. Ya know. Be Human for as long as I could before turning. But I don't get that anymore. Because of her. She took that all away from me. Because you were not going to let me die, when there was another option. She has destroyed my life too many times to count. I will kill her. I want to be the one to rip out her heart."

"Ariel I understand. But she has two hundred years on you. She is a lot more powerful and stronger than you. You may be brand new but the strength you have as a new born in nothing compared to a vampire who is like two hundred years older than you."

I looked over at him. We were silent for a bit before he sighed and spoke.

"When we catch her, After you've had a lot of training, I'll be okay with you killing her. But she will be held down while you do it."

"I can agree to that."

"Now are you ready to feed or are you still deciding whether you want to die for good or not."

"Give me today. I'll make up my mind tomorrow."

I watched his jaw click as he bit back the anger of words.

I knew I told him only minutes ago that I'd accept this. But right now I needed time to adjust to this. All my senses were heightened. I knew that. I was trying to get used to it. But I was still partly human.

My attention was brought back to Damien as he cleared his throat.

Saddness played in my gaze as I stared at him. I knew it. His gaze softened as he stared at me.

"I still can't get over those red eyes."

"I don't care for them." I whispered.

"Why?"

"They aren't mine. Mine are a beautiful blue. That's what im used to staring at me in the mirror. Not blood red eyes."

"Theyll change back to your normal blue after a while. You have to feed and complete the transition. Then for the first year or so your eyes will stay that color. Until they slowly fade and transition back to your blue."

"How will I be able to be seen in public with red eyes?"

"We will get you contacts. Granted you'll have to replace them every hour."

"What?"

"Your eyes will reject them persay."

"Why?"

"Your eyes just won't accept them. They will end up melting away the contacts."

"Because of being a vampire."

"Yes."

"Or I could just lie to people when they ask about my eyes and say I'm wearing contacts.."

"That too."

"This is too much. I barely even knew what I'd be doing in a year. Let alone a hundred."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's my fault. I shouldn't have let you that close to her. I should have still had my guard up."

"You couldn't have known that she would know. That she would do that. We need to get past this."

I gave him a smile before I walked over to him. He hesitantly took my hand.

"Where's Blake? I think I should speak to him."

"He's in the guest house still. With his pack. They are helping with the location of rose as well."

"But her vow-"

"We have two different teams looking for her. This makes it easier with finding her."

"Okay. But I need to talk to him still. I'll be a vampire so he's free right?"

"Yes. The minute your heart stopped you stopped being his mate. It was your death."

"But what about you?"

"I'm a vampire, Ar. Your heart stopped while my blood was in your system. You technically accepted me as your mate."

"I accepted you as my mate the minute we kissed."

"Yes, but it wasn't official."

"How do you make it official?" I asked as I ran my hands through his hair.

"When you are human its by transitioning fully." He spoke his eyes closed.

"And when you're a vampire?"

"Its when you drink the others blood during sex. You have to accept me in both ways. Human and vampire, for us to fully be mates."

"Hmm. Okay."

"Its kinda strange."

"Ya."

His arms came up around my waist and pulled me down to the bed. I laid my head on his chest as he wrapped his arms around me.

The way his body felt against mine set my skin on fire. I knew all my scenes were crazy. But this was insane.

He began to stroke my hair. I was exhausted. My whole body felt heavy.

"Is being exhausted part of it?" I asked.

"Yes. You are in a stage where you're still human but you're a vampire as well. You'll feel a lot better when you feed. Your body is fighting itself for life and death."

"That sounds painful."

"It can be."

We laid there for a while before there was a knock on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and closed before the smell of earth hit me.

"Blake." I said sitting up to sit next to Damien.

"You look so different." He gave a sad smile. "Do you remember when I took you to that antique shop?"

"Yes."

"I told you that aging isn't always bad. That sometimes age can be beautiful."

"Yes. We were looking at jewelry boxes."

"We were. I remember standing there thinking how amazing it'd be to grow old with you."

"We weren't even together then."

"No. But I loved you the moment I saw you." His voice was shaky as he talked. His eyes red and watery.

I stood and walked over to him.

"The day of the car accident I was there. I watched the entire thing. I couldn't even stop it. I didn't even know it was you until I watched Rose get out of the vehicle. I watched you die. That was the worst day of my life.

But then we found each other again. But you were also mates to another. Now..."

"Now I'm dead." My voice was shaky.

"You'll always be my sunshine." He said stroking my hair.

I could feel the tears stream down my face.

"I'm here to say goodbye. By the end of tomorrow you will either be dead or a vampire mated to Damien. You won't be with me at all. The bond we had is gone. When your heart stopped."

"This sounds like a break up when its not." My voice broke as I spoke. The tears continued.

"I'll always be here for you. But now the Fates will decide who my next mate will be. I hope you do choose to live. Even if being a vampire isn't what you want."

I felt when Damien walked up behind me. He wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Whatever you decide. We will both stand next to you." Damien said.

"I thought no one gets a second chance at love?"

"Werewolves are different." Blake said with a sad smile. "Never in my life would I have thought I'd watch you die twice. And both times you have survived."

I gave a sad smile. A sharp pain hit my chest as I went to hug Blake.

I groaned in pain.

"What's wrong?" Damien asked, his voice laced in worry.

"My chest." Was all I could get out before I collapsed.

DAMIENS POV

I barely caught her before she collapsed. Blake was shouting for my father.

"Shut the hell up." I snapped.

I picked her up and sped down the stairs.

Dad was in the living room with my Uncle.

"What happened?" He stood, hurrying over.

"She said her chest hurt before she collapsed."

My father and Uncle shared a look.

"What?"

"Go get me a blood bag." He said.

When my uncle came back with the bag they walked over to Ariel.

"What are you doing?"

"She has to feed or she will die."

"It hasn't even been a full day."

"Yes. In some rare cases they don't make it to two days. Her death is probably why she didn't last that long. When you have heavy damage to the heart like she did, it shortens the time."

I watched as they tried feeding her. She immediately started throwing it back up. But she wasn't actually conscious. She was still out.

"She has to have fresh blood."

"What do you mean?" Blake asked. "Shouldn't that be working?"

"Its supposed to."

"Go get her brother." My uncle said to me.

"No. I won't let her feed from her brother." I snapped. She was already having a hard time.

"What about her brother?" Jake asked as he walked in. "What the hell? Is she dead?" He began to freak when he saw her lifeless looking form covered in blood.

"Not yet. But she will be if she doesn't get blood." My father said.

"That's why you mentioned me? You want me to feed her?"

"Yes."

"Okay. Just don't let her kill me."

I stood there and watched as they had her drink from him. I felt helpless.

Blake stood next to me, making small comments here and there. He felt the same as i did.

Helpless.