Chapter 25 All for Nothing.

VvvvvV

Liam lay on the couch looking out at the sea as Aliza watched the news about Hurricane Tonya.

"That fool!" Aliza snarled as they again showed the jet shooting down General Forrester's plane before shifting to the people of New Orleans celebrating in the streets.

"The shift in Toxic Tonya's track to pass over Mobile spared millions from exposure, but the biggest news is the chemical weapon called Project Elm Street by the Human Purity Terrorists seems to be having no effect on the nonhuman population. The concentration levels are less than..."

The news feed showed several Ravers standing around with National Guardsmen in the rain, then going out with the soldiers to rescue stranded people. It was a public relations bonanza for the nonhumans and made her father's organization look like fools. Dr. Jon Lance who was head of the Revelation Night Research Facility in Colorado made a statement about the concentration being diluted in the enormous amount of water and proposed that the warm slightly saline water in the hurricane also broke down the dangerous organic compound to inert salts and sugars. He assured the public that even two tanker planes could not have contaminated the storm as happened in the Revelation Night Blizzard. A meteorologist followed with a discussion about the difference in precipitation types and moisture content of the two types of storms, explaining that the blizzard had a very low moisture content which concentrated the chemical. As a segment on the lawsuits against the Texas and Mississippi state legislatures over the refusal to let Nons and Genome Carriers, who fled as ordered, return home started, Aliza hissed profanities under her breath because the tide of public opinion had once again turned in favor of the monsters.

"Don't upset yourself so." Liam lifted himself up slowly.

Standing at the bar, Aliza poured herself a drink. "If that fool had told me what he planned, I would have told him it wouldn't work."

Liam nodded but he had been surprised when the hurricane hit land, and nothing happened. There was no sweet scent to drive the beasts insane with homicidal rage and he wondered if the human researcher was correct. Weakly, he went to the bar and stood across from her. He fumbled to open a bottle of water with only one arm, so she opened it for him. He'd recovered but was playing the invalid to keep Aliza from trying to leave her Montauk cottage. He felt weak after Lady Morgana's death and worried that he and Petra needed to separate themselves from being beholden to Gerard. He worried because Petra was taking care of the Rosesea Princess alone in Gerard's Black Mountain Mansion.

"I need to meet with Gerard," she insisted.

"I am not certain that would be wise." Liam hoped to stall her.

Aliza rounded the bar and looked up at him, scrutinizing him like she could look into his soul. "What aren't you telling me?"

Bowing his head, Liam lied, "I... I wasn't supposed to tell you, but Galen and his allies attacked Gerard's home in the Appalachians. He barely escaped with his fosterling. His... His mother and all the remaining clan members were murdered. Between the curse and the loss," Liam lifted the bottle and gulped the water then walked away to look out the window. "His mother was killed, she died protecting him because he was so weak. I should have been there."

"Liam?"

"I promised him I would protect you and him, but, with Galen's Dark Fae slaughtering our clan to steal our magic and the humans and Nons hunting us like animals, there isn't anything I can do to heal myself or save you if they come. I'm sorry, Aliza." He was starving and the woman from the beach he fed from, then dumped in the sea had barely satisfied him.

Aliza stood behind him and he could sense her desire to aid him warring her reluctance to betray Gerard. "I... I could feed you... I mean," she paused then announced, "I know light Fae feed on love, and passion. I care about you, it's not the same as love but we could still have sex."

"But it's close, thank you for offering," Liam turned to look at her. "But no, I would never ask you to betray Gerard."

She looked up at him. "It's my choice. I am offering... Besides, the sooner you get well, the sooner you can take me to him."

He looked away. "I don't want you to do something that you don't want to do."

She hugged him. "You have done so much for me, and I want to," insisting Aliza kissed him.

VvvvvV

A week after Hurricane Tonya landfall...

Getting out of the towncar, Aliza Abbot glanced around at the beautiful scenery. The remote chalet style home nestled in the Black Mountains was surrounded by autumn foliage and a view only people like her could afford. But she wasn't here to see a person, she was here to see Gerard. She drove because Liam only had one arm. However, once she parked, he got out quickly and hurried around the car to open the door for her. Liam closed the driver's side door with a frown.

"Thank you, Liam, you didn't have to do that."

"It's just good manners.... He won't like that you came here, Aliza. He's ill from being cursed and the clan being attacked by Galen."

"I don't care. He's being a gawd-damned martyr, I've seen people sick and injured my whole life and I have a bio-medical degree," Aliza huffed as she strode purposefully on the gravel walk between two strips of neglected lawn. There was snow on the distant peak.

Her platinum hair twisted into a tight chignon, glistened in the sunlight while the green of her silk blouse was a stark contrast to the blazing oranges and reds of the leaves and slightly brown grass. He admired her human beauty, almost wishing she would be to him what she was to Gerard, but Gerard didn't share what was his and Liam didn't want to die. The two times in Montauk were enough to sate him for weeks, and he refused her last offer, because he hoped Gerard didn't punish him for the two times.

"His room is at the top of the stairs to the right, at the end of the hall," Liam called after her.

Marching up the steps, Aliza walked inside without knocking. Her anger and ignorance made Liam smirk; his master would feed well today. He stretched his missing arm after it reappeared then reached in his pocket and pulled out his new mirror. "We're here, Petra."

"Come inside and go to the wing on the left. I'm downstairs with the princess."

It only took him a moment to find her, but his sister looked almost withered. He hugged her and pressed his lips to hers, exhaling part of what Aliza had given him into her mouth. Inhaling and swallowing, Petra groaned and relaxed against him. She trembled as he held her.

"Thank you," Petra murmured then she looked up at him and begged, "We need to go, we need to go now."

"What about the Princess? If anything happens to her, he will never stop hunting us," Liam worried aloud.

"If she survives more than a few days alone with him, it will be a miracle. He locks himself in to keep from feeding on us, but his inner shadow is siphoning the energy of everything on the grounds," Petra revealed as she stepped away from him, insisting again, "We need to go."

"What does he need?" Liam asked then demanded, "Tell me, I know you know."

Petra shook her head, then retorted, "It doesn't matter, she won't feed him again. His shadow is starving without the clan for him to siphon from. Once he consumes Aliza, it is only a matter of time before he needs another and another and another because no one knows where the Monarch has hidden Quinn Phillips and she is the only left who fed him voluntary." 

VvvvvV

Ascending the grand stairs, Aliza glanced in a room she knew was his office. It was empty, unused and she was surprised at the light dust. She wondered where his house staff was as she stalked to his bedroom at the end of the hall, but she found the door locked.

"Go away, Aliza," Gerard's voice came from the intercom.

"I am not leaving until I see you and we have a problem," she insisted to the old-fashioned box by the door. "They stopped the next attack and destroyed everything. We have to start over."

"I know, but there is nothing I can do now."

"I know it's organic. Tell me what it is made from, like you told Forester, and I will make more. Tell me how to cure you and I will..."

Interrupting with a heavy sigh, he begged, "Please go, it's over and I don't want you to see me like this. I want you to remember me as I was."

"Dammit, Gerard, I know what happened. Petra told me and Liam explained how it would affect you," pleading, she looked into the camera as she placed her hand on the door. Her voice softened, "Let me in, let me help you. We can't let your evil brother and his mongrel supporters win."

The lock clicked loudly. She pushed open the door and squinted into the darkness. The curtains were pulled across all the windows except one on the far end of the room offering the view. The bed had been turned to face it.

"Nice view," she murmured. "What's that peak called?"

"It's Mount Mitchell, but before it was given that name, the local Cherokee called it Attakulla." His voice was thin and without its seductive timbre, so she asked, "Why didn't you come to me?"

Walking around the giant headboard, she found him reclining against it. He looked thinner, paler, with an IV in his arm. He reminded her of the cancer patients her father's company recruited for free 'experimental pharmaceutical treatments'; the pure or mostly pure humans recovered, the nons did not. Money and falsified documentation got that drug approved to save an additional remnant of genetically pure humans. His golden hair and tawny hazel eyes had darkened to an oily black and brown, increasing the paleness of his skin. He was still attractive but not as breathtakingly handsome as he had been.

"I couldn't come to you, Aliza. My brother cursed me and only he can set me free," Gerard lied. "He slaughtered my clan with the help of the wolves so I wouldn't be strong enough to come after him."

"I am sorry about your mother. How have you been?" She put her hand on his arm.

"Better now that you are here," he answered cavalierly then coughed. "My Aliza, I have missed you so much."

She held a glass of water to his lips. "Have a sip... Liam said the curse was the Fae equivalent of cancer... like cancer of the soul?"

"He was right. The curse pulls my light away and feeds it to Galen while poisoning me with his darkness." He nodded, shifting weakly to sit on the edge of the bed. "I am trying not to let depression win, but it hurts me that my brother would do this to me and kill our mother."

"What can I do? Surely, there is something medical?" She offered as she took his hand. It felt so cold in hers.

"Sadly, we cannot undo it until my brother chooses to uncurse me. Galen forced me to take on the darkness he was carrying. As you can see it was quite a lot," Gerard lied. He watched her aura like a starving beast watched prey, his soul reached out to sip hers before he could pull it back. She shuddered as if chilled for a moment.

"What now?" She hugged herself.

He moved to sit on the edge of the bed and took out his I.V.. He dabbed at the dark blood leaking from his arm. "I'm so sorry to worry you, Aliza... And more sorry I couldn't rescue you when they came for you." He reached to touch her cheek, but she cringed away.

Glancing furtively between him and the window beyond, she murmured, "You sent Liam and Petra... I escaped, I'm fine... It's just shocking to see you like this."

"Please... please don't look at me if it disturbs you." He hung his head and a tear leaked from his dark eyes. He shook as he stood, trembling like he was frail. He moved to the desk, leaning against it to stand on the side facing her. "I'm still the same fae who loved you, but I understand if you can't bear the sight of me. I apologize for failing you."

"No, it's not your fault or mine, we had foolish people and Fae helping us."

"Thank you, for everything." He reached out with a pale, trembling hand but then dropped it when she didn't accept it. "Go home, Aliza, remember me as I was."

She summoned her courage and walked forward. Putting a bandaid over the spot on his arm, and taking his hand, she revealed, "Galen came to my mother's home, mocked my childhood pain, and called me your whore. I despised him but now... seeing you like this... I hate him... Is... Is there any way to cure you?"

"The only thing that will keep me from withering into Death, is to feed from a willing soul, and I would not ask that of you... Please, go."

Aliza stood resolutely holding his hand, looking up at the dark hazel orbs that had been his perfect golden eyes. Her chin trembled as she tried to ask, "You mean we'd have to..."

"Sex?" He laughed slightly, it was a weak, pathetic sound and she feared he would collapse and expire in front of her. "No, it would just be a kiss. The sex was so I could worship you because you are so gloriously beautiful. I wanted you to feel the pleasure you gave me. Our souls are the same shade of fate or they were before he did this to me."

"Your brother said they were the same shade too," Aliza snarled. "But he said it was hate."

Gerard shook his head, scolding her, "Never let his words hurt you, my beauty. He lives to mock the noble," Gerard lied, "I bet he even said I was the demon in the family."

"He did... the bastard claimed you cursed him. His hair is white now, but he still wears the same dated, bad boy goth style." She sneered then she smiled up at him before she had to look back down at his shirt, least he see how his change horrified her. "You have an impeccable sense of style."

"Thank you, I..." Suddenly, his whole body seemed to convulse, and he cried out in pain, collapsing to his knees.

She tried to catch him. "Oh Gerard... let me help you... Together, we can go after him and that Phillips woman. Just tell me what you need."

"What woman?"

Aliza swallowed her sob, she had loved Troy so much, but the letter he left for Quinn was both their truth and their heartache. "Troy's half-breed biyatch was with Galen... only she's a full wolf now. She had a letter... Troy betrayed me, betrayed us!" Her words were hissed out with newfound hatred. "He used me to steal everything for the werewolves because she was one of them."

Gerard's smirk was hidden behind his starvation, he was so hungry, but he needed her to be willing to feed him or he would be starving again in an hour, so he faked his sympathy. "I'm so sorry, Aliza. I know you cared more deeply for him than you ever did for me."

Her lips pressed in a firm line, even scowling she was the epitome of human beauty, but his brother was right about the color of her soul.

"He was a pure human and I'm... I'm not, I understand." Gerard knew he was playing the martyr, but it was working if her chewing of her lip was any indication. "I always knew I would have to let you go to him."

"I should have loved you instead," Aliza admitted, "I knew you loved me, and I stupidly chose him because I believed in my father's dream... Here, let's get you in a chair."

He clung to her as she helped him stand and stagger to a plush leather chair.

It was the first time she feared him. Before when he was golden and beautiful, she had no problem sharing her soul energy to feed him, but now he looked like he could become a corpse at any moment.

"Please Aliza, I'm starving and won't heal unless you help me."

She held his cheeks in her cupped hands. "I will. We can overcome anything together. I love you, Gerard, I'm so sorry I didn't see it sooner."

Closing her eyes, she imagined him as he was before she pressed her lips to his cold, gray ones. The familiar shiver went through her as she exhaled into his mouth while their tongues caressed then his arms became tighter, crushing the breath out of her. The shiver became a tearing and she moaned, but she couldn't pull away. This was the first time it hurt, too late she realized he meant to kill her and consume her soul. Her eyes opened and she saw what he really was, a skeletal face in a dark robe. It hurt and she screamed with the little bit of breath left as he sucked her life from her. She saw the hidden demon he was all along as the beautiful view and golden sunlight faded to black. He held her tighter, inhaling every last bit of her life glow. Relaxing, he looked at her corpse with a satisfied smirk.

"Oh grandfather, I understand why you enjoyed your Belle so much."

He dropped Aliza's withered body in a heap, then walked and pulled back a curtain that hid a mirror, not a window. Turning, he looked almost as he had before, though not as golden. His hair looked more chestnut than raven, and his eyes were dark hazel. He would need to feed regularly to maintain this glamour, but it would last until he could find Shalom again. Willing or not, her soul was forfeit because he would consume its purity. He stretched and scowled at his leathery wings. He could not hide those when he changed, but the humans he knew would not know to ask to see his wings. Glancing one time only at Aliza's mummified remains, he went to find Liam.

Walking down the stairs, he looked out at the red leafed elms. They looked like they were dripping with blood. He vowed he would make everyone pay for the Human Purity Movement's failure then he saw something moving through the trees. A group of Ravers, Nons, and human soldiers stalked toward the mansion lead by the Monarch of the Wolves. He wondered if Jacob Vanguard knew they were surrounded by Samhain Elm trees as he made himself vanish when a drone moved into view of his window. There wasn't time to escape with little Portia, Petra, and Liam so he retreated to the library. He felt warmth and light enter through the front door and cursed. He could not let his brother and his brother's chosen one find him. Gerard put his hand on a wall panel, revealing a travelling mirror hidden behind a bookcase. He stepped through and vanished as the wall slid shut.