Daemon looked both furious and relieved to have her back, pulling her bound body into a tight hug, his nose wrinkling at the smell of her hair. Then he jerked back, looking down at her angrily.
But his scent had filled her senses, and she wondered if Dirdos had some sort of enchantment on his home, as she hadn't eaten once in the time she had been there. She was very suddenly ravenous to the point where she could no longer think entirely clearly.
Was this what the twins felt when they were away from her? That blind primal need for her blood?
She didn't know, and she lunged for him, his arms tightening around her as her teeth found his throat. Her moan of delight was muffled as his blood hit her mouth. Drinking greedily, she took the moment to assess the room, curious at the number of people who were still in Ayathian. She had only expected them to stay as long as it took to respect Uzo, but it had been two months and then some, which was an unusually long time to stay.
Once she had finished feeding, she stepped back from him and licked her lips. "Why are you all still here? I didn't think the Fae had grieving periods this long," she asked. Her eyes went to Bast, who smiled at her sadly.
"We're not here to grieve for Uzo, my darling girl. We're here to support one of our own while she grieves."
The words took several long seconds to sink in and she wasn't entirely sure where to start in her arguments or her confusion.
"One of our own?" she said finally, her mind rebelling against the consideration that they were not grieving Uzo, though she had little time to do that herself.
"We always look after our own if there is the loss of a loved one," Bast clarified, but that wasn't what she meant.
"No, what did you mean by one of our own? One of our own whats?"
"Doesn't she know?" Sobek demanded of Daemon. Daemon shrugged, clutching his throat to stem the bleeding.
"Etani, you're a Goddess," Daemon said.
The statement was ridiculous, her voice ringing out in a laugh at the bad joke but then her smile faded, and she squinted at him.
"No I'm not," she said instantly, she didn't feel any different and wouldn't she be aware if that had happened?
"You are, right around the time you became a Creator, I think," Sobek said, Bast nodding her agreement.
"That's impossible. I would know."
"Not if you are repressing it," Bast explained.
Etani snorted, and had she been able to, she would have crossed her arms.
"How much are you repressing? Uzo? Your status? Everything Drizdan did to you? Your guilt over what you did to Kai? What happened to your child? The suffering over what Epharis has done? The guilt over the loss of your sisters?" Daemon listed it all off.
Etani's heart ached at the memories, but she turned to him with her face very carefully blank. Inside, she wanted nothing more than to beat his stupid face into ground meat. "Shut up," she snapped.
Daemon looked to Bast, who only shook her head. "That is a lot to be ignoring," she breathed, but even as she approached, Etani backed away.
"Is this why you brought me back here? To force me to sit down and think about everything?" her tone was accusatory, glaring at the lot of them but then noticed two were missing from the group. "Where are the twins?"
"They had to be locked up; they ran out of blood," Versalis said.
She turned to the vampire, furious. "Untie me right now."
Daemon shook his head. "No. You'll just run off again."
"No, I won't," she lied.
His expression turned smug as he read the lie. "No more running, Etani. You are needed here."
"I'm not going to run."
"You can't lie to me."
"I'm not lying."
"That was a lie!"
Glaring at him, she turned to Bast, but the Goddess' face was set in a stern line.
"No more running, we all need you here and you need time to heal," the feline stated tenderly.
Turning away from the beautiful Goddess, she looked at Sobek, but he too was solidly on the side of Daemon. Jagum, Epharis, Versalis, Catsit and everyone else in the room were giving her the same stern look, even Loki was glaring at her.
Clenching her jaw in anger, she found herself more trapped than any gold chain could manage. "Fine, I won't run. But I have to get the twins back on track," she finally snapped, angry at them all.
"Promise?" Daemon said, but he was not content with her nod.
"I promise, I promise, I promise," she growled and only once she had said it all three times did he untie her.
She slapped him the instant she was free and stalked from the room, leaving him fuming and clutching his red face.
***
She found the two of them in the usual room, looking terrible and drawn but they both seemed to perk up at the sight of her. Moving to them immediately, she shivered at their bites into her wrists, and it was only a matter of seconds before they were back to themselves, though she let them take more than was needed.
She would have to draw more blood for them, just in case.
Her arms immediately went around Kai as he lunged for her, his wrists bruised and bleeding, but he didn't seem to care. She clutched him tightly to her, and she drew Jaia in as well, his rigid body softening as he leant into her. She didn't forgive them, but she was still glad they were okay.
She didn't get very long to stay with them before she was pulled back to her feet and marched from the cell back to her room by Daemon, the twins following along like puppies with their confused faces and concern over what the demon might do.
He sat her down, and he settled himself down directly in front of her on the little table between the couches.
"You can't mean to do this now?" she demanded.
He nodded, and much to her disgust, the others in the room seemed to settle in for the adventure as well. Her heart began to speed up as a steady anxiety settled low in her stomach.
"Uzo," Daemon said, drawing Etani's attention back from Sobek who was leaning against the wall beside the balcony, and to Epharis who had set up a watch beside the door. They were locking her inside and guarding the escape routes.
Daemon looked stern but there was a fear inside him at what she might do, or what might happen if she were forced to confront her pain. She didn't know what was going to happen either, but her heart squeezed at the name.
"Uzo," she mimicked him in a flat voice, not wanting to deal with that particular loss. It was still fresh and raw in her heart, and it was an effort to keep her eyes from going to the stone hand that had been given a special spot under the window, a candle lit beside it though she didn't know who had done that.
He stared at her, his face set in a grim pain that immediately made her want to run. It was going to get ugly.
"Uzo loved you more than anyone else and you loved him, even if you never really showed it."
Immediately the urge to run struck her, and she was on her feet before she knew what she was doing, her mind brutally shoving the sudden stab of pain that struck her with his cruel words.
Hands gripped her shoulders, and they strained to force her back down, her entire body tensed to run but she was physically incapable, the promise she had made thrice keeping her stationary. Turning, she found it was Letari who was trying to drag her down, and she was such a tiny thing with her violet hair and violet eyes that it would have been funny had Etani not been ready to scream.
Letari had never had the chance to meet Uzo fully, would never know his love or his humour. She would never get to be around the man that had meant so much to her.
The thoughts were digging into her brain, etching themselves into her like a knife and she clenched her jaw, unable to tear her eyes off the tiny creature that had suffered so much in her life, simply because she was different, because she was unlucky enough to be related to something like Etani.
A monster, a creature who should never have existed. If she had died early on Uzo would still be alive. If it had been her instead of Avadari, none of them would have suffered, and her baby sister would still be alive.
Hundreds of thousands of people would still be alive if she had died early on, and most of all, Uzo would still be alive.