Finding Meridian Ch 24

Death and Fear of Loss

I would like to thank everyone for staying with me. I am sorry this took so long. Also, thank you MSNJ for acting as my muse! Thank you everyone for reading! Sorry for the delay. So many things needed to be figured out.

Meridian

Characters

Reardan O'Brien – Prime Alpha of UK, Werewolf. Father is Teague O'Brien.

Alice Grandy-Young island female whose parents were killed and uncle tried to rape. Uncle attacked Queen Trinity and was sentenced to death.

Hermes Trismegistus- Ancient Egypt spiritual leader whose name means 3 times great.

The Blue Priestess – Magical daughter to Hermes and her powers are yet to be shown.

Marcus & Meridian – Marcus vampire leader that mated with Meridian. Lead singer of Genevieve's Revenge and One of the three Triadic Queens. Children: Marcus Jr. and Gweneal

Trinity & Drake – Triplet sister to Meridian and Alex. Mated to Drake. Powers of hypnotic voice. Children: Nico and Skylar

Alex & Logan– Triplet sister to Meridian and Alex. Now mated to Logan. Children: Caleb and Gabriella. Pregnant with 3

rd

child Lucian.

Zeus – Ancient Great Great (you get it)...Grandfather to Meridian, Trinity and Alex.

~~~~~~

Over the next week everything seemed to calm down as the groups left the island and the babies were finally removed from the incubators. Alex was stuck on bed rest waiting for Lucian to be born. Logan was overwhelmed with not only taking care of the children but also catering to Alex's odd cravings.

"Chicken wings! Logan, Lucian wants chicken wings with blue cheese dressing." Alex said batting her eyelashes at him and biting her lip.

"I highly doubt our son has a craving for chicken wings which he has never eaten." Logan was becoming irritated due to the lack of sleep when he heard a knock at the door.

A vexed Logan turned to see Connor and Blue standing there. "Please tell me you don't need something too?"

"Actually, Blue and I spoke and we thought that maybe you would enjoy it if we took the babies for the night. We've sent up a kitchen servant with a cart covered in all kinds of weird food for Alex." Connor smiled as the servant pushed it over to her.

Alex looked like a carnivore going in for the kill as she saw the cart, "Oh Yes! Chicken wings, pickles, anchovies, and more!"

Logan was unable to hide his disgust as he watched her devour the food. He looked really ill when he saw her make a sandwich with pickles, anchovies, peanut butter and chicken strips.

Blue looked over at her, "Now that is just not right." She stepped over to Logan and placed a few things in his hand.

He looked at them and started to laugh, "Dramamine and ear plugs!"

Blue laughed, "You'll be sleeping next to T-Rex there so you will probably need it."

Alex scowled at Blue as she made a potato chip sandwich with cream cheese and pickles. As she chomped down on the sandwich Logan looked at Blue, "You are good and we thank you both so much. You sure you can handle taking care of the babies?"

Connor laughed, "The babies are no problem. I am more concerned that Alex will get hungry and we'll find your skeleton in the morning."

Alex threw a chicken wing at Connor. "Just wait until you're pregnant!"

Connor laughed again, "I don't think that is physically possible."

Blue looked at Logan, "Don't be afraid to wear the earplugs. All the monitors are hooked up and will notify both doctors immediately if anything happens so you need to rest." She told him as they left with the children.

Logan got into a hot shower trying to drown out the sound of Alex chomping down on more food. When he walked into the other room he looked to see Alex asleep but started laughing as he saw an entire cart of food demolished and a chicken wing stuck in her hair. He couldn't resist as he grabbed the camera out of the drawer and took a photo of her with the empty food cart. He called the servant and had more food brought in just to ensure she didn't mistake him for food.

He gently removed the chicken wing from her hair as he wiped her sleeping face. He couldn't help but smile as he placed his hand on her stomach. He crawled in bed next to her gently curling up to her to hold her as he dozed off.

~~~~~~

Reardan stared down at Alice who was asleep in his arms. Letting her go was tearing at his heart; she could have been back in her room days ago. She fit so perfectly in his arms. The feeling of protecting her was consuming him especially when she would cry in her sleep, he couldn't help but soothe her.

She whimpered in his arms as he stared down at her wondering what nightmare she was having this time. She whined again and he realized it wasn't a nightmare as she curled against him and was gyrating.

"Calm down my Alice, no need to test my patience." Reardan tried pushing her away as he heard her cry out impatiently then relax against him. Her musky smell was starting to drive him insane and the realization that she almost came in his arms meant he had to make a decision.

Reardan untangled her from his body and went for a cold shower. Jumbled thoughts ran through his head as he rested his head against the cool tiles

. He COULD NOT mate with her yet. Was her caring merely due to him saving her life? Maybe he should just leave her to grow up some and come back. Then the thought of another man falling for his Alice made him want to punch the wall. What if he came back too late? Would she be happier married to someone else? With that thought he smashed his hand through the wall.

He dressed and left the room while she was still sleeping. He knocked on Quinn's door before entering.

"Quinn, I need your help. We need to get Alice back into her room now. I don't know how to do it so she won't feel rejected. It's just..."

Quinn smiled, "You found your mate but she is not of age for you to make any move?"

Reardan let out a deep breath, "Yes."

Quinn stared at him concentrating, "Why don't you let me handle it?"

"I'll tell her but if you can handle moving her things she has back to her room that would be helpful."

Reardan walked back into the room to see a dressed Alice that looked sad. He noticed her looking at a photo she quickly put away. It made him feel even more like an ass for having to put her back in her room. "Alice, can you come sit with me? We need to talk."

"OK." Alice hesitated as she sat down next to him staring at her hands and not looking at him.

"I enjoy having you here but I think it's time for you to go back to your own room. You are healing nicely so I don't have to worry about your health. Just keep your appointments with the doctor." He paused as he held her tiny hand in his. "We head out for Ireland in the morning." Reardan stared over at her as he noticed she perked up. "I'll be leaving with Quinn and the rest of the group."

The realization that he did not want to take her with slowly broke her heart. She held her breath to hold back the tears. She let the coldness in her soul take over removing her hand from his. "Have a safe trip." She mentally kicked herself letting the insecurities wrap around her heart.

How could he love me? He just saved me as he was meant to do. How could I expect anyone to love me? Everyone has abandoned me. I was just a patient to him.

She refused to break down and cry now so she went with the only thing she could think of. She let the coldness settled around her heart as she removed her hand from his.

He couldn't resist as he reached out and hugged her, "It's ok Alice, I'll still see you before I leave."

He felt her stiffen in his arms, "I should pack."

Reardan just watched the coldness settle over her. Her behavior became calculated and distant.

"Quinn is going to come help you." Reardan said as he noticed her rush and grab the small things she had in his room.

He didn't notice how little she had until he saw her fill the small box. She turned and looked at him hiding the unshed tears, "Thank you for everything Reardan."

Quinn walked in shortly after she left to help move her stuff. He noticed Reardan cussing to himself. She had been spending most of the time in one of his t-shirts so he never realized she very little.

"What do you need me to move into her room?"

"I never realized she didn't have so little. She took the small box with her and has already left." Reardan ran a hand through his head feeling like a complete ass.

"Feeling shitty huh?" Quinn asked as he placed his arm around Reardan's shoulders.

"Beyond shitty, I didn't even notice she's hand one set of clothes. She would go wash it while I was in meetings. I never even bothered getting her fresh cloths; a few things must have been bought for her. Maybe I should just leave her here so she can have a normal life." Reardan continued to curse himself.

Quinn snorted at him, "That'll last for less than a week when you leave. It'll leave a hole in your heart and you know it. You already feel it. For such a big Alpha you can sometimes be slow. What about courting her when she turns 18?"

A smile came onto Reardan's face, "I knew you were with me for a reason."

"Yes, just to smack sanity into your thick head." Quinn gave a charming smile back to him.

~~~~~~~

Alice arrived back at her room to notice everything was gone as a man blocked the door. "What do you think you are doing?"

"This is my room, I'm Alice."

"Well I am your boss Mr. Michael Smith. This is no longer your room." Michael Smith gave an eerie smile as he reveled in his ability to have revenge against Alice in his new position.

"Michael, when did you want me to start working?" Alice weakly looked at him.

Embrace the coldness

!

No man deserves to hurt me again!

She chastised herself.

"It's Mr. Smith and you've caused enough turmoil here in the main palace so here." He tossed her a plain uniform and directed her to follow him. He just smiled as he led her to the dungeon.

"Due to the change in your position, you will not be living in the main area of the palace." He directed her to a tiny cell. "You'll be working 12 hours a day or more depending on what needs to be done. I want you dressed in one hour. Also, at night you'll be locked in to keep you from getting into trouble. I won't have you running off."

He turned and left when she heard the door lock. Alice pulled a small picture from the box she had. It was of her parents and she pulled out the card it had been in. She stared at the photo as she allowed herself to fall apart and cried as she saw words appeared and the photo began to speak. "Happy Birthday our brilliant Phoenix Alice." She touched it quickly as she saw her parents smile and wave. A bolt of energy seemed to shoot through the cell and hit her knocking her out.

~~~~~~

Alice felt so different as if something was pulsing through her veins. The humming was in her ears. An eternity of memories attacked her all at once as she fell to her knees. All the lovers, all the deaths, all the lives she had lived came into view as she thought she was truly going insane. She let out a soundless scream as she felt her body change. It was all too much as she stared at the wall seeing static as if watching a television without reception until the darkness around the edges consumed her view and she passed out.

A different Alice awoke and went into the small area that was her tiny bathroom. When she stared in the mirror she almost screamed. The image that stared back was her but different. She was now fully developed but tall now. She estimated she was about five foot eight as she stared at her now womanly body with gorgeous curves.

Her hand reached out to touch the mirror to see if she was dreaming. She stared at her hair that had changed to burgundy and crimson in huge ringlets down to her waist. She closed her eyes and opened them again to notice the change in her eyes. The whites had completely disappeared to be replaced with an outer ring of fire surrounded by brilliant orange and black pupils in the center.

She closed her eyes and stared again silently screaming, "Oh fuck!"

She noticed movement out of the right side of the mirror and turned to see her parents.

"Ok who slipped me peyote?" She started laughing as she thought to herself that she was finally cracking up. All the memories had dulled slightly but were in the back of her head. Knowledge she never knew was there.

"Zeus allowed us to visit you just once to explain this to you. We bound your powers when you were a child to let you have a normal childhood."

"Ok, I'll play along." Alice changed her voice to a southern accent, "On any other day this might seem strange."

Her mother touched her hair as her parents hugged her, "I always knew you'd be beautiful when you came of age." Her mother hugged her as she cried. "We can only stay to explain this to you. I'm sorry Alice. I'm sure you've wondered why we would have given you your middle name."

"Phoenix," Alice said as she turned to stare in the mirror with her parents at her side. "NO! NO, I've had enough happen!"

Her parents held her, "Honey, we couldn't have children and Zeus blessed us with raising you. I know you'll need to learn more as time goes on but Zeus is sending a guardian, a guide to train you. We had to see you on your 18

th

birthday our gorgeous girl."

"So I am a Phoenix?" Alice stared at herself dumbfounded.

Her mother hugged her, "Mostly, you are a hybrid so Phoenix, Witch, and we're not sure what else. With the way you were brought back to life the last time we are unsure." Alice's mother didn't want to go into how her resurrection had been mixed with an experiment by a laboratory. "I'm sorry sweetie but we don't have long."

Her father hugged her again and her parents backed off. "We need to teach you something before we go."

Her father pushed her backwards hard making her upset as she felt something emerge from her back. "Why? What in the..." Alice sputtered as her parents motioned for her to turn.

"OK, enough with the peyote, this is no longer fun." Alice stared to see wings. She cocked her head to the side and flexed them noticing the beautiful colors of shimmering purple fade to a crimson then brilliant orange ending in golden sun colored wing tips. She turned sideways to stretch her wings out to a span of about seven feet hitting the other end of the cell.

Her mother and father smiled, "It's your heritage our little Phoenix. Just remember your tears heal with compassion and your anger kills with the fires of the damned. Do not touch others when you are angry. Remember you can and will lead armies it is your destiny. And just be safe, your Phoenix side is like a natural aphrodisiac to almost everyone. You have more powers than you can imagine. Here are wrist bands so you can hide who you are until you are safe. They will not last forever."

Her mother secured the wrist bands as she looked like herself again expect for her hair, "We love you so much. Be safe and remove them if you need to protect yourself. You change the destiny of the triad."

She noticed her hair did not return to its former color. She quickly pulled her hair up to try and hide the change.

Alice went into the other part of the cell to see Michael had just entering. Michael lightly touched a curl sticking out from the bun her hair was in, "I don't think I noticed how pretty your hair was before." Lost in thought he finally shook his head and returned to his task.

"It's time for you to work. You took long enough." Michael pulled her roughly from the cell and directed her on cleaning before leaving her for 14 hours after which he escorted back to her own private hell. She had asked about food and was told she would earn it after a week. She couldn't figure out why he seemed to have personal hatred and loathing for her.

On the second day she had ripped her stitches and had asked him for assistance. She returned to her cell to find a needle and thread.

After three days of not eating and working 12-14 hours hard labor she passed out. She awoke to Mr. Smith kicking her until she stood shaking. "I don't pay you to sleep! Get back to work." She passed out again as he hit her an area she had just restitched.

~~~~~~

Alice awoke and it was dark. She was unsure where she was and felt weak. She realized she was back in the cell but bleeding and too weak to stitch it this time. Her hands were shaking too badly. She curled into a ball shivering as she tried to sleep. Until she removed the wrist bands and cried until she was able to summon just enough tears to slightly put on her wound. It was enough to heal her temporarily unfortunately she was severely dehydrated and unable to summon anymore tears. She slipped on the wristbands before passing out.

~~~~~~~

Later that night Michael stood outside the cell mad with desire as he felt his blood lust rise. He stared again at her unconscious body locked in the cell. He rested his head against the cold bars; he was unsure how long he could control the desire he had for her. He owned her she was his.

As she whined and turned over he spoke to himself. "You'll endure this forever. Your uncle was my friend and you got him killed. Stupid cunt!" He took a deep breath as anger and lust settled over him. "He promised you to me. I own you. If you are lucky I will marry you and punish you for the rest of your life."

~~~~~~

As the days went on Meridian felt she saw Marcus less and less. He was constantly in the library taking conference calls and working with Logan and Drake to catch up on business. He was able to get a temporary assistant to help but it was going to take the assistant some time to get up to speed.

Meridian had just dozed off when she heard the children crying at 3 am. Marcus was irate that this was happening constantly. He had business to attend soon and the screaming children were taking a toll on him.

Marcus stormed out of the room as Meridian attended to the babies. He slept in another guest room to get some rest before his conference call. Meridian sat crying as she rocked the children back and forth to stop the crying. She felt so depressed after everything.

It seemed anytime she laid the children down they cried. Meridian just kept holding the children to stop the crying.

Marcus finally reentered the room to see her walking around with the children. He hurried and got ready for his meeting. They had all agreed to wait until the children were older before they were completely sired as vampires. He stared over at Meridian as he noticed she was just walking around in a daze with the children.

"Meridian, I have to head to a meeting." Meridian just stared as she walked around. "Meridian?"

Marcus was irritated at her lack of reply and just slammed the door shut behind him. Meridian shook her head when she noticed the children were crying again and she sat down to nurse them. Once again crying overwhelmed her as she broke down.

Marcus sat near Logan and Drake slowly seething with frustration. They finished the final conference call and they both looked at him. "So what is wrong Marcus?" Drake said looking at him.

"The children won't stop crying. Right as I'm trying to sleep. I actually had to go to a guest room to get a few hours of sleep."

"So you just leave Meridian to take care of the children?" Logan leered at him.

"What else does she have to do? I have a business to run." Marcus said regretting the words as soon as he said them.

Drake shook his head, "Marcus this is a dangerous road you are turning onto. How is she healing after the C-section? Is she having a lot of pain since she can't take anything because of breast feeding?"

"How the hell do I know? That's why there is a doctor. She has nannies to help. My assistant now is only partially up to speed." Marcus was becoming annoyed at being questioned.