Born of Ice

Chapter Nineteen

   He looked around the chosen battlefield, all the debris from what happened laying all around them as the ringing in his ears began to subside. He turned to Tisha, eyeing her to ensure there was no bodily harm done during the short battle. Her face drained of color as she saw the front of him. Before he realized what was happening, he felt his knees buckling and the ground was raising up to greet him. Tisha's soft body impacted with him, cushioning his fall to the ground. He ran a trembling hand down the front of himself, coming back covered in blood. When had he been hit? Must of been from the explosions going off. He looked up at Tisha as his vision began to swim and he felt his limbs become leaden with blood loss. His mouth attempted to form words as he stared up at her tear stricken face. In such a short time he had fallen in love with her and now he would lose her to the afterlife. He was dimly aware of her talking to him as his senses dulled to a low roar. The blackness slowly took his vision as he felt himself being cradled to someone's warm chest.
   The commander lifted Eric into his arms as he raced towards the awaiting medical unit, Tisha right on his heels. He had felt the cry for help as if someone had called him on the phone and had known something was wrong with Eric. He was his sire into this world they lived in and he would be damned if he lost him now. He had mobilized the medical unit and rushed to the house as if Hades himself had lit a fire under his ass. When he had arrived it was as if his heart had been torn from his chest as he saw Tisha cradling Eric to her with tears streaking down her face. He had not hesitated as he lifted Eric into his arms as if he were nothing but a mere child. The medical team sat in wait for him to set him down onto the gurney. They set to work immediately as he grabbed ahold of Tisha and backed her out of the medical unit as they took off for the base. He held onto her as he peered around at the wreckage of the battle they had finished, knowing that he would help to clean it up and find out who had sent them.
"Let me make a few calls and we will follow them to the base."
   All she could do was nod as her eyes followed the path the unit had taken with Eric in the back. When had it happened? When had she fallen so hard for a man that she had not known for very long? Whenever it was, she was sure that she would not withstand the loss. She felt a tightness in her chest as the commander spoke rapidly into a phone. Surely they would save Eric. With a grim face, the commander strode towards her with a set of keys in his hand. Where did he get them from? He wrapped an arm around her as he steered her towards a vehicle she had not noticed before. He sat her in the passenger seat, gently leaning around her to buckle her into the seat. He went around to the driver's side, getting in and starting the car. She felt the tightness growing in her chest as they made their way in silence towards the base.
"The clean up team will be going in to get rid of everything. They will search the bodies for any information before destroying the evidence that they had been there. They will be repairing any damage done to the house as well. You are welcome to stay at the base until it is all finished."
"Ok. I don't want to be there without him. I can't be there without him."
"He will pull through. He has no choice but to pull through or when I get to the other side I will be kicking his ass from one side of the afterlife to the other. Now, there is something you need to know about the mission that started all of this. As you are probably aware, someone special requested Eric to go in and get you out of there."
"Yes, he told me as much but did not know who it was. Said it was someone who was related to me but did not want me to know who it was yet. Why are you bringing this up now?"
"It is time that you know who it was. What do you remember about your parents?"
"Not much. I was told they died in battle and that their bodies had been burned with the rest of the dead. Other than that no one would tell me anything else, why?"
"Only part of that is true. Your mother perished on the battlefield that day and your father was as good as dead after losing her. He had spiraled out of control before regaining some of his sanity when he bonded to another. When he went looking for you, he thought it best to watch from a distance. He did not think you would believe he was who he said he was if he approached you. When you ended up captured he made the request for Eric to go in and get you. He knew that he was the only one that would be able to get you out with any kind of success. Him bonding to you was not part of the plan but was something close to a miracle considering his past."
"Why are you telling me this? Where is he now?"
"He would be me. I made the request for Eric to be assigned the mission. I am your father just as I am his sire into this world we live. It was my blood that turned Eric. Before you ask, no you are not related in any way. Although he is as close to a son as any can get, he is not blood related. I have watched over you for many years and thought to approach you when you seemed ready but in light of all that has happened I felt it best to explain now."
"How? How are you my father?"
"It was long after I had saved Eric that the battle that took your mother from me had taken place. Eric does not know that I am your father. He only knows that when I lost your mother I had lost my mind and had locked myself away. He did not know you existed at that point or I am sure he would have taken you in. I sent you away to be with someone I trusted who would start the elite soldiers program that you would later end up apart of. They were instructed to tell you that I had perished with your mother because I did not believe I would regain my position or sanity. When I met and bonded with my wife, it was a miracle like no other. She mended my broken mind and allowed me a second chance at finding you. When I had found you, you were already a fierce warrior shaped by a past you did not have a choice in. I allowed you to continue on and simply watched from the sideline, unwilling to take anything away from you."
"Why wouldn't you have come to me sooner? Why let me continue to think you were dead?"
"Would you honestly have accepted that I was your father? If I had approached you back then could you honestly look me in the eye and tell me you would have accepted me into your life?"
"No, honestly I don't think I would have."
"It was far better to be able to watch from a distance than ruin it by telling you and have you reject me in that moment. If you accept it, I would like to rebuild on what we have lost over these years."
"We can not gain what we have lost, but I do not see anything wrong with building something new."