by ClareMarie .
I swing back around and kick her left foot, which is closest to me, knocking her off balance as she stumbles, then I kick her left knife from her hand. I use my foot to propel the knife forward, away from her, leaving her with only one weapon. Kai's growls stop at this movement.
Sophia steadies herself, and tries to swipe me across the stomach, but a memory flash of seeing myself pregnant makes me jump back in rapid speed. Something snaps in me, as if I'm already pregnant, and now it is personal, almost as if she tried to hurt my baby. Kai senses the change in my mood and goes still, the wolf and man both watching in understanding of what just happened. Vincent and Anna's eyes have gone huge, also realizing I felt Ava was threatened, and are unsure of how I'm going to react.
I run at her so fast Sophia doesn't even have time to blink, and grab the knife from her, causing it cut deep into my hand. Blood drips fast onto the mat and I throw the knife across the room, as everyone jumps out of the way to avoid it. Sophia looks confused by my sudden hostility and I use that to my advantage, slamming her down onto the mat and pinning her down with my body. I place both my knees on her thighs to keep her pinned and use my right hand to hold her arm down. Using my left hand, I grip it around her throat and squeeze, a move that would eventually put her unconscious.
“Okay, Miss Dale. You won, so let go now,” Principal Clayton says, then blows his whistle, bringing me back to reality. I immediately let go and stand, releasing Sophia.
I hold out my hand to help her up with an apologetic expression on my face, feeling guilty I went all Kill Bill on her ass. Sophia eyes the hand dubiously for a beat then takes it, allowing me to help her up.
“I'm sorry. Something you did brought a certain memory to the forefront and I lost it. It wasn't personal.” Even though it was in the moment.
Sophia smiles graciously. “No worries,” she tells me before walking back to her friends. I turn around and everyone is staring at me with almost the same curiosity, probably wondering what the hell got into me. I make my way to Kai, who's patiently waiting.
When I'm standing in front of him, he puts his tank top over my head, saying, “What is it with you girls getting your sports bras nearly cut off?” I smirk at that.
“You mean, you don't want anyone to get a peek of her chest?” Anna counters and Kai growls.
“Don't get him going again. He’s only just stopped,” Vincent whispers and Anna appears a little sheepish.
Kai hands me a bottle of water and a towel. I wipe the sweat off me and toss the towel in the used pile.
“My wolf was fighting me to get out and reach you. Protect mate, he kept snarling at me, but then you went all badass and we calmed down. We actually enjoyed watching you kick ass,” Kai informs me proudly, grinning with pride as I chug down the water.
“Yeah?” I ask, breathing heavy, and he nods.
“Hell yeah. I was cheering for you on the inside,” Anna helpfully adds.
“Note to self. Do not mess with momma bear and her cubs,” Vincent jokes.
“That should be wolf and pups, Vince...” Kai says with a scowl at his friend.
“She isn't a wolf.” Vincent frowns at Kai like he has lost it.
“No, she isn't. But she'll be carrying my pups, so...”
“Fair point,” Vincent mutters. Kai puts his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his chest, and I smile as the bell rings.
“Alright everyone. Change back into your uniforms and get to gun practice,” Principal Clayton speaks loudly over the ringing bell and everyone rushing for the door.
I'm asleep in bed later that night, dreaming of Ava chained in a cage, being tortured in a warehouse, and my heart rate climbs exponentially. My body is sweating so much I'm soaking my bedsheets and restlessly unable to stay still. Half of me is awake, aware I'm distressed and dreaming, but the other half is lost in the vision I am witnessing. I'm screaming for the people in the blurry shadows to stop hurting my baby, but not one of them can see or hear me.
I hear Anna calling out my name, but it sounds like it's coming through a tunnel, like she’s trying her best to wake me. After what seems like forever, my body shoots upright in a panic. I wildly search the room for something to ground me because I know what I just saw is a vision from the future. I find Anna sitting on my bed and I stare into her worried eyes as tears drip down my cheeks.
“Hey... hey, it's okay,” Anna says soothingly, pulling me into her for a hug as I attempt to slow my breathing and the dagger lodged in my chest. Sleep evades me for the rest of the night, as the image replays over and over in my mind.
The next morning, I am walking across the academy's grounds with Anna. My boots crunching the loose gravel, as I head to the men's dorm on the opposite side of the campus from the women's. The outside of the academy almost reminds me of a castle, or maybe a palace, with its gray stones and conical roofs on all four corners of the square wraparound exterior, and the heavy brown arched wooden doors.
I knock on Eriya's door.
“What can I do for you, cousin?” he asks me, opening up the door.
“Hey Anna, nice to see you again.”
“Likewise,” she smiles, getting comfortable on a chair.
“Two FTs, please.”
FT is a Familiar Tattoo – a creature of your choosing is tattooed onto your skin and immediately comes to life when finished. The familiar lives in your skin, like a moving tattoo, but occasionally jumps from your skin into the real world to protect you or just to have more room to run around.
“You finally decide to seek familiars?”
“It hasn't been that long since I turned sixteen,” I defend.
“Long enough, little cousin,” he quips.
“We all can't be ancient Warlocks, like yourself,” I tease, knowing he hates his age to be mentioned. He scowls at me but reluctantly smiles.
“Sit down, brat. Tell me what you want?”
“I want a female gray wolf, but I want my familiar to be a part of me, if possible?”
“Hmm, it's possible, but it's a more complicated process.”
“How complicated?”
“When I finish the tattoo, she won't immediately jump off to greet you. She’ll need time to build her energy as she nestles her way into every part of you, to become intricately linked, almost like a Werewolf,” Eriya explains.
“How long does that take?”
“It varies. A few hours, or up to a day.”
“Okay, that's fine.”
“Cool, lay down on the tattoo table,” Eriya tells me. I do as I’m told, and lift up my tee to expose my back.
All FTs are done on a Paranormal’s back, as it gives the familiar more room to move around, and the tattoo artist more space to create your creature.
An hour or so later, he’s finished. I climb off the table as Anna switches places with me, and exposes her back. We don't need covering up or special aftercare like a normal tattoo because we heal instantly. The enchanted ink dries straight away, making the tattoo appear years old. Eriya holds up a mirror to allow me to see my back. Holy shit! There, taking up my whole back, is a gray sleeping wolf, curled into a ball. She blinks one eye open, with love for me shining in her eyes, then closes it and goes back to sleep.
“She's tired,” Eriya explains, “but she did greet you when she opened her eye, which I'm shocked about. Normally they don't until they have the energy to jump off.”
“Woah Ari, she looks badass,” Anna says from the table, turning her head toward my back.
“Thanks.” I beam with pride, still staring at my wolf.
“Now what to name you,” I murmur to myself.
“One large female jaguar coming up,” Eriya says, picking up the tattoo gun. I move in closer to watch him work, fascinated. Anna told him what she wanted while he was doing mine, so Eriya gets straight to it.
“Do you think you and Vincent are mates?” I ask Anna as Eriya is tattooing her, but I already believe they are.
“I think so. Or at least, I hope so,” she whispers.
“The way he acts possessively of you is usually a sign,” I tell her.
“I could cast a spell for you to find out?” Eriya offers. Anna thinks about it for a minute, the buzzing needle the only sound in the room.
“No, I want to find out when I'm supposed to. Thanks, though.”
“No problem.”
Sometime later, and I'm watching Eriya pull back his tattoo gun as he announces it's done. Anna climbs off the table, just in time to be greeted by a large jaguar.
“She's stunning,” I breathe in awe.
“Yeah, she is…” Anna whispers.
“Have you got a name for her yet?” I ask, while admiring the large jaguar standing in front of me. She’s taking in her surroundings and greeting Anna, nudging her hand with her head in a hello.
“Artemis. The name of a Greek Goddess. She was mostly well-known as the Goddess of the Hunt, which is how I imagine my familiar,” Anna says.
“Cool name. Hey Artemis,” I say, petting her, and she leans her body into my touch.
Artemis jumps back into Anna's skin and, curious, I pull up her shirt to see what she’s doing.
“She's sleeping,” I say.
“Sounds right. Artemis needs the rest before she's at full strength,” my cousin explains, putting away his tattoo supplies.
Anna and I soon leave for our dorm to spend the day just lounging around, shooting the shit. What we didn't know was that getting our familiar inked also made us exhausted, like our new pet.
I'm laying in bed, unable to sleep, when I check the clock for the millionth time. Midnight. I groan internally, desperate not to be awake, trying to hopefully get some time where I'm at peace, and not constantly thinking.
I feel movement on my back, and then suddenly a gray wolf lands in front of my bed. My familiar is active, and I know what I'm going to call her because of when she first appeared to me...
Midnight.
“You have the weekend to do your assignments, and I hope you enjoy the experience as I did with mine,” I tell my Witchcraft class at PSA on a Friday, smiling with pride at my students.
I cannot believe I'm mentoring them in the same assignment I took in 2065 that changed everything for me.
“Yes, Mrs. James,” my students answer in response.
My heels click as I walk to my desk to collect spell papers I need to read and mark. I gave them homework last week to write spells on any topic they wished.
“I never get tired of hearing you be called ‘James,’” Kai's voice comes through my head loud and clear, and I grin.
“We've been mated nine hundred and thirteen years? And what did I tell you about listening to my classes?”
Kai and I mated in 2067, when I turned eighteen, and the mating bond kicked into high gear instantly. We're still blissfully happy, as all true mated couples are.
“I know, but it still hits me every time, and that I'm welcome...?”
“Shouldn't you be teaching your Lycanthrope class?” I laugh mentally, used to his antics.
“I am. We're in the gym today doing practice wolf fights.” Kai teaches his own class about everything werewolves, and trains them to fight – has been since he graduated.
“I can only imagine the hormones you're dealing with then; a class full of brooding teenage wolves,” I joke.
“It's challenging keeping them all under control and making them learn discipline. Christ, I'll talk to you soon. There's two wolves trying to kill each other,” Kai says on a mental sigh, and even though we aren't actively talking right now, I can still feel his presence in my mind.
It's strange being able to hear everything going on where he is, like background noise. If I want to see what's happening, I can do that too. But that can get distracting when I'm busy, so I mostly don't.
I began teaching Witchcraft classes alongside Principal Lex a few years after my graduation. I'm leaving my classroom when Anna finds me, also carrying a stack of papers.
“Ready for dinner?” Anna smiles and falls into step beside me toward the academy's exit sign.
We're spending as much time as we can out and about in Skyline City because now that we're in 2980, we'll be moving below to New York soon, if the future is still on schedule.
“Yeah. Skyline?”
Very unoriginal, to name a restaurant after its city, but we're a secret society, so why not. A lot has changed here, though, in almost a millennium. For starters, we have many more businesses – restaurants, pubs, clubs, and even a mall. We have a dozen new apartment complexes all over the city. Skyscrapers are filled with office jobs dedicated to keeping us thriving as a society. More flying drones serve as our ears and eyes to help protect the city we love so much and call home.
“You know it. I love that place. Where's Kai?”
“He was asked to train his wolves for an extra hour this morning, due to the constant fights breaking out, to help them burn off more energy,” I reply.
“It's hard for any teenager dealing with all those new hormones, but imagine how difficult that must be having an animal within you?”
“You aren't wrong,” I agree, opening the door of my SUV.
“I'll meet you there,” Anna says, heading for her car close by. I drive out the academy's parking lot and towards the roads in the sky.
I love looking up and seeing the clouds, then looking down to the tiny blip that represents New York. We're basically a magical floating city in the sky.
“How's Vincent's Changeling classes going?” I wonder, as we're seated at a table in Skyline.
“They're good. Although he was bitching that Kai has it easier with his class because he’s teaching all wolves. Whereas, he has to teach all breeds of cats, and not all cats get along.”
“Our mates have quite the tasks of training the new generations every year. And how are your Vampiric classes going?” Anna and Vincent mated not too long after Kai and I did.
“It's much easier teaching about Vampirism than it is to reign in teenagers crazed with animal hormones. Although, some may argue my specie is the more deadlier of the two.” We both laugh at that, then pause when Clare, the waitress, comes to our table. She's an Elemental and a lovely girl, who's graduated recently.
“Hello Mrs. James and Mrs. Santiago. Welcome back to Skyline. What can I get you?”
“I'll have my usual and please, call me Ariana,” I request with a friendly smile.
“No problem. One beef stroganoff and a glass of champagne coming up, Mrs. Ariana. And for you, Mrs. Santiago?” Clare asks, looking at Anna.
“Usual for me too, and it’s Anna,” she insists with a wink, making Clare and I laugh.
“Chicken pot pie and champagne,” Clare murmurs, writing down the orders.
“Oh, just water, please,” Anna corrects with a smile.
“Okay. I'll be back soon with your orders.”
We settle into casual conversation, and Clare returns quickly with our drinks.
“I must admit, I'm proud of the four of us. We created classes for topics that weren't being taught yet in the academy,” I tell, Anna taking a sip of my champagne as we wait for our food. She's drinking water since she's breastfeeding.
“We've started a legacy,” Anna notes with pride, then takes on a faraway expression. An expression I know all too well, meaning she's having a mind to mind conversation with Vincent.
I used to look that way when Kai and I have mind to mind talks but I've taught myself to control it. That expression is a dead giveaway for being Paranormal or mated, and when I'm living in New York as a human in disguise, I can't be taking on that look.
“They're coming,” Anna and I say in unison, after Kai just told me he’s close to the restaurant.
We giggle like teenagers, still hopelessly in love with our men, and get excited when reuniting with them.
"Vincent’s bringing the kids?!” I exc
laim, after we put in two more orders for steak dinners, and a kiddie’s hamburger, and asking for a highchair to be brought to the table.
“Yeah, he is, and I can't wait to see them. I've missed my little devils all day,” Anna gushes over her children, making me excited for my own soon.
Anna and Vincent are the proud parents to newborn Una Smith Santiago and almost four-year-old Tobias Smith Santiago. ‘Smith’ is a name that's run in Anna's family for a while, so she wanted to honor that, and Vincent understood. When Tobias was born and we discovered he didn't take after either Vampire or Werecat, like his parents, but instead was a Chimæra, we were all shocked. Anna told me that the name Smith came from a grandfather, Smith Dale, many generations ago in her bloodline. The Chimæra gene was clearly laying dormant until Tobias, and that's when we got another surprise visit from the Angel of Destiny.
She informed us that the guardian angel she suspected for Ava's child would in fact be Anna and Vincent's daughter, who would be born a few years later. Angel of Destiny suggested they move to New York, with Kai and me when it was time, undercover, and raise our children together. She also stated that Tobias would have a role to play in the events to come too, but that neither he or their future daughter could know the truth.
“Devils? Oh no, they're adorable, my godchildren,” I say, grinning.
“Ha, wait till you have your own,” Anna offers, also grinning.
“Oh, but then you'll be saying your godchildren are adorable,” I tease.
“I never thought I'd have chimeric children. I just assumed they'd be either Vampire or Werecat, you know?”
“Does it scare you?” I ask, frowning.
“Yes. I've seen how some Paranormals are eyeing my kids, with either too much interest or disdain, because they're different. They're the first Chimæras born in centuries.”
“Well, soon you'll be able to rest easier in New York, living as humans.” I reach for her hand and squeeze, trying to ease her fears.
“I'm still getting my head around the idea that your kids can change into any animal when they're are unbounded, many years from now,” I add, shaking my head in wonder. Chimæras are still new territory for me, since they're the only specie I've never actually seen.