by Kiki Howell
“Isaac, I don’t understand! We are at war with her people!” Achim’s voice shook, obviously trying to feign some sort of decorum. He wondered how the man had reacted to Amberlyn’s news before the war between the clans had started.
“Yes, and I’m sleeping with the enemy. Been through this with myself thanks. Thing is, this isn’t our war. We didn’t start it. We didn’t ask for it. Amberlyn and Kane didn’t even ask for it. I know we have a responsibility to the clan to protect them now that it’s started, but…but…”
“But what, Isaac?” Achim spat. “If you antagonize the other side, you are not helping the cause, are you?”
“What if I don’t agree with the war? Does one just sit down and accept the status quo?”
“I don’t have an answer to that, but I do know that I don’t want to lose another son, another loved one. You or Amberlyn…”
“I know, but what if I love a witch?”
“You just met her!” Achim yelled.
“There is no accounting for what the heart wants, Achim. Love at first sight? Do you recall the first time we met?” Willa said, her voice solid but soft. He’d never heard her angry that he could recall.
“We were human. We fit in. We didn’t have to protect an identity, protect others. Our love didn’t jeopardize others. He has an obligation, as does his sister whose carelessness caused all of this. I’m too old to lead this clan through another war. Yet, I have to step up and lead this clan again.”
“We could just leave, Achim,” Isaac said. “I could go back to California if Winter would go with me.”
“I could leave too, with Kane,” Amberlyn added, her back straightened for the first time since he’d been back.
“And we lose everyone Achim!” Willa’s voice had risen now. “I may just go to. You stay here and lead this clan, who really just leads you. It’s time these clans stopped hating each other, isn’t it?”
“Oh sure, Willa! I will just let many lives be lost in fighting against something that has just been the way of things since the dawning of time!” Achim said, the weariness in his voice evident. Isaac felt sorry for the man. All of those hundreds of years the man had fought these absurd battles obviously wore on him.
“Thank the gods you were not in any leadership role during the civil war, or America would still have slaves,” Willa spat.
“I’ve lost too much. I’m tired, Willa. What do you want from me?”
“I want you to be a man. I want you to be the man I know you to be. Maybe it was never our fight before to try to bring witches and werewolves and vamps together, but now our children have both fallen in love with others. Now it is our fight!”
“Is it? I just don’t know.”
“Well, I do! It’s my fight. I know this week that I’ve lost my father, lived with my guilt, your guilt, and your silence,” Amberlyn finally got into the conversation, shouted at Achim. “I’ve been treated like an outsider and outcast, might as well have a giant assed scarlet letter on my chest because apparently I could screw any vamp I wanted, but I am a damned whore for falling in love with a werewolf. So, you know what, I can leave just like Isaac got to.”
“Got to? Do you know what it is like to go out into the world alone? There is something to be said for having a clan behind you, to support you. You are not going to get anything from the humans, and the vampires who live outside of clans are basically blood-sucking monsters who kill for kicks. Have fun out there.” Isaac didn’t know why he was so pissed all of the sudden at any of them. But he was pissed at all of them for having broken into his place – well Drake’s, but his now – and interrupted whatever had been about to happen when he woke up with Winter in his bed, in his arms. And they had the nerve to discuss an age-old problem, here, now. Sure this whole situation breathed down his neck, his obligations, but it was hard to get in on the solution when he couldn’t really do anything but hide. What good am I here?
He’d really only wanted revenge at first, but even that had worn off fast now that he had been with Winter. It was one stupid werewolf who had killed Drake. At the least, his own clan would discipline him for having put the rest of the clan in danger with his actions.
Now, Isaac wanted to see a family he couldn’t, wanted a woman he wasn’t supposed to and had obligations he didn’t feel responsible enough to care about. They were Amberlyn’s obligations, now Achim’s, and he was fine with that. Poor Winter no longer shook, but she still held on to him with a death grip.
Amberlyn had been standing there for a while. She had said nothing while he’d ranted to himself, but finally she broke the silence. Her words now had backbone to them as if he’d given her all the time she’d needed to make up her mind.
“You know, maybe I will have fun out there. I have done nothing but sit back and think about what it’s like out there all week. Maybe with Kane I could build a new life.”
“You have responsibilities here,” Achim said to Amberlyn but had not looked at her.
“Yes, responsibilities that you won’t let me handle, so why should I be here? You think you’re going to smooth things all out so I can come back into power just because you don’t want it, for whatever reason? Screw you. I’m gone.”
With that, she was. And no one in the room went after her. Achim took off, but Isaac knew it wasn’t to go after his sister. He was just mad, and fled to do whatever he usually did when his anger overtook him.
Willa stood still at the foot of the bed. “Are you happy, Isaac?”
He looked at Winter, then back at Willa. “Yes, I think I could be, for the first time in a decade. Something has tied us together all these years, and I know I want to explore it. If I’m going to be a hindrance here, I can leave again. I can’t stay long anyway and risk exposure.”
“I know. I’m sorry for, well, for everything. You two have my blessing. I love you Isaac and do think of you like a grandson. Safe journey if you go, but I think Achim could use you here, for a bit anyway, for support once he settles down.”
“For now, we’ll stay right here.”
“Thank you.” With that he was left just with Winter. Naked Winter who warm, still held onto his arm, her body curled up tightly against him.
He turned her way. “Well, good morning, babe, or good evening I should say, start of my day. Looks like it’s going to be a wonderful one!”
“I’m just so happy to be alive that I think I could break out into some type of happy day, or night song.”
“I was not going to let anyone hurt you.”
“I know. But there were three vamps against one if they had so chosen to eat me, and ask questions later, when they first walked in the door with us asleep. The what-ifs are terrifying.”
“Maybe there is something to this mixing of creatures or whatever you want to call us. Any other time I would have sensed them approaching, woken up. But, with your magic surrounding me, I didn’t, I overslept again. Do we weaken each other?” Isaac asked.
“Actually, that was probably just side effects from the spell I put on you last night. The amount of magic I used, the energy required of you to endure it, probably just dulled other parts of you as well. It happens, residual energy, side effects not unlike drugs. I’m sorry. At the time I was helping you to calm down, but then my motives became purely selfish. Night before, who knows why, but you’d gone through a lot even if your body doesn’t work exactly like a man’s anymore. Surely it can be exhausted, lots of stress, less blood. Who knows. Again, I’m sorry for any part I’ve played in it.”
“Don’t apologize for last night, or the one before that. And maybe it’s best they know. Maybe it is time to end this feud. While that seems like a huge, insurmountable task, what if we could just change a few minds, start small?” Isaac asked with a shrug of his shoulders.
“You know, I don’t know what is going on with Achim and this whole ruler thing, other than I will cut him some slack having just lost his son, but I know in our clan that the elders, the majority, are nice, good peop
le. It’s just that this group who took over the lead coven, the council as you would call it, they’ve lost our true path. Well, they have become crazy with the power and have reverted back to the carefree teenage years way of thinking that if we have these gifts, why not use them to the fullest extent,, even if it abuses our powers and goes against the oath we took to harm none. This group is doing a lot more harm than good. So, maybe Achim, or you, need to go beyond the current council and talk to some elders.” Winter offered.
“You know, that was what was happening in our clan too with Drake. Achim wasn’t saying anything, ignoring Drake’s antics just to be free of controlling, being the leader. Maybe he’s feeling guilty now, and tired of it all. Maybe it’s more. You see, centuries ago, from what Drake told me, Willa and Achim were living in Germany, married and in love, and expecting their first child. They were attacked one night by vampires, a group looking for new recruits, and turned. Only what the vamps didn’t know was that Willa was pregnant. The baby died during her transition. They both took that loss very hard and fled Germany for America. Here they met with others like them, refuges if you will, and they formed a peaceful clan. The story goes, and this comes from Drake, that they turned him one night, I think late eighteen hundreds, after finding him dying after some brutal beating. Drake said they must have turned him because they still wanted that son. So from this dying man they tried to get one. Problem was Achim had been breeding Drake to take over rule of the clan, but Drake didn’t turn out to be the son he would have wanted. He wasn’t a decent human in life, and therefore wasn’t the greatest vamp either. Achim knew he was still stuck ruling.”
“So, Achim and Willa were disappointed one again. But then, how did Drake come to rule the clan?”
“Drake tricked him, became what he knew Achim wanted him to be for a time until Achim turned over power to him. Then Drake not only reverted back to who he truly was, but also started recruiting on his own. Hence, Amberlyn, me, and actually a whole host of others, most of who just blended into the group or are still too young to do anything with. Like the guy the witches were messing with last night. Amberlyn and I have many brothers and sisters. But, poor Willa and Achim, who have for centuries mourned the loss of not only of their humanity but of their lost child, have tried, hoped, that each time another of us is created they will have that son or daughter they can love, who is like them. All they do is get continually disappointed. I think Achim was just too hurt when Drake took over and showed his true colors again to even try to fight him.”
“I bet,” Winter said, “You were the only one who could have fulfilled that role for Willa and Achim, and you had to leave.”
“Please don’t give me that kind of credit. I was close to my birth family, but still a boy, a bit wild at times. Once turned, I loved Drake. He was loyal and provided me everything that I needed. But, I wasn’t like him. Having to live apart, I was forced to do things to stay alive that I will always regret. I have always hid that from Achim. But, the place I live in California, its pretty much conform or be killed. Sadly, I conformed and I eventually disappointed him too. But, that was where Drake took me, and I didn’t have a lot of options. I’m happy to be back here, to be away from that even if only for a few days. Anyway, Achim and Willa visited when they could, but I think they feared leaving Drake here at The Willows alone too long. You see, when you have lived as long as Willa and Achim, having to move, start over again in another town every few centuries, gets to be too much. So they try their best to stay in one location as long as they can.”
“So, maybe we just need to find the right ones of each clan to get together.”
“Maybe you’re right. Who could we talk to in your group?”
“You mean who could I talk to. These women are elders, and even though better people, they still would be shocked by a witch and a vampire. More old school than closed minded, you see. I would need to do this alone. Besides, you really need to go smooth things over with Achim. It will make you feel better. Then maybe, without me in the room, you can make him see that he doesn’t need to do the big fighting. Or maybe you can change his mind to the cause. I bet under all that grief, all that heart he has been forced to toughen, that he is a good man, right?”
“Right. I just don’t want to take you somewhere and drop you off. This, this…well, I don’t know what to call us, but I do know I don’t want to lose you, not right now. I’ve experienced enough of my own loses in this life.”
“You are talking about your birth family now aren’t you? It was really hard on you to see your cousin and your brother tonight wasn’t it?”
“You have no idea what it was like to be so close and not be able to talk to them. And, I want to at least see my parents, to just see what they’re like now. But I look like half their son and half a monster, and I can’t explain any of it away.”
“If I could, would you want your face fixed?”
“I never really thought about it because either way I had to leave The Willows. What I want is another face altogether. Can that be done?”
“Hmm, rather than healing you are talking reconstruction. I have no idea. I do know that there is a mask spell that would make you look different for a short amount of time. Maybe then you could have that moment with your parents. When I go back, I could look it up for you, see if it’s possible for me to do.”
“That would be amazing. I would never be able to repay you for such a thing, if I could talk to them. But, first, we have more important things to work on.”
“Sure you could. Repay me I mean. You could be open and honest about your feelings and let me in rather than fighting me because of what I am. If we can’t change, then we will never be able to convince anyone else to either,” Winter argued.
“I thought I already did that this morning with Achim, confessed what I was feeling.”
“You did. It just hasn’t really sunk in yet, and I still worry you will keep changing your mind daily as this war carries on, until we can put a stop to it.”
“So, what if I make you a promise then, to embrace what I feel for you as we try this next step?”
“That works, but before I go, will you please embrace me?”
He pulled her into his arms. “Honestly, I don’t know how I’m ever going to let you walk away from me now.”
Kiki Howell ~where love is a mystical thing~
Please visit http://www.kikihowell.com to see all available titles!
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Also Available by Kiki Howell
Kiki Howell’s Backlist
Snowed In
Sacred Sex
Working Out The Kinks
The Sum of All, (co-authored with Emma Hillman)
A Questionable Hero
Torn Asunder
A Strange Freedom: Blood & Fireworks
The Witches Beast
The Healing Spell
Kiki Howell's Short Stories in Multi-Author Anthologies
*Erotic* Reinventing the Quickie, The Diary of Sam in the Spontaneous Liaisons Anthology by Naughty Nights Press
*Erotic* Midnight Showing in the Wicked and Wanton All Hallow's Eve Anthology by Naughty Nights Press
*Erotic* Love & Marriage Cures, in the Happy Ending Anthology by Excessica Publishing
Samhain’s Visitors, in Just Another Paranormal Halloween Anthology by Mojocastle Press
Hero of the Waves, in the Hope Ocean Anthology by Hedge Witchery Book
The Werewolf Spell, in the Silver Moon, Bloody Bullets: An Anthology of Werewolf Tails by Pill Hill Press
*Erotic* Beltane’s Guide, in the Four Seasons: Spring 2009 Anthology by Excessica Publishing
*Erotic* Spirit, Yet To Come, in the Four Seasons: Winter 2009 Anthology by Excessica Publishing
An Irish Halloween, in the Happy Halloween! A Treat For The Whole Family Anthology by Dancing With Bear Publishing
&nbs
p; Titles available from all reputable retailers.
A sneak peek at book 2... The Vampire's Wolf
Chapter One
Into his arms she fell, knocked them both off balance until they landed on the bed with the grace of lovers long kept apart. That’s to say, no beauty or finesse at all; just two bodies which came together, joined as close as they possibly could from head to toe, connected by what felt like the beat of only one heart. Even though the fall was enough to take one’s breath away, Amberlyn felt like she’d really taken her first real breath in a long time when Kane’s mouth took hers. His lips claimed hers, pressed down hard, consumed her own. He nipped at one spot, kissed another, and parted her lips with his tongue. She relented, gave herself to him, more than willing, ready and able.
As they rediscovered all a simple kiss could be, their limbs tangled together, warred for closeness that would never be enough, could never be enough unless joined as one. Sometimes, not even then.
No matter what people were, no matter what the social laws, regardless of the social conventions, beyond the uninformed beliefs, the rulers of their clans could not police or keep apart two hearts such as theirs – so hopelessly in love. Her Vampire heart wanted a Werewolf and she had to live with the consequences of her actions. They’d held back, not seen each other since her maker, Drake, had been killed when her relationship with Kane went public. Still, no amount of time apart, blood shed, threat of war or all-consuming guilt was going to change the way she felt about Kane.
This week her traitorous, dead heart had broken, had missed Kane and Drake. All she’d really done with her time was lay low as if she’d been told and get pissed about with the way things were. In their small resort town of the Willows, in the mountains of Tennessee, Witches and Werewolves and Vampires were supposed to co-exist, mingle for show in public, but not form relationships and never, ever fall in love. But, sadly, the announcement that she loved Kane had gotten Drake killed and a Witch dead in the crossfire. Now it seemed war had been declared against the clans.