by L. A. A. Law
“I am so sorry that you lost your family. Maybe you should put me down if you need to search for your other children to make sure that they escaped.”
“They are traveling with us.”
Concentrating on the sounds around me, I can barely hear his footsteps.
My concentration is interrupted by Grant’s soft voice. “You must be a very powerful witch to repel David. No one has ever been able to make him budge and I have never seen witches who could change into animals before, yet I saw your son go from a mouse to human. I was shocked when this little mouse next to me all of a sudden transformed into a young man trying to goad me to go after him. His transformation caught us all off guard and made my pack nervous and reckless. You have to understand, we just lost some of our family, I was shot and only I knew that your children were being held and were not a part of David’s group.”
“I just hope that they got out of here. Thank you for staying and letting me know that their father reached them, but I have to ask, why did you stay, if it was dangerous?”
“I couldn’t just leave them there. We had already lost too many young ones because of this family. I could hear your friends moving through the trees and something inside of me, probably the father in me, needed to know that someone had reached them, that we had not caused their death.”
“Thank you.”
“How badly are you hurt? Put me down, I can walk.”
“You can’t walk, trust me, you would not have enough energy after losing that much blood and I am already healed.”
I could feel his hot breath upon my ear now. “I have to stop talking now. I can hear them.”
From his anxious whisper, I know he is not talking about hearing my family, he hears them. “Maybe you should just leave me, I know that I’m slowing you down and they are probably trailing you because they smell my blood.”
Without another word, he grasps me tighter to his chest as he picks up our pace. Several angry snarls are now surrounding us as quickening, heavy footsteps approach us from behind. One of the wolves howls in pain. The others growl fiercely. A thud and the quick crunching of bones makes me jump as Grant picks up the pace. Unable to see, I can’t even help by throwing a repellant spell because all I would probably accomplish is hitting one of the wolves. Trying to force myself to shut down in hopes of slowing the escaping blood, I also try to use the healing spell. I can’t help but wonder if they will still be able to trace even the slightest trickle, considering how old and powerful they must be.
“Grant you need to put me down, they are following you because they can smell me. You do not need to lose anyone else in your family!” I know what pain the thought of anything happening to my children causes me. I cannot be the reason for this creature to lose any more of his family.
“Please stop thinking such thoughts, we will be in our territory momentarily, they will not dare to follow us there, we are also plentiful and I do not think that they want a war at this time.”
Traveling in his arms, I try to channel and connect to the children, but my weakened state makes it impossible. At least I hope that it is my condition and not that the children... I immediately halt that thought as my heart rate spikes.
“What are you trying to do?” He whispers curiously.
“I’m trying to feel if my children are alright.”
“How can you do that?”
“Sometimes, when I concentrate very hard, I can feel their energy, but I can’t feel it now.”
“I don’t think that your children are dead. Your spouse spoke confidently that they would be fine and there seemed to be a lot of witches and vampires that belonged with you in the woods as well. I’m sure that they got out. Once you’re stronger, I’m sure that you can sense them again.”
“How do you know this?” I figure since he is talking again and our pace seems less rushed, we must have crossed some line.
“We could hear your friends trying to find the children. We can easily smell vampires and I could hear the spells trying to trace your children being cast. I wasn’t too difficult to figure out what was going on. I am surprised that your children were brought there to hunt, they were not part of any family that was on the estate, we never had their scent before and the story is that this family only goes after one household at a time. I don’t understand why they would change their pattern after so many centuries.”
Despite not knowing him or being able to see him, my instincts tell me he is not bad, nor is he deceptive in nature. “They didn’t capture my children to hunt them; they were under a misapprehension as to my children’s identity. They have never been on this estate before, nor did we even know of this family.”
He interrupts. “That is not entirely true. Someone knew them, one of my members heard them arguing over this fact.”
“I’m sorry, I should clarify. My spouse and my children never had any contact with this family, our only knowledge of them is from my brother-in-law who was on this estate centuries ago and had run away. The family blames him for saving a child which they claim was one like you, but she was not and they were seeking revenge against my children because they thought that my children were his.”
As my words escape, I can’t understand why I am telling him this or actually thinking this, but there is something compelling me to reveal this information to him.
“This person who ran away, was he a witch like you?”
“No he was a vampire. Actually, when he came to their estate he was a human, but when he left, he was a vampire.”
“Would you mind telling me what else you know about this vampire?”
“I can tell you that his nature is good and helping. He ran from here because he did not know when he became involved with Andrea, what she and her family are capable of. When he learned of what they were, and I don’t mean just vampires, I mean the barbaric, hunting creatures that they are, he ran.”
“You said that they blamed him for taking someone with him, do you know about the one he took with him?”
“He told me that it was a young girl, Elizabeth, who was with the family that they were hunting that night. He escaped with her. He said that they kept moving until they reached France and a small estate that was owned by distant relatives. They hid for the rest of the winter in a cabin until Elizabeth began living with a woman they met. He hadn’t returned here until recently and never heard from this family until my children were taken and David contacted Lucas to let him know that they were going to kill my children as revenge for some werewolf plague that Lucas unleashed upon their estate by saving one of you, but Lucas never saved anyone but the little girl.”
“You’re partially correct.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Your Lucas did save someone that night, but she was not just a girl. She was from a strong family of werewolves.”
I gasp and feel blood gush from my neck. “Lucas said that she was just a frightened, little girl, he wouldn’t lie about something like that.”
“Lucas didn’t lie to you.”
Now I am really confused. “I don’t understand, either he lied and she was a werewolf or he didn’t lie and she was a little girl.”
“At the time that Lucas rescued her, he was correct; Elizabeth was just a little girl. However, when she reached the age of twenty-one her conversion began and she became a very powerful werewolf because of this family.”
The more he speaks, the more confused I become. “I don’t understand, how could she be a werewolf and Lucas not know that and how could this family have made her more powerful?”
“Each natural werewolf is born with the gene to begin the transformation, but it remains dormant until we reach our twenty-first birthday. Thereafter, on the first full moon, our first transformation begins and we are forever frozen at that age. However, whenever one of us dies, his or her powers get transferred to the weakest in the family line. In the case of Elizabeth, her entire family was murdered and she was the only survivor so all of their pow
er transferred to her even though it lay dormant until her first transformation. Since she was too young to ever transform when Lucas rescued her and when he left, he would have never been able to detect what she would become. You can only detect us after the first transformation. It is a good thing that he never bit her because his bite would have killed her within days.”
“I don’t understand, I thought I heard that a werewolf bite was deadly for a vampire, not the other way around.”
“It works both ways, I guess it’s natures’ way of keeping the balance among its mythical creatures.” He chuckles slightly.
“How do you know so much about Elizabeth?”
“Her story is famous among our kind. She is the descendant of a werewolf which is the ancestor to most of us here. Not to mention a werewolf being rescued by a vampire, in our region they are natural enemies. Although I hear in your country, some have actually learned to work together. Elizabeth is the reason that our kind knows about this family. We have spent centuries trying to destroy them, but we can never seem to cut off the head. Although we have gotten some of their family, they barely leave the estate area and for each one we have managed to get over the years, their sire makes ten more. They are one of the oldest, most powerful vampire families in existence that we are aware and also one of the most barbaric. I have even heard rumors that David, the one who heads the family has been bitten before and was unaffected. Other rumors say that he also has the power of the witches, but I don’t see how that could be possible, we are sure that he is a vampire.”
“He can be both.”
Grant stumbles and halts. “That can’t be!”
“It is possible for a vampire to be both, I know this first hand. If David first embraced the gifts of wizardry and mastered his talents before being transformed into a vampire, he can have the gifts and powers of both realms.”
“Do you know someone like this and how to stop someone that powerful?”
“I do know someone who is both, but he strives to help others and bring those who fight against dark forces together so that they can be stronger, we have never considered trying to stop him.”
We still aren’t moving. “Are we at our destination?”
“No, your revelation surprised me and I just got word that some of my pack who fell behind in the escape are on their way with information, they should be here momentarily and then we can get started again.”
“When we reach there, can you help me contact my family so I can let them know where I am?”
“I’m sure that won’t be a problem.”
After several moments, even though no words are spoken, I feel Grant’s muscles tightening and his posture turns rigid, reminding me of when Andrew becomes nervous or tries to control his anger. After what feels like an eternity, we are moving faster than ever before. “What’s wrong?”
“We need to get back to the others.”
For the first time, I can hear their quickened footsteps along with several grunts and growls. Although I plead with Grant to tell me what’s wrong, his only response seems evasive. He’s holding something back, but without my sight and without my family, I am in no position to push.
“We need to get back and meet up with the others. We can arrive much faster, if I only concentrate on running.”
After running hard for I don’t know how long, he stops and places me upon something soft.
“Who is she and what happened?” A female voice inquires.
“She was on the estate looking for her children when David and Marlena attacked her.” He drops his voice to a whisper and I’m surprised I can still hear him. “She is a very powerful witch, she knocked David down and she has information.” His voice returns to normal. “Marlena bit her and now she looks like her and is returning with her family.”
The woman’s boisterous response makes me jump. “They have never done that before are you telling me that they have transformation powers now! That can’t be! Do you know what that means! How did this happen! Did she change her?”
“No it wasn’t her; Amelia you are not thinking. Why would she change that monster and send her back with her family?”
“Maybe she is a plant, maybe they knew she would be rescued and they sent her here to destroy us!”
“Amelia, she is not here because she is a plant. After she threw David down in an attempt to get away from him and get to her children, he threw her against a tree and then he and Marlena bit her because they have some sort of score to settle against her family. They captured her children, tried to use them as bate to trap us and then tried to kill them because they thought that her children belonged to her brother-in-law. Her brother-in-law is the one who saved Elizabeth.”
I hear Amelia’s gasp.
Straightening myself, I interrupt. “Please, can I call my family?”
Grant softens his voice and is now near me. “I’m sorry, please try not to speak, let us get you bandaged and cleaned up first.”
I could feel a very warm set of hands on my neck. “You are still bleeding pretty bad when you talk. I’m sorry about Amelia. She is my sister and has always been suspicious about strangers. She is also distraught over what happened.”
“How does she know?”
“Some of ours ran ahead to inform the others that we were on our way and what had happened.” A warm cloth is being pressed gently against my neck washing the wound and then my head. “This may sting slightly, but it will help.” I pierce my lips as the solution burns against the open skin before feeling bandages being placed over the areas. His hands are warm but I no longer detect the fur.
I didn’t realize that I was thinking that until he responded. “I changed back when we entered the house.”
“You can do that? I thought that you were ruled by the full moon and didn’t change back until the morning. Is it already morning?”
“No not yet.”
“Then how can you...I thought that you transforming back required the sunlight.”
“For most werewolves you are correct, however, last century I came across a witch who was very knowledgeable about our kind and knew of an ancient spell that allows our kind to transform at will. Everyone thought that she was delusional, but there was just something about what she said that made me think that this was possible and if it was, that meant that we would no longer be tied to an involuntary transformation, we would no longer be vulnerable in our human form and only powerful when the full moon was out. I allowed her to try the spell on me. She promised that she would return in a few years and that if the others trusted her then, she would help our pack. She hated the darkness that surrounded this area, she had come across Elizabeth who had told her of the family and this witch too had a score to settle with them. I believe that someone related to her had been touched by their evil doings making her all too happy to see that others who wanted to take them out.” He pauses momentarily and then continues.
At first, my transformations were not at my will, but had occurred at random. After a while, however, I was able to master the transformations, but I was the only one of my kind who could. I thought that because I mastered her teachings on what to do, I could teach the others, but then realized it was because of the spell and charm that she had provided to me. I thought I would be alone in this and worried that she would not return as promised, but years later, she returned and gave this gift to my entire pack, she returns ever few years to continue to bestow the gift on our children.”
”That’s remarkable, but if you don’t mind my asking, how did all of this come about. I understand that you said that her family was also touched by this family, but how did you meet up?”
“She crossed into our territory one evening during a full moon and I nearly took her out. She had just escaped from them and so their scent was all over her. I thought that she was one of them and was about to attack when she threw herself onto the ground and begged me to listen before I attacked. Leaping at her with my mouth open, something told me not to bite her. It
was only about thirty minutes to sunrise so we stayed in the woods and then she showed me that she was not a vampire at all or tied to that family. She also confirmed all of the stories that Elizabeth had told us about this family hunting families and she said that she could teach us how to mask our existence and control our transformations.”
I could hear someone’s footsteps coming toward us, Amelia spoke. “Now that you are bandaged up, you should really try to eat and drink this, it will help you gain your strength.”
“Thank you” Fumbling around to feel the items on the tray she placed in my lap, I feel a cup. “If I could, I would really like to call my family right now.”
“I’m sorry...We have been talking, but I don’t even know your name.”
“I’m Mia St. Cloud.”
“Mia, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I don’t think that you should try to call your family right now.”
“Please, I need to tell them where I am and make sure my children are alright. I don’t understand, why won’t you let me call them?”
In his silence, all I can hear is the pounding of my palpitating heart. Something happened that he learned about when we traveled back, that is why he was in such a hurry.”
“I don’t know how to tell you this, so I’m just going to say it. Your family made it back to the vehicles, but they were attacked when leaving.”
Panic overtakes me, I have to know. “Are they dead?”
“No, but some of them were captured. The others heard the vampires talking about how your son and husband were curing the children. When David heard, he knew the value of this type of power and despite Marlena being there to take them out, he ordered another attack. He got instructions to Marlena to go and find out as much about the powers of your family before taking them out. In the fight, they grabbed your son, but missed your husband. David wanted to spare them long enough to discover the source of such power.”