The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

We made it out of the tunnels and caves much more quickly than we had on the way in. The sun was painfully bright after having been in the pitch blackness for so long.

  Once our eyes adjusted, Alrekur crouched down, bared his fangs and hissed. He grabbed me and pushed me to the ground shouting, "Stay low!"

  He ran forward and jumped on one of the limos, scratching the paint right off of the hood. Metal chips flew through the air.

  My father shouted to Alrekur in Icelandic.

  Alrekur stopped and turned around. "What is this thing?" he demanded.

  I answered, "That's called a car, and it's how we travel. Nobody uses horses anymore, or whatever it is that you're used to traveling in."

  I got up off of the ground as Alrekur climbed down from the damaged limo. He wasn't going to blend well into society.

  My father spoke to him again, pointing to our limo.

  Our driver opened the door to our limo. My mother and I got in, and then my father helped Alrekur in before getting in himself. Alrekur looked around, wide eyed, before taking a seat next to me. "This is a car?"

  I nodded. "It takes us where we need to go more quickly than horses would."

  When the limo started, he jumped up and looked around anxiously. My father spoke to him. I assumed he was explaining how cars work. It was strange that I could understand Alrekur, but not my parents, speaking the language.

  Alrekur sat down next to me. "Why are you strapped to this car?"

  "It's called a seat belt," I said. "It keeps us safe in case there's an accident."

  "What kind of accident?"

  "If cars collide into each other, it can be very dangerous because they go very fast. People can get hurt and killed if they aren't wearing a seat belt."

  Alrekur didn't look convinced until the limo began driving down the bumpy road. He grabbed his seat belt and pulled it out as far as it would go and then let go of it and watched it retract. He looked at mine, pulled at his again and then tried to put it on. The top strap got twisted, so I leaned over and fixed it.

  He looked out the window, watching the fake bushes go by as we drove. His face turned green and he grabbed his stomach.

  My eyes widened. I didn't want him throwing up on me. I had no idea if he would have anything in his stomach after all that time. His body had remained preserved while he was dead, so it did stand to reason that any food in his stomach might have too. Also, we were only going about twenty miles an hour. How would he react when we got on the freeway?

  He looked at me. "Touch my stomach. You will be able to heal it."

  I reached over and put my hand on his solid stomach, desperately hoping that he wouldn't get sick on me. After a few seconds, his face started to look better and he removed my hand. Another jolt of electricity ran through me at his touch.

  "We probably should tell him about the things have changed," my father said.

  I sighed. I didn't feel like giving Alrekur a history lesson. I wanted to find out how he knew my parents. If they'd been alive longer than him, they had some serious explaining to do. I was really tired of their surprises. However, I could see that I had done the same kinds of things as them. Ever since I had begun my transition, everyone had been complaining about how I didn't tell them anything. I was definitely their child.

  "Alexis, why don't you tell him about what has changed since he's been…away. You know history well; isn't it one of your best subjects in school?"

  "They're all my best subjects," I muttered.

  I continued to explain to Alrekur how society had evolved. He had a difficult time understanding most of the changes. I figured that he would have to see a lot of things for himself to understand. He was going to experience some extreme culture shock. The world that he knew was long gone.

  Once we reached the main road, which was still a country road, he was able to look out of the window without getting woozy. He was shocked at the other cars on the road and amazed by the bicycles and motorcycles.

  My parents went on and on about history, asking me to fill in the gaps. Not that I understood what they were saying when they spoke to him. We explained TV, radio, electricity, indoor plumbing, and all kinds of other things that we usually take for granted. I hoped that it would help him when he encountered all of these things; or otherwise he might be compelled to destroy the mansion when we got there. I pictured him as a larger, scarier version of the cartoon character "The Tasmanian Devil" after seeing the way he reacted to the limo.

  When we got on the freeway, Alrekur stared at everything he saw. As we exited the freeway and drove through a town, he continued to gaze at everything. I thought he might give himself whiplash because he kept turning his head so quickly to take everything in.

  "Why do the ladies of the night walk around in broad daylight?" asked Alrekur.

  My father laughed and spoke in Icelandic. He looked at me and said, "I told him that those aren't prostitutes. He's used to everybody wearing long, flowing robes that cover everything. I told him about modern clothes, and that we'd get him some."

  "And a haircut," my mother added. "Men don't typically wear their hair that long anymore."

  "This world is a strange place. I don't know if I will adjust," Alrekur said in wonder.

  My father spoke to him with a reassuring tone. I wished that I could understand what he was saying.

  "How difficult is it for vampires to blend in with this society?" Alrekur asked.

  My mother spoke to him and I sighed.

  "People don't believe in magical creatures?" Alrekur asked. "How can they not believe? That's like not believing in trees. Ridiculous! It sounds like they've become even more stupid over the years."

  My parents laughed.

  When we pulled up to the mansion, the other limos weren't far behind. One of the servants opened the front door and ushered us all inside. The other servants started running around, preparing for all of the guests. We were brought into a large dining hall that was also used for parties, from what I had been told. It was bigger than my school gym, but much fancier of course.

  We were all seated at a large table where appetizers had been served. I was eager to find out what secret my parents were hiding, but they were busy keeping everyone entertained. Food continued to be brought out, along with glasses of wine and blood.

  Once everyone had been fed and was relaxed, my father stood up and said loudly, for all to hear, "Now let's discuss our next steps. We need to find where the other Fyrsturae are buried so that we can awaken them as well. I need to find out what Alrekur knows about Halldor's location." He turned to Alrekur and spoke in Icelandic.

  "Do I know where that fool is?" Alrekur exclaimed. "I put him there myself!"

  My father translated for everyone else and the room was filled with gasps and whispers, but my father smiled. "That's good news. We won't have to spend seventeen years looking for his resting place." He again turned to Alrekur and spoke to him.

  "I killed him and hid him for a reason. I have no desire to bring that scoundrel back to life."

  My father looked deflated, but only for a moment before speaking to him again.

  "No, I will not let bygones be bygones!" Alrekur said. "It hasn't been a thousand years for me. I only buried that coward a few years ago, as far as I can recall. Why are you so eager to reunite us?"

  My father continued to speak to him in Icelandic.

  When my father stopped speaking, Alrekur's eyes flared. "One of Halldor's descendants thinks that he's going to marry my Sonnast and rule the kingdom with her?" he screamed. "That is not right! I've waited two thousand years for her! Where is he? I'll kill him!"

  I gasped.

  My mother spoke to him and then turned to the rest of us. "I explained to him he needn't kill Clifford because it's George and Francine who've been pushing the events into motion sooner, so we had to hide the Sonnast from them while we searched for Alrekur."

  I stared at my mother. "You sent me into hiding? What exactly do you mean? Were you behind my k
idnapping?"

  "We had to do whatever we could to keep you safe, and to keep you from marrying that boy. You were plenty safe with the humans and we knew that you'd be more than strong enough against the Moretti's. Which you were, so don't give me that look."

  "Why? Why would you do that to me?"

  "You were safe. We had a trusted family watching you two houses away. The enemies who wanted you dead thought that you were dead. And the Montgomery's couldn't get near you, either."

  "What about Cliff? Why on earth did you send him to me when I began my transition? He was in love with me; he'd spent his whole life waiting for me to return to the castle so that we could be married. You let me think that he was my destiny! You knew that he wasn't and you didn't even bother to tell me!" I was pissed; there was no holding back anymore. I didn't care that we had an audience.

  "We knew Cliff would keep you safe," said my father. "It was prophesied that you two would defeat the Moretti's together. We needed him to fight them with you. We also needed to keep up the illusion of normalcy. If his parents had suspected anything, our mission to find Alrekur would be in jeopardy. You know about the curse."

  "You let me fall in love with him!"

  Alrekur looked amused by the argument, though he couldn't understand what we were saying.

  "We regretted that as soon as it had happened," my mother said, speaking more calmly. I figured that she was trying to calm me down, because everyone was staring. It just made me even more enraged. "We didn't expect you to fall for him so quickly. But, as soon as he took off and you fell for that other boy, we thought you were done with Cliff. Especially once you turned the other boy; that seemed like a double blessing. We thought for sure that you would choose the one that you turned, and that it would give Francine something to fret over while we were busy over here."

  "Why did you tell me to stay with Cliff? Am I just a pawn? Seriously, do you guys care about me at all?"

  "We told you to stay with Cliff to keep his parents from going off the deep end!"

  "You really should've told me the truth! Instead, you just used me."

  Alrekur looked at me. "Why don't you ask them who—or should I say, what—they really are?"

  I raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you mean?"

  "Ask them."

  I turned to my parents. "Who, or what, are you really?"

  My mother shot Alrekur a dirty look.

  "Let's hear it," I said, crossing my arms.

  Some of the other vampires spoke up as well, wanting to know the truth.

  "We'd better tell everyone the truth, Caitlyn," my father said.

  My mother glared at my father. "I'm not ready for this."

  "Ready or not, the time has come." My father stood up and held my mother's hand, helping her to stand. He turned to face everyone. "We're not vampires."

  My jaw dropped and all the other vampires expressed their shock, too.

  "We shape-shifted about 800 years ago," my father continued. "I took on the shape of a vampire that I had killed, and I pretended to be him. I hadn't realized at the time that he was going to end up becoming king, because his older twin brother would marry a common vampire. But, it has worked well to our advantage in bringing back the Fyrsturae. We've had everything that we've needed at our disposal to accomplish that."

  "What are you?" I demanded. "What am I?"

  Suddenly, a bright, yellowish-green light enveloped my parents. When it faded, my mother looked like some kind of a faerie, and my father grew into a rather large man. They were equally beautiful in their new-old forms.

  "I don't understand," I said.

  "They're Atcen and Asrai," Alrekur said. "The two species that came together and gave birth to vampires."

  "What?" I exclaimed.

  "We're from the original group of Atcen and Asrai in Iceland," my father said. "We're the parents of Ida, the eighth Fyrsturae. Alexis, you're the tenth Fyrsturae, born three thousand years later than the rest."

  I stared at them as the room began to spin around.

  "I thought all of the Atcen and Asrai couples were killed with the plague," Darek said.

  "We snuck off the island after we had heard the prophecy of the coming plague," my mother said. "Our daughter had already been killed and we decided to leave our homeland to search for her body. We knew that she could be brought back to life, and we weren't going to die from the plague before giving her back her life."

  "We've been searching for her all of these years," my father said. "It was in vain for many centuries, because we didn't realize that the Fyrsturae must be awakened in their birth order. It's taken us this long just to find Alrekur."

  Alrekur spoke to me, "Those two are mistaken if they think that I will help find the others. I'm not bringing Halldor or Dagur back. Those two can rot! If they bring them back, I will put them back in their graves before you can find the others."

  My father spoke to him.

  "What are you discussing with him?" Darek demanded.

  "I told him," my father said, "that he can kill the others after we bring back all of the others."

  "Why? What's the point of that?" Darek exclaimed.

  "We won't let him, but he doesn't know that."

  "I have no need for the rest of the Fyrsturae," Alrekur said. "My Sonnast has been found and we can now be married."

  My parents looked at each other. I knew that they were silently discussing a way to convince Alrekur to help them, so that they could finally bring back their first daughter—my sister. Was that was what all of this was about? Did they only care about getting her back?

  My father said. "We have a proposal that will benefit all of us." He turned to Alrekur and spoke in Icelandic.

  "What?" Alrekur exclaimed.

  My mother turned to me. "We will give him our permission to marry you after all ten Fyrsturae are united."

  Alrekur's eyes had turned red and then he flashed his fangs, hissing. "They dare to hold you ransom!"

  That was the straw that broke the camel's back. "Are they going to give you sheep and pigs for me, too?"

  "That's the right idea," Alrekur said, fangs retracting.

  "I was joking, you Neanderthal!"

  "What did you just call me?" he asked, looking genuinely confused.

  "I called you a caveman."

  "I spent the last thousand years in a cave. What does that have to do with anything?"

  I rolled my eyes at him. We were a match made in heaven…I could just see it.

  "We're all under stress," Darek said. "This has been a day beyond compare. Perhaps we should all go to our homes and get some rest. We can meet back here tomorrow and plan out our next steps."

  My mother spoke to Alrekur. His eyes flashed red and he nodded yes.

  "I asked him if we have a deal. He helps us find the other Fyrsturae, and then we give him Alexis for marriage."

  My parents transformed back to their vampire forms. My father said, "I think Darek has an excellent idea. Alrekur will stay with us and we will continue to familiarize him with the world of today. We'll all reconvene here tomorrow morning at nine."

  Everyone agreed and the servants showed everyone out.

  "I'm going to my room," I announced.

  "We need you to help us with Alrekur," my mother said.

  "I think you owe me some space. You dropped a lot on me today. It was enough of a bombshell to find out what the Sonnast mark really means—but that was nothing compared to this! You two aren't even vampires, and I'm one of the Fyrsturae! Are you hiding anything else that I should know about?"

  My father sighed. "You're right, child. You deserve some space to think and to deal with everything that you've learned today."

  "Not to mention what I've been through! Going through those hideous tunnels and bringing him," I looked at Alrekur, who was busy staring at a clock, "back to life. This day tops any other."

  "You have our blessing to go for a walk, or whatever else you need to do," my mother said. "We'll teach
Alrekur English. He's always been able to pick up a new language in a couple of hours."

  I was on a roll and in no mood to stop. "I have your blessing? At this point, I don't really care if I have it or not! Why should I? You've been gone my whole life, leaving me to be raised by humans. Since you did finally come back for me, you've kept secret after secret from me! Whenever I think that I know what my destiny was—wham!—another surprise. I keep finding out that everything I think is true is actually a lie. I want to go back to the way things were, but I don't even know which 'reality' I would be going back to!"

  I narrowed my eyes at them, turned to Alrekur, who was still staring at the clock, and stormed out of the room, all the way to the front entrance of the house. A male servant hurried to open the door so that I wouldn't have to slow down. Once outside, I ran to the pond. I went to sit on the bench, but I was too full of fury to be still.

  I started pacing, and grew angrier as I thought about everything from the day. I decided to run into the woods. I didn't know where forest led, but I did know that the property went on for acres and acres. I ran for a couple of miles. The further that I got from that house, the freer I felt. I hadn't realized how trapped I had been feeling, until I finally began to run.

  Slowing down, I heard a couple of heartbeats. My mouth began to water as I recognized the sound of human hearts. Maybe this day wouldn't be completely horrible after all. I followed the sounds and hid behind some bushes when I got close. I saw a young couple snuggling on a log. They looked like they were very much in love. I thought of Cliff, and couldn't attack them. I dropped my shoulders and walked back to the mansion.

  At some point, Gracie found me and trotted along happily, a few paces behind me.

  TWENTY FOUR

  I was sitting on my bed, petting Gracie. She was rolling around purring loudly. She was a nice distraction from everything that was going on. I really hoped that I could find some form of normalcy before too long. Continually having my world turned upside down was no way to live.

  My stomach rumbled. I knew that it was close to dinner time but I had no desire to eat, despite my hunger.

  There was a knock on the door and Karlie entered. "You parents have requested that you join them for dinner."