"Hello I am Vadoma, welcome to our village Viollca, named after the beautiful violet flowers that grow in abundance in this region. We feel blessed to know the gods and goddesses are watching us in our plight."
Theo had to say she looked like a clichéd gypsy, with her long dark hair, eyes as dark a brown as her hair, she wore a red headband and gold hoops adorned her ears. She was quite petit, wearing a white blouse and long flowing red skirt that matched her head band.
He stepped forward "I am Theo, we have been asked to come help you to prepare and fight the threat that is heading to you and your people."
She smiled at him, a little knowing smile "I know who you are brave warrior, Liza has your green eyes and Lewis has the same strength that pours from your body, please come all of you, we are waiting in the Village hall, let us help you find your feet and then you, Theo, I will take you to your brother and sister"
he felt more than heard Connor and Darius stop "what?"
"Did I forget to mention, apparently I have a brother and sister, ten year old twins" he didn’t smile he just waited for their reaction, when they clapped him on the back he smiled before adding "they are part vampire."
Darius laughed "dude welcome to the family, I might not be the only vampire in the pack soon" Darius didn’t know how true those words were, he hadn’t seen the new Imogen yet.
Vadoma led them into the hall, there must have been 70 people of various ages, a fair few children, teenagers, elderly, when they entered they all stopped.
"Our wolf warriors have arrived to help us in our hour of need, please make them welcome, show them the hospitality of the Romany’s." With that people made their way towards them shaking their hands, all were speaking broken or fluent English. Vadoma moved forward and grasped his hand.
"Please come with me, they are anxious to meet you" Theo felt himself being pulled along, Darius and Connor followed, when he turned to them they both shrugged.
"We do this together" Connor was sneaking glances at Vadoma as he spoke.
"Besides, your social skills are pretty crap; there's a good chance you will need help" Darius had a point, he couldn’t believe how nervous he was, they were 10 year’s old for god’s sake. Already he was looking around them, checking for potential dangers, the forest went on for miles in every direction, and his wolf liked that.
He pulled Vadoma to a stop "wait, have they…has she… are they?"
"She has hurt their soul, she has demeaned their existence, but has she marked them as she did you? No she has not, their scars are on the inside" her eyes looked pained, it was like she knew the pain he had suffered.
"It was you who found them wasn’t it, you took them from her?" He didn’t know how he knew that but he did,
"I saw them in a dream and knew it was my destiny to find them, I left with 2 of my strongest friends, we made our way through the countries until we arrived in Germany where I found them abandoned in a house. I brought them with me, Lewis was injured, Liza was not, and I now know Lewis was injured protecting Liza. They are still scared that she will come for them, they need the protection of an older brother with an old and wise soul." Theo nodded although he wasn’t sure he fit that description.
As soon as he walked through the doorway he was assaulted by warm and light feelings, there were dream catchers hanging from every door frame, wind chimes dotted around, the walls were bright yellow’s, oranges and red’s and as he turned into the lounge area, his eyes met those of a young boy, a young boy whose eyes were already haunted. This boy was without a doubt Lewis, he had to be, he was the double of Theo before his accident. The little girl next to him had the same eyes as him, but she was also a miniature of their mother, although in physical appearance only, her energy signature was bright yellow, she emanated happiness and kindness. Both children had her blond hair, which he would also have, if he had ever allowed it to grown, both were thin almost like they had been starved, but in the main if he had to describe how they looked at this moment he would have to say nervous.
He took a couple of steps forward, "hi I’m Theo, your brother" he wasn’t sure what to do, but Lewis stood and walked to him, holding out his hand for him to shake.
"I am Lewis and this is Liza" Liza stood and walked to him, but she didn’t hold out her hand, she hugged him, she was half his height and her arms only manage to partially wrap around him, but she did none the less and he found himself patting her head until Lewis hissed at her.
"Liza control yourself, don’t show weakness." Liza looked to Lewis affectionately.
"It’s okay he is our brother."
He looked to Lewis "it is okay Lewis, it took me a long time to realise that affection isn’t weakness. Besides it is okay to feel weak sometimes."
Theo bent to look at Liza "you hair is lovely" it was, so long and curly it made her look like a cherub.
"Thank you, I like your patterns, can I touch one?" he nodded and she ran her finger around the one on his eye "your skin feels funny underneath."
He heard Connor step forward, could hear he was about to say something, maybe deflect the question for him, well he may as well get the awkwardness out in the open.
"It does. The reason for that is because a long, long time ago, my mother, our mother decided she wanted to hurt me and so she did and it left me with lots of scars. Luckily a very special lady, who may be listening in to us, came to me with an idea to cover them up and she kept giving me ideas for patterns, and do you know what?"
"What" her eyes were wide with wonder.
"I didn’t know but they are special protection marks."
"Wow, that’s so cool. Can Lewis have some please I worry that she will come back and hurt him again?"
He watched Lewis bristle, "I am fine Liza, if she comes, I have already told you that this time I will kill her."
Theo looked at this little boy, he was already full of anger, like he had been, his energy signature had started with light greens but was now blending with some darker greens and browns, showing Theo his pain and anguish and the need to feel safe. He sat on the floor, Liza copied, as did Vadoma, Connor and Darius, Lewis stood.
"I understand that feeling inside you Lewis, I won’t lie to you, she is coming, she wants you both back" as Liza’s eyes started darting around the room he touched her shoulder.
"She isn’t here yet but she is coming, I know that’s scary but this time you are not alone. You have everyone here in this village, I have come with 10 warriors and a woman who helped look after me when I was little, she is a wonderful, kind woman but she is very angry with our mother and she won’t let her get near either of you. So this time she gets to fight with an army, and just between you and me we also have a very special Goddess watching us and she will help us if we need her I am sure."
"I like that one" Theo was initially confused and then he saw that Lewis was pointing to the tattoo covering his eye "ah it's one of my favourites."
"Can I get one?" He wasn’t sure how to answer questions like this, he thought about what Sylvia would have said to him if he had asked the same question.
"When you get older we can have matching marks if you still like it."
"Why not now?" Why not indeed, Theo wasn’t really sure why not, but he did notice that Lewis was starting to relax.
Laughing Theo rumpled his hair as he moved closer to them on the floor "it would hurt too much otherwise you could."
"Really?"
"Really." Theo already liked this, being a part of something. War clearly liked it too, for there over Lewis’ eye materialised the same swirling pattern that was around his own, only it was faint almost like a shadow. Liza whooped and ran to get a mirror.
Lewis looked so proud when he saw it, "now we are truly brothers" he was looking at Theo with such pride.
"No we were always brothers, now we are warriors together" Lewis looked so proud he was ready to burst; Theo felt a lump in his throat, what the hell was all this emotion about? Gods did women feel like this all of
the time, how the hell did they get anything done?
Chapter 13
Imogen wasn’t sure how long she cried for, nor was she sure how long Lucky had sat with her but one thing she was sure about was that she was exhausted. However she had made the decision to follow Theo’s example and sort her shit out. As she made her way to Ben and Lucky’s house she could already feel the pangs of loss at Theo's leaving. She knew Ben would be able to contact Vlad for her, she wasn’t sure she was ready to take that step herself. As she walked around the lake, taking the longest route she looked back on her life. There had been some really horrible periods in her life but by far the best memories were from either her childhood or her time at Silver's. She might not be a wolf but she could appreciate the beauty of the land. She could see a couple of the wild wolves watching her from near the edge of the forest, they didn’t approach her which was unusual just watched her cautiously. With a sigh she sat at the edge of the lake, taking her shoes off to dip her feet in.
As Imogen sat there and contemplated her life, she waited for some sort of clarity; right now she would welcome an epiphany. Instead she listened to the birds, squirrels and wolves. She turned when she heard a wolf bounding up behind her, turning to see Nicky. In wolf form he was a large Sandy coloured wolf, even in this form he looked happy. Shifting back to man he came to sit next to her.
"It may be a stupid question but how are you feeling?"
She leaned back on her hands "I really don’t know Nicky, right now I feel so overwhelmed and I have lost my, I don’t know… my anchor? I feel completely lost."
"It’s not going to be easy, but even though Theo isn’t here you still have us" he put his arm around her and she leaned into his shoulder.
"I take it you will go and meet with Vlad?"
With a big sigh Imogen answered "yup, if Theo's sorting his shit out, I may as well do mine. I was heading to see Ben now."
"How are these new super powers going?" She could hear the frogs croaking someway off "the hearings better, so is the eyesight, other than that I am not really sure."
Nicky stood, "let’s test the running, I'll shift and you see if you can catch me."
Imogen laughed, Nicky had such an easy way about him, she also wasn’t stupid, he was the fastest wolf in the pack. Never one to ignore a challenge she decided to cheat just a little bit. Jumping up she started running towards Ben "hey no fair."
Oh my god she was running and running fast, she could hear Nicky behind her, he was gaining on her but she was still outrunning him. When they reached Bens it was a tie but she hadn’t even broken a sweat.
"Well that cleared that one up; the speed is there, now I am actually going to have to train. Being the quickest in the pack is my thing" he was laughing so Imogen knew he wasn’t really upset.
"Don’t worry I will slow down when anyone is watching, besides not only are you the fastest, you are also the nicest, thank you Nicky."
Chapter 14
Imogen could hear the triplets outside, normally she would go and see them but not today, today was a take action day. Nicky came with her as they entered the house which was the hub of the pack, it was rarely empty, as it remained the Alpha's home it was large and roomy, offering enough space for any visitors. However that was before Ben and Lucky, between them they now had 7 children and 2 adults in the house. It was quickly becoming pretty full and if Ben agreed to help Imogen out then it would soon inhabit another adult. Nicky guessed Ben would be in his study and he was right. As she knocked and went in, she noted Nicky had left.
"Hey Ben" he turned to face her, she saw worry on his face, but Ben spent most of his time worrying about something or other, Lucky was convinced he would get ulcers at some point, even though it was rare for a shifter to become ill.
"Morning Imogen, come in. How are you?" Ben’s office was a blatant contrast to Vlads, it always made her feel warm and homely here, papers strewn everywhere, pictures from the children and of the children sat on one wall, pictures of the land around them on another.
"Um I’m okay, well sort of, it will be hard not having Theo here, but we both need time to sort things out." Ben was looking at her, he was a brute of a man, tall, huge and very imposing but she had never feared him, maybe because she always had Theo watching out for her, but Ben had been nothing but kind to her and Celia.
"Ben if I go to Vlad’s, do you really believe he has good intentions?"
"I do, one of the reasons so many vampires try to challenge him is because he has a strict code of honour. I have known him a long time; remember we trusted him with our women and children including Celia, when that damn cult came here."
She did remember that, it was a fight for Morgan and Imogen had fought Theo to be able to stand with the pack. The more vulnerable pack members and a selection of the stronger members and warriors went with them, to preserve the pack if they lost the battle.
"If I go, what will happen to Celia?"
"Why do you look worried Imogen, you and Celia are part of this pack whether you remain with us or not, you will always have a home here."
She couldn’t help it, her eyes filled with tears again; all these changes were playing havoc with her hormones. Although she nearly laughed when she saw panic spread across Bens face, he was a strong man but one who she was certain wasn’t comfortable with a crying woman.
"Sorry, Ben can you make the arrangements? I will leave as soon as I have told Celia. I hope she will be okay?"
"She can move in here with us, that way she can be with the girls, she and Beth are pretty close and it can be yet another female to give me grey hairs." She leaned down and kissed his cheek "thank you."
As she packed her belongings she felt a wave of sadness come over her, she had to remember this was a temporary plan, she would be returning and when she did she would claim her man in the way of the wolves, through the mating ceremony. She was not willing to let anything stand in the way of her and Theo again. Taking a glass of blood out of the fridge, she sat at the kitchen table waiting for Celia. Blood had to be an acquired taste, luckily they had found out she could still eat and drink normal food, she just needed the blood to add to it. Thinking of blood made her think of feeding from Theo, it had been such a sexual thing, but it had satisfied her in a way nothing had before.
Walking around the house and getting everything ready made her realise exactly how much of a stamp Theo had made in their lives. From his jacket on the coat hook, to his work boots in the kitchen, his magazines and books in the lounge, hell he had even left his tool belt in the study although she wasn’t sure why. For some reason when they built this house for her and Celia she ended up agreeing to have four bedrooms built, one of the spare rooms had a bed in there for Theo, the other had Celia's excess clothes and boy did she have some. This was as much Theo's home as her own and it was time she realised this.
Celia arrived home from college but was somewhat quiet, Imogen gave her some space before asking her what was wrong, when Celia faced her she was surprised at the anger on her face.
"You really want to know Immie, well I will tell you, I am so mad with you right now. I get that you are pissed off at the world, I get that you have been to hell and back twice now, no make that three times if you include loosing mom and dad. But that does not give you the right to chase away the closest thing I have to a father. I love you, I really do, I don’t care that you are some sort of vampire slash wolf, it’s cool. But what is not cool is this whole chase Theo off, you need to get over yourself, he loves you so much he always has but you have been too blind to see it, if you don’t want him in your life fine, but I do."
Celia was crying, there was so much crying at the minute; Imogen hugged her close "I'm sorry."
"Don’t be sorry sort things out."
The Kiss of a Vampire, the Heart of a Wolf (The Silver Series) Page 11