by Lee Morgan
“Excuse me, Miss? Who might you be?”
The reunion ended abruptly and she let her arms unwind from her mate’s neck. Turning around she asked “Who wants to know?” Then her eyes found the person who spoke. This man was surrounded by many men who were all very protective. Then she recognized who it was. Her voice went up an embarrassed octave as she said “Oh please pardon my rudeness, Mr. President. I didn’t know it was you.”
“That is quite alright.” He spoke and smiled pleasantly. He waited patiently and she knew what he wanted.
Connor lifted her and helped her to stand. She was completely self-conscious of how messy and bloody she appeared at the moment. She met his deep and calm eyes to say “I’m Sarah May, Connor’s mate. I’m sorry how badly I must look right now. I’ve just got in from New York.”
“Really?” The President said strangely happy. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of my people for some time and the information I’ve received is all different and conflicting. Can you tell me what has been going on up there?”
“That won’t be a problem, but I have other things that need tending.”
He nodded and gestured with a slight wave to her side. “I can see that. Connor here has refused medical treatment saying…”
She gasped at remembering he was hurt and she just fell into his arms. Sarah turned around to see the extent of his wounds. Just the initial sight of them churned her stomach even more fiercely than when she had the morning sickness sensation. His thighs were charred black and parts of his skin were melted. Her bottom lip began to quiver at seeing the scope of his injuries.
She dropped to her knees, by his side, and gently touched one of the wounds. He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. He then grabbed her hand in his, just to stop her from what she was doing. She glanced over her shoulder and explained “Mr. President, by morning his wounds will be completely regenerated. Don’t worry, all he needs to do is get some rest.” She then looked up into his pained hazel eyes and could now clearly see that he was paler than she’s ever seen him before. He had lost more blood than he let on, but at least he wasn’t bleeding out anymore. She then calmly touched his cheek and demanded softly “Connor, show me exactly what happened to you.”
He swallowed thickly and nodded. He knew that he should obey her words right this moment or else she’d worry needlessly. For the next few minutes he allowed her in his mind as he clearly ran down everything that happened in the fight with his elder sibling. He even painfully showed her the death of their dear friend Xaon. He had saved her mate’s life, at the cost of his own.
As Connor finished his accounts, he stated aloud “If Ranvan didn’t halt his attack for some reason, we might not have won. I just wondered what happened.”
Sarah smiled and twisted herself so that they were sitting side by side, but her eyes never left his. His eyes narrowed as he found something interesting in her actions and it would have been mean of her to make him decipher anything in his current condition. She stated proudly “Well you should thank me and the Balancers for that.”
His eyes opened widely at hearing this and glanced away and Sarah realized that Sorono had silently walked up behind the President and his men. Each and every one of them were intent to hear everything about this matter, if their silence and intent gazes had anything to say about it.
She cleared her throat and clearly said “Up in New York Ryan, my grandfather,” She added for those who didn’t know who she meant. “gave his life to warn me of a Keeper who was decimating our fighters. When I found this troubling Keeper I thought Ranvan had joined the New York attack, but we were lucky because it wasn’t him. Ranvan had a mate we didn’t know about and she must have been a new mate because she toyed with our people. I say that because she was basically testing out her newfound power of being a mate to a Harmonizer.” She glanced at the President and his men and realized that he has been told much today because her words didn’t confuse his understanding of her words and terminology. Connor saw the expression and nodded vaguely in her assessment. “Anyways, I was able to surprise her and the Balancers helped me take her down with your Back-draft Bomb technique.”
Her mate smiled lovingly at the new term she gave for that weapon he showed her when they were first utilized and combined their abilities. Then his eyes seemed to widen even more as he spoke in an astonished and proud tone. “Sarah, do you even realize what you’ve done?” He swallowed thickly and grinned proudly. “Princess, you are the real hero today. If it weren’t for you killing Ranvan’s mate, he wouldn’t have been distracted and would have surely won.”
“Indeed.” She and everyone turned to look up at Sorono as he smiled approvingly in her direction. Then she realized that he touched everyone’s mind in the vicinity to proudly state “Listen to what I have to say.” As the crowd of humans and Keepers silenced, the Head Elder continued. “Everyone give a loud cheer for the real hero and victor for this battle. Sarah, mate to my younger brother Connor, was the one to stop the needless violence and secure our victory.”
As his mental voice silenced a loud roaring cheer filled the air and so did all the humans who began clapping. She tried to hide from the crowd by leaning into Connor, but he was too proud of her to allow her shy side to take control.
As the noisy cheering faded she needed to ask something. “Mr. President?”
He perked up at hearing her address him. He smiled and asked “Yes?”
She gestured to herself to show how unsatisfactory she looked and asked hesitantly “Umm…is it alright to ask if I can find a place to clean myself up?”
He understood completely and said “Why yes, of course. For all the work and hardships you…people” he said cautiously, but his words didn’t have a trace of hatred or malice. In fact he seemed thrilled for some reason. She then understood that he enjoyed new information and he was getting information by the truckloads today. “have had to undertake for us. A shower and clean clothes is the least I can offer for humanity’s hero. Please come with me and I’ll show you.”
Just before he turned around to lead her inside the White House she asked “May I take Connor in as well? He needs to clean up and I need to see the extent of the injuries that he sustained.”
The President smiled and said “I thought you’d never ask.”
The middle-aged President and everyone else watched as she raised a hand out to Connor. She created a mental picture of what needed to be done and soon her energy flowed down the extended arm. Soon Connor started to rise off the ground as he sat in the same position. The leader of the American people chuckled ironically at seeing this for some reason, but he shook his head and led them up the steps and into his home.
He led them to his private room and allowed the both of them to have some privacy to clean themselves up. The shower warmed and relaxed the day away. It felt great to wash off all the blood, dirt and grime. She helped Connor bathe because he was still in much pain from his wounds and all the strain his body exerted in the massive fight. To keep his mind occupied off the pain she had him tell her what happened after the fight with Ranvan.
Apparently after the leader of the enemy had been vanquished, Sorono gave another and final chance to surrender. Only about twelve hundred surrendered peacefully, but the others who didn’t were quickly and permanently dealt with. Those that gave up were bound and had most of their energy stripped. Once they were all gathered together, they were all carted off to the immortal prison. The President wasn’t too thrilled to know that the enemy wouldn’t be tried like human laws, but he knew that human laws didn’t pertain to the immortal race, nor could their facilities hold for any great length of time. Then Connor explained how the President gave him and Sorono an offer, but the offer would take time to go through. They had a little joke about that and would see how things went in the time to come. There remained much that needed to be done.
Just as Connor and Sarah finished bathing there came a knock on the door. She wrapped a towel around her tors
o and Connor draped his over his waist. She approached the bathroom door and cracked it open to see a lovely woman standing on the other side. She realized it to be the President’s wife, The First Lady. The woman looked down and met Sarah’s eyes and said in a lovely voice that matched her appearance “Hello there. My husband just told me about what has been happening. He told me about your clothes and how ruined they were. I saw you outside and guessed that your clothing size is close to that of my oldest daughter. Please use these.” In one arm she held out fresh clothes. Then she said “I also saw how large your husband is and the only clothes I think might fit would be my husband’s jogging clothes. They might stretch out just enough to fit him.”
Sarah opened the door some more to honestly say “Thank you so much for your hospitality.”
The First Lady handed over the clothes while shaking her head. “No, it is we who should be thanking you. If it weren’t for your warning and sacrifice, my husband, children and everyone else I care about would have been killed or worse. We…no I owe you much more than you realize.” Then a thought passed her expression, but she shook her head.
“What is it?” Sarah asked while clutching the clothes to her chest.
“I know this is rude, but my husband says that you people are immortal… I was just wondering just how old you were.”
Sarah smiled and said “In our world one’s advanced age is a show of status and not frowned upon. I am very young compared to many others, but older than any current living human on the planet. I’m actually over three hundred years old.” Her eyes widened and before she could speak again Sarah said “Please excuse me for a few minutes until I’m finished.” The lady nodded and walked away in a daze as Sarah shut the door.
The clothes she gave fit, but were a little tight in the bust. Connor’s on the other hand found the material tight all around. The stretchable pants fit well enough, but the shirt threatened to rip at every seam if he moved even so much as an inch. So he decided to only attire his rinsed chainmail. Since his pants didn’t have any loops she slid Tool into one of hers while also wearing her own Fangs.
Connor tried walking, but it was still too early as his broken femur hadn’t regenerated properly just yet. Because of this he flew just above the ground by his own strength.
They let themselves out and joined everyone else again.
Just after midnight they were graced with familiar faces. Veronica flew straight down upon them and held Sorono. Not long after she landed did two flying friends land and everyone looked at them in fright and shock. Both Mark and Kara had arrived in their Fwen forms. Their coats did have splotches of blood, but Kara’s fur showed it more dramatically than Mark’s in the lighting.
The mates came straight up to them and the overly excited Kara stated “Brother! Guess What!? Guess What!?”
“What?” Connor stated with a smile of his own.
She grinned like usual, even with her muzzle she still had the same excitable expressions. “I beat Mark! I took out seventy four Keepers and he only got sixty eight.” Then her silver eyes locked onto Sarah’s. “Veronica said she was thankful that you knew about the San Andreas fault line. You were right, Sarah. When the Keepers realized they fell into our ambush and they’d lose, they came straight for us and our waiting groups. They really were trying to cause a huge disaster by creating an earthquake.”
She smiled and then saw Connor and Mark punch their fists together.
“Umm… who, or should I ask, what are you?” The four turned to see the President and his wife together along with their guards. The President then suddenly looked up at the stars and then back to Mark and Kara said “Are you two werewolves? The moon isn’t full.”
Kara started barking a laugh like she usually does, but it seemed to frighten the humans. Her animalistic voice was a little disconcerting but she finally quit laughing to say “Yep Mr. President dude. We’re werewolves. If you look closely enough it is a full moon alright. I’m just kidding you, those mythical creatures were stemmed from us. We’re Changers, not werewolves. See my wings? Have you ever seen a werewolf have these before?” She opened her expansive and elegant sandy blonde wings in demonstration. “We can change our bodies however we please. This form is called a Fwen.”
Then Mark placed his clawed hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Sweetheart, you’re scaring them. Come on and let us change back to what we look like usually.”
She folded her wings back and grinned again. Suddenly both hers and Mark’s eyes began to glow. The humans watched with intrigue as the mated pair slowly began changing into their human appearances once again.
Once they were done shedding off their feathers and fur Kara waived and said “Hi there, I’m Kara and this lug of mine is Mark.”
Mark stepped up to her side and extended his hand. The President walked up slowly to shake his hand and then he released it. Mark then said eloquently “Mr. President it is an honor to meet you. I’ve been tasked by my maker to extend his greetings to you. He will be here in two days time to meet you personally. He asks that you keep an open mind to all of this and to not judge we immortals based on the actions that you have witnessed today.”
Connor was about to say something, but the President started first. “Do not worry about that. I have seen the valor and respect your kinds have. If it weren’t for Connor and Sorono here showing us that they were here to help, I would have called war upon you. Even if we humans are outmatched, we would have gone down fighting. Fortunately we have protectors and many lives were spared. I will keep an open mind, but it isn’t just my mind that needs to stay open. My generals and advisors believe this to be a trap, but I was a Marine and can see unbiased reality through action and today proved your intentions.
“The whole world will know about this day, very soon, if not already. Some might think you are government experiments or weapons created by us. Many will see you as a threat to their national security and be quite hostile. The only thing I can guarantee is that the United States will be friendly to you people as long as you remain so. The military and police force have been ordered to keep the peace.”
“We knew the risks of this venture.” Sorono stated while walking up to them with Veronica, hand in hand. “We have seen time and time again how humanity treats those they perceive as different. Things will get difficult before they become better. We will be persecuted and even loathed for a time, but everything deserves the chance at a full life. I, and many others of us, can take the hatred and anger of you mortals because if we can be friends with just one of you, the anger of the entire world is more than bearable.
“With that said you and I must speak on rebuilding and rescue to those that might be trapped in rubble. The strained trust of today’s events need to be rectified. Come with me, hatchling.”
The president looked at his men and especially his wife. He then asked “Are you going to take me into the sky like before?” Sorono gave a simple nod. “Alright, but can my wife join us? She has asked to learn more about you as well.”
“That will be certainly allowable.”
The Presidential guards stepped back after the President and his wife sat down in the grass together. Then the two looked down as they began rising from the lawn. Soon Sorono and Veronica began flying together as well. Not long after the four had risen above the floodlights they disappeared from sight.
By the time morning had arrived things still remained tense, but at least his legs had completely healed and the bone had mended. Sarah told him that it had set correctly after using her sonar. She had Connor show their important hosts just how quickly he regenerated. They were more than flabbergasted.
By nine in the morning Sarah gained the attention of Sorono and the President. Not long after they made their way over. She initiated her question in an almost pleading tone. “Is it alright if we leave?”
Both Sorono and Connor knew just why she wanted to leave, but the President became confused as he asked “Why?”
Then she explained wi
th “We need to go home because our children will be worried about us. We need to let them know that we made it back to them safely.”
The President looked between Sarah and Connor with instant comprehension. “Your children? Really?”
She said “Yes, really. We have twins and their names are Darrel and Pearl. They are very special for their age. They are only five months old, but if you get the chance to meet you’d never believe they were only that old.” Connor then looked into Sarah’s entrancing emerald eyes and saw her expression soften. “We really should get going.” She beamed at the thought of finally going home. Neither of them honestly liked being in the center of attention, especially now that they’ve been broadcasted across the world and their images will be easily recognized.
“I’d really wish that you would stay because there is much that we need to know about you,” The President began and then his tone changed as he glanced over to his wife that now stood over with their children. “but I understand a parents worry for their children when they go off to fight in a war, I was a Marine once after all.” Then he looked at the two of them. “Where do you live, so that I may find you?”
Connor brushed back his hair with his fingers and then sighed. “Look, we like our privacy, but now that the reporters sent our faces nationwide, I’d bet my home that the news hounds are at my house as we speak. Even if I didn’t tell you, you’d be able to find us quite quickly. So I’ll tell you. My family and I live in Minnesota.” For the next few minutes one of the nearby servicemen wrote down Connor’s in-laws home address and even gave him his personal cell number.
Once everything was finalized, Veronica announced “Sorono, I would also like to go with Sarah as well. I’m just as worried for Shannon because if Connor is correct she might be frightened.”
“Indeed. I shall stay here until certain events are finalized and taken care of. Give our little one my love as well. When you get a chance, come find me, I’ll stay here and help with the rebuilding.”