Chapter 1

June 14, 49500

Two tigresses ran across a field toward an old barn. The one tigress had violet eyes and was much bigger than her running mate. The small tigress had silver eyes. The bigger tigress pushed the smaller tigress past the barn towards a set of cliffs. When the bigger tigress saw the smaller straying away again she quickly put her back on course. `This way little sister. I have something to show you. I can promise you will like it.' Once at the cliffs the tigresses started to change.

The tigresses turned into two girls. One girl had black hair that went past her waist. She had violet eyes that turned silver every time she used her power. She was wearing a purple shirt that showed her stomach. Her pants were black leather. Her shoes were combat boots. On her hands she wore black gloves with the tips cut off. She had long fingernails that he had painted blood red. Clearly seen on her left hip was a purple dragon.

The second girl had long black hair that reached her waist. She had it in a long yet elegant braid. Her eyes were a creepy silver color that shone in the moon light. She was wearing a gray tank top under a black vest. She had on a red and black checkered skirt with crosses on the hem. On her right hand she had a black biker glove. On her right wrist she wore three silver chains. On her right bicep was leather studded bracelet. On her left arm she wore a sleeve that went up to her bicep with a leather studded bracelet on her wrist. Her fingernails were long with black polish on them. Her shoes were black heels. On her left hip she had a crescent moon that became blood red whenever the moon hit it.

"So, what do you think? I told you it would be beautiful didn't I? I used to come here with father as a little girl. It always brought me a calm feeling and it helped me overcome whatever was bothering me. I never showed this place to anyone until now. But now I want to share it with my baby sister."

The girls were on a cliff looking out over the city. It made everything seem as if it was a dream. The younger girl was so stunned she could not breathe and the older girl had to breathe for her. The younger girl came up behind her sister. She placed her hand on her sister's shoulder, "Elvira, this place is beautiful. I love it. But this is your special place. Why would you bring me here? I can't believe you did this. I would never guess that a place like this existed." The younger girl hugged her sister. "Thanks Elvi, really. Thank you."

"It's nothing Raven; I don't mind sharing this with you. It is one of the few things that will draw us closer together as sisters. And it is the one place that I never showed Nathan. He can't bother us here. We are completely safe. And I must say ray, you are getting really good at shape shifting. The one guy we past was actually scared of us." Both sisters burst out laughing.

"So, Elli, how long ago did you find this place? This must be where you always went when you needed to be alone, huh?"

"Actually, it is. But I am tired of being alone. I am tired of being a loner. I am now sharing things with my baby sister. I figured that we needed a secret place together. This is the one place we can meet of we ever need to get away or if we just need to talk. I hope that you will enjoy this place as much as I have Ray. It is even wonderful if you want to watch the sun rise or set."

"Thanks Elli. Really. We better start to head home or mom will have both our fathers and our brother out searching for us. And we both know that would be very embarrassing so let's go." Elvira nodded at her sister before they both turned back into tigers and ran off.

****

Elvira and Raven got to the front yard of their mother's house and were just about to shift back to human form when the door flew open and two men ran towards them. `Here we go. Get ready to run Elli. They're coming for us. We are definitely in trouble now.' Raven and Elvira turned and prepared to run.

"Stop right there, both of you." Impmon said as he grabbed the scruff of Elvira's neck. He had long blue hair tied at the nape of his neck with a leather strap and silver eyes. He was wearing a white silk shirt and black leather pants. Around his neck he wore a Gothic cross. Even though a Carpathian could control his body temperature he wore a black coat. On his coat he had a detachable cape that reached his ankles. On his hands he wore gloves with the fingers cut off. He had leather boots on his feet.

"Where do you think you're going young lady?" Hellboy said as he did the same with Raven. The second man had Short black hair and Brown eyes. He was wearing black denim jeans and a black hoodie. He had sneakers on his feet. "Where have the two of you been. Do you have any idea how worried you made your mother? She thought both of you might have been injured and attacked. I should attack you myself. And I think Hellboy feels the same way. Don't you? I think we should lock them in cages for a while till they learn their lesson."

Both female tigers growled at the same time. They tried to nip at the people holding them. "I think that is a wonderful idea. But we have to make sure that the cages are pretty strong if we expect them to hold our daughters." The tigers growled again in agitation. "You girls better change back and go apologize to your mother."

`Then let us go and we will change back.'

"How stupid do you think we are? If we let you go we know that you are going to try to run away again. Change first then we will let you go." Impmon said as he looked into the eyes of Elvira who was struggling in his grip.

The tigers changed back into Raven and Elvira. Then Impmon and Hellboy got a surprise when they noticed that they were holding each other's daughter by their hair. Elvira looked at Raven and said, "You know how it's pretty bad when our own fathers can't tell us apart when we are not in our natural form. I wonder what that means about their age. But we must give them some credit. They did know that the tigers were us." They both started laughing. Hellboy tugged on Elvira's hair. "Hey! Dad, what was that for?"

"Being a little brat. It is not our fault that you two look alike. And if you two had not put up a barrier in your minds we would have known who was who." Both men let the girls go. "Now go see your mother before we do attack you."

"Fine, come on Ray. Father, I am going to bite you later for giving the idea of putting us in cages."

`That is what you think little one.' Impmon said in her mind as he showed his teeth.

"You two better learn a little more about your daughters. We might actually test you when we come back out here." Elvira said as they walked away. They went through the front door and into the living room where they saw their mother sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. ` I think we are in trouble now.' Elvira put out her hand and Raven grabbed it, they walked into the living room together.

Raven was the first to speak, "Mom? We're back. Are you okay?" They sat on each side of their mother. "Mom, we're really sorry."

Yue looked up at both of them before grabbing them by the shoulders and pulling them in for a hug. Yue had long blue hair that went past her waist. Her eyes were a creepy red color. She had tears streaming down her face. She had on a white blouse and black miniskirt. Her shoes were black heels. "Why did you girls run for? I was so worried about you. I really thought something happened to you when I could not touch your minds. If you ever scare me like this again I will hurt both of you. I sent your fathers out after you."

"They never got a chance to search for us. Right as we got into the front yard they came running out the door. Before we could change back to our normal shape they grabbed us by the scruff of our necks. And you know how our fathers should be able to tell us apart. Well, they couldn't, father grabbed Raven and dad grabbed me. It is pretty bad when they can't tell us apart in any form other than our normal form." Elvira said as her mother tried to not laugh.

There was a loud bang as the front door open was slammed by Impmon and Hellboy. "Are you girls picking on us again? What have we told you about picking on us? You have been warned, now we get to attack at will, and remember, you can't use any weapons. You would be able to kick our asses with weapons." Hellboy said as the women got up and prepared to fight. He looked at Impmon. `What have we gotten ourselves into? They are going to kill us. We better call Nathan if we want to survive.'

`I already called him. He is on his way.' "Bring it on ladies. We are ready." The girls ran at them as fast as they could. Right before the women collided with the men they shifted shape and became leopards with beautiful white fur with brown spots. The women started rubbing their bodies across the legs of Hellboy and Impmon.

The women turned their heads when they heard the front door open and a male leopard came through it. The male leopard stood in front of Impmon and Hellboy. It looked at the female leopards and growled a warning. It then shifted into a man with black hair with red highlights that was tied between with a leather strap at the nape of his neck. His face was accented by his beautiful blue eyes. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt under a black tee shirt with a silver upside down cross on the chest. He wore black denim jeans with spikes coming out of the knees. He has cut off gloves on his hands and a dragon pendant around his neck. Elvira shifted back into her normal form and grabbed the man around his neck. "Nathan! I missed you so much. How are you?" She hugged him and kissed his cheek until he pushed her away.

"Elvira, Is it true that you and Raven ran off without telling anyone where you were going? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? A vampire could have attacked both of you and none of us would have known what happened." Nathan said with a scowl on his face.

"Relax, Nathan. We're fine. You are forgetting that I am 4,500 years old. I have been fighting vampires for 3,100 years. Remember that little brother. We are not in danger if I am there." She punched Nathan's chest. "I am not as helpless as I seem to be. You are forgetting that I was trained by my father when I was a fledgling and then dad trained me as I got older. So relax. Sit."

"Do you know the real reason I am here Elvira? I am here because your father said that you were attacking him." Nathan said as Yue and Raven shifted back to their natural forms.

"Now that is not true. Raven and I came home looking like tigresses. Father and dad ran out the door and grabbed us by the scruffs of our necks before we could even shift to normal form. Then they yelled at us. Then they decided that they would let us shift back to our normal form. That was when they got a real surprise. Both of our fathers could not tell us apart. Dad had me by my hair and father had Raven by her hair. They thought they had their own daughters, but they were so wrong. They told us to go in and see mom to prove we were ok. We came in to find her on the couch with her head in her hands. She looked like she was about to cry. We calmed her down, then they came in and made mom worried again. But we told her that our fathers could not tell us apart. Then they decided that because we ruined their reputation they would attack us. And they told us that we could not use weapons, so we became beautiful leopards, and then you came in. Get over it baby brother. Things change."

Nathan looked at Impmon and Hellboy. "Is this true?"

Impmon and Hellboy looked at each other, "Yeah it is."

"So I came here to help a couple of men who can't even tell apart their own daughters. That is pretty pathetic. The girls are right; you two need some serious help. I am on their side."

"Very funny son. I am thinking about punishing you for that. I should have thought that you would never help us fight your mother and sisters. You were always very protective of them. You are lucky you are my son, or I would be hurting you right now." Hellboy said as he ruffled his son's hair.

"Dad, quit it. I am not a little boy any more. I am 2,500 years old. No more fledgling stuff please. It is bad enough that you barely trust me to be alone yet. You need to have more trust in your children dad." He looked at Impmon. "And so do you Impmon. The women of this family are very special. They are not weak. They do have the ability to defend themselves. Learn to trust your lifemates and daughters. They can do anything."

"You do know that Nathan is right, don't you Hellboy. It's pretty bad when we are outsmarted and corrected by a boy who is thousands of years younger than us. That is pretty bad for our reputation you know." Impmon said with a smile on his face.

"Are you men done bickering now? We girls thought that we should have dinner together since we have not seen each other in a while. A little family get together. How does that sound?" Elvira asked as the men came in the living room to sit down. The men looked at each other then nodded in agreement. "So little brother, what is new with you lately? Anything interesting?"

"No, not really, same stuff different day. I finally got to move into my house a few days ago. The renovations were just finished on Saturday. You should look at it some day. I know that you will love it. And one of these days you are going to have to show me your new house sis. I heard from mom that you have a house not far from here. And as you already know I became a warrior a few years ago. I can't believe that I am really a warrior like my big sis now. I really wanted to thank you Elvira. If not for you I would never have been so well trained that I could become like you. I am actually ahead of the other warriors in training because of you."

"It was nothing really. I am really proud of you Nathan. Maybe our little sister Raven will want to follow our tracks."

"No thanks Elli. I am very happy being a normal Carpathian female that waits for her lifemate at home while he fights."

"Oh, come on Ray. Where is the fun in that? Wouldn't you rather fight by mine and Nathan's side and kill the vampires tormenting our people? Why would you rather be at home worrying if your husband is going to come home safely when you could be helping him fight? It is so exhilarating knowing that one day I will have a lifemate and I will be fighting beside him. And nothing will stop me."

"That may be good for you Elli, but not for me. I don't think I have a mean bone in my body. I could never even harm a fly. Why would I attack something and ultimately kill it. I could never do that. It may seem fun to you Elli, but I grew up knowing that I was meant to be a gentle person who was truly of the light. I am not saying that you are not of the light Elli. I am saying that you are of the side of the light that is willing to protect. I am of the side that is willing to comfort."

"How nice Ray. My baby sister has put me down. Can we start a new topic please?" Elvira said as she got up. "Has anyone heard from Drake or Nina? I am wondering how Alcard is doing. I have not seen him since Ray's 1st birthday."

"He is doing quite well actually. As you know he is of the dragonseeker line. He is of fire like you Elvira. Drake has been teaching him to use his powers. He has progressed quite well actually. We are all very proud of him. And a few years after you went to Paris to fight vampires Nina had another baby. A little girl they named Judy. She is 5 years younger than Alcard." Impmon said as Elvira looked at him with surprise.

"Are you talking about me again Impmon?" Elvira looked toward the sound of the voice. A boy with black jeans and white shirt entered the room. He had black hair that was tied with a leather strap which was common for Carpathian men. He was tall with strong facial features and brown eyes. "So, you're Elvira. I have heard a lot about you. You're the woman who helped name me huh? Cool. It's nice to meet you." He looked at Impmon. "Why is she looking at me like that? She seems like she is in a trance."

"Sorry. I did not mean to stare. I am just surprised at how much you look like your father. And if I had not known better I would say you have my eyes, but I know that isn't possible. I am just a little nuts. I did help name you. I had looked into your soul to see what name was meant for you. I even helped your mother deliver you. You were the first baby I ever delivered."

"Really, I never learned that. I figured that I was delivered by Luke like everyone else. I am glad that I was your first. And I like the name you found for me. It is so cool." Alcard said as he shook her hand.

"So how are your parents? I have not seen them for over 1,000 years. The last time I saw them was Raven's 1st birthday. You have really grown up since then. Congratulations on your baby sister, Alcard. I am very happy for you."

"Thank you. She is really a nice girl, but really annoying. How can you stand having a little brother and sister? I can barely stand my sister. She is always bothering me."

"Well there is a difference between me and you. My sister is 2,000 years younger than me. And my brother is 1,000 years younger. Your sister is only 5 years younger than you. You both are so close in age that you both are always trying to get back at each other. You are both still learning your powers, so one always thinks the other is better at it and you two are always competing. Because I am older than my siblings we don't compete for anything, they come to me for advice."

"We have tried telling him that but he never listens to us. Maybe he will listen to you." Nina and Drake walked into the living room with Judy not far behind. "Hello little Elvi. How are you?"

Drake had blond hair and charcoal eyes. Around his neck was a metal ox skull. He had on black pants and a brown tee shirt under a long black coat. Nina had long dark brown hair and violet eyes. She was wearing a black dress and black knee high boots.

"Drake! Nina! It is so good to see you again!" Elvira said as she hugged them. "It seems like forever since I say you last." She looked at Judy and extended her hand. "Hi. I'm Elvira. It's nice to meet you.

"I'm Judy. I have heard about you. Dad talks about you often. You are like a role model to me. I want to become a warrior like you." Judy said in a quiet voice. Elvira looked at Drake with smile.

"What? It has been forever since we saw each other. Why did you stop writing after you went away?" Drake said as he hugged Elvira.

"I figured that you would read the letters to mom, and since things were getting kind of gruesome I didn't want to worry her. Even though she is a warrior she hated hearing about me attacking a vampire. So I just stopped sending letters. I figured everyone would be worried, but I knew it was okay when I felt everyone touching my mind on a daily basis to make sure I was ok." She looked at Nina. "Congratulations on the birth of Judy Nina. I know it's a little late, but no one told me till a few minutes ago. She looks a lot like you Nina. She is really a beautiful girl."

"Thank you Elvira. That is very sweet. So how are things lately? We would have visited sooner, but we figured you would want some time alone with your family first. I hope we're not intruding."

"No, I am glad you came over. I was thinking about you actually. You guys are family. So I kind of expected you sooner. But this works too. I am just so glad to be home. I missed this place so much. I can tell you that staying in the house I had, it was just creepy. I had nothing to remind me of home or my family. But now, I feel energized. Maybe it is something in the soil." Everyone burst out laughing.

"Have you seen your grandfather yet, Elvi? I know he really misses you. He talked about you everyday while you were gone."

"No, I am going to see grandfather tonight. He says that he has a surprise for me. If this surprise is anything like my last one then there is a problem. I know that I don't have another father. If he found another person he calls my father I will hurt him." Elvira said through laughter.

`I am ready for you know Elvira. Can you come?' Mikhail said in Elvira's mind.

"It was nice seeing all of you again, but I have to go. Grandfather just called me to him. I hope we can do this again soon." She said as she hugged everyone. Then she disappeared in thin air.

****

Elvira appeared in the living room of her grandfather's home. "Grandfather, I'm here. Where are you?"

A man with long black hair tied at the nape of his neck entered the room. He was wearing a black shirt and black pants. To finish it off he had black shoes. His eyes were a beautiful black that stood out in the light. "Elvira. You look beautiful. And I heard what you said about my surprise. I can promise it is not another father. It is something much better than that."

"Hello grandfather. You have not aged at all. I have missed you so much." She hugged him. "Where is grams? Is she okay?"

"Don't worry. She is fine. She is out in the garden. We are going to see her in a minute. You are my surprise to her. No one told her yet that you were home. She still thinks you are off fighting vampires. Now come with me child. Let me show you your surprise." He led her into the room he had put her father when he found him all those years ago. He turned on the lights. He led her towards a table in the center of the room. On the table was a cloth concealing what lay under it. "Lift the cloth Elvira." It was a command. She stepped forward and pulled off the cloth. Underneath was a sword in a beautiful sheath that had a dragon etched in the design.

Elvira picked up the sword and pulled it out of it's sheath. The hilt was wrapped in leather. Along the hilt were purple gems that reflected the light. The blade was also purple. She looked at her grandfather in surprise. "Grandfather. Where did you get this? It's beautiful. I can't take this. It would be wrong to take this from you."

"Nonsense. I had it made for you. I order you to keep that sword as a gift from me. I wanted to give it to you because I am so proud of you. You have far surpassed my expectations of you. I never thought that you would be such a good warrior. And as you know I made your brother a warrior. He I much like you. When he fights, if I did not know better I would say he was you."

"Thank you grandfather. I will treasure it always. Can we go see grams now? I miss her terribly." Elvira said as she tied the sword to her waist.

"Sure. Come on." he said before he led her out of the room toward the garden.

Elvira saw her grandmother kneeling over her garden. Mikhail looked at Elvira and put a finger over her lips telling her to keep quiet. "Ravyn, honey. Why are you messing with the garden now? We have company. Your name sake came to visit you."

"Little Raven came to see me huh." She got up and turned towards Elvira. "How are you my darling?" She was surprised to see Elvira. She pulled her in for a hug. "Elvira! You're home! Oh, sweetie why didn't you tell me you were coming home? You are a little sneak you know that don't you? I have missed you so much. We all have. I can see your grandfather gave you the sword he had made for you. Do you know what he went through to have that made for you?"

"Hi grams. I have missed you so much. I m sorry about not telling you I was home, but they made me keep it a secret. They wanted it to be a surprise for you. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you I was home. I really did grams. I'm sorry."

"It's okay my dear. As long as you are safe and unharmed I don't care. You have to tell me about everything that has happened since you left. Don't leave out a single thing." Ravyn said.

"Grams, I am not going to tell you about killing vampires. But I can tell you something that is much more interesting." she spent the next half hour telling Ravyn about what happened when she and her sister got home. Her grandmother was so surprised that she fell to the floor laughing.