Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer
I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Noble, Fadewind, Bibika94, Alphabloodwolf, Alexsandra, Lsb123 and BellaNessieCullen
I really didn't feel like going into the store on the Wednesday, I hadn't slept much and there was so much going around in my head. More importantly I wanted to be here for Grace when she was ready to speak. I was fretting but I wouldn't say anything because it was way too late to call and cancel with Bob now. I should have phoned him earlier when all this first kicked off.
"There is an option that I think Bob would be really happy to take." Mom said as I passed through the kitchen.
"There is?" I asked, stopping and turning to find her sat at the table with a cup of hot chocolate in her hand.
"Yeah. Lilly." Mom said with a shadow of her grin. "She's really adamant about getting a job there."
"Yeah. But I was thinking of her being more a replacement for Dannan, not me." I stated.
"But think about it." She said as she got to her feet and came around the table to me. "In a year or two when you need to go under, wouldn't you rather know there's someone competent to take over from you?"
"I guess." I said, still unsure to just hand my job over like that so soon, and what if Lilly couldn't cope?
"Then I'll run back to Tregarran and arrange for Bob to pick Lilly up from there." Mom said tapping my shoulder, and I knew Grace was more important than my job and this was the solution I'd been searching for.
"Thanks Mom." I said and hugged her.
"And now might be the best time to go into the study and see if Grace wants to talk." She stated, tapping my back before stepping away.
"Ok." I said. "But let me know if it's not ok with Bob."
"It will be." Mom assured me with a smile and tapped my arm and went to leave.
"But wait, don't run." I said urgently as something just occurred to me. "What if the chopper's still around? I don't want them shooting at you."
"They're long gone." Mom assured me. "They won't be back tonight."
"But they will another time?" I asked in horror.
"You're gonna have to get Garry here, get him to tell you everything." Mom said with a nod of her head as she wore her 'no messing' expression. "Find out why that box is so important. Anyway, we can talk about this later, I'll go over to Tregarran now, and I'll take the van if it'll make you feel better. I can run Lilly into town then. We really got to sort out driving lessons for that girl." She mused, then hugged me before leaving.
I made my way to the study and Grace was sat at her desk, her laptop closed with the flash drive on top of it. She was looking at it, contemplating it, but couldn't decide if she should watch it. She looked up from where she rested her chin on her arms when I entered.
"Do I really want to know all this?" She asked gesturing at the alcove and the clip.
"Well you don't have to watch it straight away." I said gently. "Maybe you should come out of here and rest up a while before you decide."
"But I'm gonna have to see it before Prue gets back, and what if those guys return? If Garry wanted the box so much why didn't he just ask for it? He's had six years to get it! I would have given it to him without asking why he wanted it! He was Mom and Dad's friend for Christ sake! I wouldn't have been opposed to him having something of theirs." She said in gasps, rubbing her face at the end to try and calm herself.
"I think we can only find that out by asking Garry himself." I said calmly, taking her hand in mine and massaging it slightly in the hope of soothing her. "You should get him here. Can you claim some kind of writing emergency? Something that won't clue him into our suspicions or even that we had a visit."
"I could say that we had trespassers and they stole my laptop and all my back up files." Grace said, lightly tapping her fingers on top of her laptop for a second. "I need him to bring me the flash drive I gave him yesterday with all my latest work on so I can get on with writing until the police track down my goods."
"Sounds like a good plan." I said sitting down on the sofa.
"I'll wait until five to phone him. That will be a decent hour won't it?" She asked carefully.
"Yeah. It's like you've waited as long as you could but couldn't wait any longer." I agreed.
"I can't get my head around this." She said, coming to sit beside me and I put my arm around her and she rested her head on my shoulder. "Mom and Dad hunted werewolves? Garry was in on it? And I thought I was the only one who knew about the supernatural. Do you think Prue knows? Do you think that's why Mom cut her out of the will because she wouldn't take over the family business?"
"I don't think Prue knows any of this." I stated because even though Prue had suspicions that there was something about me, her mind never leapt to the conclusion of the supernatural. "There's a flash drive for her too so I think it was a case of being prepared for whichever one of you found the alcove first."
"I guess that depends on what's on the disks." Grace observed.
"Do you want to look at yours now?" I asked; ready to go along with whatever she wanted.
Grace shook her head.
"I want to put everything back in that cupboard and lock it all up and forget it's ever there. I just… They hunted werewolves?" Grace exclaimed and then she began laughing.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"I was just thinking about what Mom and Dad would think if they knew I was dating a werewolf." She wheezed with a slight edge of hysterics and I realised she was searching desperately for a light side to all this.
"I'm not too sure they didn't." I stated.
"What do you mean?" She asked, running her head and looking up at my face.
"Well Ingrid knew a lot of the old legends, and she made a remark once to Mom about being a protective momma wolf." I explained. "Although weirdly her aversion to me seemed to dissipate some once she learned I was Quileute."
"But I told her you were Quileute when we first became friends." Grace stated.
"Well she never really saw me until debating final in senior year. Maybe when she got a good look at me for the first time, not to mention Mom, and she knew enough of the Quileute legend it wouldn't be hard to connect the dots. Especially if she knew that werewolves and such existed anyway. Didn't you think it was a little weird that she suddenly decided that year to go to La Push on your vacation?"
"I guess it was a little odd." Grace conceded. "But we often went to out of the way places on whims."
"And did you're parents ever go off alone?" I asked.
"Of course they did. I just thought they were heading out on the town, or just getting some alone time." Grace said with a shrug.
"Of course you did. Why would you think any different? But I think they took you to a lot of those out of the way places so they could investigate werewolf legends."
"I'm glad she decided that the Quileute were good." Grace observed.
"Well we're completely different from the Children of the Moon." I stated.
"I'm glad she knew that. What would have happened if her and Dad started taking pot shots at the pack?" Grace asked in horror.
"We would have talked to them. Cleared up their mistake." I assured her.
"What if Mom and Dad didn't want to talk? You know how snooty they could be." She fretted.
"Grace. It didn't happen. Let's not dwell on what didn't happen." I said in soothing tones as I stroked her arm and kissed her head. "The fact is that your parents had a secret and now you know."
"But all the tiptoeing around them I did not to reveal your secret." Grace sighed sadly. "And now I got even more secrets to keep from Prue."
"No you don't." I said.
"Well I can hardly tell her about the werewolves, she won't believe it for one, and then I'd have to tell her why I know it's all true." Grace said sadly.
"Yeah but you can tell her everything now." I said, pulling away from her so I could look at her face as I spoke. "That's why Jane's back in Olympic Pines, she came to tell you that you can tell Prue everything, but she wants to be present to monitor the situation."
"Why?" Grace asked.
"Well she said to put the fear of Jane into Prue so she won't contemplate telling anyone else." I replied.
"She's not gonna burn Prue is she?" Grace asked in horror.
"I'll shield Prue at all times if you want me too." I promised.
"I want you to." Grace said firmly.
"Then that's what I'll do." I assured her.
"Thanks." Grace said and squeezed my hand. "Can we go get something to eat now?"
"Yeah. I'm starved." I said, rising to my feet and Grace rose with me.
When we reached the kitchen Grace glanced at the clock.
"Shouldn't you be in work?" She asked.
"Yeah. But Lilly's filling in for me." I replied.
"You wanna watch she doesn't steal your job." Grace joked.
"Well if she does it means I get to take up that post as your body guard." I joked, kissing her neck.
Grace giggled, and pulled away from me to go to the fridge.
We made breakfast together, flirting a little because it was keeping Grace's mind off her parents. We ate breakfast and washed the dishes together. With the kitchen clean we went to the living room where Jane was sat reading a book.
"Where's Dad?" I asked.
"Went to Tregarran with Essie. Lilly was watching Billie for them, now that the emergency is over they've returned and Fred is out in the grounds watching that area of pond in case someone else decides to look for the werewolf kit." She replied, not looking up from her book.
"Can you tell me more about the, what were they called? The Eclipse of the Moon?" Grace asked as we sat on the other sofa.
"There's nothing to tell really." Jane said in a bored voice as she turned a page. "They were a group of nobles not content with hunting normal game so they turned their attention to the monsters of the world. They made it sound like they were doing something good for mankind, but really it was nothing more than an excuse to kill things, sometimes even innocent humans, they suspected of being supernatural. I would have thought the idea would have died out by now, but obviously not."
"And I found it hard to accept that Mom and Dad hunted full stop, never mind poor people who are cursed through no fault of their own." Grace said in a haunted voice. "You said that to get the pelt off like that the werewolf would have to still be alive, is that really true?"
"Well they usually tranquillise them with wolfs bane, and using a silver knife to skin the wolf it stops whatever magic causes them to revert back to their human form." Jane stated. "It's how Darius used to collect the tails, by clipping them off with a silver knife before it melted away. That was about all he was skilled enough to collect or I'm sure he would have decorated his room in furs."
I shuddered.
"Is it making your skin crawl Tony?" Jane asked looking at me with mild amusement.
"Of course it is." I said darkly. "You're talking about skinning people. How can they do that? Even if they think the Children of the Moon need to be stopped, couldn't they do it in a more humane way?"
"They're hunters Tony, they don't think animals have feelings. Even those who have human shape half the time." Jane stated.
"It's terrible." Grace said. "So terrible. That my parents could do something like that."
"My parents let the villagers tie Alec and me to a stake and set us on fire." Jane said brightly. "You can't trust all parents to have ethics, they are only human after all."
"But this is…" Grace shook her head sadly.
"You had a view of your parents as loving individuals and now you realise they weren't." Jane said rather bluntly.
"Oh I was never that deluded. It always seemed like Mom and Dad would have preferred not to have kids, but them jetting off all over the world for selfish reasons seemed better than this, whatever it is." Grace said in despair.
"Maybe they thought they were working for the greater good." Jane suggested.
"Working for the greater good does not mean skinning people alive." Grace said darkly.
All of us looked to the window when we heard the engine. I let my mind wander outside.
"It's Prue." I said.
"Prue? She wasn't supposed to be back until this afternoon!" Grace gasped.
"What's wrong her being early?" Jane asked.
"I was hoping for time to work up to thinking of how to tell her." Grace replied.
"I find these things are best done quickly." Jane said. "Come, we will meet her in the kitchen."
Without waiting for us to reply Jane stood and left the room. We really had no choice but to follow her. She was sat at the table so Grace and me sat too leaving the empty chair opposite Grace. We waited and listened as Prue parked her car and she entered through the front door. She walked through the house and entered the kitchen.
"You're all up?" She asked.
"We couldn't sleep." Grace replied. "How are you back so early?"
"Ferguson needed to get back to the Pines a-sap, he even hired a chopper. Got me out of bed early but then gave me the day off. So I came back here and I'm gonna kick back for the day." She said with a shrug.
"Ok. But before you do we need to tell you something." Grace said, trying to keep her voice steady.
"What?" Prue asked.
"Pour yourself some coffee and sit down. This might take a while." Grace said.
"Drink the coffee first." Jane said, We don't want her to have anything hot in her hands just in case.
"Who are you?" Prue demanded.
"Jane." Jane said. "That's all you need to know for now. I suggest you drink coffee, possibly have something to eat and then we will talk."
"About what?" Prue asked.
"The family secret." Jane replied.
"What family secret?"
"You will know once you have ate food and drunk your coffee." Jane said in a testy voice and it was clear Jane was starting to annoy her.
"No. I want to know now." Prue said, dropping into her chair. "And I'm not going anywhere or doing anything until you tell me."
"Head strong." Jane said. "I like that."
"I don't do chicks." Prue said.
"You're not my type dear." Jane said with a wide smile. "This is your party Grace, now you must hostess."
"Ok." Grace said, and it was clear she was working up to say something that was upsetting her. "Well I don't really know how to say this. Tony?"
"Prue, the family secret we're about to reveal is my family secret." I said, thinking we'd ease her in with that before moving on to Ingrid and Brigham. "You see there's something about us that you don't know, it has to do with why none of us seem to age."
"So it's nothing to do with witch doctors?" Prue said sarcastically.
"Well you knew that anyway." I said. "I think you know there's something weird about us…"
"They're vampires Prue." Grace said quickly. "Oh god, it feels good to get that off my chest."
"Gracie, have you been taking something illegal?" Prue said in a babying voice. "You do know your stories aren't true."
"Of course Darktide isn't true." Grace snapped. "It's deliberately untrue. I had to get my thoughts out there somehow but without letting on that I actually knew the truth because back then any human who knew had to die."
"Right." Prue said with a grin and it was clear she thought we were all joking. "So how come you're telling me if it's a death sentence?"
"Because under the new laws instigated by the Coalition, the first one dictates that although secrecy is still paramount, individual humans can be informed of our existence if they are deemed worthy." Jane explained. "Tony and Grace have put up a good argument of why you should be told, and given due consideration I think you are worthy to know."
"God, where did you dig this kid up from?" Prue said with a laugh.
"This kid happens to be sixteen hundred years old and the leader of the Vampire Coalition of America and Canada." Jane said coldly and the glint in her eye made me throw my shield around Prue just in case. "I happen to be the twin sister of Alec, I believe you have met him."
"Oh yeah. You look like each other." Prue said with a slight frown. "So you're a vampire?"
"Yes." Jane said firmly.
"Prove it." Prue challenged.
"How?" Jane asked with a frown.
"Show me your fangs." Prue said in amused tones, waiting for the moment we'd all admit this was a huge joke and she'd get to berate us for trying to fool her.
Jane laughed melodiously.
"My dear child, vampires don't have fangs. Our teeth are more than capable of biting through all manner of bodily tissues. You'd be surprised how tough the sinews in the neck can be." Jane said with grin that put her pearly whites on full display and Prue shivered a little.
"I want proof." She said.
"Very well. Show her Tony." Jane ordered.
"Show her?" I asked with a frown.
"Well I could use my power, but Grace would be opposed to that and you are shielding her mind regardless. A demonstration of your power would be more appealing to Grace." Jane explained.
"Ok." I said, and shared a look with Grace before I turned to Prue.
I was lost, I knew I had to speak telepathically to her, but what did I say?
Hi Prue, can you hear me? I said, feeling absolutely foolish, as I looked her.
"Wow, that's good. Where's the speaker?" She said with a laugh.
There is no speaker; I'm talking into your mind. I'm telepathic. I can… This is a little image of something tell me what it is. I said, placing my hand on hers and projecting an image of Grace in high school, the first day I ever saw her.
"Aw Grace you look so cute and friendly." Prue said wistfully, and then frowned. "I never thought that of you. In school you were a geeky embarrassment to me. Did you just change my memories?"
"No. I gave you a taste of mine." I said with a smile. "Just be grateful I went with the first day of school and not Liza's first pool party and I saw Grace in a swim suit for the first time." I added, my grin widening.
"Right. Ok. Tony, tell me about your family." Prue said and she focused on my face.
"Oh yeah, you can spot when Tony's lying." Grace observed. "Ok. Go ahead and tell all." Grace said, putting her arm through mine.
"I'll start with Dad." I decided. "He was born nearly three thousand years ago to an Etruscan noble household. This was before there was a Roman kingdom never mind an empire. He was turned into a vampire when he was in his early twenties, he's not sure of his exact age. He spent centuries in Volterra picking up a vampire sister along the way, my Aunt Marlin, and living mostly in despair that he had to kill humans to survive. That was until sometime during the seventeenth century when a very young vampire appeared in the Volturi Court that caused quite a stir. This vampire had gold eyes instead of red, because he'd learned to sustain himself on animal blood. That vampire was my Uncle Carlisle."
"Carlisle is a vampire?" Prue asked in shock.
"Yeah." I confirmed.
"But he's a doctor and so gentle. He can't be a vampire." She insisted.
"He is a vampire. It was his gentle nature that stopped him from feeding from humans. He's never killed in his life and the only human blood to pass his lips is the blood of people he's changed. That's four people." I said. "Anyway, this isn't about Carlisle, I might be related to him by venom, but I'm not related to him by blood. Let's just stick to the blood relations for now."
"Ok." Prue agreed.
"So Carlisle came to the Volturi Court and finally there was a way for Dad and Marlin to survive without killing humans. They left Volterra and travelled for the next few centuries as brother and sister, picking up two more siblings along the way, until they decided to try a settled life style like the Cullens and chose Forks to experiment."
"Wow. I can't even begin to imagine someone living that long." Prue said. "What about your mother, is she ancient too?"
"No." I said with a smile, realising that Prue was actually starting to believe it now, even if she hadn't quite accepted it yet. "Mom is fifty one years old."
"She still looks good for her age." Prue said. "But hang on, she's got brown eyes not gold."
"Yeah. Well that's where things start to get interesting. Now Mom's family, that's my connection to Carlisle. Sometime around the turn of the twentieth century he started contemplating making a companion who could share in his ideals about vegetarian feeding." I began.
"Vegetarian?" Prue asked.
"That's what we call vampires who drink animal blood instead of human." Grace said.
"We? You're aligning yourself with the supernaturals?" Prue asked.
"Can I finish my family tree here?" I asked to draw attention away from the inevitable moment that we got to Grace. "Carlisle was working in a hospital in Chicago during the influenza epidemic in nineteen eighteen when a dying mother asked him to save her seventeen year old son, in the only way he could."
"She knew what he was?" Prue asked in shock.
"Although he didn't have time to verify, and well he didn't know Edward could read minds at that time, but Carlisle thinks Elizabeth Masen had this ability which her son inherited. Anyway, Edward was close to death anyway, and Carlisle saw something good in his face so he stole him away and changed him, thinking he could be the companion he'd been looking for." I stated.
"Carlisle was gay?" Prue asked.
"What makes you say that?" I replied, cause there'd been nothing in my narrative to suggest that.
"He chose a male companion." Prue stated.
"What has that got to do with the price of fish?" Jane demanded. "Things were different back then. Men and women rarely associated with each other unless it was about sex or marriage. It would be more likely that Carlisle would choose a friend and protégé who was male. Of course when it came to sexual satisfaction and a soulmate for the rest of eternity Carlisle was enamoured by the alluring Esme and when he found her all but dead made her his, and in turn he became hers."
"Right." Prue said. "So back to your family."
"Carlisle turned Edward, and a few years later he turned Esme. Although Esme is a younger vampire than Edward she was actually born before him. Then a few years later Carlisle changed Rosalie, he thought she could be a mate for Edward, but they weren't interested in each other like that. Then Rose found Em being attacked by a bear and she couldn't quite save his human life, but she got him to Carlisle in time to be vamped. They're a perfect match and couldn't be happier." I said with a smile. "Well apart from the fact that female vampires can't have kids and a kid is something Rose would love, and it plays a little into what happens later. But we also got to establish Alice and Jasper joining the family, they kinda adopted themselves in because Alice had seen it as their future. So the seven of them settled in Forks back at the turn of the century."
"Wait, I thought your father settled in Forks." Prue interrupted.
"That was forty years later." I stated. "At this time it was Carlisle and Esme, Rose and Em, Alice and Jasper, and Edward. See the pattern there?"
"Edward was on his own." Prue stated.
"Yep. And he had been for ninety years, but around about the time his vampire family settled in Forks the seventeen year old daughter of the chief of police decided to go live with him to leave her mother free to travel with her new husband. Bella was a little too observant for her own good and she figured out their secret. That should have been immediate death or vampdom, but Edward was already in love with her by then and wanted her alive and human. Cut a long story short, Bella had to become a vampire and it was something she wanted anyway, but before she became a vampire she wanted to know what sex was like as a human. So they got down and dirty and something happened that no one expected."
"What?" Prue prompted.
"Bella got pregnant." I stated.
"You said vampires couldn't have children." She accused.
"Pay attention." Jane said, tapping Prue's hand. "He did specify vampire women."
"Ok." Prue said, looking at Jane for a moment before turning back to me. "So where is this going exactly?"
"Bella was pregnant, but it was all accelerated and sapping all of her life. She died in the birth, there's really no other way to put it. She died but Edward was ready with his venom and saved her. That baby who was born was my grandmother, Renesmee, the first known half vampire. There were some born before her, but nobody knew about them. Anyway, she met Grandpa Jake and because he is Quileute shapeshifter and she is the one meant for him he imprinted on her. Mom was born when Granny Ness was twenty-five. Mom always called herself an uncertainty; she was the vamp-wolf brat who took messing from no one. When she was sixteen she got kicked out of the Res school and had to transfer to Forks High. That's how she met Dad and when she started phasing she imprinted on him and they were meant to be together. But they were always careful because there was no telling how a half-vamp pregnancy would effect Mom even though she was vampire and werewolf."
"Werewolf?" Prue demanded. "Where did werewolves come into this?"
"We'll get to that in a minuet." I stated. "That's the Quileute secret. Anyway, Dad would not have risked Mom in pregnancy if it weren't for the fact that they were lost in amnesia and were mega horny after years of drought. They didn't even realise until Mom was a few days gone, which in half vamp terms is a few weeks. That's how Liza and me were born. And Mom and Dad had to think we were dead or the Volturi would want us. We grew up without Mom and Dad, and Mom and Dad were in hell thinking we'd died at birth. We were only reunited thanks to Liza being besotted with Alec and he tricked us into going to Volterra. That spurred Mom into finally putting Aro in his place and Liza and me got our parents back and everything was good. Then Jane set up the Coalition and in November I got a little sister in the shape of Billie."
"November? You say that like you mean November just gone." Prue said with a nervous laugh.
"Well yeah." I said with a frown. "Half vamps age fast. That's why we've been keeping you away from Tregarran so you wouldn't notice. We had to get the green light, because Billie really loves you and we know you love her. And would you like to be her playmate?"
"What?" Prue asked and I realised I'd gone a little ahead there.
"Just like a kindergarten teacher, but more like a personal tutor." I explained.
"Well I'd love to, but I'm working for Ferguson remember?" Prue said despondently.
"You're on probation." I reminded her. "You can pull out of it now if you want to."
"Yeah." Prue said looking down at the table, and then looked up at the three of us. "But November? That means she's what, two months old? But she's like…a kid."
"Prue, it's how it works with half vamps." I stated. "I'm only eighteen. When I started high school I was five. When I graduated I was eight. Why do you think Grace and me have waited until now to get intimate? Because we didn't realise we liked each other in high school? God no! I would have given anything to have been with Grace back then, but I didn't want to make her feel sick when she found out my real age. Which she did feel sickened by her feelings for me when she found out I was only seven."
"You've known for eleven years and you didn't tell me?" Prue demanded of Grace.
"It was a death sentence if you knew, and would you have believed me anyway?" Grace demanded.
"I guess not." Prue said looking thoughtful. "Wait a minuet! What's Hunter?"
"He's like Mom. A half vampire who also happens to be a Quileute shapeshifter." I stated.
Prue looked perturbed at first, but then a grin spread across her face.
"No wonder he was so good. And his stamina…" She trailed off with a wicked grin. "Do you think he'd be up to some more fun?"
"No." I said firmly. "He likes you Prue and that's a problem."
"Why?"
"Because he might like you, but you're not his imprint." I stated. "He doesn't want to get into anything serious with you only to break your heart when he does finally imprint."
"Oh god." Prue said sadly.
"Anyway, you got your angel now." I said brightly.
"I don't even think he exists, never mind hope to meet him again." Prue retorted.
"He was a half vampire." I stated.
"Tony!" Grace hissed thinking it wasn't best to reveal this yet.
"What makes you think that?" Prue asked.
"I saw it all in your mind and the guy was definitely a half vamp. I tell you what, if I ever bump into him I'll drag him here." I promised.
"Thanks Tony. So what about you Grace, how do you fit into all this supernatural crap?"
"I am Tony's imprint." Grace stated, and then she took a deep breath as she dropped her head before adding, "And back in October I was fatally shot. Tony gave me his venom, but instead of turning into a full vampire, I became a half vampire."
"Well that sucks." Prue remarked for something to say because she really wasn't sure how she should respond to that bit of news.
"No Prue, it doesn't suck at all." Grace assured her. "Being a half vamp means I can have kids, which means I'm still Tony's imprint. Because if I can't have kids then I can't be his imprint and I don't belong with him. That would be terrible after the years we waited to be together."
"You waited eleven years to be together because he was underage, even though he was a fully functioning adult?" Prue asked.
"He was underage Prue. Period." Grace growled.
"If you hadn't been so uptight about that you could have had ten years of sex under your combined belt by now." Prue continued regardless.
"Well you might have been able to over look something like that, but I couldn't." Grace snapped. "And it doesn't matter now anyway. Ten years or a century, Tony and I are gonna live forever."
Prue nodded and tried desperately to think of something else to say, but she had no choice but to succumb to her feelings.
"So how come you didn't tell me you nearly died?" She asked sadly as she put her hand on Grace's across the table.
"And say what exactly?" Grace demanded. "I couldn't give you the full details."
"You could have said you had a close call and nearly died but the doctors managed to save you." Prue suggested.
"If you'd been here at the time I would have…thought of something to tell you. But it was over three months ago and there's no trace left. There was no trace left after three days." Grace said, lifting her top to show the smooth skin of her stomach. "I was a mess, but Tony's venom healed it all up and left no trace at all."
"It didn't heal your surgery scar though." Prue said. "What about your burns?"
And without waiting for Grace to respond Prue pulled Grace's t-shirt aside until she could see her shoulder.
"They've faded, but not gone completely." Grace said. "And if I'm honest I'd feel weird not to have them now. They're a part of me and I wouldn't be me without them. I mean it's strange enough getting used to not needing glasses."
"So no laser eye surgery then?" Prue asked with a smile.
"No." Grace said with a laugh. "You knew I'd never do anything like that, but how else could I explain why I didn't need glasses anymore, and my eyes are actually much better than yours now. It's like seeing the world in HD for the first time."
"I'm glad. And this is all weird, but makes perfect sense. I can't believe how easy it is for me to believe all of this." Prue observed, before turning back to me. "But then there's always been something a little strange about you and Liza. Especially Liza with her old fashioned ways and proper way of talking."
"She is my twin and she is only eighteen too." I stated. "But she's more like Dad. She's actually a doppelganger of Dad's mother, our Grandma Vela."
"Did she get turned into a vampire too?" Prue asked with a frown.
"No. She died a human." I replied.
"So how do you know what she looked like?"
"Well obviously Dad commented on it, but also we saw her in his memories. We even got to talk to her."
"How?"
"It's like a psychic echo. It's mostly how Dad remembers her and Mom creating the image that reacts, as Grandma Vela would have done. And we heard her in English, although we would have known what she was saying if she was speaking Etruscan anyway. Me and Liza learned it as kids so we'd know it to impress Dad if we ever got to meet him. Not that it mattered, Dad speaks any language you care to mention, that's his power, he knows how to speak a language fluently after only hearing a few sentences."
"I wish I had that power for high school French." Prue mused.
"I could speak French fluently by the time I was two." I said with a smile. "Although I was more like six by then."
"If half vamps age three times as fast as humans how is Billie like a four year old at the moment?" Prue asked, jumping back to a question that had been bubbling in the back of her mind for a while.
"Well we're passing her off as a small four year old because she's too articulate and agile to pretend she's any younger. But she's growing all the time. You already noticed her 'growth spurt' and you'll notice the height difference again next time you see her to when you saw her a few weeks ago. By this time next year the difference will be even more apparent." I stated.
"So you were really five when you started high school." Prue murmured.
"Yeah. But we looked fifteen." I said. "It was really the earliest we could enter into human society without people questioning our quick growing."
"Why enter school at all?" Prue asked in amusement.
"It was one of Liza's whims. I just got carried along in her wake. I don't know if you ever noticed but she is the dominant twin. It's cause she's a minuet older, or maybe it's just her Liza-ness."
"So I know twins aren't always identical, but what's with the big height difference. You're like two foot taller than her. How?"
"Because I follow Mom in that I'm a Quileute warrior." I stated. "It's part of the old wolf magic, to make us big and strong enough to fight the Cold Ones. You've seen all the guys on the Res; it is all in the genes like we've always said. We just happen to have a little wolf spliced in there."
"I'd hardly call you little wolves." Jane said with a chuckle. "They're as big as horses. You want to show her?"
"Maybe later." Grace said, putting her hand on mine. "Right now we have to move on to our family secret."
"Our family secret?" Prue asked.
"I know we're dumping a lot on you in one day, but this is something we've only just found out and I don't want you unprepared if they come back." Grace stated.
"If who come back?" Prue asked, and for a fleeting moment she had an image of Ingrid and Brigham walking through the door still alive.
"The Eclipse of the Moon." Grace stated, shattering the illusion. "They're some type of yuppie werewolf hunters."
"They're after Tony?" Prue guessed.
"No. Tony has nothing to do with this. This is all our parents fault." Grace said warily.
"What?"
"Remember that picture we found of Mom and Dad and the wolf pelts? They were werewolf pelts."
"What?" Prue asked in disbelief.
"All those times they were away skiing they were actually hunting werewolves. Not werewolves like the Quileute, but the Children of the Moon. I'll explain the differences later, but well there was a hunting kit hidden in the pond and last night these guys tried to get it back. They shot at us with silver bullets and then left when they thought Tony was a full vamp." Grace stated. "They might come back and I thought I should warn you just in case."
"Interesting you should say that. There's a guy out in the yard right now and he went right to the tyre. Didn't even need to look." Fred said, suddenly appearing in the kitchen and Prue jumped a mile.
"What does he look like?" I asked and Fred thought about him, and even though he was in camo and was unkempt it was clear who it was. "It's Garry." I said.
"He must be getting it himself since his toy soldiers failed." Grace grouched. "Is he alone?"
"Yeah. He came out of the trees. I did hear a car about two miles away stop. He must have pulled in somewhere and walked from there." Fred replied.
"Who are you and how did you just appear?" Prue demanded.
"I'm Fred, I can make myself appear invisible and that's not important right now." He said. "What do you want me to do about the guy in the yard?"
"We'll all go observe him." Grace said, rising to her feet. "But I'll get the box first."
She zipped from the kitchen and appeared a second later with the box in her hands.
"Can you cover us all Fred?" She asked.
"Yeah. But someone should carry your sister so we can be more stealthy." He suggested.
"Tony will do it." Jane said, getting to her feet and taking Fred's hand and she gave Prue a warning look for some reason.
I sighed and stood.
"I'll give you a piggy back." I said.
"Like we're kids!" Prue exclaimed in disgust.
I groaned and just lifted her into my arms to save argument. I looked at Grace and she was holding back on laughing. She cleared her throat and tapped the box.
"Let's do this." She said.
"Ok. Group in around me and we all move together." Fred instructed.
If we hadn't been supernatural this would have been really awkward, but we managed to flow as one out the kitchen door and across the yard to the pond where Garry was hidden from the house by a tall bunch of reeds.
We rounded the reeds and stopped where we could see him and I put Prue down on the floor. We watched as he pulled the strong box out onto the shore. He didn't bother with a key; he just used bolt cutters to snap the lock and opened the box. And then he paused and reached in and pulled the stone out slowly, he let out a growl and threw the stone onto the ground.
"Looking for something?" Grace said and we stepped out of Fred's force field.
"Grace?" Garry gasped shooting to his feet and his eyes went to the box.
"So you came yourself this time instead of sending your goons. Or are they somewhere overhead ready to shoot at us if we don't give you what you want?" Grace said coldly.
"They shot at you?" Garry asked. "Oh god. How did they even know?" He muttered looking pale.
I blinked as I got a big load of info from his mind.
"You put this here and was hoping to get it off the property before they learned it was here. You thought I was one of them?" I observed in disgust. "But I'm Quileute, why would I hunt Children of the Moon. I'm not just Quileute, I'm the son of Essie Black and there's every possibility that I can tame them just like her."
"Maybe we should learn how much he knows before you say anything else." Jane said flatly. "Garry is it? You'd better come inside and talk. I want to know why your people have been shooting at my friends."
"They're not my people." Garry said. "At least not anymore."
"Let's go inside to talk." Jane said, holding up her hand to cut him off. "I don't know how they do things where you come from but I was raised on the belief that all important meetings should be conducted indoors."
Garry looked Jane over and he was quick in assessing that Jane wasn't to be messed with. He knew authority when he saw it, even when it was presented to him in such a young looking package.
"Of course Ma'am." Garry said with a nod of his head.
We led Garry into the house, into the living room. I sat on the floor next to Grace to leave enough seats. Jane sat next to Grace; Fred sat on the floor on her end, while Prue sat down next to Garry. She was watching him in an angry manner, she really didn't like him due to her suspicions and now she had shooting at her sister to add to his crimes.
"So Garry, tell us what you know." Jane said in a voice that left no room for disobedience.
"When I was eighteen my father told me about the family calling and I was inducted into the order known as Eclipse of the Moon." Garry began. "It seemed a fallacy at first, merely stories shared for our parents to make themselves feel more important. Brigham and Ingrid shared this view with me, but we went along with our parents' wishes regardless to learn the sacred duty that would be entrusted to us one day.
"At first we were taken on hunts against normal animals, all over the world. I was a little wary, knowing that some illegal activity was taking place. Then sometime around my twenty-fifth birthday we learned the truth. We were dropped off alone in this little village somewhere in Russia, I thought it was a little weird at first, after all Ingrid and Brigham had just married and were supposed to be on honeymoon, but apparently duty waited for nothing.
"It was a little one room cabin so I went outside to give the newlyweds at least a little privacy even though we were supposed to be alert at all times. Well we didn't really believe that there were such things as werewolves and that the old people were just being awkward because they hadn't agreed to Ingrid and Brigham's marriage."
"Why?" Prue demanded.
"They'd always intended for me to marry Ingrid, but she wasn't my type." Garry said and left it at that before continuing. "I heard the howl and it was like no wolf I'd ever heard, there was a mad edge to it that sent a different kind of chill through me than the primal fear of the wild. This was the fear of the inexplicable and I had to disturb Ingrid and Brigham so that we could hunt this animal, whatever it was.
"It was a wolf and we shot it with silver, the creature took a lot to kill. When it finally died it changed and became a man. Then we knew all the stories were real. We knew there were monsters and they had to be destroyed. With youthful zeal we embraced our role as defenders of humanity. We didn't even question why the old people wanted their trophies, the monsters needed to be culled wherever they appeared and if the old people got something out of it, it didn't really matter.
"It didn't matter until we were thirty five. We were in the Ukraine where a werewolf had been reported. We arrived there on the new moon and we stayed in this little hotel. The owners had a little girl of about five or six, the same age as you were at the time Prue. She was dark haired and dusky skinned but she had these big blue eyes, quite the same shade as yours. Her temperament was similar to yours too and Ingrid was taken with her straight away, well she was a delightful child, so full of life.
"Then came the night of the hunt, and the werewolf was smaller than what we were used to, and ridiculously easy to take down. It died from one dose of wolfs bane so we didn't have chance to skin it before it reverted back to human form." Garry said in a haunted voice.
"Oh no." Grace gasped. "It was the little girl wasn't it?"
"Yes." Garry replied. "And it was a stark reminder that the wolves were humans. We always thought of them as sallow, bony revenants that were more dead than alive, not sweet little girls who had all their life to look forward to, and now she was dead on the floor and we were to blame. Ingrid took it worse and that's when she decided that we had to put an end to the killing and try to find a cure.
"Of course we couldn't just go into an Eclipse meeting and demand they change their ways, only the Grand Master could decide whether a hunt was allowed or not. We therefore worked toward making Brigham the Grand Master. It wasn't hard considering we were the best of our generation and within eight years Brigham reached the position of Grand Master. Of course we couldn't employ our new methods immediately, but Brigham started reducing the number of the hunts, but not so much that the others would become suspicious. We employed a scientist to look into ways to control the wolf, and also into means of containing a wolf during the night so that they couldn't go out killing and infecting others.
"Then Brigham started changing the arrangements and the others didn't like being told they couldn't hunt anymore. We realised this wasn't about a sacred duty, it was a bunch of rich people wanting to satisfy their blood lust. Times grew tense because a new Grand Master couldn't be elected while the old one was still alive unless he stepped down voluntarily. I truly believe the Eclipse killed your parents."
"And now they want to kill us?" Prue asked.
"No. If they wanted to do that they would have done it by now. They were after the kit." Garry stated.
"Why?"
"Because without it they can't elect a new Grand Master." He replied. "It's part of the unbreakable constitution of the Eclipse. And without a Grand Master they can't hunt. Brigham entrusted the box to me on the last hunt knowing that the others were planning an assassination. When they turned up dead I knew I had to hide the kit. The pond seemed the best place because it'd be hard for them to search there, and they couldn't ransack the Stables or risk getting the police involved. Anyway, they didn't expect it to be here, it's too much of an obvious place.
"They did search my properties and tried to wheedle the answer out of me, luckily I got enough contacts in high places that it would have caused them a headache if something just happened to me. I thought it would be perfectly safe forever in your pond, that was until you decided to move back to the Stables. I knew I had to get it back, but had to plan carefully. Tony put a roadblock on those plans when he told me yesterday that he was cleaning up the pond. I had to get it back before you found it. That's why I came this morning when you were still likely to be in work." That last bit was directed at me.
"If it's been in the pond all this time why did the Eclipse suddenly show up last night?" I asked.
"That's what I intend to find out." Garry said darkly. "The only person I confided in was Ralph."
"Face to face or by phone?" Jane asked.
"Phone. I didn't think I'd have time to go all the way back to Portland and return here."
"Was anyone else there when you phoned him?"
"No." Garry said.
"Are you sure?" Jane demanded. "Where were you?"
"In my car." He stated.
"Where is your car now?"
"I parked out at the old Cranston property." Garry stated, pointing in the general direction of the farmstead that lay between Tregarran and the Stables, I didn't know it was empty.
"Fred." Jane said.
"I won't be long." He said and left the room.
"You think someone might have bugged me?" Garry asked.
"It seems the likeliest explanation of why the Eclipse of the Moon knew where to look." Jane said. "Especially after so long."
"It would make sense." Garry said. "But what I don't understand is why they fired at you. Even if you rumbled them they could have bought themselves out of custody."
"You really don't know about me do you." I said, seeing in his mind that he still suspected that I might be an Eclipse agent. "And so you don't know about Grace."
"Wait." Jane said. "Tell me Garry, what do you know of the other things in this world that are not human?"
"There's vampires of course, we were told never to mess with them." Garry replied. "They're strong, fast and impervious to any weapon man can forge. Ingrid was also convinced that there was another type of werewolf that live out to the west."
"In La Push." I said pointedly.
"Yes." Garry said. "There's also rumours of half vampires. Kids born to human women with vampire fathers, but I think that's stretching it a little."
Prue chuckled.
"What's so funny?" Garry demanded.
"You're just gonna die when you find out." She said.
"Not literally." Jane stated. "Given that you know so much it is better you learn the whole truth."
"Ok." Garry said carefully. "Has this got anything to do with why they shot at you?"
"Yeah." I said. "They had some kind of bright light on their chopper, I think they were just trying to spot their guys to get them out of there, but there was this loud high pitched noise that really hurt our ears. It was only when we reacted to that they started shooting at us."
"That helicopter is cheating, it takes away the noble act of the hunt." Garry said darkly. "But that sound you heard, it's pitched at a level above human hearing. You shouldn't be able to hear that."
"But I did." I stated.
"You didn't, it's above human hearing." Garry countered.
"But I'm not human." I stated. "Well not completely human. I'm a Quileute shapeshifter and also part vampire. I'm one of those half vampires you find it so hard to believe exists."
"Really?" He asked, giving me an incredulous look.
"Yes." I said firmly.
"You said 'our', Grace couldn't have heard it." Garry said, retreating to what he thought was safe ground.
"Grace is a half vampire too." I stated.
"Impossible. I know for a fact her father was human." Garry said firmly.
"Maybe Brigham was a secret vampire." Prue remarked with amusement.
"Even if he was it would make no difference. I know for a fact Grace's father is human because it was me, I'm your father too Prue." Garry said in a rush and only after he said it he realised what he'd just admitted.
"Wait! I was right? You did have an affair with Mom?" Prue raged, shooting to her feet boiling over with anger.
"No." Garry said in a calm voice. "Like I said, she wasn't my type. But Brigham was infertile and they wanted kids so they asked me to step in."
"As a donor?" Grace asked hopefully.
"I think he means by more traditional means." Jane said with a slight smile. "That way you wouldn't have to involve doctors. That way the Eclipse would think any resultant offspring was the progeny of Brigham and not that of you and Ingrid. There was a reason they wished you to marry Ingrid, I have a feeling it was for the resultant children. I wonder what makes you so special." She said, regarding Prue and Grace carefully.
"Whatever it is they're definitely not half vampires." Garry snapped.
"Actually Garry, I am a half vampire." Grace said calmly. "Remember back in October when you couldn't get hold of me for a few days? That's because I was in the midst of the transformation."
"You let him turn you into a vampire?" Garry asked in horror.
"There was no 'let' about it." Grace said. "It was either become a vampire or die. I was shot and I was dying and Tony changed me to save me, but somehow I became a half vampire instead. We still don't really know how that happened, although it might have had something to do with Tony trying to heal me with his blood first. He didn't want me to suffer the pain of transformation, but there really was no choice, I was losing so much blood, but I'm good now."
"Oh god. Why didn't you tell me?" Garry asked, reaching across the coffee table to her.
"Like you told me you're my father?" Grace demanded. "No wonder I found it so easy to enter the world of literature. Were my achievements even my own?"
"I might have bumped you up the list, but only the public can decide whether you're a best seller or not." Garry stated. "I knew you had talent, but it can take years to get it out there without the right backing. I just fast-tracked your career. I would have done it for you regardless being the daughter of my oldest friends."
"What did you ever do for me, Daddy?" Prue asked in a falsely sweet voice as she sat back down.
"Funded all those clubs that took your fancy as a kid, you never could stick to one thing for longer than a year or two. Well apart from cheerleading, I think you could have gone on to a national level if it hadn't been for your injury. That was a shame, but on the other hand it saved you." Garry stated.
"Saved me from what?"
"Being inducted into the Eclipse of the Moon. Your injury would have endangered you in the field. Grace you were exempt due to your heart condition, although there was talk of initiating you because of your brains, they always want someone on the weapon development team. But Ingrid put her foot down, and since Brigham was Grand Master by then there wasn't much they could do to oppose him."
"So I'm not smart enough?" Prue demanded.
"You got plenty of smarts Prue, street smarts, but would you want to spend all your spare time working in a lab?" Garry asked.
"I guess not." Prue conceded. "But I still would have liked the choice."
"Why? To have another thing to clash with Ingrid over?" Garry demanded. "I know that you didn't get on with her in a bloody minded way. If Ingrid said the sky was blue you'd argue it wasn't just to argue with her."
"I did not!" Prue snapped.
"Yes you did." Garry said. "Ingrid thought it stemmed from your resentment of her for never being there for the both of you. Especially that time when Grace got burned. You had a right to be angry, but it stopped you seeing how proud she was that you acted so quickly in helping your sister. It could have been a lot worse."
"It would have been a lot better if Mom had hired a nanny who looked after us rather than spend most the day in a drunken stupor." Prue growled.
"Don't be so hard on Mrs Fabregas. She went through a hell of a lot no woman should." Garry said darkly and I winced at the images in his head and pushed them away.
"Ok. So let her clean house, but she was in no fit state to be responsible for kids." Prue said firmly.
"I can't argue with that assessment, but when you're part of something secret you're limited to the people you can trust in your home." Garry said in level tones, but it was clear that he was trying to keep his temper now, Prue antagonism was beginning to wear on him, but he was doing his best not to lose his temper.
"So the secret of the Eclipse is more important than the welfare of your kids?" Prue demanded.
"Of course not. But I had little say in the matter. I couldn't be seen to make a fuss in public, you were Brigham and Ingrid's kids not mine." Garry said making a fist and gritting his teeth. "I had no control over the situation. I begged them to get someone else in, or else let you come stay with Chas and me, but they declined."
"Why?"
"Because you were getting older, more observant and you might start to… You were starting to look more like each other, as you got older. You looked so different from each other at birth that we thought you'd never find out but as you got older it became more apparent that you were twins." Garry muttered.
"Wait a minuet. Chas was my twin sister?" Prue asked, sounding suddenly upset.
"Yes." Garry said sadly.
"Who's Chas?" I asked.
"Chas, or Chastity was Garry's daughter. She died when she was sixteen of a brain tumour." Grace explained.
"Prudence and Chastity?" Jane asked and then laughed. "Names that beg to be contradicted if ever I heard them."
"Chas was my twin?" Prue murmured. "Makes sense now why I used to get on so well with her. Imagine what we could have done together? We could have ruled the frigging world? No wonder I've always felt like I'm missing something. I'm missing my twin."
"I'm sorry." Grace said, going to Prue's side and hugging her.
"You didn't do this sis. Our loving parents did." And she threw a look at Garry that made it clear she was including him in her sarcastic assessment.
"Jane, I couldn't find anything in his car, but I took his phone to Masen." Fred said entering the room. "The bug was in the phone. He's running a few scans, seeing if he can trace where the signal is being sent. Apparently it's been recording sound everywhere you went and keeping track of you with the GPS. If it was in your pocket when you came here yesterday then they would have heard your entire conversation with Tony about the pond."
"And then when I phoned my assistant to say I was staying here overnight to see to some business they put two and two together." Garry said darkly.
"So what are we gonna do about them?" Prue demanded.
"We are not going to do anything." Jane said firmly. "Fred and I on the other hand will return to headquarters and converse with the council. In the mean time I will post a few guard to the area so that if the Eclipsers come back you'll have back up. I suggest you all carry on as normal to belay suspicion. Tony, you and Essie might want to avoid running as a wolf in the nearby vicinity until we get this sorted out. You might want to put a call into the packs too just in case."
"God! I have to warn Alex!" I gasped, rising to my feet.
"He's at Tregarran with Dannan." Fred stated. "You should phone him."
I nodded and got my cell out of my pocket and phoned Alex.
"What should I do?" Garry asked while I spoke to Alex.
"Go back about your business." Jane said. "I'll assign a dhampir to you in case you need to go out in the sun."
"What about my phone?" He asked.
"Buy a new one. Pretend that your other one was stolen. Actually I can give you a phone that you'll know hasn't been tampered with. You have to make sure you never let it out of your sight. You don't want to get bugged again." Jane instructed.
"When will my new assistant arrive?" Garry asked, realising he had no choice but to go along with this.
"I'll make some calls and she'll be waiting for you in your offices in Portland when you arrive. She'll be well briefed." Jane stated.
"What if I'm attacked along the way?" Garry asked and Jane looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Fred and I will travel with you." Jane stated.
"What about the box?" Garry inquired.
"Can't we just destroy it?" I asked.
"No. If we do that they'll just cast a new set and elect a Grand Master. We can't let them do that." Garry stated.
"Then it will be taken into the possession of the Coalition until an amicable arrangement can be met." Jane said firmly. £Or they step over the line and we kill them all."
"I thought you didn't kill people anymore." Prue observed.
"I don't. But if the security of my people is put at risk I have to protect them." Jane said.
"What would you do if they shot at Grace again?" I asked. "Wouldn't you want to kill them?"
"Yeah. But it would be wrong." Prue said.
"If it's a fight of life or death, always choose life." I stated. "Fight for yourself and those you love. Because Grace needs you more than you realise, and all I want is my Grace's happiness, and you're part of that."
"Ok. I get it. But the way Jane is talking, it's as if she's planning on going to war." Prue observed.
"It won't be the first battle I've fought." Jane said blandly. "I used to be the secret weapon. Now we really should be going, I have to speak to Essie and Lilly before I leave."
With that Fred and Jane ushered Garry out of the room, leaving me alone with the sisters.
"So what do we do now?" Prue demanded.
"Jane said carry on as normal." I observed.
"What does that mean?"
I shrugged.
"Why don't you go have a shower and a change of clothes?" Grace suggested. "We could all do that really. And then we can head on over to Tregarran and you can see how truly remarkable Billie is. You think she's precious now? Just wait until you see her when she doesn't have to pretend to be human."
Prue was silent for a long moment and I thought she was in danger of freaking out on us. Then she smiled.
"You're right Grace. I should concentrate on the present and how different life is gonna be from now on." She said with a smile. "Who knew life could be so magical? You're right, we should go see Billie today and forget all about our parents crap. We can deal with that tomorrow."
"I love you Prue you know that?" Grace said hugging her. "You've always looked after me, and I don't think I've shown you how much I appreciate it."
"Yes you have." Prue said, hugging Grace back. "Now let's go see Billie. I want to hear how she describes herself in her own words. And I got to get out of these clothes, the helicopter was surprisingly clammy."
"Then we'll all shower, get changed and head on over to Tregarran." Grace said, getting to her feet and I rose too.
"Shower sounds great." Prue said, holding her hands out to us.
Grace and I looked at her with a frown.
"You're both supernatural beings with awesome strength I'm sure little old me will hardly be a challenge for you." She said, waving her hands.
Grace and I chuckled as we took a hand each and pulled Prue to her feet.
"I could get used to this." She said, tapping us both on the back. "Well I'm gonna be half an hour then I'll be expecting to leave, so make sure you're both ready too."
"We'll be ready." Grace promised.
"Great." Prue said and left the room.
We need to keep an eye on her. Grace said, taking my hand. It's never a good sign when Prue is this happy.
I'll keep a thought tendril on her. I promised.
Thanks. Grace replied. This is a lot for anyone to deal with in one day and I just…
I know. I stated and kissed her forehead. Now lets go freshen up before she gets impatient.
Keeping a tendril on Prue for warning signs that she might snap I showered and dressed in the guest room so Grace and I could get ready at the same time. Grace had been right, it was a lot to take in, but as far as I could tell Prue was handling it, mostly because she had the solid belief that Grace needed her to handle it. It was more proof that Prue would do anything for her little sister and dreaded the inevitable day when she'd no longer be able to. Would I be enough for Grace?
Only time would tell…
Thank you for reading
Please review
Gemma x
Now a little more from Olwen…
I sat in that modern day house with the false heat and the softness. It seemed wrong for someone of my blood to seek such comfort; she called my house a shack. I was unsure what shack meant, but it sounded bad as if she thought it was a place for animals. My house had everything I could want, this modern house had too much.
Her lover was staring at me; he always did when we sat at the table. He would look into my eyes whenever I looked up and he could see the war in them. Just as I saw the war in his dark grey eyes. This modern man had seen things that should never be done. Death on a scale beyond what my people could know.
Kyelax lover still watched me and I gripped the table with anger and sorrow in my heart that a man should be present with my current mood. When I thought of men, any men, my mind raised pictures of my handsome Hunter beyond the western mountains. I thought of him now and the mocking laughter began, the fury of winter was always ready to dishonour my love, it was wrong to love a vampire.
I couldn't breathe in the heat and the comfort and the watchful eye of Kyelax lover. I got to my feet and left the kitchen. I stepped out into the little area of outside that belonged to Kyelax and no one could enter without permission. It was a very small village owned by one, not be a tribe.
Tribe made me think of the people in their village in the west who lived like modern people, but kept the ways of their ancestors too. They had warriors to protect their land from anyone who would threaten their people. They were a community and a family together, as it should be. As my people knew to be.
I stood outside, bare feet in the cold wet grass; I liked the feel of it between my toes. It felt like home in the spring when feet coverings could be left behind. Kyelax always fretted I'd grow cold and become ill doing this. She forgot that I was cold inside with the fury of winter. She had no true understanding of it.
I stood my feet in the wet grass, the breeze blowing the misty rain against my face. They sky was a deep grey over the trees and the mountains weren't visible on this day. It made my Hunter seem even closer. I would give anything to rise into the air and soar to him now. To be with him, love him, fight at his side…
"He is a vampire, you can't love him." The fury of winter hissed around me, the drizzle turning to sleet about me.
It caused a sharp pain in my heart and I clutched at my chest, feeling tears run down my cheeks. I wanted my Hunter, to be with him so desperately, but the lash of the fury of winter stung me whenever I thought of him. It had threatened to overcome him if I went near him. It was too bad to think my Hunter so cold, I would not be his death.
I needed to be with him, it was growing harder each day not to travel back to him. That was the reason I came back to Kyelax, to put more distance. Now I wanted to travel the mountains back to him. To find him and take him in my arms and know him and no other. I would know him and know warmth once more…
"Know him and he will die." The thousand voices of the fury of winter hissed.
"I must." I sobbed. "I must."
"He will die." The fury of winter repeated.
I did not want Hunter to die, but it hurt not to be with him. There had to be a way to end this connection. I looked now to the north, I would find answers there. In the north was the only person I knew who could tell me.
I stepped back into Kyelax' house and took up my sword without a word. I went back outside and leapt the row of trees that protected Kyelax property from invasion. As I ran deep into the forest I knew I would speak to Tony.