Hamish startled awake swearing that he could hear Theo whining. He looked around the room still a little sleepy before he remembered he wasn't home. He could smell Vera all around him but not Theo, poor Theo, poor Vera. Hopefully they weren't missing him. It was shocking how much you missed having a fussy baby in the same room as you when you had to go one night without them. It was unsettling not hearing Theo breathing and her little whimpers when she woke up and needed someone to hold her for a bit before going back to sleep. Maybe by now she should know how to put herself to bed but Hamish could never help waking up and sitting in the chair with her. Vera told him all the time to just let her fall back to sleep on her own and that she wouldn't learn how to self sooth if he always picked her up but for right now he enjoyed that quiet moment alone with her. There was something so peaceful about watching Theo sleep.
"Vera?" He spoke up and waited a moment, there wasn't a response, just silence. Letting out a sigh Hamish rolled over and closed his eyes trying to will himself home. What if he never did make it home? The thought made him feel sick to his stomach, would Theo have to grow up without him? What would Vera do? Hamish rolled back over and grabbed his pants off the floor fishing out his phone before turning it on. Searching through his phone he found a few videos of Theo when they played together on the phone. Smiling at her garbled noises and baby coos Hamish felt a tightness in his throat wishing more than anything he could hold her. Finding a video he had taken of her sleeping he started playing it and setting his phone down on his pillow as he closed his eyes and listened to her little coos and whimpers from her dreaming.
Once the video ended Hamish replayed it laying there with his eyes closed and just tried to imagine himself back there. Again he replayed it, so many times he was losing count. After a while his phone beeped warning him the battery was low. "Shit." Hamish sat up in bed again and looked around realizing there wasn't going to be a phone charger in this room. "Shit." He put the phone up to his forehead and played the video again listening to it before his phone went off and the room got dark again. Looking over to Vera's bed he dropped his phone on the ground secretly hoping it would wake her up. "Pssst, Vera?" Again she was silent, again he was disappointed. Laying back down Hamish rested his arms behind his head and looked up at the ceiling.
"Yes?" The sound of her voice made him sit up feeling a little excited to at least hear her familiar tone in the darkness.
"I can't sleep."
She rolled over in her bed to look at him and let out a little sigh. "Why not?"
"I miss them." Hamish choked on the words a little but held back his urge to just break down. "I miss her and I miss…" He stopped sniffling a little. A tightness in his chest, a tightness in his throat. "It's weird, after five months living with her constantly, every night expecting to wake up with her...it's so empty now. It's too quiet."
Vera could relate to that, but unfortunately for her there was nothing she could do to get it back. She could never turn back time for Maggie. Vera missed her too, sometimes awake three or four times a night trying to get her to fall back to sleep. She even missed her insufferable screams when she was colicy. She'd do anything now to deal with it all over again, hold her once more, let her pull her hair or spit up on her shirt. She'd give anything for it back. "I know." Vera scooted over in her bed and lifted up the blanket a little. "Come here."
Hamish was a bit reluctant to go over there, he didn't want to do anything that wasn't appropriate but at the same time she was the closest thing to his comfort. After a moment Hamish got out of bed and crossed the short gap to her bed. Curling up beside her he relaxed into her arms as she wrapped them around him. "You are going to see them again soon Hamish, I promise I'm going to do whatever I can to make sure of that."
"And I know it's going to take you 16 years to meet her but you'll get there Vera." He rested his head on her shoulder feeling so small and helpless in her arms.
"That's not my life though Hamish." There was a deeply sad tone to her voice. "I still hurt too much, I can't even imagine what it's like to get over it."
"You never do, but you live with your hurt and you accept that you can be in pain and yet be happy at the same time." He closed his eyes again feeling Vera run her fingers through his hair, he knew it wasn't his Vera but it was good enough for tonight. "I love you." Hamish didn't even realize he said it as he drifted back to sleep.
In the morning Vera had taken off early for a class while Hamish went to meet up with Alejandro. He paced around by the library until the older man came walking up to him. "I hope you have a plan outside of getting your dick wet Hamish."
The wolf growled at him, his eyes flashing silver. "Nothing happened.
"You slept with her didn't you, I smell her all over you."
"I mean technically, yes I did sleep with her but we didn't do…" He paused sticking his hands in his pockets. "We didn't do anything."
"Shocking."
Hamish growled at him again, "She's 18, that's just creepy."
"Boys." Hamish snapped his attention towards the voice, Vera standing there looking a little more like the Vera he knew. That commanding alpha female that Tundra internally pointed at like 'that's my Vera.' "No fighting."
"Vera." Alejandro nodded his head at her, young and still a spitfire. "I'm just making sure your boy is being an honorable gentleman."
"Very honorable." She motioned with her hand to let them go first. "I'm sure you know the way Temple Magus. Don't worry, the current Temple Magus is not in the temple, in fact I made sure to clear it out by sending everyone on a wild goose chase so we should have some time to look around, Granted you know what you are looking for."
Hamish smirked and led the way thinking it was sort of funny that Vera let him take lead since that would never happen back in his time. She was without question always the boss, boss of the temple, boss of the order, boss of the house, and their relationship. He wasn't bothered so long as she didn't think herself boss over the wolves too. They took the sub basement tunnel into the temple. It was quiet down there, not a soul in sight as Hamish looked around the anteroom. "If it was here or in the ritual room you would have seen it." Hamish spoke up heading towards the reliquary. Flicking his wrist the doors swung open allowing him to walk in with ease.
"That's a nifty trick, I can't wait until I can do that."
It almost caught Hamish off guard, "Vera, you are the queen of doors. As strange as that sounds, we have a running contest going right now though."
"Enough flirting, look around." Alejandro pushed by them and stepped about the reliquary. "See anything Hamish?"
"Nothing on my end." He walked up to the bookcase. "You know what that means." He smirked before looking back to Vera. "Have you ever wondered where the secret vault was?"
"Behind that bookcase?" She looked over at Hamish who seemed a bit disappointed. "I just assumed." He stepped forward and pressed the button watching the bookcase open up and reveal the secret passage.
"Alejandro, you go ahead of me alright. I'll be right there." Hamish took Vera's hand and walked her out of the reliquary. "Thank you for clearing out the temple for us and thank you for keeping me together. Unfortunately you can't come with us now because well, it's a bit dangerous in the that passage and since neither Alejandro nor I have our talisman it means we are about to go through literal hell to make it back home. I'm not about to put you through that." He stepped forward and hugged Vera.
"So, this is goodbye then?"
Afraid so." Hamish nodded his head. He offered his hand for a handshake.
"I'll ah, I'll see you on the other side I guess." Vera stepped forward to kiss him before Hamish pulled his other hand out from behind his back and blew a powder into her face. Almost instantly Vera passed out and fell into his arms so he could gently lay her out on the ground. "Your name is Vera Stone, you are an acolyte practitioner of the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose and a student of Belgrave University. When you wake up you won't remember anything about Hamish Duke or Theodora. You met a nice guy Hasan who was an exchange student and had a good friendship with him but do to family issues he had to return to Brazil." Hamish kissed her on the forehead stopping for a moment. "Also, you don't know why but for some reason you don't trust Edward Coventry." He nodded his head a little proud with that last statement, if only to protect her in the future.
He stood back up walking back into the reliquary and closing the doors behind him. "Hamish." Alejandro called to him and followed him down into the secret passage. "I assume you took care of things?"
"Just like I told you I would." He stopped at the fear passage and smirked. "You know, I hated doing it but at the same time it was slightly satisfying getting to do that after she took our memories for a whole summer."
"I'm so happy for you." Alejandro raised his hand out for Hamish to take it. "Remember now, no matter what don't let each other go. Alone our fears will destroy us, together we can fight through it."
Hamish grabbed his hand feeling a bit strange. "When we get home, leave this part out."
"Can't make that promise." Alejandro smirked back at him before the two started to walk down the fear corridor. Almost as soon as they passed through Hamish found himself alone in the forest, turning around to find Alejandro though he couldn't see him.
"Alejandro?" Hamish walked along. "Here kitty kitty kitty." He made a kissing sound and clapped his hands together like he was calling a house cat. "Pstpstpstpstpst." Alejandro didn't answer but something else did.
"Hi there Hamish." He turned to look at the devil itself with it's cold dead eyes and broken looking jaw that flapped unnaturally. His eyes grew wide seeing the puppet laughing at him. He closed his eyes reminding himself it wasn't real, none of this was real. The puppet's voice faded away as the forest got darker and fog started to roll in. Great, was that it? He started walking forward again hearing a distant cry, faint at first but he knew the voice. "Theo?" Common sense slipped away as parental mode kicked in. "I'm coming Theo, don't worry, daddy's coming." He raced through the trees towards her voice feeling like he wasn't getting any closer, like she was constantly moving away from him. "It's okay Theo I hear you."
As he ran he jumped over a fallen log catching his foot on a branch and falling over. Theo was screaming now, she sounded terrified or hurt. "Theo?" Her voice was getting closer to him now,a low growl creeping up behind the sound as a great white werewolf stepped through the fog, a screaming squirming bundle hanging from it's jaws. "You leave her alone." Hamish growled, his eyes flashing silver. Standing up Hamish ripped out of his clothes turning into Tundra with one step forward and snarled. Rushing at Alpha she slammed into his body swiping the baby free from his grasp and letting her fall towards the ground. Diving towards her Tundra clutched her in one claw pulling her close to her chest and rolling onto her back so she wouldn't crush the crying bundle. As Alpha came at her Tundra kicked a back leg knocking him back just long enough to get back to her feet and run.
Alejandro spun around looking at the Amazon forest again, an old cave just up ahead with fire lights flickering at the mouth. It looked like the maw of a massive cat, rock formations handing down like a jaguar's fangs. "No." Alejandro growled and turned around to run from the cave. He pushed through the brush trying to get as far away from the mouth of the cave as possible but when he came out the other side of the forest he was at its entrance again. "Damn you." He screamed at the cave and turned once more running in another direction. Pushing through the forest growth he stopped panting, resting his hands on his knees before he looked up at that cave again. "Fuck you." Alejandro screamed at the cave. Grabbing hold of his hair he screamed, sounding more jaguar than man.
His eyes flashed gold as he watched a figure emerge from the cave, it was a boy, no, a young man with large brown eyes and a mop of dark curls on his head. He was a lean scrawny boy, a slightly older version of the boy he'd turned Hamish to look like. "Remember me Alejandro."
"Marcus." Alejandro cried out reaching towards the boy. "I'm sorry."
The boy's face and chest were cut up and torn, his belly ripped open by large claws. "Why did you do it brother? Why did you kill me?"
"I'm sorry, I couldn't. The hide, Tezca, he took control of me."
"You could have stopped him." The boy stopped in front of him, the full sight of the gore, the hole in his chest, the missing heart. "But you didn't, you let him kill me."
Alejandro shook his head. "No, no, I loved you." He reached out for his brother seeing his eyes flash red.
"It is time Tezca, time to stop fighting." The boy's voice became dark, his eyes flashing a ghostly red. "Sleep with your warriors, sleep with your slain sons. You carry too much blood upon your pelt." His brother started to change, growing into a large black ghostly cat, not of that like a werejaguar but a giant black panther. Paws greater than his whole body. Alejandro raised his arms up screaming at the cat brought a paw down to crush him.
Tundra rolled through the forest floor snapping teeth and ripping claws into Alpha's pelt, she screamed out when the other werewolf bit into her shoulder and clawed the baby from her grasp, sending her rolling over the leaves. She shrieked out in an alarmed howl as Alpha jumped over her and grabbed the crying pup. He hardly had time to reach the wolf before jaws crushed down and silence Theo's screams, blood dripping down the werewolf's white pelt. "NOOOOOO." Hamish collapsed to the ground and reached up screaming. He couldn't save her, he couldn't stop Alpha. He wasn't strong enough, just like Cassie. He'd failed her, he failed them both.
"Hamish." He looked around hearing Alejandro's voice. "It's not real." He wanted to give up, he wanted to die. On his knees Hamish dropped to the ground sobbing, scratches covering his now human form. "Move you fucking wolf." Alejandro ran up to him grabbing him by the arm and pulling him off the ground. "You and your damn pack mentality. No wonder why you bastards are so prone to death."
He was dragging Hamish along slowly watching him snap out of it. "Where did you come from?"
"Don't question just run."
"Why?" Hamish looked back picking up speed at the large black creature made from shadows and smoke chased them down. "Shit." Alejandro pushed Hamish towards a pair of doors before following him through. Both men collapsed naked upon the ground of the vault kicking the door shut before whatever shadow devil could make its way inside. "What the hell was that?"
"Death." Alejandro stated before getting up. "Well, there goes our clothes." he looked around searching behind tall shelves and around corners.
"Here." Hamish shouted to him.
Running over Alejandro looked at the pulsing ripple in the room. "That's home. I hope."
"Alejandro, I just want to let you know before we go back, I really can't stand you."
Alejandro nodded and pushed Hamish through the gap watching him vanish. "Shut up wolf." He stepped through himself vanishing.
Vera got up off the ground rubbing her head. "What?" She looked around the Anteroom. "When did I come down here?"
"Ms. Stone." She heard the Magus's voice booming overhead as she looked up at him. "Care to explain how the leprechauns got out?"
"Ummm, Go Timberwolves, whoo."