Chapter 4
"Child of mine"
(Revised after reading Dark Demon)
Tristan stood motionless outside the room, she was there, sleeping peacefully, with her eyelids only slightly opened, she breathed deeply, calmly; he could tell she was perfectly tucked-in, dreaming of better days and nicer places.
He sniffed the air for risks, something else was there, rather someone, it wasn't the person he remembered should be there with her, it was someone else, a male, roughly around twenty years old, he wasn't sleeping; he was watching surveillance monitors, he was also eating junk.
Tristan scanned his mind, he wasn't a friend by any means, he was watching her for a fanatic group, he was reporting to something called 'The Morrison Society', telling them what she did all the time.
Suddenly the man pulled something from under the desk, a plate, it contained a syringe, it was filled with some sort of drug he didn't recognize, Tristan saw the man walk to her bedroom, Tristan roared deeply, feeling the beast take control over him; than man would not touch her. He morphed back into his human shape, pausing to find the explosives and ammo he had stashed on the ground earlier. He wanted an excuse to take her with him, now he had it.
He went inside silently, creeping into the house like a ghost. He noticed all the windows had iron bars, the doors had safety locks that only opened with card-keys, and the cameras had infrared sensors. This wasn't a house, it was a prison.
He followed the man into her room, as soon as he was inside, Tristan materialized behind him, he didn't even feel his neck break; all he saw was a hand wrapped around his jaw and another hand pushing the back of his head to the side, and then it snapped, leaving the room silent again, no even a moan was heard.
Tristan paused to make sure the girl was still asleep, she was. He took the syringe and saved it inside his back pack; he would have it analyzed later. He picked things up randomly around the bedroom, teddy bears, clothes, pictures, even a Barbie doll, and then he picked her. She was sleeping like a little angel, constantly sedated.
Tristan turned on the lights to secure the explosives he had brought, it was then when he noticed her looks, she had red hair, beautiful ruby curls, with a face full of freckles, she was tiny, almost weightless, and then she opened her eyes, blue, so blue that the sky could have never matched it, he had seen the shape of those eyes before, but never in true color, those were Celeste McBride's eyes, and this girl was Tristan's four year old daughter… Maria Celeste.
zzz
Before Celeste McBride came along, Tristan had never been emotionally involved, he had guarded the McBride family without the burden of feelings; that had hardened him deeper, made him a fighting machine, he envied humans and at the same time he wanted to be like them, to feel the closeness of kin.
He wanted to feel like he belonged somewhere, but he had been taught not to, feeling was weakness, and they couldn't afford him to become a prey because he cared too much, he had to be the faithful guardian, always objective, never involved.
So he didn't feel, except when he was with Celeste, she had taught him love, human love, respect, laughter, joy and even pain. She had loved him so deeply that it hadn't matter to her that he was basically emotionless. That he only mirrored her feelings. That he loved her only because she loved him. They had been together for almost ten years, as man and wife, he had protected her fiercely, but even he wasn't impervious, he made mistakes, and only one had caused him his wife and his daughter. Maria Celeste was the fruit of that passion, the child he could never claim.
He wished he had cried the day she was born. But he couldn't, he was happy, and yet he felt nothing. He saw her stretching her little arms to him and felt nothing, so he pretended he adored her. It wasn't until now that he could really feel his heart shrunk as he held her close, as now he really understood what humans felt when they held their child close to their heart and wept with joy.
Celeste had been adamant about her, when she died she asked the girl to be raised by humans, it had been her dying wish to see her safely tucked away from all creatures of the night, Tristan included. Maria's Carpathian heritage had to be hidden.
Tristan had complied to let her go and be raised by another couple begrudgingly and it had broken what little heart he had. Later he had realized these emotions were nothing other than loyalty and respect, the last emotions Carpathians would lose, but they were not love, they could never be love, only an aspect of the sheer feelings Amanda would awoke on him.
Maria Celeste had just turned four years old a few months ago, he knew where she was by essence and blood all the time, he had a bond with her than ran deeper than time and space, and to restrain himself from going to get her, he had fought his heart and soul to no avail.
But about two years in the past, he had stopped feeling her, it was as if he could no longer reach out to her, and that feeling had propelled the beast to emerge even closer to the surface.
Now he knew she wasn't as safe as he thought she was; she was being used for research, the very thing Celeste had feared the most. Someone had found out she was part Carpathian and seized her, and Tristan couldn't let his daughter be tortured and used, he had to take her with him, he had to take her to the Carpathian Mountains, where he would raise her, with Amanda's help if he had any luck.
zzz
Amanda felt Tristan's mercurial change of mood, one minute he was ecstatic and then he was angry, very angry, he was tracking down someone and he was also hiding something from her, a woman, she felt him shielding her presence from Amanda's probing mind, he didn't want her to know about her.
I'll be home soon, Amy. Don't fret, try to feed safely and stay within the secured areas, I'll go to you as soon as I return.Tristan said through their link.
You … and her too? Don't bother covering it up, dear. I know you have a girl with you, when you come back here, we'll talk.
Of course we will, but don't get crazy about this, she's not who you think she is.
She's not your daughter then?
She is, but it's not how you are imaging it.
I'm not imagining anything, Tristan; I can see her face, she's the daughter of the woman you swore vengeance to, you still love her.
I don't love her anymore, Amy. She's dead, all I have now is this little girl, she'll be coming home with me, I trust you'll understand I can't leave her here with these people, they're fanatics, they were using her for research.
I see, be careful then. I'll see you soon.
Amy didn't bother asking any more questions, Tristan was adamant, he would bring the girl over, and they would have to get along. She wasn't happy about it, but she understood the girl was innocent, and she had to be protected, coming from another half breed, she knew what was like been different. She should be with them, they were family.
zzz
Amy walked to the prince's house slowly, savoring the beauty of the night, this was her first rising, now everything seemed to be different, as if the forest was alive and talking to her, the earth whispered of past times, of other Carpathians feeding, making love, or just resting, it hummed with life, this soil had been purified, it was fit to welcome new children, it was fit to heal wounds. As she walked by a cabin she didn't know she heard laughter, it was Savannah, she was talking with Shea, they were taking about colicky babies and the pregnancy in general.
They sensed her, and invited her to come inside.
"You must be the newbie!" Savannah said as she walked out of her house to greet Mandy.
"I'm afraid I am. Hi! My name is Amanda." Amy extended the hand and as she touched Savannah she felt a rush, in seconds she felt everything about her, her past, her present and her future.
"How's your ankle?" Shea asked remembering how Amy had arrived at the camp.
"It's never been better." Amy stretched her foot gracefully, testing the joints; it was as if she had never injured it at all. "Thank you for the jacket, it's been incredibly useful. I will return it as soon as I get my clothes back."
"Don't worry, I don't need it; in fact it looks better on you." Shea said, noticing she was about a foot smaller than the ballerina. "You are so tall, and lean… Jacques said you were a ballet dancer."
"I am," Amy raised her arm and made a tendu, testing her muscles, they were a lot more flexible than she remembered them to be. "I can't believe how different I feel, my body is like… I don't know. It's like I'm someone else." Amanda meant she was something else, she felt the complete change she had endured on every cell of her body, just as she felt these women were like her, she knew instinctively she was among her peers, all of them immortals.
"It will go away, the strange feelings I mean, right now it's just confusing, the change sometimes gets a little overwhelming, don't worry, your mate will help you through it." Shea said, remembering her own struggle with Jacques, he had been such a traumatized man. "We are family, us Carpathians, you are safe with us."
"Where is he—your mate I mean? I heard he's a redhead." Savannah said.
Amanda understood little of what they were saying, but again she thought they meant to explain how their society worked. Through her visions, she knew they weren't human, and yet there was no evil, she was sensitive to such things, and all she could fell was love, compassion and understanding. "He's in California, he'll be here tomorrow." And he will explain to me all these new things, Amy thought.
Amy decided then that she had to tell Savannah what she had just seen about her in her visions. "Do you believe in premonitions, Savannah?"
"Of course I do! Why?"
"I just saw you holding a baby girl, you and the dark one with silver eyes, I don't remember his name just now; you were both crying, you were happy but you were sad at the same time."
"What else did you see?"
"Can I touch you again?" Amy had to be certain, she was a kinesthetic/first person psychic, she had to touch things, and then she would feel them as if she was living them herself. As if she became the person or the object in hand. "It happens suddenly, you're doing some sort of magic trick and it snaps, the pain bends and twists, I don't know what it feels like but I think its preterm labor, and it's so sudden that you can't stop it, you lose one of the twins."
"When?!"
"Let me think… Christmas, I think its Christmas because everybody is dressed-up and you were wearing an elf suit." Amy released Savannah's hand. "I get this sort of readings sometimes, it's usually spot-on right, maybe you aren't supposed to loose her, so I get this vision to warn you, so that you are prepared to stop it."
"Of course, I understand." Gregori was listening, as always, he materialized next to his wife out of thin air. Amanda wasn't scared of the uncanny apparition itself, but of his dangerous face. He looked angry. "That would be terrible, I would ruin Christmas for everyone, we won't let that happen." The fear was always there, they knew two girls had twice the chance of dying early or worse, dying in a miscarriage.
"Now that you now, I'm sure you won't let it happen." Amanda said conciliatorily.
"Of that, you can be certain." Gregori said in his deep menacing voice. To lose one of his daughters would be a devastating tragedy. He would never let it happen.
"Do me," Shea asked, she was terribly curious about her future.
Amanda held her hand and followed the vision, and as she saw it, her skin blushed, and her heart quickened, the Carpathian mating ritual was something terribly intense.
"You'll have a very present surprise by new year's eve…" she would find herself conceiving again. And of course she and Jacques will be extremely happy, this time it'll be a girl.
"Tell me more, that's too cryptic." Shea demanded noticing how Amanda was blushing.
"It comes from you mate, that's all I can say, if I tell you I'll ruin the surprise, and it's good, I promise you that you'll be very happy."
"What about my son? Can you see anything happening to him?" Shea asked.
"I do, he'll be crawling pretty soon, he's going to drive you mad with the bumping against things, don't worry too much about him, he's a strong boy. He'll get through anything." She saw him with a big bump on his forehead, he had seen his father landing as an eagle outside the house, and he had tried flying from his cradle, the result was a large bruise on his forehead but nothing more serious than that.
"Would you read me too?" It was Raven, they had all arrived with the males, it was a small reunion of sorts. They all wanted to talk to Amanda. Raven and Mikhail had promised to Tristan to keep an eye on her, and they never forgot their promises.
"Sure… but I'm getting a little tired so don't sue me if I sound too mysterious." Amy took Raven's hand, for a second she looked totally lost, and then she turned to Savannah. "You are her mother," Savannah raised her eyebrow, there was no way for her to know that, they in fact look as if the were the same age.
Amanda paused to concentrate again and then she continued. "And you want to know if you'll do well with the pregnancy… you will. You will have another daughter, she will be called something with and K, Karen or Katherine, I see the name but is not too clear, I'm watching a book where every Carpathian name is written…"
Amy's eyes turned almost white, all the other visions had been short, this time she wanted to see more, to go further, and her heart-rate slowed down dangerously, she was deep into the trance, seeing into the book, abandoning her body to seek the vision deeply. "Kathleen, the name is Kathleen; this is the girl you are carrying now, and she is to have a mate named Josef." She was watching the Lamia Ovis, she turned the pages in her mind, she saw herself, Amanda Dragonseeker, Tristan Ferdichenko, Maria Celeste Ferdichenko, and then three names Aisling, Aurora and Abigail, and then the vision faded altogether leaving her completely spent.
"Oh my God! You saw all that?!" Mikhail was stunned, so were Gregori and Jacques, the infamous Josef would be the other son-in-law, in fact he would be Gregori's brother-in-law; that was scary.
"For the sake of our sanity, let's not mention this bit of news to anybody, shall we?" Jacques said with concern.
"With all due respect to your psychic abilities, I sincerely doubt that boy can be anybody's mate." The dark one mentioned carelessly. He did not believe that Amanda could truly guess the future.
"I only say what I saw. Don't shut the messenger." Amanda pleaded has she rubbed her temples. She was thoroughly drained of strength; it took tremendous effort to willingly seek a vision inside the other realm, where time was a flexible thing she could bend and explore at her will, a deadly realm may that be, no living thing could stand the pull of all times for long, the price was death.
"Alright, now we have to discuss your heritage, that's why we all came here." Mikhail said; he had to change the subject immediately. He sensed her weariness and became worried.
"I know. Before you start asking me things, I must tell you I don't remember anything, my memories before the age of 13 were lost to me." Mandy began and then she stopped, something was calling to her, the trance hadn't end yet; she walked around Gregori's house, coming outside of it, feeling as if she was being drawn to something by sheer compulsion.
"There is something here, something very powerful, is calling out to me, calling me by my name, pulling me." Mandy stood right above a small monolith, many feet under, hidden inside a magic vault … was Xavier's Grimoire, they hadn't been able to destroy it, Mikhail and Gregori thought they should keep it around in case other Dragon Seekers such as Dominic or Natalya would need it, the magic spells contained in it could be used for good.
Amanda touched the ground and it rippled under her fingers, the book was humming in her presence, she also felt her birth mark throb, as if someone had pressed a hot iron to it. Something or someone was living through that thing, and even though it was so faint as so other Carpathians would not hear it, she did hear it, it was as if her presence had activated it somehow.
All the other Carpathians present held their breath. She was standing right above the grimoire.
"Step away from it." Tristan said to Mandy through their link. "You heard me, step away from it." He said each word carefully; he had to force obedience out of her.
But she couldn't. "This is the key to my past. I can't walk away from it." Mandy made the earth open-up to her, down as far as to the place were the book lay, she touched the magic vault and it didn't open, but something else happen, the energy coming out of it got to Mandy, seizing something in her mind.
It was as if a dam had been opened, her whole life flashed through her eyes, and then the life of her mother, and her grandmother and so many lives touched by the book before; they were so terrible that she stumbled looking at so much pain accumulated over centuries. Every little memory she had erased, every death she had witnessed, every pain she had suffered, it was all there now. She passed out with the trance; she had never felt something so overwhelming, not even conversion.
Mikhail and Jacques were there to catch her.
"I beg you; take her somewhere safe, I'll be there as soon as I can." Tristan said to the prince and his brothers through their common path.
But Mandy wasn't going to let anything else happened to her, she fought them, awakening from the trance with madness, her cat blood had awakened too, so she roared and clawed at people as she slowly shifted into a leopard, she tried to claw them just to get away from them, realizing she was too upset to be controlled, they let her go, she stood there watching them, as if they were from another world.
She wasn't just immortal; she was a product of centuries of bloodshed, rape and pain. Her father was a monster who had tried to kill her after he killed her mother.
Everything she though was real wasn't. Before the age of thirteen she had been chased by Xavier and Razvan, twice vampires had tried to subdue her, to capture her; she had been raped but not killed, and never really taken. Even as young as that she was a great magician, she had been alone most of her life and she knew how to take her of herself.
She had escaped using magic but two exchanges had taken place so she was left too close to the edge. She had healed from the vampire's blood but she wasn't human anymore.
Once more shortly after the first attacks, she had sacrificed too much blood to survive a group of vampires trying to take her, and she was about to die at their hands, but a hunter came, he saved her, killed the entire group, and then he erased her memories, implanting new ones.
He gave her a new life, and new memories to go with it. He made sure she thought she was human, he found her new parents, and left her with them. He thought they would be safe.
"I need to go, I need to be alone." She said to Tristan and to all of them, and then she ran, full Carpathian speed, they didn't even had time to consider stopping her. She broke through every barrier they had erected for their safety, it had to be a painful thing, but she didn't care, she had to get away from that book, from those people, from everything.
But no matter how far she ran, the truth remained, she was the reason her parents had been killed, twice over, her birth parents, and her adoptive parents as well, she was a freak, a creature, the product of a vampire's rape, a mistake of nature, part cat, part vampire, part mage and part gypsy and God only knew what else had been thrown on that mix.
Tristan had merely released her from the cage of long forgotten memories, but all those things were there from birth, waiting for the right time to come out.
"We should talk to her. She shouldn't be alone like that." Raven said to her mate.
"I'm sure Tristan will see to that as soon as he arrives. I—for once—don't want to intervene with this." Mikhail said, realizing the girl had just unraveled the darkest secrets of her past. "She said she needed some time alone, I'll find a hunter and send him to retrieve her, but we should really give her some space."
"We need to put that book away, I hadn't realized it would call out to other Carpathians, and it could very well be the source for the attacks we had last Christmas." Gregori added, thinking of Savannah's safety, Christmas was a week away, he would see to her safety, now that he knew what could happen, he was even more anxious, his girls would not suffer, he was determined to keep them safe as houses, all of them.
zzz
While she was wandering around the city, Mandy encountered an evil presence, a vampire. He had sensed her and followed her around, waiting for the time to strike.
Mandy noticed the shadow and set him up, she turned around in a dark corner and waited, it was a no-end way, the thing followed her trustingly, he though she was a vampiress looking for some action.
He didn't see her coming up behind him, she used an old board to hit him on the back of the head, it broke against him, becoming a stake, she used it again, driving it inside him like a knife, it bled instantly, splashing blood all over her, Mandy backed-off; the acid of his blood had touched the skin of her arms.
The vampire turned around, possessed with rage, he lounged, wanting to smash Mandy's head against the concrete, but she was faster than him, she turned around and duck, escaping the thrust.
Mandy searched the area for things she could use, there was only garbage and wet things, it had been raining and it would rain again. A thunder rolled across the sky and that gave Mandy an idea of what she had to do.
She concentrated hard, using all the energy she had to summon the thunder, the air filled with an acrid smell, like ozone, Mandy's eyes turned almost completely black and then it stroke, right above the vampire's head, sizzling him.
She used the small amount of time to drive the other half of the board inside his chest, right through his heart, once again she commanded thunder and lightning, and it set him completely on fire, like a living torch, running around in circles, crying-out in pain.
The smell of burning flesh and the screams of the vampire were too much to handle for Mandy so she left as soon as she knew the vampire was truly gone. He was a barely a fledgling, not older that a few weeks, he didn't know the difference between vampires and Carpathians, and that had been his downfall. He was just a minion, a scout for someone far bigger.
Amy needed to rest, after the vampire attack, the readings and the unraveling of her past she had been left drained, so she went to her hotel room, she was looking for her belongings, something that could offer some sort of comfort but nothing could.
She wept silently as she rocked her body under the hot shower but nothing seemed to calm her. She was a monster; nothing could be done to save her from herself.
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Amanda's Story
Her mother had been a gypsy, part human and part Carpathian, she was a very beautiful lady, a seer; she was from a small caravan that traveled through Russia. She was married to the guardian of the tribe; her name was Drahuska and his Dragomir.
They had encountered many vampires during their life; so many that Dragomir had willingly become a vampire hunter. He had searched and killed them systematically.
Once, a very dark night, he encountered Razvan Dragon Seeker and Xavier the dark mage, the gypsies fought them but Razvan and Xavier were too powerful for the gypsies, so they won, taking control over Dragomir's mind and soul.
Dragomir led Razvan straight to his home, where his wife was, Razvan realized immediately what sort of blood and interesting powers the woman had, so he took her with him, releasing the male back to tribe.
Drahuska was extremely psychic, she saw people's past, present and future with a touch, she had visions of what would happen to the tribes and she also sensed evil things, and she had Carpathian blood in her. All those talents were deeply interesting to Razvan so he took her and fed from her power. He, in time, became more interested in her and eventually he bedded her, it hadn't been consensual, but nine months after, Amanda was born.
Drahuska didn't have the dragonseeker mark on her hip, so Razvan never knew they were related.
Razvan was too busy with Natalya and Xavier, so he slacked the guard around the gypsy after the baby was born. Drahuska used her powers to save her daughter, she escaped Razvan and went straight to her husband, he received her and went with her to Slovakia, where he thought they would be safe.
But Razvan wasn't one to be fooled, he knew where they were all the time, he followed them too. When Amy had turned three years old, he came to their house and killed them all.
Razvan thought he could take Amanda with him, use her, but something about her scared him, she had too much Carpathian blood in her, too much dragon seeker blood, she was almost not human at all, only about 1 / 4 of hers was controllable. And she had magical powers that would rival his own in the future, he though Xavier would have a picnic with her, so he made a terrible decision. He decided he would not risk it, she had to die. He couldn't protect both his daughter and his sister, and he let her there, hoping she would die.
Amy even as young as she was, knew the sun was bad for her, she could already walk, talk and crawl, so she crawled under the house, fitting her tiny body under the wooden planks, the sun was already rising on the horizon when she hid herself completely, she was petrified, but she was also determined to stay away from the blazing sun, the instinct of survival ran too deep in her veins.
She thought she had been found several days after by social services, and given to the Johnson for fostering. But she hadn't. She had been alone, wandering around, fed on garbage, barely managing to stay alive. For years she existed by sheer determination, she lived with other orphans, on shelters and even with animals, but never with human parents.
Her powers started to awake, and by the age of 10 she was capable of forcing people to feed her. By then vampires had come in contact with her and thinking she was one of them she had followed, becoming one of their own.
With these vampires she traveled to America, and because of them she met that hunter that saved her. When she was 13, she was taken to the Johnsons and they took good care of her. She had to receive blood transfusions everyday, she had an accurate form of anemia that never got better, and her skin had polymorphic light eruption, or PMLE, also known as extreme sun allergies.
The Johnsons treated her, home schooled her and eventually she bloomed, like any other child, but she was never allowed outside, unless it was raining or at night, she had social anxiety, she didn't like being physically close to people, being so psychic people overwhelmed her, so as therapy she had joined a ballet company, the thing became her art and she adjusted to her environment a lot quicker after that.
By the time Amanda was 16 year old, another vampire came, he had sensed her sexual awakening i.e. her first period and followed her around, once he got to her house he waited outside, lurked until she came out, once she did, he stroke, he kidnap them all, he killed her parents first, making her watch their pain, then he moved onto her, using her shamelessly.
Someone, a vampire-hunter had been following him, the very same who took her to the Johnsons in the first place, he had been keeping an eye on her. Amy couldn't remember his face or his name, but he had killed the vampire, she was drained and unconscious when he came to save them, it had been too late for her parents. The vampire hunter though she wasn't supposed to remember anything about it, so he just erased her memories of the event altogether and everything before that as well, leaving her in an ever bigger limbo of amnesia.
New memories were implanted instead, she thought her parents had died in a car crash, she thought she was their true daughter, she thought she was a sick little child, and so on, in a nutshell, she believed a great deal of lies were truth, and now when the truth came out into the light she was torn.
He shouldn't have done that to her. That vampire-hunter had messed-up the rest of her life, if she hadn't forgotten it all; she would've sought revenge, that vampire wasn't alone, someone had sired him and sent him after her.
Now she shared Tristan's pain, she shared his need for vengeance. She would find Razvan and kill him for all the pain he had caused to her, and to all the dragonseekers. Knowing she was to blame for so many deaths hurt her like nothing else, now she had to find them and confront them, the green-eyed vampire that tried to kill her when she was a baby, and the vampire-hunter who had erased her mind.
She had to do this or else she would lose her mind with absolute grief.
Tbc…
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What do you think of the changes? Do you see them? I hope you like them. And please please review me!!
The mean kitten.
Extra:
Stanley Climbfall
By lifehouse
Quiet
Seems
like an honest world
You're begging for the baker's bread when
the money's out
Stand, climb, and fall
You carry the
world
Can't carry your hope
When the world is falling
down
And another breaks
And another falls
For losers always
make the winner's day
Stand, climb, and fall
You carry
the weight
Can't carry it all
Are you falling
Are you
faking
Are you killing
Are you breaking
Am I burning
Am I
only melting
These diamonds in the making
When I'm at the
end of myself
Everything you want
When nothing seems to satisfy
me
Take anything you want
Quiet
A sound you know so
well
You're living just to make it through another day
Stand,
climb, and fall
You carry the world
Can't carry your
hope
Are you falling
Are you faking
Are you killing
Are
you breaking
Am I burning
Am I only melting
These diamonds
in the making
When I'm at the end of myself
Everything
you want
When nothing seems to satisfy me
Take anything you
want
Take anything you want
Take anything you want
Quiet