Chapter 13
"Okay, let me see if I've got this," Odd said as they all entered William's room, "Elder Akem knew all of us…"
"Uh-huh," Ulrich nodded.
"And he knew that Jeremy'd had problems, which he'd fixed…"
"Right," Jeremy agreed.
"…Even though there was a Return to the Past erasing the Omens and his coming to tell us about them."
Yumi laughed, seeing where this was going. "Based on the overwhelming evidence, I would conclude that vampire Elders can remember the return trips."
"Do you think all vampires can, or just all vampire Elders?" William asked, collapsing on his bed next to Kiwi and scratching the little dog's ears. "I mean, the only vampire any of us has any long-term experience with is you."
Yumi shook her head. "If all vampires could, some of the conversations I've had with my parents would have gone much worse the second time around. No, I think that's an Elder thing – might even just be an Akem Manah thing."
"Are we in trouble?" Ulrich asked.
Yumi sighed. "He's an Elder. Who can say?" She'd said almost the same thing about Elder Mandy, hadn't she? Good grief, but their encounters with Elders took the strangest of turns.
Aelita finally showed up in her normal clothes. "Emily was a little upset that the dress was wet."
"Dry-clean only?" Odd asked.
Jeremy looked up worriedly. "How do we read a little upset?"
"Oh, she was nice about it. After all, it wasn't like I called the rain or anything." Aelita made a thoughtful face at the ceiling. "Ulrich, you'd said something back at the party…"
"When?" Ulrich asked, stretching as though his neck ached clear down his spine. Maybe it did, after a rapid transformation and a very long run with a girl on his back.
"We were talking about the alpha werewolf and the rest of the pack's reaction to her – only you didn't say 'pack.' You said…"
"Oh, milluko; yeah, I did promise to translate that."
"Is that really a lycan word?" Yumi asked doubtfully. Even coming from Ulrich's throat, it almost sounded more like a big cat than a wolf.
"Nah; it is therian, though – blended from a couple different werebeast tongues." Ulrich settled against the wall and frowned in thought. "It does mean 'pack,' but that's incomplete. I guess the closest translation is the one that werecats use, especially the lions: pride. It's hierarchy, military-level coordination, and family."
"Is that how you think of your father's…" Aelita tried twice, and failed, to pronounce Ulrich's word, and finally settled on, "…Pride?"
"No…not really; I never wanted to belong to my father's world."
"Are you part of that pride?" William asked, curious in spite of himself.
Ulrich barked out a laugh. "Officially, no: Mom argued Dad out of that, at least – got him to agree that I would join his pack by choice." He stood up. "I never will, though."
"Lone werewolves don't get on well according to that website," Jeremy began.
"I've got a pack. Or more specifically, I have a pride."
Yumi blinked. This was the first she'd heard of Ulrich joining such a group.
"When did that happen?" Odd asked.
"A couple years ago; and you actually know what I'm talking about, Odd."
"I do?"
"Yeah, you joined the same pride; might have even been a little ahead of me."
Yumi's eyebrows shot up as she suddenly made the connection. "It's us, isn't it?"
Ulrich nodded at Yumi, a sardonic tilt to his brow. "At the risk of sounding like an overly dramatic sap…we've become something a lot more than just a team. We're family. We're a milluko – a pride."
"So when do we start howling at the moon?" Odd asked cheerfully. Then he had to run as William grabbed up a pillow and started chasing him while everyone else backed, laughing, out of the way.
"What will your father say?" Aelita gasped out between giggles.
"Knowing my luck…" Ulrich sighed, "He'll lock me in the closet again."
A/N: I know that this is short; if anyone has any suggestions for more length, I'm willing to listen and will likely update the chapter if enough good ideas come in.
