6. UNEXPECTED

The women had traveled as far east as Provideniya. It was an overcast day towards the end of summer. They followed a sweet scent to the cemetery that was on the edge of town. They found a family, mourning the loss of a loved one. There was a father, a mother, and a teenage boy. Since there were only three of them, Sasha let her daughters feed and would wait to find something later. Tanya, Kate, and Irina indulged themselves as Sasha looked on.

Then Sasha thought she heard something like a small whimpering. The others were too distracted to notice. Sasha followed the sound and an intoxicating scent filled her nostrils. The creature came into view. It was a little boy, no more than five years old. His whispery soft, fine brown hair fell across his forehead and into his wide brown eyes. He had gotten lost and was crying. Something in his look was familiar and Sasha realized that her daughters were in the middle of killing his family.

The boy looked so sad but had such handsome, dark features. In a way, he reminded her of Aleksey. Perhaps this is what their son would have looked like. Her son. The pain she buried now danced on her soul. She wanted a son so badly. As much as she hated men, she knew that her child was innocent, much like the child who stood before her now.

"What is your name, little boy?", she asked him.

He whimpered and rubbed his eyes with his fist. "Vasilii.", he said in his little voice.

"Don't be afraid, Vasilii. I will take care of you now." Sasha scooped up the boy in her arms and began running away from the cemetery. She went far away from her daughters until she was alone in the wilderness with him. As much as it pained her to put him through the torture of a change, she bit into him and let her venom spread. She comforted him as best she could as the pain pulsed through him. He changed more quickly than the others because his body was so small and the venom would not have to spread as far.

When it was over, he was quite hungry. She made him promise to stay put as she raced back towards the town to bring him something to eat. She grabbed the first person she saw, a woman who was shaking out her rugs in the back of her home. She clamped her hand over the woman's mouth before she could react and ran back to the spot on the tundra where she had left Vasilii. But he was nowhere to be found.

"Vasilii!" Sasha shouted. "Vasilii, my boy, where are you?" The woman struggled under Sasha's grip but her efforts were futile. "Vasilii!"

"What?" a small voice answered from behind a fractured boulder.

Relief washed over Sasha when she found her child. She raced to him and fell to her knees before him. "Do not frighten me so, my child!" she cried as she wrapped him in an embrace. Vasilii's head rested on her shoulder but his eyes were locked on the woman that Sasha had brought. Foolishly, the woman began to run. She had enough sense to know that this was not a good place and these were not good people. Vasilii's mouth watered as he caught the woman's scent. He pushed past Sasha and chased the woman down in an instant the way a leopard would chase its prey. He greedily attacked her and relentlessly drank from her, ignoring her pleas and cries for mercy. When he was through he said "More please."

Sasha could not deny his request and went back to the town and brought two more humans for him to feed on. It was amazing that such a small boy could consume so much so quickly. When his appetite was satisfied the two of them played together. They raced through the wilderness and even went swimming in the Bering Sea. A human would have suffered hypothermia from the same activity but they were not affected by the cold at all.

While lying on the beach Sasha tickled his round tummy and he giggled uncontrollably. Then he paused to ask her, "Are you my mommy now?"

Sasha smiled and said "Yes, if you want me to be."

Vasilii kissed her cheek and said "I want you to be my mommy."

Sasha felt a joy she had not known before with her daughters. Vasilii somehow made her feel complete. Like the big chunk that was missing from her heart had finally been filled. She needed a son and he needed a mother. They could be that for each other.

Sasha knew she needed to go find her daughters but for some reason she did not want to bring Vasilii. She was not sure how they would react since they all agreed that no man would ever join their coven. But Vasilii was no man, he was only a mere boy. Surely they could make an exception. She decided she would go to them first to tell them about Vasilii and then introduce them to him.

"Vasilii, I must go away for a short while. Can you stay here by yourself?"

"Yes momma, but where are you going?" he asked innocently.

"I must go find your sisters and tell them about you." Sasha kissed his forehead and went racing to find the other girls. She headed further and further west until she picked up their trail. She ran even faster now that she knew she was getting close. She found them but when she did, they were not alone.

They were talking to two men. But these were not ordinary men, they were vampires. Ones that Sasha had never seen before.

"There you are!" Kate said as she ran to meet Sasha. "We've been wondering where you went off to."

They embraced in a hug and Sasha asked quietly "Who are they?"

"They are Demetri and Felix. They bring news from the Volturi." Kate and Sasha linked arms as they went back to join the group. The other sisters embraced Sasha as well.

Sasha looked at the two men and asked "So what is this news from the Volturi?"

The dark haired one called Demetri spoke. "It seems that we need to add a clarification to the one rule. In Europe we have suffered a great deal because children were being turned into vampires. The children are unruly and have no discipline. They feed too much and have no concern for discretion. As you can understand, it would be impossible to keep the secret with these immortal children running about."

"Immortal children? Is that what you call them?" Sasha asked, masking her worry.

"Yes." Demetri responded. "So as I'm sure you can understand, anyone found guilty of creating an immortal child will suffer the consequence of breaking the one rule."

"Death." Sasha said, a statement, not a question.

Felix smiled and said "Yes, that's right. So have any of you seen any immortal children running about?"

The sisters laughed and shook their heads no.

Felix looked at Sasha. "And what about you? Have you seen any immortal children?"

Sasha did not let any emotion show on her face and said "No."

"Well that's good news," Demetri said. "I guess we'll be on our way now to continue to spread the message."

They were about to go east but Sasha cut them off and said "We're the only vampires on this side of the country. I wouldn't want you to waste your time."

Felix eyed her suspiciously. "Thanks for the tip." They turned around and headed back west, the way they had come.

"What was that all about?" Tanya asked her mother. "You were acting so bizarre."

Sasha smiled at her daughters. "Nothing. You all know how I feel about men."

The girls laughed and went about their way. Sasha tried to figure out what to do. She felt like she had just gotten her son back. Would she allow men to destroy her life once more by taking him away? She couldn't let that happen. But where could she go with Vasilii? The Volturi had ties all over the earth. There was nowhere to run. There was nowhere to hide.