The next morning Kili got up early to clean up, only to see Dwalin and Bofur already cleaning.
"Do you have a headache yet?" Bofur sniggered at his friend.
"Not yet, but he's still asleep." Kili replied bitterly.
"You'd better set up some pain killers and water for him." Dwalin commented with a grin.
"How are things between you and the small wolf going?" Kili asked curiously.
"None of your fucking business." The tall vampire replied grimly.
"Since my mate is going to be pissed off if you fuck his little brother, I do believe it's our business." Bofur grinned widely.
"No." Dwalin spoke strongly. "That's all you're going to hear from me."
Kili just glanced at Bofur and winked. Bofur smiled back and nodded.
"It was a great party!" Bilbo startled them.
"Let me help as well…" Beorn showed up soon after Bilbo.
The five of them cleaned up the yard and house in no time.
"Hey!" Fili asked gently.
"Did you take the painkillers?" Kili demanded.
"Yup! You don't need to shield yourself this time, my head seems fine." Fili added dryly.
"Good! I was pissed off last time." Kili slowly breathed in and pulled down the defense he had set up.
"With who are we starting from Frerin or Thorin?" Fili asked his mate worried.
"We're starting from unpacking your presents…" Kili mumbled and led Fili to the dining room table now stashed with presents.
"Help me…" Fili gasped and threw a box at Kili. "Where is your present?"
"That one." Kili pointed towards a bit parcel on the ground along the wall.
"Can I unpack it?" Fili smiled.
"Just do it." Kili helped him move the parcel.
"It's my portrait!" Fili gasped with surprise seeing him in wolf form in the forest next to the stream. "It's beautiful! When did you find the time to paint it?"
"I've been sneaking out a bit at night…" Kili admitted with a shy smile.
"I love you!" Fili pulled Kili closer ignoring they had an audience.
"Where are you going to hang it?" Bilbo asked with a smile.
"Next to that Van Goyen painting!" Fili demanded.
Later they unpacked the other parcels, finding several good books, a new mobile phone, some fancy decorations for the house, beautiful candles in the shape of wolves from the local art shop and many other things.
After serving breakfast to the half dead wolves lurking around Kili grabbed Fili hand and led him outside. They walked a bit towards the forest only to find Thorin resting on a bench overlooking the village.
"You both wanted to talk with me." He noticed impassively.
"Who is Smaug?" Kili asked sitting down next to his leader.
"He's the vampire that turned you." Thorin did not elaborate.
"I know that, but who is he?" Kili asked in a deep voice. "And why did you block my memories?"
"I blocked you so that you could live a normal life, those memories were too painful." Thorin replied after a long moment. "I guess when you two connected your powers collided and gave in-depth results." He glanced at both of them.
"He deserves to know the answer." Fili noticed. "Why did he call him a Durin?"
"So you both dug up his deepest memories." Thorin noticed looking away into the distance.
"Smaug is probably the oldest vampire alive. Some say he might even be several thousands years old. No one knows where he comes from." Thorin told them. "He's pure evil, insane with hunger and paranoid with obsessions. One day many millennia ago a fortune teller told him his future, and in the prophecy said that a son of Durin will end his life, since then he has been hunting for people who he called Durins."
"So it's just him being paranoid?" Kili asked hesitantly.
"No, it's not." Fili immediately noticed.
"No, it's not." Thorin agreed. "Durin is an old Celtic last name, used by the Kings of Old." He slowly told them. "I have never used it as my own, but my father, grandfather and his father before him have. I was born like this, I could see plots and schemes. When my family was killed, my father along my grandfather, I ceased using the last name knowing it would bring danger upon those closest to me." Thorin explained.
"Why did he call Kili a Durin?" Fili asked in a strained voice.
"Because by blood he is a Durin. That's why he has special powers." Thorin explained.
"Go on." Fili demanded firmly.
"Smaug killed most of my family. I was young and I fled. Later I found a vampire who had no idea Smaug was hunting for me and using my powers I orchestrated him into turning me into a vampire." Thorin explained. "Being an immortal vampire would give me more power to face him, and take revenge for the death of my kin."
"And where does Kili fit into this?" Fili asked surprised.
"He's the last of my kin. I had a sister, her name was Dis, just like your mother." Thorin glanced at Fili with a strange glare. "She looks a lot like her as well, she's a lot like her too. Anyway my sister married into a family called Luin, and moved with her husband to Breton . Her husband was a medic, and he was learning there from an expert French monk. I lost track of her, but later her daughter moved to the Blue Mountains in Ireland, and her second daughter married again and stayed in France."
"The Blue Mountains?" Fili gasped with realization.
"The moment I found Kili I knew he was related to me. He looked a lot like my father and my sister. He must have been a descendent of my sister's daughter who stayed in France. Smaug has been hunting for our family, he killed the Breton part of the family, he almost killed Kili. Later I tried to track down the Irish part of the family, but they disappeared in thin air." Thorin slowly told them the story.
"Because they had moved to American as one of the first settlers… They settled in Erebor because old Fali Luin had a vision this would be a safe haven for the family." Fili gasped adding the facts together.
"I realized as much the moment I met you." Thorin told him. "You might not look anything like my kin, but there is something in your face, something in your powers which suggest you might be related to me and my kin."
"So in fact you are my uncle?" Kili gasped surprised. "And in fact Fili is a distant relation as well?"
"I'm more like your maternal great-great uncle." Thorin added. "And you two are very distantly related. But in fact yes, we all are blood related."
"We have to talk to Ori, Frerin and Dain." Fili suddenly realized. "My powers tell me they know more than anyone else about the topic."
"I'm not sure that is wise." Thorin told him.
"His instincts are always right." Kili dryly commented. "Let's go to Dain's house."
Fili pulled out his phone and called Frerin to meet them there.
Ori was extremely surprised they came over, but when Dain and Frerin arrived and all of them sat down it slowly unfolded why they met.
"If what you say is true that means we're all family." Dain looked at them.
"You don't seem surprised." Fili noticed grimly.
"And I'm not." Dain added with a smirk. "I knew you would show up one day. Fali had predicted it."
"Why don't I know anything about it?" Frerin looked at his mate with surprise.
"It's one of the biggest secrets of the Luin family." Dain spoke slowly. "You're not a Luin." He added. "How far did you get into her diary?" Dain asked Ori.
"Only a few pages, the dialect is strange and her writing is horrible." Ori admitted.
"Get it." Dain told him curtly. "I guess you both know Cumbrian?"
"That's the language of our family." Thorin admitted.
When Ori returned with the book he placed it between Thorin and Kili on the table. Thorin just crossed his brows not recognizing the writing at all. But Kili looked at it hungrily.
"You can read it?" Fili gasped.
"Of course I can!" Kili pulled the diary closer. "It's Cumbrian but written in runes. My mother taught me how to read them."
"Will you please?" Dain asked. "It took me centuries to make out just bits and pieces."
Kili nodded and began reading and translating. Some entries were boring, about ordinary everyday issues. Some were incomprehensible visions of hidden dangers and prophecies.
"She was a loon…" Fili commented dryly after Kili translated one more crazy fragment about the future. Ori was frantically writing everything down.
"She proved to be right many times." Dain added seriously.
"No one shall be named Kili, for we already have a Kili in our midst. He has been born, reborn, dead and undead. The son of Durin with immense powers shall be what we fear most, and along the other lost son of Durin he will arrive one day on our doorstep. As friend or foe I do not know." Kili felt shivers reading out loud the fragment about himself. "After him death will follow, our greatest enemy awake once more, and in fire he will bring death to all in his way. With claws we will fight, with spite we will bite, and I pray some will survive, for if our family lives on good will prevail."
"Her style and riddles are horrible!" Frerin gasped.
"She was an old soothsayer what did you expect!" Fili gasped feeling the message drill into his soul.
"The wolf is strong, and the golden wolf stronger than them all. If the Durins united they will find the heart of the mountain, and the heart of the mountain will find its king. And when the King Under the Mountain shall be again, darkness will no longer fall upon our people. The King lives, half dead, his heart stone cold and frozen. But he lives on and will live an eternity." Kili kept reading but he went silent when he saw Thorin's face.
"What does that mean?" Fili asked sensing the change in Thorin.
"I'm not sure, but there was a legend about the heart of the mountain. It was said to be the most beautiful jewel ever found by our ancestors in the old mines. It was traditionally a token of the King." Thorin explained.
"And who was the last king who had this jewel?" Dain asked curiously.
"My great grandfather Thror." Thorin told them bitterly. "The chances anyone knows where it is… It's impossible to find."
"If Thror was the last to have it, that means you are next rightful King Under the Mountain." Ori noticed. "The question is – what Mountain?"
"Shkhara." Thorin replied. "The mine where the jewel was found was under Shkhara, and traditionally that was the mountain."
"Where the hell is that?" Frerin gasped.
"Georgia?" Ori asked unsure.
"How can it be in America?" Fili was also surprised.
"No, as in Georgia in Europe. It's a small country bordering with Russian in the Caucasus mountain range." Thorin slowly explained.
"What was our family doing there?" Kili asked surprised.
"We were never pure blood of any type." Thorin explained. "Our ancient ancestors were from the far east, and they mixed blood along the way. Georgia was just a stop, they settled in the mountain for some time, but later they ran way when the prophets foresaw Smaug's coming."
"Just fucking great!" Dain noticed. "There is no chance to find the blasted jewel. When was the last time you saw it?"
"I saw it twice as a child." Thorin admitted. "Almost eight hundred years ago." He added after a moment. "My grandfather wore it on his neck in battle defending our kin. I have no idea where it is, but if I could bet using my powers, I would dare say Smaug has it."
"He does." Fili focused his own abilities. "The heart of the mountain is in the mountain again." He told them feeling his instincts kick in.
"So the only chance to defeat this Smaug vampire is by breaking into a mountain in Georgia, not to mention Georgia as in some crazy Russian country on the border of Asia and Europe?" Dain asked with a smirk.
"For all we know we might be centuries away before Smaug finds us…" Frerin mumbled.
"Fali does not give a time span or any indication." Ori dully noticed.
"I think we have some time." Fili tried focusing his powers. "At least several months if not years."
"First good news today." Frerin mumbled again. "So what's the plan?"
"Kili and Ori should analyze the diary word by word." Dain spoke calmly. "We should get ready and research the enemy. Find out everything we can about that mountain, and about the crazy old vampire."
"We should backtrack the wildlings who attacked us, I have a feeling they are somehow connected." Thorin realized.
"I have the same feeling. Those might have been scouts, I have a feeling a person like him might target native Americans to get rid of a possible enemy. That's why the wildlings went from tribe after tribe killing those who had shape shifting abilities." Fili's powers gave him another hint.
"There is one more tribe I know of." Thorin added hesitantly.
"The polar bear tribe in Alaska?" Kili asked with a grin.
"What?" Frerin and Dain glared at the vampires.
"I have heard about one more group just like you – I think we should organize a joint party to go to Alaska and see if they are still there." Thorin told them.
"That's like finding a needle in a haystack! How the hell are you planning to search Alaska for a tribe of polar bears that might as well no longer exist?" Frerin noticed brutally.
"Easy." Fili added with a grin. "We take the vampires and let them find us."
"Then when they find us we can shift so they can see we are the same." Ori added enthusiastically. Dain glanced at his son surprised with the emotion on the calm boy's face.
"We'll both go." Fili spoke in his alpha tone.
"And you'll take Nori, Bofur and the bear Beorn." Thorin spoke surly.
"The bear might make it easier with other bears…" Dain noticed. "Do you think there is a chance there are other wolf tribes? Or perhaps coyote, cougar, bobcat or something else?"
"I heard rumors about cougars in South America." Thorin admitted after a moment.
"That would actually be easy to research!" Ori suddenly realized. "It would suffice to go through known Indian tribes and find those which worshiped animals. We have the wolf as our symbol, the Carrock had the bear. Maybe other tribes did the same!"
"And then one visit with a vampire and we would see a reaction!" Fili caught the idea.
"It seems we'll be cooperating on a wide scale." Frerin glanced at Thorin sternly. "Can we really trust you? Is there anything else you should tell us?"
"There is…" Fili realized flaring at Thorin.
"It's not Smaug alone we should fear, I've heard of two more vampires alike him, one is called Saruman and the other Gandalf." Thorin spoke in a low voice.
"Fili tell me. If we get rid of these vampires will it make a difference?" Dain asked their soothsayer.
"Yes. The world will change for many people. I can feel they killed and are killing. I can feel they are a threat to us, if they ever find about us." Fili said in a trembling voice. "Are you sure you killed all of the wild vampires?" He turned to Thorin feeling a faint impression something was off.
"We cannot guarantee that, we killed all we found." Thorin replied.
"There is a chance danger will come from that direction…" Fili noticed in a low voice.
"So that just means we're not waiting for months or years." Dain summed up. "You're leaving for Alaska tomorrow!"
"That kind of trip will cost…" Frerin mumbled.
"Money is not a matter." Thorin added grimly.
"Fine, I'm going as well." Dain told them. "And Ori is coming with me to do the research."
"And Dwalin will come along." Thorin added.
"Fine, I'll stay here and protect the tribe. We should mobilize everyone in the pack." Frerin told them clearly grim and worried.
"I'll contact all my friends, both here and in Europe and Asia. We'll get some to support us." Thorin told them confidently.
"It seems we won't be bored…" Frerin mumbled.
"I need my computer!" Ori ran towards his old home.
"I'm going to start lunch, we need to get everyone ready for the trip." Kili told Fili with a wide grin.
Thorin left after Kili leaving Dain and Frerin together.
"Are you sure this is wise?" Frerin asked.
"I'm sure we need to change something in the world, and this is a great first step." Dain told him and kissed him tenderly. "Let's make a difference. Let's use the powers we were gifted and make the world a better place."
"I hope we won't lose everything precious to us at the same time…" Frerin added gloomily.