Chapter 103
Getting up, I stormed out of the dining room and out the front door. Striding through the garden, I swung the gate open. It slammed behind me as I flung the car door open. Grabbing a pack of cigarettes, I lit one and took a drag.
It was already getting dark but according to my watch it was barely 7 p.m. Blowing out the smoke, I closed my eyes. This was too much. All of this was too much. I was so overwhelmed and lost in this sea that was Auri's life now. Morgan fit, as he always did. Hell, he even abandoned her and she forgave him, eventually. It was five years later but it happened. Was there still hope?
"May I?"
My eyes widened and I slipped from my lean against the car. Auri had snuck up on me. She was holding out her hand. Putting the packet of cigarettes in her grasp, she easily tapped one out but lit it from a flame she produced from her finger.
"Normally, I don't like smoking around the house. The kids and the garden. But I'll let it slide tonight." Auri leaned against the car next to me. She let out the smoke, making small circles before blowing the rest through. "Why are you here, Hector?"
“Morgan tricked me. He said we were going to go to an expert on multi-supernatural races. He said they would know how to ease my mind or help me through."
"Through growing younger and having no issues drinking blood? Sometimes feeling extra warm in the sun or needing to put shades on durning a particularly sunny day? Not really feeling the need to sleep but your body still feels tired?"
My eyes widened. "Ex...exactly like that..."
Auri chuckled. "Hector, you aren't turning into a vampire. You're already as much of a vampire as you're going to get." She looked at me, her deep amber eyes almost glowing like the end of her cigarette. "Werewolves can't turn into a vampire, Hector. It's not possible. However, because part of us is made up of very specific vampire pieces, certain attributes and abilities are passed to us. The anti-aging will stop. We won't keep aging backwards. I would say we are pretty much done at this point."
She took a drag from her cigarette and let it out. "It's not that you're craving blood either. You underestimate what it feels like to be a vampire. How it is to fight those urges and that feeling wanting to bite into someone. What blood does for us is scratch an itch that we don't even know we feel. Part of us wants it but because we can't turn, it's not a necessity. It's not a craving. But it does taste nice going down. Like when you have a sweet tooth. Same thing."
"How...how do you know all this?"
Auri smiled and let out a sigh. "I've got nine kids in there depending on me to tell them it's okay and the things they are going through are normal. That they can live normal lives one day."
She put the cigarette to her lips, inhaled and exhaled before continuing. "Gale is part werewolf, part vampire. However, his human side died during the operation. I believe his name was Derek. Gale is his wolf. He's not as much vampire as we are, a failure in the eyes of Oran. He will continue to age as a normal werewolf but he has the same itch as we do."
Morgan's words early flittered back into my mind. "Can he not shift?"
"Oh no, he can. He just prefers his human form. Sammy is a witch. Normally, witches can be turned into vampires but they lose their power and they can't be turned into werewolves. However, she has a wolf named Chrissy and she's still got her powers as a blood witch. Which alone is when a vampire and witch do shit they shouldn't."
My eyes went back to the house. Looking at the lights now on in each of the rooms. I lit another cigarette.
"Felicity, I know, you might have already figured out. She is the only straight supernatural. She's 56 but in a five year old body. She wants to do everything an adult can do but the limitations of her body make it impossible. If she tries to get you to buy her booze, decline."
I chuckled. “Why is she in school then?"
Auri sighed. "She's been bounced around labs. Really, she isn't supposed to even be alive. Even now, if the Vampire King or the High Council found out, someone would be ordered to kill her."All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.
"She didn't choose that! She didn't choose to be that small! Turned that young! Why...?"
Auri put up her hand, she dipped her head slightly up me. "I know, Hector. It's why she is here." She paused before continuing. "Herr is probably one of the most powerful fey I've come across. They pieced her together from different fey who derived their power from different places. Voice, eyes, mouth, tongue, fingers, toes... you name it. Just like my eyes. Then, throw in a vampire heart and you have an eternal powerhouse."
“But she looks four of five? Will she stay that small? I thought fey were immortal?"
Shaking her head, she stomped out the cigarette. Auri reached for another but her hand brushed mine and for the first time in over three years I felt the electricity jolt through me. Rydere had been surprisingly quiet since we got here but even the small contact made him whine. In my shock, I dropped the pack on the ground. Auri bent down and picked it up. Her face showing nothing as she slid out another cigarette and lit it.
"Fey live exceptionally long lives but they are not like vampires. They are not immortal. She has been aging. I don't know when she will stop, but she will be a force as she grows older. Already she's as smart as a tack but she needs to work on her social skills. It's why we have her at the level she is instead of middle school where she might do better academically."
Morgan chastising her for her words made sense. She had power but no filter.
"Also, fey are notoriously ambiguous when it comes to their morals. I hope to try and make sure she has some before letting her loose on the world." Auri chuckled.
"So Gale, Sammy, Felicity, Herr, there are five more."
"Juniper and Wendy are both seven. Both werewolf vampires like you but opposite. Vampires first, grafted to be able to shift without wolves. Colton is eleven. He is a fey vampire. He was one of the first I found and I tried to set him up with a home with the fey. It wasn't before long I found him back on my porch. The family were afraid of his appetite for meat, specifically raw meat. I tried to get a few of them homes but no one understood or was willing to understand. So I just decided to call them my own. Gave them hope, a safe place and most importantly, love." Auri looked over at me, her eyes searching me for a moment.
“What of the twins? Are they three or four?"
She was still watching me but her head nodded. "What does Rydere have to say?"
My eyes narrowed. "He's been really quiet since we got here. I think he was shocked seeing you."
Her head turned away from me and looked up. She inhaled and then exhaled the smoke out. "Then he knows."
"Knows what?"
"It would probably be better coming from him." Auri's eyes closed as her head leaned back against the car.
'Let me take over, Hector. I need to speak with her.' Rydere was stern but emotionless, like he was holding everything back.
Stepping back, I allowed Rydere to step forward.
"My love." His deep voice sounded in the night and Auri snapped her head up.
"Rydere, there you are."
I wanted to take him back as he reached out but I let him do what he wanted. He had been suffering and I knew that. Now, I just had to trust him. He brushed her cheek with our fingers, the bolts rushing through us. Auri leaned into his hand and she grabbed it, holding it to her cheek.
"I'm sorry, love. I tried. Tried to convince him all his doubts and worries were in his head. Not yours. But he continued to dig himself further and further into the darkness. I managed to take over a couple times but I couldn't find you."
She smiled. "It's okay. Probably by that time, I was here. Around the time I stopped taking out labs. I didn't want to keep leaving the kids with Morgan. My last escapade I picked up Juniper and Wendy. Nine was enough. I needed to take on my role as mom. Also to protect them, keep them hidden and safe."
"Love, the twins..."
Auri moved away from our hand and put the cigarette to her lips. It was a couple of deep exhales before she answered.
"The reason why we managed to get out of that lab, why the vampire scientist decided to help us in the first place. She was one of the ones who was working the surgeries on me. They were adding some of the internal bits that I had lost when Morgan saved me from my health potion decay. She found out that I was pregnant."
My thoughts stalled. I was frozen in my mind. Rydere didn't seem as shocked though. There was surprise at her story but not to the extent that we had just found out Auri was with child.
'Because wolves can sense their own young, Hector. That's why I'm not shocked. The moment they ran out of the house, I knew.' Rydere sounded like he was chastising me.
"A lot of those scientists aren't
happy with torture. Some of them
are but usually it's all in the name of science. But even scientists draw a line. If Oran found out I was pregnant, he would have ensured at least some of their growth before taking them from me to experiment on them to see what combination he could build. Already they would be part werewolf, part vampire from you and I, and then maybe even some fey power. But he could do much more. That's why she helped us get out."
I ripped Rydere back. "Why didn't you tell me?" My voice sounded hysterical but I was on the verge of tears.
Auri looked at me, a frown on her face. "I tried. Before we left the compound wasn't a good time. You would have flipped your lid and if you lost your
cool they might have just killed you right there. When we got back to the hotel, I tried then too. But you went into heat. You wouldn't have remembered or been able to even comprehend it. Then...you left."
"You should have tried...!"
"I did, Hector! I tried calling you! Over and over. I reached out to Morgan and Pipsqueak, trying to get into contact with you. The entire time I was pregnant, I tried to talk to yourĭ could hear it in her voice, she was upset but not angry. "I needed my mate. I needed my knight, my best friend, and my lover. I needed you, Hector. And you left. Left me alone. At least Logan was nice enough to say goodbye when he left me. You just up and fucking left me alone while I was asleep!"
Throwing my cigarette down, I stomped on it. "I raped you, Auri! We were forced to mate. Forced to fuck. Forced into a heat. We literally couldn't get away. You had to drag my ass out of that place and then you still fucking took care of me during my real heat. I was just as bad as those vampires, Auri. I was just another one..."
Before I could finish, Auri's palm came down on the side of my cheek. The sound of being slapped reverberated in my ears and my brain. My mate had just slapped me. Auri had just slapped me. Eyes meeting hers, I found hers were filled with tears.
"If I wanted to remove this mark, Hector, I could have asked Vale to remove it. Hell, I could have asked the asshat that removed Logan's bond."
"Why didn't you?" My voice was small, my hands balled up into fists. I had searched for an option for her early on, to remove the bond but I had forgotten Vale could have done it.
She started to shake her head.
"Because I love you, Hector! Goddess above, you felt it! You felt it
through our bond when I couldn't put up my walls. Did you forget that?
All that time? All our talks...did that- mean nothing to you? Fuck Hector 1
told you over and over again that you didn't rape me! You saved me. So many times. I wanted and needed my mate. I was alone, pregnant, working through having fey powers, working through also watching myself go back in time. Worried because vampires can't have children but here I was. I
couldn't just go get checked out by anyone either. It would be chaos. I had them alone, Hector. Alone. In a kiddy pool in a shitty apartment that
I paid rent for a month."
Tears filled my eyes as I watched hers spill over. Auri squeezed her eyes shut but I quickly reached out to her and pulled her close. My grip tightened
as she started to fight me but after a while, her hands gripped my shirt tight and she cried into my chest. I forgot how tiny she was. Built and pure muscle, but still the tiny fairy we had come to love.
"I know it's late. Maybe too late. But I'm sorry. I genuinely thought you would come to your senses and hate me. Hate me like I hated myself. I thought being free of that place meant you would see that you didn't need me. I never...I'm sorry, my love. I'm so sorry." My lips pressed on her head as I held
her shaking form.