Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (28 page)

Then I remember Kyera and her curse. It seems
like we were unconscious for a long time, or at least I was. Later,
I remember you insisting that I hold you in a binding spell for a
short time until you got your blood thirst under control. I hunted
animals for you. That‘s about it… then nothing until you found me
in Verona. I remember bits and pieces of eight different lives, and
all of this one. A total of nine lives. Gee, I hope I am not a
cat,” she smirks.

“So you don’t remember our life before the
attack in the glen, nor anything after?” he asks, his voice heavy
with something Morna can’t identify.

“No Luca, not really. Just bits and pieces,
they come to me in flashbacks, like a stupid movie. I just know you
are my mate, and we love each other wholeheartedly. I know you have
been chasing me through time for nearly 600 years. But I am very,
very light on details. Like I said, there are things that I know,
but don’t recall how I know them. It is so very, very strange and
disconcerting,” she admits.

THE BROTHER

They were in the parking lot behind The Shack
by this time. Luca puts the car in park and turns off the ignition.
He turns to hold her face in his hands. “I can only imagine what
this is like for you sweetheart,” he whispers. “Maybe we should
gather some of our old friends maybe that would help you remember?
And perhaps we could get some ideas from them about how to break
the curse. I don‘t know, I really can’t put my finger on it, but
something is very different this time. You are very different. You
are stronger, you are suddenly healing very fast and you are doing
magic without remembering the spells. Baby, that has never happened
before in any of your previous incarnations.” He kisses her
lightly, and smiles reassuringly. “It’s something to think about
anyway. Let’s go in.”

Morna unlocks the back door to the bar and
pushes it open, the scent hits her immediately and she backs up.
Luca caught the scent at the same time she does and pushes her
behind him. “Stay here!” he hisses, and then disappears into the
bar. He’s gone about three minutes when he calls out to her,
“Morna, it’s okay. Come on in.”

Morna comes into the dark bar, as her eyes
adjust she sees Luca standing there with a young man who appears to
be about 18 or 19 years old. Morna knows he is a vampire. She could
smell him as soon as she opened the door. She reaches for the light
switch. “Sorry fellas, I know you don’t need the light to get a
good look at each other, but I do.”

Morna looks at Luca, “So who’s the teenaged
vamp?”

The boy chuckles, and steps forward,
extending his hand. “Ma’am, I am Damian Summers. I am Mac’s big
brother.”

Morna shakes his hand confidently, then says,
“Okay, I guess that answers one burning question that I have about
Mac. So why don’t you have a seat here, Damian, and visit with me.”
She motions to a chair at a small round table.

“I guess you are not afraid of me with your
friend here, huh?” He asks shyly.

Morna laughs heartily, “Kiddo, I can see you
are a ‘civilized’ vamp, but even if you weren’t I would not be
afraid of you. I have destroyed plenty of your kind with my own two
little hands.” She smiles at his sharp intake of breath. “And as to
my friend as you called him, Lucian is my mate. You are not stupid,
so you can tell he isn’t any ordinary vampire, he wields the power
of Airendell. He’s a spell-weaver of the Second Order and a very
dangerous warrior of the First Order of Airendell.”

Damian is obviously stunned and more than a
little alarmed. “You mean the stories I heard about Airendell are
true?” he whispers.

Morna chuckles and says, “Airendell is real.
But I have no idea what stories you may have heard.”

“Well, at least I understand why you reek of
our kind, Mrs. Montfort. I could smell your mate around you, but
never could locate him. Damian suddenly looks at Luca disdainfully,
“Why do you say in the background and let this mortal female speak
for you?”

Luca laughs quietly, “Because boy, my mate is
the most powerful being in this room, actually on the entire
continent. She is Morna Glynn Michaels, Spell Weaver of the First
Order of Airendell, First Warrior of Airendell and all of Ireland
and Wales. You will give her the respect she is due or I will take
you out before you can blink.” This last was spoken so quietly,
Morna could barely hear it.

“Easy gentlemen,” Morna soothes.

“I am sorry, I didn’t mean any offense ma’am.
I am grateful enough to you for just taking in my sister. I am in
awe to discover who you actually are. Forgive me please. My manners
suck,” Damian quickly apologizes. “I am a little overwhelmed to
learn who and what you two are. I almost didn’t leave my sister
with you because I could smell the faintest hint of my kind on you…
but I really didn‘t have a choice.”

“No offense taken, Son,” Morna assures him.
“Now tell me how Mac came to be in my care, for that matter, how
she came to be in the care of a young vampire. I am guessing you
are only two or three years into your new life. Where are your
parents?”

“Our parents are probably in jail or dead. I
don’t really care either way.” Damian hisses. “Look, I took Mac
with me to live on streets four years ago when one of our mom’s
boyfriends tried to rape her. We were living in Tulsa then. I had
just turned 17, and Mac was 15.”

“We were doing okay for about a year, and
then a vampire named Marshall turned me. I lost track of my sister
for a long time, you know what it’s like…” He looks at Luca for
understanding. Luca nods grimly and the young vamp continues;
“Marshall wanted to create an army of newborns. He was planning to
take over some coven in Mexico. One night this group of foreign
vampires wiped out Marshall and most of his army that was probably
two and half years ago. I was out hunting, I came back but
overheard what was going on and ran off. So I wasn’t killed with
the rest of my coven.”

“I wandered around for a while, hunting
humans, hiding during the day. I don’t know exactly how long I
lived like that. It was really a miserable existence. I have always
been consumed with guilt at taking human life. Then I started day
dreaming about Mac and this red-haired goddess... Anyway, I finally
remembered who my sister was, and who I am. Well, I started feeding
off of animals then instead of humans. Worked on my self-control so
that I could go find her. By the time I caught up with her, she had
made her way to this little burg. She had been on her own for over
a year by then, she didn’t have any idea what happened to me. I
don’t know how she survived. She’s not really much of talker, you
know what I mean, right?’

“Yes,” Morna agrees. She’s wondering how Mac
remained safe from her brother and the vamp who turned him. Surely
she wasn’t too far away when Marshall selected Damian to turn
him.

“Anyway, we have been in this area for a
while now. Living off the streets, staying out of sight of the
citizens, but doing okay. Then about a month ago, a vamp that I had
gotten into a beef with one time over who would drain some homeless
guy, started poking around town, hanging around this bar. He didn’t
see me with Mac, so I slipped away and took her to your halfway
house, and dumped her there with the note. I thought it was the
safest place for her. I led that vamp back to Tulsa and took him
out two nights ago, so I am back to get my sister.”

“Did you burn him? Are you sure he is dead?”
Damian nods. “Okay Damian, here is a bit of free advice. Don’t ever
tell anyone, ever again that you were created as part of an army in
a plan to take over a rival coven. Those foreign vampires will come
back for you if they learn of you. They aren’t the forgiving kind.
Do you understand?” When he nods, Morna continues more gently,
“Good. Now, I need some more information from you.”

Just then they hear the delivery truck
backing up to the back door. “Luca, can you handle that for me? The
order is on Mike’s desk.” Luca looks at Damian and then back to
Morna with a question in his eyes. She nods and smiles her
reassurances. He turns and goes to the back of the bar to see to
the delivery.

Morna turns her attention back to Damian. He
looks very surprised, “You really aren’t afraid of me?” he
asks.

“Damian, stand up,” Morna says quietly.

Damian is absolutely still. After a few
seconds there is a look of wild fear in his eyes. Morna speaks to
him softly, “Damian, even if you wanted to hurt me, you can’t. What
you are experiencing is called a binding spell. You can’t move
until I release you. I am in no danger whatsoever from you or any
vampire.” She waves her hand slowly from left to right, and Damian
springs up so quickly he falls over onto the table. “Easy kiddo, I
have released you. No one is trying to harm you. That’s just a tiny
taste of my defenses, not to mention my offenses. Do you understand
who you are dealing with now?”

Damian stands up quickly, trying
unsuccessfully to look nonchalant about the whole incident. “I am
sorry Ma’am. This isn’t going at all how I had planned.”

“Okay, so tell me what you had planned
Damian.” Morna indicates that he should sit down again.

“Ma’am, I was hoping to get my sister back. I
could break in and steal her away, but she seems pretty happy
there. She needs a good place, a real home. I was gonna ask you to
help me make a home for her.”

Morna chuckles, “So you planned to break in
here and demand my help?”

“Not exactly, I was planning on hiding in
here to watch you, to make sure that you are the real thing, what
you appear to be.”

Morna nods at that answer, she would have
done a little recon in his position as well. “How do you plan to
take care of your sister?” Morna asks softly.

“I can find a job, you know somewhere at
night. Maybe find a house for us,” he offers meekly, sounding very
uncertain.

“Do you realize that Mac has autism?” When he
nods, she says, “Her life can be much richer with the right support
and education. How do you plan to provide the support she
needs?”

“Ma’am, I really don’t know. I was hoping you
could help me with that. I miss my sister. I feel like I let her
down, you know, by becoming what I am,” he whispers and looks
away.

“Damian, a normal human cannot stop a
vampire. You know that. You said you have hunted humans, you know
how defenseless a human truly is. You know you didn’t have a choice
in the matter. I guess you should just be glad Marshall changed you
instead of feeding on you, like you did on other helpless
humans.”

Damian looks like she punched him in gut when
she says that. “Ma’am you have no idea how badly I regret what I
did, I don’t know if I will ever stop hating myself for that.”
Morna thinks he truly looks tortured. “All those lives I took! It’s
a terrible thing to live with!”

Morna looks at him thoughtfully, and asks;
“How committed are you to never feeding on a human again?”

“Totally Ma’am. I don’t want to be a monster.
You don’t know how heavy this burden is, how much I hate being what
I am.” Damian says vehemently.

A smooth voice from behind him says, “Boy,
she knows better than most humans can. She has stood by me for
nearly 600 years, she is aware of my struggles.” Morna looks up
from Damian’s face and meets her mate’s eyes. They come to an
immediate and wordless agreement about what needs to be done.

Morna looks back to Damian. “Okay Damian. All
of this depends on what Mac wants to do, but here’s what we are
thinking. We can help you get a job, we have a house nearby where
you can stay, and I can help you get the support Mac needs. But,
first I need your solemn oath that you will continue to feed only
on animals. Can you honestly swear that? I mean really mean it and
stick with it!”

Damian gets down on his knees and takes her
hand. “Yes Ma’am. I can honestly swear not to ever feed on humans
again.” Morna looks up at Luca, he nods his assent.

“We won’t hesitate to take you out if you
stray from the path you are choosing right now,” Morna warns.

“I am committed,” Damian says quietly. “I
want to take care of my sister. I can’t do that and be what I was
after the change.”

Morna looks at Luca who nods his approval.
She looks back to the boy kneeling before her. “Welcome to the
family Damian.” He jumps up and hugs her, and then let’s go of her
very quickly, and backs away looking shocked, and very, very
shaken. Luca chuckles, at Morna’s confused look. “Damian, she
honestly has no idea how delicious she smells. She really can‘t
imagine that she can be that appealing.”

Morna scoffs and shakes her head, looking
doubtful. But Damian looks at Luca, his admiration for the older
vampire apparent. “You have lived with her as your mate and never
lost control? Never tried to feed on her?”

Morna speaks up, “Damian, Luca has never feed
on a human, ever, in nearly 600 years. He too, refuses to be a
monster.”

“Ma’am, no offense. I am not trying to make
light of what you just said, but you have no idea how much your
husband must love you. You smell really, really mouthwatering up
close.” A violent shudder racks Damian’s body and Morna is forced
to realize the hell her own mate goes through being around her so
intimately.

Luca laughs at Damian’s reaction. He knows it
all too well. Morna stands up and goes to her mate and he takes her
into his arms and kisses her soundly. “Boy, I think she might a
little bit of an idea,” he whispers sadly, thinking about how he
treated her earlier today after tasting her blood. Morna guesses
what he’s thinking about and smiles gently at him before kisses his
lips tenderly. “He has never hurt me and will never hurt me in the
future.”

Luca looks lovingly at his mate for few more
seconds, then looks back to the boy. “Meet us at the halfway house
after dark. We can talk to Mac, and if she’s agreeable, we will
take you to your new home. Okay?” says Luca.