Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (37 page)

“What do you mean?” Sammy asks.

“Sammy don’t you realize what Damian is?”
asks Morna incredulously.

“What, besides a hunk?”

“Sammy, he is vampire, so is Luca.” Morna
can’t help but smile when it’s obvious that Sammy is very
surprised, but not overly frightened.

“You mean you are bangin’ a vampire? You are
doing the deed with a real live, honest to God vampire?” asks
Samantha, clearly in awe.

Morna shakes her head. “You might be hopeless
my dear girl, but I don’t think so. Stay with me, do you
understand?” When Sammy nods, Morna finishes smoking in silence.
Finally, she puts out her cigarette and goes upstairs to talk to
Luca.

Luca is laughing softly and shaking his head
when Morna walks into their bedroom. “Bangin’ a vampire? That girl
is quite a character isn’t she? “He has obviously finished packing.
He is just standing there waiting for her to join him. He takes her
into his arms and kisses her soundly. She revels in the cold, hard
perfection that is Luca. She pushes away gently when she feels her
passion rising.

“Having an audience really stinks. I would
very much like to bang my vampire right now,” she says with a wry
look on her face. She turns to the bed and picks up her purse and
starts digging around inside. Finally, she fishes out her breath
spray and two prescription bottles and she pours a valium and a
lortab into her hand.

Luca is eyeing her with concern. “Baby, is
the hip and leg hurting? I didn’t notice you limping,” he says.

“No, nothing like that. It’s a migraine,” she
admits. She shrugs and gets a second Lortab. She goes into the
bathroom to get a drink of water. She rinses her mouth out and
sprays the breath spray. The putrid taste is back in her mouth and
she knows the cigarette smells stays with her. She feels bad about
kissing Luca with stinky breath. When she comes back Luca has her
purse and his suitcase, he kisses her again. “I didn’t mind, by the
way.” Morna looks doubtful at that but doesn’t say anything. Luca
indicates he will follow her out of the bedroom. “We had better go
Darling,” he says quietly.

Once they are on the stairs Morna says, “I am
glad we are taking the BMW, I was afraid we would have to take the
Jeep. All that bouncing over rough roads won’t help my head and
stomach one bit.” She rubs her temples again, and struggles to make
her eyes focus.

“We can only take the car so far,” Luca says.
“Damian and I will have to run the rest of the way up the ridge. I
know the envoys are magical beings, but I am surprised they picked
that location, what with Ari’s condition.”

“They can take any form they want, you know
that right?” Morna says. “They can teleport too.”

“Yes, I know. But the form we saw today is
Ari’s natural form. Apparently he reached ascension at a very young
age,” says Luca.

“Interesting,” says Morna. “How do you know
that?”

“I asked him when you fainted. I was angry
because he appeared to you looking so much like Aiden. I thought it
was cruel. But it seems your son just took after his
ancestors.”

“Oh, I do recall you asking him about it.”
Morna rubs her temples again and says, “Do you think my children
were like me?” she whispers.

“I don’t know, we can ask the envoys,” he
says, his voice soft and soothing. “But right now we better hurry.
It sounds like Samantha is trying to cozy up to Damian downstairs.
Damn, that girl is truly fearless isn’t she?”

“Fearless, or really stupid. I‘ll be damned
if I know which,” Morna mutters crossly.

The young ones are waiting for them at the
bottom of the stairs. “Okay folks, we better hurry if we are going
to be on time,” says Morna as she checks the time on her phone.

Morna and Sammy get in the back seat while
Luca gets behind the wheel and Damian gets into the passenger seat.
Damian turns back to Morna and says, “Wouldn’t you be more
comfortable up here? I promise I can control myself. I won‘t let
you down Morna.”

Morna looks at Sammy. “Can you? Control
yourself I mean?” she asks pointedly.

Samantha smirks and replies, “I will.”

Morna nods, and gets out to trade places with
Damian. She pats his face and thanks him for being so considerate.
He ducks his head and hurriedly gets into the car.

“She has a way of making you feel ten feet
tall and like you are the best man on the planet, doesn’t she?”
Luca smiles at Damian in the rearview mirror.

Damian ducks his head again, and says very
quietly, “She makes me feel like I can be the man she believes me
to be.”

Samantha says, “She has a similar effect on
me.”

“Yeah sure. You just need someone to believe
in you so you will believe in yourself. There’s nothing special
about me. I just try to see the best in everyone. Okay guys, let’s
go,” Morna scoffs as she blushes a deep red.

On the forty-five minute drive to Luca’s
hunting range in the Arbuckle Mountains Samantha outlines the
visions she has been having about Morna. About her life before the
crash, teaching at her school, at home with her children. Then she
shares what she saw when Aiden died, at his funeral and at the
crash, as well as the role Kyera played in all three events. Kyera
was at the hospital the night Aiden died, she was actually
masquerading as a nurse. Samantha also relates how she saw her at
the hospital recovering from the crash, saw Luca looking after her,
and how she finally saw Morna working at The Shack.

“That’s why I was hanging around the bar all
the time Morna. I was trying to figure out why I was always having
these dreams of you. But when I heard that your family had really
been killed in a crash, and you had really been nearly killed
yourself, I knew they were visions of things to come, not just
weird daydreams or hallucinations. I gotta tell ya, I was relieved,
not that all that horrible stuff had really happened, but that I
wasn‘t crazy. I had been thinking I was crazy for a very long time.
Everyone around me thought I was crazy too. Oddly, all of my
visions have been centered on you.”

Morna is very thoughtful while Samantha is
talking. Finally she says, “Samantha, I don’t recall just how it
works, but sometimes a Weaver of the First Order will have a
personal seer that watches over them. Apparently, you are my
seer.”

The rest of the trip goes by in virtual
silence. Everyone is busy with their own thoughts.

CHAPTER 16 - MARCHING ORDERS

“We are here,” says Luca. “Well, at least as
far as the car can go. Damian, we must run the rest of the way in.
We are still twelve miles out and should already be there. I know
the envoys are magical beings, but I am surprised they picked that
location, what with Ari’s condition.”

“They can take any form they want, you know
that right?” Morna says. “They can teleport too.”

“Yes, I know. But I still wonder why they
chose this location,” Luca says thoughtfully. He takes out his
phone and dials Breena’s number. “Bree, you ready for this?” He
chuckles when she cracks a joke about meeting royal envoys
overlooking a cattle ranch.

Morna shrugs and says; “Samantha, you are in
for a treat. Get on Damian’s back, and hang on tight. If you get
motion sick, you might want to close your eyes.”

Sammy looks at Damian with a mischievous
glint in her eyes. “Are you fast, vamp boy?”

“Oh yeah,” he promises with a huge grin on
his face. The grin is suddenly replaced with a look of concern;
“Just don’t puke on me, okay? Mac has a couple of times. It’s not
fun.”

Luca laughs and then turns to Morna, “You
running or riding my dear?”

“Riding, I can barely see,” she admits as she
rubs her right temple gingerly.

“Can you hang on alright?” he asks, feeling
very concerned about her worsening headache.

“Yes, I just don’t trust myself to maneuver
around the trees, my vision isn’t as sharp as it should be, nor are
my reflexes keen enough right now,” she says.

Luca helps her onto his back, looks to Damian
and says with a grin, “Try to keep up kid.” To which Damian only
laughs, but a few seconds later after they take off he realizes
that Luca wasn’t kidding. Lucian is FAST!

They cover the 12 miles in a matter of
minutes. Sammy jumps off Damian’s back with a “Yahoo! That was
soooo cool!” She looks at Morna and says, “You can do that
too?”

Morna smiles weakly, “I am not quite that
fast. But yeah, I can be much faster than any normal human.”

When Morna crawls off Luca’s back she
staggers and nearly falls before Luca can scoop her up into his
arms. “Morna, what is it darling? Is your head still hurting?” She
nods weakly. “I can try a healing spell,” Luca says doubtfully,
“But they usually don’t work on these headaches when the memories
are forced on you. That’s why I never just reveal everything to
you. We made that mistake in Verona, I have never done it again. I
am sorry the Elves chose to take this approach. But they must have
their reasons.”

Sammy looks at Damian to see if he has any
idea what Lucian is talking about, “I’ll fill you in later,” he
whispers. “Well, at least I will tell you what little I know.” He
looks at the top of the ridge where Almeda and Ari are waiting, and
says, “But now I think we have to go get our marching orders.” He
looks at Luca, who meets his eyes and nods.

Luca helps Morna to climb the rest of the way
up the ridge. When they join the Elves Ari says; “Morna, you are
ill?”

“It’s just a horrible headache.”

“I can help. Will you allow me to help?”
Morna nods and Ari places his hand on her face, with his fingers
splayed and whispers a few words. Morna is amazed she understands
every word, even though it’s not a language she remembers ever
hearing before. “Since the dawn of time, this child’s aura will
ascend and shine. May peace and comfort lighten her burden, as she
rises up to save her brethren. Strength and knowledge I bestow, as
my aura to her now will flow.” Ari moves his hand and looks into
her eyes. He raises both hands, and holds them over her head and
then slowly moves down her body, Morna knows he is taking a reading
of her, much like the Spell Weavers of her clan take a healer’s
reading of a person’s body. He then places a kiss on her forehead
and says, “You should feel a little bit better now my dear.”

Morna is amazed to see his aura expand to
encompass her. The pain is immediately lessened until she barely
notices it. She holds her hands out before her. “Wow, I knew Elves
could share their auras, but I never thought to see it for myself,
much less experience it,” she whispers in awe.

She looks to Luca to see his reaction to the
aura, but he is looking at her with a puzzled look on his face.
Almeda speaks quietly, “Morna, your man of light is an amazing
creature, but he cannot see what you see. Ari has recharged your
aura, step away from him and you will still be able to see the
glow. But now it is your own, the same one you carried around with
you since you were a resident of Airendell, Ari has simply
recharged it. It has always been with you, but your travels through
the different life times has taken a toll on its strength. But the
more your remember of your past lives, and the more magic you
regain, your aura‘s strength will continue to increase.”

Morna complies and steps back toward Luca.
She is utterly amazed that her companions who came to ridge with
her cannot see it. “Luca, did you understand the words of the
spell?” He shakes his head no. Morna looks at Ari and asks, “How
come I could understand, or at least I think I did. You spoke in
ancient light Elvish, correct?”

“Yes Morna, it was the most ancient light
Elvish language. The language of our deep magic. The reason you
could understand is simple, you are the true head of the Spell
Weavers, not your mother. You understand many magical and
non-magical languages. You even understand every language that you
spoke during your past lives. You can speak several of these
languages as well. Each will come to you when you have need of
them. You have many more talents and more power than you understand
right now,” he informs her.

Almeda speaks again, “Ari, let us allow Morna
a minute to regain her strength. I think we should address some of
the questions the young ones have.”

Ari moves to stand before Damian, “Do you
have any idea why you are here young blood drinker?”

“Luca said he thought I might make up part of
the gathering that will break the curse on Morna. I will do
anything to help her. Just tell me what I need to do, I will give
up my existence for her if need be,” says the beautiful boy
sincerely.

“No way! Don’t ask that of him,” Morna says
as she steps forward with her hands out to stop them.

But Ari raises his hand, and says
commandingly; “Peace child! Morna, I can see you might be beginning
to understand his destiny. Do not interfere.”

Morna falls silent at Ari’s command, but it’s
obvious she is troubled by what she expects will be said next.

“Damian, you may be called upon to do that
very thing. You are to be Morna’s body guard. This is a permanent
duty, if you choose to accept it.” informs Ari.

Morna steps forward and says, “Kiddo, by
permanent they really mean permanent. We will be connected
throughout our entire lives. Wherever our lives might take us, you
will always be bonded to me as my protector. You really up for that
gig?”

“Definitely.” Damian says without
hesitation.

“You will be part of the gathering, if you
survive that long. There are too many variables for me to reliably
predict. Listen to Luca and obey his instructions. With his
guidance, you should be able to keep Morna and yourself alive
throughout the ordeal ahead. Morna is not without her own defenses
as you are probably aware, however, she must undergo the training
and rituals of ascension again. She will be vulnerable during that
time and you must stand guard over her when Luca is performing his
other duties. You must be firmly resolved to keeping your darker
nature in check. Do you believe you are up to the task?”