A Werewolf's Saga, The Beginning (A Werewolf's Saga Boxed Sets Book 3)

by Michael Lampman

  I am my father’s daughter.

  He felt her smile again.

  What does that mean exactly?

  He was born of two worlds Kenar, like you were. There is no one like him, so I am the same as him. There is no one like me. I am also of two worlds.

  I do not understand.

  She looked straight into his eyes, his real eyes.

  I know it is difficult to see the truth without truly seeing it. That is why you must go to it to find the truth for yourself. You can see so much more if you do.

  Again, he didn’t understand. Go to what?

  She smiled with her real mouth. You must go to the flames. The flames will tell you the truth of everything you are, everything you were, and everything you are meant to be. It will show you the path to follow, if you choose to do so.

  This blew his mind. One must die in order to go to the flames. He knew he was right.

  Years ago a friend of his, Mona Mons, a Wanderer he knew as a small boy, died by an accidental fall. She was beyond saving, and with his gifts uncontrolled as they were back then, he saw her mind fade to the flames. He saw the clearing through the trees. He saw her approach the roaring fire standing alone within the center of the clearing. He saw everything until he felt himself being pulled into the clearing. He found himself reaching for the fire, and realizing that he too was falling into it, the flames forced him to look away. He then saw the blackness again of his human eyes. With seeing it and seeing her move to them, he knew of the flames, but didn’t know what they meant. He knew that one had to die before you saw them. He wasn’t prepared to die to do it, and apparently, neither were the flames.

  He saw her face calm and relaxed.

  All of you can see the flames without death. You can go there to find the truth of who you are. The flames are a part of all of us. We are the flames, and the flames are we.

  He bowed his head. How do I do it? He was still not convinced about this, but at the same time, feeling her as he was, he couldn’t resist her pull. He couldn’t resist the possibility of anything he could learn from them too. He just knew that it was going to be all right. He didn’t know why, but he just did, and it was enough for him.

  She leaned in and put her soft and warm hand to the side of his face. “Go to the void and call to them. Use what you already can do. Find it and it will find you.”

  Her voice sounded just like her inner self. She had grown up so much. Her body just needed to catch up to whatever it was that was inside her. She did so flawlessly.

  He just nodded. “I will.”

  The Seer saw all of this and it made her feel light. The world was turning just as she had foreseen that it would.

  8

  She made it back inside Devish’s home, and made her way up to her room. Although she didn’t need to sleep during the day, she always did. She knew that so little happened during the day. The night was dangerous. It felt hidden, but the day felt calm. At least it was for the most part. There were always those days.

  He didn’t even knock. He just let himself inside. He closed the door when he was.

  “Devish?” Rana turned to him surprised. He had never done this before, and she didn’t know what to think. With his issues, as she called them, he could do anything. He was just moody enough to be dangerous.

  He bowed his head. “I am sorry to intrude on you my dear but I must discuss something with you.” He raised his head again.

  She saw a strange look on his face that she had trouble understanding what it was. He looked almost rushed. He looked like he was in some kind of pain. He also looked confused. She didn’t like this at all.

  “What is it that it cannot wait till dusk?” She stood at the side of her bed. She wore only a long shirt with her underclothes, which made her feel somewhat exposed, so she raced to put her clothes back on.

  He watched her and hated her for it. “I need to ask you a question. A proposition if you will.” He moved towards her from the door but stopped in the center of the room. The room was small. It took him only two steps to do it.

  “Okay.” She stayed at the bed and faced him. She would never turn her back to him, not now, not ever.

  He folded his hands in front of him and looked like he was about to make a deal. This was close to the absolute truth.

  “I would like to discuss with you our future together. I wish to discuss us.” He felt so small standing there with her that he nearly felt exposed his self. He had never felt like this before, and he didn’t know how to act. He just stood there feeling it. He didn’t even know what to do with his hands so he moved them to his sides, and left them there. They dangled as if they were not his.

  He looked downright odd.

  This kept her feeling surprised as strong as ever. “What future are you referring to, my lord?” He had never done this before either. Devish was many things, but he was never inclusive to anyone. It wasn’t in his nature. He usually thought of no one but himself. “What us?”

  He smiled. It felt awkward and was. “I have come to trust you Rana as I have with no one else before you. I have come to respect everything you are. I have come to care for you as I have never one before you.” He could feel his hands trembling some, which bothered him that it was the thirst coming back again, but he knew it couldn’t be the case. He had just fed. He shouldn’t have lost the strength of the blood that quickly so it had to be her. It was her causing something that he didn’t expect. His hands actually turned cold. He also began to sweat. His whole body began to tremble from within. He could even feel his heart rumble hard behind his ribs.

  She saw his hands. She saw his face turn pale—paler than normal—and if she didn’t know him better, she would have sworn that he looked nervous. That cannot be. I have never seen the creature nervous before. She looked again at his eyes, and saw the same thing there inside them. He was nervous all right. He looked completely terrified beyond comprehension that it nearly made her burst out laughing. She didn’t. In fact, it was starting to make her nervous. She was even getting a little scared too.

  “I appreciate hearing this from you Devish. I too have come to respect you.” She placated everything he said. She had to know where this was going first before she would say anything else. She had to stay calm. She had to keep him that way too.

  “Good.” He took a heavy and exaggerated sigh before he continued. It took everything he had to do it too. “I was also hoping to solidify our relationship.” He felt like he was going to pass out. He never thought that telling someone he cared about was going to be this hard. If he did, he wouldn’t have allowed himself to feel such a thing. He would have stopped it before it started.

  He looked like he was going to pass out. She just couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

  “What relationship are you speaking of Devish?” She had to know more, but now she was beginning to have an idea. She saw it in his eyes. She heard it within his voice. She saw where this was going, and it made her feel even more scared. In fact, she was beginning to feel downright terrified. She was doing everything she could to keep herself from running to the door.

  He laughed with this. When he finished it, he dropped his hands back to his sides. “Our relationship has become so much more than I have ever thought it would become. I am hoping to make it more than what it is now. We can be so much more than even that.”

  This is what I thought it was. “My lord.” She moved towards the head of the bed, a step or two more away from him. She prepared herself for what might happen next. She now feared what that might be when she told him the truth. “I am happy with our relationship the way it is now.” She found her gifts stirring and was now ready to use them if she had to. All she had to do was to let her blue eyes out.

  He saw her step back. He heard what she said. He knew of only one reason she would deny him, and deny them. “It is because of Kalima? It is because of my brother?”

  She now knew this was going to get bad. To keep it from becoming this, she kept to their
secret. No one knew about them. They hid it so well. “I do not know what you are talking of my lord.” She acted the best she could.

  He looked depressed, maybe even a little sad. “You do not need to hide your involvement with him Rana. I know all about the two of you.”

  She watched the depression turn cold. It told her one thing. He knew. Their plan was not about to work. It was time to come clean. “How did you know about us?”

  He laughed again, and it sounded completely fake, and it was. “How?” The coldness turned dark all too fast. Rage was now flaring inside him to the point that any other feeling was now washed away. He had nothing left but his hatred, his malice, his flaring, burning, anger for him. “How can you love something so weak, when I am so much more than he is?”

  She swallowed hard with this. She also sighed with how pitiful he now looked to her. She had always thought that he had feelings for her, but she had always pushed those thoughts aside. He would never allow himself to love a Wanderer, hell he told her this much many times before. He hated them. He loved only himself.

  “You would never love one like me my lord.”

  He scoffed with this. He turned back to the door. “And yet, here I am now standing.”

  “I am flattered my lord, but I do not share your emotions for me. I cannot.”

  “He is not like me Rana. He could never give you the power that I can.” His voice turned soft.

  She knew he was nothing of the sort. With his back turned to her, she let her blue eyes come out. She was now ready for anything he was about to do.

  “He is so much more than many things Devish. He is more to me.” It was also time to tell him what she was going to do. She was going to tell Kalima the truth. “I am going to tell him about his daughter. I am going to tell him what I have done to him.” She held her breaths. She waited for the storm that was about to rumble. She looked through the void, found his body within her mind and readied herself for the blood that was about to be spilled. Devish would have it no other way and she knew it. She knew him.

  He spun around fast. “Impossible!” he screamed with a high bellowing sound. He growled some too.

  She stood her ground.

  He saw her blue eyes sparkling, and it made him turn his red.

  “I will tell him Devish. I will tell him the truth of how we hid her from him. I will tell him about faking her death. I will tell him everything.”

  He laughed with this as his fangs slid out from his mouth. His face started swirling until it formed into his half-bat and half-wolf face. His hind legs then increased his height by two whole feet as they formed into large and massive paws. He was now his true self.

  “Do you truly wish to do that?” It suddenly dawned on him the answer to this. He, like her knowing him, he knew her too. “How do you think he will respond to such a thing?” If she were going to play this game, he would play it better. He loved games more than she ever would.

  She did blink. She did stay calm. “I will do what I have to do. I will stand with him.”

  He kept his face light, even though in this present form, he looked beyond angry. It was the face. It made him look that way even if he didn’t. He of course was.

  He took one-step towards her but then suddenly stopped. He froze. He knew why.

  She watched him take the step and it was enough. She brought her power forward and gripped him within her mind. She held every muscle. She held every bone. She held him in place.

  He knew that he couldn’t fight her like this, so he didn’t try. He would use what he had to set the balance back onto him.

  “He will never forgive you for what you have done Rana. He will hate you as you hope he would hate me. We are in on this together.”

  She shook her head. “He will hate me, but I have something from him that you will never have.”

  He tilted his head. “And what is that?”

  She stared him down. “I have his love.”

  He laughed again. “I see.” He saw the determination in her eyes. He saw her caring. He saw her love for him. He knew he would have to change the game if she was going to abide by his wishes. “I will never let that happen, Rana. I will destroy him if I must.”

  It was her turn to laugh. “You need him more than he needs you Devish. I know what he has given to you.”

  He blinked with this. He also nodded. “Of course you do.” Her gifts far exceeded his. “I have the humans on the run. They are no match for the armies that I have created against them.”

  She nodded too. “Without his blood, without that which he has given to your armies, the humans will be able to cut them down. The lack of his blood will make them weak again to the metals that once killed them.”

  He couldn’t help but agree with this, but he, as he said before, knew her all too well. “And what would you do when I take him away from you? What would you accomplish in your life without him? You will be alone again. Like losing your father, you will have nothing but me left.”

  She did look down. Seeing her father’s face, seeing him dying on the floor of their home, she truly felt the pain again as raw as it was on that day. He was right. She couldn’t feel that way again.

  He saw this as her head went down. He also felt his legs move. He felt her lock on him released.

  She now saw Kalima’s face.

  He could have moved, but he didn’t. He just stood where he was. “I know you care for him Rana, but I too know that you fear loneliness. I fear it too.”

  She looked up as tears strolled down her cheeks. “I will not let you hurt him.”

  He agreed with this. “Then you will keep to our deal then my dear. You will keep to your end of it.”

  She nodded with this.

  He now felt satisfied. He also felt relieved some too. In all of his time with Rana, he had never seen her lose her grip on someone like this before, but now, seeing it happen, he knew why. She cannot concentrate on someone while feeling pain. I can use this to my advantage. I now know how to fight her if I must. He knew he would too. She will break the deal with him. He knew she would. Love was powerful. It was also foolhardy. At least now, he knew what he could do to stop it—stop her. It was enough.

  “I see that we have come to an understanding about this my dear.” He felt satisfied, so he turned back to the door. He needed to find Elizabeth. He needed her help, now more than ever.

  Rana said nothing as she watched him leave her room. She just stood there, thinking, seeing his face, feeling his love. She didn’t know how else to feel. She felt hurt. She felt longing. She felt downright bad.

  She would now cry for the rest of the day as she thought about everything that she was going to do next. In the end, she knew what she had to do. She had to go ahead with her plans. She had to tell Kalima the truth. She owed him more than anything she had ever owed to Devish. She could only hope that he would understand her reasons. She could only hope that he would forgive her in the end. She also knew that she was going to need help too, and she knew whom that was. She only hoped that he too would listen to her pleas. She no longer had the choice but to try to reach out to her brother before it was all too late.

  9

  “So why did you come here?” Rochie asked Sharlia as she showed him to a small room in an equally small house just off the main central square. This was his place to sleep. It had two rooms. It had one bed. He found the bed, and turned back to her.

  “The Seer told me to come here. She said that I would find my answers with these people.” With the sun up, she felt tired. She was nocturnal after all.

  He felt intrigued with this. “And did you?” He stared into her eyes. He wanted to gage her reaction. He still wasn’t convinced that he could trust her, but he did want to try. This was the only way he knew how to find out if he could or not. “Did you find your answers?”

  She smiled, knowing what he was trying to do. “I have to some of them.” She looked back to the door, and closed it. She felt the need to explain everything to him, so
she did. “I was looking for the meaning to life. I wanted to know what happened to Walkers after they died.” She felt somewhat exposed like this, but liked it. She trusted him more than she ever thought she did.

  He saw this too. “What did you find out?”

  She grinned. “I discovered that there is more to life than living. I have learned that death is not as important as life.”

  She looked so young. She looked so alive.

  “That is true.”

  “In the end, it is the journey that is more important than the end.”

  He nodded with everything. “How is that these people have learned to live with each other? It seems so…”

  She cut him off. “Different? So dangerous?” She could understand this about him. She knew what he was thinking without having to try. “These people have something that no one has known about in the Walker world, my world. They have forgotten it. They long for it, but have lost it in the endless void of time.”

  “And what is that?” He heard her voice crack. He heard true emotion within it too.

  She looked into his eyes. “Love. They long to love again.”

  He could understand this. “They have forgotten, I know. I have seen it with my time with them.” He chuckled some. In all of his life and time with the Walkers, he had noticed this too. They had lived for so long, they had lived for so many centuries, that they forgot the meaning of life. They had forgotten the meaning of their own existence. Until now, he had never thought much about this. “Maybe that is why your people do not have souls. They have forgotten the reasons to have one.”

  “Yes.” She loved hearing that he understood her. It was what she was looking for over her own long life. This was why she longed to find the meaning of her mother’s gifts to her. It was the need to pass on your knowledge to someone. It was a need to pass on your love. Dying was not as meaningful as that which you can give to another at the end.

  He saw completeness in her face. Her dark skin glistened with it.