Anna rocked back and forth over her sister’s body, which lay across the back seat of the second vehicle. Her keening continued the entire journey home.
When the motley crew arrived at the campsite, the three women burst out of the RV’s and ran toward the vehicles as soon as they entered the campsite.
Dimitri, who drove the lead vehicle, rolled the window down and yelled that they had injuries. He barely slowed down. Oksana crossed her hands across her chest and looked at the sky in relief when she saw her husband’s face. He briefly looked at her as he drove past.
Granny stood at the ready with Stanley in her arms. He barked his head off as the cars stopped and the doors flew open.
Everyone leaped into action. Steven was carefully lifted from the car and carried inside the RV that Claire directed them to. His screams were swallowed when the door slammed shut. Kat was led by Christopher to another RV where Oksana tended to her wounds. By Kat’s estimation, they were miniscule compared to the others. When Oksana was satisfied with Kat’s condition, she quickly moved on to the next person. Rebecca flitted from person to person administering first aid as best she could, too.
Kat staggered out of the RV, still in shock. Christopher waved Oksana off and hurried after Kat. Kat’s eyes were drawn to Anna. Anna could not be persuaded to leave her sister’s side. She continued to wail and rock over her body, which had been laid on a pallet of blankets on the ground.
Kat stared at the body for a moment, then sucked in her breath. “Where’s Mariya? Where’s Mariya??” she screamed and ran in circles, searching.
Christopher grabbed her around the waist and whirled her around to face him. He held her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “She’s dead, Kat. She sacrificed herself. As did Julia.” His voice broke.
Kat blinked. She couldn’t comprehend what he was saying. “How did she sacrifice herself? What do you mean?”
He swallowed hard and his eyes shone bright with tears. “I don’t know. I don’t know what she did. She just...disappeared into a dark hole or something. Everyone else got sucked in to the hole she created, too. All of my...the Barotkoffs.”
Kat struggled to breathe, then collapsed onto his chest and wailed as she was overcome with grief.
“It’s over.”
THE FAMILY LISTENED to the news reports the next day. The flustered reporter stared into the camera with wide eyes. “A massacre was discovered at a previously unknown property earlier today that has baffled local law enforcement. All we know is there were dozens of victims strewn all over what appears to have been the back yard of the property. Preliminary reports are that perhaps there was a cult there that had not been reported to authorities previously and they committed mass suicide. Other reports indicate that something much more sinister happened because of the conditions of the bodies that were found. We can confirm that between six and eight Russian women were found holed up in an underground bunker or something similar, none of whom speak any English. Immigration authorities tell me that they’re trying to sort this all out, but it’s a mess. Apparently, none of the women have papers and are believed to be here illegally. When we asked if there was potentially a Russian mob connection, we were told they could not confirm nor deny that. The investigation continues. We’ll keep our viewers up to date as news breaks. Back to you in the newsroom, Chuck.”
Epilogue
Ten years had passed. They had won, but the price of victory had been steep. Freedom is never free for those who fight for it. The world kept going, the global crisis resolved (thanks to Granny’s tribe) and became a hiccup in the history of humanity. The vast majority had no idea how close they had come to enslavement, nor did they know the ones who had saved them from it all. The remaining Barotkoffs were dispatched with quickly with the help of Granny’s gamer tribe, who tracked them down and issued arrest warrants for all of them in key positions around the globe. Evidence had been neatly planted to prove open and shut cases for the Barotkoff members, and each of them committed suicide in exactly the same manner.
To the surprise of the Wolff family, the previously unknown Barotkoffs were all very weak shifters. Most couldn’t even use their abilities; they had been bred for specific tasks, like Bonnie back at the coffee shop had been. Peter thought Bonnie didn’t activate his app because she had no abilities. But even the male Barotkoffs that had been placed around the globe were weak; mere pawns for the elite class of the Barotkoff family.
The Wolff family owed Granny’s gamer tribe a debt they could never repay. When Granny died peacefully surrounded by family two years ago, quickly followed by her feline companion Sweetie, the entirety of the gamer tribe paid tribute to her. Those who were able came in person, but those that could not took an entire twenty-four hours off from gaming on the day of her memorial service in honor of her. The on-line gaming community went dark for the first time on that day. Very few participants were left to wonder where everyone else had gone. Many remained in contact with the family, just in case.
After a long and suitable time of mourning, Stanley McBarker adopted Anna as his Person, and was now a little old grandpa dog. He was carried most places because his arthritis was too painful to walk very far, but he still had enough spunk to bark everyone out when necessary.
All the evidence of what happened on that fateful rooftop came from Christopher’s eyewitness account. He saw what Mariya had done, and the family pieced the events together from that.
When Julia attempted to block her powerful uncle, she paid with her life. Christopher watched his uncle approach her and as he did, his eyes glowed brighter and brighter. Julia’s head jerked backward, she grabbed her head between her hands, then collapsed onto the ground, blood pouring from her nose and ears. It will never be known if her death was the result of her own efforts or something Vladimir did to her. Claire speculated that she had an aneurysm. There was no possibility of an autopsy, so the true cause will remain a mystery.
Once Julia died, all the Barotkoffs, to include Vladimir, were free. Christopher was attacked and only saw parts of what happened next as he defended himself. Mariya shimmered several times as she moved from person to person and hoisted them off the roof or threw them down the stairs. As she did so, she extended a metallic arm or other device from herself and held the Barotkoffs in a tight grip with it, immobilizing them. When Christopher’s attackers were ripped from him, he dove behind a large metal box attached to the roof. The last of the Barotkoffs standing was Vladimir himself.
The family surmised Mariya must have selected only the members of her family that could shift into something to survive the fall from the roof, while she threw the rest of her family down the stairs, to include Julia, to protect them from what only she could do. The only way they were going to win was for her to kill them all at once.
Christopher had not been thrown down the stairs; Mariya never got the chance. Vladimir attacked her and tried to force the device down her throat. In a flash, Christopher saw Mariya shimmer almost as brightly as Kat. She screamed and then disintegrated into a black hole. Vladimir and the other Barotkoffs were sucked into the hole and disappeared, too. As soon as the last one disappeared, the hole collapsed into itself and vanished.
Christopher barely escaped being sucked in himself. He held on to the metal box with every ounce of strength he possessed. Just as he was pulled away from it and headed toward the black hole, the hole collapsed, and he landed on his stomach, which knocked the breath out of him.
Peter filled in the blanks. He speculated that because Mariya’s shifting ability was primarily metals from the periodic table, she must have turned herself into the heaviest of metals which became a concentrated black hole when combined with whatever the device was made of. Peter further surmised that as a result, the Barotkoffs were sucked in by their proximity to the immense gravitational pull all black holes are known for and therefore were destroyed in the process. He was convinced that Mariya knew exactly what she was doing. She sacrificed herself so that the others would
live.
Julia was buried on the family’s new and vast property set deep in the sprawling woods of Mississippi, where they were able to live freely for the first time ever. She rested beside Granny and Granny’s beloved companion, Sweetie. Although there was no body to bury, the family set up a headstone for Mariya just the same. They also set up headstones for all the other members of their family they had lost over the many decades. Even though the plots were empty, Kat was able to visit the grave of her parents for the first time in her life.
Steven’s leg healed in four weeks; remarkable for a human, but average for a shifter (with the help of Oksana’s tea). Dimitri suffered with a broken arm, and Christopher’s shoulder was dislocated. Everyone else suffered cuts, scrapes, and bruises that were gone in days. The pain in their hearts, however, took much longer to heal.
SCREAMING WAS AN ALMOST constant factor in Kat’s life now. Screaming in the morning. Screaming in the afternoon. Screaming at night. That last one was the hardest to deal with, but Kat wouldn’t have it any other way. Christopher made them scream all the time. He chased them around the house, around the yard, and leaped out from behind trees to roar like a bear as they scampered through the woods. They also screamed when they climbed on his back for horsey rides.
That’s what made Kat so proud, and her love deepen, with each passing year. Christopher made his children scream with laughter all the live long day. The screaming at night, well, that was because when they were babies, they needed tending to. Kat didn’t mind. Often, Christopher got up to tend to the baby’s needs and let her rest.
He was such a passionate husband and devoted father.
So far, all six of their children had displayed remarkable abilities. All but two inherited Kat’s exceptional green eyes. The entire Wolff family marveled at them, especially considering that none of them had even reached adolescence. The eldest, Elena (named after Christopher’s mother), at only nine-years-old, often shimmered brightly to shift into a live teddy bear or doll for the entertainment of her younger sister, seven-year-old Mariya. Mariya’s laughter brought with it songbirds from the trees. They gravitated toward her like a magnet. There was also a palpable sweetness to the atmosphere in her presence. She waved her slender arms in the air and warm breezes in winter, and cool breezes in summer, followed her wherever she went. Her charms were irresistible. At the grocery store, people around her smiled, hummed, and laughed for no reason. She radiated peace and happiness.
Kat and Christopher’s remaining children, who continued to arrive with regularity every year or two, displayed myriads of talents to shift both themselves and the environment around them. Some shimmered as though lit from behind from an unseen source, or their eyes twinkled and glowed. Surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins, the children knew nothing of the family’s past troubles. Peter and Anna’s children also showed remarkable abilities, although not as remarkable as those of Christopher and Kat’s.
As all the children played in the expansive front yard, the adults gathered and sat on the large porch of the main house to watch. Each family had their own home on the sprawling compound. Kat, who was in between pregnancies for now and still the slender young woman she had been when they met, Christopher, and Steven all ran around with the kids and played tag, laughing as one of them. Dimitri smoothed his warm hand over Oksana’s swollen belly and smiled at her. They were expecting twins. Her face radiated tranquility. He sat next to her and rested his arm behind her. She nestled into the safety and comfort of his arms. The porch swing moved lazily back and forth in the late autumn warmth.
Dimitri turned to his daughter. “It’s amazing, don’t you think?”
“What’s that?” Anastasia asked and sipped her lemonade. Her eyes tracked her father’s namesake and eldest nephew, six-year-old Dimitri, as he chased his cousins in the yard. Anastasia remained single and loved playing the part of auntie. Dimitri hadn’t given up hope that she would find someone, however. She certainly dated enough.
Her father swept his hands over the yard. “Look at them! Every single one of them, an ideal’nyy rebenok!”
Anastasia’s laughter rang out. “Dad, how long are you going to harp on that? We know, we know! We’ve known since Elena was three.”
Oksana patted her husband’s cheek. “Yes, Dimitri. I hope you won’t make our children feel bad that they are merely shifters, or that their mother is only human.”
Claire crossed her arms in mock indignation. “Yeah! What’s wrong with my kids?”
Robert pressed a kiss to her neck and she smacked at him playfully. “Nothing is wrong with our perfect little angels.” Their two children scampered among their cousins, which included Alexander and Rebecca’s three children. Steven had a serious girlfriend at the moment.
Dimitri laughed and turned his gaze to his wife. “When have I ever made Alexei feel badly about his origins?” he teased.
Just then, five-year-old Alexei scrambled up the porch steps. “I’m hungry. Can I have a cookie?” His ice blue eyes opened wide.
“Only one. We will eat dinner in an hour,” Oksana replied. The boy nodded and charged into the house, the screen door banging behind him. She turned back to her husband. “I only tease you. You are a good father.”
The long-standing blood feud had ended. The slate had been wiped clean, and in its place, tranquility and peace abounded in the laughter of children playing in the sunshine.
And so, fire and ice came together in a beautiful union. Rather than consume each other, they both fulfilled and completed each other, as they were always meant to do.
Acknowledgements
You have reached the end of the Shifters saga. I will miss Christopher and Kat, but they have their happily ever after. Thank you for taking the journey with me. I would love to hear your thoughts on it, so please visit me on my website and chat with me. Meanwhile, I am already back at my keyboard creating the next world for you to enjoy...
Thank you to Jeannie Branscome for your swift and honest feedback on this journey. I value your friendship! Thank you to my 10K Angels – you ladies are my rock. Thank you to all the authors around the globe that I am privileged to hang out with electronically and occasionally in person. Indie Authors are some of the most kind, generous, and honest individuals I have ever known. Tremendous gratitude goes out to my husband for his unwavering support of my crazy ideas. Life wouldn’t be worth it without him.
If you enjoyed reading this book and the series, I ask three things of you:
One – Tell your friends! Obviously, that helps to get the word out about books more than almost anything. So, blab away!
Two – Write a review on Amazon. I cannot impress upon you enough the importance of those reviews; they are the life blood for authors such as myself.
Three – Please go to www.carischaeffer.com and join my Team. I can’t stand e-newsletters, so you won’t get one from me, nor do I send out weekly emails simply because it’s been a week. I only send emails out when I have something of worth to share. This isn’t an opportunity for me to share your email, either. That’s rude and I was raised better than that.
About the Author
Cari has worn numerous hats in her life. She is a proud USAF veteran (and the wife of a veteran), has her bachelor’s degree and worked as a critical care RN, and owned A Personal Chef and Catering company.
She lives in the American Midwest with her ridiculously patient husband of twenty-eight years. They have three children and two Benevolent Chihuahua Overlords named Stanley McBarker and Snoopy. Stanley is rather proud to have an ongoing cameo in this series as himself and hopes to develop an income stream from it. He shouldn’t hold his breath on that front but will accept treats from strangers.
Cari’s debut novel, Faith, Hope, Love, and Chocolate was released in 2014. Her first trilogy, The Yellow Ribbon Chronicles, covers life in the military from the perspective of the spouse and is currently available, as well. Please visit her website for information on all of Cari’s books.
Revelations: The Shifter Series: Volume Three Page 24
