As soon as I had unlocked my Lexus, Clara appeared in front of me. "What's going on? Those three dogs showed up and then you and your boyfriend took off without a word."
Distracted, I told her, "Francine has declared war and I need to return to the castle. Oh, and all of my memories have been unlocked."
"Whoa! Wait a minute. So what happened?"
"Long story short, I withheld information from my parents on Hella's location and they had my memory swept and then banished me."
Clara rolled her eyes. "Your parents. Of course."
"Oh and Cliff and I had a baby."
She stared at me, wide-eyed and silent. Finally, she said, "I didn't see that coming. It's not easy to leave me speechless. When did that happen?"
"Look, if you want to hop in the car with me, I can tell you the whole story. Otherwise, I need to get to that freaking castle to see Cliff and Larus, then deal with my parents. Not to mention beginning my training again. I'm eighteen months out of practice."
"I definitely need to hear your story—every detail. I'll ride with you for a while, but then I need to get back here since I promised Natalie that I'd spend the night with your family. With you gone again. Looks like I've got clean-up duty for you as usual, cousin."
"Just get in."
Clara stayed in the car with me for a couple of hours, listening to me share everything that had happened since my vampire parents had taken me to Germany to awaken Alrekur. When I finally stopped, she had me stop so that she could get out, run back to Delphic Cove and do damage control over my having disappeared once again.
"I'll get to the castle as soon as I can," she promised. "My father can't keep me from participating in the war. Who knows, maybe he'll come out of hiding to help too. Though I'm sure he's going to be pissed about your father not being his brother, so who knows what he's going to do? But I'll definitely be there for you."
She gave me a hug and I hugged her back, and then she was gone, off to clean up my mess with my human parents once again. I still had a couple more hours of driving, so I turned up the tunes, hoping to make the time pass more quickly until I reached the woods where the castle was. When I arrived at the town closest to the castle, I realized that I didn't know if there was even a way to drive in. I only knew about flying or running in.
I found a paid, secure parking lot since I was leaving my expensive car. The security guard thought I was nuts because I wasn't taking a shuttle anywhere. There was nothing for miles, but I couldn't explain to him my superhuman speed or the impending war between vampires and werewolves.
When I reached the edge of the woods, I took a moment to get a sense of my location in regards to the castle. As soon as I had it, I began running. I was sure that I'd surpassed my all-time top speed. I was anxious to see Larus; it had been so long and even with the memory of a vampire, I was sure that he wouldn't remember me. I didn't even want to think about Cliff. What would he think of me dating my werewolf teacher? Especially after our emotional parting, right before my parents had banished me.
I was thrilled at the thought of being back with him. Even though I had all of my memories back, it still only felt like a few days had passed since I'd seen him when my parents made their big announcement so long ago. I hoped that he'd be understanding, since my parents had erased my memory and made it impossible for me to find other vampires.
The servant at the door of the castle gave me a look of shock as I ran to him. I was sure that I looked a mess. Just hours ago I'd been in a swimming pool fully clothed and I hadn't had time to clean up.
"Your highness…?"
I nodded, not even out of breath after running for so many miles. I debated whether to ask my parents or my child first. The choice was obvious. "Take me to Cliff and Larus, please."
He opened the door. "I cannot leave my post, your majesty. If you head for your wing, you're sure to run into a servant who can take you. They've set up a room for the boy near your room."
"Thank you," I said, not bothered by the fact that I had to walk by myself. I wasn't in the mood for company anyway. I received more surprised looks as I made my way to my wing, but I didn't ask anyone for assistance. I headed for my room to freshen up. When I got there, I was relieved to find no one in there. It looked about the same as it had, minus the baby things and Cliff's stuff.
I looked at myself in the mirror, not surprised that I looked a fright. I walked into my closet—which was actually a room in and of itself—and picked out a pretty dress, then headed for the shower. I knew it wouldn't be long before I had company. Enough servants had seen me that word would travel quickly to my parents and Cliff. Probably the Fyrsturae too…were they all here in the castle now? Was my sister here? I wondered what it would be like to meet her as I got ready.
Just as I was adding the final touches to my makeup, the door opened. Karlie walked in and her face lit up when she saw me. "It's true! You're back!"
I threw my blush onto the vanity and jumped up to give her a hug. "It's so good to see you! You don't know how much I missed you."
Karlie squeezed me back. "We've all missed you so much too. Cliff and Larus, especially."
"Can I see them? Are they still here?"
"Of course, to both questions. He and Mattie have been taking care of the boy, never out of either of their sight for a moment. Cliff's room is down the hall. Would you like me to take you there?"
I nodded. "Please!"
We walked the short distance to the room and Karlie knocked. She opened the door slightly. "You two have a special visitor. Would you like me to bring her in?"
Before I knew what had happened, Cliff was wrapped around me, kissing my face all over. "I've never missed you so much," he said in between kisses. "I searched everywhere for you. Your parents told me that even if I were standing ten feet away from you, I'd never know it. But that didn't stop me from looking."
"Mommy?" asked a small, adorable voice.
Cliff stepped to my side, and then crouched down as I took in the sight of my baby, now a toddler. He was the cutest little thing I'd ever seen. Cliff said, "Yes, Larus. Mommy's finally home."
Before I could say a word, Larus had jumped into my arms, squeezing me tight. "Mommy!"
Cliff wrapped his arms around both of us. "Every day, Mattie and I showed him pictures of you, telling him that you were fighting your way back to us."
"See my room, Mommy?" he asked.
"I'd love to!" I said, giving him a gentle squeeze. "I can't believe what a big boy you are now."
He smiled and then pointed to the room. We all walked in, and I could tell that Cliff had moved what had been left of his old room into this one. The rest of the room was filled with toddler stuff.
"Your daddy must have had fun setting this up," I said, watching Larus climb onto a swing. I sat on a chair as he showed me every toy in his room. It was hard to believe that he was the little baby that I'd been forced to leave. I watched him in awe, unable to take my eyes off of him.
"He's amazing, isn't he?" Cliff asked, sitting next to me. The chairs in the castle were so luxurious that we easily fit onto one together.
I nodded. "He really is. I can't get over how much he's grown."
"Mattie and I have told him all about you. He's been excited to meet you. He knows that you didn't want to be away from him."
Snuggled with Cliff, I watched our son play for as long as I could. I was so happy. I didn't want to go anywhere else or see anyone else. I was perfectly content where I was.
I heard the door open, but didn't bother to look up to see who had joined us. Mattie appeared in front of me. "You're back!" She wrapped me in a hug, which I managed to return, even in Cliff's arms. "Does this mean Francine…?"
"Yes. It means exactly that. She has most of the werewolves on her side and it's rumored that she's been creating a line of common vampires." Cliff's arms tightened around me. "I'm not sure what that entails. I'm going to need to start training again soon. But first, I need to spend time with my family."
> She nodded. "Of course. Your parents—"
"Can wait. I won't see them today."
"Your sister—"
"Not seeing her today."
"Oh. Okay. What should I tell them?"
I bit my lips together. "Nothing that I can say in the presence of a child."
Cliff laughed out loud. "I love you, my princess." He kissed the top of my head.
Looking at Mattie, I said, "You can tell them that I'm not ready to see them. They're going to have to wait; they owe me that much. We can discuss battle strategy, but they're not getting any hugs from me."
"I'll find a way to translate that into something that won't send them into a rage."
"I don't care if they do go into a rage, so long as they save it for tomorrow."
She shook her head, smiling as she left the room.
"It's nice to see you taking a stand against them," Cliff whispered into my ear, giving me goose bumps.
Cliff, Larus, and I spent the rest of the day and evening together by ourselves. Larus didn't seem put off that I'd been gone as long as he could remember. Mattie and Cliff had done a fantastic job of convincing him of my love for him despite my absence. He held my hand a lot and climbed into my lap when he got sleepy.
I didn't want to leave his side when he fell asleep in his bed, so Cliff sent for some champagne and we celebrated being back together by watching the sunset through the large picture window. Cliff filled me in on everything that I'd missed. He'd kept a detailed baby book, keeping track of every milestone that I'd missed. He'd also taken tons of pictures, which he and Mattie had turned into six volumes of scrapbooks. By the time the morning hours struck, it was almost as if I hadn't missed anything. Almost.
Cliff and I didn't want to sleep a wink, and thankfully we didn't have to, being able to go even weeks without it if we had to. We stayed up all night, talking and staying close. Neither one of us wanted to think about what was coming, the war that his mother had orchestrated. Finally, we ended up back in his bed, the same one that had brought us so many blessings and curses at the same time.
As sunlight began to fill the room, Larus woke up and climbed in bed with us.
"You still here!" he said, smiling and wrapping himself around me.
"I sure am," I said, and held him close. Cliff wrapped his arms around the both of us; we all snuggled each other, not wanting to let go.
After about twenty minutes, Larus said that he was hungry.
"Should we send for breakfast and eat in here?" Cliff asked.
"We go get," Larus said.
Cliff laughed. "He loves to eat in the dining room with everyone. I think he just likes the attention," he said, rubbing Larus' hair.
"Does everyone love you?" I asked.
Larus nodded his head with a smile.
"Can I help you get dressed?" I asked him. I'd missed out on so much, even something simple like that seemed like such a special task.
He nodded, flew across the room to his little dresser and pulled out some clothes.
"Does he always pick out his clothes?"
Cliff nodded. "He's very independent. I can't imagine where he got it."
I laughed and shoved him. I grabbed my dress and slipped it back on while Larus had his back turned, then I helped him get dressed. When he was ready, I looked at myself in the mirror and decided that I was presentable enough for the dining hall. It wasn't as though we were attending a formal banquet or anything.
It was pretty early, so there weren't many people eating yet, but those who were there were excited to see me back. I made small talk with everyone, glad that neither my parents nor any of the Fyrsturae were eating yet. That was one benefit to having an early riser for a child.
"Let's take a walk through the gardens before I have to talk to my parents."
"Do you want to take Larus with us, or have Mattie watch him?"
I picked Larus up and swung him around. "I don't want to let this little guy out of my sight!"
He giggled and squealed.
Cliff smiled. "Sounds good to me."
We walked through our favorite garden. I was glad that it was fenced off, because Larus was all over the place. One moment, he'd be holding one of our hands, the next he'd be twenty feet in front of us.
"He's so…excited," I said, laughing.
"You were the same way," Cliff said, squeezing my hand. "I remember you at that age—always getting into trouble. You kept Mattie and me on our toes, and so does he. In fact, that's why this garden has the fence."
"It never had a fence before me?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
He shook his head, grinning. "The castle is three thousand years old, and there was never a fence here until Marguerite Westerfield graced us with her presence."
I spied a pile of leaves. "You know what I remember?"
He looked worried. "What?"
Before he could blink, I ran to the leaves, scooped some up and dumped them on his head. I laughed so hard that I had to sit down as I watched him standing there with leaves hanging from his hair and clothes. He rushed to me, picked me up, and ran through the garden with me squealing. I could hear Larus laughing and chasing us. Cliff finally stopped and dropped me into another huge pile of leaves. Larus jumped in and we had a big leaf-throwing fight.
"This brings back so many memories," Cliff said after we had stopped.
"Me too," I said. "I never want this to end."
"Hopefully after we win the war, we can spend many decades together."
Footsteps approached. "I hate to interrupt this happy reunion," Mattie said. "But your parents won't be put off any longer. Your mother was furious yesterday when I told her that you wouldn't join them until today. Your father told her that they had that coming and to give you space."
I sighed and rolled over, looking at Cliff and Larus.
"We'll be waiting for you," Cliff said. "Don't worry about us."
"I'm not worried. I just don't want to leave you again, not even for an hour." I narrowed my eyes. "Especially after the last time my parents called me away from you two."
"This isn't like that. We'll be back together before the sun sets. I'll take you to the training grounds and we'll see how rusty you've become," he said, winking at me.
"Hey!" I protested, and laughed.
"Larus is going to need a snack pretty soon anyway. I'll get him back on his routine, and then we'll see you as soon as you get back to us."
I gave them each an extra-long hug before walking back to my room with Mattie. As I got ready to see my parents, she told me that all of the Fyrsturae had been found. Hella had arrived only the day before I had. As luck would have it, my sister had known something about one of her enemies that had helped my parents find her location.
"How long has she been back?" I asked, irritated that my parents hadn't bothered to call for me after having found her.
"Not too long. Maybe a month."
"A month?" I exclaimed. "They didn't bother to bring me back after they found her? Everything has been all about awakening her, hasn't it?" I demanded.
"I believe that they were waiting for you to arrive on your own so they would know when Francine was ready. They had the spell—"
"I remember the spell," I snapped. "Sorry, Mattie. I know it's not your fault. Let's go see them. There are things I need to discuss with them."
She nodded and we went to the same room in which they'd had the spell cast upon me. They were talking with a redhead who I assumed to be Ida, my three thousand year old sister. I barely paid any attention to her. I had business to discuss with my parents.
"So you were the ones who did that to me!"
"Daughter," my father said, "you—"
"I wish to speak to the two of you alone."
"We'd like you to meet your sister."
"Later. We have some things to discuss now."
"Whatever you say to us, you can say—"
"I said alone!"
Ida smirked. "It's no problem. This obviou
sly isn't a good time for introductions. We can get acquainted later." She stood up and left the room with Mattie and another servant that had been in the room.
"You sent me back to Delphic Cove without any memory of what had happened! Not only that, but with a cyclical spell that caused me to forget over and over again."
"It wasn't quite a cyclical spell," my mother said. "It was triggered each time that you came too close to remembering everything. But if you almost remembered often enough, I could see how it would appear to be cycling."
I narrowed my eyes. "So my werewolf boyfriend was right," I whispered, loud enough for them to hear.
The look of shock on their faces was priceless. I couldn't help but to savor the moment. They had it coming.
"Werewolf boyfriend?" my father asked, looking worried.
It was my turn to smirk. "What exactly did you think would happen when you kept me away from vampires? Surely, you're aware that the Sonnast must always be in love. I was in a deeply depressed state and a werewolf who knew what I was helped me out of it by giving me blood. I was wasting away. You two sent me into the arms of our mortal enemies."
They exchanged a mortified look.
"That's what happens when you only think of yourselves. Sending me away to hide amongst humans may have worked to your benefit the first time, but if it happens again, you'll probably find the tenth line clouded with werewolf blood. Just so you know."
"You—"
"I'm not done yet! He is one of the peaceful werewolves, and I have all of the inside information on what they know about the war, which granted isn't much, but it's probably a lot more than you have. Did you know that Francine has been creating a line of vampires just for battle?"
"She what?" they exclaimed in unison.
"That's the rumor anyway. The packs have all split and regrouped based on whether or not they want to fight us or find a way to live in peace with us. The ones who want peace are prepared to fight on our side. The others have already joined forces with Francine. She's been working with them since before she left the castle. I wouldn't be surprised if she started before my transformation even began, but who knows?"
"We knew that she was rounding up common vampires," my father said, "but we had no idea that she was doing so. Do you know if she's been creating them with her blood?"
The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5 Page 90
