by D. Levesque
“We made amends a long time ago, Lianne,” he says quietly.
“I know, Grahad. It’s just history is hard to forget for some of us. The Summer Court at least has admitted it,” she says, sighing.
Just as earlier, there is another knock on the door. My mom looks over at the door and nods, “That would be our next guest and Brandon’s third trainer. Trent, please wait one moment before you answer it? Brandon, look inside yourself again and bring out your human side. Just close your eyes and think of yourself as you always are,” she says with a smile.
“Hmm, sure, mom,” I say. Then closing my eyes, I do as she asked and imagine my everyday self. Suddenly again, there is that pain of transformation, and I am left panting on the floor. At least it’s not as bad. It seems to be getting easier each time I do it.
Once I am done, Trent goes to the door and opens it. Getting up, I look towards the door and see a young woman standing there; she is about 5 feet 4. She is slim, but her breasts are huge, with a small waist. She is dressed in a pair of tight-fitting blue jeans, and her shirt is a white blouse, open at the chest. Her hair is black and long. Her skin is alabaster-white, but what intrigues me is her eyes. They are red, instead of white. Her lips are sensual, and she exudes sex appeal. Looking behind her, I see a tall man at 6 feet 3, at least, and he is wearing a dark suit. His salt and pepper hair is cut short in a military-style, and he is wearing sunglasses, even inside.
Turning around, Grahad sees who it is, and his face clouds up.
“Lianne, what is a fucking bloodsucker doing here!” he retorts angrily.
“That would be Vampire, you ass sucking Pansie-elf,” says the man back, angrily.
Vampire? Are they real? What the hell is my mom trying to do to me, I think, cringing inside.
Chapter Ten
“That’s enough, you two!” my mother growls, and I can tell she is using The Voice.
It comes out strong, and I can almost feel the need to kneel in apology. The only ones who do not heed the command’s voice are myself, and the insulted Elf and Vampire. Everyone else gets down on one knee with heads bowed. Looking, I see that even the cute Vampire is herself on one knee, but is trying to fight it to stand back up. Interesting. She has spunk. I look over, and I see that Silvana and Johanne are both doing the same thing. Oh, very interesting. They both have that spunk too, I think with a grin.
“Oh, get up all of you,” my mother says, blushing slightly.
Everyone gets up, and my mother continues, “Grahad, understand that this is my home, not a damn bar where you can insult anyone you wish,” she tells him.
“My apologies, Lianne,” Grahad says, bowing to show his respect to my mom. Just who the fuck is my mom?
“But again, what is this Vampire doing here?” he asks her politely, not even looking at the person in question.
“He is here at my request, as I wish his daughter to train my son,” she says mildly.
Grahad turns to look at the girl with a thoughtful look on his face, but then he blurts out in shock, “She’s a Shadow Walker, isn’t she?”
“That is correct,” answers the girl’s father, instead of the girl in question.
“What’s a Shadow Walker?” I ask the room.
“Is this the boy?” the girl's father asks me, looking me up and down. “He doesn’t seem to be much. I am not sure he should have the honor of having my daughter as a teacher,” he says condescendingly.
My mother, for her part, just sighs and looks at me. “Brandon, please tell this pompous ass to kneel.”
Looking at my mother in shock, I blurt, “Are you sure?”
“Normally, I would say no, but in this case, I need him to understand my stance,” she tells me with a warm smile.
Shrugging, I look over at the man again, and he has a frown on his face. Reaching into myself again, I use The Voice, and I command, “Kneel.”
Suddenly, he is on the floor, kneeling on both knees with his head down. He raises his head in shock and looks at me.
“This is why, Jagar Madoor, I wish your daughter to teach my son. Now, do you understand?” my mother says to him with a smile. “Brandon, you can release him,” she says, looking at me once more.
Again, reaching down into myself, I say, “You may stand.”
With that, Jagar Madoor stands up. But this time, he does it slowly, with a shocked look still on his face. I look at his daughter and see she is staring at me almost with hunger, licking her lips. What the fuck?
“Father, you have no say in this. I am of age. I wish to be his trainer,” she says, again licking her lips, looking at me straight in the eyes. Wow, what is up with her? She is looking at me like I am some kind of meal.
“I understand, Lina, but as your father, I still wish to make sure he is worthy of your skills. He isn’t even a Vampire, so I am not sure he can even be trained.”
“Again, what’s a Shadow Walker?” I ask my mother to remove my gaze from the hungry eyes.
“A Shadow Walker is an assassin. But one that uses, as the name implies, shadows,” she says to me.
Looking back at this girl, Lina, I see she is still looking at me. “This is what a Shadow Walker can do,” she says and then disappears before my eyes. Suddenly I feel something sharp against my ribs. I look down in shock, and she is tucked in against me, with a sharp black dagger against my ribs. The blade itself is so black that it almost absorbs the light.
Without thinking about it, thanks to the training I had with my dad and uncle John, my hand whips down, and I grab her wrist, or I try to. Instead, I grab the air, and she has disappeared again. She reappears, but somehow she is up against my back with her arm around my neck, the blade just underneath it.
“Damn, you’re fast for a human,” she whispers to me.
“He isn’t human, Lina,” my mother tells her. “If anything, he hasn’t reached his full potential, it seems. The fact that you were able to get away from his grab like that tells me I picked the right girl for this,” she finishes with a smile.
“What if I don’t want to train him?” she says to my mother, still against my back. I can feel her large breasts pressing against me. Damn, they feel nice. I can tell she is excited since her hard rock nipples are also jabbing me, like the dagger at my neck. I peg her to be at least a 38DD.
“What if I want to bite him to make him mine?” she says, and I can tell by the way she’s saying it that she has a grin on her face.
“Lina!” her father says angrily. But my mother holds up her hand to stop him from continuing.
“Go right ahead and bite him, Lina dear,” my mother says sweetly. Oh shit, is she telling a fucking Vampire to go ahead and bite me? Is she trying to turn me into a bloodsucker, as Grahad called them?
“What, you think I wouldn’t?” Lina says sweetly.
“No, I don’t think you would,” my mother says to her just as sweetly.
Without warning, I feel Lina’s mouth on my neck, and then there is a powerful pain, as I feel two small needle-like things pierce my skin. Without thinking about it, I grab Lina by the back, pull her off me, and hold her up in front of me. She’s hanging in the air, like a kitten.
“What the fuck! That hurts. Seriously, you bit me?” I say to her, incredulously.
Lina just stares at me hungrily, but then confusion crosses over her face. Then shock. Then she isn't in my grip anymore but has disappeared. That fucking poofing trick of hers. God fucking dammit. I put my hand to my neck, and I feel wetness there. Bringing my hand back to look, I see it’s covered in blood.
“What is going on! I bit him. He should be under my command!” Lina says in shock. Turning towards her voice, I see she is about ten feet from me, near the door, as if to run.
“Well, that confirms that,” my mother says with a laugh.
“You knew?” Jagar says incredulously.
“I had an idea. Brandon is a Silver Were, so I figured as much. But also, I have a feeling he is much more than that. Brandon, did you feel an
ything after she bit you?” she says, looking my way.
I think about it, and other than the stinging that is slowly starting to fade, I try to feel if I am changing into a Vampire. Closing my eyes, I imagine my lake, which is still there in my mind's eye. Not seeing anything there, I try to feel my body for any changes. I start at my feet and work up to my head. I don’t feel anything out of the ordinary. Then I look at my feelings. Other than pissed that she bit me, I can’t feel anything different. No, wait. Turning my head sideways with my eyes closed, I can sort of see something, almost like a very faint red thread moving away from me. Following it, I can see it leads to something else, a shadow. The red thread is attached to it somehow. I can tell that the thread is very much alive.
Looking down again with my eyes closed, I can see that that it’s attached to my chest, over where my heart is. Putting my hand there, I feel a slight warmth from it. Barely perceptible. Without thinking about it, I run my mind along it, until it reaches the end. Looking closer at the thread, I can see that inside it’s almost a red liquid. It's blood, I think excitedly! But it’s not flowing. Thinking about it, I go back to the thread that is attached to my heart. Let's see if this will work. Since imagination seems to be the trick, I imagine some of my blood leaving my heart, and pushing it down through the thread slowly.
I hear a gasp and then, “Stop, stop!” and then panting. “Please stop what you’re doing!”
Opening my eyes in surprise, I look over, and Lina is on all fours. She is panting heavily, her face is flushed, and her eyes are glazed. What the fuck?
“Please stop, not in front of everyone,” she begs me.
“What the fuck just happened?” I ask everyone in shock.
“I would say you just confirmed it for me, but for Jagar here, can you tell me what you just did?” my mother says to me proudly. “Though, that there might have been a bit too much,” she finishes, pointing to the situation that Lina is in. She is trying to stand up, but it’s like her legs won’t carry her weight, she keeps falling back down on her ass.
“Hmm, sure. So after you asked if I felt anything, I checked and didn’t feel different. But then, with my eyes closed, I felt, or saw, a red thread going from my chest over my heart to something. I followed it, but it didn’t do anything. So examining it again, I saw that it was a liquid, like blood. So going back to my heart, I imagined pumping some of my blood down the thread where it was attached to my chest. And well, that happened,” I finished, waving towards Lina.
“Lina, can you tell me what you felt?” Lina’s father asks her.
Lina just looks at her dad and licks her lips. “I would rather not, Father,” she says quietly.
“Lina, we need to-” he tells her forcefully, but then is interrupted by my mother again.
“Jagar, don’t embarrass the poor girl. As I am sure she won’t want to tell her father that what she felt was probably the most intense pleasure she has ever felt in her life. Am I right, Lina?”
Without looking at her father, she nods to my mother. My mother walks up to Lina and bends down to whisper something in the ear of the little Vampire. Once my mother is done, she stands up, and Lina looks at me hungrily again, but this time it’s much more intense.
“Deal!” she says eagerly.
“What did you just agree to, Lina!” her father says angrily.
“I agreed to be his trainer. I will teach him how to be a Shadow Walker. But I also agreed to be his mate,” she says, but not once has she taken her eyes off me.
“No!” I hear, but instead of it coming from just Jagar, the other two voices are a surprise to me, and I am sure to the rest of the room. Except my mother, who yet again, has a big grin on her face. What the fuck are you doing, mother? I try to convey that message to her through my look, and she just minutely shakes her head.
“Do you have issues with who I allow my son to mate with Silvana, Johanne?” my mother says to them both.
Both of the girls are blushing now and are unsure what to say. I am sure their outbursts were unexpected for each of them. They both look at each other, uncertain.
“It’s not that,” says Johanne, hesitantly. “It’s just your son saved my life, and I really like him, and I wanted to see where our friendship could lead.”
What the fuck is she talking about? Friendship? She hates me! She has been on my ass about everything. Again, what the fuck is she talking about?
“I have to agree. I was hoping to see what kind of relationship I could have with your son. He is someone who one day will be powerful and special, and I wanted to make sure he kept his head on his shoulders as he got more powerful,” Silvana says shyly.
I just stare at the two girls in shock. I had no clue that either one of them even liked me that much. Silvana, I would have been happy with a friendship, sure, but Johanne hates my guts! What the hell?
“What if I told you that training him is only part of the request?” my mother says to the two girls.
They both look at each other, confused. Looking around the room, I see Jagar and Grahad are just as confused. The only one not confused is Lina, who, for some reason, has a huge ass grin on her face. Now I am worried.
Looking at my mom for the answer, she says, “I want all three of you to be my son’s mates. But I also want you all to be his trainers. We know he is a Silver Elf, so I wish to mate him with Silvana. I know he is a Silver Were, so I want him to mate with Johanne,” she says.
“Lianne, you must excuse my intrusion. What is your reasoning? Why would you want him to mate with my daughter Lina then?” Jagar asks her, still confused.
“Easy. Somewhere in your legends, do you have a story of the ones who started or created your race?” she asks him pointedly.
Here, he gets very quiet. He just stares at her without answering. No one in the room moves or says anything. “I cannot tell you. It’s a secret we have kept a very long time,” he says apologetically.
“Quite all right. Brandon has already confirmed he is also a Vampire, as he can control what you call Threads of Faith. But also, what you don’t know is he can handle silver without effect. Trent, if you would?” she says.
“Yes, Madam,” he says, walking to the door and going outside. Everyone looks confused, but then he is back, and in his arms, he is carrying a metal chest that is about 2 feet by 2 feet by 1 foot. Coming to stand in front of me, he places the chest on the floor at my feet and backs away, right to the exit again.
“You might all wish to back up also, to be safe,” my mother says. I go to move, but she holds up her hand. “Except you, Brandon, you will be safe,” she says with a smile.
Once everyone is at the other end of the room, I am left alone, standing in front of the couch. With a chest at my feet. My mother looks to make sure, and she turns back to me.
“Very well, Brandon. Please open the chest and take out what’s in it and hold it up in your hand.”
Looking at my mother oddly, I do what she says. Bending down, I see that the chest is made of lead. Honest to goodness lead. I undo the latch and open it. Inside, I see it’s also lined with lead. Inside is a beautifully worked dagger. It’s about a foot long, and from what I can see, the blade itself is silver with a slight curve, with lettering engraved on it that I can’t read. It’s in a language I have never seen. The handle itself is made of strips of leather that have been woven around, over and over. The pummel is a piece of art. It has a wolf’s head. Grabbing the blade handle, I slowly lift it out of the chest.
Suddenly I hear gasps of horror from the folks in the room. Looking up quickly, I see that everyone has taken another step back from me.
“What is the meaning of this, Lianne!” cries Grahad. “Why was silver brought here? Is this a trap!”
“Calm yourself, Grahad, and you also Jagar, put your teeth away,” she says to them both. Looking over at Jagar at my mother’s comment, I see that he has changed. He now has large canines, as one would typically see on a Vampire in the movies. He focuses on her words,
and then I guess he decides to listen to her since his teeth start to shorten and go back to normal.
“Explain why you would bring silver here. You know it’s the bane of our Races,” Grahad says vehemently.
“That is correct. But look at my son. Your own daughter confirmed him to be a Silver Elf. You have seen with your own eyes his transformation to a Silver Were. Now Jagar, as you can see as a Vampire, he can hold silver safely. Brandon, can you touch the flat of the blade to your cheek to show you do not get hurt or feel anything, please?” she asks me in a hopeful tone.
With that, I take the beautiful blade, and I do as my mother asked me. I bring the blade up to my face and place it against my cheek. Other than the coolness of the blade, I feel nothing.
“Impossible, it must not be silver,” Jagar says and walks towards me angrily. But then once he gets about two feet from me and lifts his hand to grab the blade, he falls on all fours, and I can hear him moaning like he is about to get sick.
“Brandon, put it back into the chest, please,” my mother says hurriedly.
Bending down, I put it back into the chest, close the lid quickly, and then move to help him. Not sure what to do, I do the only thing I can think of. I pat his back sympathetically.
“It’s all right, there, there,” I say lamely.
Chapter Eleven
“Brandon dear, stop doing that. You look and sound like an idiot,” my Mom says with a smile on her face. So I stop and stand up again.
Jagar slowly gets up, and once he is standing again, he looks at me in shock. He isn’t wearing his glasses anymore. I can see his red eyes. Looking on the floor, I see that in his falling over, they got crushed. Shit, I hope he isn’t going to make me pay for those. They looked kind of expensive.
“How is this possible…” he starts. He tries to go on, but nothing comes out of his mouth. Finally, after getting his thoughts in order, he continues, “I mean, we all learned about it, but we always looked at it as folklore. We might keep its history, but we always found it foolish. A dream that we all wanted, but thought it lunacy that it would happen. It has been debated for so long whether or not the legend was true.”
