Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 63

"But we're practically the same age," I stuttered.

"With you, dear, it just seems to be happening sooner rather than later," said Rose.

"After all, you have already demonstrated an intelligence beyond your years, according to the high school that is," smiled Gabriel.

"Does the rest of the family know about all of this?" I asked and was told that they did. It was our family secret that had to remain a secret in order to protect us all.

"To protect us from what... or who?"

It was then that I found out about the predators and other creatures.

In the past, the werecats and the ravens were enemies, but over the years they have formed a strong bond mainly due to the friendship between Gabriel and Rose. However, elsewhere in the world they continued to hold a strong dislike for one another. This sounded quite natural to me.

"So what does this make me," I thought aloud, "if I have the genes of both within me?" I said as I struggled to understand what this would mean.

"Honestly, we don't know. You appear to be the first of your kind Lilly. Well... the second after Neleh but we don't believe she ever changed," said Gabriel.

Sitting down, I took a deep breath to try and calm myself, and then my imagination began to run riot.

"So what other predators do we have?"

It turned out that werewolves were not particularly fond of ravens or cats. Generally speaking though, we didn't have a problem with the vampires as they tended to l.u.s.t after pure human blood. There have been times far in the past when we were the victims of the blood suckers, as Wyatt described them, but they were not too fond of the way we tasted, apparently. Well, that was a positive, I supposed.

I laughed aloud as it sounded so ludicrous. The others laughed with me, momentarily, but it didn't last long. Again there was silence as I tried to take in all these stories that sounded so far-fetched that they were hard to comprehend.

I took a moment again to think of my father and Vivian and, as if reading my mind, Meredith crouched down to the tin of photos and rummaged through them, clearly looking for something in particular. She found what she was looking for. It was a picture of Serena and me at the hospital and to one side, was Vivian.

"This is the only photograph we have of Vivian, and the only photo we have of you," she said as she pa.s.sed it to me.

Vivian looked much the same as the last time I'd seen her. The only real difference was that she had a long deep gash on her cheek. It looked fresh.

Up until a few months ago, the last day I'd seen her, she had kept her hair the same way a blunt bob in a deep red colour with never a single hair out of place. Her piercing blue eyes stood out menacingly, belying the innocent sweet smile that curled from her lips. It was the only time I'd ever seen her smile.

It was the first time that I could see her for what she really was. Pure evil. If only I'd known before. Perhaps I could have done something. Perhaps I could have stopped the spell she maintained over my father.

Again, as if reading my mind, Meredith spoke up, "There's no point in thinking about what could have been, Lilly."

"How do you always seem to know what I'm thinking," I asked, surprised.

"Just one of my special talents," she said with a wink, before changing the subject to Vivian again.

"When Vivian first met your mother, she was the sweetest person. Obviously we found out later that it had all been an act. She was clearly after your father the whole time. She was weaving her way in. And when Serena died, it was her perfect opportunity to pounce and that's exactly what she did. She needed to get to know your father before she could cast her spell. Sadly we weren't quick enough to prevent it from happening because we had no idea who she really was."

"She was obviously a very good actress," added Rose.

"But how did you know that she wasn't who she said she was?"

It had turned out that Vivian had managed to get a job at the hospital as a nurse, whether she was qualified or not wasn't clear. Regardless, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to obtain all the necessary paperwork she was a witch, after all. My family believed that was where she first saw my father and there that she decided she must have him. She clearly didn't care that he was madly in love with Serena and that his second daughter was about to come into the world. All she cared about was having him for herself.

"It was when your father acted like we were strangers, followed by Vivian threatening us and you that we started to suspect that there was something darker going on, so we started to try to find out more about her. It took us a long time but we managed to find out that she wasn't who she said she was," said Wyatt.

The real 'being' behind the 'perfect' Vivian was a far cry from the beautifully manicured and perfectly made up woman I had thought I knew. An evil monster was a better way to describe her. Although her look said she was an attractive mother, in her 30s, the truth was frightening.

It took a number of years but Gabriel had managed to track down a coven of white witches in north-western Canada and they knew exactly who she was.

Vivian was just one of many aliases she had used over the years. And she had existed in this world for many hundreds of years and in order for her to continue to be young and beautiful, she needed a man. But not just any man would do.

She needed a man who possessed unusual powers like werewolves, werecats, ravens, halflings and so on. Which is why it was strange that she latched onto my father, apparently, because he had never shown to possess any such powers. He had never been able to change into a raven, so why choose him? It was a question neither Gabriel nor the witches could answer.

Could she have mistaken him for someone else? Could she have wrongly thought he had the powers? Could he really have had the powers but not told anyone? Not even his closest family members? Although unlikely, it was a possibility.

Feeling sleepy, I tried to stifle a long yawn but struggled. Meredith noticed and said, "It's getting very late. We should all get some sleep, especially you Lilly. We know this has been very hard for you to take in especially all in one evening. Why don't you go to bed now and we'll continue our talk in the morning?"

The thought of my comfortable warm bed was appealing, even though I had a strange feeling that my sleep would be particularly fitful that night. Now that I knew the truth about myself and my family, my subconscious would undoubtedly go into overdrive. I was afraid of what images would materialise in my head.

"Don't worry, Lilly, we will be here for you all night. We'll know if the dreams start. Try and get some rest," said Meredith kindly as if she had read my mind again.

All four of my family members gave me long hard hugs before I headed to my room. I knew they would continue talking well into the night.

As I tried to sleep, things started dawning on me about Vivian. Now that I knew she was evil, so much more started making sense.

I remembered the many times that she had prevented me from being alone with my father. Come to think of it, as long as I could remember, I had never had any time with him at all. Vivian had always ensured that she was there... always. It had never occurred to me to be a problem because I honestly thought she was my mother. I had never known anything different.

I guess for a long time I had thought all mothers treated their children the way she had treated me. Up until I had met December, I had nothing to compare it with. Of course now, when I see the way Meredith is with Cormac and the way Sonya is with Jo, I knew that she was about as far away from a real mother than anyone could possibly be.

She had not once praised me for doing anything right. She had scolded me for the slightest thing and she would lock me away in that tiny little room called my bedroom for hours and hours on end. The real reason I had spent so many years with no friends, the real reason I never watched any television, the real reason for my lonely existence was entirely the fault of Vivian. How could I have not seen it before? I could have rebelled. Why didn't I rebel? I honestly didn't know. Maybe deep down I knew there was something evil about her. Perhaps deep down I knew that either me, or my father, would end up getting hurt or worse.

There was something niggling me as I forced my eyes closed and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. It was something about my father. I knew there was something hidden in my subconscious that might help me understand but it just wouldn't come to the surface of my mind. As I eventually slept, my dreams were more like repressed childhood memories than real dreams but they were obviously things that I needed to remember to help me move forward.

I was a little girl, perhaps six or seven, locked in my bedroom. I heard gentle footsteps outside the door... someone was tiptoeing. The handle turned slowly and the door was pushed open before my father appeared silently as always. He was acting like he didn't want to be heard and he kept looking behind him to make sure he was alone. He put his finger to his mouth to stop me from speaking and then he produced a large hardback book which he handed to me, again placing a finger on his lips. I knew he wanted me to keep it a secret so I hid it immediately. I put it under the bed until later that night when I knew they would both be sleeping. When I looked up, he was gone.

I later remembered that this wasn't just a single memory. This had happened many times over the years. Each time, he crept in silently and stealthily, handed me a book and then disappeared. The books were always similar. They were all either fairy tales or books with supernatural themes.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

When I woke up the following morning, I knew what it was that had been niggling me.

My father had been trying to tell me that I was in the middle of my very own supernatural fairy tale. He was trying to tell me that he was trapped, that Vivian was the evil stepmother and that there was danger. Everything now fell into place. Everything I had been told by my family the previous night had been true. I had just needed my father to confirm it and he had in a way by allowing all those memories to flood back in a dream.

I felt more alive than I ever had and I was ready to face the world. More importantly though, that morning I had the overwhelming sensation that my father was still alive and I wanted to do everything possible to find... and help him.

I had obviously slept for quite some time because after I had showered and dressed and walked into the kitchen, everyone looked as though they had been waiting for me for a while. Clearly they were unsure as to how I would be after all the news of the previous night had sunk in but they smiled when they saw that I looked positively happy and refreshed.

"So, when are you going to show me how to change into a raven... or a cat?" I said, breaking the ice with a smile.

Gabriel smiled and said, "Now Lilly is truly home."

I felt more at home then than I ever had and it felt so good to be surrounded by such loving family members. Real family. I had a real family. A family who had finally revealed the truth about who I am. No more secrets. No more lies. This was the truth and I was accepting it.

I wondered who else knew of our secret... whether it was a curse or a gift I didn't know but I would in time. Was it just my immediate family or did friends know who we truly were too? It would have been wonderful for me to be able to confide in my dear friend in England, December, but I feared I could not. My mind then drifted to Oliver and Ben. Would I have to hide my true self from the boy I had fallen for? The boy that made my heart leap just at the mention of his name?

I asked my family and I was told exactly what I didn't want to hear. Neither Oliver nor Ben knew the truth and it was better to keep it that way, especially in light of the fact that their parents were killed by mountain lions. After all, we did not know yet what kind of cat I would have the ability to transform into. It would be heartbreaking for them to know.

I felt heavy-hearted. Would this mean the end of our relationship before it had even begun? I was saddened because I had felt such a connection to Oliver and was developing such a close friendship with Ben. I certainly didn't want to lose what we had so I had no choice but to keep my secret closely guarded.

"It is for the best, at least for the moment Lilly. We understand there is a connection between you and Oliver," said Gabriel and I gasped in embarra.s.sment. They knew? I blushed.

Meredith smiled, as did Rose, who winked at the same time. "It's no secret. It was obvious the moment you laid eyes on each other that sparks were flying," she laughed.

I was so embarra.s.sed that I had hoped the floor would open and gobble me up but I was growing up. I had to act like a grown-up, not like a child.

"I hate to have secrets from him before we've even got to know each other. But I do understand. I won't say a word to him or to Ben."

As I thought about the fact that n.o.body else knew of our family's remarkable abilities, I was reminded of Vivian. How had she known that there was a raven gene if it was such a guarded secret?

I was told more about all the weird, wonderful and frankly terrifying things that really existed in our world. That it was a completely different world to that which most people know about. It was a world full of supernatural ent.i.ties and people with superhuman abilities. This was a world more like that of the fairy tales than the one I'd become accustomed to. I had to be careful who I trusted and I had to watch out for things I wouldn't normally have to look out for...

A person's excessively beady and watchful eyes could indicate a changeling a human that could morph into any number of other beings in the blink of an eye.

A person who avoided the sunlight with the palest of skin and a certain redness to their eyes could be a vampire, eager to feed on the blood of others.

I might notice someone with sharper looking teeth than usual this could potentially be a werewolf. Their teeth becoming fangs during the change, and contrary to popular belief they couldn't just change during a full moon, they could change at any time, anywhere.

These were just some of the beings that I might be able to identify but the most dangerous ones were those that I would have no idea who or what they were. Like me, for example. n.o.body would ever think that I was capable of changing into an alternate being (neither did I, for that matter, at that stage) so I had to be ultra careful around everybody, at all times.

Some of these others could be everywhere and anywhere, including people that could change into a variety of beasts. Gabriel mentioned some of the animals that he knew about, but he was certain there are more.

Bears, already known as one of the most dangerous animals in the world imagine one with the intelligence of a human and no way of knowing who could change into one.

Sharks provided I steered clear of the ocean I wouldn't have to worry about these, as long as I took note of anyone who had an unusual love of the ocean.

What he told me next really gave me the creeps. I've never liked the idea of any form of reptiles so to hear that there were people out there that could change into large slithering serpents, that just freaked me out. Give me a bear any day.

There were also mountain goats, elk and coyotes in these parts too.

Gabriel described how he had heard of a man who could change into a crocodile, although he'd never seen it with his own eyes. Apparently this man was originally from Africa, where crocodiles are common. He told me that I should note that these beasts were only the ones he had heard of in Canada and the United States there would undoubtedly be hundreds more across the world. And in this day and age, with global travel at its peak, they could be anywhere.

I was astonished that we were constantly surrounded by so much danger and yet millions and millions of people had no idea. There were many myths and legends in all corners of the world but to know that they were probably true was shocking almost beyond belief.

"The only way you can prepare yourself for any of these beasts, Lilly, is to start doing a lot more reading. Not just the supernatural stuff your father gave you, but you need to understand everything you can about these deadly animals. What makes them tick. At least then, in the unlikely event that you should ever come across any in a dangerous situation, you'll at least have some semblance of preparation on how to deal with them," said Wyatt.

I agreed that knowledge was important. I also thought that I could learn a lot from Ben, being a vet. I knew then that he would be an a.s.set, as well as a friend.

As if reading my mind again, Meredith mentioned that Ben was looking for a trainee a.s.sistant. She was sure that he would be delighted if I applied for the position. She said I could continue with school and work with him at weekends and then take up the job when I'd completed my studies in a few years. It sounded like a great plan. Something to work towards. I liked the idea.

The others approved too. I would have a word with him later to see if he would be interested, but I had to make it clear that I didn't want to be a charity case, just because we're friends... practically family.

As lunchtime approached, I suddenly realised it was Friday and I hadn't gone to school. I voiced my thoughts aloud and was rea.s.sured to hear that Gabriel had phoned the school that morning and told them I was unable to attend, for personal reasons. He told me I shouldn't worry because, under the circ.u.mstances, they were very understanding.

It also dawned on me that Friday was when I had a date with Oliver. I blushed at the thought. Meredith smiled. She knew what was going through my mind.

"I think perhaps we've put rather a lot on poor Lilly since last night. We should all go home and leave her to think about everything. After all, it is a lot to take in," she said, standing, "plus, John will be coming home for lunch so I'd better go and get him some food ready."

She kissed me on the top of my head, kissed everyone else before putting on her warm green coat and walked out the front door without a backwards glance.

The others stood and said similar things, before they prepared themselves for the cold weather outside with coats, scarves and gloves before following along behind her.

As Rose stood up, she took my hand and offered to make me some lunch at her house if I wanted to walk her home. As Gabriel had also gone out, I locked up and wrapped up warm as we headed off in the direction of her home. Instead of walking along the roadside, we chose to take the scenic route, the way I had walked when I had first come across the lovely Portuguese music.

I thought back to that day, to my first impression of Rose and wondered if I looked anything like a cat... or a raven for that matter, but I couldn't see it in myself. Perhaps others saw me that way. Although I hoped that the dangerous ones couldn't tell, I certainly wouldn't want them to know.

As we wandered along the sh.o.r.eline, I heard the plops again of the fish jumping out of the water and back again, wondering if they were simply fish or fish that had another secret side to them. A human side.

They looked pretty harmless so I a.s.sumed, and hoped, that they were of the simple fish variety. They were small creatures so it was hard to imagine them changing into human form. But then, so were ravens and cats. I wished I knew how the change took place. I didn't feel the need to change myself, but I would have liked to witness someone else changing perhaps then I would feel better prepared for what was to come in my own life.

Just 24 hours ago I would have walked down there by the sea and I wouldn't have had a care in the world (other than that of my missing 'mother' and father). I would have seen everything in a completely different light. Innocent and naive to the real world. That was me... yesterday.

How things can change in less than a day. Now everything I looked at appeared different. Everything that once would have taken my breath away because of its natural beauty would be scrutinised in a way I never dreamed possible. Even the other birds that sat innocently in the trees above us could be more than just birds. Were they really birds? Or were they humans that could change? As they watched us, what were they seeing? Did they see innocent bystanders to the world? Or did they see us as threats? Particularly Rose with her catlike appearance? Could they sense the cats in us?

The world was a completely different place to what it was yesterday.

As we wandered through those immensely tall cedar trees and I noticed glimpses of the bright blue sky between the branches, Rose stopped and turned to face me.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't tell you the truth when we first met, my dear. I do hope you understand that I had to wait for your grandfather to speak first. It was between him and you."

I told her that I did understand the reasons behind the decisions and I didn't hold it against her. It was irritating at first but not any more.

"I so wanted to tell you about your mother."

"You can now, though," I responded hopefully as we wandered through the trees along a winding pathway that had probably been created by my family over the years.

It was what she wanted to hear and so she began to tell me what my mother was truly like. Beautiful, honest and playful. From childhood until her early death, she was the same. Devoted was another word she used. "Devoted to me. To our parents. To Neleh. She was devoted to you the whole nine months she carried you, too, Lilly. You mustn't forget that. Although you didn't have the chance to know her, you two developed a bond during that time and that's a bond that can never be broken. I think this is why she is able to get through to you so strongly in your dreams. You need that bond to be able to do that."

That simple sentence meant the world to me. Even though I had never had the opportunity to know this remarkable woman, I did have an unbreakable bond with her. She was my mother. She gave birth to me. She loved me and she would never forget me. Not even in death.

"I was always very envious of her thick dark hair. She only ever had it trimmed so it grew very long over the years and she didn't have a single grey hair!" Rose reminisced. "Whereas I had grey hair from my early twenties," she laughed.

"But isn't that because of the cat... business?" I asked.

"That's a good way to put it, dear. Cat business," she laughed out loud again, a graceful deep sound that matched her own grace and beauty.