Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 70

I let out a sigh and sat down on the cold stone floor, wis.h.i.+ng I could morph back into human form. I wanted to speak to Sammy so badly but I couldn't. There was no way he could understand me so I just curled up on the floor, waiting. Waiting for something to happen.

We heard Rose's voice from Gabriel's bedroom, where Sammy had lay Oliver down until he came to. Although we couldn't hear what she was saying, we could tell that she was reasoning with him. Occasionally, his voice could be heard too but he never shouted. There was no anger there, which was at least something to soothe my worrying head.

It wasn't much later when I heard the sounds of an engine roaring up the driveway. Gabriel was home. I leapt up, not sure what to do with myself but before I could do anything, Gabriel was at the door, opening it.

As he rushed in, he gasped at the sight of me with Sammy.

Speechless for a second, he suddenly gushed, "Lilly?"

I nodded and rushed to his side, brus.h.i.+ng my head against his legs gently. I was afraid he might be angry but he looked so proud and he smiled at me warmly for a moment until Sammy filled him in on the evening's events.

"Oliver?" he said, "Where is he?"

"Rose is with him now. They're in your room."

He patted me on the head and told us both to just stay in the living room out of the way until he had spoken to him.

I was desperate to see Oliver for myself. I was desperate to speak to him and plead forgiveness for keeping this from him. But the sight of me wouldn't help my case.

I watched as the door shut slowly behind Gabriel and waited patiently, not able to do anything but pace up and down the living room floor.

"Come and sit down, Lilly. There is nothing you can do," said Sammy kindly.

I shook my head and sighed heavily, wis.h.i.+ng that there was something I could do.

Then the phone rang. Knowing that he shouldn't answer it in case it was someone other than a family member, he picked it up without saying a word and listened carefully. It was Jo, however. Relieved to hear a friendly voice, he recounted what had happened and she told him she would be right over.

Luckily she only lived a stone's throw away so she arrived within a few minutes.

With a gentle knock on the door, Sammy gingerly peered through the window to make sure it was her. When he saw that it was, he opened the door and she stepped in, becoming speechless at the sight of me in all my feline glory.

"Wow, Lilly. This is amazing. You're a... you're a mountain lion. A black one!" she exclaimed, stating the obvious. "Do you mind if I stroke your head?" she asked tentatively.

I shook my head and she moved closer to me and I felt her hand softly touch the top of my head and move slowly down my back. It was a soothing motion, helping me to feel a bit calmer after everything that had happened.

Suddenly the bedroom door opened and Rose appeared, shutting it behind her.

"It's good of you to come, Jo. I think Lilly needs as much support as she can get right now. I'm afraid Oliver's not taking this very well."

I sighed loudly once again, wis.h.i.+ng I could rewind time and save Oliver and myself all this heartache. Although he was probably feeling something far more than heartache shock, outright disgust, perhaps?

As the three spoke amongst themselves for a few moments, I tried to will myself to change back, closing my eyes hard and thinking, 'change, change, change'. But nothing happened and so I had no choice but to wait until it occurred naturally.

"Well, I have said everything that I can say. Done everything that I can do and Gabriel is the best person to reason with Oliver at this stage, so I think you and I should go back to my house, Lilly. Jo, can you stay for a while? Gabriel might need you."

Jo agreed and asked whether she should call anyone else.

"I'll leave that up to Gabriel. He will let you know. Just wait for him, okay?"

Again she nodded, "I'll make us some tea, Sammy. You two go. Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be alright."

Rose beckoned me to follow her as she opened the front door and so we walked in silence for a few minutes before she turned to look at me and smiled.

"A mountain lion, eh?" she said with pride.

"Your mother would have been so proud of you, Lilly. Of course we knew that you wouldn't just be any old cat... or raven," she added.

It was then that I thought about ravens. I had become a cat, not a bird. Gabriel must have been a little disappointed that I had inherited my mother's genes and not my father's. Especially considering there was no other family member, at that stage, that was able to become the bird of our ancestors.

I thought how great it would have been to be able to fly, but as I looked around at my surroundings and smelled the wonderful things I could smell and heard the extraordinary things I could hear, I didn't feel any disappointment. Although I still wondered how I was going to return to my old self and I dreaded the pain that I had felt earlier that evening, I was still amazed at my whole transformation.

It hadn't happened how I had hoped it would. I had imagined myself something like Professor McGonagall in Harry Potter who could change in the blink of an eye, without an ounce of pain. That is how I'd wanted it to happen and in the company of a select few. Certainly not in the company of Oliver. But that is exactly what had happened and I couldn't take it back. My relations.h.i.+p with him was ruined. Totally and utterly ruined. And there was nothing I could do about it.

Rose had become quiet once again, deep in thought, I imagined as we trampled through the undergrowth beneath the tall trees and headed in the direction of her home. Although I wasn't looking where I was going, I knew we were close because I could hear all of her cats. I could smell them too but more than anything I could almost feel the sound of their hearts, beating gently, keeping them alive.

Of course I could 'feel' Rose's heartbeat even louder than anything, and it was beating a little quicker than when we had left my house. I looked up at her and it amazed me that this 70-plus (she still hadn't told me her actual age) year-old woman was capable of such a ma.s.sive transformation. She was still incredibly fit and agile. She was a force to be reckoned with and I was intensely proud that I could call her family.

We arrived at the front door and as she pushed it open, Scully was the first to rush out. The hair on her back raised high as she saw me and she arched her back. I noticed that her eyes had become as black as coal again as she stared deep into my eyes. I just stood still, waiting for some kind of recognition. It didn't take long. Within seconds, she relaxed completely and approached me, purring happily.

Rose smiled too and patted her on the back, "I knew she would recognise you. She just needed a moment," she said.

As I entered the house, I had similar experiences with the rest of the animals and soon it was as normal, the cats curling up in various nooks and crannies wherever they could.

Rose walked into the kitchen and sat down, taking off her black pumps and replacing them with a pair of warm slippers.

"Right," she said, "we need to get you back to Lilly, the girl. As much as I love this new look."

I sat beside her and waited for her to tell me what to do.

"And don't worry, I've got clothes for you to wear here," she laughed. "You'll find that it becomes very useful to keep clothes at the homes of all our family members," she laughed.

"Now, the key is to relax. It's really quite simple but it will take some getting used to."

I tried to do as she said but nothing happened and so I sat and focused on relaxing and being calm. Nothing. I was still a mountain lion.

"Okay, let's try something different. Lie down completely," I did as she said and curled up on the soft rug besides the kitchen counter top.

"Now close your eyes. Slow your breathing down and relax. Feel as though your muscles are falling away from your bones. That's it. Breathe in slowly. Breathe out slowly. In. Out. In. Out."

Sure enough, as I completely relaxed my body, I felt something happen within me. There was no pain like before. It was incredibly uncomfortable but strangely pain free. And finally, moments later, I felt my whole body become human again. I opened my eyes to find Rose had gone. I stood up and turned round, conscious of my nakedness. At first I had felt very warm but I soon grew cold.

Rose appeared from another room carrying a pair of pink pyjamas and some thick purple woolly socks. "I told Gabriel you would stay here tonight. I think it's for the best," she said as she handed me the warm clothes. I slipped them on, quickly warming up before I thanked her.

Once dressed, she hugged me long and hard, "It's a tough life sometimes, Lilly. We can never know what's going to happen. But you mustn't worry yourself over Oliver. What's done is done. He will survive."

For the first time since early that evening, I broke down in tears. They flowed for a long time afterwards. No matter how hard I tried to choke them back, my cheeks would become soaked once again. Rose was the perfect company. She knew exactly what to say and when not to say anything and I was particularly grateful for her wisdom that night.

When my eyes and cheeks finally became drier, we decided to make some hot chocolate and we ended up staying awake for hours talking about love, life, Serena, Neleh, Walter, Lori, Sammy, Oliver, December and everything else that mattered to us both. We bonded more that night than we had ever done before. Rose had become something of a surrogate mother to me.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

I didn't speak to Oliver again after that. I tried phoning him but he ignored all my calls. My emails bounced back and my letters were returned unopened.

Gabriel had reasoned with him and thankfully he had agreed to keep our family's secret, but at a price. The price being that he no longer wanted to be a part of our lives.

I was heartbroken. Not just for me but for Gabriel who cherished him and had done so ever since he was born, and particularly since he became a foster parent to him after the death of his parents.

I was also sad for his brother Ben who was completely unaware about what had happened. Oliver had agreed Ben was better off not knowing the truth that surrounded him. He then left Powell River, out of our lives. I knew that the fault lay entirely with me.

Ben had attempted to find out the truth behind his sudden departure but we refused to give him any more details than absolutely necessary. All he had been told was that Oliver and I had a huge disagreement, so big that he no longer wanted to live here. Apparently, he'd told Ben he had always yearned for more than being stuck in Powell River, so it seemed the perfect time to get away and explore what he really wanted out of life.

Not being the kind of person to pry, Ben accepted what he had been told. The excuses made sense to him, and so he carried on life as normal. Well, as normal as could be expected considering his beloved younger brother had effectively run away.

I could tell that it pained him that Oliver had left, but he told me that, regardless of his reasons for leaving, he was also proud that Oliver had decided to stand on his own two feet and had left for his own adventure.

After several weeks when I asked after Oliver, Ben told me that he regularly talked to him on the phone but when I asked for more details how he was, where he was, etc, Ben just said that he was doing okay but that he had promised Oliver not to tell me where he was or what he was doing. His only message to me: 'please stay away and don't try to contact me'. When Ben told me those words, I hid myself away for a while, shed a few tears and did my best to move on, but it wasn't easy.

Although I blamed myself, I refused to let it affect my life negatively. I still had a life and I intended to live it as best as I could. That didn't mean I didn't miss Oliver though. I missed him terribly. He had been such an important part of my early life in Canada and I wished that things had happened differently with him. He deserved it... and so did I.

My life continued, not quite as normal as before, but continued nonetheless. With Oliver no longer in the picture, Sammy didn't have as much to worry about because we rarely had any other visitors to our home. The two of us became very close, he was like a brother to me and I loved him dearly and I knew he loved me too. I was the little sister he had never had and with us both having things to hide, we shared a lot in common. There were days we would spend hours in the forest, Sammy showing me how he had lived there for so many years.

Throughout that lonely time, he'd had no choice but to become totally self sufficient hunting for food and furs to keep himself warm during the winters, creating shelter, building fires... he taught me all of this and more, at the same time helping me to develop my own fitness and strength too.

Whilst there, deep in the forest with him, usually during the hours of darkness, I spent much of my time as a mountain lion, running stealthily through the trees below with Sammy flying just above the tree tops. We would spend hours racing against each other and having fun.

It hadn't really occurred to me until then, but it was like Sammy was regaining those years of his youth, the ones he had lost. The ones that had been so cruelly taken from him.

As spring turned to summer, my thoughts of Oliver and our times together gradually dwindled and I began to concentrate on other things and to look to the future.

I hadn't forgotten Gabriel's promise to me, the one he had made earlier in the winter shortly after I broke my leg. I recalled him saying that he would take me on a trip to visit the Elders and he'd said that we would go when the weather had improved... in spring. Yet spring was now nearly over.

Although neither of us had broached the subject since that time, it was finally time to ask him about it.

He hadn't forgotten. In fact he was well prepared for my questions and had already begun preparations for our journey together.

With a smile, Gabriel nodded. "There's no need to worry, my dear Lilly. I have been planning our trip for a while, I've just been waiting for the right time and I believe that time has come."

The thought excited me. Not just the fact that we were leaving Powell River for an unusual journey, but that I was to spend some quality time with my grandfather, something I hadn't really done.

When Gabriel had first mentioned that we should go to the Elders together, it was primarily to help unravel the mystery of who had rescued me after my accident, however, with the truth now fully known, we decided the journey was still an important one.

It was a rite of pa.s.sage for me. At the same time, he told me, it was important for me to meet the Elders. "You never know when you might need their a.s.sistance or advice, Lilly," he had said, almost in warning.

Of course, there was also the matter of my missing father and the Elders might be able to offer some insight as to what had happened to him and where he might be.

Gabriel explained that it would likely be a difficult trip to take and that it involved a lot of hiking through the mountains and forest trails. But, like him, it had to be taken in human form. I couldn't change into a mountain lion for ease of pa.s.sage, he had warned me.

"In order for you to grow, truly grow as a young woman, you need to complete the journey as one," he had added.

I knew I was ready, physically and mentally. I was also ready to learn more about the Elders and he told me he would enlighten me during our journey.

Gabriel had gained approval from the school to take me away for a while, with the simple agreement that I would take some extra cla.s.ses during the summer holidays.

When I asked Ben if it was okay for me to take some time off work to go away with Gabriel, he had agreed that I could use a break. He was aware that I had never been on holiday before. But he'd no idea about the true purpose of this trip.

We had packed as if for a camping trip. Our backpacks filled with all the gear that we would need on our journey. The first part of our trip would take place by boat. It was a very small boat too with just sufficient s.p.a.ce for the two of us and all of our gear. Having no idea where we were going, this little boat surprised me. It frightened me too. The only other boat I had ever been on was the ferry with Ben when he had collected me from the airport. This was seriously tiny in comparison and I certainly didn't feel safe. But Gabriel's soft voice and his kind words helped me feel at ease after a few hours on the water. At least it had a small motor so we didn't have to row.

It wasn't until we were gliding quietly through the water did Gabriel begin telling me about the Elders. And from what he explained, they were not quite what I was expecting.

"The Elders live high in the Coastal Mountains, hidden from all eyes other than those they want to see. They are not all human, Lilly. Many of them are changelings, like you. Some are vampires, some are white witches. There are some creatures there that might even frighten you. But you must not be fearful. All of them are good and honest. They are very wise and they help people like you and me who know the truth about their world. You could say that they are authority figures for our kind. Somewhere we can go for help should we really need it," he said and I nodded a little nervously.

I took a little time to let the information sink in. We were on a long and arduous journey to meet with vampires and witches? It sounded crazy but I knew that Gabriel knew what he was doing.

"Are they all really old then, Gabriel?" I asked wondering why they were known as the Elders.

"Many are very old, yes, although they will not appear to be old to us. The vampires, for instance, are immortal. They appear to be young and beautiful, when in fact they have been in existence for many hundreds of years. Some of the witches are the same. But those of them that are like you, half human, half animal, they look old because they are old. But they all have something in common. They are the Elders and they are called the Elders because they are full of wisdom and knowledge about almost everything," he answered.

"How did they become the Elders?"

He smiled then and told me that he had been invited to join them, but only when he feels ready. This surprised me. I was not quite sure why it should shock me so much because Gabriel was a wise and honest man, full of advice for anyone that asks for it. A pillar of the community. But I was shocked nonetheless. And worried. It's a long way from his family. A long way from me. And when would he decide to join them? I hoped that it would not be for a long time to come.

But Gabriel continued to answer my question, not concerning himself with the worried look on my face, "All of the Elders are beings that have been strong and reliable members of their own communities who want to help on a larger scale. They are a kind of authority for people like us. They make rules we must follow, just like our own governments do. There is a large number of groups of Elders found throughout the world. All living in well hidden communes, like the one we're going to visit in the mountains."

I listened intently and wondered what kind of 'people' they would be, and how many of them would be there. But the thing that really caught my attention was the fact that they make rules that must be followed by the likes of me anyone that is not entirely human. The only rule I knew of at that point was the fact that we needed to keep our true selves a secret from the rest of the world. Cringing at the memory, I recalled how I'd already broken that secret when I'd accidentally revealed my true form to Oliver all those weeks before. I was lucky though that he'd agreed with Gabriel that he would continue to turn a blind eye to the truth. Knowing Oliver well, I knew he would stay true to his word and not utter a thing about us to anyone.

We continued to motor along the calm waters in silence for a while, myself deep in thought about the rules and the Elders while Gabriel contentedly hummed to himself. Looking down into the depths of the river below, I was surprised how clear the water was. Although inviting because of its clarity, it looked icy cold and I wasn't in the least bit tempted to jump in. Our boat made large ripples behind us as we chugged along, and I watched for a while as it mesmerised me, taking my mind off what was to come.

Looking up from the water, I noticed a number of small green islands around us. I a.s.sumed they were uninhabited but I was probably wrong. Knowing what I knew then, I changed my mind and decided they were probably full of vampires and werewolves, all waiting for fresh blood and meat to feast on. The thought made me s.h.i.+ver, and I decided I needed to cut down on the horror I'd been watching and reading lately. Gabriel watched me and asked what I was thinking about.

Grinning, I told him that I wondered who, or what, lived on the islands surrounding us. I didn't expect him to know the answer but he did. I should have known. He usually had answers to everything.

"Only a few of them are inhabited full time," he said, "most are used on the odd occasion by pa.s.sers by like us. But there are a few islands that have small communities of special creatures," he added, "who would prefer that we avoided them entirely."

"Why would they want us to avoid them?"

"These creatures do not want to be tempted by what they shouldn't have, which is why they live far from civilisation."

I noticed that he neglected to say what kind of creatures they were and I decided I didn't want to know... at least until we had pa.s.sed through and were well clear of them.

Changing the subject, I asked Gabriel why we were doing this journey by boat and on foot. "Isn't it possible to reach the mountains by car?"