Published: 2 Oct 2017

Chapter 16

From Chapter 15:

“You two, follow me.” He then turned and began to walk towards his office. He only went a few steps when he spoke again. “You too Hank.”

Christina began to pace, deep in thought. Brad tried to say something, but she quickly held her hand up and shushed him. She needed to think, think about her Beast, and what she felt inside. It was different from what these two were saying, but how. That’s what she needed to figure out.

She didn’t tame her Beast, at least, not the way they talked about it. But why was she different. Everything else they said made sense, she felt it, the first shift, the uncontrollable rage she felt when she first felt Colt. She had no choice in that one, the rage was just too strong. She didn’t even remember trying to fight it like she’d been taught….. Taught…. The rage, that dark place in all of us.

“Christina…” She remembered her father saying one of the first real ‘lessons’ he gave her. “I know you’re only ten, but this is serious, maybe the most serious thing I will ever teach you. Do you think you’re ready for it?”

She hesitated… .she didn’t know if she was ready, but she wanted to learn. She wanted to be just like her daddy. Finally she mustered her courage, looked up and nodded. “Good. The first lesson is this. Deep down in all of us, there is an anger, a darkness if you will. Everyone has it… there’s no shame in it, but with what you’re gonna learn, you need to not only know about it, but learn to control it.”

“Can’t I get rid of it?” She asked naively. “If it’s bad, I don’t want it.”

Her father smiled as he shook his head. “No you can’t get rid of it, and it’s not really a bad thing. It can help you, it lets you know when you need to run, or makes you stronger than you thought you were. But if you let it control you, then you’ll do things you don’t want to… you need to be in control of yourself, no matter how mad you get, no matter how scared you are, you need to be in complete control…”

Christina’s head snapped up, as she spun around and faced the two boys. They both jumped back a little bit, and that actually made Christina laugh a bit. Both boys looked a little hurt, but she just shook her head. “I’m not laughing at you, but you just proved me right.”

“What do ya mean?” Brad asked still a little miffed at being laughed at.

“I didn’t tame the Beast.” She said simply, causing both boys to say ‘huh’ at the same time.

“I didn’t tame the Beast… I didn’t have to.” She said as she walked back towards them.

“Okay… I’m lost.” Dustin’s bewilderment was evident in his voice.

“I didn’t have to, because I already did… when I was ten.”

“But you hadn’t shifted yet…” Brad almost whined in confusion.

“You don’t get it.” She shook her head before starting to pace again. “Everyone has a Beast, every human I mean… It’s just when we shift, it becomes bigger and badder. Everyone has that uncontrollable rage inside of them, it’s just that not everyone can get big, furry and have huge sharp claws.

“When I was ten, my father started to train me to be a martial artist. One of the first lessons he taught me was how to tap into that, and more importantly how to control it. My guess is, in normal people, they don’t have such a connection with it, so they don’t have to learn to control it, but with us, we have to learn to control it, or, well I guess, our instincts will take over.”

“Wait a minute… I read about that.” Dustin said suddenly. “One of the books I read talked about how our instincts are so much stronger than in a human, and we need to listen to them.”

“Right.” Christina was excited now. “It’s all wrapped up into one big ball inside us. We call it the Beast, but it’s just our instincts, and our Rage, basic needs and desires, all wrapped up in one nice bundle. THAT’S what you need to tap into, need to look at, and most importantly not fear.”

“But how can we not…. You know what we can do if we lose control.” Brad whined out.

Christina got a truly wicked grin on her face. “And THAT is the answer.”

“Huh?” They both said again. This time she didn’t laugh, but her grin never faded.

“You know what a self fulfilling prophecy is?”

Yeah…” They both said now completely lost with the sudden change.

“This is just like that. If you’re afraid you’ll lose control, guess what… you WILL. However, if you know deep down inside that YOU are the one in control… that YOU can’t succumb to the darkness, because it’s already a part of you, then you’ll never have to worry about losing control.”

“How do we do that?” Dustin asked now a little excited.

“THAT, is what I am about to teach you…. Sit down.”

“Close the door.” Runi said as he walked into the office, and moved behind the desk, then sat. Hank, being the last one in, closed the door, and then flipped the lock. “Please have a seat.” He said to the humans, while Hank moved to the side of the door, and leaned against the wall, what was becoming his customary place in Runi’s office.

While the humans sat, Runi lost himself gazing deeply into the Bloodstone. He couldn’t help but smile as he saw it pulse in his hands. Finally he looked up and gazed upon the humans. “I always thought the Librarians kept it secret from everyone.”

“That was the custom, however, things were such that I had to let my wife know, and then train her how to replace me, if needed.” The man answered.

“Oh?” Runi asked, prompting the man to continue.

“I have a disease called Cancer. The doctors think I only have a few months left to live.”

“I see, so instead of doing the normal grooming and training, you turned to someone you could trust, and taught her. Wise.” Runi’s nod made the man let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “What are your names? I am sorry I did not ask before.”

“I’m Kyle DeSantis, and this is my wife, Erin.”

“Well met, both of you.” Runi then pointed to Hank. “This is my Heir, Lord Dayton. I know he prefers to go by his first name, so you may call him Hank. I would also prefer that you call me Runi.”

“As you wish.” Kyle nodded in greeting to Hank, then turned his full attention back to Runi.

“Since my Heir does not know what this is, please explain it to him while I get re-acquainted with it.”

“Of course.” Kyle turned in his seat to focus fully on Hank. “I don’t know how a Bloodstone is created, but, in the hands of a truly old and Powerful Vampire, a Bloodstone can be used to store memories in. Over three thousand years ago, Runi selected a man to safeguard it, and link with it, so that when it was needed, it could be brought to him.”

“Link with it?” Hank asked, to which Kyle nodded.

“Yes. When a Bloodstone is first created, it takes a sample of the blood of both the vampire, and the human it links with. That Human can then also store memories in it. This way when a vampire wishes, he can see all the memories that were placed in it, not only by himself, but by the humans that have been linked with it. Thus creating a Library for the vampire. Hence why I am called a Librarian.”

“Can you see what Runi put into it from before?” Hank was awed by what he was hearing.

“I can..” Kyle hesitated in saying, but then quickly added. “But I would die before revealing it to anyone.”

“Anyone could be made to tell, especially if a Vampire was doing the asking.” Hank said simply.

Kyle smiled, but shook his head. “Not in the case of a Librarian. As I said, I’m linked to it. If someone tried to force their way into my mind, or if I started to divulge its secrets, it would kill me… instantly.”

“Oh…. shit…” Hank breathed out.

“Part of the knowledge it imparts to the Librarian is how to resist Vampire mind control, as well as how to block it when they are trying to scan your mind. Only someone more powerful than the one who created the Bloodstone can get past this. If a vampire tries, and they are not powerful enough… they will simply die trying.”

“Wow…” Hank said to which Kyle simply nodded.

“How many Librarians are there?” Hank asked after a few moments of silence.

“We’re the only two that I know of. But it’s not like we would talk to each other, since we hold the greatest secrets for our Lord.”

“Okay, I guess I can see that.” Hank replied. When he could think of no more questions, even though he knew he would think of thousands later, he switched to another topic. “Where are you from?”

“Southern Texas. As soon as Runi contacted the Bloodstone, we packed up and flew out here. We had to leave the kids at the hotel though. Obviously they know nothing about any of this.”

“How old are they?” Hank asked curious.

“The oldest is thirteen, the youngest is six.”

“Ouch…” Hank saw the confusion in the man’s eyes, and explained. “Well, you just said you had cancer…”

Kyle’s eyes dropped as he nodded. “I’m making the most of the time I have left. We just adopted the youngest one last year, before they found the cancer. Last month I had to go on disability from the School.” Seeing Hank’s look, he elaborated. “I’ve taught middle school for the last ten years.”

“Do not worry about this.. Cancer.” Kyle spun around and saw Runi’s eyes were closed and the Bloodstone almost glowing, just like it did when he was connected with it. “I see from this what is wrong with you, it is something that I can fix.”

Runi opened his eyes and looked directly into Kyle’s. “You have done well in your duties. For that, you will be rewarded. What I do to heal you is NOT part of your reward.”

“Thank… you.” The man said fighting hard to not let his tears flow.

“Leave us now.” Runi said with a nod. “Return to this… hotel, you are staying at. I will provide you with a house near by. I would ask that you remain nearby in case I have need of your services. I would also ask that you allow two others, a mother and her eleven year old son to stay with you. She is not comfortable with being in the same house as Vampires, even though she knows we would never allow harm to come to either of them. There is much that will happen, and I will need your knowledge in the coming times.”

“As you wish.” Kyle said as he and Erin got to their feet.

“Please let Winston know where you are staying and how to contact you. He will let you know when the house is ready for you.”

“Thank you.” Kyle said still reeling from what Runi had just told him. With a bow, they both turned and left the room.

Once the door was closed, Hank looked at Runi and shook his head. “How many other secrets do you have?”

“More than I can remember… That’s why I need this.” He said with a smile as he held up the Bloodstone.

“I know you have a lot of questions.” Gregory said as he and Colt walked through the woods. “Many of which, unfortunately, I can’t answer since I’m not a True Alpha.”

“Maybe you can start there.” Colt was still trying to figure out why everyone called him that. “What’s a True Alpha?”

“Well, I guess that IS a good place to start.” He was silent for several seconds as they walked. “From what I’ve been told, and read, there are two types of Alphas, ones, like myself, are Alpha’s because they can lead. While I am the oldest, and have been a wolf the longest, that’s not really the reason I’m the Alpha. I’m the Alpha because the others trust me, they follow what I say because they know I’ll do my best for them. Lee… Lemar… The big black guy, he can beat me in a fight, if he really tries, but he doesn’t want to lead. I guess you could say I’m Alpha because I want to be, and the others let me be. You though… you’re different.”

“How so.”

“Well saying, because you’re a True Alpha wouldn’t be good enough huh?” Both laughed when Colt just shook his head. “A True Alpha was born to lead. Even now, I can feel it in you. My Beast is saying that you’re an even bigger, badder, predator than I am. When I first saw you, I couldn’t help myself…well I take that back, I probably could have, but I needed to know that you were really a True Alpha… that you were strong enough to beat me. Only then would I REALLY know that you are what my Beast was saying you were.”

“As fucked up as that sounds…” Colt shook his head with a halfway grin. “I actually get it. The thought of anyone wanting to be alpha over me makes me… well it almost makes me want to jump out of my skin.”

“Yup! That’s it alright.” Gregory laughed, and a moment later so did Colt. When the laughter died down, Colt took a deep breath, looked up and met Gregory’s eyes and spoke. “So what do we do now?”

“So now.” Gregory answered with a grin. “I teach you some of the things I learned in some of the old texts that Constance was able to find. I show you how to tap into the True Alpha’s powers.”

“Reach down inside of yourself, and see the Rage.” Christina said in an almost hypnotic voice. She watched their faces, and the second she saw Brad start to tense up she spoke more forcefully. “No! Don’t shy away from it. That’s the problem. Accept it. It’s a part of you, now a very important part of you, but if you don’t accept it, embrace it, it will always be something else…. It will never truly be a part of you, and thus it will be able to control you. You need to control it, not let it control you. You control it, by accepting that it IS you.”

They had been working on this for over an hour now, and the boys were doing good, although she wouldn’t tell them that… yet. “There you go.” She saw Brad’s face relax, and knew he was starting to get it.

She let them continue for several more minutes before she sighed. “Okay, that’s enough for one night.” The boys relaxed and opened their eyes. Once she was sure they were focused on her, she asked a question that had been bugging her. “How do you guys know when you’ve ‘tamed’ the Beast anyways.”

“It’s easy.” Dustin said as he stood up. “When you can effortlessly change your form, you’ve truly tamed the Beast.”

“Okay… that makes sense I guess.” She said as she looked deep into the night. Actually she was looking deep into herself, but they didn’t know that. “I guess I’m not sure why being able to shift effortlessly, as you say, would have anything to do with taming…. Oh wait.” her face grew into a grin as she looked at the boys. “Once you’ve fully accepted who and what you are, you don’t have to force it, you just have to ‘do’ it.”

“Huh?” Both boys said at the same time.

She shook her head with a grin. “You boys like video games right?” They both nodded, not at all sure where this sudden change of direction was going. “Well in the video games, when you get a new ability, do you need to think about it? No, you just use it. It’s there… it’s ready for you to use. This is the same thing, you guys are simply over thinking it. Once you know it’s there, you just have to use it.”

“Really?” They both asked at the same time.

“Yup…. simple as that.”

“So that thing lets you store memories in it?” Hank said after the humans left the room.

“That, amongst other things.” Runi answered, not taking his eyes off the Bloodstone.

“Like what.”

Slowly Runi looked up, a small smile on his face. “That you will learn upon my death.”

“Oh…” Hank didn’t quite know how else to respond to that, which made Runi laugh.

“Don’t worry Hank, I’ll tell you everything you need to know, but trust me when I say, you need to learn it slowly. As it is, you’re learning things faster than I would like, but circumstances aren’t letting things go slow.”

“Okay…” Hank said, more than a bit confused. Finally he just shook his head. “So what are you looking for?”

“What I just found.” Runi said as he put the Bloodstone down and focused fully on Hank. “I knew something about what was going on with Devon was stirring something in my mind, so I called for the Librarian to bring me the Bloodstone, so I could remember… and I have.” He paused for just a moment before he pointed to the chair. “Sit… you’ll need to.”

“Okay….” Hank sat down, and for the hundredth or so time, he wasn’t sure he wanted to learn what he was about to.

“Have you ever heard of someone to have multiple sires?”

“No…. I didn’t even think it was possible.”

“It’s not easy to do, and most of the time, if it works, it turns out to be nothing special. However, there have been a few times, three that I know of, where someone with multiple sires ends up being more than they should be.”

“But how does he have multiple Sires. I was the one to turn him.” Hank said truly confused.

“Think back… When we entered the room, the one that was feeding on Devon was bleeding. My guess is that Devon fought back, and actually bit him while the vampire was draining him. We also know he was an Elder. Then, you fed from me while you were turning him, so you could do a proper turn. I’m guessing that my blood wasn’t fully filtered by your body before it entered Devon. Giving him three different sires. Have you tasted his blood yet?”

“No.” Hank shook his head.

“Nor have I, but I will shortly… that’s the only real way to verify my theory.”

“Okay, assuming he is this… hell what do you call it?”

Runi shook his head. “There’s no real term for it that I know of.”

“Okay.. well assuming he is, what do we need to do?”

“We need to teach him as quickly as he will learn. We already know he has an incredible amount of power within him, as he proved with the fire gift you taught him. We need to teach him control, first and foremost. We also have to be prepared for him to feed more than anyone else. His body is progressing to that of an Elder, maybe even an Ancient very quickly, and will need to feed a lot.” Runi paused as he locked eyes with Hank. “I will say that in the past, two of the three were put to death quickly. Mainly because the sire did not want to have a Childe who was more powerful than they were.”

“No!” Hank said emphatically while shaking his head.

“Good, That’s what I wanted to hear. What you need to figure out now is how to explain all of this to him.”

“Me?”

“Well…. You are his sire.”

The merriment dancing in Runi’s eyes made Hank groan. “But you just said…”

Erika looked across the table at her “advisors” and sneered. “So first you tell me that the ingrate has awoken and made his influence known again, and then you tell me that my cannon fodder has switched sides?” Her voice rose steadily as she spoke, causing both men to shy away from her simmering rage.

When no one spoke for almost a full minute, she shook her head in disgust as she rose to her feet. “So be it. Prepare my troops, we are going to Philadelphia and put a stop to this once and for all. It is time that they understand that they do not rule anything here any longer.”

Her underlings rushed from the room to see that her orders were followed. She turned and looked out the window at the pristine beach, the waves just barely visible in the darkness that enveloped the area. “You barely survived the last time you interfered with my plans Runihora, this time I will make sure you do NOT survive.”

Gregory walked back out to where Colt had been meditating. He was amazed at how quickly the young wolf was picking up on what he was being shown, but that again just showed the frightening power of a True Alpha.

He sighed as he saw Colt open his eyes and look at him. The boy’s eyes didn’t meet his for very long as they fell onto the sword that Gregory was carrying. “You can feel it…can’t you?” Gregory didn’t need to see Colt’s nod, he knew the boy could feel the sword. Not the way he could, but much deeper in Colt’s soul.

Colt reached out his hand, but Gregory never moved forward to give the boy the sword. Colt looked up, meeting Gregory’s eyes, as a deep, soft, rumbling growl emerged from Colt’s throat. “Understand…” Gregory began, “this sword will test you. I’m not sure how, as I never went through it. But the texts I’ve read said that the sword will test the Alpha… to make sure he’s worth it.” Colt’s eyes raised and met Gregory’s. “Are you ready?”

Colt looked back down at the sword, instead of answering, he simply stepped forward, and put his hand around the hilt. Then everything went dark.

A man walked into his room unannounced, “Master,” he said softly. The young man looked up as one of his servants rushed into the room, taking a knee and bowing his head.

Had Aedan, as he now called himself, not seen the look on the man’s face, he would have been furious at the interruption. However, the young man simply arched an eyebrow which was command enough for the man to speak had his head not been bowed. “Speak.”

“We have just gotten word from Sibella,” the servant said.

“Oh?” He said now intrigued. “Rise,” Aedan gestured. He had not heard directly from his Childe in almost a hundred and fifty years. She was a very capable Council Lord, and he hadn’t needed to intervene there since the great war.

“She has sent word that Runihora has awoken, and is there.”

Aedan’s expression was blank, something that the servant was not used to. “I figured you would want to know as soon as possible. In the past you have always tried to make contact whenever he woke. Now you can.”

The Lord of Twilight slowly nodded and stood. “I have never been to the New World, but that is about to change. Make the preparations, we leave at once.”

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