Katrina, The Beginning (36 page)

“Hello, Mother,” I called
as I entered.

“I’ll be right out,
sweetheart,” she called from her room.

I went to the sofa. Just as
I sat down, I heard in my mind,
“You’re as
beautiful as your mother.”

I looked around but no one
was there.

“Who are
you?”
I asked with my mind.

“I am Allwain. I have come
to instruct you in the ways of magic.”

“Katrina, I want you to
meet someone.”

I stood and turned toward
Mother’s voice. With her was the man I had seen greeting her in the
courtyard.

“I’ve already introduced
myself, Elizabeth,” he said, a twinkle in his eye.

“Nice to meet you in person
though,” I said as they approached.

He was amazing; not only
was he a commanding presence, but there was such an aura around
him, it made his pale skin glow, turning it almost translucent. His
hair was snow white, his eyes, now smiling at my obvious appraisal
of him, were a blue-grey; and although I’d been told how old he
was, I would have thought he was middle aged - and maybe he was,
for his race.

Without preamble Allwain
began. “I sense great danger, an evil that is about to be
unleashed. Katrina, our world has dealt with evil of this magnitude
by bringing forth a champion, a force to fight for the ultimate
existence of good. However, research of historical documents shows
all
the races have their tales of this
force.” He paused. “You, your sister, and your friends have been
brought together for a reason. I know you have felt this too. It is
my belief you are to become Protectors of the Races, and I’m here
to give you every instruction I can, to help you accomplish this,
but we must keep the news of my arrival from the outside world.” He
began to pace. “I must have time to observe and evaluate each of
you and anyone you associate with you, while I’m here. This is why
I have come to you now. In the week of the full moon, you will all
turn eighteen, and if all goes well, we will do our Protection
Ceremony on the last night of the full moon. This ceremony will
increase your powers, your bonds with each other and seal your
destiny as the Chosen of Prophesy. Until then, secrecy is
paramount, Katrina, do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand.” What
he’d just relayed to me was incredible; I would need some time to
explore my feelings and to accept this prediction was indeed true.
However, I could accept, for the time being, the need for secrecy.
Now it came to the reason I had come to Mother’s in the first
place.

“Something strange happened
this morning,” I began.

Mother and Allwain looked
at each other, as if they knew what I was about to say.

“Damien and I were to go
for a ride this morning. He wasn’t at the stables, but called to me
to meet him in the meadow. When I arrived he was having a
conversation with someone…his mother Daniela. Damien introduced us.
Mother, there was an undercurrent of evil about her. She was there
for just a short time, saying she’d needed to have contact with
Damien after all these years and happened to be passing.” I rolled
my eyes and shook my head at this point in my tale.

“But if her being there, so
soon after the attack by the fledglings, was not enough cause for
concern, here’s something else strange.

Damien and I have developed
the ability to communicate with each other using only our minds and
have done so even at great distances,” I paused here, unsure now
again, about sharing the existence of that ability, but took a
breath and continued, “and the whole time he was with her, he
couldn’t hear me with his mind. After she left us, our abilities
returned to normal.”

“So that’s what we felt
this morning,” said Mother as she looked to Allwain.

“What do you
mean?”

Allwain explained, “We also
felt the uneasiness in the air this morning. We tried to see what
it could be, but unusual for us, saw nothing.”

“You were right, Katrina,”
confirmed Mother. “They are blocking us somehow.”

“She swore she only came to
see Damien and she asked he believe she was innocent of the charges
against her. Damien so wants to believe her; she is his mother,
after all.”

“And what do you think,
Katrina? What do your instincts tell you?” Allwain asked, his
fierce eyes drilling into me.

“That she’s evil and she is
trying to use Damien. I think she believes she can turn him.” I
stated emphatically, sure now I was right.

“Do you think they can,
Katrina?” Mother asked, concerned now.

“No, of
course not!”
I said with conviction. “However, Luena has a
pattern of using people other people love, to get what she wants.
In Damien’s case, she threatened to harm their father in order to
force him to comply with her plans. Damien fought her and when
Damien informed his father of Luena’s, plot against, his father
took steps to protect himself. But Luena’s a menace, and I’m afraid
they’ll try again with us. I don’t want to see anyone else used or
hurt. We need to know how to fight her, the groups that support her
and their spells, charms, or magic.”

“You were absolutely right,
Elizabeth, she’s ready,” he was smiling at Mother. “Now go about
your regular routine. I’ll be observing, strategizing, and
preparing.”

I hugged Mother.

“Thank you both. I feel so
much better now.”

I
did
feel better as I left to meet the others for
lunch. Our birthdays were next week, and people would be arriving
soon. Then we were going to Paris, and what was to be a celebration
trip now seemed to be so much more. When I got to the gardens
everyone was already there.

“There she is,” called
Kate. She was seated next to Eric, who had joined the group for
lunch this afternoon. “How was Mother?”

“She’s fine, still making
plans for next week. How was your workout?”

“Good. We didn’t do
anything as advanced as what you and El did, but Gunter seemed
pleased,” said Rosa.

I joined them on the rug
rolled out for us on the ground.

“Eric, what about you? How
did you like your first day with Gunter?”

“I enjoyed it. I don’t know
if he did, but I did,” he said with a big grin.

“Gunter said you did well,”
Kate beamed at him, radiating pride in his accomplishment. “Look
what he’s done with all of us in such a short amount of
time.”

“That’s true,” Letta chimed
in. “In a few days he’ll have you believing too.”

“I’m just glad just to be
out of my room,” Eric laughed. “Not that the room is not lovely; in
fact compared to my last room, it’s amazing, but I’m glad to be out
of it just the same. And now I have the good fortune to have all of
you as company.” He gestured to the whole group. “You don’t know
how great that feels.”

“We’re glad you’re here
too,” Kate said, speaking for the group.

“That’s
true enough,”
I thought.
“She’s really
glad.”

“What’s for lunch? I’m
starving.” I asked reaching for the basket.

Damien grabbed it first,
teasing me by holding it just out of my reach.

“Well, let’s see. Klaus
gave me a little bit of everything,” said Damien, while he looked
through the basket. “There’s smoked meats and sausage, chicken,
cheeses, bread and pastries, plus two kinds of wine.”

“That’s it?” Rosa said,
with mock indignation. “Well, maybe Sarah will get us a snack
later.” The group irrupted in laughter.

We ate our fill, and we
were amused by Thomas’s really bad Gunter imitation. As I looked at
the group, except for Kate, of course, we were all so different;
but now we were very much a family. Even Eric, whom we hardly knew,
fit in as if he’d always been with us.

Now I could see what
Allwain meant; we had all come together for a purpose. Maybe that
purpose
was
to protect the races from
whomever or whatever threatened them. I felt several strong emotion
then - pride, love, and fear - for all of us.

For the few days, we worked
out every morning and studied every afternoon. Even Damien and Eric
joined us in the library. Eric had much to learn about being a
vampire, about us as a species. El had tried to help him regain his
memory, but so far nothing had worked. He said not having his
memory didn’t bother him as much as it had, because he was making
new memories with a new family now.

Rosa’s family was the first
to arrive for the birthday celebration and the Council meeting.
El’s and Letta’s were next. The girls were tremendously excited to
see them, and it was nice to have families at Mormont
again. 

Gunter designed a special
exercise putting the girls’ greatly improved fighting skills on
display. After the session was complete, Michael, Edward and
Ricardo expressed shock, clearly impressed by their daughter’s new
prowess, and proud of their newly acquired sense of confidence, as
well.

“Very impressive, Gunter,”
Rosa’s father, Michael shook the trainer’s hand
enthusiastically.

“Yes,” added Ricardo, his
pride in his daughter’s accomplishments written on his face.
“You’ve managed to do so much with them, and in such a short amount
of time. It was difficult for me to believe the warrior fighting
the vampire guard to a stop, was my Letta.

“We’re very proud of you
girls,” said El’s father, Edward. “You’ve all worked very hard, and
although I had misgivings about your going to Paris to celebrate
your birthdays, I’ve changed my mind. Now I think anyone who tried
to harm any of you wouldn’t stand a chance.”

“Does that mean I have your
permission to go, Father?” El asked expectantly.

“Yes, yes it does; you’ve
earned it,” Edward said, his pride in his daughter
evident.

“Ricardo and I agree and
also offer you our blessings,” said Michael, but he waggled his
finger, and added, “as long as Watchers accompany you.”

“Thank you, Father,” Rosa
and Letta said in unison making us all smile.

Our celebration dinner was
to be tomorrow night, just family and a few close friends including
of course Damien, Eric, Thomas, Quinn, Avery, and Simon. In the
back of my mind was the fact that the last night of the full moon
week was Sunday.

After dinner Damien
suggested we take a walk in the gardens.

“We haven’t had much time
alone, have we?” I said

“Not enough for me, that’s
for sure.”

“How many days can you stay
with me in Paris?”

“Three, three
days.”

“And three nights,” I said
just before I gave him a kiss, one that said more than words
could.

“I look forward to spending
time alone with you, more than I could ever say, but for tonight I
wanted to just be here in the gardens, our favorite spot, so I
could give you this. Happy Birthday Katrina,” he said as he pulled
a box out of his pocket.

I opened the box slowly, my
hands shaking a little. Inside was a gold filigree heart, the most
intricate, beautiful thing I had ever seen. It was just over an
inch long and not flat but puffed like a real heart. As I inspected
its perfection, I noticed something red sparkle from inside it,
reflecting the moonlight. Damien lifted the heart out of the box
and opened it like a locket. But instead of a picture that would
have been contained in a normal locket, this one held a very large
pigeon-blood ruby, cut in the shape of a heart.

“It’s my heart,” he softly.
“And I’m giving it to you.”

Then he stepped behind me
and placed it around my neck; the long gold chain let it hang over
my heart just between my breasts.

“I love it, Damien,” I
turned and threw my arms around him.

“I had it made especially
for you in Salzburg, by our family’s jeweler.”

“It’s just beautiful! Thank
you,” I kissed him again.

I didn’t want him to go on
the expedition, but I knew he had to. We had to be established in
America as soon as possible. I knew Damien would play a large part
in the clan’s execution of their plan.

“I know what you’re
thinking.”

“I thought you couldn’t
read my mind,” I challenged.

“I don’t have to have any
special skills to know that you’re thinking about the time I’ll be
away.”

Tears welled up in my
eyes.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
to start crying, it seems as though we just found each other, and
now you’re leaving.”

He laughed, “There was a
time you wanted to be rid of me.”

“That seems a lifetime
ago.”

“Katrina, your father did a
fantastic job preparing you for this. Well enough, your training
came to the forefront and you excelled, when you were challenged
that first time. You have had to mature practically overnight and
you were up to it, and you will survive being without me for a
little while.” He smiled at me now.