Lost Wanderer Awakened - Book One of the Airendell Chronicles (30 page)

Mac is so excited that she stims for the
entire ride to the house near Chatsfield Corner. She resumes
rocking at the waist as she had done when she first met Luca, but
now instead of covering her ears, she is flapping her hands she is
repeating a line from her favorite movie, ‘There’s no place like
home. There’s no place like home’.

Morna can’t help but recall her life as
Natalie. She recalls how banging her head against any hard surface
while she covered her ears and hummed would calm the ‘vibrations’
in her body that tormented her. She wonders if Mac experiences
something similar and that is what is prompting her stimming. She
makes another note in her planner to do more research on
autism.

Once they get to the house, Mac is eager to
help Morna set up the downstairs main bathroom for her use. She is
so proud and excited to have a bathroom for her very own use. Luca
assures her that no one else will use it, but her. Luca is
delighted when she asks him if it would be okay to paint the
bathroom and the bedroom purple. “Mac, we can paint them any color
you want, these rooms are yours,” he assures her.

Luca and Damian have Mac’s bedroom set up in
record time. The finished room is furnished with a twin bed, a
small dresser, a bedside table and lamp. As well as a small version
of a drafting table, and chair. There is also a powerful work lamp
that clamps onto the table and can be positioned anywhere over the
work surface of the table. Morna helps Mac unpack her clothing.
Morna decides she should give Mac some space to settle in, Mac is
hard at work sketching at the drafting table. Morna wonders how
many reams of plain white paper Mac uses in a month.

Mac doesn’t even look up when Morna tells her
good night. Morna isn’t sure if that’s a good sign or not. She
remembers the puzzles, books, and art supplies that she gathered
from the other little house and gets the keys from Luca to go
retrieve them from the trunk of her car.

CHAPTER 12 - JUST LIKE OLD TIMES

Morna is taking her time gathering up items
she needs from the trunk when the hairs on the back of her neck
stand up and she tenses. She sniffs the air and hisses fiercely.
She turns sharply and comes face to face with an unknown vampire.
“Ah, what a nice plump snack,” the scraggly blonde man drawls.

“You are biting off more than you can chew,
mutt,” Morna says quietly. “I have no quarrel with you personally.
You should walk away, while you still can.”

A second vampire drops out the tree about
five feet to Morna’s left and says, “Now why would we do that,
tasty treat? You smell pretty yummy and your squeeze isn‘t here to
protect his little pet.”

“Because you really don’t want to die
tonight.” Morna smiles. Lightning fast, she grabs the tire iron
from the trunk with her left hand and impales the nearest blood
sucker through the throat with it and screams for Luca. The vampire
with the tire iron in his throat falls backwards from the momentum
of the blow, he’s screaming and grasping at the tire iron in his
throat. Morna knows he’s only temporarily incapacitated but she
uses the time to focus on the other vampire.

Morna tries to avoid the second attacker. She
doesn’t have another weapon and knows she will fare badly pinned
against her car. But he’s much faster than her, and quickly has her
body pinned against the trunk of the car, holding her left hand in
an iron grip. “Be still bitch! I prefer my food still kickin‘. I
would hate to have to break your fat neck before I feed,” the
vampire hisses.

“Screw you, parasite! “ Morna growls as she
brings her knee up, viciously smashing into the attacker’s groin.
She shoves hard into her enemy to throw him off balance, just as
she yanks her hand down and frees her left hand from the vampire’s
iron hard grip. She brings her right hand up and delivers a solid
blow into his nose with the heel of her hand. If her attacker had
been human, he would have been completely incapacitated. She hears
Luca roar in rage, and suddenly, the frenzied fiend is gone. Morna
hears the sound of rending stone and is splattered with something
cold, wet and sticky. Her attacker’s blood.

Morna turns towards the sound of grinding
stone, Luca has torn her attacker’s head off, tossing him aside
like trash. And has picked the first vampire up and is holding him
by the front of his grimy shirt. “Why are you here?” He demands.
“What do you want with my mate?”

“Go to hell!” the writhing creature screams.
Lighting fast, Luca slams the vampire into the trunk of Morna’s car
and grabs the tire iron sticking out of his throat before he pushes
hard, causing the vamp’s neck to begin to crack. The corresponding
sound of granite splitting is drowned out by the vampire’s gurgling
scream. “We followed the punk here. Larry doesn’t like the kid. He
was wanting to kill his friends and then kill him. He said the punk
had gone pussy and wouldn‘t hunt humans anymore,” the impaled
vampire says hoarsely.

“Who is Larry?” Luca demands.

“You just ripped his head off.” The weakened
vampire hisses weakly.

“Are there more with you?” Luca demands.

“No, were nomads. We just hooked up today in
Tulsa,” comes the low whisper. By now the vampire is severely
weakened and Morna can barely hear him. Luca rips the last
vampire’s head off and scoops Morna up into his arms before the
body hits the ground.

“Baby, are you okay?” He breathes as examines
her face and body.

“I am fine love. Let’s get these taken care
of before someone else wanders down this road.”

He looks into his mate’s eyes to verify her
assurances that she is well and nods, contented with what he sees.
He kisses her gently and picks up both bodies by the back of their
jeans and carries them behind their house. “There’s a good place to
burn them in the back yard.” Morna picks up the heads by their
filthy, lank hair and follows him. They pile the bodies together
and Luca quickly weaves a fire spell. He finally turns and takes
her into his arms and says, “Are you really okay, Morna? I was
terrified when I heard you call out to me like that. I have never
heard you scream for me like that.”

“I am sorry. I just didn’t think I was ready
to take them on by myself, not yet. It turns out that I was right.
I fought like I was fighting a human. I really wasn‘t being that
effective.” Morna laughs at herself. “And this happens immediately
after I told Damian that I was in no real danger from any ordinary
vampire.” Morna shivers at what she knows was a very close call and
says, “Thank you love. I guess I am not back in fighting form
yet.”

“Morna, you were handling it just fine. I am
glad you called for me though.” Luca kisses her. “You have gained a
lot of maturity in this life time. I remember a time, not that long
ago, when you would never have called for help, even though it was
close by.”

Morna chuckles at that and she says, “Well
this mature lady is going to take those things into the house for
the kids and then I am going upstairs for a hot bath. I am feeling
my ‘maturity’ right about now, and my head is really pounding.”

Morna kisses his cheek and goes to fetch her
things form the trunk and goes inside. Nearly thirty minutes later
she drags her tired body up the stairs. She smiles at how much
things have changed so quickly. She feels like she is truly at
home. She stops by the refrigerator to get a coke, and then heads
to the bathroom where she starts running a hot bath with her
favorite combination of eucalyptus scented Epsom salts and lavender
oil. Then she goes to her wardrobe to look for a nightgown or
another pair of pajamas, but she doesn’t find either. “Oh well,
I’ll ask Luca tomorrow,” she mutters to herself as she turns to
look in his dresser for a tee shirt to sleep in.

She jumps when Luca speaks from the doorway
between the bedroom and bathroom, “Ask me what, baby?”

“Oh, hi Luca. I thought you two had already
gone out to hunt. I was just wondering if you had thought to get me
a nightgown or another pair pajamas.”

He snorts, “That one set of pajamas is for
lounging around in cool weather, not for sleeping in.” He comes up
and wraps her in his arms, wearing her favorite lopsided grin. “If
you insist on wearing anything to bed you have several sets of
matching undergarments to choose from.” He chuckles wickedly then
says, “No seriously, I just didn’t think you would want a night
gown. You have rarely used them.”

“Well, normally I wouldn’t, but you won’t be
here tonight…” she admits.

“Oh, but I will. Damian said he would be more
comfortable if I stayed here tonight to listen for Mac. He’s afraid
she might decide to go exploring or something. It’s not like he
needs me to look out for him as he hunts, and I hunted two nights
in a row, so I am good for two or three weeks.” He kisses the tip
of her nose and says, “Your bath water is cooling off quickly.” He
spins her toward the bathroom door and swats her behind gently.
“I’ll will be in there in a minute to massage her hip and leg, I
noticed a bit of a limp.”

Morna smiles. She knows the real reason that
he is staying. Because of their little visit from the vampires, he
is worried about another attack. “Yeah, I think I over did it
today.” She wants to bite her lip for saying that. He’s going to
think I am sore from our wild loving at the little house in
Connerville. CRAP!

She decides to try distraction; “What time is
it anyway?” she asks as she walks into the bathroom.

“8:40,” he says.

“Wow, it feels like it should be later,” she
mumbles. “I am beat.” She walks over the vanity and retrieves her
toothbrush and toothpaste from the medicine cabinet. She notices
some Advil in there and decides it might be a good idea to take her
pain meds. Her leg and hip hurt, but worse than that, her head is
throbbing unmercifully, and that foul taste in her mouth is back.
She goes and gets the pain meds out of her purse, takes them with
the last of the coke and returns to brush her teeth. After brushing
her teeth she strips slowly and eases down into the tub. Luca
enters the bathroom and comes over to the tub wearing only a pair
of boxers.

She chuckles delightedly and asks, “Why do
you have those? You have always gone commando.”

He laughs too, “I don’t know, I may not be
human anymore, but I guess I still have a bit of a human’s sense of
modesty, believe it or not.”

“Well, you look very sexy in them,” she
murmurs appreciatively as he starts to rub the knotted muscles in
her neck and shoulders. Morna relaxes considerably under his
skillful hands and asks, “How did Damian take the news of the two
vampires following him here?”

“He was very upset. He blames himself, he was
very frightened for you when we heard you call for me. He was
following me out, but I told him to stay and watch Mac. I think
that young man is quite taken with you, baby.”

“He just doesn’t really know what to make of
me. Hell, I don‘t know what to make of me right now.” Morna moans
as his strong, talented hands move down to her tense shoulders she
asks, “Did we do the right thing bringing the kids into our
home?”

“I think so,” he says. “Why? Are you having
some reservations?”

“Not exactly,” she replies. “I was just
thinking that we really don’t know much about Damian. I wonder if
he has more enemies out there that will end up on our doorstep.
What if the Italians come looking for him? And more selfishly, I
was thinking that having someone in the house, besides you with
super human hearing, might put a damper on our private time.”

“Well, if the Italians come looking for him,
we will deal with them. They won’t be eager to go up against Spell
Weavers. As you probably remember, they are not magic, and avoid
getting into conflicts with those who are. Which is a pretty wise
move on their part. They already have Stone Breakers and other
hunters on their trails, they don’t want our whole Guild out for
their heads as well. Besides, the three brothers and I came to an
understanding a couple hundred years ago. We agreed to steer clear
and mind our own business.” Luca laughs, “And, I have already put a
buffers spell on the upper level of the house.” He looks at her and
asks, “Do you remember exactly what a buffer spell is?”

“Doesn’t it keep anyone from entering a
protected area?” Morna asks doubtfully.

Luca nods and says, “Yes, and no one on the
outside can hear or see what goes on inside the spell. When you can
hear every sound your neighbors make, you don’t want to take a
chance that any of them can hear you. So you don’t have to worry
about that, our privacy, its protected. No one can enter or listen
in without our consent. As to not knowing Damian very well, I think
he respects you too much to ever pose a threat to you. But it might
be a good idea if I re-teach the iron-lion to you, very soon.”

“No need,” she assures him. “It just came to
me today at Mike’s bar, I wove the spell before I ever let you
leave the room. I may not have all my memories back, but I am not
foolish enough to stay in a room with an unknown vampire with
nothing but a binding spell at my disposal. I also used the spell
against Larry and Moe. I am just glad that they didn‘t decide to
bring Curly along for their fun and games. I would have really been
in trouble if the odds were three to one.”

Luca chuckles are her reference to the Three
Stooges when talking about the vampires who attacked her. “Really,
the spell just came to you?” he questions, “Are you sure you got it
right?”

“Yes, would you like to arm wrestle to test
it?” she quips.

Luca laughs heartily. “I wondered how you had
the strength to impale that vamp with a tire iron.”

“I hadn’t woven it yet. That was purely
self-preservation and adrenaline at work.” Luca looks at her
thoughtfully but doesn’t comment. Morna chuckles “Now what about my
offer to wrestle?” Morna asks with a wicked smile.