Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny) (35 page)

Mother’s information told her that, at the time, there were
four identified pregnant Vampires and that Gates had three of them in his own
house in Syracuse.  She dispatched the Chief to find the fourth and bring her
to the compound.  He rarely failed in his assignments, and Mother had her
pregnant Vampire within the week.  Lana’s Vampire mother did not die in
childbirth as did the human mothers of the other children, but that did not
stop Mother Zhukov from sacrificing her and making Lana as much an orphan as
all the others. 

Mother knew that Gates was continuing to seek and gather
any newly discovered Vampire mothers.  It became apparent that the Vampire
women had become fertile after the Solar Storm, and more cases were found every
week. When the first of the Vampires was due to deliver—Lana’s mother was still
a few weeks from due—Mother went to witness the birth in the guise of a
midwife.  Gates had protested her attendance.

“You will be recognized.  You risk someone finding out
about our arrangements,” he complained.

“I am the most powerful witch that you are ever likely to meet,
Samuel.  I will not be recognized if I choose not to be.  And, if you would
like our
arrangements
to continue, you will grant me access to observe
this birth of a species,” she informed him.  She did not tell him of the
Vampire she had hidden away in her own compound, anxiously awaiting her delivery
date.  In the end, Gates relented, and she was present with several others at
the birth.  The delivery was no different from a typical human birthing, but
the baby was large and had focused, crystal-clear, blue eyes.  Information had
been passed to them through a network of midwives that the babies would have
Vampire fangs and would feed on milk or blood, but also on the Life Spark of
others.  No one had been able to trace back exactly where this information had
originated from, but they were cautious and, therefore, not surprised by the
needs of the baby.  Mother had examined the little needle teeth and was
fascinated when she witnessed the energy flowing from the human wet-nurse to
the infant.  She made sure she was well prepared for Lana’s birth. 

Two years later, Lana was a quiet little toddler with a
sweet disposition, but Mother kept an eye on her anyway.  She never let herself
forget that Lana had fangs and was a Vampire at heart, even if it was Life
Spark that she craved more than blood. 

Gates and the Vampire council had dubbed the infants
Vampyrum, naming their species after a bat known as the false Vampire.  The self-important
elders believed firmly in their superiority, and the term became one of disdain. 
Mother was not impressed.  Even though Gates continued to feed the council his
potion, and he manipulated their decisions to suit himself, the council elders remain
a bunch of pompous aristocrats, for the most part.  They were governing most of
the villages within four hundred miles, by proxy, and their influence spread further
every day.  They had declared the Solar Storm to be the beginning of a new era,
and so it was now the year 2 PST.  PST stood for Postea Solis Tempesta, Latin
roughly translated as After the Solar Storm.  
Arrogant Men,
Mother
thought contemptuously. Mother and the other midwives had named that first baby
a Vamphyr, affording more respect to a species that could absorb the Life Spark
of another, and the new species became known by both names.

These days, Mother had her own little Vamphyr to study in
Lana, and she observed her closely. Lana sometimes watched the other children
with a fascination and longing that made Mother believe that Lana could see
their abundant Life Spark too, and Mother wanted to make sure that Lana did not
accidentally harm one of the others by draining that Spark.  So far, there had
been no incidents.  She watched the two very different children playing in her
atrium and marveled that she was witnessing evolution. 

Thirty
-seven

Ryan strode down the snowy lane toward Elvis and Kate’s
house.  He heard a screech behind him and turned to see a two-year old Destiny
trying to run after him in the snow, with Sara chasing after her, a hat and mittens
in her hand.

“Wait, Destiny, you need to wear your hat. It’s cold out,”
Sara was lecturing, but Destiny only had eyes for Ryan.

He walked back the way he had come and scooped up the
stumbling girl. She fluttered her lashes at him. “I wanna go too” she said pretty
clearly for a two-year old.  She was exceptionally smart and articulate for her
age.

“You are a little devil.” Ryan grinned widely.  “But, you
can’t go anywhere unless you let Sara bundle you up.” 

Sara caught up to them and was already pulling the knit cap
down over Destiny’s pink ears.  She gave Destiny and then Ryan an exasperated
look and tugged Destiny’s mittens over her little hands. “You know she doesn’t
like to stay behind when you leave,” Sara said.

“I thought she was napping.  I didn’t know she would come
running out here after me,” he defensively replied, but the smile never
wavered.  “I would have taken her otherwise. Kate loves to see her.”

“Whatever,” Sara said, already trudging back to the house
they shared with Aurora and Alex.

Ryan looked at the little girl in his arms and said, “Are
you trying to get me in trouble with Sara?”

Destiny just grinned and said, “Ecks-imo kiss.”

“Eskimo kisses?” Ryan asked with feigned surprise.  It had
been Destiny’s favorite request for a month, and she never got tired of it.
“Well, it’s certainly cold enough for Eskimo kisses,” he said.  “But… I think
maybe we need some airplane rides first.”  He said it loud and fast and started
spinning around with Destiny at arm’s length flying through the air. 

She laughed and screamed, delighted, but when he stopped
and pulled her back to him, she said, “Ecks-imo kiss”.

He laughed, his breath coming out in white puffs. “You have
a one-track mind, baby-cakes.” He leaned his face into hers and she turned her
face from side to side, rubbing her little button nose on the tip of his grown-up
one.  His puffy breath was drifting between them.  Suddenly he felt as if
something was tugging that breath from him, except he realized it wasn’t
actually his breath, but something else, flowing from inside of him and into
Destiny. 
She’s feeding on my Life Force,
he realized.  He didn’t stop
her because he knew as a full grown
Were
, she was not likely to harm
him, and he was quite intrigued by the process.  She didn’t want his blood.  She
held his face between her tiny, mitten-covered hands and pulled energy from him
as if it flowed from his mouth to hers, just a couple of inches away.  Their
noses were still touching. 

She seemed surprised as well but didn’t pull away.  It was
the first time she had fed on anyone besides Sara or Lily, and even then she
fed like a baby at the breast.  Lily said it was time for her to be weaned, and
they had been feeding her real food—for the most part she would only eat
meat—for some time, but they hadn’t been able to work out how to get her to draw
life force without nursing.  She never seemed to know how or want to do it
before today.  The feeling was odd, but he wasn’t feeling weakened by it the
way Sara sometimes did.  If anything, he was feeling stronger, more alive. 
Lily!
Holy Shit, I have to tell Lily. She’ll know what to make of it.

As soon as he felt the flow of energy subside, he ran with
Destiny to Lily’s place.  Destiny was laughing, enjoying the ride.  He
hesitated when he got to the door.  He had been kind of avoiding Lily for a
couple of weeks because he knew she had weaned the twins and soon she would
expect him to do his duty again.  He had grown fond of Lily as a friend, but
that only made it more obvious that there was nothing between them, and it was more
awkward than ever to think about sleeping with her.  He knocked on the door. 
After all, this was about Destiny, and that trumped all for him.  The care and
protection of the little girl in his arms was his one and only,
all-encompassing purpose and priority in life.  If that sounded obsessive or
over-zealous, he would apologize, but he couldn’t help it.  It was as Lily
said, he and Destiny were connected, and he was closer to her than her own
father in many ways. 

Lily answered the door and let them in immediately when she
saw he had Destiny with him. “Is she okay? You look a little odd,” she said as
they came through the door. 

“She’s fine, but I need you to see something,” Ryan said
cryptically.

Lily led them to the living room, and Ryan sat on the couch
while Destiny stood in front of him.  He pulled off her mittens and held her
little hands to his cheeks.  He looked nervously over at Lily, who only seemed
confused and curious.  He turned back to Destiny and said, “Eskimo kiss.”
Destiny smiled, delighted she rubbed her nose to his and after a moment he
could feel the same pulling sensation.  It felt as if a silky ribbon of air was
flowing through his parted lips, but he was breathing fine and the flow was
energy from his core.  After a short while, he began to feel the shift in the
flow, an exchange that involved acceptance as well as giving.  He heard Lily,
gasp as if from a distance and he knew she was able to see the flows as he
hoped she would. 

Having fed twice in minutes, Destiny stopped the flow and
asked, “Lily, can I play with Becky and Keef?”  She still couldn’t say Keith. 

Lily purposely avoided looking at Ryan and said, “Keith and
Becky are at the school with the other kids, Desi. I’m sorry, but the dollies
are still in Becky’s room if you want to play.”

“Okay,” Destiny said running off down the hall. 

The school was what they called the group setting that the
children who were pack raised lived and learned in.  Ryan already knew from
Sara that Lily weaned the twins and sent them to the pack, and he didn’t want
to talk about that right now.  He pretended as if nothing was said, and he
asked her, “So, did you see what she did? She was feeding on my life force,
wasn’t she?”

“She was, but it was more than that.  It was like the time
when I saw you talking to her before she was born.  It was an exchange, not
just a feeding.  She takes from you, but she gives something back to you and
you drink it in just like she does.  The crazy thing is that neither of you are
weakened by the exchange, and somehow, you both come out stronger.  I could see
the flow. It was incredible.”  Lily shook her head barely believing what she’d
seen.

“I guess that means you and Sara can wean her now,” Ryan
said and immediately regretted opening his mouth. 
Crap! Now she’ll want to
try breeding again for sure.

Lily ignored the comment. “I’ll want to keep an eye on her
diet,” she said. “So far she seems a lot like a
Were
child, very
carnivorous, the more rare the better.  You said she’s been eating meat,
right?”

Ryan nodded. “She’ll eat meat and not much else, and she’ll
grab it raw if you turn your back on her, but it’s clear that she doesn’t need
human blood, like her parents do, to survive.”

“Well then, we will wean her, stop feeding her human blood
and try to find out if she can accomplish this exchange with anyone besides
you.” Lily pronounced

Thirty
-eight

Year 3 PST (Postea Solis Tempesta)

Greta peered out of her door at the sunshine filling the clearing
around her somewhat isolated home.   She was situated comfortably between the
settlement and the nearest human village.  She still passed herself off as human
in town to practice her herb-craft and midwifery.  Only the local witch, Olina,
knew Greta for what she was.  Olina wasn’t an actual witch, and Greta knew that,
but she was a practitioner and a devout follower of the witches.  Olina had the
gift of sight, and she could see Greta’s aura for what it was, which was
different from a human. They made their pacts of secrecy long ago. Olina and
Greta had been exchanging ingredients and medicinals for many long years, and
Olina might have been the closest thing Greta had to a friend. 

As Greta looked out at the sunshine, she also listened to
the deafening sound of water cascading from the thousands of trees in the forest
as the warmth was melting the snow everywhere.  This was the third warm, sunny
day in a row, and the ground was rapidly becoming a marsh of wet mud, instead
of the frozen, snow-covered tundra that she had grown accustomed to over the
last three years.  She was expecting Olina to arrive for a visit any day.  They
tried to take turns visiting each other for their exchanges. 
Speak of the
devil,
she thought as she heard a horse snorting in the trees and saw a
bundled up old woman riding it out into the clearing. 

“Oy, Greta, you’re a sight for sore eyes. My horse nearly
broke a leg in this wicked muck. I should have waited another day or two,
maybe.” Olina grumped as she dismounted in front of the small house.

“Well come in and have a cup of tea to warm ye up.  Leave
the animal.  I have a boy comes by twice a week for chores, and it happens to
be his day.  He should be here within the hour, and he’ll take care of your
beast,” Greta said, hobbling the horse and following Olina inside. 

“A wolf boy you mean?” Olina pushed, but Greta would never
give away the location of the settlement, not even to Olina.  Greta ignored her
and went about fixing tea and humming.