The Voice of the Dead

Vampyrs

*Lea POV*

"I'm the soul-speaker?" I asked both of them, my eyes wide.

"Yes. And your gift is beautiful. It can be difficult and challenging, and, in the end, it's up to you if you want to use it. You spent your entire life so far, thinking that you are cursed and that there is something wrong with you, when, in reality, you have a beautiful, pure soul that was chosen by the Persephone to help others." Asteria smiled at me warmly, caressing my face.

"We won't force you to accept it or to use it. It will always be your choice." Alex added. "But we think you should talk about it with someone who understands it completely. Ultimately, it's up to you, we won't force you to do anything."

I'm… special?

"I'm not cursed? And those… voices, can I stop them somehow?" I asked unsurely.

"You can learn to mute them, you would always have the ability to communicate with the lost souls, but you can not hear them." Asteria explained. "I can't help with training this ability, not fully at least. And I would prefer to give you some time before training your sorcery, I want you to have a childhood. The same goes for the soul-speaking, I want you to be able to control it, to shut it off but even if you decide to pursue your gift, I don't want you to worry about it before you are ready to embrace it."

"Then… who could help me learn how to mute them?" I asked, still dumbfounded, not ready to make any decisions regarding my life.

I'm 14! I don't want to make those decisions!

"I think I know someone. I can arrange a meeting." Asteria smiled.

"Would you two… go with me? As my guardians?" I asked shyly, looking from her to Alex.

He smiled broadly, and grabbed me into a bone-crushing hug.

"We would be honored." Alex said, almost teary.

I heard Asteria's chuckle.

"You're strangling her!"

He let go of me and smiled.

"We will talk about this tomorrow. I'm sure you need some time before deciding if you want to meet…" He said but I cut him off.

"No, I want to do that as soon as possible. I want to… no, I need to control it. Just a little bit."

"Of course, I understand." Asteria agreed and got up, taking the cups with her. "Now, try to get some sleep."

She kissed my temple and left with Alex right after her. They both waved at the door and closed it behind them.

I turned off the light and lay flat on my bed.

The small, fluorescent stars that Alex put on the ceiling of my room, twinkled and shimmered in the dark. I smiled, feeling the instant relief.

Whenever I look at them, I think of those two.

They are a perfect match and they love each other deeply. They are also perfect parents to their twins, Alaric and Amethyst, who are now three months old.

Why wasn't I born to them? Why did I have to be born from a woman that despised me and led to my banishment?

I felt teary again and I shook off these thoughts.

I'm here now, safe with them and I started to love them as my parents.

Asteria mentioned how they would love to adopt me and give me their last name. I could be enrolled back in school and actually have a happy childhood.

I love the twins. They are perfect little angels and I'm happy whenever I can hold them and care for them. I would love to be their big sister. I also love Aida, Alex's niece who is only a month younger than the twins. She actually calms down a lot when I hold her and Oriana, Alex's sister, often tells me that I'm an Angel sent from heaven because she cries almost all the time, but when she is in my arms, she is calm.

I want to stay here, to have them all as my family.

And I wouldn't be here probably if it wasn't for that one particular voice that I kept hearing, that was constantly pointing me towards Alex's pack. I've wandered so far because I felt like I would be safe there and the voice was right.

I want to know who the voice was and thank him for giving me a second chance to have a good life.

***

Alarm in my phone went off and I groaned.

It may be 9am, but because of last night's nightmare, I feel like I haven't slept at all.

Alex's head popped from behind the doors. He held both his children in one arm.

"Hey princess. You can sleep longer if you want. We know you had a rough night."

The twins looked at me and immediately started to reach out for me to hold them. I giggled and patted my bed.

Alex shook his head with a laugh and put them both in my arms and sat next to us.

"They are happy to see their big sister." He hummed, looking at all three of us lovingly.

"Yeah, I really love them too. I wish I was their real sister. I keep thinking how different my life would be if I was born to you and Asteria."

"You know that we treat you like you were ours, right?" Alex said quietly and grabbed my hand.

I nodded, uncertainly.

"I mean… you look like you could have a daughter my age, but Asteria looks only a couple years older than me and wouldn't it be weird to call you mom and dad?" I muttered, tickling the twins.

"Lea, princess. Everyone in the pack already knows that you are ours. You are treated like an Alpha daughter and I'm sure as hell no one would dare to say anything bad about this. This pack is your home and members treat you as one of them." Alex said with a smile and added. "And, well, Asteria could be your mother, she may look 19, but TECHNICALLY, she…"

"Technically I'm what, love?" Asteria asked, sneaking behind her mate. He jumped in place and turned to her.

One of her eyebrows was raised and she folded her arms on her chest.

Alex gulped and I could almost see his tail tucked between his legs. I started to giggle quietly.

"Well, I mean you were born a long time ago."

"Are you calling your mate old, Alexander?" Asteria asked, her voice terrifyingly calm.

"What? No! I…"

"The bottles are ready, you can feed the twins." She said calmly, still standing.

Alex just nodded and took the twins, looking apologetic at his mate.

As soon as he left Asteria laughed.

"I can't believe he bought it."

"You're evil." I giggled and she winked at me.

"Nah, I'll go to console him in a second. You are sure you don't want more sleep?"

I shook my head but yawned uncontrollably.

Asteria chuckled and shook her head, tucking me back in bed.

"Hey… you said before that you want to adopt me…" I whispered, shyly.

The Goddess looked at me wide-eyed.

"Do you still want to?" I continued. "Because I would love to call you mom and dad."

Asteria's eyes got a little teary and she nodded, leaning in and kissing my forehead.

"We would be honored to have you as a daughter. And I would love it if you called us that." She whispered, tucking my hair behind my ear.

I smiled and felt the warmth all over my body.

"I love you, mom…" I whispered and drifted back to sleep.

***

I woke up again and looked at my phone. 12pm. Wow, I really did need some sleep.

I got up and went to grab a shower.

20 minutes later I was clean and dressed when I left my room.

I went straight to the kitchen and saw Alex and Asteria sitting behind the table with two men in front of them. Asteria was beaming with happiness looking at them. Alex noticed me and smiled.

"Lea, come here."

I came closer, stood in front of the guests and nodded politely.

"Good morning."

As I said it, I looked up at them. The man on the right looked older, 40 or even 50, he had dark brown hair with streaks of gray, furry eyebrows and a large straight nose. He was smiling at me softly. He had this fatherly aura around him. The other man was younger, looking around 30 with thick blond hair and almost boyish charm. He smiles broadly at me, showing his straight, white teeths with pointy fangs.

I gasped slightly as I realized that he was a vampire!

A vampire!

I've never seen one in person.

Asteria chuckled seeing my stunned expression and came over to hug me.

"Lea, do you remember when I told you about my uncle H?" She asked.

I nodded, still looking at them wide eyed. Both of them started to chuckle.

"This is Horatio, my uncle and his mate, Darius. As you probably noticed, they are vampyrs." She explained.

Vampyrs?

"It's nice to meet you, Lea." Horatio stood up and gave me his hand to shake. "Feel free to call me uncle or H, just like Asteria does."

Darius came right after him, shaking my hand and introducing himself as well.

Asteria brought me late breakfast and they all talked as I was eating.

"So, were you able to reach him?" She asked and Horatio nodded.

"The Dark Lord and his wife are happy to meet you all." The vampyr said calmly, with a small smirk.

Dark Lord? Who in the heck is that?

"And he isn't mad that I basically kicked open the doors last time I went in?" Asteria asked, a little sheepishly, a small blush covering her face.

I looked at her, surprised while Alex started laughing.

"I'll explain later." She winked at me.

"He was not happy about that, but the Queen understood your goal and was actually very fond of your devotion." Horatio said with a small chuckle and then looked at me. "She also is excited to meet Lea."

"Huh? Me?" I asked, my mouth still full of pancakes.

Darius chuckled and gave me a napkin.

"I told you we are going to meet someone who knows more about your gift, right? I've never had a chance to get to know them, I met them rather briefly, but uncle H has known them for millennias." Asteria said, holding my hand.

"Meet who?" I asked, shyly.

"Hades and Persephone." Horatio answered with a warm smile.