The Awakening

Arabella

Arabella sat on the broad tree limb with her back against the old oak's solid trunk. Her legs weren't particularly long but they were strong as they gripped the branch with her thighs. The dark leather of her pants not only provided protection against the rough bark and sharp branches but also helped the grip on the tree. She held her breath with the bow pulled back to her cheek. She looked down the length of the arrow at the doe on the ground in front of her. It was nibbling something on the ground and she just needed it to look up for her to take her shot.

She had a few rules she set upon herself and those that were with her. Number one was never to inflict unnecessary pain. Hunting fell under that rule.

A branch snapped off to her left and the deer looked up quickly. Arabella was about to lose her arrow when a fawn came into view and the doe moved closer to it.

"Damn." She said as she lowered her bow.

"You should have just taken the shot."

Arabella leaned her head back against the tree, denying the way his deep voice made her shiver, denying how his breath against her ear made her close her eyes and imagine that breath and lips against her skin.

"I didn't take the shot, because you would have." She bit back at him.

Luke leaned from his branch even further to whisper in her ear again, "I guess it's a good thing I don't eat...deer." She could hear the smile play on his lips as he had fun with his words.

"You damn vamps are all the same. No heart. No warmth." She started to get up and was crouched on her branch, bracing herself for her jump to the ground when she looked over at him and said, "Oh yeah, and no pulse," and jumped.

She could hear his deep chuckle from the ground and turned her back to him. Completely unafraid, even in the dark, of a vamp at her back. Especially this one.

They had found him about 14 years ago about a mile outside their home in the Rockies of Montana. He was hiding in a hollow in a giant granite boulder that couldn't really be considered a cave. He was terrified and had been feeding on wildlife. Her mother had turned her blind eyes to Robert one morning on the back patio while drinking coffee and said, "He's scared and alone."

"Who is, love?" Robert replied questioningly.

"The one who feeds at night. He drinks but does not eat. He lives but his heart does not beat." Grace was not there. She would go into these trance-like fugue states at times. Speaking in half riddles most often, that would leave them confused and others would be almost coherent. She was a seer. She always had the gift deep inside, or at least a spark, but the comet brought it out in her, as it did in so many others. It gave her the Sight but took her eyes.

Robert and Ella figured out what Grace was trying to tell them fairly quickly. The corpses of wildlife, drained of blood, were found around their home. Some a fair distance away but others closer. The pattern was pretty clear though, who or whatever it was, was watching them and hunting around their property.

Robert took the lead in the hunting party as he was the Druid. Grace stayed behind with Emma as she wasn't a strong enough hunter yet. He did, however, take Ella, whom he couldn't have made stay behind. He also had Lance and his 17-year-old twins, Rowan and Calder.

The trio had come riding up their driveway a little more than a year ago. Robert remembered the wariness he felt when he saw them from his front window. There were 3 horses with riders in the distance. Robert's eyes were sharp but he couldn't quite make out their features. He closed his eyes and listened to what the wind was telling him about who approached. This was before he discovered he could do more than just listen to the wind.

He heard two males and one female. They were relaxed, wearing weapons but they were tied down to their packs. He opened his eyes and decided to meet them away from the house. As he walked down the driveway he remembered his wife's cryptic words from a few days ago. She had been in her library in front of the fire, touching the pages of the books she could no longer read. He came and took the chair across from her. They didn't say anything for a long time as they found they no longer needed to speak out loud to each other as much. Their bond as husband and wife since the Event, had deepened. Something about the way they had been linked had tied them together, all of them.

Grace's face was turned to the flames when she softly said, "Cerebus comes on the wind."

"Cerebus?" Robert frowned at his wife, searching her face for clarification.

"The gaurdian. One in three and three in one. She cannot succeed without them." Grace had cried the last with urgency. She turned to Robert. "They must stay by her. Do not drive them away." She was gripping his hand fiercely.

He looked down at her small slender fingers digging into his large palm. One nail had drawn blood. He covered hers with his other hand. "I'll watch for them love. Don't worry now." He kissed her brow and stroked her hair until the tension went out of her neck.

Robert was waiting on the drive remembering that night and watching the trio approach. He was perched on a bench of his own creation drinking his coffee when they got to him.

He looked up at the man who was the elder of the three. He was much taller and broader in the chest than Robert was. He had sandy blonde hair and the brightest blue eyes Robert had ever seen. They were the color the ocean had been when he and Grace had spent their honeymoon in the Caribbean. He had a long staff fixed in a sling alongside him in the saddle. Robert could see the ends had been topped with metal. The work was finely done.

"How did he manage that?" He thought to himself.

He looked next to the girl who was between the two. She was also tall, almost as tall as the man. She also had the same startling eyes but where the man's had held laughter, her's were fierce. Her long dark brown hair fell in waves to her waist. She had braids on the left side which pulled the hair back from her face. Robert noted the bow behind her on the saddle and the quiver of arrows across her back. He knew she was well familiar with the weapon.

The final member of the trio was a young man, who looked to be the same age as the girl. The resemblance between the two was remarkable, but the boy was almost a reflection of the father. The only exception was that, instead of the turquoise eyes, his were golden. The boy was trying to show friendliness but the tension in his shoulders gave him away. That and there was something about the eyes that worried Robert.

The girl replied to the remark before the man could, "Like the three-headed dog in mythology?" She laughed and Robert could see her face relax and he knew that this was the man's daughter, just as the boy was his son.

"You have no idea how appropriate that is." She chuckled.

"Almost," the boy said quietly.

His father's eyes flicked at the boy's face. "Calder, we know it won't be long. Hi, I'm Lance." He said, turning to Robert and extending his hand.

"These are my children, twins, if you hadn't guessed. Calder is the big one there at the end, and Rowan."

"Thank god you didn't refer to me as the big one," Rowan remarked sarcastically.

"Oh honey, I would never." Lance said consolingly but with a hint of mischief behind his words. "You're the scary one!"

Rowan's feigned hurt toss of the head made Robert chuckle as he took Lance's hand in his own.

"Robert, pleasure to meet you." He said as he looked at the three of them. "But if I may ask, what can I do for you?"

Instead of Lance being the one to answer, it was Calder who spoke.

"We are here for her." His words and the almost dark way he spoke them sent a shiver down Robert's back.

"For who?" Robert asked, but he thought he knew the answer.

"The one who shines." Said Rowan fervently. "We have been dreaming of her every night since. . . since IT happened." She said stutteringly, indicating herself and her brother.

Robert looked at Lance. "Arabella. You're here for Arabella, my daughter." he said in response.

"He looked at Calder and then to Rowan, "But you're wrong on one point. She doesn't shine. She blazes."