A Curse of Fate

Chapter 8

All of Max’s family rushed in carrying various weapons, The count carried a large ax and a jeweled sword, Lila a mase and dagger, Ann a massive sword, Sophia a spear and dagger, and Hector who’s ego showed clearly once again, had a bazooka and war hammer. They were all sniffing the air searching every corner of the room with their eyes, Max had wrapped his arms around me pulling me into his chest successfully cover my rather nacked form with his own body. I hid my face in his shoulder as he not only glared at his family but threatened them in a strange arcane language, “We smelt blood and magick.” Hector said, still holding the bazooka over his shoulder ready to fire. I looked up from Max’s shoulder, at my brother in law, much to my surprise he was the first to realize that I was naked, “Uh we should give them a moment?” He said looking anywhere else, voice filled with embarrassment Slowly they left closing the door, “They aren’t going to wait long.” I said to Max who had refused to let me move from his embrace. He sighed and let me go, “They have no respect for boundaries.” shaking his head “Honestly they could have at least nocked”. Laughing I reached into the wardrobe at random grabbing the first none bejeweled dress that appeared, “They love you and were worried about you” slipping it over my head, “Still what did they think was happening a with attacked us?” he said glaring at the door as a loud “Yes!” responded back to him. Looking over to me he groaned and went to the door, only to have it smack into his face as Lila and Ann marched in. Neither stopped to check on him but came directly over to me, “Are you ok?” Lila said as she stared at the changes in my marks, Ann studied them as well, a look of worry came over her face. “These are not the same as the ones that mother gave you,” Sophia stated looking at the emerald green vines around my calves, her voice dispassionate and cold “You should not have these unless you belong to a witches bloodline.” Her tone shifted to an accusation, I stared into her eyes when she lifted them to face me. “I do” I stated “I was stolen from my mother’s womb, and kept from her for my whole life.” Ann and Lila stared at me with mixed looks of horror and sympathy, Sophia still held my gaze with no emotion. The count couldn’t even speak, his face frozen with horror, it was mirrored by my mate. Hector was the first to recover from the shock “When you say stolen from her womb do you mean you were cut out of her and taken?” Asking in confusion and disgust, “Yes the Council had found my mother when she was close to giving birth, and the monster that I called my father” I paused taking a shaky breath “ He cut her open and took me, leaving her to die” My eyes began to tear, the vision replaying in my mind, the image of my mother butchered and bleeding on her kitchen floor. “Those bastards.” Lila all but screamed ash she pulled me to her in a sisterly hug, “What reason could there be to even consider that let alone do it,” Ann asked staring at her father, whose face had only grown darker with rage “they wanted a weapon that could be impervious to magick and bring more weapons to their armory,” I said wiping the tears from my face. “Even after all of these years they still believe that a witch will breed weapons for them,” Dracula said living up to his name as it looked like there was smoke coming from his nostrils. Son of the Dragon awe at his care for those not of his own family suffering at the hands of monsters. “They had the gull to take a daughter from a bloodline, and leave the mother to die” he carried on pacing the room “No wonder they had kept you locked away and under their thumb. You are a powerful witch with no knowledge of her blood, they could use you in any way to accomplish their mission from God” He spat the last words out of his mouth “Yet their goal to make you a broodmare for their future sons is an insult beyond redemption” Striding to me his face calmed as he placed his hands gnetly on my shaking shoulders “ We will find your people, Elaina, I am sorry that your mother will not be amongst them” his words filled with sadness. I looked into his eyes, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth “My mother survived, and searches for me” I said remembering her words.

It took time but I told my new family of the vision of the night I was born, and what happened after. We had moved into a parlor room where we all found seats on comfy couches the count in a large armchair by the massive fireplace, the matching armchair beside him remained empty its owner not among us.  “How could she let them keep you?” Ann asked as she stared at me, everyone looked to me awaiting the answer. “She knew that this would happen, she foresaw all of it and knew that nothing she did would help me only time would bring me back to her” She saved more than just her self that night. “They order wanted a child from her bloodline and she knew that they would come for her, but that there was a bigger plan in motion. I am a weapon they tried to forge as their own, but I was never exactly what they wanted, Each time they tried to shape me I changed again, growing stronger and farther from them. Even their mental control wasn’t  strong enough to hold me after the magick woke up.” I said sharing a warm look with Max, Magick gave me control and the gift of our bond. Sophia had been quiet since we came into the parlor, but still stared at me with her cold eyes, What is her issue with me I thought as we locked eyes again. She shook herself and turned to watch the fire dance, I turned to the count who had been amazed to learn of my mother’s survival, once I gave him the details of how he had gone quiet pondering who knows what.  

So much of my life had changed in such a short time, but how little of the life I used to live meant to me became clear after the magick freed me from the Order’s control. They tried to even take my mind from me, my body wasn’t enough for them. My children would have been their great weapons and my body their forge. The rage inside me that had been repressed by whatever they did to damage my mind, keeping me docile for their training and abuse. They will pay for my damage and my mother’s suffering.  Max had moved closure to me while I was trapped in my head with my thoughts of justice, “Love ?” He asked eyes filled with concern. Looking at him still coming back to the discussion at present, “Yes?” I asked totally unaware of what had been said, “We wanted to know if there was anything specific you remembered of your mother to help us finder her easier.” He said still staring at me in concern, “There’s not much that other than her face that I really remember things became blurry so quickly after she began healing herself.” I said trying to pull more of her physical features from my memory. “What about the creatures that came to her what animal did you see rush to her side before the women arrived,” Dracula asked looking thoughtfully at his wife’s chair, “A massive dog it was black or a dark brown” remembering the giant beast running to her side trying to comfort her. “Hmmm any other kind of creature that was not totally human in appearance?” he asked leaning forward in his chair, replaying the moments after the women surrounded her in my head I gasped as the Gargoyle entered the vison after the women. “A gargoyle, he was upset and holding my mother when the women were helping her” taking a breath “He called her his love and she said the same about him when he talked about getting me back ” Even in her pain she had been trying to soothe him, and keep him from ruining the plan she had suffered to help set into motion. Is he the creature that truly sired me? My thoughts began to race as the idea that the monster who gutted my mother to steal me wasn’t really my father began to give me hope.  He’ll never be able to say a thing to me about his blood in my veins again. Words that he had taunted me with every time I, now giving me hope that what he had said in disappointment were true in the end. Dracula bounced from his chair racing to a map that hung from the wall with scattered words and images, “Only one with has been claimed as the mate of a gargoyle in the last 600 hundred years.”His hands a blur as they traced a line to a strange symbol on the far side of the map “ And only her coven use large dogs as their familiars.” he was now excited, wither a the fact he knew who my mother was or the fact that he figured it our by himself, I was unsure, but the look of triumph he wore was enough to make us all grin at him. “She will be here soon then if she is your mother, from your blood calling to hers and the spells they have to fly.” I looked at him in shock “She will be here soon? Are you sure?” I asked. Beaming with pride he stood tall “yes I know a great deal about this coven, they have the great honor of being the cousins of my beloved wife’s cousins. The similarities I assure were well appreciated by my family on their visit to our weddings.” Said a dreamy look came over him “Dad stop”  his children exclaimed at him, as they covered their ears to his description of the women began with their plump frames and was heading to their womanly endowments. Smiling at the thought of the women looking like me, began to wonder how much I took after my mother. “Well, since we are going to be having guests you all know what this means.” the counts smile changed into a face of seriousness and warning “It’s time to clean the castle” He stated, all of the Temps children groaned and shared a look of shared suffering. Apparently, the mighty count Dracula was a clean freak in his own right, and before we could head off to bed he already assigned everyone a section to clean and prepare for the impending guests.  So many surprises to this family what could my won be like?  Imagining the moment I got to meet my new kin helped me to fall asleep beside an exhausted Max.