Katrina, The Beginning (35 page)

“How nice to meet you,” I
somehow managed to say.

“She’s beautiful, Damien,
just like her mother.” Daniela said to Damien.

I managed a weak
smile.

“I was just passing
through. I have been visiting friends in Bulgaria and Romania. When
Marcus mentioned Damien was here, I knew I had to see him,” she
must have been nervous, she was speaking rapidly and gushing as she
spoke her explanation to me.

Now she spoke to Damien.
“It’s been so long. Your father never believed I wasn’t involved in
the trouble, all those years ago; guilt by association, I suppose,
Antoinette being my sister. Your father said he wouldn’t let me
near you. I know I can’t stay here, Damien, I wouldn’t think of it,
but I hope we can get together in Paris someday and get
reacquainted.”

“As a matter of
fact…”

“No!”
I was yelling to him with my mind. No reply; why
couldn’t he hear me?

“. . . .I’ll be in Paris
later this month on business, and I’ll be staying at the apartment.
Perhaps we could get together then.”

“I’d love that, Damien,
really,” she said. “Well, I’ll leave you, then; I know I’m not
welcome here.”

She came closer to Damien
and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I’ve always loved you, my
son; please believe that.”

They hugged each other and
then she walked off into the forest.

Knowing this meeting was a
dream come true for Damien, how could I tell him I felt his mother
was evil?

CHAPTER
SIXTEEN

“I called to you earlier.
Did you hear me?” I said.

“No, what were you trying
to tell me?”

“That something was wrong.
How about just a few minutes ago, did you hear me then?”

“No.”

“Don’t you think it’s
strange we couldn’t talk to each other?”

“I suppose…what are you
saying?”

I looked into his
eyes.

“Can you hear me
now?”

“Yes.”

“Does your mother know what
your gift is?” I now said aloud.

“No, I’ve told no one but
you.”

“Then she must have a way
to block our gifts, maybe to keep anyone from finding
her.”

“But that makes sense,
don’t you think? She’s been banished, after all.”

“Banished from your home
yes; but not from everywhere else. Mother said there would only be
more sanctions against her
if
she got
involved in any trouble again, so why would she need to hide
herself like that?”

“She might worry with all
this new trouble someone might mistakenly think she’s involved, and
we don’t know she
is
involved do
we?”

“No, not for sure. It’s
just had a bad feeling, a foreboding, as I approached
here.”

“It’s probably just because
you couldn’t talk to me. I want to know my mother. You of all
people should understand that.”

“Of course I do. I just
want you to be careful, that’s all. A lot has happened lately, and
her just showing up, by happenstance, a few days after we lost two
Watchers, makes me nervous.”

“I understand, but I’m
willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I promise I’ll keep
my perspective. I will give you my word on this, if I get any proof
she’s aligned with Luena, I’ll…I’ll…”

“You’ll what, kill your own
mother? Of course not. What worries me is they, and I have to
believe Luena, are part of this, know you’ve always wanted to know
her, and they may use that to get you to their side. Even if your
mother isn’t involved with them, they may still use her to get to
you, by threatening to harm her. Luena’s already established that
pattern; she did it to you before with your father. We’ve got to
think about this very carefully and plan for every scenario.
Please, Damien.”

“You’re right, I know
you’re right, but we have plenty of time to figure this
out.”

I pulled him close
then.

“You know I want you to
have a happy ending like mine, right?”

“I do, but there’s nothing
more important to me than you. I will not let anything happen to
your wellbeing because of my family, remember my earlier
oath?”

As I hugged him now, I saw
movement in the forest and could just make out the form of a woman
just inside the tree line. I drew in a breath, knowing I wouldn’t
forget her scent, and wondering what else I might learn about her
from that scent. I detected some kind of herb and lilac. Maybe she
just wanted one last look at her son. My vision had told me the
feelings I had about her today were right, but for Damien’s sake I
hoped I was wrong.

“I wanted to surprise you
with breakfast.” he said now, taking my hand.

“I was surprised, all
right,” I said. “So your mother just walked out of the
woods?”

“I was as shocked as you
are. I hadn’t seen her for years, but of course she looked the
same. She said to me essentially what she just told
you.”

“But why now?”

“I don’t know. All this
time, and especially since the return of your mother, I’ve dreamed
of this moment, and now I don’t know what to make of her visit.
What if she had been under her sister’s influence then, as much as
I was under Luena’s until recently? I’d like to believe her,
because it correlates with what my situation would have been, if
you hadn’t believed in me.”

“You proved yourself,
before I believed in you.”

“I want to give her the
chance to do the same. You understand, don’t you?”

“Of course, but trust your
instincts, and don’t shut me out. We’re in this together,
remember?”

“I know you’re right, and I
do trust your instincts. It’s just that…”

“. . .she’s your mother, I
know.”

“We’ll figure it out
somehow. Now, how about breakfast?” he said leading me up the
hill.

This was my life now, never
a dull moment.

We had a pleasant
breakfast, but we both had much on our minds. I still felt a
foreboding sense of doom, when I thought of his mother. This wasn’t
going to end well.

After helping him pack up
the breakfast things, I jumped on Nulla.

“I’ll race you back,” I
challenged as I galloped off. He let me win, I knew, but that
didn’t stop me from rubbing it in as we walked back to the stables,
and handed the horses over to the groom.

“Thank you for
breakfast.”

“Thank you for being so
supportive. What are you up to now?”

“I’m going to work out with
El, and probably the others will come over once they drag
themselves out of bed. How about you?”

“I plan to bring Eric over
later; he’s to start his training today with Gunter, so I’ll see
you there.”

I put my arms around
him.

“Whatever happens, I’m here
for you. We’ll figure this out together - not just me, but all of
us, remember that”

“I will. You have changed
my life, and I’d never forget it. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for
any one of you. Now, I’d better go see if Eric is ready for his
first day out.”

I felt a jab of
anxiousness. “You’re sure he’s ready? I’ll bet he can’t wait; he’s
been alone and a prisoner so long. Now he has a fresh start with a
new family to support him.”

“Kate, especially has been
giving him some extra attention, hasn’t she?” Damien
chuckled.

“She has, but I’m thinking
she’ll have some competition for his attention now he’s venturing
out.”

“See you over there,
then.”

“Very good.”

“What a
strange morning,”
I thought, shaking my head. El was already
at the training grounds going through drills with Thomas. I
couldn’t believe how good she was, and for that matter, all the
girls were. Four girls who, just weeks earlier, had been social
princesses, were now vampire warriors.

“Great job, El,” I told her
as they finished.

“She’s brutal, just brutal;
no mercy whatsoever,” said Thomas, smiling with obvious
pride.

“What kind of training do
you want to do, Kat?” he now asked me.

I thought and asked him,
“Could you set up the new sensory drill.”

I explained to El,
“Gunter’s been working on the new drill for weeks. We will begin by
walking onto the course blindfolded, and I’ll warn you, he’s
prepared some surprises for us that have not been included in other
drills you’ve observed. We’ll have to use all our other senses to
fight. It’s the most advanced of all our drills, but once mastered,
it fills you with the confidence needed to do anything
else.”

“Do you want to do it
together or separately?” said Thomas.

“Together, please,” I
looked to El for her agreement.

“You really think I’m ready
for this?” I could see El questioning herself.

“I know you are. Let’s take
a few seconds to get focused.” I assured her.

We held hands, closed our
eyes, and slowed our breathing.

“Ready?” said
Thomas.

“Ready,” El said, now more
confident.

We walked to the course,
which was about fifty yards long, lined with lots of different
things, such as sheep pens, wagons, horses, guard dogs, and
whatever else Gunter’s devious mind might have come up
with.

When we got to the start of
the course, Thomas handed us our wooden practice swords, tied on
our blindfolds, and we walked side by side onto the
course.

“Tune in with your hearing
first, and then smell. We need to talk to each other the whole way,
and above all trust yourself; your first instinct will be right,” I
instructed.

We each took up a defensive
posture, proceeding slowly, heads rotating from side to side as we
scanned.

“Men on the right!” yelled
El and the drill started.

We fought off two men
easily.

“Stop!” I yelled as rocks
flew in front of us. As we continued, men came from above us and
behind us, and we had to duck under swinging planks and jump over
covered pits, until finally we felt we were at the end.

“Six men,” I said. “We’re
surrounded.”

“Back to back!” shouted El
just as they attacked. We turned in our circle formation, fighting
two, three, four, and all six at once.

“That’s it, thank you
gentleman. Girls, you can take your blindfolds off now.”

“Okay Gunter, if you’re
tired,” I said with a smirk, as I pulled the blindfold off my
head.

He laughed. “I’m man enough
to admit it. Good job, you two.”

“That was the most amazing
thing I’ve ever seen,” Eric said as we joined them.

“You should see what they
can do at full speed,” boasted Damien.

“Nice to see you out and
about, Eric,” I smiled at him.

“It’s nice to be out and
about, thank you.” he shot back

“Gunter, this is your new
student, Eric,” Damien reached to take Gunter’s hand.

“Well, let’s get right to
it, then, if you’re ready?” said Gunter turning to Eric.

“Looking forward to it.” We
could see Eric was excited at the prospect.

“Good, we’ll get your
weapons and armor fitted and then we’ll do an assessment of your
skills.”

As Gunter led him off,
Damien commented, “I guess Gunter doesn’t waste any
time?”

“No, I’ve never known him
to,”

“Thomas, would you and El
like to have lunch with us?” asked Damien.

“That would be great. Give
us an hour or so,” Thomas replied, happy to be included.

“Perfect. I need to go talk
to Mother for a few minutes,”

I turned to Damien, “I’ll
meet you in a little while. Let’s eat in the gardens.”

Damien smiled, “My favorite
place.”

“Mine too,” I said smiling
back.

“Look,” said Damien as he
motioned with his head for me to look at the training behind
me.

There were Kate, Rosa, and
Letta watching Eric as he worked with Gunter. He had taken his
shirt off and they were practically drooling over him. I had to
admit he was pretty gorgeous.

“Don’t you girls have some
training of your own to do?” I called to them.

They turned and scowled at
me, and Damien and I laughed. As they turned and walked away, Kate
actually looked back and stuck her tongue out at me.

“Oh that’s mature,” I
yelled back to her, and to Damien I said, “I’d better go if I’m
going to get back in an hour.”

I gave Damien a quick kiss
and left the compound, my objective to see Mother. I was interested
not only about her visitor, but also getting her opinion on the
incident this morning concerning Damien’s mother’s sudden
appearance.