Coming of Age

Author's note:

All characters and companies mentioned in this story have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone or anything bearing the same name or names. Events portrayed in this story are pure invention and have not been based on any events that have happen in real life. All the characters involved in any sexual acts if their ages are not mentioned beforehand; are over 18 years of age. Enjoy.

Hi guys

Here is chapter 7, I hope you enjoy it. As normal thanks goes to my editor Kittyhawk and to you the reader. All feedback is welcome.

Have fun

Chapter 7

"I need you to turn Rayven." Thais's declaration was meet with shock as if he had suddenly asked Crystal to become straight or Nhor to become a horse. Crystal just blinked, she didn't know what to say.

"Turn... Thais I am already a vampire, you can't re-turn someone, its forever." Rayven said a little confused, which finally helped Crystal kick her brain back into gear. Their human friends were completely focused as nothing they had read said anything about that, that once you became a vampire it was for keeps.

Crystal nodded agreeing with Rayven, once bitten twice dead was the vampire saying, once you were bitten and changed there was no turning back and a second bite from another non-human was a death sentence. It was yet another reason as to why Were and Vampires didn't become mates, it would be cruel to both, to know your mate but to know you couldn't claim them without killing them and if you couldn't resist, the guilt of killing the other half of your soul. Thankfully there had never been a case of a True Vampire and Were mate bond.

Thais chuckled, he wondered briefly if they would ever stop questioning him, "when will you learn, I am never wrong. I wouldn't have asked if it weren't possible."

"Okay then, explain it to us." Crystal asked folding her arms and was pleased to note that her body was healing, that the movement hadn't caused pain to shoot up her spine, however she could also tell that although the internal wounds were healing, the surface wounds weren't.

"Okay, you understand that the Mystery gene can be passed on via a bite," Thais asked and Crystal nodded, Rhun in fact was doing an analysis on her bite to confirm it. "Well by tomorrow Rhun will have come up with something that will puzzle him, Destiny carries the Mystery Gene in her bite but up until last night you never carried it in your bite only your blood." He gave Crystal a pointed look, clearly asking if he needed to remind her of what happened last night to change her so dramatically.

"Serenity's bite," Crystal stated in understanding and Thais nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, Serenity's bite and her blood have reworked your genetics as it did for Destiny. You can now pass on what you are to anyone you bite and as the Mystery Gene will later be confirmed as a dominant gene it will make anyone bar a person already carrying the Mystery gene just like you. It will make Rayven like you, she will still be kind of a Vampire but she won't be." Thais explained with a smug grin.

"Can Destiny do this?" Crystal asked stunned.

Thais considered her question for a moment, wondering if it would do damage for her to know the answer now. "No, because she wasn't born with the Mystery Gene like you were. She gained it when she was forced to drink your blood which means she can bite someone but nothing would happen. Yes the gene is in her bite, because of Susan's blood, but it won't transfer, if she bit a human nothing would happen, she can't even make normal Vampires." He explained. "Only you can make a... whatever it is you are." He finished.

Crystal glared at him, "come on, I know that you already know what we will be called, tell us."

Thais grinned, "turn Rayven and I will think about it."

"Oh no..." Crystal said after a moment of consideration, realising that there was no real promise there that he would tell her and after the fiasco with him not telling them the familiars were attacking she wasn't going to let him skate like that. She wanted an answer, not any of the silly little mind games Ancients were famous for. "We aren't doing this again, if I turn Rayven I want an answer, no semantics, no evasiveness, no riddles, just the answer." She argued firmly.

Thais sighed, "fine... you'll kick yourself when you find out what you and those of your blood will be called, you'll think, man that was obvious. Turn Rayven and I swear to tell you the name your kind will be known as in the future. I swear on my honour as a warrior."

Crystal considered him for a moment but knew that Thais was always honourable when it came to being fair in a fight. She nodded, agreeing silently to the terms, she would turn Rayven, he would give her the name her species would be known as.

"Hey wait a minute what about me?" Rayven said finally speaking up as Thais and Crystal had seemed to have forgotten to ask her if she even wanted to be turned... again. "What if I don't want to change?" She said throwing in a spanner, she had been independent for a long time and didn't like people making personal choices for her. Oh she could follow orders when it came to missions and rules when it came to working for the FBI but those things never threatened her very identity.

"You're kidding right," Serenity replied a little sarcastically. "You are more human than vampire," she stated firmly as that was exactly how Rayven was. "You laugh, play, make friends... you long for a life which isn't about death. You long to be... normal or as normal as you can while being a Vampire. You miss the close friendship you had with Destiny but are thoroughly enjoying your life here with us."

Everything Serenity had said was the truth, Rayven had to privately agree, she was surprised that Serenity had been able to gleam all of that from their short association. For a very long time... well before Destiny became her friend she had felt out of step with those around her. At first she thought it was because although she was a lethal killer her heart wasn't truly in it but after befriending Destiny she finally knew... that somehow she had retained some part of her human identity.

"Urg... I forgot you know emotions." Rayven said. "Okay fine, I'm just annoyed that you lot are making decisions without even asking me."

Serenity chuckled with a knowing look.

"Grr..." Rayven growled, "Fine, the thought of being... no longer a true Vampire... has me pleased to no end, having a life, having real friends and being able to do things normal friends do. I want that, I've always wanted that and I think Destiny knew and that was how come we got along so well."

"So you have no problem with me turning you... again." Crystal asked just to be sure.

"No." Rayven said firmly, she turned to Thais, "will it hurt?" She asked, she actually didn't remember her transformation from human to Vampire and in a way she was thankful for that, but she didn't know if she would remember this transformation.

Thais nodded honestly, "sorry but you will remember this time. You will feel as if you've been thrown into a raging fire and an icy lake at the same time. It will only last a few minutes but to you it will feel like hours. However the end justifies the means."

"So... doing this in my room would be best." Rayven said as she stood and Thais nodded, agreeing that turning her would be easier in her room.

"We'll hold breakfast until you return." Bastion said, before he nudged Temperance who made all the food vanish back into the kitchen to the oven to keep warm.

"Well while you are doing that I am going to call ma." Serenity said before she leant over to Crystal and kissed her. "Find me if you want to wash her taste out of your mouth." She kissed Crystal again and left the room. Willing her phone into her hand she called her mother's number.

"Hello sweetie," Amy answered as Serenity's number had come up on the id.

"Hi ma, how are you?"

"Good, so... why the early morning phone call?" Amy asked.

"Did I wake you?" Serenity asked.

"No..." Amy said smiling before she slapped Wolfgang away.

"Am I interrupting?" Serenity asked in a semi veiled way.

"A little but he can wait or I will kick his arse," Amy said glaring at Wolfgang. "So... what would you like to speak about?"

"I've found my mate," Serenity said in a rush.

"About time you and Crystal figured it out." Amy replied with absolutely no shock in her voice.

Serenity blinked in shock, her mother had known? "How long?"

"I've had my suspicions since I first met her, then it became concrete when Thais said that Crystal would be the perfect body guard for you." Amy explained. "That was why Mira came to visit when we were last at the manor. I will make sure everything is ready for your bonding at thanksgiving."

"Thanks ma."

"Serenity... tell Crystal welcome to the family."

"Yes ma, have fun."

Amy's chuckle was the reply before both hung up.

*

Rayven felt excitement and fear as she walked down to her bedroom, Crystal followed behind her with Thais. She was tempted to turn around and say she didn't want this, but that was her vampire side, the side that resisted change, the side of her which sadly could never come to grips with the person she wanted to be. What if something went wrong? She pushed that thought away, Thais would never suggest it if it was going to harm her.

They got to her room and walked in, neither had been in Rayven's room before so what met their eyes was a surprise. There wasn't a single thing in her room that was black, bright colours were everywhere as were posters of landscapes and much more. Her all-time favourite band, Guns n Roses, had pride of place over her bed head.

Rayven as if feeling their scrutiny stuffed her hands into her pockets, "I like colours, I wear black for work and that is it." She explained.

"Hey, your room your space," Thais replied. "Lay down and I'll restrain you."

Rayven backed up, "you never said anything about restraining." She said as she pointed at him, being restrained wasn't something that she liked, in fact she knew few Death Walkers who would give up control like that and if they did it was generally for their mate.

"It is for your safety." He told her.

"Rayven..." Crystal said as she stepped in front of Thais. "I don't know but more than likely you are going to be under my command, you might lose your freewill. Trust that I would never abuse that and that I will release you as soon as I can, but you need to trust me. I am willing to do this but we don't know how you are going to react to this. Trust that I will not keep you restrained any longer than you need to, and it won't be silver." She added.

Rayven paced for several moments as she thought. "Okay," she agreed and went to her bed. Chains appeared and locked her to the bed; she took a deep breath and fought the temptation to fight the chains. She took another deep breath as Crystal knelt over her.

Crystal winced a little as she thought about what she was about to do, she couldn't see herself doing this very often as she was even more repulsed by the idea of drinking any blood that came from any person beside her lovely mate.

Close your eyes,

Serenity said into her mind having just got off the phone with her mother.

Think of me, remember my scent, let it fill your mind. Remember the taste of my blood, of drinking it. Hold those memories... Now bite.

Crystal lunged and latched onto Rayven's neck biting deeply, she didn't taste Rayven's blood as she swallowed; her mate's suggestion was keeping her mind thinking that it was Serenity's blood.

"Enough," Thais said as he grabbed Crystal's shoulder and pulled her back.

Crystal blinked as her mind came back to what she had just done. Rayven was shaking almost violently as the venom in Crystal's bite started to react in her body.

"Crystal... feed her your blood." Thais prompted.

"Oh... right," Crystal said as she bit her wrist before she presented it to Rayven's lips. Rayven didn't need any prompting; her lips sealed around the wound and pulled deeply on the life giving blood even as her body continued to shake. She tore her lips away the moment she started to feel as if she was burning and freezing at the same time, just like Thais told her would happen. The shaking got worse until it looked like she was fitting.

Crystal got off and watched in concern, Thais rested a hand on her shoulder, "Rayven will be fine."

"All my years I've never turned someone, I might have taken too much blood and I don't think she took enough back in." Crystal told him.

"Rayven will be fine," He said again in a calm voice.

Rayven however was disagreeing with Thais's statement, she felt like she was dying, her body burned and hurt, at the same time it felt different, like it wasn't hers. A regular beat slowly started to make its presence known and every gasping breath seemed to keep her lungs from screaming.

Seconds felt like hours, minutes felt like days, that she endured the pain but slowly the pain started to ebb away, slowly leaving her body. Breathing became easier as the burning finally stopped. Rayven held still once the pain had fled her body.

"I never want to do that again." Rayven said as she opened her eyes and turned to Crystal and Thais.

"Well lucky for you it can't happen again, you're going to be like this for the rest of time." Thais explained.

Rayven didn't feel very different to what she was before, she lifted her fingers and just managed to press them to her neck, the throb of her heart was felt through her fingers, she could barely remember when her heart beat as a human.

"Come on, breakfast is waiting." Thais told her as he willed the chains away. "You might want to take this slowly," he warned as Rayven sat up.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Your eyes, I suggest you wear sunglasses for a while and slowly draw back the tint, let your eyes adjust to natural light slowly." He explained as they left her room.

"Makes sense." Rayven agreed, she generally wore sunglasses around the house for just that reason.

"Keep an eye on your skin, it isn't used to sunlight, you might want to wear sunblock until your skin grows accustomed to it." Thais added as he remembered Destiny had gotten sun burnt a few times before her skin adjusted to sunlight.

Rayven nodded as that made sense as well. "Anything else?" she said as they started up stairs.

"Yeah... don't overdo it when you start eating food." Crystal said, "Your body craves it but at the same time it can't handle it, eat a little often until your body adjusts."

Rayven nodded. "So... do you think I've become a junior again, bound by command?"

Crystal shrugged, "easy way to test it, stop," she commanded.

Rayven came to a sudden stop, she couldn't move even if her life depended on it.

"Damn... I as your maker release you." Crystal said firmly, Rayven did not need to be controlled; she had lived long enough to be able to control herself.

"I don't think that worked." Thais said as Rayven hadn't started moving.

"Gee you think!" Rayven snapped, she really didn't like her choices being removed from her.

"Do I have to word it differently?" Crystal asked Thais as she knew he had the answer.

Thais shook his head, "you haven't figured it out yet but you can't release Crystal or Destiny. They are bound to you forever." He explained.

Crystal glared at Thais, seeing red that he knew this would happen. "You knew this was going to happen when I re-turned Rayven and you still let me do it. I don't want to command anyone." She almost yelled towards the end there.

"In the fourteen years that you have known Destiny, have you ever commanded her to do anything?" Thais asked although he knew exactly how many times she had used her command on Destiny.

"Yes... I have... twice," Crystal answered then paused as she remembered each time she had ordered Destiny to do something. The first was just to test that she could command Destiny, shortly after Amy revealed what she had learnt in that other universe, the second however was because Destiny was in a state and couldn't calm down, she had commanded it and Destiny calmed down instantly.

"The first to see that you could and the second because you were trying to help. You are a good leader, you don't command the people you are in charge of but they will follow you regardless. Ma saw it, da saw it, it is why you are Beta rank. Rayven needn't fear you being able to command her." Thais explained.

"You can move." Crystal said, releasing Rayven. "Sorry about that, about this, if I had known I never would have re-turned you." She added.

"Honestly, anyone else and I might be pissed, you however, everything I've learnt about you from before and after I met you has led me to the conclusion that you are a good person and would never abuse your power." Rayven replied.

Crystal grinned, "I won't abuse your trust."

"Never thought you would," Rayven replied and continued up stairs. She frowned as she heard a gurgling sound. "What's..."

"That's just your stomach making 'feed me' noises." Crystal explained.

"Oh... will it do that often?" Rayven asked.

"Vampires really do forget what it is like to be human don't you?" Thais asked.

"I kind of remember, but it was so long ago. I am bound to forget; I can kill someone a million different ways but have nearly no memory of what it is like to be human." Rayven explained.

They quickly went back to the dining room, everyone was waiting for them, Bastion nudged Temperance who willed the food back onto the table and a new plate for Rayven. Crystal wrapped her arms around Serenity and held her for long moments.

"Oi... we agreed, not at the table." Myth complained and Han nodded.

"No you told Bastion and Temperance not to, not us." Crystal replied.

"It's the same rule for everyone." Myth added firmly and got nods from the others.

Crystal rolled her eyes and took her seat. Serenity leant over to her, "ma says it's about time and welcome to the family."

Crystal stilled, "wait she said about time?"

Serenity nodded, "yeah, she's had suspicions for years."

"Suspicions I added to when I told her you would be the perfect bodyguard for Serenity." Thais added.

Crystal turned to Thais and raised an eyebrow, "come on... out with it."

Thais gave her a rueful look, he had hoped she would forget for a few hours. "Again, you will kick yourself. Although you will still simply say complicated and your ID will not change, you and those few you will turn will become known as St Claire's."

Crystal watched him for a moment, "that's it... why?"

"I'm not changing my name, I like Swift Strike." Rayven answered, "it was the one thing Tamor let us do as individuals was to choose the name we would be known by if we made it through the first hundred years of our life. Up until then we were only known as a number and we were forbidden to use our human names."

"So how did you come up with your name?" Rachel asked as she started to attack a large bowl of fruit salad.

"First you need to learn a little about my... about Tamor." Rayven said hesitating briefly when she was about to call Tamor her maker as he wasn't any more, that title now belonged to Crystal and to be honest, she preferred Crystal as a maker. Tamor had always been just a person she had to obey, she barely knew the real man and she doubted that Crystal would ever be like him. "He was methodical, he would turn a group of a hundred every fifty years."

"Would?" Sky asked as she scooped scrambled eggs onto her plate.

"Yeah, he hasn't been able to practise that form of mass turning since the eighteenth century." Rayven explained. "It was getting harder to hide that many missing people in an area. He never chose warriors, said they generally had developed bad habits, habits he didn't like or want. Either he or one of his generals would go out and look for people, the qualities they looked for was determination, resourcefulness and a sheer will to survive. All three I had in spades I was later told. I remember little of my human life, but I do remember hunger, the cold and fear. I don't remember how I became a vampire, I don't remember meeting them or being turned. I do remember waking up and being told that I was a vampire and that my old life was gone."