Into the Vampire's Lair

NB: So here we are at the final chapter! I want to thank

wildheartedangel

for being patient and helping me edit this chapter. Also to all my readers and fellow twitters who have encouraged me and sent me comments and emails, thank you so very much. They really make my day. =)

***

When Draven stirred awake, he was greeted by the scent of the forest; warm and earthy and it tickled him. Wrinkling his nose, he slowly opened his eyes to see golden brown fur tucked under his chin.

"I slept on my wife..." he groaned, lifting his head up slowly to meet Amber's sky blue eyes. The wolf obviously resented being called a 'wife' and would rather the term 'mate'. Huffing in displeasure, she pulled away from him and curled up with her tail covering her eyes.

"Stop sulking and come here," he muttered, rolling onto his back and patted his chest. "I'll let you lie on top of me now so we're even." He smiled when he heard her shift; the almost inaudible slide of fur against skin and the contortion of bones. "Does it hurt?" he asked suddenly.

"What hurts?" she murmured as she curled up against him.

"Shifting. It sure looks painful."

"It's hard to explain what it truly feels like because you've got to experience it yourself. But I don't think you ever will... but it doesn't hurt." She traced his chest lightly with her forefinger.

He snorted as a reply, staring up at the ceiling. He was stalling and he knew it. They've been through so much in the past couple of weeks that he didn't think they were ready.

"What's on your mind?" she murmured. "Don't even try to lie because I'll know."

Draven drummed his fingers lightly on her arm then decided to hell with it. He was going to ask her.

"Do Weres still need to marry after they mate?"

"It is not necessary," she replied, trying to hide her laugh. "Usually those who mate with humans get married to appease their human families."

A pause. Then...

"Will you marry me?"

Amber managed to stifle a laugh before rolling on top of him to stare into his eyes. "So those flowers, the amazing sex and all that biting stuff were to prep me for the proposal?"

"All that's missing is the ring. So what's it going to be?"

"You're a bully."

"Honey, you literally branded me until I passed out. I mean I loved it. I mind-blowingly love it. So who's the bully now huh?"

Amber smiled a little then shook her head. "I want to remember things Draven... I want to remember what's your favourite colour or your biggest regret in life... I want to be able to remember what a brilliant scientist you are or that you're the most annoying hardass I've ever met --and I know you are although I can't remember. And it makes me feel like a shell because all I can remember right now are bits and pieces of things."

"Shh..." he soothed her; caressing her hair gently. "Marriage is just a contract baby... you're already bounded to me for life. Now you should be more afraid of that."

Burrying her face against his neck, she tried to stop the tears from falling but to no avail. "Mating is for the wolf... marriage is for the woman."

"I swear I bit the woman last night and she tasted so damn good." Her head jerked up and she narrowed her eyes at him. "What don't believe me? I can do it again," he teased lightly, tipping her chin up lightly to examine her reddened face. "But I'm not biting cry babies."

She giggled before dropping a kiss on his nose. "How many babies do you want?"

Draven immediately turned quiet.

"Draven my love? Did I say something wrong?"

"No... it's just... well, let's just help you get your memories back first and we'll think about the babies some other time okay?"

Amber was not satisfied with his reply. Was he doubting her because he saw her as weak? Was he afraid she'd pass weak genes to their baby?

Slapping his chest angrily, she snarled, "No, I want to talk about it now. And you will talk to me about it Draven because like it or not, I am a Beta wolf with a fertility success rate of 50% -that's much higher than even a normal human --and I

will

get pregnant. Now tell me," she demanded, gripping his arms tightly.

"How did you remember that?" he asked in surprise. Amber tilted her head slightly and frowned.

"I... I don't know I just do. But don't change the subject Draven Culzean." Her nails dug into his skin.

"Okay, okay! See I told you you're a bully. Especially now that you've used my full name and all..." he grinned. When she didn't grin back, he dropped into his serious mode. "Okay I'll tell you."

He pressed a kiss on her lips and continued, "Well... firstly, the rules of my kind states that we can only have one child every century. It's expected seeing that they don't want to have a bigger feeding population as opposed to the feed."

"That's so crude."

"Yes it is. It's like you eat... whatever it is you eat and I consume blood. It's my sustenance, I can't help it. I was born this way."

"But..."

"But, we don't know exactly what our children would be like. Neither do Fiona and Eian and we're all scared... and you should be too my love."

She shook her head. "No, they'll be perfect combinations of our best traits. That's how nature selects."

"But what if you're wrong?"

"There's no rewind switch after you mate Draven!" she snapped.

"No... I'm not saying that. I'm just... worried about the future of our children. They will be hunted down Amber... They will be seen either as a threat or as some scientific miracle and taken in to be studied and dissected like some experiment..."

Amber's eyes widened at his words. "Your... it's your..." she scrunched her eyebrows as though trying to recall the term.

"The Council," he offered.

"Yes... they --no, you are suppose to be part of them... something..." she frowned again and covered her face with her hands, trying to force the information to come fore.

Draven didn't bother saying anything anymore but pulled her close and kissed her mouth shut.

"That's hitting below the belt," she mumbled a few minutes later; lips swollen and body tingling with endorphins. "You only let me bully you because you love me." She pouted.

"Yes I do and it works. Now explain to me how the microwave works."

"What?" she sat up in laughter.

"I'm hungry."

"I don't have blood in this house and you have already taken a pint or two from me last night."

"I mean like food."

"Like food? Like sausage and eggs kind of food?"

"Yeah... I think so. I need to eat and so do you. So can you cook?"

Leaning over, she kissed him and smiled. "You bet I can."

***

An hour later, Draven was staring at a piece of sausage suspiciously.

"What

is

this thing?"

"You're much bigger than that. If you don't want to eat it, I will. I'm starving," she said, snatching the fork from his hand. Draven winced when she bit into the sausage and reached for some toast instead.

He bit into it and turned green. "It tastes... like cardboard."

"How'd you know what cardboard tastes like?" she asked curiously before settling herself on his lap.

"It's just an allusion."

"Draven love, you are a carnivore..." she paused as though thinking. "Do we call bloodsuckers carnivores?"

"No we do not. Now can you please stuff something into my mouth so I can stop this ridiculous hunger?" he pleaded. "But none of those... things."

"Okay, bacon then," she decided picking a slice up and rolling it into his mouth. "Chew, that's it... good boy!" Ruffling his hair, she kissed him lightly.

"This is good," he answered once he had swallowed and reached out for more.

He let her feed him a little more but after a few mouthfuls, he felt sick and decided to stop. His stomach was still going to get used to solid food and at the moment, it was confused.

"Will you be going to work today?" she asked.

"I have to. Although the Board only convenes once every fortnight or so, I still oversee some of the staff's daily operations..." Draven stopped when Amber started crying. "I'm sorry baby... okay I won't go to work if you don't want me to. I mean I don't really have to go because I'm a Pureblood and I get to do what I want..."

"No... it's not that," she sobbed. "I just... I don't know what I'm supposed to do now. Do I just sit at home and wait till I get better? Or do I go back to the university to teach or do I go to whatever I was doing before? I... I'm just scared Draven. I'm scared because I don't know what's my purpose in life is anymore."

Draven held her close and tried to comfort her slowly. He understood what she felt. In fact, he could feel what she was feeling because of their mating bond.

"Tell you what. We'll drop by the clinic later and have a walk. I'll show you around then maybe you'll remember something. Or we could take a look at your office and you can ponder over your notebooks and stuff okay?"

She looked up and smiled sadly at him. "Were you this kind and mushy when we first met?"

Draven cleared his throat. "Uh yeah. I'm the man of your dreams remember."

"Liar," she teased, lifting her face up to let him kiss her. "But I know I love you."

"I know you do and boy am I glad you picked me."

She nipped at his ear playfully before jumping off and running to the bathroom to shower.

***

Back in Culzean Castle, Josephine and Aramis were waiting for Alaron to arrive for his first proper lesson.

"I should have tired you out more last night," complained Aramis.

"Oh you mean this morning? As if," she replied, folding her arms across her chest.

"I must be insane," he muttered, shaking his head. "I'm about to marry a stubborn, mean old bat and I'm going to be using my less than macho abilities on a boy... a millionth my age."

"Watch whom you're calling old mister," she warned. "I already feel old just by knowing that two younglings are coming to see us today."

Aramis laughed, draping a hand over her. "So my golden girl. Would you like to grow older with me? I'm putting my dignity on the line here by admitting I'm old --okay ancient... stop looking at me like that!"

Josephine smiled but Aramis could not feel the joy in her expression.

"You're sad... why?"

This time she laughed but it wasn't the happy kind of laugh. She was mocking him. "You've lived for a very long time Aramis. Figure it out. Right now is not the time to talk about us. The children are at the door."

Then she walked away, moving towards the great doors to welcome Alaron and Erika; leaving Aramis bewildered.

She opened the door even before the two of them reached it but Josephine had already seen them; both nervous yet grateful though for totally different reasons. Alaron was nervous to begin learning but grateful for having his gift while Erika was just grateful to have him alive and was nervous to actually meet his father.

Josephine had to hide her laughter the moment they came up to her with greeting smiles. If she were Erika, she'd be nervous too to meet Aramis. He was a nasty cold hearted bat and ironically, fate decided to give him emphatic abilities which he tries hard to deny.

"How are you two feeling today?" she asked, even though she already knew the answers.

"Oh, we're great," said Erika, trying not to peek behind Josephine. "Umm, Alaron's well healed and uh...we're good."

"You'll need to feed a few more times from me then you'll be really good okay?" said Josephine kindly. "But you choose when you are ready. I know it takes a while to get used to this new diet."

"Thank you..." Erika whispered in relief. "But I'm a... I mean I'm one of you already right?"

"Yes dear, don't doubt that."

From the corner of her eyes, she saw Alaron squeezing Erika's hand tightly and she smiled. These two were good for each other and she was about to throw one to the sharks.

"I know it must be a lot for you to take in all at the same time but just take it like you're meeting your boyfriend's family for the first time," said Josephine, pulling Erika closer towards her. "Don't worry. My first time was just as terrible. I actually peed in my drawers and trust me... when it was the fashion then to wear six or seven petticoats --not good."

Erika giggled and looked up thankfully. "But you're not scary."

"Well, I try not to be," Josephine replied. "But you'll be fine. Lord Culzean is a real softie who acts mean." Erika smiled again and nodded.

"I guess you two should start practicing then," said Erika, letting go of Alaron's hand.

"I'll be fine," he said when she gave him the worried look. "I can't die easily. There's a mini library here somewhere if you want me to..."

"Your father will show her around," Josephine interrupted. "Won't you darling?" said Josephine, fluttering her eyelashes at Aramis who had just joined them. Before he could say anything, she had whisked Alaron away to another corner of the hall.

"Won't I what?" Aramis looked at Erika. "I'm sorry. She's been grouchy and mean towards me today. I hope none of that spilled on you."

Erika managed not to burst out laughing. Josephine and Aramis were really cute.

"Alaron said I could wait in the library. I love books you see..."

Aramis smiled when he heard that. He had built the library for Alaron's mother and had loved sitting there just watching her read all day.

"Right this way then," he said, placing a gentle hand on her elbow.

***

"Do you think he'll maul her?" asked Alaron as he watched his father lead Erika away.

"Don't worry about them right now. You have to focus."

"But..."

"No buts."

He scowled. "No sneak attacks."

Josephine smiled and nodded. "Good trade. Okay. We'll do... theory then."

Alaron raised an eyebrow doubtfully at her. "There's theory for this?"

She raised an eyebrow back. That was as good as an answer.

"Right, so today we'll play a game."

"Oh come on..." he rolled his eyes. "Seriously?"

She raised another eyebrow at him.

"Fine."

"Good boy. So I'm the patient and you're the doctor. I give you my symptoms and you decide what to do next."

Alaron couldn't help but gawk at her. "How the hell am I supposed to do that? Guessing games aren't real. I can't heal fake injuries!"

Josephine clapped her hand once; the sound thundering throughout the hall. Alaron tried not to look too intimidated.

"If you're going to ask a lot of questions, then you'd better take down notes."

"Okay okay... what are your symptoms, patient?"

She smiled widely. "Umm, I have chest pains and I can't breathe."

Alaron gave her a weak grin. "Am I suppose to like check for your heart rate or something? Cause that's just weird. I mean I like you and all but you're like... old."

That earned him a slap on his head.

"Oww... am I a hitting magnet or what? Erika hits me and now my stepmother hits me."

"Just tell me what you'll do," she said with a serious frown.

"I'd uh... listen to your heartbeat and check if your breathing is normal."

"Good. Listen to your heartbeat and check if your breathing is normal," she said, pointing to him.

"Oh, you mean me? I thought I was the... okay okay... don't be so scary."

Alaron closed his eyes and focused on the sound of his own breath; narrowed it down to every moment in that process --the inhalation and exhalation... then down to the oxygen moving to his heart; the steady beat of contraction and relaxation of the muscles as it pumps all that oxygen down to his body.

With a broad smile on his face, Alaron let out a long steady breath and opened his eyes.

"Now, remember that feeling. Remember the sound and the pace of that. That is your normal heartbeat and breathing rate. Any time you sense that it goes out of control, you'll know something is wrong."

"Okay... but I'm alright... right?"

"Yes, but I'm the patient."

"Uh, right. So uh your breathing's erratic and your heartbeat is weird?"

Josephine had to control herself from laughing. "Yes, that's the scenario. So how do you diagnose this problem?"

"What? I can't do that! I don't have any medicine or technology to do anything!"

"Alaron!" she snapped. "The basics baby... What are the basics to finding out the problem?"

"Err... proof that something is wrong?"

"Good. And how do you find that proof?"

"I'd say x-ray or something. Blood test that sort of thing."

"Right... in other words," she concluded but patiently this time. "You need to find out something that you can see or touch or even smell so that you can analyze it."

"You have a way with words..." he teased.

"Thank you."

"Are you giving my father hell?"

"Yes I am," she laughed. "Now stop trying to distract both of us."

He grinned. "But say I have bad lungs or whatever right? I can freaking dig my hands into my chest and touch it can I? I won't like develop x-ray eyes or something right 'cause Erika's not going to like me staring at other people's boobs."

"Oh God have mercy!" Josephine covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing too hysterically. "Good God. No! No x-ray eyes!"

"Damn!"

"Now now, focus," she said, trying to regain composure. "So do you remember how you healed yourself the last time?"

Alaron paused a while, trying to recall what happened the other day. "I remembered focusing on my wound very hard. I mean I already know the location of it so I imagined myself trying to stitch it together."

"Good. So you imagined stitching up what?"

He paused and frowned, thinking hard. "I just wanted to stop bleeding so I focused on closing the gap on my chest I think."

Josephine didn't say anything but simply nodded and paced about. Her silence worried him.

"What? Did I do something wrong? Am I going to die now because I didn't do it right?"

Still she remained silent and continued pacing.

"Mother!" he exclaimed and was relieved when she finally stopped to look at him.

"Yes?"

"Say something!"

"Baby boy... learning an ability is individualized. You can't just have someone tell you what to do. You need to think about it too instead of just relying on me." Josephine wasn't reprimanding but it was a reminder. "Now, you need to understand something. Severe injuries may force your body to act on its own accord because that's just how healers are built. They repair themselves whether you expect them to or not. However remember what happened after you lost focus on that whole stitching up the chest thought?"

"My body went into shut down mode..."

"That's right. Now what's the point of using all your energy just to close a wound; only to find yourself immobilized and at the mercy of your attacker again?"

He winced and shivered just a little at the thought. Seeing his reaction, Josephine came close and stroked his hair gently.

"The key to any ability is control."

"Control," he repeated. "How?"

Josephine smiled at him. "We'll just have to learn your threshold then. However... as I promised, no sneak attacks today so we'll just cover the theory."

Alaron wasn't sure if he was grateful or fearful of the thought that he'd actually have to get hurt to learn something.

"So for today, we'll do some practices. I want you to focus and isolate all your senses to only one part of the body that I choose."

Alaron shrugged. "Okay, sounds doable."

"Ah... but you still have to keep full control over your other senses and body parts."

"What! That's insane!" he burst out.

"Who's going to learn from an old, insane woman right?" she teased and watched him grin. "But it's possible. Now let's practice. Less talk and more thought."

***

Meanwhile, Draven was walking with Amber; hand in hand towards the medical centre. She teased him about holding hands like silly teenagers but Draven loved it. He loved knowing that she was his and holding her hand meant that he was hers as well. The nurses and other staff who greeted and welcomed her were all aware of the protective and possessive nature of the man standing beside her --the women kept their conversation light and the men kept their distance. Good for them.