The Shadow That Binds

OK here it is chapter four a big thanks to my editor and to you the reader.

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As soon as Alana's ghost disappeared I left the graveyard. I knew it would take me a long time to get back to where it started so I walked as fast as I could.

The baby was getting bigger by the day and I knew it wouldn't be long until the baby was born. I could feel the baby move and kick me. Every time the baby kicked I felt a surge of pride. I placed my hand on my bump to try and settle the baby down.

Nearly a week later I was approaching the village that I used to live in. There was no sign of James or Claire.

I had to wonder where they were. I reached the edge of the town and I walked down by the river. I snuck up to the back of my old house. The lights were off in the kitchen. It didn't look like anyone was in. I broke open the kitchen door.

footsteps came from the living room. The kitchen door was opened and the light was switched on. Grandfather he just stood there looking at me.

"What on earth are you doing here?" he asked me.

"I could ask you the same thing grandfather" I said with a laugh.

He pulled me into a hug. "Wow! You're getting big. It won't be long now."

"Yes and that's the problem." I said.

"Did you find out anything?" he asked me.

"Yes, is Jess here?" I asked.

"She's sitting in the living room."

He led me into the living room. Jess was sitting in one of the chairs next to the window.

"Sara?!" she shouted, as she pulled me into a hug. When she noticed the bump she pulled away.

"When did this happen and who is the father?" she asked.

"I'm coming near the end of my pregnancy. The father is my mate Damien. You would know him as John."

She looked at me "I don't know what you mean?"

"Oh really? So your not Alana's older sister?" I asked.

She went white. "How did you know?" she asked.

"Alana told me and I guessed it was you" I said.

"Yes, well Alana did always have a knack for getting me into trouble." she said.

Grandfather looked at her. "You're the missing sister?"

"Wait! You knew about this?" I asked.

He nodded his head.

I shouted at him, "You could have told me. It would have saved a lot of trouble you know!"

"I didn't know that Jess was Alana's sister!" he said.

I looked at her. "I need to know how do you get rid of her and where did vampires come from?" I asked.

"Not here! We need to go somewhere where we can't be interrupted."

"Where do you suggest?" I asked.

"The castle! I know that when Claire tells James about me he will be here as soon as he can." she said.

"Where are James and Claire?" I asked.

"The last time we heard they were building an army to attack us." grandfather said.

"Does Damien know?" I asked.

"Not yet. I was coming to get Jess to get her out of James's reach. Let's go, we can talk over everything at the castle." he said.

I nodded. We all filed out to the front of the house. There were two horses waiting for us.

"Sara you come with me and Jess you take the other horse." No one argued with him. He climbed on to his horse I got on behind him.

It took us a few hours to get back to the castle. I had fallen asleep behind grandfather. He woke me up when we got to the castle. He helped me off the horse as my pregnancy making it difficult for me to dismount. Damien came running out and hugged me.

He said, "You're getting pale! You need to feed."

I kissed him and didn't argue. Damien took my hand and we went up to our room. As soon as we had the door closed Damien had my clothes off. Laying on the bed he kissed me deeply sliding his tongue into my mouth he then trailed kisses down my chest to the bump that held our child. "It won't be long." he said, as he rubbed my belly.

"Lets just hope we get this mess sorted out before our child is born." I said.

Damien nodded he guided me to my hands and knees as he could get on top of me. He gently entered me. He gripped my hips and started to trust hard. I could feel him start to swell. I felt my orgasm approach and my fangs slid down. Damien bit down on my shoulder and drank from me. Then he slid from me and let me feed from him. We fell asleep in each others arms. A knock at the door woke us up.

"Come in." Damien said.

Father put his head in the door. "We need you both in the council hall as soon as possible." he said.

"We will be down soon dad." I said.

He came over gave me a kiss on the head. "How are you?" he asked.

"Better now that I have had some rest and blood." I said.

He placed his hand on my stomach. "I can't wait to see my grandchild." he said.

"You're not the only one." I said with a smile.

"We'll be down as soon as we get dressed." Damien said.

As father left the room we quickly washed and dressed. Every one was on edge! I could see it in their eyes. I gave them a quick run down of what happened. The army was ready to fight. Leo stood next to me. Grandfather and Jess were sitting in the front row.

I dismissed the council. "Jess we need to talk." I said simply.

She nodded. We went into the library and sat down. Damien had to help me.

Jess smiled, "How long?" she asked.

"Any day now, I think." I said.

Leo and grandfather smiled.

"So to business! How do we get rid of Claire?" I asked.

"You're straight to the point." she said.

I nodded.

"To get rid of her is easy! Getting past her powers is the difficult part."

I looked at her, "Explain!" I said.

Jess sighed, "You need to break her powers which isn't easy. But when you do there is a spell in the book of shadows that can kill her. It's called to kill a witch. It's the last spell that Alana put in the book." she said.

"Okay, so where did vampires come from then since Damien can't remember?" I asked.

Jess took a deep breath and looked at Damien. "When our village was attacked I saw everything. John and Thomas were kidnapped. I followed them. Both of them were force fed wolf's blood. Thomas escaped but John didn't. John was then force fed the essence of the creature's black shadow. I thought that he was dead. So I went back to the village.

About two months later John turned up and that's when all the weird stuff happened. They would only eat raw meat. Then John started to drink animal blood.

Finally he blooded someone as did Thomas. That's how the clans came to be. Alana fell in love with John, so did Claire. She met up with a werewolf who wanted to unseat Thomas. That's how the war started. Claire thinks that Alana betrayed her!" she said.

The baby started to move and kick me making me wince.

"Are you okay Sara?" Damien asked.

"Yes it's just the baby kicking me. It seems to delight in doing that." I said.

The baby moved down in my stomach. I was worried! I didn't want the baby to be born before I dealt with Claire. The door was nearly knocked off its hinges as dad almost ran through it.

"We have a huge problem." he said.

"Why, what's wrong?" I said.

"Claire and James have an army built and they have massed on the northern hill ready to fight!" he said. I knew it was finally time for me to deal with James and Claire.