Inheritance (The Dark Gifts) (40 page)

She felt him move behind her to peer over her shoulder.  “They’ll never let her go,” he said softly.

“We don’t have to give them the option,” she replied.

“The only place she’d be safe from them is the States.”

Her mouth drew to the side as she thought.  Taking her home would keep her safe.  This pack had too many resources at their disposal and there weren’t enough countries in this part of Europe to hide from them.

“I know what you’re thinking.  Returning with her would be like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.  All of us would be at risk.  We’re wanted by the law.  We can’t do it, Sarah.  Brogan needs--”

Sarah spun to face him.  “You’re right.  We can’t do this, but maybe Brogan can.  We’ll take her to him.  We’ll even get them to agree to let her go.  It can be a whole negotiation thing.  She has enough control to talk them in to that.”

One eyebrow rose as he answered, “And what is he supposed to do, exactly?”

“I don’t know, but he’ll do something.  He has to.”

***

“So as you can see, it is of the utmost importance that I speak with this wizard.  We cannot take the threat against us lightly.  I propose that you elders pick someone to lead in my absence.  Having the utmost faith in you, I do not care who you choose.”

Some of the elders smiled and nodded, while others grumbled quietly.  An elderly white haired gentleman spoke, “Marica, although I do agree with the severity of this situation, it seems that this task would be better suited to one lesser than you.  Your place is here.  We cannot protect you from afar.”

Like a true dignitarian, she nodded.  “I do understand your misgivings, but our new friends are more than capable of seeing to my safety.  Brogan is much too busy to attend to us, and I don’t believe we should jump into this without first hearing every detail.  Truthfully, I don’t trust anyone else to get the full story.  We don’t know that he would trust a lesser with all the facts.  Through his dealings with Sarah, and Jason, it appears that he will only deal with leaders directly.  I see no other option.  Surely one of my suitors is qualified to handle things while I’m gone?”

Another elder spoke up, “But of course.  It is just a matter of deciding which one.”

Angry looks passed about the room.

Rising, Mar gave a short bow.  “I’ll leave the details to all of you.  We are leaving today at one o’clock; I expect to be informed of your decision by then.” 

***

Outside the room, Mar leaned against the wall trembling.

“You were wonderful!”  Sarah claimed.  “Really you handled them perfectly.”

Nodding, Mar answered sadly, “It was as we suspected.  As long as they can keep control of the money, they don’t care what happens to me.”

“You didn’t tell them you weren’t coming back.  That would have made a difference.”

A sad smile crossed her face as she shook her head.  “No it wouldn’t have.  You just don’t know them.  My father changed this pack, and then my brother destroyed it.  We are less wolf and more human.  Well
, they are.  Alpha loyalty does not exist here, unless I want to give up being human until I'm eighteen.”

Sarah squeezed her shoulder.  “You might have changed that.  If you'd stayed long enough to really let them get to know you...”

“I might have done a lot of things, but…I just want a family, Sarah.”

Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Sarah led her to the stairs.  “I know, hun.  You have one now.  It probably won’t be easy, seems like things never are for us, but we’ll stick together.”

***

The trip back to Hoia was blissfully uneventful.  Mar’s chauffer drove them straight to the forest, so there wasn’t even an issue with finding a cab.  As they entered Brogan’s camp, he looked up from his notebook, seemingly unsurprised.  “Took you long enough.  I expected you yesterday.  Well no matter, what’s done is done.  Have a seat.  I want to hear all about it.”

“Umm, Brogan this is Mar.  Mar meet--”

“Oh sit down.  I know who she is.  Why do you think I sent you there?”  Flashing a fatherly smile at the young girl, he winked.  “Just in the nick of time, eh?  I knew they’d be just what you needed.”

Their mouths opened, but remained speechless.

“H-how did you know?” Mar asked.

“The stars don’t lie, honey.  They never do.  I’d have sent them to you sooner, but they got to me two days late.”  Rising, he straightened his back, glancing at the others.  “You kids need to work on punctuality.  Some things need to be addressed with precise timing.”

“Well for Pete’s sake,” Ashley responded before bursting into laughter. 

“Not for my sake,” Pete laughed.  “Old man, if you weren’t our only hope, I’d think you were a loon.”

Brogan’s belly shook as he chuckled.  “Who says I’m not?  Look at what I’m doin.  Surrounded by werewolves, working to help vampires…mercy, what is this world coming too?”  Still smiling, he continued, “You kids go stow your gear.  Mar there’s another sleeping bag in the girls’ dormitory.  Boys, after you get squared away, go get some more firewood so the girls can make dinner.  I ain’t had a decent meal, since ya’ll left.”

“And what are you going to do?”  Shad smirked.

“What?  You think I’ve been just sitting around since you’ve been gone?  Good night, son!  I’ve worked my poor old tale off.  Now ya’ll get busy.  I need to check in with the vampire council, but I’ll be back in time for dinner.”

“But Brogan--” Sarah’s question went unanswered.  Brogan turned to mist, and was gone.  “Well how do you like that?”

“Chop, chop, kids,” Jason’s impression of Brogan’s voice was nearly perfect.  “We sure don’t wanna make him wait fer dinner.”

Everyone laughed as they went about their business.  Breathing deeply, Sarah surveyed the small camp.  Strange as it was, it felt good to be home.

***

   Several weeks passed.  By December, they had built alliances with several small packs all over central Europe.  Jason and Ashley had decided to marry, and Shad wanted to make it a double wedding.  Sarah was completely against it.  Although she loved him, she remained adamant about never having children.  Pete had taken Mar under his wing, and became the big brother she should have had, and always wanted.  Even with the small turmoils and trials, it was a happy time for all.

In January, things changed a bit. 

Brogan’s magic never failed to amaze Sarah, even though the woods was adrift in five feet of snow, the campsite remained warm and bare.  His knowledge, of seemingly everything, continued to astound her.  Although, he wasn’t one to over-share information.  The last few days he’d been agitated.  Each of them had asked, at one time or another, what was wrong, but he always responded with, “It’s fine.  All is as it should be.  Just things going on, but nothing I can’t handle.  Have you worked with the swords today?  Really you kids need to practice more.  You should be as deadly in human form as you are in wolf form.”  Then he’d go off on a rant about, “Kids these days…”

Practice was about all they did in January.  He was constantly on them.  And although the outside world seemed far away, they couldn’t help but feel like something was pressing in on them.  Whatever that something was, it had to be dangerous to elicit so much worry in Brogan.

Gathered around the fire, they waited nervously for Brogan’s return.  Every so often, Shad would look at his watch and sigh. 

“What time is it?” Sarah asked.

“Ten minutes later than last time,” he answered.

“This isn’t like him at all.  He said he’d be back this morning.”  Ashley said.

Shivering, Mar moved closer to Pete.  “What if he’s hurt?  What if he needs us, how will we know?”

Throwing a blanket around her shoulders, he asked, “You cold?”

She shook her head.  “No, I’m worried.”

“I have no idea where to even look for him,” Sarah answered.

“Well, we know he’s in Slovenia with Liz and her crew.  No harm will come to him there,” Jason interjected.

Shad looked at his watch again before shaking his head, and exhaling sharply.  “This is ridiculous.  We’re all a nervous wreck, and he’s probably better suited to taking care of himself than any of us.”

“What if he doesn’t come back?  What if he just leaves us here?”  Mar’s voice trembled as she spoke.

Pete threw his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.  “He’ll come back.  Something’s probably come up.  He refuses to carry a cell, so we’ll just have to be patient.”

They waited for hours and finally decided at 2 am to get some sleep.  Wherever Brogan was, if he did need them, they’d be little help in an exhausted condition.

***

Sarah woke with a start.  Kneeling beside her, Liz said, “Hey girl, wake up.”

Confused, Sarah mumbled, “Liz?  Is that really you?”

“Sure is, hun.  Come outside, we need to talk.”

“Where’s Brogan, he’s supposed to be with you.”

Moving to the front flap, Liz whispered as Mar moaned and turned in her sleep.  “I know.  Come outside.  We don’t need to wake up everyone.”

Sarah pulled a pink hoodie
over her head, wrapped a blanket around her, and stepped outside.  Liz stood by the fire, watching the flames.  She was even prettier than Sarah remembered.  Her long red hair almost sparkled in the firelight.  Racing across the short distance, Sarah threw her arms around her old friend.  “I missed you so much!  I couldn’t believe it when I saw you as a vampire.  Who would have ever thought…”

Liz returned her embrace with a sad smile.  “I missed you too, munchkin.  Imagine my surprise when I found out you were a wolf.”

“It’s so unreal.  It’s like living in a movie.”

“Not a well done one, either.”

Liz’s voice hadn’t changed, but there was something there that wasn’t before.  “What’s going on?  What are you doing here?”

Her eyes took on a vacant look as she stared into the trees.  Turning her gaze back to Sarah, she said, “Some friends of mine are coming.  Don’t be afraid.  There’s been a--situation--and we’re here to protect you.  Go wake your friends now.  Tell them it’s okay.  I’m sure having so many vampires around will make them nervous.  Especially the humans.”

“But what--”

“Go, Sarah.  There’s not much time.  I should have woken all of you, but I was afraid there’d be a panic.”

Moving quickly, she raced into the boys’ tent, after a few seconds, she ran into her own.  Within two minutes, the entire group was dressed and waiting by the fire.  Dark figures came through the trees, from all around the clearing.  Some stayed just inside the tree line, while others continued moving forward.  “There’s no sign of anyone yet.  He may be hallucinating,” said a dark-haired man who’d entered the inner circle.

“No, Michael.  He’s too adamant about it.  They are coming.”  Liz answered.  Then gazing at the faces watching her, she said, “I know that you must be nervous.  Most of you don’t even know me.  Brogan has sent us to fetch you.  Mar’s pack has made an alliance with the dark
witch in their territory. They are coming to retrieve her.  Only in killing her can they truly run the pack.  Brogan has had a terrible ordeal with a demon and is too weak to come himself.  I need you to quickly gather your things, and come with us.”

Mar’s face grew pale as a whimper escaped her.  “It’s too late.  I can feel them.  Wait!  I can shift and stop them.  They have to listen to me when I'm in wolf form.”

Liz shook her head.  “No, dear.  They made a pact with the dark witch.  She has broken your hold on them.  According to Brogan, it wasn't difficult considering your age.”  Liz’s head jerked to Michael.  “How far?”

“Just inside the forest,” Mar answered.

Michael turned, blurred, and was gone.

“All right people,” Liz yelled.  “It’s show time.”

The clang of metal swords being pulled from sheaths echoed throughout the camp.

“You guys hurry and get everything around.  Sarah, make sure you get Brogan’s notebooks, he’s terribly worried about them.  As soon as you’re ready, let me know.  We’ll try to hold them off.”

“Won’t you need our help?” Jason asked.

Still watching the trees, Liz answered over her shoulder, “Not if you hurry.  We’re pretty good at killing vampires, but we’ve never fought wolves.  Hurry.”

A lone, chilling howl split the night air.  From all over the woods, others answered.  From the sound of it, Mar’s entire pack must have come.  And they were at least two hundred strong.

Rushing about, they gathered their things, hastily filling knapsacks.  Sarah raced into Brogan’s tent and began filling a sleeping bag with the hundreds of books she found there.  Some were just plain spiral bound notebooks, but others were old leather-bound books that looked ancient.  Tossing them indiscriminately into the sleeping bag, she moved as fast as she could.  She could hear wolves snarling and growling outside, along with the dull thud of swords making contact with bodies.  An occasional yelp would punctuate the night.  “Jason!” she screamed.

“I can’t lift this.  You’ll have to take it.”

Jason appeared in the opening, shirtless.  “They need me.  There are too many.”