Joshua clears his throat, presumably to tell us to knock it off. Garrett doesn't seem to care, but he leans his head back and smiles at me.
"You two keep that up, you'll stop traffic." Joshua teases. Garrett shrugs and puts his arm around my shoulders.
"Anyway," Max begins, "what's our next move?"
"Our next move? Does this mean you're in?" I ask. Max shrugs.
"I don't have anything better to do," he replies.
"Okay." I turn to Garrett, "so, what is our next move?"
"Well, first thing we need to do is, you and I need to go talk to Alexis. He should be finished with what I asked him to do."
"Okay. Joshua, do you have somewhere you can stay?"
"Yeah, I'll stay with my brother for now."
"It's settled then. Max, you get your things into Garrett's car. We have to make a stop, but then we can take you to Garrett's house. Where's your things?"
"In Josh's car."
"Josh, you know where my place is, right?" Garrett asks him. Joshua nods. "Cool, head over there tonight with Walter. We can talk. In the meantime," Garrett holds his arm out for me, "Shall we?" I hook my arm through his. I can hear Max chuckling behind us, but I don't really care right now.
We walk, arm in arm, down the street till we come to Alexis' domain. Garrett turns to me and grabs my hands lightly in his. He sighs, deeply.
"Cal," he begins, "I know that we haven't been together very long. I know that we've already said 'I love you' to each other. Today, I'm taking another very big step with you, and I sincerely hope that I'm not frightening you away." I feel my heart skip in my chest. This is far more than I could have ever hoped for.
"Gare, there's not much you can say or do that would get me to leave now. If I'm stuck with you, you most definitely are stuck with me." He smiles at me, then suddenly he frowns, drops my hands, and turns around. I look around the back of his head to see his father striding up the street towards us. He does not look happy as his long strides eat up the ground quickly. He stops directly in front of Garrett. Something strikes me as odd, but I can't quite place my finger on what it is.
"What do you mean by this?" Mr. Killian angrily demands of Garrett. He doesn't even acknowledge that I'm standing right here. Garrett doesn't even blink at the hostility.
"Father, I have no idea what you're referring to."
"You know damn well what I'm referring to but let me refresh your memory. The human that is currently loading suitcases into your car. Now what the hell do you have to say for yourself?"
"That's Cal's friend from his hometown. He knows all about the paras and has just as much to lose if he tells anyone. So, he won't be. Just to make sure he won't be blabbing to anyone, he's staying at my place, where I can keep an eye on him." His voice is even, without a hint of fear for his father.
He pauses in what he wants to say next. His eyes narrow to almost slits. He snarls, his fangs flashing in the sunlight. He turns sharply on his heel and walks away.
"Okay, Gare, I love you, but your dad scares the shit out of me." I say once his father is out of ear shot, which for a vampire is quite a distance.
"Yeah, he has that effect of most of my friends. Especially, my boyfriends."
"Oh?" I lift an eyebrow like I've seen others do. "And just how many boyfriends are we talking about?"
"To be fair, I'm over two hundred years old. You have to expect that I've dated a fair few guys in that time. Of course, I couldn't be open with any of them till you." He looks abashed which makes me smile at him. He smiles back and takes my hand again.
"Come on. I want to show you something." He opens the door to the pharmacy. He leads me through the store to the back, where Alexis is waiting. He looks excited, like he's practically jumping out of his shoes. In his hands is a small box.
"Whoa there," Garrett says to him as we stop in front of the table. "You okay there, Lex?"
"Garrett, you're not going to believe it. I have truly outdone myself. Not to toot my own horn, but..." he makes a horn sound. "You're going to love this. And not just how it looks, but what it does." He hands the box to Garrett. I'm curious, but I wait with my hands in my pockets. Garrett turns to me.
"Caleb, you know how I feel about you. I've made no secret of that. This ring is both a symbol of that love I have for you as well as a promise. I'm not going to tell you what that promise is right now, but you'll understand soon enough." He opens the box and turns it to face me. I suck in my breath sharply at the gorgeous ring inside.
The rainbow moonstone is wrapped in thin silver and copper wire and set into a silver band. The band of the ring has carvings of what I can only assume are runes running the length of the band. It's not a small ring, definitely made for a male hand, but it's not gaudy either. Garrett plucks it from where it's nestled in the box and holds out his hand for mine. I silently understand that he's asking which hand I want the ring to sit on. Without hesitation, I put my left hand in his. He looks me in the eyes as he slips the ring on my ring finger.
I look down at my hand. I turn my hand this way and that, letting the light catch the stone. As I move, the stone shimmers with rainbows. Garrett catches my jaw lightly and tilts my head up. No words are needed as I completely understand that this is a first for him. Most definitely, this is a first for me. His eyes soften as he leans in to kiss me lightly.
"Garrett, Caleb, this ring isn't merely something pretty. This will help you, Cal, to control your wolf when you shift. Not just that, but if my calculations are correct, because you are their king, you should be able to control the other's wolves. Not like telling them what to do, but they shouldn't be completely wild either. They should have control over their wolves too. I'm not a hundred percent on how it all works, but I'm confident it will."
"Well, we'll have a chance to test it tomorrow night. That's the first day of the Snow Moon." I breathe in a heavy breath, hoping that the ring works. Being able to know what's going on is a far cry from actually controlling the wolf. If I could control him, hell if the rest of them can control their wolves, then we might stand a chance against this "old king" the prophecy was talking about.
"Lex," Garrett addresses him, "start getting word out that we need as many loyal paras on our side as possible. Leave me father out of it for now. No reason to get his fangs in a bunch about it all till we know more."
"No problem, Gare. You guys head home. I'll talk to you in the morning."
"Thanks, man." Garrett tells him. Lex comes around the table and hugs Garrett. I start to back away before Lex lets go of Garrett and grabs me in a hug. I hug him back. He leans back and just looks at me.
"Caleb, take care of his heart. It's far more fragile than he'll ever admit."
"I promise. Thanks for everything."
Garrett and I leave the building and step out into the bright sunlight. Again, I'm struck by how the sunlight should damage Garrett's skin, but he isn't bothered by it. It makes me think that this ring might actually work for me. Then another thought hits me.
"Gare, your ring is silver, right?"
"Yeah."
"And there's silver all around in your bar, right?"
"Uh huh."
"Doesn't silver hurt vampires? For that matter, shouldn't silver be hurting me?"
"Nah," he chuckles as we walk down the sidewalk back to his car. "That's just one of those legends that Hollywood got wrong. In fact, there isn't much they got right. I mean, yeah, we'll burn to a crisp in the sun, unless of course we have a stone like this.
"We drink blood, but human blood isn't necessary. It doesn't even make us that much stronger. In fact, the bigger the animal, the more strength we get. Around here, that means moose and bears. Our fangs aren't good for much against those animals, but that's where technology comes in. A stake through the heart will kill just about anything, so it's no wonder that it'll kill vampires. Silver does squat, so do crosses. In fact, I have a cousin that attends church every Sunday and he wears a cross every day. Ironically, he lives in Transylvania." Garrett laughs at that, and I can't help but to join in.
"We're often considered evil, but vampires are no more good or evil than your average human is. We are incredibly fast, but, no, we can't fly. We leave that to the dragons, eagles, and hawks. We're stronger than most humans, but not like Superman strong. More like Arnold Schwarzenegger. We certainly are not indestructible. There are many ways in which we can be hurt or even killed, just not as much as humans. We aren't dead, either. That's a common misconception. We're born, just like any other creature. Well, except for you. Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Well, you were born human with the lineage of the royal changeling line in your blood. However, if you had died without being bitten, you would never have turned. So, sort of."
We get to where Max is waiting by the car. Garrett hops in the driver seat and I get in the passenger front seat. Max climbs in the back behind Garrett.
"What you two talking about?" Max asks.
"Hollywood legends of paranormals versus the truth," I tell him.
"Hmmmm...." Max comments thoughtfully. "Good, because I have a few questions myself. Mr. Smithin gave me the basics, but he wasn't too forthcoming on details."
I shift in my seat so that I can look back at Max and still talk to Garrett.
"Well, Max, what would you like to know?" Garrett asks. I'm shocked that he's so calm about telling Max everything considering he and Joshua were just telling me a month ago that I can't tell anyone what I am.
"For starters, Cal, what exactly are you? What happened at your house?"
My eyes burn with tears as the memories of my parents lying in blood, all hacked up flashes through my mind. Garrett takes his hand off the steering wheel and rubs my arm. It's a light touch, but it does exactly what he intended. My heart rate slows and my breathing calms. I take one large breath and answer Max's question.
"In short, I'm a werewolf. Though that's not what we're called, I guess. I'm called a changeling."
"Changeling, huh? Ok. So, judging by the ring on your finger, silver doesn't bother you. So, not like a traditional werewolf. What about wolfsbane? Do you change at full moon then? Or are you like the Twilight werewolves?"
"Definitely not like Twilight. Though, ironically, your description isn't far off. My form more closely resembles their werewolves that say Lon Chaney Jr."
"So, you look like a regular wolf?"
"For the most part. Quite a bit bigger, though."
He gives that some thought, then he asks, "What about the rest of the legends? Like silver?"
"Silver has no effect on any of the paras," this from Garrett. "In fact, you'll find that a lot of paras like silver. It's cleaner looking than gold." He holds his hand up to show his bloodstone ring wrapped in silver threads. The question-and-answer session goes on till we reach the townhouse that I stayed in until recently.
"Garrett, what are we doing here? I thought we were going to your house." I ask.
"We are. I thought we should check on our other guests and grab some of your things while we're at it."
"Good point."
The three of us head into the house. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting, but it wasn't an immaculately clean house with a few changelings watching TV, a few in the kitchen cooking, some at the dining table playing a board game, and I'm sure there are some upstairs.
When the first one sees me, he stops what he's doing and kneels down as they had earlier.
"My liege," he says simply, but it was enough to get the attention of the other changelings. They all stop what they're doing, including the ones in the middle of cooking, and kneel down to repeat the phase of the first one.
Max stands and stares in awe. Garrett just brushes past me and heads upstairs, presumably to get a bag packed for me.
"Yeah, yeah," I tell the changelings. "Continue what you were doing."
"What the fuck, man?" Max whispers in my ear. I just shake my head and wave a hand dismissively.
"I'll explain later." I whisper back. I walk into the living room where the changelings there had gone back to the TV. I see one of the changelings from the deli. I sit down on the coffee table across from him.
"Can I talk to you for a minute?" I ask him.
"Of course, my lord."
"Can you tell me how it's going around here, please?"
"Yes, your majesty. We've had another three changelings show up in the last hour or two. Other than that, the changelings that were here before have pretty much made themselves at home. We've worked out a cleaning and cooking schedule and set up the upstairs rooms as barracks."
"Wow," I say. "I'm impressed. You guys are doing an excellent job. Do you have anything else to add?"
"Now that you mention it, there are two important things we're worried about. The first is the full moon tonight. Most of us have changed before and we know the destruction that we cause as wolves. We don't want something like that to happen while we're all in a populated area like this."
"I might be able to help with that." Garrett answers him as he comes down the stairs. "The ring that Cal wears should help you guys control the wolf instead of the wolf controlling you. But just to be sure it works, not that I doubt Alexis, we can have everyone move out to the open areas. There's a few hundred acres of just land about half an hour's drive from here. Of course, not all of you will fit in the car, so you'll have to walk, but it shouldn't be too bad."
"Thank you, sire." The changeling bows his head to Garrett. This has me cocking my head to the side in question.
"Why do you address him like that?" I ask.
"I'm sorry, my liege. I meant no offense. I merely assumed that he was your mate and therefore you'd want him to be addressed with the same courtesy and respect." He hangs his head as though I'm going to scold him.
"Oh, of course. I didn't think of that. Yes, Garrett is my mate," I look over at him, smiling, to see his expression mirroring mine. "I appreciate it if everyone shows Garrett the same courtesy you guys have shown me. The same with my best friend, Max." I gesture to Max, who's standing behind me. The changeling bows his head respectfully.
"Okay, so we've only got a few hours till moonrise. We should get everyone together and start heading out to the area."
"That's something else I wanted to talk to you about, my liege. There's a young one that may need help."
"Young one? Like a new changeling?" I ask.
"Well, yes, that too. But I do mean 'young'." He gets up and starts walking up the stairs. We follow him. He leads us to the second bedroom. Asleep in the corner is a little boy, probably only seven or eight years old.
"Oh! Young."