When Saoirse opened her eyes her head was still groggy and she discovered she was alone in a room that smelled strongly of antiseptic. What is this place? She blinked and slowly sat up, her head throbbing as she struggled to fight off whatever the man had drugged her with.
Expecting to find herself in some sort of hostage situation, she was surprised to see that instead, next to her on a table was a jar of flowers in a vase. The room was unnaturally comfortable.
Where am I? She wondered as she got to her feet and realized that the room wasn't dark. Daylight poured in through the windows and it gave her a strange feeling as if she had gone back in time and was no longer a vampire and could see the sun again.
The light didn't burn her so the sun must have been deterred somehow. It was very strange. She felt its warmth warm her fingers and muttered, "so that's what the sun feels like. It's been so long, I couldn't remember."
Suddenly, a woman came into the room and Saoirse snapped back into reality. She jumped off of the bed and backed herself against the wall and assumed a defensive stance as the woman with blue eyes, smiled at her and set down a breakfast tray. "Hello dear, I'm glad to see you're finally awake!" The woman said.
Saoirse didn't respond. She just sniffed at the air and realized the woman wasn't a vampire. Was she a human? She didn't smell like a full human. She smelled a bit like the man had.
"What is going on?" She asked abrasively.
"We just have you under observation to make sure you are ok." The woman said kindly.
Saoirse wasn't convinced that this woman wasn't a threat, but she lowered her guard a bit since the woman seemed like she wasn't a threat. "Am I in a hospital?"
"Sort of, it's just the healing bay, I mean we don't normally have to do much with you wolves." The woman shrugged.
"Why am I here? what happened to me?"
"Well now I'll just be getting your brother for you, it's better he explain everything."
As if on cue the woman turned around and a lean, muscular man came into the room. He had a loose, casual shirt and a brown, neatly trimmed beard. His blond hair was a bit longer as if he liked surfing and skateboarding. He even had a necklace with a shark tooth. It was the man that had kidnapped her.
"Hey." He said and took a seat in the chair next to her as he opened a soda. The nurse left the room.
"Who are you?" Saoirse asked, backing away from him, not wanting him to come closer.
He smiled and offered her the soda.
"No thanks. I'm on a diet." she snapped at him, baring her fangs just in case he didn't get the picture.
He laughed at this and she noticed he had fangs too. "I doubt it!" He said.
She took the cup and to her surprise it was blood. She handed it back to him. "I don't want it."
He studied her face a bit and then drank the drink himself before responding. "I'm not surprised you don't recognize me, I mean it's been 900 years."
She searched his face but still had no clue.
"I'm Linus." He said finally smiling again. "It's so nice to see you again Sis."
She was shocked.
"How are you still alive? And so young? Werewolves don't live that long!"
"I'm not sure how much you know about the people who raised you, but they aren't good people."
————-
Linus's voice trembled as he began to speak, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. He looked off in the distance as if he was reliving the memory.
"I remember the day Alastor destroyed our village like it was yesterday. The flames… the screams… the smell of burning fur and flesh." He paused, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. "He killed everyone, Saoirse. Our parents, my siblings… everyone. I tried to fight, but I was nothing to him. A mere insect."
Saoirse's heart sank as she listened. She had always imagined what might have happened after she disappeared, but hearing it was worse than anything she'd imagined. Afterall, if he had left anyone alive, then wouldn't they have ended up serving him somehow? She had seen no one from tbe pack at the castle in all of her years there.
Linus ran a hand through his hair. "When he killed me, I thought that was it. Darkness. Nothingness. I thought maybe I would go to Asgard, and you know, live in the fields of peace since I was a child and all. Maybe meet the moon Goddess Nanna.
But then I woke up, covered in snow. I was… wrong. I wasn't dead. Not truly. I had to drink blood. There was blood all around me. Im some sort of monster. I'm sorry Saoirse, I can't tell you more. The rest was very painful.
In the end, I made my way here. One of moms human friends from the leadership council took me in. They helped me figure out how to cope. I go to therapy." He chuckled at that. "My therapist doesn't understand though, understandably."
Saoirse didn't know what therapy was. That must have been a human thing. She nodded anyways.
"Oh! And werewolves are very intrigrated into society now. I own a lot of land and I married a few times. I have 30 kids. So life has been pretty normal for me."
Saoirse let that simmer for a while. "Thirty kids?" She finally asked, amazed. Maybe she had heard him wrong.
"Yeah, I married a few times." He said, "I always lived longer than my wives anyhow. That's the burden of being a vampire-wolf."
"So you are a Lycanpire." Saoirse concluded. "My husband learned about those in school, they are the spirits of a wherewolf that haven't completely crossed over. If they had they would have reincarnated into a vampire, not stayed alive."
"So that's what I am." He pondered that for a while. "I guess that's something humans can't teach me." He said.
Saoirse knew what that felt like, being raised away from her culture.
"Anyways, you said thirty kids?" She asked for a third time. "I mean, I haven't even had one!"
"But you're married…" he asked confused. "Are you barren? You were the chosen Luna successor; you should be able to have kids."
Saoirse looked down and wondered how Linus had been brave enough to have kids and not worry about keeping them safe. Linus realized it was a difficult topic for her. "Hey, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. I didn't invite your husband because I wasn't sure if you married him…willingly."
She sighed, "I haven't had kids because I married King Alastor's son."