The Guard- Elders-Part 3

Untitled Part 83

 "Aunt Shannon?" She turned to us. Her eyes sparkled. "Is this the woman that has finally captured your heart Patrick?" He turned red.

"Yes." He nodded. "Aunt Shannon, this is Kylie." She walked over to me. "Kylie this is my Aunt Shannon."

"Hello it is nice to meet you." I said.

"Enough with the formalities." She gave me a big hug then touched my belly. "I am so sorry for what they did to you. Just to let you know I am not a bit surprised." She turned to her brother. "We both knew what they were like. Did this surprise you at all?"

"No Shannon it did not." Shaun looked around people were listening. "Let us continue this in our quarters." I said quietly. They nodded.

We walked back to our quarters. They sat in the kitchen. I made tea and served some cookies.

"These are delicious Kylie when were you able to make them?"

"Oh! I did not make them. Katey did."

"Katey the millennialist. I always thought that was a myth." She said.

"I think we are all going to learn a lot of things at this gathering, Shannon."

"And everyone else will learn about what we have always known about our parents." Shannon turned to me. "Kylie please join us."

"As soon as the tea is ready."

"You are part of this family Kylie. Never listen to my parents. They are mean, cruel, self centered and self serving idiots." I looked at Paddy and Shaun.

"Yes Kylie. My sister has no love for them either." Shannon grabbed Shaun and Paddy's hands. "They took away something that was most precious: Children. The hope for the future. I will never forgive them for that."

"Thank you Aunt Shannon. It is good to hear it from someone who understands and not caught in the middle."

"Patrick that is their specialty: putting people in the middle. It gives them the utmost pleasure."

I put the tea on the table. I sat with them.

"Kylie, please ease your heart. My parents will pay for what they did. The one thing the shapeshifter community does not stand for is killing children especially if they are still in the womb." She held my hand.

"I can not believe they talked Caleb into doing it." Shannon shook her head.

"Caleb has not liked me since we first met."

"When did you meet?"

"Right after Cassie was born. We were outside the Sacred Pond." She looked at me with her head tilted. "You are a vampire and you had your children in the Sacred Pond?"

"Yes."

"All right now I understand. Caleb and his Sacred Pond rubbish." She nodded.

"We have heard from other shamans. He used to stop people from having their babies in the pond if they did not have the right 'bloodlines.'"

"I can believe that. The shamans will have their own charges against him too."

"What do you mean?" Paddy asked.

"You see Patrick. Every level in our community is able to charge someone that is on the same level as them."

"If I wanted to charge an Elder I would have to be an Elder."

"No what I mean is you have to prove your allegations to another Elder and they will charge the Elder."

"Oh I see. That is why Mom's parents were so eager to help. They were proving our case."

"Yes Paddy, that is exactly right." Shaun said.

"How do you know so much about the laws of the shifters, Shannon?" I asked.

"I am the Clan's Magistrate."

"You uphold the laws."

"Yes and because they are my parents I can not defend them. Conflict of interest."

"Who is going to defend them?" Paddy wondered.

"It will have to be a Magistrate from another clan. It will not be easy. Every clan has had run ins with our parents. I am not allowed to know. In case I want to influence them. Camarillo McKibbon will be appointing one."

"Why him?"

"He is the oldest Elder in our entire community. When he spoke about the millennialist. He would know these things because he is almost five thousand years old."

"Five thousand? I thought the Council was old." I said. Shannon reached over to Paddy and examined his neck. "You do not let her feed off of you?"

It sounded like she wanted me to feed off of him.

"No only when she needs to sleep."

"Silly boy, vampires do not sleep."

"Kylie does when she is injured or with child."

"But our blood is so good for them. One sip sustains them for almost a month."

"You are serious Shannon." Shaun stared at his sister in disbelief.

"You guard the most powerful of the vampire community and you do not know this."

"We guard them. They do not feed off of us."

"The ones in Norway do. If they are traveling and do not want to draw attention to themselves. They would visit one of the shifters take a sip and be on their way." She looked at me. "But I have never heard of our blood making them sleep." She touched my cheek. "You are the first."

"I seem to be different from other vampires."

"You must be to capture Patrick's heart." She stopped and listened to something. "I am being summoned I have to go." She stood up. "The cookies were delicious."

"I will let Katey know." As she walked out of the kitchen.

"This gathering is going to be quite the education."

"I think so Dad. I never knew about all this." Paddy waved his hands towards Shannon's now empty chair.

"Well my sister is a thousand years older than me. Knowing the laws has always been her passion."

"Where are your other siblings Shaun?"

"Shannon and I were the only shifters in our family. She was the first. I was the last of the children."

"The rest were mortals like your family?" I asked.

"Yes. I did not have to go through what Paddy and my sister did. Watching my siblings grow old and die. But as a father it has become more difficult with each child."

"I am beginning to understand your grief, Father." Paddy held Shaun's hand. He nodded.

"Unfortunately. I thought that Kylie being a vampire. It would not be so difficult with childbearing. I was so wrong." Shaun shook his head.

"It certainly is not from the lack of trying." Paddy said.

"All right. I have to go back to the gathering."

"All right Dad." Shaun left.

"I have to go change my clothes." I told Paddy. "Need any help?" I smiled.