"Where are you going?"
"Out to feed."
"Be careful."
"We will." Paddy said as we went up the stairs.
We came out of the charred ruins of the log cabin. He was right there were no bodies in the rumble. Cassie and Samuel had moved down into the cave just before the gathering. Mike and Melissa were staying up here with some of the Guardsmen.
We were out in the forest feeding when we found some of the Guards shot like everyone else.
We removed the shots.
"Hey Paddy Sir," Michael whispered, "just like old times."
"Yeah just like old times." He chuckled. "What are you doing out here?"
"We were on patrol when I was hit in the chest with something."
"And you do not remember anything else." Michael shook his head. I walked up behind Paddy.
"Hey Kylie."
"Hello Michael."
"Are you all right? You look very upset." I shook my head.
"When were you on patrol?" Paddy asked.
"A week after you left." the rest of Michael's squad was standing around listening. "You are back early."
"No were not. We left three months ago. We just returned this morning."
"We have been out here all this time?"
We nodded.
"Go feed then come down to the cave."
"Yes Sir."
They ran off. We returned to the cave.
Everyone was gathered in the main chamber.
Councilman Klaus looked extremely upset. They sat and waited for everyone to come to the cave gathering.
Michael's squad came in. They were the last ones to arrive.
"I think everyone is here." He looked around the room. "I do not know if you know this but we were attacked by a group of people and they knew all our weaknesses."
There was a lot of whispering. "What I know from the first reports is this: the log cabins on the hill have been burned to the ground, all the sentry cabins and squad were attacked. The Junction House was also attacked and ransacked."
"The only ones who were able to fight this enemy were our resident mortals. They were able to kill four of them."
Everyone cheered.
"They are over here recovering." The Councilman pointed to them. Another cheer went up. "After everyone has recovered from their injuries. We will find these people and destroy them."
Everyone cheered again.
"By the looks of the dead enemy. They are mortal. Their bodies decayed while our mortals did not. We could not pick up anything from them." He pointed to the rest of the Council. "All right my friends; you do not know how glad we are to see all of you here. Go and feed all of you."
Everyone left by various exits.
Paddy and I went to his parents' quarters and started cooking. Quinn and Cory helped them all including the Messners.
Our mortals were having the hardest time to move.
They sat at the kitchen table just staring at us when the food was ready everyone ate in silence.
I placed the teapot on the table. That is when everyone started talking. They were talking about their memories of the attack. They said the same thing black clothes men with strange crossbows or whatever they were.
"I know why you all survived but how did we survive?" Suzie asked shyly.
The room went silent. Paddy looked at me then smiled.
"You want to know how you did not die like the other mortals?" I said. They nodded.
"Well because of who your partners are." They looked at them.
"What about them?" Connor asked curiously.
"I know vampires and werewolves can absorb each others traits when they have been together for a long time." I smiled at them. "I guess mortals can too."
I had a lot of strange looks from my family.
"You are with shifters and they live for a very long time. You absorbed some of their life force, I guess you can call it. It sort of protected you from decaying. I think if we did not come back when we did. You might not have survived. Eventually it does wear off."
Mike looked shyly at me. "Melissa is a mortal. How did we survive?"
"She may be a mortal but she still has some shifter traits. They still live for a long time for a mortal." They smiled at each other.
"Then how do you explain me Kylie?" Katey said.
'The only reason I can see is that your heart never stopped beating."
"Oh?"
"Your heartbeat is what started everything. I gave you some of my blood which healed your wounds." She smiled. "then I gave each of you some." I pointed to the mortals.
"We have no scars or anything." Suzie said.
"Vampire blood heals completely." I told them.
"Mom's blood tastes absolutely delicious." Cassie said licking her lips.
"Yes it does." Quinn and John agreed with her.
"I feel younger too." Suzie said. "I do not have the aches in my bones anymore." They all nodded.
"It will be a while but it will wear off."
"Are you sure? I feel so good." She smiled shyly at Quinn.
"The only way to make that feeling permanent is if you become a vampire."
"No. No. That is all right." They all shook their heads.
Paddy and I emptied our food packs into our pantry. We were now using everything in it. The shifters were extremely hungry. They ate the entire night. We did not stop cooking.
The McCurdys finally went to bed. Quinn and Gen went with them. The rest of the shifters decided to go out and hunt. I did not know if they were still hungry or they just wanted to track something down.
Annabelle need to feed also. We went with them. Paddy, Cory and I noticed how jumpy they were. Once they had some fresh meat in them. They seemed to calm down.
