Chasing Wolves (completed)

Chapter 5 Isadora

Chapter 5

Isadora

He's taken everything I've told him surprisingly well. After a while he finally admitted that he did kind of think vampires exist and when I asked why he told me about when he was drunk in the alley.

Apparently he thought it was all a dream, and thought that it was really weird that Lin was in it with us. He's figured out by now that the whole thing was real and after he wouldn't stop pestering me about it, I finally told him of the events leading up to our encounter. After I finish he hugs me, comforting me for something that feels like it happened a lifetime ago.

He lets go and complains that his legs are falling asleep. Deciding to kill two birds with one stone, I lead him out into the living room, letting him stretch his legs and giving him a chance to be properly introduced to everyone.

Em is the first to notice us out of everyone sitting around playing cards on the floor, and she scampers over to us, chattering animatedly at us before giving Rob a hug. He stands there awkwardly before patting her back and she steps away from him, smiling before Shifting and disappearing into the pile of her clothes. He shrieks (which is something he normally never does, and I can't help but savor it), and everyone chuckles at his response as I pull Ferret Em out from the pile.

She stretches towards him in my hands and I hand her to him as she chitters away excitedly. "She says she's happy to finally be able to show you her animal." She chitters some more and I translate, "she likes your eyes, they remind her of hers." Even though hers are a weird pale pink and his are red, I can kind of see it.

He cradles her in his arms, stroking her just as he used to do with the ferret he had when we were little, and looks between us questioningly. "How do you know what she's saying, do you speak ferret?"

Oh, I thought I'd told him about the comms. Apparently not.

"It's not that I can understand ferret, per se, it's that I can telepathically communicate with vampires and Shifters like Em."

He only stares at me in shock.

"Come on, try to say something without speaking. Just kind of... think about talking to me and then think what you would say."

I can see him trying to concentrate and after a moment he finally gets it. "Hello?"

"There you go. Easy, right?"

He smiles, "yeah. It is actually. But how does this work?"

"I'm not entirely sure. It's just part of my... family weirdness. On my birthday I found out that I could do it with vampires. Lin was still a vampire back then and when he... well we sort of figured it out together." He's now glaring between me and Lin, demanding for me to tell him what happened. I really don't want to, but after everything that I've told him and how calm he's been through it all, I figure he can handle this. I reluctantly tell him about what happened in the alley on my birthday, all the while watching his reaction closely.

He's perfectly composed until I finish my story. Then out of nowhere he tosses me Em and charges across the room to Lin. Lin looks up, surprise in his eyes, and Rob picks him up by his collar easily, using his vampire strength for the first time (although, he was captain of our school's varsity football team, so he could pick him up without his new strength anyway). Before he can land a punch I'm over to them, catching his trembling fist in my palm as if it were only a slow-pitch baseball and not a high speed muscle-filled projectile.

Rob stares at me for a moment, completely in shock that I was able to reach him before he could hit my husband and that I caught his fist like it were nothing. He snaps out of it quickly, however, and turns back to glare at Lin. "You tried to eat my sister?!"

All Lin can do is stare in terror at Rob's rage, barely able to stammer out that he didn't mean to.

It's kind of funny that I'm only now realizing this, but Rob and I only call each other by familial nicknames when we feel the other is threatened somehow. Weird.

"Listen to him, Rob, he really didn't mean to. It was an accident, I didn't mean to provoke him. Anyway, back to what I was saying, that's how I figured out I could 'talk' to vampires. After Henry bit me I discovered that, when talking telepathically, I can understand any language. Including... somehow... Shifters. But only when they're in their animal forms."

The whole time I've been talking to him I've been slowly backing him away from Lin. At one point I give him back Em and he calms noticeably as he strokes her soft fur.

Well... that could have gone more smoothly. Luckily no one was hurt. Unfortunately now everyone is staring at us in confusion and I can only shrug.