Astrid's Wish (25 page)

“Lucky for you, you will never have to.” Klaus laid his head alongside Astrid’s.

A light rumbling vibrated from Astrid chest as he giggled. “It has nothing to do with luck.” Astrid smiled up at him. “It’s fate. We’re meant to be together.”

His lips curled up at the corners. “That we are, my love. That we are.”

After drying off and getting dressed, it was inching close to lunch time. He herded Astrid out of their room with a promise to make love to him later. It wouldn’t be a hard promise for him to keep. He wanted to stay in bed for a solid week just loving on his mate, validating that they were both alive and together.

“Oh, darn.”

He stopped at the sound of Astrid’s voice. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just wanted to pull my hair back.” Astrid held up one finger. “Give me just a minute. I’ll be right back.” He ran back into their room, and Klaus waited outside the door.

“About time you two surfaced for air. We were actually debating whether or not to come check on you two or not.”

“I don’t know if your poor heart could have withstood seeing me and my angel together.” He laughed at the gagging noises Trevor made.

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He was just about to turn around when something on Trevor’s neck caught his attention. He walked toward the vampire and turned his chin to the side, examining his neck. “Who gave you that?”

On the side of Trevor’s neck was the sign for the Warriors of the Light, a sun with the rays bursting out the sides with a thorn vine surrounding it. Only a witch with the consent of the council could give the mark, and he hadn’t had the chance to give it to him. So it left the question, who gave him the tattoo?

“Van did,” Trevor said, like it was no big deal. “Looks pretty cool on me, doesn’t it?” He fingered that tattoo, oblivious to Klaus’s distress.

“Van?”

Trevor took a step back from him. “Yeah, you know, Astrid’s grandfather. He arrived a little bit ago, but he didn’t want to disturb you, so he’s been hanging out with us. And let me just say that is one hot man.” Trevor pulled at his shirt, fanning himself. “I think I’m going to love this whole immortal, never-aging thing.”

He was left speechless. How could he respond to news like that?

“Well, I’m off. Quinn wants to go for a run.” With that, Trevor jogged down the hallway toward the stairs.

“My grandfather’s here?”

Astrid stood in the doorway, skin so pale it appeared blue. If he was shocked, Astrid must have been doubly so. In the matter of just a few days he met his biological father, paternal grandmother, and now his grandfather.

“I guess so.” He combed his fingers through his hair, irritated that everything was happening at once. He had known Van for years and never had any issues with the man, but after what his wife and son had done, he wasn’t taking any chances with Astrid’s safety. “You don’t have to meet with him if you don’t want to.”

Astrid nodded as he stared off into space. His eyes were dull as if he’d left his body. Then he jerked his head toward Klaus. “No, I want to meet him, but will you come with me?”

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“Of course I will. Where you go, I go.” He entwined his fingers with Astrid’s and headed down the stairs. Astrid squeezed his hand so tight he started to lose feeling in his fingers. When they reached the bottom step, he could hear Ben and Benedict talking to someone. A voice Klaus recognized.

The short walk seemed like miles away. He shortened his stride to match Astrid’s, taking his time getting to the room. When they reached the entryway, Van was facing away from them, and Astrid just stood there silently observing his grandfather. Ben noticed them first and stopped talking. At the sudden silence, Van turned to look at them. He gave Astrid’s hand a reassuring squeeze, letting him know he wasn’t alone.

* * * *

He eyed the man up and down subtly. Van didn’t look evil, but neither had Ivan. The resemblance between the two men was uncanny. Ivan definitely got his golden locks, height, and sturdy build from his father, the wholesome image every person strides for and found attractive, but behind the handsome appearance could very well lay a monster. The old saying “like father like son” reverberated in his head.

But as the man stared back at him, Astrid didn’t see the hate and lunacy his father and grandmother had shrouding their eyes. What he saw was a man whose face creased with stress and, if he wasn’t mistaken, a dose of sadness. But for who? Him, the loss of his son, or wife?

“Klaus, Astrid,” Benedict greeted them at the door. “I’m glad to see you both finally up and moving.” He waved his hand out in front of them, inviting them into the room.

He looked up at Klaus, who nodded. Taking that as a sign that his mate wasn’t worried, he followed Benedict into the room, taking a seat on the couch. He watched as Van timidly took the seat across
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from them. It surprised him to see this older man, his grandfather, seem so unsure of himself. His actions were in stark contraction to his son’s and wife’s, who, when they walked into a room, owned it and frightened others with the power they wielded.

“We’ll give you three some privacy,” Ben said as he shut the door behind him and Benedict.

After a long stretch of silence, Van broke the ice. “Hello, Astrid.”

He didn’t know if he could answer. What if Van tricked him and just ended up being like the rest, letting him down if he gave him the chance? Astrid just didn’t know if he could take any more heartache.

“Hi,” he whispered. Klaus shifted closer to him, giving him strength with his presence.

“God, I don’t know what to say.” Van laughed nervously. Astrid glanced up to see his grandfather fisting his hair in his hands. The man looked like he was fighting an internal battle within himself. “I didn’t know, I swear I didn’t know. If I knew I had a grandson out in the world, I would have looked for you.”

His breath caught at the raw emotion coming off Van. He felt the strange urge to go to him, to comfort him. But he held back at the last minute. This could just be an act.

“How did you not know what was going on in your own home?

How could you live with such evil and not see it?” Klaus asked.

“I’m not perfect. I loved them even when I knew they no longer cared for me.” Van’s head fell forward, and his shoulders slumped.

“But no matter what, I couldn’t stop loving them.” Tears streaked his reddened face. “They were all I had.”

Van wiped his eyes and straightened in his chair. “I realized this went way beyond them just being unhappy with the laws put upon them. They started sneaking off together and being more withdrawn than usual. Every time they looked at me, I could see the loathing in their eyes. I stood for everything they hated. I couldn’t control them like I thought I could, so I turned to my fellow council members for
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assistance. But I never imagined it would be something like this.” Van spread his arms out to his sides.

Astrid heard his words, but he resented that anyone could have ever loved such malevolent individuals. To stand by and say nothing for hundreds of years while they ran rampant, spewing their hate for humans and other paranormals they considered beneath them, was unacceptable.

“I’m not a thing, I’m a person. A person who your wife and son sent to live with vile men who stole my innocence,” he cried out. It wasn’t fair to blame Van, but someone had to be held accountable for what his family had done.

“I know you’re not a thing.” Van fell to his knees in front of him.

Klaus put his hand up to stop Van from touching him, but at Astrid’s nod, he pulled his arm back. Van wrapped his long, warm fingers around Astrid’s. “Of all the bad things they’ve done, they did do one great thing.”

“What is that?” Astrid asked as he shook his head. He didn’t understand.

“They gave me you.” Van’s voice clogged with unshed tears. As he began to sob, he buried his face in Astrid’s lap.

His eyes started to burn, and the dam holding his own tears back started to crumble. Van seemed sincere, no maliciousness in his tone or actions. It seemed he wasn’t the only one living in a hell created by Ivan and Constance.

Very carefully, he pulled one hand free and rested it on the back of Van’s neck. He let Van cry, not wanting to interrupt. He had years of heartache and disappointment to let go of, and the least Astrid could do was give him a chance. He owed it to himself to get to know his grandfather.

“And they gave me you.” He, like Astrid, had been deceived by those who were supposed to love him. “If you want, we can be a family,” he suggested as he held Van’s hand and reached for Klaus’s.

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A smiled pulled up the corners of Van’s mouth, and he nodded his head. Tears fell from his eyes as he smiled back. “Yes, I would very much like that.”

Over the next few minutes, hours, and days, he got to know his grandfather. The more time he spent with the man, the more he grew to love him. Van was nothing like the other members in their family.

He was intelligent, caring, and above all else, kind. The belief that witches were the more superior beings of all paranormals didn’t sit well with Van. He believed everyone to be created equal and that a person should be judged by their actions not what species they were born into.

Van was a solid leader and an honorable man. He ruled with an iron fist because in a world running amok, he couldn’t allow others to get too close or take the chance they would wreak havoc in their world like his wife and son had done. He said if others knew how much of a pushover he truly was, they would take advantage of him, and what kind of leader would he be then?

A journal was found among Constance’s things, and in it she spoke of his mother. She was a young fairy who had come to America to escape an arranged marriage by her parents. Her origins were unknown, but Constance had thought she came from Scottish decent.

Little did the young fairy know when she met Ivan that she signed her own death certificate. Ivan lured her into his web of deceit with promises of love and marriage. She was unaware that Ivan was a witch. She thought him a mere human. Not until it was too late did she discover what Ivan had in store for her.

Once she became pregnant, Constance took charge of her care and locked her away. They took good care of her because she carried within her womb the promise for a better future for the witches and the Warriors of the Dark. Evil had the same shared goal, be it witch, shifter, or demon, to break free of the hold the Council of Paranormal Beings had on them. And they used Astrid’s mother as the source for that freedom.

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Constance didn’t name her cohorts, but she did state that a witch who practiced solely in the dark arts had cast a spell allowing Ivan’s seed to take fruit and grow within the fairy. Van said it had to be a very old and powerful witch for a spell like that to come about.

Nature kept the balance, and to alter that balance was unheard of. To alter the laws of nature would take more magic than Van could possibly conceive of. Whatever the Warriors of the Dark had planned, it must have been worth selling what little of their souls they had to accomplish their goal of taking over the council then the world.

Even with so little to go on, Van made the promise to find out where his mother had been buried. He wanted Astrid to have somewhere to go and mourn his mother. Van said he could do that anywhere, but it was nice to have a place to visit when saying good-bye.

Every day brought something new to learn and more love to give.

Astrid’s life had finally taken a turn for the better. Life wasn’t easy, but a work in progress. A person had to meddle their way through and find their own happiness and purpose in the life they were given. And he had every intention of living his life to the fullest. With Klaus and his new family in his life, he had every reason to live and help stop the evil that grew nearer every day.

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One Year Later

The plane landed at a small airport just outside of San Antonio, Texas. A rental car sat waiting for them as they descended from the plane. They drove the hour it took to get to their destination.

True to his word, Van had found where Astrid’s mother had been buried. Van had called in a favor to have his ex-wife’s memories read.

Nothing of the coming was visible in any of her memories, which added fuel to the fire that the magical force they were fighting was extremely powerful. Astrid feared the day when that evil came calling. Whatever the plan, it involved him, and he wasn’t ready to fight that battle just yet.

He had found some normalcy in his life. Klaus had retired from the council to be near him at Ben’s warrior compound in Missouri.

Klaus would still assist when the warriors needed, but mostly he and Klaus spent time just getting to know one another better. They talked and made love like any other couple, and he couldn’t have been happier.

They had come to Texas straight from council headquarters. He and Klaus had gone to visit Van, and upon their arrival he gifted him with the whereabouts of his mother’s burial site. He had a witch, whose specialty was talking to ghosts, confirm that, in fact, she was buried in Texas a hundred and fourteen years ago. The witch didn’t speak to his mother directly but read the energy marking the spot. Van wanted to make sure he understood that she had passed on and wasn’t waiting to speak to him from the beyond.

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He pretended that didn’t bother him. He would have loved to talk to his mother and thank her for bringing him into this world. Maybe in another life he would meet her again.

Along with the location was a small photograph of his mother.

Van had found it in Ivan’s paperwork he had locked in a safe in his room. She was classified as trial subject one. Ivan and Constance had gotten lucky the first go-around when his mother conceived him. It saddened him that his mother was reduced to a fucking number, but he was relieved she had been the only one subjected to their brutality.