Once Upon A Time (6 page)

Your mother
didn’t know how she managed to free her hair, but she did, and she
turned to flee, aided by her friends coming to her assistance.
Mindful of the danger both to you and to the Pack, Lili had still
known that she could not flash you both to safety. I was away that
day, harvesting the souls killed on a transport train. I returned
to find her shaking, curled up on our bed, holding you close, her
tears falling on your head. She told me what had happened, and we
decided that it was no longer safe for her to take you with her
when she visited her friends. But her greatest fear had been for
those friends: Roma, who lived outside of the protection of a
tribe, who were starting to be viewed with more disdain by the
authorities. We had gone to Gavril, and he had agreed that her
friends must be relocated to a place of safety. In coming to her
aid, they had made a target of themselves. Lili’s eyes had flashed
as she asked Gavril to understand why she could not abandon her
friends, and Gavril had understood. Caution was still needed, he
told us, perhaps more so now than before.

The following
day, we made plans to evacuate her friends. By coming to her aid,
they were in danger. Lili could not abandon them. Unfortunately, I
had to join another harvest. Another train load of Jews, and more
deaths. It seems strange that such things seemed to matter little
an increasing swathe of their fellow man. Did they see them as a
danger to them? They were unarmed. Was it just their race? Dark
hair and dark eyes. The very antithesis of racial purity. Or was it
greed, since if these people were deemed non-human, they could not
own property and their monies might be seized. Either way, when
Lili went to her friend’s house, hoping to bring her to safety, she
went alone, leaving you at the Hall.

She never came
home.

I returned
from the harvest, heavy of heart from what I had seen, to find that
you were in the care of the Pack Nursery. Aaleahya had rushed to
Gavril, as had I. When my Alpha and friend had looked at me, I had
known that what I had hoped was untrue was confirmed. My Lili, the
flower of my love, my Mate, was gone. Dead. Her soul had returned
to our Goddess, although the details of what had happened were
sketchy. I had flashed back to our room, wanting to believe that it
was some horrible joke, even though the echoing emptiness that I
could feel through the sundered Mating Bond told me that it was no
joke.

Therein lay
the problem. I had passed the souls of the innocent to Gavril so
that he might convey them to our Goddess, but I had also taken the
soul of a train guard, who had laughed at the women he pushed onto
a train, his rifle butt smashing into the head of her child, the
blood on the child’s face telling his mother that the vicious blow
had taken the life of her son. In taking the son’s soul, I had
taken the guard also, a far from easy thing to do, given my level
of experience, but I could not let him live when the blackness of
his soul showed that this was not the first time he had killed and
nor would it be the last. The faint taint of evil still lay within
me, and it was coupled with my grief as I flashed to close to where
I knew Lili had gone.

Her body lay
in the smouldering embers of her friend’s home, the heavy smell of
burned flesh telling a story of what had happened. Sobbing, I had
gathered the souls of her friends close to me. My Lili was gone. I
did not even have the consolation of being able to hold her soul
close to me. It was scant recompense to know that our Goddess had
taken her into her arms already. What about me? What about our son?
As I stood, planning to flash straight back to the Hall, I heard
laughter. Incredulous, I had turned to find this creature whom Lili
had encountered just the day before. He was laughing at the sight
before him.

“
This is the fate of anyone who betrays the race.” His friends
had laughed with him. And that was when I discovered the horror of
your mother’s passing, your mother who had only been here because
she wished to help her Roma friends. He had attacked her, he had
raped her, and then his friends had done the same. They had not
been content to ‘just’ kill her, but they wished to punish her for
her ‘crime’ of failing to maintain her purity. Even as I clenched
my fists in anger, I could not kill them. I may be Cŵn Annwn, but I
could not hope to beat twelve adult men on my own, and that made
the man laugh even more.

“
You are well rid of her.” He had said. Well rid of the other
half of my soul?

He took a step
back. They all did. I knew why, and this time, I laughed. My eyes
had changed; they had not changed to the full red of the Cŵn Annwn,
but they had changed. Like the cowards that they were, they had
turned tail and run, and with a heavy heart, I had returned to the
Hall. Delivering the souls I carried to Gavril, I also informed my
Alpha of my mistake, of letting them see that I was not all that I
might appear. I promised Gavril that I would deal with the matter,
begging him that he might let me have this one thing; revenge for
the loss of my Lili.

Gavril gave me
his permission and that is why I am writing this letter to you,
Rhys. I did not leave you because I did not love you. I left you
because I knew that I could not bear to live without your mother,
but also because I knew I had to protect my Pack from danger, and
that danger was a group of males allied to party which would seize
anything which might give them an advantage over their enemies. It
was my mistake, my eyes which had changed, and thus, it was my
mistake to correct.

I will close
this letter now. I will ask Gavril to give this letter to you only
if I do not return, and then, only when you yourself find your
Mate. Only then might you truly understand why I had to do what I
have done. I pray to the Goddess that you will not hate me for
failing you, my son.

With all my
love,

Your Papi

Sion never
returned from his intended harvest of those who had been
responsible for the murder of his Mate, Lili. My heart was heavy as
I made my way to the Pack Nursery that night. Sion and Lili’s
little one lay sleeping in his cot, his soul uncluttered by the
pain felt by his sire on losing his Mate. Leaning over the cot
railings, I had stroked the infant male’s head, and I remembered
the promise that I had made to his sire.

“
One day, Rhys Jones, I will be able to tell you the whole
story. One day.” I murmured.

It would be
very easy to forget, with the birth of the twins, Bran's Mating to
Alix and the forthcoming Challenges, where those Gosselin bastards
are going to try to cheat their way to victory, that the rest of
our lives still have to continue.

For me, that
means, as joint Beta, running one of the Pack's other businesses,
our bar in the Catskills, The Hunter's Arrow. It seems that
wherever the Pack is located, we have a Hunter's Arrow, because it
was the same in the Carpathians, and I ran that place also. Still,
come evening, I was down there, opening the bar up.

Midweek, and
this close to Yule, I was not expecting the place to be busy, but
still, I made sure that everything was ready: ice in the buckets,
shelves stocked with both beers and soft drinks, glassware
immaculate. When you have been running bars for as long as I have,
some of this is just second nature.

Then there was
the other preparation. Yes, my crossbow was within easy reach, and
the longbow in its stand, unstrung, but ready. Arrows, casually,
hanging nearby. After all, the place was called Hunter's Arrow.
They were just props, were they not? Or not? After all, it takes me
about fifteen seconds to string, nock and shoot from my longbow.
Any troublemakers in the bar? And, hey, it is a lot quieter than a
gun.

But I digress.
Bar all set up, Music on the system: a mix tape of rock from the
1970s to present day. I busied myself working on training schedules
for the Pack younglings, whilst keeping my eyes on the door, and
the people coming in and out. With the Challenges, we were watching
out for unexpected visitors, but given the time of year, it was
likely that I would only see regulars in tonight.

Winter have
arrived, and with it the pros and cons. For me one of the cons was
watching families together, couples spend time, together, walking
through the snow with arms around each other, perhaps one partner
dropping a kiss on the reddened nose of the other. It was not that
was bad or against anything. It just reminded me what I had lost.
On the other hand work is always busy which means my mind will be
occupied tending to the customers, restocking shelves with items as
clothing and personal items, toys for the kids. And of course,
there is another good thing about winter is the opportunity of
taking great photographs.

As usual today
was bound to be one of those days where nothing seems calm. To
start, I was woken up by that nightmare, the same nightmare that
have been haunting me since that awful day where I lost them. Would
it have been better if I had a clear recollection of that day? That
was a question I asked myself constantly. Instead all I have is a
flash of an image, the sound, the screaming which I knew came from
my Mama, her voice calling for Papa and then the silence, until I
heard a voice saying that I was alive. Mama and Papa were gone and
I was alone.

It is not easy
to have that feeling always, that anything you do is wrong, that
there is no one to catch you when you fall. But then, we are never
alone, there is always someone watching us. Or at least that's how
I think.

After arriving
at work, of course after the usual morning routine, I clocked in
and was met by the stare of my boss, who apparently did not have a
good night. All day I worked non-stop. Break? What break? It was
Christmas, and there were customers waiting, shelves to be
restocked. We were all busy, but the fact that I wasn't even able
to take my break was stressful, I could feel my anxiety building up
and I was afraid of it. Luckily for me, it wouldn’t long until I
could clock out.

Walking down
the street my hands were shaky, but I was glad to be out from those
walls. ''I need a drink.'' was all I said and made my way to a bar
nearby. The Hunter's Arrow, it was called, and it was a nice place
from the outside. I don't go there often, only when I felt tense,
because for some reason, the ebb and flow of people seemed to calm
me and reassure me, unlike in the store. Walking in, my eyes look
around as usual I enjoyed the view. Approaching the bar, I found a
seat and for a moment, I just stared at the shelves, stocked with
liquor. I've always been bad at deciding what I want.

My eyes fell
on the bartender, and I stared at him for quite a few long seconds,
to not say awkward, minutes and I just smiled. ''Hey, may I have
something not too strong and not too soft?'' I asked, my voice is
soft, nothing like those others who take almost all the pub. I
tapped my fingers to the counter hoping that he understands
me...not many do.

I had seen the
young lady before. She was an 'infrequent regular' and had caught
my eye. Very attractive little human that she was. I don't mind
admitting that I like looking. Humans are such a fascinating
species, and over my life, I have learned much from simple
observation.

But today,
something seemed amiss. Was it tension? No, my instincts said it
was something more. Indicating to the other Pack member working the
bar, I smiled at her question.

"Something not
too strong and not too soft? How about a long rum and coke? The
coke will dilute the alcohol down." I suggested to her.

Watching him
for a moment while he spoke about a drink, I smiled. My eyes
scanned his features. "That sounds good. What about cranberry
juice? Instead of coke I mean." I suggested in return, since I am
more of a juice person than soda.

I opened my
purse to pay for the drink, but was surprised when the large hand
was placed gently over mine. I looked up at the bartender in
surprise.

“
It’s Christmas. Let’s say this one is on the
house.”

Seeing the
human jump at the loud noise behind her, instinctively, I extended
the sense of calm which Gavril, Bran and I can do, murmuring as I
did, "Sois calme, ma petite". As she reached for her purse, I
smiled.

"This one is
on the house." I suggested. "You look like you have had one of
those days."

I smiled
again. "I would be a pretty poor barman if I didn't offer a
sympathetic ear. I am Owain, by the way. I know you have been in
before, but as I recall, you have always been on your own. Can't
help but wonder why?"

I passed over
her drink, measuring just enough juice to leave the warm taste of
the rum, without it being overpowering. I handed her a bowl of
snacks to go with it.

"Not quite
buying you dinner, I admit." I smiled.

It was odd,
how calm I felt suddenly, it was comforting and a good feeling. One
I didn't have often, so I gladly welcomed it. "Thank you, you're
kind." I said while taking the glass and listening to him. Lifting
the glass to my lips I took a small sip to taste it and I loved it.
He had been right to suggest it; it was soft yet I could feel the
liquor moving past my throat, warming me inside.

"Yeah, I've
had one of those days. It was just, not so good." I said while
scrunching my nose. I thought he was kind for wanting to hear my
complaints about my day. It's not often you find people like him.
But as much as I tried I couldn't be as open as I would have
wanted.