Authors: L.S. Darsic
Soon we are landing in Scotland in the tiny town of Portree which I swear the airport runway is a field and the airport hangar is a shed. Once again, we depart the plane with our horses barreling out the door and into the field ahead of us. Lucky for us they are good dogs or I would have been worried about them mauling a goat or something. This is quite the interesting place we are at, can’t see much because it’s so dark but I can tell there are rolling hills and trees all around me. I think the sea must not be too far away either because I can smell the salty air. What kind of trouble could they possibly have here? There isn’t anything even here! Did demons murder a bunch of sheep or something?
While I am looking around and watching the dogs play, Xander and Jace are getting the bags for us, not that we have anywhere to put them because I can’t even see any vehicles out here. What are we supposed to do now? There is supposed to be a messenger here to give us our next instructions. Shoot. I am going to have to call Remy or Uncle Reed.
“Alright guys, any ideas? We are in the middle of no where and there is no one here to pick us up or even give us directions? What is going on?” I ask.
Suddenly I feel a very odd feeling and my senses are telling me that someone is coming and that someone is like me but is no one I know. As nephilim, we can sense each other because we all have a unique signature. For example, I can sense my own kind from 2 miles away, yes it has been tested, and I can sense exactly who that person is as long as I know who they are and have been around them at least once. This feels like several of my kind are those who I have never met before and to my knowledge I had no idea more of us existed aside from my family and the Carro family.
“You guys feel that? What is going on? Does that feel like someone we know?” I ask shakily as I pull out my phone and get ready to dial Uncle Reed.
“N-no, it isn’t anyone I know. I thought our families were the only ones?!?!” Anja is freaking out, rightfully so.
“Stay behind me and Xan” Jace barks out at us and moves to stand in front of Anja and I. Xander does the same.
“Guys, if they are nephilim they won’t hurt us. They probably don’t know we exist either! This could be a good thing!” Anja argues.
“An, I don’t know…why wouldn’t anyone tell us? I don’t get it?” I reply while I push the dial button on my phone to call Uncle Reed.
“Hello?”
“Uncle Reed, its Alex. What is going on? We are in Scotland and just landed and felt the presence of other nephilim heading our way and WE DON’T KNOW THEM!” Yeah, I am freaking out
“Alex, calm down. We sent you there to meet with a nephilim clan on the Isle of Skye. You know we couldn’t tell you prior to you going so we couldn’t prepare you. I’m so sorry but it’s the way it has to be, you know the rules. They are going to pick you guys up and take you to their home. You four will be the emissary between our families. They are not going to hurt you or mistreat you. Our family lines are full and we cannot pair anymore of our people together, so we need to meet with another family to see if anyone makes a match. Since you four are single, around the same age and have your abilities now you were selected to go. Perhaps you will meet a nice man over there?” Uncle Reed explains with a chuckle
“WHAT!!!!!! Are you kidding me right now Uncle Reed? There are more of our kind out in the world and you are just now telling us? And on top of that you send us to be MATCH MAKERS?!?!” I blow up at him. Really? They kept this from us? What else are they keeping from us?
“Alex, you know we couldn’t tell you. We have rules.” Uncle Reed replies sternly.
“Fine, Uncle Reed. Fine. What are we supposed to do now?” I retort
“Go with them Alex. Have some fun. Let me know if you have any other questions” and at that he hangs up on me. The nerve of that man! During my highly unusual phone call, the 3 dogs come up to stand in front of Xander and Jace who are standing in front of Anja and I, it’s like we are prepared for battle. I feel the other nephilim getting closer but it’s almost like they know we are freaking out so they are taking their time, either that or they are riding sheep to get here.
“Guys, I am sure you heard what Uncle Reed said. We should relax so they don’t show up thinking we are going to attack them” I try to soothe them but none of us are having it. The dogs must be feeling the stress all around and think we are in trouble.
“Egypt, come here girl.” I say, as soon as she gets close she again takes a protective stance in front of me. Maybe the long plane ride made her nutty?
“E, calm down girl. You need to relax.” I mummer to Egypt as I rub her ears “Let’s all go get out luggage so it’s ready by time they get here” I attempt to spur the others into action.
“Alex, do you think there are even more of us out there now that we know another family is here? This is nuts!” Anja exclaims while we move to go gather our luggage while the twins and the dogs still stand around like they are on patrol.
“Guys! Come on. You heard Uncle Reed. We have to be nice and work with them so acting like that is not going to work.” I yell. Sigh, this trip has turned into a circus.
Shortly after we collect our bags into a pile, a convoy of black SUV’s come driving up. Jeez, how many of them are there? I counted 8 SUV’s as they pull up a little ways from us. Now I am really nervous, if they mean us any harm we are screwed because they clearly outnumber us by drivers alone. What has my family done?
Getting out of the lead car is a beautiful man with brown hair and bright blue eyes who looks like he just got done at a photo shoot. As soon as the man steps out, the dogs and the twins are back to their protective stance. Real good I did at calming them down. The man doesn’t move forward but just stands by his car door waiting, for what, I don’t know.
Suddenly his voice is clear but calm “I am Brennus McTaverish, Chieftain O’ the McTaverish Nephilim clan” he says with a winning smile. None of us make a move but all three of the dogs shift their stance and growl. Shit, shit, shit. I don’t want this to make a bad impression!
“Hi, I am Alexandra Carro Stiggero” I say quickly while walking around the boys and dogs. The twins both start to protest but I send them a look to shut them up. Egypt on the other hand will not back down and runs to my side with a menacing growl.
“Egypt, relax” I whisper to her. “S-sorry about the guard dogs, we are all a little confused with the situation since we were not made aware there were more nephilim in the world until about 10 minutes ago” I laugh awkwardly “the dogs must be feeling our stress and reacting to it”. Hopefully they will not be offended by this. As I reply the rest of the group walks up to stand by me and the dogs again stand in front of all of us. What is with them? They are acting crazy.
“Welcome to Scotland lads and lassies. We had hoped you would have been more informed when you arrived in Ireland however Reed said he wanted to wait for you to call him first. I hope you will no be too put out with our surprise. As you know we canna have anyone know about us so we remain a secret, even to our own kind” Brennus replies kindly. His accent is not at all what I expected. Here I thought it would be hard to understand, full on gaelic or something. Instead he reminds me of an American with a touch of the Lucky Charms cereal guy but hot and not a cartoon. He is magically delicious looking!
“Now that I have explained a little, would it be possible to call off your beasties?” Brennus laughs lightly. Shoot! The dogs know how to make a warm welcome. After calling the dogs back they seem to relax a bit more around Brennus and hopefully won’t attack anyone who gets out of the vehicles. Stepping up to Brennus, I introduce Anja, Jace and Xander along with each of the dogs and who they belong to.
“They are beautiful beasties and care much for their owners as I can see” Brennus chuckles “now, let me introduce you to some of me clan” Brennus makes a motion with his hand and all at once the doors open but no one steps out.
“I introduce you to me mate Natalia” he says, out steps a beautiful blonde with ice blue eyes, she is so blonde and pale she looks like she is from Sweden or Iceland.
“Nice to meet you Natalia” I reply, Natalia inclines her head in acknowledgment but says nothing. Damn, I wanted to hear her accent to see if I can figure out where she came from.
“Next is me eldest son Ian” out steps a handsome white blonde haired man who also inclines his head in acknowledgment. Ok, these people aren’t the most talkative.
“Next is me one and only daughter Isabelle” a tall willowy woman with chestnut hair steps out and inclines her head at us as well. Next to me I can almost hear the internal chattering between the twins, jeez, they need to get a grip. They act like a bunch of pervy teenagers!
“And me youngest son Finn” Brennus states with a sweep of his hand and the most beautiful of them all steps out to greet us. Holy crap. This man is like a GQ model. Finn has dirty blonde hair and bright blue eyes that are striking, the perfect combination of his mother and father. He looks us over with a smirk on his face that tells me that he isn’t all that impressed. Great, so he looks like a GQ model and is a dick, how fitting.
“N-nice to meet you all” I stammer, as a blush creeps over me when I notice Finn looks like he is eye fucking me and Anja, well let’s just make this even more uncomfortable. Egypt must feel my nervousness because suddenly she is right in front of Finn growling at him. Shit! Way to go E, make this even worse.
“Egypt, come here now!” I say between clenched teeth. Damn dog is just trying to embarrass me. Finally Egypt relents and moves back but still glaring at Finn.
“S-sorry about her. She had a long flight and is a bit crabby” I explain dumbly.
Finn looks back at me with a quirked eyebrow and another smirk on his face and says “well I’m glad she listens, I donna feel like today is my day to die” Oooooh my gosh he has the hottest voice. Like panty dropping voice that can make any girl do anything he wants. This man is the whole package. I bet he is so full of himself. What a little bitch, like Egypt could even hurt him.
“Ha, yeah she is really dangerous. Don’t worry I will protect everyone from my viscous dog” I say with a roll of my eyes, ugh, I can’t even talk to people without my sarcasm leaking out. I’m such a dick. Finn says nothing but the smirk gets bigger like it’s trying to creep into a full blown smile. Why the hell am I the only one talking? What, am I the leader of this circus or something? Looking over at the twins and Anja I see they are all a bit shell shocked.
Figuring they aren’t going to talk anytime soon, I keep talking cause I can’t seem to shut the hell up, so I say to Brennus “so who are in the other cars? I can sense there are more of your clan?”
Brennus smiles brightly and replies “aye lassie, you are right, the others in the cars are also part of the welcoming party. I will introduce you to them now” at this Brennus waves his hand at another vehicle and out steps another male and female, one with jet black hair and one with white blonde hair, both with ice blue eyes.
“Tis me brother-in law and sister of the Grant clan, Brandon and Brianna” both bow their heads slightly
“Me nephew Garret” another blonde one steps out and inclines his head
“And me other nephew Alec” out steps another god, this one with jet black hair and ice blue eyes. Jesus. Where did these people come from? He is just as hot as Finn is. Alec steps forward with a big grin on his face and gives Anja and I each a hug that we stiffly return as the twins glare. Wow, did not expect that! Friendly guy, at least one in the bunch seems nice.
“So how many other are there of your clans” I ask after Alec is done hugging.
Brennus smiles happily and says “och, now lassie you canna be expectin me to tell you everything now can you? Some surprises are just too fun to spill right away!” Oh man, that sounds promising. Here I thought my nerves were done now that I met everyone, nope.
“Alright then Brennus, if you give us all heart attacks and cause our hair to fall out from the shock, don’t blame us when we are so ugly you have to send us back home cause you don’t want to look at us” I argue back. God, I have word vomit again. Seriously, that came out of my stupid mouth. Look at me, the uncultured American! Despite my stupid word vomit they all seem to find what I said amusing and laugh. Even GQ model Finn has a big smile on his face and hot ass Alec is lightly laughing. I guess if they think I am funny they won’t kill me, yet.
“Let’s start loading up, Alexandra, Anja, Jace and Xander, would ye all like to ride together or pair off with one of me family members?” Talk about putting someone on the f-ing spot! Thanks Brennus.