Wolf's Soul (9 page)

There were more immortals that married humans and I am sure their descendants still roam the earth. Some of them possessed special powers that somehow stayed in their DNA, which they couldn"t explain.”

90

“Special powers like what?”

“Like the dreamers, foretellers, ghost seers, telepathists.”

Marisol stared at him. For the first time, she became quiet.

“Your mother knew all about her family"s past because she was one of the few that had a direct connection to Youven. Babe, Kyra kept Youven"s story alive.

And like the history of Atos"s clan, it was passed down from generation to generation.”

“Including the sword and poultice.”

“Yes.”

“But you said that the poultice only resurfaced because of Mom.”

“Right. Kyra lived a long life, but when she died the poultice died with her, too. Her children and grandchildren tried but somehow failed to produce it.

History said she did. But whatever she told her family didn"t work. They couldn"t mix the kind that heals wounds caused by the ancient sword. It was a mystery to both clans. No one heard about the poultice again until Anna. Your mother found what was needed to make a poultice potent.”

Callum watched Marisol chew her bottom lip. It was obvious she was processing everything that he just said and it was apparent, just by looking at her furrowed brows, that she too was wondering about the poultice.
What’s in that
poultice that no one can figure it out?

91

“It"s impossible. Mom wasn"t pure blooded. When I help make it…Can"t be.

This is all so weird. Hard to believe. You know, Mom was an adopted. She doesn"t have any relatives that I know of. Dad had only one sister. She died when she was fifteen. Kind of weird growing up not having cousins to play with.” Marisol drummed her fingers on the table. “Wow. I"m related to a Shape-shifter.”

“Mark mentioned that your mother possessed the power to foretell the future.”

“I didn"t know that. Was she able to see my future?”

“Yes. She knew about yours and Marks. Except hers.”

“She should have told Dad about Atos. Dad could have—”

“Babe, Mark knew about his fate, but the when and where—no.”

“What"s mine? Did Dad say? I bet he knew. Why else would he insist that I learn how to use the sword.” Marisol hugged herself then began rubbing her arms.

“The sword of Youven from the clan Arcus.”

“Yes.”

“How come it took Atos years before he came after Dad?”

“Atos didn"t know Anna had a family.”

“Until he caught Dad. I was five when Mom died. Dad took over her job when I was ten. Dad waited five years before he started working as a vet again. I"m twenty-three now. It took Atos that long to find out about Dad.”

92

“Mark was careful. But spies and traitors are everywhere. Word finally reached Atos"s camp about him.”

“And one night this Atos tracked dad. Because of his poultice.”

Callum nodded. He watched Marisol"s face. Although she kept her features deceptively composed, he could see that she was getting angrier by the minute.

“You said Atos belongs to the Blood Robbers clan?”

“Atos, now leader of the Blood Robbers is Elam"s descendant. Grandson of Valdo.”

“Blood Robbers are the new Crom.”

Callum grinned. She was quick. “Yes.”

“And the Howl clan you mentioned. Am I right to assume they represent the Arcus?

“The Midnight Howl, yes.”

“A pretty name.”

“Pretty? The name is supposed to invoke fear.”

“Nope. Sounds like a title of a love song to me.”

Fuckin eh. His brothers would go nuts if he told them their clan"s name is
pretty.

93

“So, even when the war gods punished the two leaders and the following generations by taking their mortality away, war still continued between two clans.” Marisol shook her head. “Why Midnight Howl?”

“When a wolf is on a lookout they"d howl at midnight to warn the Blood Robbers that they are watching. That they are in a protective mode.”

“Protecting the humans, the rejects?”

“Yes. Baby, the Midnight Howl is your friend. The clan protects you from something that your military couldn"t see and stop.”

“Okay, you know what? What you"re telling me is giving me hibbygibbies. I hate to think that the missing prostitutes or those who were found dead were victims of the Blood Robbers.”

Callum took a deep breath. Marisol would feel worse if she learn about the Cancers. “Would you like to stop? We can continue later.”

“No. Later won"t make any difference. Callum, shouldn"t we tell the police about the Midnight Howl and Blood Robbers? There are people sitting in jail because they were accused of murder or rape or something.”

“We can"t.”

“We have to.”

94

“Listen, baby. Think about what would happen if you go to the precinct and began telling the police about who killed your parents. Most likely they"ll pity you instead of believing your story.”

“They need to know.”

“There are things that must be kept secret to keep the earth"s balance, harmony, peace. Think of the White House. You don"t know most of what was going on in there or what they"re not telling the people. I bet if the president released all the confidential records, there"d be riots everywhere.” She"d feel worse than getting the hibbygibbies when he opens the topic about Cancers. He would be if he were a human finding out about soulless animals wandering around especially during sundown to hunt on their kind.

“Alright, the Blood Robbers are preying on animals and human rejects. Do they kill them the way vampires do?”

“If the vampires really drink blood, then yes. They kill their victims the way they did your parents.”

Marisol nodded. “Drink the blood.”

“Yes. Unlike the vampires—if they really exists—the Blood Robbers can survive without drinking blood.”

“What? Then why couldn"t they just capture the bad people and turn them in to the authorities instead of killing them?”

95

“Good question. But you see, that"s not how the bastards operate. Like I said, the Blood Robbers hate humans. They think the humans were to blame why they"re not immortal anymore. Since they couldn"t just eliminate the entire race, they went on killing the rejects or the ones they think fall in that category.”

“Those people don"t deserve to be killed without being tried.”

“Exactly.”

“I"d like to think everything you said is a crock of shit.”

Callum just smiled at her comment. “Nothing about what I told you is bullshit. Especially about Atos. He is a full-blooded cunning shifter and still has five lives.”

“Unless I chop his head off with a sword.”

Callum swallowed and touched his neck. “Yup.”

“Can an ordinary sword kill a Shape-shifter?”

“If beheaded, chopped into pieces, skewered that his vital organs are ruptured beyond repair, and wounded so severely that healing would be as impossible as stopping the sun from rising, yes. Most of the time a Shape-shifter will survive any injury because they can heal wounds faster than humans. If wounded badly, a Shape-shifter must shift to his wolf form to sustain his strength.

In human form, Shape-shifters are like humans.”

“Do they age?”

96

“Yes. The same rate as humans.”

“So they would die of old age anyway. Why have five lives?”

“Because they don"t live like humans. The two clans are constantly fighting.

They need more than five lives if you ask me.”

“Okay, when a Shape-shifter dies, he"ll come back again unless he has no more lives left. If it"s Atos"s sword that cuts a Shape-shifter, with or without spare lives, he could die because his wound, small or not, will never heal. This is too much. You know, listening to all this doesn"t mean I"m buying your entire story even though you seem to know stuff about my parents. I shouldn"t even listen to you. You"re a total stranger despite your claim that you"re my father"s friend.”

“You should listen to me, Mari. For your own safety. Anna and Mark wanted you to be safe, babe.”

Marisol nodded although the pain of hearing her parents" wishes reflected on her beautiful face. “Why didn"t I hear about all of this when Dad was alive?”

Marisol"s frown deepened. Her face clouded with anger and hurt.

“You"re angry.”

“Wouldn"t you be if you were left in the dark about the truth? If, indeed, what you said are all true? Dad knew about Mom"s history and the Shape-shifters and didn"t tell me anything about it.”

“For a reason.”

97

“My mother came from an ancient powerful clan, but she wasn"t pure bred.

Her blood was already diluted. And my parents died because of a sword and poultice,” she recited the new facts a loud. “God, mixing my clay is a lot easier than this. At least when making a terra-cotta, I know what I need—a generic composition of twenty five percent ball clay, twenty eight percent kaolin, thirty two percent quartz, and fifteen percent feldspar. Not so hard on the brain. But Shape-shifters and ancient clans? I thought it was a myth.”

Callum listened. He wished he could have softened the blow about her family, but there was no way around it. He knew this was all too much to take in, but Marisol must know everything the sooner the better.

“Baby, brace yourself. Mark wore a locket the night Atos caught him.”

“The locket"s been missing.”

Callum noticed the worry on Marisol"s face. She was biting her lips again.

“Atos has it. Anna inherited Kyra"s features. Just as you shared Anna"s.”

“Atos now knows I exist.”

“Yes.”

“Callum, there is only one sword in this house. Mom"s. She gave it to me when I was five. The sword belonged to Kyra"s father, Youven. Elam was after it.

Atos is after the poultice. Tell me. Is he after the sword, too?”

“Yes, baby. He"d been looking for it.”

98

“He"s after me.”

A loud rumble of thunder followed by a flash of lightning made Marisol glance at the window. Her eyes searching, fearful. Callum left his chair to squat in front of Marisol. He took her hand in his and rubbed her knuckles. Her indrawn breath told him that his touch surprised her. Perhaps even more than him. Gad, her skin was so soft, her fingers long. Neither of them said a word for several moments. They merely stared at each other.

He wondered what was going on in her head. Was she thinking about sinful thoughts like him? Did she have a sudden burst of desire coursing through her veins the moment he touched her? Callum suddenly felt uncomfortable. Mark"s pants felt even tighter now. Damn it. Marisol, without a doubt, was one attractive woman. His growing erection proved that he was attracted to her. But heck, she wouldn"t be his first choice if presented with beautiful nymphs. Just look at her.

Too tall, slender, chewed her lips until they resembled a thoroughly kissed lips, her nose so straight one would think she was a goddess from Olympus, with creamy skin, perfect breasts…shit.

Who was he kidding? He could sit here all day long staring at her and feel contented. The way he had done in the past month while in wolf form. Marisol was too appealing to give him peace of mind. With her, all he wanted to think 99

about was how it would feel to be inside her, what she would taste like, how she would react when he sucked her—

Marisol twisted her hand saving him from erotic thoughts bouncing through his head. Damn it. He was one fucked up wolf. Here he was having a boner while fear coated Marisol"s eyes. He let out a deep breath and concentrated on the topic at hand.

“Baby, Mark told me that Anna foresaw a vision—”

“The reason why Dad insisted that I practice wielding my sword. Because a Shape-shifter, a full blooded descendant of some god, wants me dead.”

“And he will fail. I am here to protect you. Baby, I won"t let him come near you. I won"t let them take Youven"s sword. Your sword.”

Marisol leaned her back against the back of the chair as if trying to put more space between them. Her unblinking eyes focused on his face. “You said earlier that you can do magical things, you can read my thoughts, talked as if you"re not a human, spouted about the ancient two clans and you know about my family history. You know things that a normal being or human would never know. You"re one of them, aren"t you? You"re a Shape-shifter.”

“I am.”

“You lie.”

“I"m telling you the truth.”

100

“If you are, how would I know that you"re not one of Atos"s men?”

“Arnulf"s blood runs in my veins, baby.”

Marisol sucked in her breath and let it out slowly. “Youven"s second hand?

The one who disappeared with Kyra?”

“Yes.”

“Is your blood diluted, too, like Mom"s?”

“No.”

“So you can shift.”

Callum tightened his hold on Marisol"s hand when she tried to pull it.

Feeling her hand relax beneath his touch, he moved his hands higher to feel her pulse. The beat jumped beneath his fingers. “I am one of the Midnight Howl.”

He was impressed. Marisol"s reaction to his declaration was to keep staring at him while chewing her bottom lip. He couldn"t be so sure, but he thought he saw her eyes sparkle. Was she laughing at him? When she spoke again, Callum got his answer.

“When Dad saved you, you were in a wolf form and not a man.”

He knew it! Finally, he didn"t have to find a way to correct her notion about his sexuality.

While they continued to look at each other, Marisol gave him an earnest smile. “Glad to know you"re the good Shape-shifter.”