SIXTEEN (TERRA POV)

"Wait, I'll carry that." Iselen takes Ruby in her arms before she can get closer to the kitchen island and she spins her around, laughing amused, while the dogs bark excitedly.

"What are you doing? Get me down, bloodsucker!" the human complains but laughs too while holding onto the vampire's shoulders who obeys finally and kisses the tip of her nose gently.

"Come on, go to the meeting room while I finish making coffee and follow you carrying the tray. Where are the cookies?"

"There're three bags of Oreo in that cabinet," I point at her right. "Can you handle all that?" I ask hesitating, taking a look at the big tray with lot of porcelain cups stacked up and balancing precariously. Iselen raises an eyebrow and answers offended.

"I'm a strong girl."

"I know, it's just that you have to carry all that stuff maintaining balance, plus the pot of coffee... Ouch! Have you just pinched my ass?" I ask in disbelief, staring at her angrily and rubbing my buttock with my hand while the vampire smirks mischievously, leaning casually against the kitchen island with her arms crossed over her chest, pretending that she hasn't move in a twinkling one second ago.

"Yep, and you haven't seen me coming... I'm a woman with multiple talents, I'm sure I can carry a tray across my own house. Come on, move..."

"She looks really happy today," Ruby follows me down the corridor towards the entrance hall, we both walk over the wind rose mosaic and the human stops for a second under the glass dome, hesitating, till I point at the right door that leads to another corridor. "What's going on with her?"

"You..." I answer smiling. "Me... Mind blowing sex, lot of delicious blood... I guess she's kind of drunk and ecstatic at the same time. Whatever, I couldn't be happier, I'd rather joke with her than seeing her sunken into deep depression, withdrawing and not talking to anyone. Thank you for yesterday's conversation, I think I understand better what happens inside the head of that stubborn bloodsucker and will be able to help her."

"We'll both keep an eye on her to make sure her smiles are genuine, above all, she must feel safe and understood, she must trust us so she'll tell us when she's felling down. But it's a long-term process and won't happen tomorrow," Ruby warns me and I nod while opening another door.

"We'll remain on alert..."

"What the actual...? This house is full of surprises." The human walks into the room, taking a look around with her mouth wide open.

"What's wrong?" I ask confused.

"I don't know, you told me we were going to talk about our plans in a meeting room and pictured something like, you know, and long table and chairs made of light wood... something I'd find in the meeting room of a multinational company office. But this looks like a throne room in Versailles." Ruby points at the table and chairs made of fine wood with bronze embellishments, the green marble fireplace, the ceiling with mythological allegories frescoed, the cream wood panels with gold molding covering the walls and the sage green silk curtains. "Have you ever heard about Nordic interior design?"

"Yes, it's that thing Iselen chose to decorate the modern area of the kitchen because it's more functional. Not my cup of tea, honestly."

"I see that... When were you born, Terra?" she whispers so the witches and necromancers can't hear us while we walk around the table. I pull a chair for her, watching her cautiously, I don't understand why she's asking that now.

"I'm younger than Iselen," I admit watching Maeve opening the door for the vampire to walk in the room carrying the tray with coffee and snacks.

"I know, but how much..."

"A couple of centuries, approximately..."

"Terra is a Baroque girl, you know, she loves drama..." Iselen smiles amused choosing a chair right next to Ruby and starts pouring cups of coffee for everybody.

"There's nothing wrong with being a Baroque girl," I reply harshly and both women stare at me raising an eyebrow before the vampire points at the impressive Murano crystal chandelier that's hanging from the ceiling over the table.

"That massive thing has 160 lights in three levels and thousands of tiny crystal tears hanging, you can't even imagine how difficult it was to bring it from a European palace and carry it across the forest without breaking it, even with my vampire powers, I had to ask for help to my clan... and you know I hate them."

"It's a gorgeous chandelier," I answer bitterly. "And very useful." I turn on the lights and hand cups and cookies for everybody while my two girls smile amused, Lea and Zara give us small notebooks and pens in case we want to take notes, Alfonso draws the curtains because it's dark outside and we'd better keep this meeting a secret, far from the eyes of supernatural creatures that could spy on us from the garden. Fairies flutter around my pretty chandelier, mesmerized by the lights and sparkle of the crystal tears, and they sit down on the bobèches to watch us with curiosity. Raven gets up nervously, reading the piece of paper where she's noted down everything her sister told her, and clears her throat.

"Well, eh... my sister Lilith insisted on meeting me in a small park where I used to seek refuge after school hours, above all if I'd had a bad day because of other half-demons..." The young girl smiles sadly, remembering her bullies, before shrugging and frowning with determination. "Human kids used to play there in the evenings but got quiet and safe by dinner time."

"It's true, there aren't tall trees, it's well-lit and the gates are easy to control. You can see who's going to get close to you while sitting on a bench... It's not the best hideout, to be honest," Iselen grimaces and Raven nods.

"I wasn't trying to hide, actually, I was just looking for a place where I could be alone with my thoughts. Half-demons always know when there's another one of us around, like a radar guided by sixth sense, so hiding is useless, it's better if you see who's coming and run away before they get closer."

"Is that what happened during the party in the forest? Because you could sense the stinking demon coming before we could even smell it." Ruby asks with curiosity and the brunette girl nods, the lights from the massive chandelier get flashes of black jet from her small horns every time she moves her head. "That's a very useful skill."

"Yes, okay, but what did your sister tell you?" I complain impatiently while extending my arm to grab a cookie.

"She was unable to find out the name of the half-demon living in Los Angeles who's trying to open the hell gates, I think he's calling my father from a burner phone and it's untraceable. Lilith tried to call that number from home to check if someone answered it but it was off... I guess he only turns it on when he needs to call."

"So we have nothing," Alfonso shakes his head in disbelief.

"Not exactly," Raven smiles smugly. "My sister is very smart and, as all demons, curious and nosey... We love knowing what happens around us to see if we can get some benefit from it, we're naturally selfish, I'm afraid. So she searched my father's desk and found out..."

"What?" Ruby asks impatiently when the dramatic pause gets too long.

"Demons also like to be the centre of attention and I think Raven is learning to enjoy that," Maeve growls quietly, leaning her chin on her hand, upset, and the brunette girl lets out a nervous giggle.

"I'm sorry, that's true. All right... Apparently, there's a human who knows we exist, I mean, he knows that vampires, werewolves or nymphs are real, and sometimes he helps supernatural creatures to get legal ID documents. We don't like to live in big cities and most of us prefer to hide in forests, high mountains or lakes, but sometimes it's inevitable to have contact with humans and way easier to pretend to be one of them if we have a driver's licence and things like that. Not all of us are capable of hypnotizing a police officer and running away later the way vampires do." Iselen smiles cockily staring at Ruby, who doesn't look surprised at all by this news while she nods.

"It does make sense. And your sister believes this human guy does business with the half-demon living in LA because our enemy needs an ID card, passport, driver's license, social security number and a ton of documents to be able to live in the city, to rent or buy a house, to open a bank account... To have a job... Whoever he is, he has to earn a living somehow, I guess."

"That's right, the human knows who the half-demon is... he knows the identity of lot of magical creatures, actually. He must be really good at forging documents since they all ask for his help."

"Excellent news," Zara claps enthusiastically. "We've made some progress finally. What's the name of that talented human and where can we find him?"

"Well, that's the problem: my sister doesn't know." Everybody in the meeting room looks at Raven with their mouths wide open, some of us angrily, some others outraged and most of us sadly because all this debate is not taking us anywhere, while I put my cup on the saucer with great care and remain silent. I heave a sigh, ignoring the voices arguing around me, wondering what I'm going to do and how I'm going to keep everything from turning into a mess when the vampire learns that...

"What's wrong?" Ruby takes my hand and squeezes it gently, her gorgeous eyes are fixed on my face, concerned, and I sigh again.

"I know someone that can tell us who this guy that's forging documents for supernatural creatures is," I answer quietly and, yet, it seems to me that everybody has heard me because they close their mouths and stare at me shocked. "Werewolves have used his services before, I know it because our guests have told me about it, and it's also thanks to them that I know my father has met him occasionally... A young wolf stayed at the Wind Rose two years ago because he broke his leg escaping from a hunter..."

"I remember him," Iselen nods. "I didn't know he was from your pack."

"He was not, the boy was traveling as a rogue but bumped into my family and stayed with them for the winter, working for food and a bed. That's quite normal, rogues do that if it's snowing heavily and camping in the mountains becomes too awkward. One day, my dad asked him to go to the big city in order to buy something they needed with one of my cousins and he gave them a fake driver's license that a human got for him, at least, that what they told the rogue. I guess it's the same guy."

"Are you saying that you want to go, meet your father and ask him about it?" Iselen raises an eyebrow, her cold tone of voice seems to surprise Ruby but I understand her: we're talking about the same wolves that killed her family, that killed lot of her vampire friends, that almost destroyed this beautiful house several times... She has good reasons to hate them. "Even if he agrees to talk to you, which I doubt because he's been ignoring you for centuries, how can we know he's telling us the truth? I don't think we can trust that bunch of fleabags."

"Iselen! You're talking about Terra's family... Be kind, please." Ruby hisses angrily and I can't help chuckling.

"Don't worry, fleabag describes some of them quite accurately. And you're right, we can't trust them, my father won't even bother to answer my message, most likely, but I don't know what else we can do to fix our problem. It could take days for any other magical creature who knows this human to answer our questions and my pack is camping on the other side of the forest right now, quite close to us... I can feel them," I admit sadly and Ruby takes my hand again, looking at me with concern.

"You're not going alone, I won't let you," Iselen points at my chest wit her index.

"I know."

"We can't leave the human here, even if the house is safe, I'm worried in case the try to set a trap for her again. It's our responsibility to protect her."

"I know that too," I admit nodding.

"So we're going to visit your family, the three of us... even if they despise humans, they hate me and can't wait to kill me... Great..." the vampire shakes her head even if I know she's happy deep inside: she loves kicking werewolves' asses as much as she loves kicking demons' asses and there's a high chance that this meeting will end up in a fight. "You can send a message to your father and see if he answers but I warn you: if he tries to hurt Ruby or you, I'll get a new cape lined with his fur."

"Drama is coming..." Maeve whispers and witches and necromancers nod.

*****

I can't believe you haven't seen your dad in 100 years... What are you going to tell him?" Ruby whispers with curiosity behind me and I shrug but, suddenly, I remember she can't see me. There's no moon tonight and we're walking across a lush area of the forest with lot of trees, this is why Iselen is carrying her in her arms again, the human wouldn't be able to see where she sets her foot.

"I don't know, I wasn't expecting him to agree to meet me, to be honest."

"We're close," the vampire growls quietly.

"How do you know that? It's too dark in here," Ruby answers whispering again.

"It smells of wet mutt fur." I roll my eyes hard but remain silent because she's right, my pack's campsite is in front of us hidden by trees and it seems to me that some young cubs have took a bath in the river despite the night is cold. I stop abruptly and sigh, anxiously, this meeting could end up really badly and I'm also worried about the human's reaction... and about her safety if demons find her... And about my own reaction: if my father insults Iselen or Ruby, I'll be the one getting a new cape lined with his fur.

"Baby, listen..." I lean my hand on Ruby's soft face so she can know I'm talking to her. "What you're going to see today is a temporary campsite, werewolves live like nomads for most of the year and we only seek refuge in houses during winter, some of my people even prefer a motorhome instead of a building with walls and roof. Our pack is our home and we don't feel the need of settling down in a certain village. It means we tend to pack light and the campsite is not..."

"What?" the human asks cautiously.

"It's not baroque," the vampire answers and I can't help smiling.

"I guess it's true, I like pretty stuff, luxurious décor, porcelain cups, sheets made of the best quality cotton and taking baths with aromatic salts, because I spent most of my young life without such comfort... living like a hippie. It's not that our tents are dirty or we're poor and wear shabby clothes, but we're not... fancy. This is not the kind of place a cosmopolitan girl from Los Angeles would visit willingly..." I admit reluctantly.

"I understand, it's the kind of place a girl from San Francisco would choose, one of those who wear flowers in their heads," Ruby jokes laughing. "Babe, I was a nomad for most part of my childhood and you'd be surprise to see places where I've lived. I'm not a spoiled brat..."

"I know, honey, I just wanted to warn you in case you expected to find massive crystal chandeliers." Iselen snorts and, suddenly, she gets tensed.

"Someone is watching us..." She's right, my old pack is surrounding us and even Ruby is able to see the shiny eyes lurking in the dark. I walk slowly, guiding my new family to the campsite, remaining on alert and monitoring the movements of the wolves that are following us to the clearing near the river where there're several tents and some lamb legs are roasting in the fires. Cubs stare at us with curiosity, hiding behind their mothers' bodies, I guess they're used to hear my name... I must be something like the bogeyman to them. The crazy werewolf who betrayed her people and abandoned them to go to live with the enemy.

"Hello, Terra. I can't say I'm happy to see you again." A tall boy, with dark hair, square jaw and broad shoulders, is standing in front of me. He's wearing a tight black T-shirt despite it's a cold night, I guess he's trying to show off his arm and chest muscles, and smirks mischievously. He's always been a handsome guy and girls were crazy for him, as far as I remember, but he's never been very smart. "I have to frisk your friends in order to check they're not carrying any weapon."

"If you touch them, Albert, I'll bite your hand off. And you know I can do it before your friends remove their clothes to change into their wolf forms," I answer with a harsh tone of voice and the guy straightens his back, upset, but nods reluctantly before pointing at the smaller fire in the middle of the clearing, in front of my father's tent.

"Albert? Is this Terra's old boyfriend?" I hear Ruby whispering behind me while we walk, Iselen is not carrying her in her arms anymore but she's holding her hand and keeps her close to her body while monitoring the wolves' movements.

"The arrogant jerk himself. I can't wait to kick his furry butt again..."

"This won't end well," I think worried but it's too late to give up and run back home. The Alpha is wating for us, staring at us with a furrowed brow standing right next his best friend, the wolf that has been his Beta since before I was born and the man I've always considered a beloved uncle.