Mariella and Damon were ready. They had talked in a pack that they would take it easy. Visit Mimi if she allows it, so everyone can get to know the babies and not pressure Mimi too much, and slowly. Ever so slowly, try to win her back. They had collected a gift basket for the babies and for Mimi, too.
Mimi's new house was enormous, and the yard was immense. Damon swallowed nervously as they went to the front door and rang the doorbell. Soon they heard footsteps coming closer, and the door opened.
Mimi stood there. Her hair was blonde, curly, and now in a ponytail. Her face was gaunt, making her features stand out sharper, giving her an almost feral look. She had very little makeup on.
She had jeans, which were loose on her skinny frame, and a long-sleeved T-shirt. With rainbows, Damon knew it was a child's shirt. He said this fact to Mariella in his mind. She rolled her eyes.
I went to open the door, and there were Damon and Mariella.
Damon said, " Hello, baby, it's been a long fucking time, but can we come in?"
His voice was a little hesitant as he called me baby. He almost tried to apologize for it or something. I had gotten pretty damn sharp at reading people, so there was information coming into my mind even without trying.
He looked at me from head to toe, and I felt somehow naked under his sharp gaze. I saw Mariella too. Her hair was long in big, luscious curls, deep blood red. She had makeup, a tight silk dress, violet, which flattered her curves, and I saw several of Damon's family jewels on her.
She was in good shape; her curves were as they should be, and she oozed vitality. Jewels shimmered on her fingers and ears, around her neck as well. Those had been given to me once.
Damon had on his black leather jacket, white T-shirt, and black jeans. His hair was a little longer again. Kind of messy, too. There was a breeze outside, and I could see it messing his hair a bit. He was also healthy-looking, his vampire-pale skin flawless as ever, his body strong, not overly muscular, oozing danger almost.
I swallowed. I wasn't prepared, and Damon was a sight to behold. If I had known this, I would have dressed up a little differently.
I got my voice working and said, " Yeah, come on in. The girls are in the living room. I have a guest here, too, Wulfe, so I hope you can behave. He is my friend, my closest friend. He is also protective of me, so..."
Damon said, "Yeah, we had been spying on you. Wulfe is fine with me. I can behave, and the only danger with Mariella is that she might talk him to sleep."
His demeanor was calm, and he tried to appear very nonthreatening, as he felt that I would run away.
Mariella looked at Damon and poked him in the ribs. They were truly a couple. I opened the door better. I said Wulfe in my mind about our guests, too, if he would want to come down.
We had a telepathic connection. Wulfe had set it up with all five of us. So I would have a backup if needed, no need to make phone calls.
I had seen a basket on Mariella's lap with some baby stuff in it, so obviously, they were aware of it. Damon wandered into the living room and sat in an armchair. Mariella went to sit next to him. They looked at my girls, who were planning to stand.
May was already standing. Emmylee had gotten to her feet, but she fell over, sat, and was thinking, would it be good to cry? Then she saw Wulfe come down the stairs. Emmylee got on her fours, forgetting her fall.
Other girls noticed him too and crawled toward him. He smiled at them and made a minor spell, and little sparks came into the air, making girls giggle and try to catch to sparks.
I said to him. "These decided to stand up today, so we might have interesting times ahead of us. May did first, as usual. But come on, let me introduce you to these. You know, Damon, and this lovely lady is Mariella. Mariella, meet Wulfe."
Mariella and Damon, who had gotten up to stand, shook hands, and he sat next to them. They greeted each other and sat down.
I said, "I am going to put food ready for these, so talk and get to know each other. I hope that this little exercise will make these girls hungry so they want to eat, and not mess around so much."
Wulfe just smirked at me. He found it funny that I had baby food all over me, and it was quite usual for me to have a shower after feeding. He usually joked that at least I was clean.
I hoped the girls did not paint the kitchen with their meal as I had planned some mashed carrots and chicken, meaning stains would not be so easy to remove. I liked my kitchen, not wanting the carrot stains.
I went to the kitchen. I had my meal prep done.
Damon saw how natural Wulfe was with girls, how they crawled for him, and how he made magic for them. They had some sort of inside joke with that feeding. Damon wanted this. He wanted to be one with cool spells and take care of Mimi.
He felt almost physical pain as he looked at Mimi. She was pale, thin, weak somehow, without her spark, or something. There was no defiance in her gaze. Not that will take over the world, but this quiet acceptance of this life.
Mariella and Wulfe were talking. Damon listened absentmindedly and looked at the babies. Again, this one who had most of Mimi's looks took a grip on the chair, pulled herself to stand, and took one step.
She had dark eyes like Mimi's and her mouth. She looked flabbergasted as she realized what she had just done. Damon felt his eyes getting wet. He had never seen his babies take their first steps. This was something else.
Wulfe said, "That one is May. She is a troublemaker, and of course, she is the first one to stand. She is the smallest, but she rules them all."
His voice was full of love as well, and it was amazing for Mariella to witness this truly ancient creature being in love with infants who weren't his biologically. She had also felt Wulfe's connection to Mimi.
This time had truly welded them together. Through experiences, trials, and tribulations, there was a connection that Mariella could only dream of. She was married to Damon, but this connection was something else, not romantic, but again, soulmates, and deep ones.
Mariella smiled and said, "We always put almost all our babies quickly in the magic house, and we never got to see this. This is something amazing. I had no idea at all. "
Wulfe smiled; he watched his time, and he said dryly, "Soon. I will know that look. Soon she will scream as she is pooping right now."
Damon looked closely at his daughter. His telepathy confirmed this. The little girl's face twisted, and she cried out loud. Wulfe sighed. He stood up, rolling his eyes, but he knew what to do.
Damon said, "Let me. You can help me, but let me."
Wulfe looked at him a moment, then said, "Fine, but beware, she is smelly."
Damon did not mind. He stood up, went to the crying baby, and picked her up in his arms. He could smell a certain scent already. It was quite strong, but Damon had never flinched at bodily fluids. He was strong-stomached. Wulfe led him to the nursery and showed him the changing table.
Damon took a new diaper at first. He put it on a table nearby. It was an actual panty diaper, and Wulfe stood nearby, saying something here and there as Damon undressed his daughter.
As he got her naked, he took the diaper off her; it was really smelly and Wulfe showed him the diaper bin. Then there was quite a lot to be cleaned, and she screamed most of the time.
Wulfe gave him supplies for the operation. It was stinky. Damon breathed through his mouth. The girl screamed at the top of her lungs. Wulfe assured him that it was normal. After Damon had gotten her cleaned, he noticed her clothes had been soiled, too. So he needed to change clothes for her.
As I put food to warm up and heard May starting to scream poo scream, I also heard Wulfe let Damon change her. I walked up to the nursery. His expression was good.
He was not used to this little smell. His face was almost scrunched up as he tried to wipe it clean. Of course, as she screamed, there was poo coming a little more still.
Damon cursed under his breath. "How much shit is there in this one?"
As he noticed her clothes were dirty, he looked around to see where hers were. I said, "On your right, her shelf had a little M to it. They have their clothes, but keep an eye on her; she might fall. She wiggles and moves a lot. "
Damon did not think, but snatched the baby into his arms before putting a new diaper on her. Soon, he started to curse under his breath as pee was flowing down his shirt. I could not help but giggle. Mariella came by. She had now Lily, who was also screaming the same thing.
I said to her, "There is another station. Thank God I have some spare clothes, as Damon got just peed."
Mariella laughed too. She started to change Lily and cursed at the smell. There was nothing wrong with them. Poop is something that smells. And blood poo, especially. Wulfe was helping her, too, as she had not done this too many times in the past. And these were not infants.
Damon had gotten some spare clothes for May. I had no idea if he had just grabbed what he got or if he had chosen her outfit. I knew they would need new clothes soon, but I have spare ones.
Damon took his jacket and his shirt off, too. Put them in the laundry chute like he would live here. Fine, it is not a problem for me, or Magnum, or whoever would do the laundry.
I walked up to my guest room. Took a T-shirt, a pink one, which was a man's size, and brought it to Damon. He looked at me. I was all innocent.
Mariella had gotten Lily out of her diaper and was cleaning her, complaining about how much shit there was. She was still shitting, too. Emmylee started to scream. Wulfe and I went and got the last two and brought them over.
Damon had just gotten May to stop screaming. She was looking at his father very somberly. She was quiet, thinking of something, like whether she should scream or not.
Damon muttered, "Yeah, that is what flank is."
His favorite trick, scare my babies with his flanks. I went in, took May, and gave him Emmylee to be changed. He had quite an expression as he got in his arms another one, screaming smelly baby.
I took some clothes for her. Mariella had gotten Lily done, so Wulfe gave her Vivianne. We took these two ready ones to the living room for be while before those two were ready.
A little while longer, Damon and Mariella brought the last two babies into the living room. May was standing again. She was taking actual steps. With support, Wulfe was almost moved.
He loved these children. He would do everything for these. He would protect them, no matter what. It was just so wrong for him to probably never have children of his own. He was quite a good father.
Damon went near May, took her tiny hands in his, and supported her as she walked. She giggled as she went. Mariella wiped her eyes. I kept my expression neutral.
May giggled or laughed out loud, as it was so wonderful to walk. She would have to walk all the time, but I said, " It is dinnertime for these. Wulfe, are you ready? We have carrots, and I hope they won't paint my kitchen with them."
He sighed again and said, "Fine, I have the mop ready. I can wipe the floor if you wipe the kids. Let's see if you will have to have a shower again after this."
It was my turn to roll my eyes and sigh. The little ones knew what they were doing, meaning, that dropping a spoon or throwing it was calculated, meaning when I or someone would pick up the utensil, they would have time to slap that hand in food and my hair. But this was just part of the parcel.
Damon picked up May and Emmylee, and Mariella took Vivian, Lily, and Wulfe and led them to the kitchen. He told them who sat where, gave them bibs to put on the babies, and I took their plates and started to think what to give them.
I had quite a collection of pureed food to be selected, and they had their plates. Our goal was to give them the best nutrition and as much diversity as possible. This means teaching them to eat plenty of food.
I had butter-braised carrots; plenty of calories there, too. And new tastes. I had chicken, beef, pork belly, or pheasant as protein and mash, or pasta for carbs. Few sauces as well.
Damon said, "Wait a minute, baby, let me check them first. I have my radar open, meaning I am a protector of these. I need to get some baseline first."
He took the tiny needle, put numbing energy, and took a few drops of blood from each baby. Tasted it, and Mariella tasted it, too. Then he thought for a while and came deeper into the kitchen, where I had my purees ready.
He said to me, "Go on, eat something, skeleton. I put food for these."
Fine, Wulfe told them how babies need to first try to eat themselves and then feed them, according to Colin's advice. He said nothing to them to warn the mess they would make.
I took my tray, went out the back door, and took the long knife with me. I walked to my carcass and sliced an enormous chunk. I thought that Damon and Mariella probably ate this, too.
I had other foods too, but this was wagyu. I had a lot of crispy skin for me to enjoy here, and this was top-notch wagyu. I had sliced several kilos' worth, and I had to be an excellent hostess and offer dinner to my guests. Wulfe ate what he wanted. I had never pushed him to eat so much. He had his favorite food. I did pamper him from time to time.
I carried my meat tray inside, holding my big knife. Damon had gotten everyone some purees in front of them. He was standing near the door, as he had heard my steps.
He came up behind me, took the knife from my hand, and whispered in my ear. "Little girls may not play with big knives like this. I thought I had taught you better than this."
He took my meat tray, tasted it, and said something to Mariella in his mind as she went outside and brought more meat in. Babies made a mess as usual, but they were trying to eat because whatever this was, it was tasty for them.
Mariella soon returned with more meat and fat. There was baby food in Mariella's hair, on her shoulder, and in Damon's, too. His hair had been nice to get messy.
May was about to start screaming. I stood up, got her plate, and started to feed her. She calmed down as she got some food in her. I had no idea how many times she had dropped her spoon this time.
Damon came by, put some more puree onto the plate, and went to feed Lily himself. Mariella took care of Emmylee, and Wulfe fed Vivianne. Wulfe had been spared the baby food invasion, so he was clean, but he was usually quite good at dodging little dirty hands grabbing him.
They were having a little trouble getting babies to focus on eating and not making a mess. Vivianne wanted to splash around most at dinnertime, so Mariella had her hands full. She put an energy shield over the plate eventually. Vivianne moped, but she ate.
After the babies were fed and cleaned and the floor mopped, I said, "You can put them in the living room. It is safe there. We can eat next to ourselves. And then, if you need, there are guest rooms with showers."
Damon grunted and said, "Fine, these could go to have a nap, probably first. These stuffed themselves. And we might go to wash up. I had no idea that one could get so much baby food in oneself by these little things."
Wulfe laughed out loud. Damon's voice had been a little surly. He had gotten a very generous amount of baby food in his hair and all over him.
I said, "Fine, they can sleep if they want to. It is not so sure, though. They are not so sleepy anymore."
Wulfe stood up. Again he told these two what to do, and who slept where. I cleared the kitchen, meanwhile, put the babies' stools away, and put some plates, drinks, bread, and meat onto the table. I also had colorful potato croquettes for Wulfe. I had sauces: béarnaise, hollandaise, bechamel with eggs.
They returned to the kitchen. It was quiet, and Wulfe said, "They are sleeping, all of them. How wonderful! Oh, you have my favorites. Oh, and those sauces, I just love your egg bechamel.
I also took a big pot of white sauce with eggs and some fish fingers. I told Damon and Mariella to sit down and eat. I had plenty of food, so no need to eat neatly. Wulfe took fish fingers, sauce, and croquettes while I took mostly beef, sauce, coffee, and Coca-Cola. I had quite a lot of sauce on my plates and a few croquettes, too.
Wulfe drank apple juice, freshly squeezed, and he had no coffee yet. He drank coffee after the meal. He had a glass of chilled human blood about 500 ml worth. He did not need that much blood.
We were eating. Mariella was sitting opposite Wulfe and said to him, "Do you know, boy-wonder, that you are not eating as you should? I mean, you are older than my husband, probably quite a hell of a lot stronger, yet you eat rubbish. I wonder what you could achieve if you ate as you should. You don't drink just juice. You are a wizard, for god's sake. You need caffeine, not apple juice and human blood."
I smiled at Wulfe. He was a little unsure what to say, so I said, "Don't mind Mariella. That is her superpower, more or less. She likes to feed everyone and tell them how to eat. Beware, she might take you as her target and feed you."
Mariella looked at me. I just nodded slightly. Mariella took a plate, stood up, and went outside to get more meat. Then she took a tray, filled it with what meat I had a little bit everywhere, and took Wulfe's plate away and gave him the tray.
She took the glass of human blood out, went and flushed it out, opened her wrist, and drained the glass full of her blood. I had to control myself as I smelled her blood, and a sharp glance from Wulfe froze me in my place. No funny ideas of feeding from her. I could feel pressure in my mind. He warned me not to move, or else.
She said, "Start with that. It takes time to fill you up properly, but we have time."
I just smiled at Wulfe. He was a good boy and started to eat. He sipped that blood ever so carefully, like it had been the most wonderful nectar in the world, and that got Mariella to frown even more. But then Damon got courage from somewhere, stood up, and came behind me, stuck his fangs in my neck, and drank my blood.
I had no time to react as Wulfe's magic bound me so that I would not lash out. Damon drained several liters of me. He rubbed between his eyes quite soon and started to compose a tray for me.
No more white sauce. He pureed some wagyu and lots of smoothies. Wulfe smirked at me. We were both in the feeding service now. He drained a lot of his blood into my smoothies.
I had no idea how many times he went and got me more smoothies with his blood, meat, not carbs, but meat and fat, citrus fruit-based smoothies, coffee stronger than we had, and Coke more.
After it felt like hours of feeding and my belly was stuffed to the brim, I showed them to the guest room to wash up, went to shower for myself, and changed my clothes. After that, we moved to the living room.
Damon said, "Listen, we want to be part of your life. We are not pushing you to anything, but could we visit, like, daily, some of the pack, not too many at a time, like five or six, and every day? Let's see where we are going. Those babies are wonderful, and I have missed you like crazy. We all are, and I am not even begging you to come back yet, but let us visit, get to know you, our babies, to Wulfe too. "
I said, "Fine, you can visit, but no guarantees in the future. I can have a free baby daycare service here, no problem. That is all that I will do at this point."
Damon nodded. Mariella came to me and hugged me.
She said, "Thank you. Thank you, but how you... How did this happen, these babies? There is so much I want to talk to you about."
I said, " I was just pregnant that one day. My body is still what it is. These are May, Emmylee, Vivianne, and Lily Salvatore, if you don't mind."
Damon said, " No problem, baby, thanks for putting these as Salvatores. "
I sat down in one chair and said, " Daddy's girls, every one of them is a vampire. And impatient one. Their power is a little bound, not too much so they would not get upset, but Wulfe is on top of it. As you see, he keeps me in line as well."
The babies were still sleeping. I thought I needed to do the laundry, but Wulfe stood up and went to take care of it. There were plenty of new clothes for them, and they were named. So each girl had their clothes.
Damon looked at me for a moment and said, "I've missed you so fucking much you wouldn't believe, and I've regretted every fucking day of my whole fucking divorce."
I said, " Why do you regret it? Is it because you haven't had children? It was what you and the pack wanted. You have had a good life, no problems, no drama, and no enemies of mine."
He said, " Just because, baby, I miss you, us. Life is so fucking mild when you're not with me. I felt that feeling that you unleashed, and I took it, put it in a shell, and now I have taken it all. It was the most wonderful feeling that I have ever experienced, and I know what I lost."
I said, " That is life without chaos. This is just my life now, these little ones, and I am trying to raise them as much as possible. I am not the mother of the year. I am more of an assassin, killer, and surgeon than an actual mother."
Wulfe came back from the laundry room, and he carried a basket full of clean laundry to the nursery to be sorted. There were my clothes as well. He then lazily walked into the living room and looked around.
Wulfe said, "You two, are you leaving, or could I show you our yard? Babies have their place, as Mimi put some coffee on, right?"
I nodded. I was not sure what Wulfe was doing, but he wanted to talk to these two by himself. I can let him. I stood up and went to the kitchen to make some coffee and sweet treats as well. This was Wulfe's favorite: coffee time and my baking. He loved to eat sweet stuff.
As they went out, Damon looked at that teen vampire wizard and said, "You have something to say, well, spit it out. "
He could sense that this one wanted to talk to them for real, and he did not want to say it in front of Mimi.
Wulfe led them to the backyard. There was a big white bench, and they sat there.
He started, "I am defending Mimi. I have redeemed myself to get this honor, and I will live up to it. Always and forever, so if you ever try to hurt her, even a percent of that anguish that you put her through seven years ago, being a tick is easy compared to what I will do to you."
Mariella frowned and said, "You have a story to tell. So tell us."
Wulfe looked at the grass. It was summer, and the grass was perfect. It was maintained, and there was not a single wrong herb in it.
He said, "What do you know about ghosts, either of you? Have you ever known that they are possible? They are not lost souls, but those actual souls, and sometimes, powerful emotions, pull them, a minor part of them, back here, from up there."
Mariella thought for a moment and said, "Well, yeah, it was rare, and it was a bond, a strong bond, like a true soulmate bond that can pull soul down back here, so sometimes, the one who left behind, their sorrow could pull someone back here. It was something that sometimes helped them both. But it was never easy to let go of that bond, and a few times the bond stayed."
Wulfe stood up. He motioned them to follow the outside fish pool. There was a bench, too. They sat down.
Wulfe said, "I will show you two what happened seven years ago to Mimi, and then you can think long and hard about how to treat her. She is not just an incubator for having babies. Look at the water."
Damon and Mariella gazed into the water. The vision started to form. Wulfe explained all the time.
"Mimi woke up, drugged, confused, and alone. Now neither of you has any idea how much pain it causes when a true soulmate bond is ripped out of our soul. Let alone 14. She was in shock, desperate, and blamed herself. Here you can see her walking. She is going to the computer to order something. Soon you will see. Then she orders more stuff, booze, and a lot of it. Did you know Mimi should not drink heavily? Her body can't handle a hangover, but that is later. She feels the agony of her soul ripped apart. Then comes delivery. "
Damon and Mariella saw how men carried something huge and heavy into the living room or some room in Moldova. There was a big armchair, and next to it were bags full of strong booze. There was a table in front of the chair.
Wulfe carried on." Now, Mimi is going to medbay. You see, she takes three syringes. The first one is concentrated tomato, coriander, thistle, and dandelion. Second syringe, holy water, concentrated vervain, and wolfsbane. In the third syringe, about a 500% dose of the strongest cocktail that you can come up with, she had some potent drugs. "
Mariella gasped. She had no idea. Damon squeezed her hand so hard it hurt, but she said nothing. They had done so much wrong.
Wulfe continued, " Here, Mimi comes to sit. She put those three syringes and a cannula on the table. Drinks, take syringe, but not yet. Drink some more."
Damon murmured almost aloud, "Don't do it, don't do it..." His hand grabbed Mariella's. She could feel his pain through their bond.
There was someone in front of Mimi talking to her. Then he saw and recognized him, Jake. He was worried, talking to Mimi, trying to touch her, but his hand went through her.
Damon said, "Jake, but how? Why? I know they had a fling, but he was married and had kids."
Wulfe said, "Soulmates aren't always lovers. Jake loved Mimi more than his children; he told her before he died. Mimi had always known it. She has never told you what happened when Jake died. There is another ghost for her, too. It has guarded her as well. It was Jake who was pulled by Mimi's pain here. Her truest soulmate, the one who wanted to care for her, even after his death, too. Jake could not help Mimi directly, so he came to me."
His voice was quiet. He looked now less like a teen and almost ageless.
He continued, " As he appeared in front of me, I knew I had redeemed myself. Let's say that once upon a time, the little orange and white cat came to see me, telling me to pull my act together if I wanted to be forever with my unicorn. So I helped her whenever I could, but I was grey. I had to be careful about what I told her, so as not to upset the balance. I had turned over a new leaf and redeemed myself. I know about a lot of ghosts, and one said that my unicorn was about to end her existence. I came to help her. But not alone."
He showed them how Magnum, Murdock, Dexter, and Colin came to help her too, how they got her in the shower after Wulfe had gotten her to sleep by the sleeping spell. How long did it take her to recover from that alcohol poisoning? How long did it take her to find her rage, to make armor, to shield that soul?
Damon was silent. He understood now. He remembered back to when Mimi had drunk heavily last time. It had taken numbers two, Adam and Charles, almost two months to get her well.
He said, "Well. We will visit; we will take this easy, and this I will remember. Some of us will come by tomorrow."
Then they left. Wulfe sat on a bench for a while. He stretched out his hand and stroked the long-haired, big, white, fat cat, who hopped onto the bench next to him.
He murmured to it, "I sure as hell hope that you know what you are doing. I hate to see my unicorn getting her heart crushed by those, but I trust you, old friend."
The cat was silent. He had done what he could. Rest depended on that damn free will again. The future, whatever it would be, was ruled by free will. Getting Wulfe on board had been just a little piece of his grand plan, and it would take a few millennia, maybe, to get it done.