As I continued to sing to my toddlers, Now Puff the Magic Dragon, Dash listened to the lyrics and asked, "Why, Mommy?"
He was too sensitive, and the song about little boys growing up and forgetting their toys made him even sadder. I just stroked him, changing my tune to "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." I had a lot of songs to sing, but my children, being unique, saw the world in their own way. In the dim light of the lounge, nothing was more important than this moment, this time.
Mariella was tired. She wanted to go talk to Mimi and make her get the Salvatores to back off. Number one had been pestering her for several days. Almost manically telling her that she needed to start making actual love without lust. Mariella was tired of pregnancy, as well as her three girls who were all over the place, and the babies were now more or less walking, so her days were full without her husband bothering her.
But as she sensed where Mimi was, after getting Damon to make food and coming upstairs because Charles and Adam had a lot to say about Mimi's doctor's appointment, she noticed Mimi's toddlers were nowhere to be found. Her toddlers had been exhausted and refusing to nap, but it was soon time to eat, and perhaps they could go to bed a little earlier.
She finally found Mimi, who was in her lounge because she hadn't been home for long, and as Mariella approached, she heard Mimi singing lullabies or children's songs and stopped near the door, noticing all five were in her arms, stroking them, her calming and caring pheromones fully open, warning Mariella that there might be a problem with the kids.
"Damon, Mimi is in her lounge; she has all of her toddlers on her lap. She looks pretty damn tired, but the air is thick with her care and calming pheromones. It appears the kids have had problems. Have you heard anything?" She asked Damon because it felt natural to her.
She was almost programmed to it.
Damon responded, "I come there, you go to the kitchen to eat, and then we will try to create that love energy over the weekend. Mimi explained it to me, and I understand; it brings balance to our pack."
Mariella rolled her eyes. She had a few good snappy sentences about the whole energy thing, but she was now keeping her mouth shut because Damon was not in a particularly loving mood.
I was singing "What a Wonderful World" to my kids when Damon walked in.
He sat next to me and asked telepathically, "What's wrong? I can sense it; they're having trouble?"
I responded telepathically, and Damon was singing to them as well, releasing his own pheromones. "Henry, one of the kids in their group, had lost their dog, and Dash and Darien, empaths, felt his pain and his sorrow, and then they somehow locked into number two's mind, who picked them up, remembering the week when I was dead, and it freaked them out. I've tried to assure them that I'm not going to die, but they're so sensitive, tired, and freaked out that even the lyrics to Puff the Magic Dragon make them sad. I am trying to get them to nap because they are overtired."
Damon nodded and sang as well; I could feel him reaching out to others, and soon numbers two, four, Wulfe, Adam, and Charles entered.
Wulfe said to me, "I just cast a slight sleeping spell on them. We put them in bed, give them a nap, and give them some energy transfer so they can sleep all night without having to eat."
I had little choice as each of my husbands picked one of my sleeping children and gently carried them to their room, putting them in bed. Wulfe finally carried Darien.
Damon said to me, "Mariella, Wulfe, and a few Salvatores will look like potion work if we can get their empathy pushed deeper, but you, baby, you look like shit; you should go eat something, and don't even plan on guzzling that wine, you need caffeine. What the heck, sit down. I'll go get something for you to start with, and then you can eat more later; we really need to look at the length of your workdays."
Before Damon could leave, I said, "It's Christmas time, so I'm thinking about keeping the shop open for three days next week and then going on vacation. As you know, we have plenty of stuff to get some presents for the kids and have a Christmas extravaganza, lots and lots of presents, decorated trees, running kids, the whole thing."
He smiled and stood up, heading to the kitchen to get something to eat and drink for me. But he took my wine bottle and returned it, as well as casting a spell that prevented me from opening the doors. He also took my crystal glass and returned it to the shelf. He did not want me to drink from crystal because it could leak lead into me.
As he and number four returned, an actual tray with wheels was pushed into the room and delivered to me, full of food, coffee, and coke. It was neatly arranged in a specific order, and I knew I should not just go ahead and pick and choose, but I had to always start at the bottom or nearest part of my plate and work my way up, eating all the meat first and drinking smoothies at a rapid pace.
Damon had taught me to eat this way over the years, and it had become a part of who I was. I was a hypermetabolic creature who burned calories at an incredible rate and had to eat like a pack of lions to stay fit. And because I was pregnant, I was literally eating for all of us because my fetuses were similarly hungry creatures as I was, and I was also the alpha female, the strongest female in the pack.
Vampire Queen, in essence, meant that my body wanted to ensure that other pregnant women, as well as babies, were cared for, which usually meant milk. I made an incredible amount of supermilk and wasn't sure when it would start or if Salvatores would stop it because it was lowering my fitness as I leeched my fitness into my milk.
As I ate, numbers one and four began to list everything I was not allowed to do. I was trying to eat, but I was tired; the day had been long as fuck, and I was not in the mood to listen to my husbands giving me orders like damn sergeants.
So I snapped, "Stop that, will you? I am tired, not in the right mood, and this day has been long enough without you two geniuses trying to turn me into an invalid. Go pester Mariella or the girls, and leave me to my meal."
Number four said arrogantly, "Are we feeling snappish, darlin'? Good thing we have a way to relax you; there's no need to be so damn tense all the time."
I rolled my eyes. I took a breath and thought, "Okay, let's create a nice little distraction point for them."
Number four smelled the air and said aloud to number one, "Now, smell this. Try to catch a slight hint of mint, which means she is pissed off as fuck and is planning to get rid of us; this is the smell you should learn so you can be prepared for whatever she hits you with."
Number one focused and said, "Oh, it's so damn subtle, but I got it, thanks."
I finished my meal and said, "Wait here; I'll give you something to focus on."
I teleported to my bedroom, my lair, one of which smelled like strawberries and was full of my clothes, and I took three books from my left side of the bed and placed them on the nightstand. My room was predominantly pink, mauve, and blue, as is typical for me; pastel shades ruled over harsher ones.
The huge adjustable bed was a mess, and there were at least three versions of nightgowns for me to choose from, each of which I had worn for one or two nights. There was a fireplace here, pelts lined the floor, and a dainty sofa lined with a soft-looking mauve throw was on one wall, next to my knitting basket; this was a huge room that I had done for myself, and no one had fucked here.
One of the books I took was a book about alpha-pair and pack dynamics, which I had already read, and I would give Damon a whole new inside whole bond between us, but it would take time for him to read this and make plans based on it. One of the books was about different creatures of energies, such as creatures of lust, trust, love, and so on, and one was a pretty detailed anatomy, physiology, immunology, and infections book for shifters, and what made it unique was a section of chaos power and chaos creatures.
A quick lesson for number four to keep him busy. As I looked around, I grabbed one more book, which I had already read. It was a storybook or diary of energy creatures and how male taught female to create different energies, as well as more tips and hints for number one on how to focus on Mariella and allow me to be at peace.
As I teleported back, both of them were waiting, and my tray was once again full. Fine, I can eat some more, so I placed books on the table and walked over to eat.
"Those are the ones I can read. Could you find their place in our library?" I asked in a fairly normal tone.
Number four grunted, took a few books, and furrowed his brow, as did number one. Both of them were slightly torn in two directions. Could they keep pestering me or go read those damn books I'd already read?
They weren't pleased that I knew more than they did. Number four took the books and teleported to another location, while number one sat next to me in one of the chairs.
Number one commented, "Nice distraction, but it's not going to work on me; let four read those books so I don't have to. You look like shit, and you should get some rest."
I was digging into my food again and said, "One of my plans is to take a bath and lounge in my bed, maybe watch movies or read a little more; I still have books left."
Damon looked at me, smelled the air, and said, "Oh, I see. You have a nest again, unsanctified, well, maybe we should do something about that as well. At least I think I will make sure you are not going to sleep on your bath, and those nests of yours, well, we are married, so they are ours."
I was tired and not in the mood for an all-night sex marathon because my libido had dropped like a stone and I still had a lot on my mind, orders, and so on.
Damon, however, did not drop the subject. He recalled what Adam and Charles had told him about my doctor's advice: "We've put those stitches on your cervix here, so there's no need for you to go to the hospital. The doctor reminded us that sex and pleasure are necessary, and stress is detrimental to you and the babies. Your syndrome should have no chance to develop, so cortisol needs to be kept low."
I said this, attempting to change the subject. "Well, Sheila and Harold have made a peculiar order today. You see, Sheila's sister died, and there's significant animosity between them. Furthermore, her sister had rather uppity children."
I took another bite of my meat, washing it down with Coke. Damon leaned back, waiting for me to continue. Even in theory, he could have plucked the entire story from my mind, given his considerable telepathic abilities. However, he was notoriously lazy.
"Anyway," I continued, "Sheila wanted the funeral spray to be large and include a cross, as her sister was religious. Then, she went off the rails. She chose colors she detested, along with specific flowers, and made it so over the top. But you know, it will be flashy, and it will serve as her final 'fuck you' to her sister. "
Damon smiled, having apparently extracted this from my thoughts. "Well, worry not," he said, "let's see who gets to create that masterpiece. Perhaps I will do it. I haven't worked much with flowers, it's a skill I lack."
I responded, "I can do it; it's quite straightforward. Since there are many small details to consider when making a spray, it's easier for me to handle it myself rather than teaching you. Not everyone in our pack needs to be a florist."
Damon was silent for a moment, then said in a quiet voice, "It's ironic, truly, but it seems the Salvatores are destined to be teachers, even among the worst of us."
I glanced at him, not replying, knowing he would likely continue. He seemed to have unearthed something significant in his mind.
Crossing his legs, he looked at the ceiling and said, "Do you recall what Damien told me when I killed him, the last version of him? He said I didn't love Mariella, and the only love I ever had was for you, and he destroyed it. And you know what? He was damn right."
His expression was somewhat tired and worn out, yet his gaze held a certain kind of honesty. He was honest with himself, a difficult discovery to make.
I confessed, "I must admit, I was in a mood where I really didn't bother to listen to what you two were talking about, as I was making my plans. My memory recall isn't the best in that state."
He fell silent, then pondered, "For years, I hated you, more or less. I always found something to be pissed off about, even when Derek was born—he was perfect and strong. And Charles, Adam had you... I could feel so many Salvatores wanting to be with you, and it pissed me off because they felt nothing for Mariella. I forced them to be with her. I've made big mistakes in the past, and it's all crashing down on me. Facing my idiocy, my stupidity, has been a damn humbling show. And then Mariella... what I did to her. Everything has changed so damn much, and the only thing I feel is your love. It somehow grounds me; it's still the same, even though everything else has changed."
I replied, somewhat sarcastically, "Welcome to the club. When Sylvie and Drake first told me I was a creature of love, I scoffed at them for years. I thought it was some kind of dragon thing, but Wulfe showed me the way, and others. As you know, I've always seen myself as a monster, almost soulless and jaded, and it has been incredibly hard to let go of that. To trust myself and allow myself to be a creature of love. Loving me takes guts because I'm volatile, I can be a beast, and I am, and probably always will be, the most dangerous of our pack—even to you if my control slackens."
Damon fell silent again.
As I finished my meal, feeling quite full and waiting for my bath, he said, "Come on, let's go. Have a shower, or a mutual bath, and make our bedroom a proper nest just for the two of us. The kids are sleeping, the babies are taken care of, and you need rest and relaxation. It's good that this is the weekend."
He stood up, took my hand, and pulled me up, murmuring quite dominantly, "Lead the way, my love."
I wasn't sure if my night would be restful or invigorating, but it was certainly going to be something. There was a certain tone in Damon's voice as we made our way back to my nest. Let's see what the night brings us.