Second Chances (The Vampire and the Wolf Book 1) Read online

  Second Chances

  The Vampire and the Wolf Series

  Book 1

  Amy Allen

  Copyright © 2016 Amy Allen

  All rights reserved.

  :

  DEDICATION

  To my mom. Thanks for always being there for me. I love you.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you to Elizabeth Bank with Selestiele Designs - http://www.selestieledesigns.com – for designing the great Cover.

  Thank you to my editors and typo hunters – you did amazing.

  Prologue

  November 2004 to May 2008

  Mid November 2004

  Brandi had just returned from Washington DC, taking care of some business as the Indian Agent for her Grandfather's tribe and stopped by the ATF office to see John to find he had left not long before and had their kids with him. Ending up a few cars behind them, she sent a text to him on his cell since she wasn’t able to hear at that time.

  When she told him how far she was, he asked her to meet him at the store. Getting the shopping done and loading her car, a 59 ‘vette, and the van, with the groceries and loading the kids back into the van, she got back in her car and he got back in the van to head home. She was pulling out of the space and heading for the exit when she noticed he hadn't gotten the van started yet. As she started to wonder what was wrong she suddenly had a vision that had her putting her car in park, jumping out and start running back to the van. She hadn't got very far when she saw him look at her and smile and just shake his head, until he got a better look at her face as he started to turn the key again. The look must have told him something was wrong and that starting the van was a bad idea, but it was too late. With the turn of the key that time, a timer in the engine was activated and the van exploded. She screamed and tried to get closer but suddenly being held back. Her brothers, Mike and Eric, had also had the vision so they knew there was something wrong and had appeared next to her, holding her back.

  As Mike got her back to her car so he could drive her home, Eric called their step-brother, Brad, who was a Denver cop. Once he was done talking to Brad, he called the other six members of team seven - the ATF team her husband lead, men they'd know 100 plus years. He then was suddenly gone, appearing at her ranch home.

  John’s and Brandi’s friend Vince was at the ranch when Mike and Brandi arrived, with Eric close behind them. With encouragement, Brandi told them what had happened even though she was still hysterical and in tears.

  Knowing she’d have to talk to Brad when he got there, Eric suggested, with agreement from Vince and Mike, she go lay down.

  She’d gone into her room, letting them think that was what she was going to do, but instead she disappeared from the room, having no set destination in mind. Since she already was a vampire, she suddenly found herself seeing a City Limit sign for a city she’d never heard of, yet she could feel other vampires within the city. As she debated about entering the city, she was then bitten by a vampire who must have sensed her.

  She’d woken sometime later in an alley, with a metallic taste in her mouth. Licking her lips, she realized someone had given her some blood. She also suddenly realized she was hearing people talking and the sounds of the city. Seeing a business card next to her, she picked it up. It only said Nghthawk and had a number on the front. Turning it over, it said “You are now my childe. Text me your number so I can message you.” Shrugging, she’d texted the number saying ~My name is Brandi. You left me your card and asked me to text.~ Not sure if or when she’d hear from the vampire that had left the card, she started wandering, having no idea what she was supposed to do.

  *****

  2006

  Because the one that had bit her wasn't around to help her gain the knowledge she needed, Brandi spent just over a year wandering the streets without powers, biting and robbing anyone she came across. In early 2006 she joined the training grounds for a clan she’d come across in her wanderings.

  She didn’t contact any of her family until March or April of 2006 after getting married to her first vampire husband, although she did notify a cousin bring her two wolves to her since she missed them and, with exception of that last year they’d been with her for 5000 years. While married, she’d become pregnant with triplets. For his own reasons, her husband severed, divorced, her and wanted nothing to do with the triplets.

  In June of 2006 one of the friends she'd made while married opened a B&B on the outskirts of town with Brandi. She’d also reestablished contact with her family in 2006, just after being severed, and they have been a big help to her when it’s been needed it. She also sent a message to Nghthawk asking to have him sever her as his childe. She was glad he agreed but stayed as a friend to help as needed.

  On Halloween of 2006, Brandi had her triplets – 2 boys and 1 girl. They are the light of her life.

  *****

  2007

  In 2007 she’d acquired a third wolf who she thought was about a year old. A gift that was given to her, after he’d found the wolf stranded and alone in the city, by her first vampire husband. His name is Thoth for the Egyptian God - god of the moon, drawing, writing, geometry, wisdom, medicine, music, astronomy, and magic.

  Early in 2007 she went to a friend she'd met while wandering of the city, and asked about joining the clan the friend was a co-leader in. Brandi joined the dojo for the clan in April of 2007 and was only there a couple of months before graduating.

  Over the rest of 2007 she’d gained and lost a second sire, vampire parent, and then gained a third sire. She also got married again. She was happy with her new family and husband, hoping this marriage would last.

  *****

  2008

  In January 2008, she found out the sire she had was going to go to sleep for an indefinite amount of time and so he was severing all but one of his childer – children. It had saddened her because she considered him a father and called him Daddy. Because she wanted to stay within the family, one of her sisters, the only one not severed, adopted Brandi and Brandi joined the new clan her sire had formed. Then at the end of January for his own reasons, her second husband severed her.

  In February 2008 Brandi severed from being the child of her sister and left the clan her sister had started. Shortly after she was adopted, sired, by the friend that ran the B&B with her.

  Near the end of February, 2008, she unofficially started seeing her third vampire husband. He had invited her to Cancun. She went and they fell in love as did he. They became official in March, 2008. Even more than her second husband, he was the one she thought she wanted for the rest of her days. She was very much in love with him and was happier then she had been in long time. She also felt much stronger than she had in a long time. All she’d wanted, other than changes to the B&B that were done, was to help as a teacher in the school her boyfriend started and then decided to stop, being married to him, and having his baby since she was pregnant and had been for most of their time together. During a trip to Paris, she lost the baby and he killed, for good, someone that had been tormenting me since 1773. They got married May 10th 2008.

  She wasn’t sure what happened, but near the end of May her husband seemed distant from her. They’d spent some time talking and it was decided she would go visit her Grandfather alone for an extended time. Feeling like she was losing a part of herself, she took the triplets to her Grandfather’s house before going back to get her car and joining them on the Indian Reservation in Denver.

  CHAPTER One

  End of May 2008

  Brandi sat in her Grandfather’s living room watching her nineteen month old triplets play and thinking of the conversation she'd h
ad with her husband a bit earlier. Although he'd told her different, she didn't have a good feeling about what he would do. She had been dealing with depression and trying to keep the darkness in her from overtaking her completely. She cared about little and wanted to do less. She, for sure, wasn't going to return to the Vampire City she has been living in the last three and a half years anytime soon.

  “Momma sad?” Connor, the youngest of the three, asked as he walked carefully to her.

  “Yeah, baby, I am,” she said, picking him up and putting him on her lap when he got to her.

  “Daddy?” He asked.

  “No, I think it will be just us again,” she told him.

  “Sorry, Momma.” He smiled at her and hugged her.

  Giving him her own smile, she hugged him back.

  Brandi's Grandfather, Wind Rider, walked in as she finished hugging Connor. Noticing she still was depressed he told her, “Go lay down child and try to nap. It may help. I will watch the children.”

  Nodding to him, she gave Connor a kiss and sat him on the floor with his brother and sister. She then gave her oldest son, Devlin, and her daughter, Justine, each a kiss. Moving to Wind Rider, she gave him a hug and kiss then said, “Thank you G’pa. I am starting to feel that all that I am is a jinx or someone to be used and tossed away when done with. Especially since I haven't had any luck with relationships since John died.” Giving him a final smile she headed to her room to lie down, falling asleep immediately.

  After only a couple of hours asleep, Brandi was suddenly wide awake. Looking through her mind for the reason why, she noticed that the bond she'd felt with her husband was gone. It told her that he decided to sever from her. Curling up in a ball in her bed, she cried. She was wishing for death, wishing for him, wishing for anything but the pain. After a while, she fell back into an exhausted sleep.

  Waking in the morning she felt off, even less herself. She knew part of why that was, but she also felt as if some kind of change was trying to happen. Shaking it off some, she took out the journal she had brought with her. She started writing things that had happened since she had made her last entry. As she wrote, the feeling she'd tried to shake off earlier caused her to put her quill down. As soon as she did, she suddenly felt encompassed by a cocoon of some type. Not caring, she gave in to whatever was going to happen.

  She felt the darkness start to move across and through her. She let it move, not caring if it took her over completely. She didn't fight, didn't want to fight. As it got to about her halfway point, or her mid-line, she felt her Pegasus start to try and fight. Realizing what she was about to let happen, she let Pegasus loose inside herself and also started fighting for herself. When Pegasus had started, she knew that it wasn't just the darkness trying to take over in her, but was also whatever was left in her from the Bloodletter bug, an ancient Vampire bug, that had bit her when she was a young girl. She had no idea how long she was in the cocoon fighting but as suddenly as she was encased in it, it broke away from her. Looking down at herself, she saw she was now naked. Getting up and moving to the full length mirror she had on her bathroom door, she looked at herself. Starting from the top, her hair was no longer hip length and beach blonde. It now was floor length – all of the 5 feet she was, with the left side pure white and the right side a red/blonde. Next she looked at her eyes. They were no longer the sky blue they had been. Her left eye was a silver/white – almost making it look like she was blind in that eye and the right one was now an arctic ice blue. Frowning slightly, she saw her left side was now covered, from head to toe, in what looked like tribal tattoos. She was still her usual copper color for her skin tone, but she seemed to have more of a visible glow or aura. Looking down at her hands, her right hand still looked the same, but her left hand looked like a claw with her fingernails as long talons. She realized her back also felt weird. Turning slightly, she saw copper colored wings coming from her back. Sighing to herself, she looked inward at what changes she could feel there. The darkness/ancient vampire combination that tried to take her over ended up taking the left half of her soul and she no longer felt her heart beating. Although she had no way of knowing, she hoped that the internal changes were only temporary.

  Getting up, she got showered and dressed. She was sure her Grandfather had felt the changes, but she didn't know how he or the kids would react to her.

  CHAPTER Two

  Walking into the front room, she was surprised at seeing an extra person there, her late husband. Smiling slightly, she said, “Morning John. What brings you out here?”

  Looking at her and then over at Wind Rider before looking back at her, calling her what he’d called her for over 100 years – a shortening of her first name, he said, “Morning Dee. I wanted to check on you. Wind Rider sent me a message telling me what happened and that you were depressed. I'm so sorry Dee.” Moving to her, he shifted from his now normal ghost form to being in corporeal form and gave her a hug when he reached her. Setting her back slightly, John looked her over and asked, “What happened to you Dee?”

  Before she could answer, Wind Rider said, “This must be the changes I felt you going through this morning.”

  Nodding, she said, “Yes, G’pa.” Looking at John, she then said, “All I know is I was suddenly cocooned and felt the darkness and the other trying to take me over. I was all for it happening until I felt my Pegasus fighting it and that helped me to start fighting it also. When I helped in the fight, it caused the darkness and other to be defeated at my mid-line leaving me looking as I do now. These tat looking markings go from head to toe and to my mid-line, and,” turning slightly, she looked back at them and added, “I also have these wings. There are also, hopefully temporary, changes internally.” Having noticed the kids coming through the door and watching her, she sent to both John and her Grandfather a telepathic message explaining what those internal changes were.

  Feeling hands on her legs, Brandi looked down and smiled. All three kids looked up at her with smiles on their faces. Kneeling down, she gave them each a hug and then asked, “Ready for Breakfast?” Gaining a nod from each she gave them each another hug and then stood.

  From behind her, she heard her Grandfather quietly say, “It may have stopped the beats of your heart, child, but not the love you have there.”

  Looking back at him, she smiled slightly and gave him a nod so he knew she heard and understood.

  After breakfast, they moved into the living room. She set the kids in the play area and then sat down on the sofa.

  “What are your plans?” Wind Rider asked.

  “I’m not sure yet, sir. I'm not heading back to the Vampire City, or at least not anytime soon. I know I have things there I'll have to get if I decide to not return, besides seeing if Anna wants to move here.”

  “If you need me to bring anything back here, Dee, just let me know.”

  Smiling at John, calling him what she had been for over 100 years, she said, “Thanks Cowboy, I will. And I appreciate that.”

  “Don't worry about having to leave Granddaughter. You and the children can stay as long as you like.”

  “Thank you, G’pa.”

  For the rest of the morning, they sat and talked about what had happened with her and looked at possible ideas for her to do.

  After lunch, Wind Rider headed out to take care of tribal business. After putting the kids down for a nap, she said bye to John and then got to work on the computer for Indian Affairs tribal business she had to take care of.

  Sitting there working, she lost all track of time. As she worked, something told her to look at what would need to be taken care of over the next several months and to get it as ready as possible. Although she wasn't paying much attention, she knew when the kids came out and went to play quietly in their play area. But, she didn't finish until she felt a tap on her leg and heard from Devlin, “Momma needs light.”

  Turning to look at him, she saw the room was dark and wondered when that happened. As she reached and turned on the light next to h
er, she noticed her Grandfather walk in the house.

  Without needing her to say anything, he moved into the kitchen and fixed them all dinner. After dinner, they all spent a quiet evening playing kid’s games and watching TV.

  *****

  Early June 2008

  Over the last week or so, Brandi kept hoping she'd get a call from her now ex-husband asking her to come back, that he wanted her back. There was a big part of her that knew she was just fooling herself to hope, but she still held out.

  She was sitting in her room, reading and quietly listening to music, since the kids were napping, when there was a knock on her door. A familiar voice then asked if he could come in.

  Telling him that of course he could, she watched as her ex came into the room. They spent the next few minutes talking, with him letting her know that although he had thought about coming back to her, he wasn't, so it was the end of them for him. She gave in to the tears she felt, but not to try and sway him. They talked for a few minutes longer before he left. She sat there and thought about the conversation. Lying on her bed, she cried herself to sleep.

  *****

  Mid-June 2008

  For the last week Brandi had been feeling restless. She woke in the morning feeling more restless, like she needed to leave but unsure of where she should go. She only knew she needed to leave Denver for a while and it needed to be today. She knew it wasn't to return to the Vampire City.

  Getting packed, showered and dressed, she went to the kitchen after checking to see if the kids were awake. As she walked into the kitchen, her Grandfather said, “You are leaving.”