Natasha and I were walking down the stairs from the apartment with the remaining bags and a cooler when I asked curiously,

“Why exactly are we bringing a cooler on a private jet? Wouldn’t there be food on the plane or something?” I asked.

Natasha froze and let out a strained groan in realization just before an inconspicuous but spacious minivan pulled up in front of us.

The window rolled down to reveal Sophia smiling brightly.

Natasha hesitantly walked up to the vehicle.

“My love, please tell me you didn’t.” Natasha said with dread in her voice.

“What do you mea…. Oh god no.” I said from the back, finally understanding the situation.

“Oh yes. ROADTRIP!” Sophia gleefully exclaimed as she turned a four-hour flight into a week long drive.

***

Leaving the city had taken hours because of the morning rush, but we’d finally made it onto the highway.

“I swear, if I have to listen to another country song, I’m going to drive us into a ditch.” Sophia complained loudly from the driver’s seat.

“No appreciation for true art,” I responded, mournfully shaking my head from the backseat.

“None at all. She’s been a 70s pop girl ever since… Well, the 70s.” Natasha lamented woefully from the front seat, her feet resting on Sophia’s lap.

“Oh, hush you two.” Sophia said while fiddling with the media buttons on the steering wheel.

“There, a classic.” She declared triumphantly as a song started playing.

“Seriously?” I asked in disbelief, recognizing it.

“What?” Sophia asked defensively.

“Give it a second.” I said, just before the chorus of the song began.

“Gimme, gimme, gimme a maaan after midnight

Won’t somebody help me chase the shadows away?

Gimme, gimme, gimme a maaan after midnight

Take me through the darkness to the break of the day. “

Natasha stifled a laugh from the front seat as Sophia frowned.

***

I sat on the backseat with my back leaned against the door and would occasionally tilt my head back and out the window, enjoying the cool air rushing through my hair.

“Aleks, what was it like, traveling to other worlds?” Natasha asked, idly looking out the passenger side window.

I thought about it for a second before answering,

“Honestly, a little like time-travel. I once traveled across twelve worlds in three months. I think we went from the bronze age to something akin to modern day earth, although there would always be an otherness present, things would be alien somehow.”

“Like how?”

“Well, for starters, there was no such thing as supernatural. It was all just natural. The high ambient energy made for some pretty incredible things, Crops that grew in a week, terminal illnesses removed in minutes, structures of such magnitude and scale they’d dwarf anything ever constructed on earth.”

“Sounds incredible.” Natasha replied with a little awe in her voice.

“It was, sometimes. But there’s two sides to every coin. There were countries of wealth and abundance, places where things like sickness and hunger were foreign concepts, but they were matched, or, more often than not, outnumbered by regions terrorized by the cruelty and evil, monsters treating people like cattle, vampires being a common perpetrator. Not Sentires nor Sanguinares, but something else, something worse.” I said with a dark expression.

“I don’t know why, but things are different here. I’ve met hereditary shapeshifters before, but my only experience with what you call Therianthropes was an affliction that spawned mindless hordes of savage beasts sweeping across continents like a plague. Yet here they remind me more of druidic tribes, it might be this world’s almost anemic ambient energy or something else entirely, but even the Sanguinares I’ve encountered don’t smell right, they have none of the chaotic energy that the vampires I’ve encountered before, had.”

“Chaotic energy?” Sophia asked, speaking for the first time since the conversation started.

“It’s most often used as a blanket term for anything bad, and I’ve had my own problems with those kinds of prejudices causing me to have a healthy amount of skepticism towards labels.”

“Because of the whole shadowy dark thing?” Natasha added.

“Because of the whole shadowy dark thing, yes.” I confirmed.

“Now that’s not to say my experience was the standard as I was rarely sent anywhere shit hadn’t already hit the fan a long time ago.” I said, trying to put a less depressing spin on it.

“Yeah, like there’s any way to spin; People being treated like cattle and roaming hordes of lycanthropes spreading across continents.” Sophia responded, doing a mocking impression of my voice, obviously having read my surface thoughts.

“Hey! That doesn’t sound like me!” I complained, feeling slighted.

“It kinda does,” Natasha laughed.

“Listen, there’s plenty of wondrous and beautiful places out there. I’ve just rarely gotten the chance to visit.” I finished with a sigh.

***

The sun was setting, and we were driving along an empty two-lane highway.

“So, let me get this straight. You own an entire valley? How the hell did Katya swing that one?” I asked in disbelief.

“She bought the land from the Spanish almost three hundred years ago, then again from the British and finally from the Americans a little over a hundred and fifty years ago. After that, it was federally recognized as a special sovereign entity.” Natasha explained.

“How much land are we talking about?” I questioned curiously.

“About five thousand square miles surrounded by steep mountains with only a single road in or out. It was always considered something of a haven for us.” she replied nonchalantly.

“You’re kidding. How many people live in this sovereign territory of yours?”

“It depends. The valley is segmented into three parts, separated by a narrowing of the surrounding cliffs. It’s still several miles wide, but it symbolizes a border. The first is by far the most populated, as it has a city with well over a hundred thousand people plus visitors. It’s also where the private airport is located.”

“Wait, you have your own airport?” I asked, a little impressed.

“Yeah, Eve International. The second segment has a small town intended for distant clan branches and humans who’ve married into the clan. And finally, the third and most secured segment is exclusively for heirs, their caretakers and the higher-ups in the clan. I don’t actually know how many live there, especially after the call for all branches to return.” Natasha finished.

“You don’t know how many people are in your clan?” I asked.

“The clan head is usually the only one who knows the real number for safety reasons,” Sophia replied, “but the math isn’t difficult. For example, Katya arrived with her entire line on three ships, each carrying twenty heirs. Every Heir has on average 1.5 children and usually only between eighteen and thirty, that’s ten generations. 60 x 1.510 which comes out to 3,459.9ish current heirs and probably three times that in Sentires.” Sophia chimed up nonchalantly.

I looked at her in the mirror, slightly impressed.

“Oh yeah, my lady has all the smarts.” Natasha said from the front, leaning over and kissing Sophia along the neck and up to her ear.

“Not while I’m driving,” Sophia laughed as the car swerved a little.

“But wait, wouldn’t it be a lot more than that, especially the Sentires?” I asked, a little confused.

Both Natasha and Sophia ceased their playfulness at the front and turned solemn.

“Parts of the body need to be intact to undergo the rebirth, and sometimes heirs and sentires are lost.” Natasha stated sadly.

***

“Oh god, I can’t wait to get out of this car!” Natasha exclaimed as we pulled up to the small motel

“It wasn’t that bad.” Sophia argued.

“Sweety, I love you. But I will never understand your weird obsession with being stuck in a car for hours.” Natasha replied, stepping out of the car and stretching her back in a way that definitely didn’t draw the eye.

“Stop leering at my wife. Plenty of time for that later. After all, I only booked one room with a king-sized.” Sophia said, smirking at me.

“Actually, I’ve been meaning to tell you, there’s been a slight change of plans.” I said, grinning as they suddenly turned serious.

“I’m gonna need to sort some things out. I might not be back until dawn. So, the two of you will have to do without a meal for a couple of hours.” I said with a small chuckle.

“Where are you going?” Sophia questioned with a frown

“I’m thinking that way.” I said as I pointed in a mountainous and wooded direction opposite the motel.

Which only caused both their frowns to deepen as they stood there quietly, probably having a silent conversation.

“Okay, we’ll see you in the morning.” Natasha said hesitantly and Sophia nodded in agreement before I took off.

I waited until I’d moved far enough away from the road for no one to see me before setting off at an inhuman speed. Forests had always been easy to move through for me and it didn’t take me long to reach a grotto with a cave near a river at least a dozen miles away from the motel.

“This should do nicely for some privacy.” I said, satisfied, as I moved deeper and deeper into the cave.

When the full moon outside was no longer visible, I pulled out a flashlight I’d borrowed from Natasha and set it down on the floor, letting it cast thick and large shadows all around me.

I took a deep breath as the calm expression dropped from my face and I let loose the anger, the pure, murderous rage I’d hidden away for the past week, ever since the night Natasha had saved me. I tasted blood in my mouth and heard the cracks in the surrounding rock, as my bloodlust was unleashed on anything unlucky enough to be anywhere near me.

“Come on out, let’s talk.” I tempted innocently, as I opened my domain wide and unobstructed, but my shadows stayed still and unresponsive.

“Sic’em,” I commanded, having quickly lost my patience. I had barely finished the second syllable before deep gauges were torn in the rocky cave floor by huge, clawed paws setting off into the dark distance of my domain.

***

“What do you think that was about?” Natasha said, looking out the window of their room towards the other side of the road where Aleks had taken off an hour ago.

“He’s been on edge ever since you brought him back from Special branch. He might have had other things to worry about, like recovery, but it was always there, beneath it all.” Sophia reminded Natasha.

“You think he’s gone off to get even?” Natasha asked worriedly.

“You said it yourself. He and those other things weren’t exactly on good terms.” Sophia replied.

“Yeah, I couldn’t understand what it said in that guttural language, but I could feel it demanded to be let out.” Natasha shuddered, remembering the many mouthed figure.

Natasha turned away from the window and sat down on the bed with a tired sigh.

“We haven’t really had a chance to talk about… You know.” Natasha said.

Sophia didn’t reply, but Natasha could feel the worry and uncertainty emanating from the bathroom.

“I didn’t know what to say,” Sophia said timidly as she leaned against the wall next to the door, just out of view of Natasha. “I know the reason you ran away as soon as you turned eighteen. But I wasn’t sure whether or not that had changed.”

“It hasn’t. But you’ve seen me with Sasha, just because I never felt the desire to myself doesn’t mean I won’t be there for you, you’re the love of my life and that will never change.” Natasha replied.

Sophia let out a breath she hadn’t known she'd been holding and wiped away a tear in her eye. She took a deep breath before stepping out into view wearing a black silky nightgown, savoring the look of desire and longing Natasha had as she walked up to her and sat down on her lap.

Their touch establishing an intimate link between just the two of them. Every thought, emotion, and sense shared between them.

“I am forever yours and so will this be,” Sophia placed Natasha’s hand on her stomach before continuing, “And I will never part from you, my love.” Sophia said, with an unquestionable feeling of love and devotion transmitted across their link.

“And I am yours, through all that’s to come and forever after, Lyubimaya moya.” Natasha whispered sincerely as she lightly caressed Sophia’s face.

Sophia’s expression turned playful as she pushed Natasha down onto the bed and said,

“This reminds me of our wedding night. As I recall, I was on top then too.”

Natasha reached out and pulled her down for a kiss before rolling her over on the bed, so Sophia ended up underneath.

“This time will be different.” Natasha said, her stoic expression finally breaking away to reveal a familiar mischievous smile full of affection.

***

It was about an hour after midnight and Natasha was walking down towards the Kiosk at the end of the motel parking lot with a silly grin on her face, her cheeks flushed red.

Her thoughts filled with images of Sophia waiting patiently for her return on their bed quickening her steps, causing her to almost burst through the glass door as she entered the kiosk. The digital bell chimed and alerted the tired-looking man behind the counter to her presence.

“Anything I can help you with, Miss?” He asked, trying to sound cheery, but you didn’t have to be a mind reader to figure out the guy was at the end of his shift and looking forward to going home.

“Yeah, I was wondering if you sold ice?” Natasha replied as she filled her shopping basket with a variety of sandwiches, drinks, and junk food.

“Sure, it’s two dollars a bag.” The man said as he looked at Natasha’s left hand before smiling knowingly. Natasha felt his realization, and quiet amusement as she put the basket on the counter.

“You seem in an especially good mood, if you don’t mind me saying so.” The clerk noted as he scanned the items from the basket and put them in a bag.

“I don’t mind at all, and yes I am.” Natasha replied brightly.

“Well, you know what they say, happy wife and all that.” He laughed, with a slight yearning.

Natasha faked a shocked look and said, “Well, aren’t you a modern day Sherlock Holmes? What gave it away?”

“I appreciate the comparison,” the clerk said as he held up a worn paperback book from behind the counter and held it up for Natasha to see.

“As for what gave you away? Your wife came by earlier to pick up a key for a room with a single king-sized bed wearing the same two rings you’re wearing, very distinct combo if I might add, it also helped that you practically skipped on your way over here from that very same room. Although the reason it really stuck out to me was because it was just after some crazy guy took off into the woods like a man possessed.” The clerk explained with a curious frown at the last part.

“Anyway, that’ll be twenty-five seventy-five. You can grab the bags of ice out front when you need them.” The clerk said as he finished scanning and bagging everything.

As Natasha walked back to their room, she slowly turned her daylight-ring on her finger as she considered everything that had happened the last year, the conflicts with Sicilia and the Council and her niece’s subsequent kidnapping that she was sure the council had taken part in. But most of all, how much things had changed, it was easy to forget it sometimes.

“You damned mutt, GET UP!” A middle-aged man wearing a backwards cap said as he roughly yanked on a leash connected to a choke collar on a German Shepard lying flat on its stomach whining in fear as it stared at the woods across the road.

The man angrily marched back and grabbed it by the scruff of its neck, lifting it up painfully and dragging it forward as it yelped out in pain.

“Stop.” Natasha commanded behind the man, out of view.

“Kneel.” The man fell painfully to his knees.

“Do not turn. Let go.” His neck locked forward and his hand let go of the panicking dog.

Natasha quickly scooped up the leash and softly cooed to it while running her fingers calmingly down its back.

“I’d always wanted a dog.” Natasha thought wistfully, looking at the nervous canine in front of her.

Sentires unnerved most animals, making having a pet, even in the vicinity of one, impossible and a little cruel. But it was one of the things Natasha had always longed for, as many Heirs and Sentires had before her, what child hadn’t wished for a puppy.

There had been numerous attempts, of course, everything from selective breeding to enchanted collars, but nothing had ever worked.

Natasha pushed her power forward surgically as she constructed a complicated command, while taking the man’s wallet from his back pocket, and taking a picture of his driver’s license with her phone.

“You will not harm this sweet creature again, instead you will find a caring and loving home for her, every week that you do not accomplish your second task, you will cut off a finger at the knuckle on your right hand, and if you run out, you will continue on your left.” Natasha spoke into his ear as she saw a slight twitch from the immense strain the compulsion put on his mundane mind and body.

She dropped the wallet and released him, causing him to fall forward into the fetal position while shaking in fear.