C H A P T E R 29

Valentina Dove Blackclaw

works in mysterious ways. That was not uncommon and it could be strange weather or the oddest looking animal or a tree which is meant in so many ways. Yet nothing was more mysterious than the golden haired's birth. While the day had been a normal one and there wasn't anything that out of the ordinary, there was still something that lingered in the air. As the night fell and the full moon was reigning over the world like never before and it outshined all the stars in the sky like it normally did.

There were no clouds in the sky and there was not anything that could've predicted it to happen yet as soon as Valentina had been born, a shooting star flew across the Pack house. No one had seen it but a wish had been made and a wish had been granted that night. A wish that would change the world forever and it was that little newborn that the wish was for. The words were not spoken out loud but the shooting star and perhaps other forces had heard the wish clearly as if it had been spoken to the world.

Wishes are a powerful thing and sometimes they are just hopes and dreams which rarely come true but if there is someone otherworldly that has heard the wish then it can be granted. A wish no matter how large or small can and will be granted for those who have had the pleasure of having someone hear it. There need no words to hear such a wish to know how to make it true. Like nature, magic runs deep in the world and it is a mystery, even to those who are wise and magic and wishes can collide at times.

Magic comes in all shapes and forms, whether that are creatures such as Vampires or Werewolves or simply an object that can be used for good or evil or even a plant that can heal even the most fatal wounds. Unlike so many others magic has no rules and it has no limit, it can be anything or anyone and yet can be nothing and no one. As if it has a mind of its own and it will act when it wishes and it will become what it wants.

And that night magic was about to present itself in strange ways, though barely anyone would even notice that magic had paid them a visit and granted them a wish that would either balance the world or tear it down. Magic is neither good nor evil yet it can be used for either one of them. One might say that magic is unpredictable and perhaps it is, but maybe it does have a sense of order if one were to look closer but by the time that they do that, the magic will be long gone and would've moved on.

Valentina laid in her mother's arms who was beyond exhausted yet her eyes would not leave her baby girl's, and she found herself holding her tighter. She was her baby and she would protect her to the end and many years later she would. The infant's sleeping body was calm and she did not cry, much to her mother's surprise. But she would later find out that Valentina would become a child that is calm and she yet so strong but gentle. The love she felt for her daughter that night and all the night after this one and all the days for all eternity, is eternal and it is pure.

Her father was passed out asleep on the chair beside the bed, not only being awake to witness his daughter's birth but he has always been busy with meetings. He is the Alpha and that is not an easy job but the happiness that he felt that night was unlike anything that he has ever felt and he would protect his daughter. But nature works in strange ways and madness corrupted him in ways unlike any other and it took his mind, body and soul and he became something else, something evil.

Though it did not happen that night as fate allowed him to feel that happiness the night that his daughter and only child was brought into the world, though never knowing that he might be the reason why she would leave the world. The night was strange but no one could understand how or why. Some minutes later Valentina had been laid in her crib while she slept soundly and her parents had gone to sleep in their bed as her father had been woken up. Though neither parents were far away from their newborn child as they would be near if she needed them.

While the night reigned and it was still young, two people appeared in the nursery. A man and a woman. Both of them were not from this world yet there they stood, in flesh and bones as if they were from this world. The woman walked over to the crib and reached her hand down and caresses Valentina's cheek, and she lets out a small laugh when she stares down at the girl. "Such a small child, such a big future" She whispers silently, with only the man that can hear her and he chuckles as he walks over to the crib as well.

The two of them watch as the once sleeping child awakens and while a newborn is excepted to cry, it did not come from her. Instead cooing notices came from Valentina. Her eyes opened for the first time to look at the woman which caught her eye the first but then the man. It was as if the infant child was studying them as they were studying her. The man however does not look that interested in the child as the female beside him is. She picks Valentina up into her arms who let out a small gurgling squeal by the action.

"Why is it that you have chosen this child to be the one?" He asks her. Knowing full well of the future which is in store for the young girl in the woman's arms. "I did not choose her for anything, Lycan. You should know this. This girl is no more special than the next" She speaks. "However, it are the choices that she will make in the future that make her the one. Choices that no one else made and feared to" She tells him, still her eyes remained on the child in her arms.

Valentina could only look up at the woman and give her a sort of smile. Her hands waving in the air as her legs kick about everywhere. "A wish was presented to one of my students, a wish that will be granted" He tells her and she smiles at him. This time looking up at Lycan as he had spoken. "And, do tell me. What wish was that?" She asks shim with a small smirk on her face. "I see how in her future there is pain and there is suffering. The wish was to grant her immortality" He speaks and her smirks widens.

While she already knew the wish very well, she wanted him to speak the words, say them out loud. That woman always had a plan in mind. "Immortality does seem rather outrageous for a wish, yet a parent always does whatever it can to protect their children" She says. Cooing the child in her arms, she holds Valentina tighter to herself as she begins to softly hum a tune, a tune that with not much effort has lulled the young newborn to sleep in her arms. "It was not a parent that made the wish" He says.

Laying Valentina back into her crib, she turns to face with a look of amusement. "If it was not a parent, then who was it?" She asks him. "Do not play these games with me, we both are already aware that you were the one that made the wish. Why does it matter to you that this girl has immortality? You have said so yourself, she is no more special than the next" Lycan asks her as he stalks towards her. But she just gives him an innocent smile as she walks over to him and lands a kiss on his cheek.

"In due time, my love. In due time" She tells him and smirks as she leaves him alone in the nursery. He does not know what she plans on doing but he does intend on finding out soon enough. Though when one has forever, they can afford to wait. And as Valentina laid there in her crib and the wish that the woman had granted her, gives the child immortality. Yet not even she herself knows of this and perhaps she would not learn for some years but it was only a matter of time which she would know.

Immortality is what not many creatures have and few can get in their lifetime, some do not think of it that often while others might wish to achieve it. Whatever the reason for it, immortality can either be a blessing or a curse and it could be either one for the child. Perhaps it would be the best thing that had ever happened to her or perhaps it would be the very thing that can destroy her and everything that she is. After all she is the one that has to watch every one of her family members die in front of her while she does not die, no matter what.

Though while immortality had been given to the girl, it does come at a high price and all know that. For Vampires, it is the bloodlust and their rage and their rare emotions of love as their hearts do not beat normally. The price was not avoided by Valentina as she like all others that have achieved immortality has to give up something before she has even lived a single day in her life. Something would be taken away from her. Her Wolf.

Valentina would be unable to become a Wolf and shift into the Wolf, however as she does carry the Wolf genes inside her body, she is able to use some of the abilities that follow. Yet, the Wolf shall never be able to come out. The price for immortality is cruel and it knows no bounds so the fate decided that her Wolf was not enough to pay that price and perhaps the event that would follow this price was necessary for all to line up perfectly to the plans of other beings would take place. Valentina's father would lose his sanity over time.

Perhaps if the young infant in her crib would've known that her father would lose his sanity because of what was gifted to her, she would beg someone to take it away from her as her love for her father is pure. Perhaps if she had known she would've never achieved the things that she is meant to do. Nature works in mysterious ways but of one were to look close one might see that all that nature does is f0r a reason even if it comes in random patterns.

Years later when Valentina had just been five years old she got lost for the first time. The child had been so curious that she had run off somewhere. The forest was what held the most mysteries to her so naturally the golden haired child had felt the compelling need to go there and she did. Never knowing that that day she would actually seal her destiny in stone and yet at the same time she will forever write her own destiny like she has always done in her life with every choice that she made.

Valentina is not aware of the role that she has in the world but one can argue that no child knows that at this young age. Though one cannot deny that the young golden blonde haired girl does have a role in life and she does serve a purpose. She may not look special to some and she might appear ordinary but she is the key to so many things and it is only this day that she will become a step closer to the one which she is supposed to become and she would not even realize it herself.

Laughter come from her as she walked in the forest. The sun was shining brighter than ever and she felt happy when going there. As a child she had no clue of how something or rather someone was luring her into the forest. Perhaps deep down she always knew it but as Valentina was just a child and did not know much about other forces in the world. True love was the only magic that existed in her eyes and the Mate bond which her parents shared was a miracle.

Valentina's parents are her role models and she loves the and they love her and this small family is eternal. But she wishes that she could love another the same way that her parents love each other. Though she found it gross seeing her parents kiss and did not want to do that in her future and vowed to herself that she would never kiss another soul. Still there are expectations like kissing her mother's and father's cheek but that was it, she did not even allow her favorite uncle which wasn't really her uncle at her but rather the Beta of the Pack.

Nature has always been a place where she feels peace and safety, perhaps that might be one of the things that drove her into the forest that day. The trees were inviting and so warm that she could almost feel their energy which lit them up, but not light ever shone but at the same time it was so bright that she could feel it in her soul. Valentina had been dressed in a summer dress because of the warmth and the color of the sun shone bright with all the roses which decorated the dress and she was visible in the forest even when looking from a kilometer away as her dress was almost shining or perhaps it was Valentina herself.

Her happiness that day knew no bounds and her laughter did not die down no matter what. She felt at peace and she felt safe and alive somehow, as if the forest awakens something within her. Still, as a child Valentina did not pay much attention to what she was feeling but she just enjoyed the moment of happiness and the time that she had alone. Slipped past her parents who were having one of their boring chats with other adults in the Packs, chats that Valentina hated as a child and hated even more as she grew up and she never hid that from anyone.

Her small fingers touched every tree that she saw as she walked through the forest. Animals all around her made her feel like she was surrounded by friends but in a way she wasn't for she was the creature that if given the chance would hunt them down. The young Werewolf girl did not care much for that and even at such a young age she knew right from wrong and maybe it was the Wolf that guided her and told her to not harm others.

A connection with her Wolf, the young girl feels deep within her yet somehow she cannot explain that the Wolf is weaker than her parents have told her. While her child mind thinks she's weak, as her Wolf does not do the things that other children have already done. Speak to their Wolves and connect with them as if they were one and in a way they always are one but Valentina's Wolf has never spoken to her nor has she spoken to her Wolf. Even when she tried to, but it did not bother her that much.

The ice blue-eyed girl tries to take everything in from the forest. The sweet air which fills her with happiness that she herself cannot describe and just the feelings around her that make her feel like she's surrounded by friends. The trees are her friends and she is their friend, like all the animals which she counted as her friends. The trees were alive, there was no doubt about that to the little girl. Valentina may not see them breathe or hear their heartbeats but still they are alive and they are watching over her, as if they were her very own guarding angels.

She smiled as she saw a deer along with a fawn by its side. The deer looked at her for a moment and she stared back. As if the two of them understood one another. Valentina had always been fascinated by deer and as she took a step closer she was surprised how the deer did not run away from her. Though she giggled when the deer along with the fawn came closer to her as if they wanted to meet her just as much as she wanted to meet them.

Standing so close to the deer she reaches with her hand out to pet it but as soon as she was about to make contact with it a sound takes both of their attention away and into a direction where there is only forest. A sound that she doesn't know and has never heard before. A sound that was neither good nor evil. Valentina had stared at the forest where the sound had come from for some time, not realizing that the deer and the fawn had left her some time ago but as she started walked in that direction, all was forgotten except the sound which still echoed inside her mind.

It felt like something had taken over her mind that day and still she never knew exactly what it was that lulled her there and it was a compelling force that she could not deny. At such a young age she did not know if she were walking into danger or her own death, her mind had no clue about it. Valentina's curiosity was growing with every second and she wanted to figure out what that sound was, and as she heard it again but louder the need became even more and she was unable to resist going there.

Her ice blue eyes stared ahead as she walked there, never truly seeing anything but the forest yet somehow there was something there. Perhaps her soul had felt it. Valentina walked deeper and deeper into the forest to the point where the sun was no longer able to shine down on her through the thick leaves on the branches that were stretched out in every single direction. Darkness loomed over the young child, yet fear never struck at her bones as it was unable to find her that day.

Her soul felt like it was puller her and she did not move on her own yet at the same it was she who was walking on her own accord. It was Valentina that took the steps and she was the one that decided that she wanted to go there. Never had she known why she felt like she needed to go there but she had to. Something or someone was waiting for her, her soul knew that. Or maybe it was just the curiosity of a child that made her decide to go there and go that path.

Large decisions aren't a part of a child's life and rarely they have to choose between anything larger than what to wear or do but she never knew that her decisions and her choices would decide the fate of the world. Valentina's body was so eager to go there that she was barely even thinking anything other than going there, all she can remember is how the only thing that ran through her mind was how she needed to find out and she needed to go there, and she did not have a clue why she needed to but it was as if a part of her was dragging her there to show her something but it was as if she was lost in the world, or lost in a trance.

It is not until she has stopped in front of a large cave which she had no idea was there in the forest that she snaps into reality and looks around herself. The forest where she had been playing before and saw that deer and the fawn were familiar to her eyes but she has never seen this part of the forest. The dark trees were much darker than she has ever seen in her life. Yet even when she was there in a place where she did not know, somehow she was not afraid. She felt warmth and happy.

She did not question why as children rarely do ask why they're happy. The sound comes again and this time it's so close to her that she can almost feel it run through her entire body. The sound had come from the cave. It was pitch black in there but she had not learned to use her Wolf eyes yet so she did not know how to see in the dark. She smiles to hers as she walks inside the cave. Valentina walking in there with her hand touching the cave wall to help her walk but somehow she did not need it.

The girl knew exactly where to go and how to get there. The smile on her lips did not disappear from her face as she walked on int the darkness. Unknown to Valentina, the yellow summer dress that she wore began to change. The color of the night took its place and the roses become stars. The little child did not feel any different inside yet something had changed, though her attention span of finding that ran out and she was once again mesmerized by the sound which struck her ears again yet in the best way possible.