Beastmora- The Golden Six Read online

  “What could I possibly do?” Valeria grumbled at her and Florence smirked.

  “I was not talking to you,” Her mother’s eyes motioned to Nebby before she exited the room.

  Valeria sighed deeply looking over at the dragon who was watching her mother’s retreating figure with melancholy eyes. Once she was out of sight, Nebby, turned her gaze to Valeria with a distasteful look.

  “What?” Valeria asked as Nebby stared at her with what looked like a frown. Could dragons even frown? They sat like that staring at each other for what seemed like an eternity before Nebby huffed and settled on the desk to mope. She mimicked the dragon as she stood and started to examine the office, silver frames with pictures of their family lined the surface of the desk, she stopped on the last photograph. It was of a woman she had never met, she could tell the woman was a wolf from the blue eyes, but she wasn’t a royal, the eyes were too dull for that. The wolf had milky skin and loose brown hair, framing round cheeks. The wolf was looking down at the keys of a piano with a smile gracing her lips. Valeria stared at the wolf in shock, who was she? Her mother had never mentioned anyone like her. It was with this photo that Valeria realized she knew nothing about her mother. Shaking her head, she took to go through the drawers. The first drawer was parchment, writing utensils, typical things for a desk drawer and in the second there were dragon treats along with more uninteresting things. The third drawer, however, was locked. No matter how many times she pulled, it wouldn’t budge, and there was no keyhole.

  “How do you open this thing?” Valeria murmured, she was curious now, after all the classified talk, there had to be something ‘classified’ in there. Then a thought crossed her mind; her mother had specialized in blood magic.

  “Maybe my blood is a close enough match,” Valeria mused as she pricked her finger on her fang before pressing the blood to the drawer, at first nothing happened and then with a click the drawer slid open. Inside were stacks of grey folders, Valeria moved her hand down to pick one up, but Nebby bit her hand, not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough to sting.

  “Ouch! What was that for?” Valeria asked, holding her nipped hand to her chest and Nebby just glared at her, “What? It’s not like she’ll notice.”

  Nebby let out a hissing noise, much like Thoren had, but Valeria was no wolf, so she had no idea what the dragon was hissing about.

  “Come on. Just let me look at one,” Valeria bargained, but Nebby shook her head, “What about for a treat?”

  Valeria pulled the treat bag from the drawer and held it out to Nebby, who sniffed it before eating it. Valeria was pleased that the dragon took her bribe before going to reach for the drawer again, Nebby bit her hand.

  “Hey! I thought we had a deal,” Valeria exclaimed, clutching her bitten hand again and glaring at the crimson dragon. Nebby elongated her tail to shut the drawer with a loud smack before settling back to stare at her. Valeria sighed before standing and moving over to Callan’s desk. He had three wooden frames lining the surface of his desk. One was of Emalia staring at the camera; she was showing all of her teeth in a big goofy smile. Valeria smiled, looking at her sister looking so happy. The second was of a man who looked a lot like Callan himself with a tan female beside him; this must be his parents. The third was of Callan, her mom, a man that she recognized as Xander Brantley or as she knew him, Uncle Xan, the three of them grinning wildly at the camera. Uncle Xan had sun-kissed skin, red hair, and burning orange eyes that resembled a flame, the eyes of a royal phoenix. He was lean but well muscled, and his right arm was severed at the elbow. She stared at them for a minute; she had never seen a photo of the three of them without the other Golden Six members. Then she took to searching the drawers and just like her mother; the third drawer was locked. This time there were glowing letters, requesting a password. Valeria looked over at Nebby who didn’t seem to care if she was messing with Callan’s things at all.

  “What are you doing?” Callan asked from the doorway, his arms crossed and his lips turned up at the corners. Valeria shot up to her feet in a matter of seconds. She must’ve of been staring at those photos for longer than she thought. Her eyes grew wide, Valeria’s mind racing to find an explanation, “Nevermind, I don’t actually care.”

  “Are you going to tell my mother?” Valeria blurted, moving away from Callan’s desk to stand by her mothers.

  “Nah. Harmless curiosity,” Callan replied, plopping down in his chair but before Valeria could question his motives, her mother walked in. She looked slightly paler than, and her eyes seemed tired. Nebby jumped up from the desk and flew to her mother’s shoulders, clearly pleased to be reunited.

  “Ready to go Valeria?” Florence questioned, her eyebrows raising slightly at Valeria’s flushed look as she rushed out of the room. The older vampire led her towards the roof yet again, moving with practiced ease through the bleak corridors.

  “You look tired,” Valeria said softly, and her mother glanced at her, “Does it have to do with the halflings?”

  “Valeria if that is your way of complimenting me, I think it needs some work,” Florence smirked at her as they entered the lift and she murmured their destination, “But yes, it does. Blood magic is exhausting. It’s unfortunate that no one else can fill my place and give me a night off.”

  “How does blood magic connect with halflings?” Valeria questioned, the burning curiosity that seized her earlier burning in her gut. The silver doors slid open, and they walked to the roof to exit, and Valeria was convinced her mother was not going to answer.

  “Halflings are a half beast, half demon. Their own blood fights against itself, eventually, it kills them, but before it does it causes a frenzy. Blood magic can either speed this process up or slow it down,” Florence finally replied, they were standing on the landing pad now, the twinkling lights of the city below them illuminating her young features. Her mother stopped aging on her hundredth birthnight, freezing her features and her body at the exact moment. Valeria herself was predicted to stop at a century as well, but with her father stopping at one hundred and twenty, there was no telling, “Unfortunately the blood fights its own destruction, making it quite difficult to… diffuse the situation.”

  “By diffuse the situation, you mean...” Valeria trailed off, trying to keep her mind from envisioning her mother, hurting another beast.

  “Kill them? Yes,” Florence nodded, her eyes held no pity but an acceptance, “They cannot be cured, I’ve tried to reverse the process, but it only made for an excruciating death.”

  “They feel pain?” Valeria asked, in school, she had never heard of those creatures knowing pain. Her professors have always told her they were just sick creatures who had lost their minds due to the infection.

  “Yes, that is what drives them into a craze in the first place,” Florence replied before pulling Nebby from her shoulder, “Now we should get home before your father begins to worry.”

  Valeria froze as she thought of what she was going to say to her dad. He had always been the overemotional one. She could only imagine the tears and monologue she was about to endure

  “Can we just stay here?”

  “Afraid of your father?” Florence laughed.

  “Yes,” She admitted looking down at her shoes.

  “Well, you will have to face him eventually. Nebby let’s go,” Her mother said still laughing at Valeria’s gloomy expression, but Nebby did not grow. The crimson dragon just sat there before she let out a series of hisses and roars.

  “What’s wrong with her?” Valeria asked as Nebby continued her temper tantrum.

  “She can’t transform,” Florence responded slowly before scooping her companion up, “Let’s take you to Will. He’ll know what’s wrong.”

  Just as fast as they’d come up to the roof, they were back on the Team A floor heading to the office across from her mother and Callans. Without knocking, her mother threw open the door and set Nebby down in front of a silver-haired man with purple eyes. Valeria supposed this was Wil
l.

  “Tell me why she can’t transform?” Her mother questioned. The sorcerer let out an annoyed sigh.

  “Hi, Will. How are you? I’m great. What about you, Florence? How can I help?” Will snarked dramatically crossing his arms before uncrossing them at Florence’s raised eyebrow, “Okay. Okay, please don’t drop kick me again.”

  The sorcerer stood and started waving his hands, light emitting from around Nebby as spells were cast. Valeria had the feeling that his mouth got him in trouble a lot. An elf occupied the desk across from his, she had brown eyes and green vines tattooed on her reddish-brown skin. She looked up at them briefly before back down to her paperwork. It seemed like this sort of thing happened to them a lot.

  “I’m going to cast a translating spell, so we know what she’s saying,” Will said before his arms swirled and it was silent for a second.

  “You poisoned me!” Nebby hissed leering at Valeria, “This fledgling gave me a poisoned treat. Florence, execute her immediately!”

  “Nebby, I’m not going to execute my daughter,” Florence sighed.

  “I gave you a treat from Mom’s desk. How could I have poisoned you?” Valeria asked incredulously.

  “She admitted it, you heard her. Swiftly cut her down,” Nebby hissed again, snapping her jaws at her.

  “Calm down, Drama dragon. You’re going to be fine,” Will interrupted, “It’s just a Pocket Size potion. It is used when taking a magical creature to a Creature Healer. Keeps them one size for like an hour but this is such a high dose that Nebby will remain this way for, hmm, a phase.”

  “A phase?” Nebby snarled her eyes blazing at Valeria again.

  “Nebby, honestly. You must calm down,” Florence murmured picking the dragon back up, “Thank you for your help, Will. Sorry to intrude on your work, Dakota.”

  “Aren’t you upset?” Valeria asked as they walked through the bleak corridors yet again to the lounge area this time instead of the roof exit.

  “Of course I am but showing it will not benefit the situation,” Florence replied, “Someone broke into my office and tainted my treats. They did not aim to kill Nebby but to handicap her. This can only mean something is coming and they want Nebby out of the fray. They know I will feel at odds fighting without her by my side. I will take this as a warning. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must call your father to come retrieve us.”

  ◆◆◆

  The reunion with her father went exactly as she expected. As soon as Thoren landed, Derik threw himself to the ground and grabbed Valeria in a fierce hug. He cried and thanked the Creator that she was alive. Then he promptly flicked her nose and told her that she would spend the next night helping him to organize the manor’s library. All Valeria could do was say, yes sir, and move on. The last two nights had all been rather exciting for her, and she was itching to know why someone would poison Nebby. What did her mother mean by, this was just a warning? As they made their way home, these were the only things Valeria could think about. When they lowered to the ground in front of the manor, her brothers were standing at the front door. As soon as they landed Henrik, much like their father, threw himself at Valeria.

  “V, we thought you died. Are you okay?” Henrik sobbed holding onto her tighter. Valeria wrapped her arms around her younger brother in hopes that he would calm down. Demetri hadn’t moved from the door; he was standing there with the unreadable expression as he watched them. Behind her, Derik and Florence were speaking in low whispers that she couldn’t make out despite being a few inches away.

  “I’m fine, Henrik. Don’t cry,” She said, hoping to soothe her brother with a few pats to his curly hair.

  “But, but fine never means that you are actually okay. You didn’t get hurt too bad, right? Emmie said that you got a scar,” Henrik was dramatic as always. Another trait inherited from dear old Dad. She made a mental note to kick her sister in the shin for telling their younger brother about the injury.

  “Alright, Henrik let’s go inside,” Derik said, bringing a hand to the young fledglings shoulder and leading him inside.

  “What would you like for dinner?” Florence asked, her gaze questioning at Demetri and Valeria as she passed by them.

  “Blood,” Demetri replied, a smirk on his lips.

  “Fine. Starve then,” Florence stated, turning on her heel and heading inside after Derik and Henrik before Valeria could follow, Demetri blocked the doorway.

  “Hey so what was your game plan last night?,” Demetri asked, a familiar mischievous glint in his eyes, “Prove the elders right by doing something impulsive, irresponsible and immature?”

  “Shut up, Demetri,” Valeria hissed, glaring daggers at her twin.

  “Woah, V. I was just asking a harmless question. Why are you getting so defensive?” Demetri responded, and Valeria wondered how much trouble she would get into for punching him in the face.

  “You and I define harmless differently,” Valeria muttered, “Maybe that’s why Mom had to pull a few strings so you could graduate.”

  Demetri was stunned into silence, and Valeria took the opportunity to push past her brother.

  * * *

  Chapter Three

  Mates

  Valeria spent the following night going through the thousand and five books in the Grey Manor library, organizing them all by content. Thankfully Henrik loved books, so he offered to read the summaries for her and tell her which part of the library was their new home. It wasn’t a particularly hard task, just tedious. The night passed in a blur of the mind-numbing task, but through all that, she could only think of the events of the previous evening. The classified folders, the wolf in the photo, and Nebby stuck the size of a kitten for the next phase. Valeria ached to ask her mother what it all might mean, but Florence was gone by the time she woke up. Her father wasn’t very helpful in explaining where she went either, but Valeria did notice her father seemed antsy, the way he got when he was worried. Demetri was packing his things, preparing himself for the journey ahead and when he was not packing, he was taunting Valeria. The next evening, they would be having a going away party for the two of them. Emalia, Callan, and Uncle Xander would all be at the Manor within the next hour. Valeria now sat in front of the fire, watching the flames dance as she waited. Henrik sat beside her a book in his lap, one she noticed was written by her father. Demetri was nowhere to be seen, and her dad was cooking for non-vampires. Despite having no taste buds, Derik was a great chef. Not that Valeria would know, but Emalia always gave rave reviews.

  “I always forget how cold this territory it,” Valeria sat up as she heard the familiar voice of her Uncle Xander grumbling from the front door. Henrik shot up from his seat with Valeria on his heels. As soon as they stepped into the front room, Henrik knocked into Nova Brantley. Nova was Uncle Xander and his mate, Ivan’s daughter and the same age as Henrik, she had wild red hair and a face full of freckles.

  “It’s one of the warmer nights actually,” Florence chimed in, she was still in her GSI uniform, but Xander and Callan had changed before coming. They were both wearing giant fur filled jackets while Emalia had on her usual turtleneck sweater. Henrik had moved from greeting Nova and now was hugging Florence with a gleeful expression.

  “Hey Uncle Xan,” Valeria greeted with a small smile, and the phoenix pulled her into a brief hug. Hugging a phoenix was like sitting in a hot bath, relaxing and at the same time slightly uncomfortable. As much as she loved her uncle, his skin was steaming hot, and Valeria was glad she had the barrier or his coat. Phoenix flames could kill any beast with one touch if it were warm enough.

  “V, how’s my favorite niece doing?” Xander asked over Emalia’s protests. Valeria laughed before she was pushed aside by Henrik who promptly launched himself at their uncle. She watched them for a moment before turning to her sister and Callan.

  “Hey, why didn’t you guys stick around the other night? I didn’t get to say goodbye to you,” Emalia opened her mouth to reply, but Callan beat her to it.

  “Your mo
ther came to our house and kicked us out. Our house. Kicked us out,” The wolf snarked throwing his jacket at Florence.

  “Quit being so dramatic. I simply sent you to work early,” Florence responded, taking their coats to hang them in the small closet by the door before moving silently towards the kitchen where Derik was making dinner shortly after they heard Derik’s frightened shout and Florence’s musical laughter.

  “At least some things never change,” Emalia said with a smile before she too was attacked by Henrik’s hug.

  “Em, I haven’t seen you in forever. You are always with Callan in the city. Why don’t you come home more often?” Henrik asked, tilting his head to the side, looking suspiciously like Thoren when he wanted a treat.

  “I see Dad has gotten to you,” Emalia mused ruffling his hair. Henrik grinned at her before moving to hug Callan who caught the fledgling easily.

  “Why don’t we head into the sitting room, where there’s actual warmth,” Xander said, guiding the group out of the foyer and into the sitting room. Henrik and Nova had taken the loveseat, leaning in and talking animatedly to each other. Callan and Xander, not used to the colder temperatures, sat directly in front of the fire where Thoren was sleeping.

  “Where’s Demetri?” Emalia asked, sitting on the couch beside Valeria.

  “Right here,” Demetri said, finally stepping downstairs for the first time that night. From the kitchen, they could hear a loud commotion before it was silent. A second later, Florence entered the room with a mischievous smile on her lips. Her mother’s eyes lit up at seeing her eldest son.

  “Oh there you are I was beginning to wonder if I had a second son,” Florence said, her eyebrows ticking up and Demetri sighed exasperatedly, then kissed her cheek

  “And I was beginning to wonder if Dad was going to become a single parent,” Demetri snarked back, “Sorry it took so long, I was messaging with Jun.”