I never thought that one day I would come back to this place. It has indeed changed a lot, just like Helia told me.
Here I stand with my daughter’s hand in mine in front of the gates of Big-Bear-Lake. The forest that was once inside the town and filled with humans is now isolated, with gates surrounding it. I do not know how they did that, what humans think about this, or if they can even see what we see, but I am certain magic was involved. It looks like a collective effort has been put into this.
“Maman, I am hungry,” Bella says. I give her a bag of blood for her to feed on. My blood. The first time she fed on blood was mine as well. I cannot call myself a human, but I am equivalent.
I look again at the gates. From a little distance, I can smell three kinds of species: werewolves, vampires, and witches. I am assuming that they are guarding the place. I wonder how they are getting along since their leaders are at war, but I am sure they are forced into this. There is a lack of trust for sure since each leader wants someone of their kind to guard the place.
I quickly chant a spell, and the gates fly open, startling the guards, who, upon hearing me come in, stand in a protective stance.
“Who are you, and what are you doing here?!” one of the nine guards yells—a werewolf.
I keep walking, ignoring them. Bella is holding my hand while looking at them. Out of the blue, a body stands in front of me. Beside his smell, his speed tells me that he is a vampire. In general, there were three werewolves, three vampires, and three witches and wizards.
“We asked you a question. You cannot be here without permission,” he hisses.
I look up at him and say, “I do not need permission to be here.”
“You’re a witch,” another voice says. It is one of the witches.
“I am,” I nod.
“Are you coming to meet with Kalisto?” she asks, walking my way.
“It is none of your business. Get out of my way,” I say as I continue walking.
After a few steps, I hear fast footsteps behind me, and I know that they are going to attack me. I swiftly turn around and stop them with my free hand. Their shocked expressions tell me that they did not see this coming.
“We did until you fell asleep, and I had to walk through the gates,” I told Helia.
I roll my eyes.
“How can you be tired? You are a phoenix.”
I spread my wings because I am done with this. Their heartbeats spike when they see my wings. I can tell that they kind of recognize me now. I am sure they have heard stories about me. Not trying to brag or anything.
“I will spare your lives only because I don’t want to do this in front of my daughter,” I say and turn around and fly toward the pack house that was once my home.
I wonder what will happen when they see me. I am sure if Ivan is here, he will try to kill me. Alex, on the other hand, will stand frozen in his place, not uttering a word. My father would be happy to see me and relieved.
I decide to take Bella to Carmela’s cottage before I go to the pack house. Carmela is my dear friend and the only person from Big Bear Lake who has kept in contact with me besides my mother. She has seen Bella a few times, and Bella loves her.
She does not know that I am coming, but I am sure she would be delighted. When she knew that I left, she did a location spell to locate me. She immediately followed me and bought her first cellphone and put my number in it. We never really used mobile phones before, but it was an exception.
I send her a quick message asking for her location. I am standing with Bella, who finished feeding on my blood, in the middle of the forest. The darkness envelops us as we pace around. I am not really worried about anything. For some reason, for the first time, I feel that I am in the right place. I should be here.
“Do you want to sleep?” I ask Bella. She shakes her head as a no.
“Maman?” she softly calls after a few minutes.
“Oui?”
“Je t’aime.”
Bella never sincerely told me that she loves me. She used to say it when I got her gifts while squealing, but she never genuinely said it out of the blue.
I kneel to her level and say, “I love you, Bella. Always remember that.” I smile, hugging her.
Suddenly, my phone dings. I got a reply from Carmela with the location of her cottage. I quickly hold Bella and fly to the destination.
Bella is afraid of flying. I just discovered that because she has never flown with me before since Helia was not really inside of me. Her body, I mean. When I told Bella that we are flying from France to the USA, she got excited but regretted it almost immediately.
“We are here,” I tell Bella to make her calm down.
I gently knock on the cottage’s door and wait for Carmela to open. Not even a few seconds passed before she opened the door.
“Oh my god!” she squeals, her voice echoing through the forest, making me place my hand on her mouth.
“Lower your voice,” I say, walking in with Bella.
“I cannot believe you are here,” she exclaims, looking between me and Bella.
I kind of feel jealous.
“How are you, little one?”
“Good!”
“Carmella,” I say in a serious manner.
“Yes, Clem?” she replies, frowning.
“I must leave Bella with you for a few hours. I need to visit the pack house.”
“Do you think it’s a good idea? The werewolves and witches are not on good terms at all right now.”
“Yes, but Alex is my brother. Also, my father called me when I was in France. He told me to come. I think he’s in trouble,” I explain.
“He is not. He needs you to solve the problems of Big-Bear-Lake. He and your mother are seeing each other secretly.”
“How do you know if it’s a secret?”
“I am the messenger,” she rolls her eyes.
“What about the vampires?” I ask, not really wanting to know the tea.
“The Acherons. Ruthless. Ever since you left, they have been killing whoever comes in their way.”
“Why so sudden? What happened after I left?” I ask for the first time.
When Carmela visited me in France, I asked her not to tell me anything because I did not want to know, but I must now know everything.
“Ivan went on a killing spree. He started killing witches and vampires. That’s how the war actually started. Your brother could not do anything about it because Ivan is so powerful. You know this…”
She explains further, “Your father tried to convince Alex and Ivan to befriend the witches, but they never agreed. They hated our guts, Clem. With you coming back here, it will be problematic.”
“Then I will befriend the vampires,” I smirk, making her face pale.
The nine guards are still frozen in their place. Clementine did not kill them, but she did not remove the spell either when she froze them.
The guards’ lives are protected by the higher council that was created when the three empires rose. They are the official guards of the gates and cannot be killed unless the higher council approves so. That is why they had to tolerate each other.
Since neither the vampire nor the witches could communicate with anyone, the werewolves had to mind-link their pack to unfreeze them. That cannot happen unless Clementine removes her spell.
At the pack house, Alex’s new beta, Drew, receives the news and tells Alex about it. At first, Alex thinks that the witches have been playing around, but he knows that it is impossible because among the guards are two witches and a wizard.
Alex, along with his beta, left the pack house and went to the gates of Big-Bear-Lake. He has absolutely no idea what he is about to hear.
When he arrives, he is shocked to see the guards frozen in place—only their eyes are moving. He mind-linked the werewolves among them and asks them what happened.
Alex turns around and looks through the forest with a frown. “Clementine?”
