Tempest

30 : Conversations of the Past

Tempest couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned and, worried that she would wake Galan, decided to go for a walk. She was unsettled and despite her fatigue her were was as restless as she was. She watched Galan as he slept, noting how the shadow of his beard chiseled his face and made her want to run her fingers over it. His eyelids fluttered as though he were dreaming and she felt like her heart grew a little bit more,

She quietly left the room, closing the door behind her and heading outside to the large garden. She breathed in the fresh night air, loving how still everything was. She looked up into the sky and watched the crescent moon as it nested in the clouds. The stars twinkled above her and her eyes stayed fixated on them, focusing on them because she didn't want to think too much right now.

There were so many things going on. She had not thought that she would be here at this point; with her mate, looking for her parents, waiting to fight a war she wanted nothing to do with. She had no options, though. Everything she held dear was at stake. Her entire way of life would come to an end if they didn't win this war. It was a huge weight on all their shoulders and there was no way it was going to end well.

"That's too many sighs for one so young," a voice said to her left.

She knew immediately who it was. She turned her head to look at Damien and she nodded at him in acknowledgement. He walked up to her and stood watching her, not saying anything. He studied her, seemingly fascinated by what he saw.

"I have never met anyone like you and I have been around for centuries," he finally said. "I thought I had seen all the supernatural creatures there are but you are different."

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours," she said with a chuckle.

"I don't think your mate will be too happy to hear you say that," he told her with a smirk.

"I don't get that vibe from you, Damien."

"Oh, yeah? What vibe do you get from me?"

"Certainly not some weird creeper centennial man with a thing for young weres. You are curious, as am I. So, let's kill the curiosity."

Damien laughed softly. "You're something special indeed. Want to go at three?"

Tempest giggled and nodded. At the count of three they both transformed at the same time. Tempest's jaw dropped as she watched the huge dragon that now stood in front of her. He was massive and she felt tiny in front of him. His wingspan must have been at least twelve meters and his head was almost the size of her whole body. His tail was long with a spike at the end of it and his claws could have gutted a lion with a single click.

He seemed to be studying her with the same fascination, his eyes moving over her with the same intensity. After a moment they changed back and Tempest shook her head in amazement.

"You think I'm special? You are amazing," she said to him. "Are there others like you?"

His smile disappeared and a sadness crept over his face. "My mate and our two children. I do not know of any others."

"I'm sorry," she said, laying a hand on his arm. He looked down at her hand on his arm and then looked up at her.

"Come, walk with me," Damien said as he turned from her. She followed him and they walked slowly through the garden. They walked in silence, Tempest wondering just how much she could ask him without offending him.

"Dragons are, to some extent, mind readers, but I can't get anything from you, despite my probing," Damin said with a side look to her. She smirked.

"I get that a lot. Aida had a tough time getting in there as well."

"Really? Aida is one of the best. For her to struggle is unheard of."

Tempest shrugged, not sure what to tell him. "How did you end up with Naoh?" she asked instead.

Damien sighed and shook his head. "We were young. All of us. He promised us that his intention was to make the world a better place, safer for all beings. For a while he did. He watched, recorded, and made the right decisions where he needed to. He kept the supernatural world away from the human world and vice versa, clearly delineating the lines and making sure that the borders were not breached. He brought in all types of beings, from the supernatural to humans. Everyone, whether gifted or not, human or not, was welcome into the Druids.

"When his wife, Natasha, was killed, he changed. Natasha's mother was a Sylph and her father was a werewolf. When they bonded, he chose to stay human but she could have turned him into a werewolf. Their bond was as strong as it could ever get after they mated and that was why he went rogue. We thought he would never recover. Then, after a few months, when we were wondering what to do, he recuperated. We had the old Noah back, or so we thought."

They had walked quite a way from the castle by now and they turned to walk back.

"It took time to notice the changes. The decisions he started to make were different. He always had reasons for the changes and because we were so happy to have him back, we went along with them for a while. When his plans started including concepts of murder and genocide we revolted and pushed back. That was when the internal fights started. There were those who supported his crazy new ideas because he pushed the fears of each of us and made them come to the front.

"He said he wanted to protect his fellow Druids and if that meant making sure he had something which he could use to control the supers, then he would do that. When his experiments started, we knew it was time to get out. It backfired badly, resulting in us killing each other over decisions that Noah wanted to make. Only the five of us got out. Noah killed the rest of the Druids who went against him.

"We each went into hiding. Maybe it wasn't the best thing to have done but it was the best decision at the time. We were hurt and needed to separate in order to throw them off our trail. We made a vow that we would come back if he ever succeeded in his madness. And now, here we are."

Damien stopped talking and Tempest frowned. "Do humans normally just stop being rogue after losing their mates? I mean, was what happened with Noah normal? I have seen it happen with werewolves but I have never heard of it happening with humans."

"Not normally, no. There are reported cases of weres who found other mates and recovered but with Noah, there was no one else. He had not been with another woman at the time he supposedly recovered. Natasha was it for him."

"What powers did Natasha have?" Tempest asked.

"She could open portals to anywhere in the world," Damien said. "Why?"

"Oh, shit! I know how he's going to do it!"

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20 November 2020

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