Book of the dead: The rise of the Necromancer

It is your fate!

When Dora wakes up, the new truck is loaded, and the kids have already eaten. They are ready to leave, and Dora takes her Vodka stash, ready to go. She grabs a few things to snack on. Then, she takes a shower and gets dressed in clean clothes. She is ready to leave. The kids are waiting for her in the sitting room. As she walks in, she can see Maisie is not happy. Then she remembers her early morning encounter with Maisie's mate. s**t, Maisie must have gotten his smell. She forgot about the damn scent of the werewolf mate. She needs to think and think fast.

"Morning, kids. Maisie, sorry I dropped a cup of coffee all over you last night in my drunkenness. Luckily it was already cold. I tried to sober up a little last night on my way home and bought strong coffee with cream but never drank it. Did I wake you?" She asks. Maisie once told her her mate smelled like strong creamy coffee or something like that. Maisie looks at her with relief on her face. So it was Dora that dropped coffee all over her? Why did she not see any stains? Then again, she was freaked out, and she did not make the bed this morning as the hotel told them they didn't need to clean as there is a cleaning service. Dora quickly let coffee stains appear on Maisie's pajamas in her suitcase with her headache and all. She has to think fast and on her feet. She does not want Maisie to know her mate is hot on their trail. They may need his help later on. Dora has a nasty feeling about this treasure, but she does not want to burst the kids' bubble.

"You dropped coffee over me last night? What were you doing in my room?" Maisie asks. Still not sure if Dora is telling the truth. She quickly opens her suitcase, and she is relieved when she sees the coffee and cream stains on her pajamas. Besides, why would Dora lie to her? She also doesn't want her mate near Maisie until they find the treasure.

"Sorry, kiddo, I got lost. Like I said. I was drunk as a sailor," Dora says. Maisie is relieved that will explain the coffee smell. Rufus and Stew are a bit confused. They could have sworn they smelled Maisie's mate on her, but maybe it was just the creamy coffee Dora dropped on Maisie.

"Let's go. We must get to Lake Tahoe today," Dora says. She wants to stop talking about last night. She is sure if they talk about it any longer, her head is going to explode. She can not make up more stories with this hangover. So the kids forget about last night as they are all excited to go on the adventure to her relief. Dora sits in the back with Rufus, who took another bath this morning. Dora looks at him funny.

"What? I did not fart, I promise," Rufus says as he sees Dora's look.

"No, you smell nice, for a change. I was just wondering, why?" Dora says, eating beef jerky and drinking vodka.

"Yeah, I took a bath this morning," Rufus says with a big smile. Dora almost spits out her mouthful of vodka in disbelief, but she does not want to waste it and swallow fast.

"You did what! Out of free will, or did those two make you take a bath?" Dora asks, glaring at the backs of Stew and Maisie. She loves all her new children but has a soft spot for Rufus.

"Yeah, I love taking baths, especially if there is a lot of bubbles in the bath. The bathtub was so big and comfortable," Rufus says.

"Well, then we will have to look for a hotel with a big bathtub for my little Rufus," Dora says and look at the big young man sitting next to her. Rufus is everything bit little. Rufus smiles down at his new mother. Rufus loves Dora. He knows he is her favorite.

Maisie is driving. Markus saw Maisie buying the truck the day before. He had cold chills thinking of Dora driving that big truck. He is relieved to see she is not driving today. His mate is driving, and she is doing a great job. He enjoyed last night just being close to her. The old witch must have given Maisie a believable story this morning about last night. He keeps a distance from them so Maise will not see him in her mirrors. He can not let her get away from him, but he knows the time is not right to approach her yet. He will have to talk to the old witch to find out the whole story and why Maisie does not want a mate. He feels a bit hurt that Maisie ran away from him, but she did not reject him, neither did she accept him. Maybe the time is not right yet. He will find out when they reach their destination tonight. He has no idea where these four are leading him and what is waiting at the end of the road for all of them.

"I am hungry," Rufus complains after they have been driving for about five hours.

"We are almost there Rufus," Maisie says. It is about a half hours drive to Lake Tahoe. Maisie is excited. She can not wait to start looking for the treasure. Dora gives Rufus some of her snacks and drinks her vodka.

"We are almost there, kiddo. Hang on for a bit. If I were driving, we would have been there a long time ago," Dora says. The three know she is correct, but they are sure if Dora were driving, they would have been dead by now as she already passed out once. No one says anything, though, and they keep quiet. They love mother Dora to bits. They are worried that one day she will drink herself to death. Once they have the treasure, they will help her to stop drinking. Although they know it will be hard. They can not imagine mother Dora without her vodka bottle.

"You know there is a gruesome legend about lake Tahoe. The lake was once a place where mobsters would dispose of the bodies of their victims. And because the lake is so deep and so cold, those bodies are still in perfect condition, floating at the bottom of the lake," Stew says. He was reading up on Lake Tahoe. Rufus does not like ghosts and s**t like that.

"I hate ghosts. I bet they are haunting the lake," Rufus says, looking scared.

"Don't talk bullshit. It is rumored. There are no ghosts there," Dora slurs as she is so drunk she can hardly sit up.

"Are you sure, mother Dora?" Rufus asks.

"I am a witch, my dear. I will feel if there are any ghosts there. I would have felt them by now as we are close to the lake," Dora says. She always tries to protect Rufus as he is her little one.

"Thank you, mother Dora. I love you. You always look out for me," Rufus says. Dora starts crying. No one ever told her they loved her.

"We all love you, mother Dora," Stew says, feeling sorry for the old witch.

"Yes, we love you, like a mother," Maisie also says, and in Dora cries even more as she drunken sorrow. She is not usually a person who will show her emotions, but she is drunk, feeling vulnerable. Soon they reach lake Tahoe.

They get an antique dealer again, and this time they reach five hundred and fifty thousand dollars for three coins. They now have a lot of money. They find a nice-looking hotel and book the top floor for themselves again, paying cash. To Rufus' delight, there is a large bathtub in his room again. They go sightseeing. There are many hiking trails and a lot of beaches. Since it is summer, the three young wolves decide to go swimming. They can walk to the beach for their hotel room. Markus looks at his mate in a bikini. He is not happy as he sees the young men staring at her. He wants to run over and cover up her body, but his sister stops him. She has never seen her brother like this. He is jealous. She smiles. She likes seeing Markus so jealous of his beautiful mate. She looks at the young Maisie. She has long black hair with the bluest eyes and a body to kill for; wonder the young men are all staring at her. Markus can not take his eyes off his beautiful mate. She is perfect, and he wants her so bad, but he knows he will have to keep his distance for now. He knows her wolf will not allow her to touch another man and that he is safe. She is his!

After swimming, they lay in the sun for a bit then go back to the hotel. Rufus heads for the bathtub. He is cold and hungry. Dora has ordered some food and lots of it as she does not want the children to go hungry. She is heading out again. They will study the map tomorrow. As she goes to a bar, Markus and his sister follow the old drunken witch. She has noticed them, although she has been drinking all day. She also sensed that they were hybrids. She knows Markus has not discovered his wizard side yet. He is just as powerful as his sister. He does not realize it yet. Dora knows she will have to help him discover his powers.

As she sits down, she sees the two of them sitting at a table close to her. They are unaware that she is aware of them as they think she is too drunk to notice them. She will have to test Markus's magical powers. They both are half-witch/wizard and half wolf. She turns around, facing Markus. He feels something is attacking him, but his wolf and something else are protecting him. Dora attacks him with her magic. The magic in him responds, and to Dora's surprise, he is powerful. She falls off her chair as he counters attack her with his magic. Markus feels the power of magic leaving his body and hitting the witch that was attacking him.

"Wow, you are a strong young wizard," Dora says as she walks up to Markus. He is stunned as this is the first time he has used magic.

"What happened to me?" Markus asks Dora. Norma can feel Dora's power, and she knows Dora is a powerful witch. She looks at Markus in surprise. She did not know he also had magic inside him.

"You used your magic inside you for the first time, young man," Dora answers him.

"I did not know I had magical powers like my sister," Markus says.

"I sense a strong ancestor in the two of you. His name was Authur. He has beaten a great evil. What it was or who it was, I do not know. All I know is that the two of you will defeat this great evil again," Dora says and orders a drink. Markus is stunned. He does not know what to say or what to think.

"Tell me about Maisie and her friends. Why did she run away from me?" Markus asks.

"They are three orphans. Maisie's uncle killed their parents, and Maisie wants to avenge their parents' deaths, and she wants to do it by herself. You can not intervene right now. It would be best if you left her to get her revenge on her own. She needs it. She is the rightful Alpha of her pack, and she and the other two were abused by her uncle. Let her have her adventure. It is the fate of all of you. You, your sister, and the young wolves need to do this to save the world from a dreadful fate," Dora says, and that is all she knows. She can not tell them anything else. She knows that this adventure is the fate of the five young wolves, and all she can do is try and assist them where she can until she dies.