Fire and tears (Book1 of Wolves of Milano)

5. The awakening

“You’re not joking?” Vittorio asks Vesna and he wonders why she would even say something like that. It’s not a joking matter. He was there and he saw the destruction that was left behind. “You are saying that this sweet gentle soul is a pyromaniac mythic creature? Like the one that burned half of Sempione park?”

“Oh, no. The same creature, yes! But she is not a pyromaniac, not essentially. She is who she is. Fire is her domain, she can create it and she can control it. She will need guidance to learn how to control it. And she will need love to keep that control.” Vesna tells him. 

“Can you teach her?” Vittorio asks.

“No. That’s why we need my brother. Veles is the god of magic. He can teach her. But you need to ground her. Tell her you are mates when she comes through the transformation. And whatever you do, don’t show her fear.” Vesna answers.

“We really must go.” Ty nudges Vesna. “I can feel the heat. It’s calling.”

“Ty! Your eyes!” Vesna exclaims.

“I know. Keep a lock on Istracsia. I can control myself.” Ty answers.

“Alright. Vittorio, pick her up.” Vesna orders and he must comply. The urgency in her voice is enough to spur even his wolf into action without complaining. “Let’s go.”

Vittorio watches with amazement when she opens a portal with his bedroom door and instead of his bed, he can see a huge living room with sofas and recliners and a wall of windows behind them. He steps through with trepidation and swallows it fast. She did say to not show fear and he will abide by that in all situations.

“Veles!” Vesna shouts and a tall, imposing figure materializes in front of them.

“Do you have to do that? You scared me out of my socks.” The man growls at her.

“It’s an emergency. Move the furniture and make a fire resistant bubble.” Vesna tells her brother. “Vittorio, lay her down on the floor. Take the sheets, she doesn’t need extra fuel.”

“Oh! I see.” Veles whispers and the furniture rearranges itself to the corners. “A fledgling Firebird. You know she’s not my subject?”

“I know, but you will help her and guide her! We can’t call our uncle, he might corrupt her. And it’s best for all if he stays asleep.” Vesna orders and Vittorio fears the worst. That the man she’s ordering around will say no.

“Fine.” Veles nods. “Who do we tie her to? She needs to be grounded and the best way is a person with a pure heart.”

“We don’t need that. Vittorio is her mate. She just needs to see it and accept the mate bond.” Vesna smirks.

“Even better. Saves me some magic.” Veles nods to her. “Ty? Go to the terrace. I don’t want you to lose control. I’m busy with the bubble.”

“s**t!” Vesna exclaims as she sees Ty’s eyes. And Vittorio is too scared of the man to even ask what he is. Those eyes alone are scary. And he is not a wolf pup to be scared so easily.

“The terrace is not far enough.” Ty whispers and nods to Vesna.

“We’ll be back. Someone call me when you need us.” Vesna drags Ty to the door and creates another portal.

“Huh.” Veles lets out the breath he was holding out. “One crisis averted. On to the next one. Allegra? Are you staying or going?”

“I’ll stay.” She whispers.

“Fine by me.” Veles nods. “Just get to the wall, it should be safe there.”

Vittorio listens to the shallow breathing and he worries for Vannessa. The heat of her body would have killed a human by now. And his wolf is shouting for him to do something, he doesn’t want their mate to die. ‘She’s not going to die.’ He tells the wolf. And he hopes with all his heart that he is right.

“Vittorio?” Veles calls him softly. “Come stand here by my side. You can’t be inside the bubble when she wakes up.”

“Will she know who I am?” He asks.

“Maybe, but we can’t risk it. You are her grounding stone. If she hurts you, she can become unstable, uncontrollable.” Veles explains his plan. “I can hold her trapped long enough for reason to kick in. Let’s just hope she doesn’t fight me. But you need to talk to her. You need to get her to see you. You need to get her to remember who she is.”

“What will happen to her?” Vittorio asks quietly.

“When the heat reaches the breaking point, she will shift. The Firebird is a proud, majestic bird with gold and fire red feathers. She is big, that’s why we need so much space. But even so, it will be tight in the bubble. I wish we could do this outside, but someone might see. The apartment is under a spell so nobody can see in through the windows.” Veles tells him.

“How big?” Allegra whispers.

“I’d say about four times bigger than your wolf. If you saw Ty, I’d say the wingspan is probably the same, only her body is smaller. Birds are not so bulky.” Veles says but he keeps watching Vannessa.

Vitttorio only has eyes for her anyway. He takes part in the conversation to learn things and the weird information about Ty makes him wonder if he really wants to know what the guy is when he shifts. Apparently Allegra knows and has seen the guys alter ego. He would have missed the small flame if he dared to blink. Then another one sprouted on Vannessa’s shoulder.

“Flames.” He whispers softly.

“I see.” Veles confirms. “Whatever you do, don’t flinch, don’t show fear and... Do. Not. Scream.”

“Understood.” Vittorio nods and calls on his wolf for strength. ‘Do you think she will burn up in flames and transform?’ The wolf asks him. ‘It looks that way. There are more flames.’ He answers. ‘Our first shift was unpleasant. This looks scary.’ The wolf comments. ‘You don’t have to watch.’ Vittorio smirks and the wolf huffs back without a response. But they both still watch the flames dance over Vannessa.

“She won’t burn up and rise from the ashes. She is not a Phenix.” Veles whispers by his side. “And the first one is the hardest, but it flows just as easily later as yours does.”

“How do you know exactly what to say?” Vittorio asks Veles.

“I can read your mind and your thoughts are as loud as screams.” Veles smirks.

-/-/-

Vannessa feels like floating in the flames, but they don’t hurt her. It is almost as if the flames are comforting her.She feels better just by having the flames around her. The pain of the fever is lessened somehow by them. She can pull them over herself like a warm blanket. Why do the flames feel like feathers?

‘Because they are made of feathers.’ A new voice emerges in her mind.

'Who said that?’ She asks.

‘I did.’ The voice again, but with soft laughter this time.

‘Who are you? And why are you in my head?’ Vannessa inquires.

‘I’m you, you’re me. We are the same.’ The voice says. ‘You know? Like that one coin, two sides thing?’

‘You mean like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide?’ Vannessa wonders.

‘Oh, no! Nothing like that. But you can be Mr. Hide if you want to.’ She laughs and her laughter sounds like wind chimes.

‘How do you know about that movie?’ Vannessa wants to know.

‘You have seen it. I can see all your memories.’ And she laughs again. 

Vannessa finds that laughter quite soothing. Suddenly she finds herself in a small room and she recognises it as the bedroom Vittorio gave her. But it’s crammed to the fullest by soft feathers in gold and fire red. The spot on her bed where she’s sitting is the only free place. The feathers do feel nice, though.

‘Oh! This won’t do at all.’ The other voice says again and Vannessa finds herself in the park, sitting by the pond she used to visit when she felt sad. ‘Much better. I have room to spread my wings.’

‘Why is the park empty? How did we get here?’ Vannessa inquires.

‘We are still in your head. This is just a simple way to talk to each other.’ The voice is above her this time and Vannessa looks up to see a majestic golden bird. Her feathers shine red and her small eyes are watching her carefully.

‘You’re beautiful!’  Vannessa exclaims. ‘But, what are you?’

'A Firebird.’ The bird tells her and laughter chimes around her again. ‘I’m you, you are me. We are one.’ 

‘I don’t understand.’ Vannessa tells the bird.

‘I don’t know how to explain it.’ The bird hugs her tight with her soft wings to comfort her. ‘But, maybe the ones watching us can explain this.’

‘Who’s watching?’ Vannessa has a sudden flush of panic overcome her. She shakes in fear for a second or two and relaxes just as fast. ‘Vittorio and Allegra. I forgot about them.’

‘There is someone else. He is powerful, I can feel it.’ The bird tells her. ‘Open your eyes. I want to see.’

Vannessa tries to focus on her eyes, but nothing happens. She can’t even move and it scares her. She thinks about the bird to calm her mind. She is beautiful with all those gold and red feathers. And her wings are amazing, but she can’t seem to spread them out. It feels like they are trapped. She tilts her head sideways and the golden eyes of the bird fly open in the real world, not just in her head.

She can see differently now. The colors are more pronounced, more brilliant. Everything is sharper and she can even smell better. There is a tall dark headed man standing close by and Vittorio is here, too. He seems different. His eyes are not focused on anything. He is staring at her like he can’t believe that she is really here.

‘Well. You look like a giant golden bird right now.’ The laughter is contagious and she can’t help but laugh with the Firebird. The sound that comes from her beak is not laughter at all. It’s more of a croak. It sounds to her like a dying frog and she shuts the beak together. She shakes her head and thinks about what to do.

‘We can’t talk in bird form. Can we?’ Vannessa asks the Firebird.

‘No.’ Comes a sad reply. ‘If you really want to talk, you have to be human again.’

‘Will it hurt?’ Vannessa asks.

‘I don’t know.’ The Firebird says. 

‘How do we do that?’ She asks again.

‘I don’t know.’ The Firebird answers.

Vannessa extends her bird neck out and tries to nudge Vittorio. Maybe he can help her somehow. She wishes he could. Why would he know it, though. Her beak makes contact with something invisible and it holds her back. But the feeling is not threatening, it’s not malicious. She swings her head to the other man and tries there. There is no resistance this time and her head makes contact with the man’s arm.

‘Can you help me? I want to be human again. How do I do that?’ Vannessa asks in her head.

‘I can.’ The man answers her and his voice is deep and resonating. It soothes her somehow. ‘My name is Veles. And what you need to do is imagine yourself in your human body. Think about your hair, your hands, the way your face looks like in a mirror. Hold on to that image and let go of the Firebird. She’ll still be there to talk to.’

His words make sense to her. She has no idea why, but she feels like she can trust the man. The way he talks makes her think that he has the answers to all her questions. And he heard her even if she didn’t speak out loud. She thinks about herself, her long blond hair and her fingers, the arms and body she normally has and there is a tingling all over her. She feels like she is shrinking and then she falls to the floor and catches herself with two shaking hands.