Lost in Demon's Eyes

3 - The prophecy came true

I thought that as usual, the women spent about two to three days in the hospital, it would be the same for me. But I had to stay longer. Zia needed time to grow up better. While Ansel was growing pretty fast, Zia was still a prematurely-born baby. She needed a few more weeks.

At the end of the hospital stay, when they had finally allowed me to go home with my kids, we got to see that Zia wasn’t moving her little legs. She could move her other body parts, but her legs were limp. She did manage to do a few tiny movements, but they were nowhere close to a normal baby’s movements. After running a couple of tests and scans, the doctors told us that she was never going to be able to walk. Just as Dantalion said.

“I hope you protect your sister, Ansel. Even though she’s older by a few minutes from you!” I kept holding Ansel in my arms while he was nursing. I was finally in the bedroom of my new house, where I was going to live with Gabriel. It was the Alpha’s house in the village of his pack. Now probably even my pack as well. Most of the women and even guys were coming to see me every single day, helping me with chores, cooking, and taking care of the kids!

“I just changed Zia’s diaper, I think she’ll be fine for a while!” I heard Rhea’s voice at the door.

“Oh, sorry, you’re nursing! Enjoy the time together! You’ll see that by the time your Zia turns two, this guy will be running around like he has no speed limits!” She whispered at me from the door, compared to her loud voice from before. She was smiling, looking all happy. The warm atmosphere of this place was just making me feel at ease. I was even forgetting the traumatic experiences from the past, my encounters with weird things, and most importantly, Dantalion. He stopped coming, stopped visiting. It was like he completely vanished into thin air. And I wanted it to stay that way.

Ansel made a disagreeable sound when I put him down. He was getting heavy!

As the years passed, I could definitely see what Rhea had been telling me before. Ansel was running around like there was no end to his world, while Zia had to be taken everywhere in a wheelchair. Gabriel was having his hands full with managing the pack and Ansel too. I was taking care of Zia. She needed our care more than anything.

It was a hot summer, so we had decided to go back into my family’s house, which was rebuilt and reconstructed from when it got blown up. It looked the same from the outside, but inside it was completely different. But what was great, it was still as cool inside as before. Spending our summer here was the best decision Gabriel came up with this year.

Zia and Ansel were both to turn thirteen soon, so we were preparing them a birthday party in the big garden. The grass had been cut short, so it would be comfortable to walk on it without any shoes on. Zia loved the feeling of grass on her feet, even though she couldn’t move them.

“We got good news!” Theo rushed into the kitchen, where I was finishing the birthday cake decorations.

“Looks good by the way! The stocks started rising after we managed to secure the investor! Your company is doing great! Congratulations, Luna!” He was more excited about the company, which he was managing instead of me, than my kids turning thirteen!

“Thanks. Now get changed from your clothes and go out to play with the kids! Everyone should be arriving soon as well! Zia has been asking a lot about you!” I reprimanded him a tiny bit with a smile on my lips. He shut up and rushed to do as I told him.

“No need to be so sharp with him. He doesn’t mean it badly.” Someone’s hand stole a strawberry from the top of the cake. I turned around to tell him off, but his lips landed on mine.

“Gabriel…” I whispered into his lips. A piece of strawberry got pushed into my mouth while we were kissing. He always got to me. No matter what I was doing, what I was thinking, just a touch from him, and I was blown away. In a different world. This mate bond had been stronger than anything else I had known before.

“The strawberry was delicious. Hope the cake turns out that way too!” He teasingly slapped my butt.

“HEY!” I shouted after him when he took out of the kitchen with his mouth full of chuckles. But there was no way I could be mad with him. I loved him, no matter what they said this was supposed to be. I placed another strawberry on top of the cake to replace the one, which he had taken.

“Alright! Looks good!” I praised myself for the hard work. I heard a few wolf howls.

“Looks like everyone has managed to get here, I guess?” I talked to myself. Time to change clothes and get everything set before the chaos starts! I took the apron off and went upstairs to get changed into a nice dress to celebrate my big babies’ thirteen birthdays.

Zia

“No, uncle! You shouldn’t! That’s not how a birthday party works!” I was giggling and laughing with this uncle I had been seeing ever since I could remember. He was always nice and gentle with me, talking to me when I was alone. My brother had a lot of friends. He was playing with them all the time, running around. I couldn’t. I was stuck in this stupid wheelchair! I couldn’t run around. I couldn’t even walk. The adults were always treating me like I was someone special, while I just wanted to be the same as my brother. Joke with my friends, have fun, play hide and seek…

“Since it’s your thirteenth birthday… How about an early birthday gift from me?” Uncle smiled at me. Somehow I didn’t know why others couldn’t see him. It was just him and me. But he always played with me, told me goodnight stories when I couldn’t fall asleep.

“Really? You have a birthday gift for me?” I got so happy! He didn’t forget about my birthday at all!

“Yes, I just need something of yours, so I can make the magic happen!” He smiled.

“And what kind of gift do you have for me?” I was curious and excited.

“Well, you always told me how you wanted to walk and run around, didn’t you? And you know that this uncle has some powers, which can make things appear, disappear… Well, my powers aren’t only about that. I can also heal people. Do you trust me?” He asked me softly, placing his big hand on mine. I grew nervous. Was he really going to make my feet work? I could play with my friends again? I could make my mum happy! She wouldn’t have to stay with me all the time! I could do things on my own!

“And what do you need for that, uncle?” I asked quietly, as some people from the village were getting closer to us. I was looking at them for a while, making sure they didn’t notice anything. Good, they are only talking to themselves!

“Well, just a strand of your hair is fine. This one should do…” He took a bit of my hair into his hand. His nails got closer to my face. They were always this long. At first, I thought people should have nails like him. That only my nails were weirdly short and pink. His were quite dark. But as time passed by,  I thought that he actually wasn’t cutting them because he was probably just too lazy to do that.

“Okay. I give you a bit of my hair and you make my legs work… But I didn’t bring scissors.” I whispered to him, still eyeing the group of people, who were chatting in a group close-by.

“No need for those. Consider your legs working given.” Uncle whispered back to me. His nails snapped my hair away. 

“But nothing is happening.” My hair was gone and I didn’t feel anything different. My legs were still numb and still.

“Try now.” His hot breath brushed against my legs. It felt like my legs started burning. I looked at them, but they weren’t on fire! Instead, my toes started moving and my feet turned up a bit. I intensely looked at my legs. I tried standing up. Right leg… Left leg… I… I stood up!

“I’m standing!” I shouted. I could finally stand! Just one breath and a bit of my hair and uncle helped me to stand up! I tried taking a step. With the first one, I nearly fell down. Another one - success!

“I can walk! Mum! Mum! I can walk now!” I shouted at my mum, who was bringing the cake out of the house into the garden. She froze.

“MUM!” I shouted again.

“DANTALION! Get away from my daughter!”