Read The Witch's Dream - A Love Letter to Paranormal Romance (Black Swan 2) for Free Online
Authors: Victoria Danann
would be. "Okay. Any suggestions about materials?"
Tepring looked out at the gardens for a few seconds. A wistful smile took over her expression. Elora thought her mother-in-law could not possibly be remembering her own wedding to that walking coat rack with any fondness. Tepring suddenly jerked her focus back to the meeting in progress as if she had heard Elora's thoughts.
"I've noticed you like to wear clothes made from pure natural fibers like silk, linen, wool, and cotton." She leaned toward Elora and lowered her voice. "No' a thing wrong with a few wrinkles here and there."
Elora assumed she was still talking about clothing and smiled. "You're very observant."
Tepring returned her smile. "No' really. I may be overly fond of clothing."
Her eyes slid to Ram. She gave the Black Sabbath tee shirt and faded, threadbare 501's with a tear in the knee a pointed once over. Elora snickered at the implied put down. Ram just smiled, shook his head, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair as if to say, "No' a thing new."
His mother sighed. "No danger that anyone will accuse you of that, Rammel. Anyway, you could start with thick embroidery threads. Or it would go quicker if you used yarn. As you're braidin' you can weave mementos from your courtship or symbols of what you love into the braid. You both like to ride so you could add some horsehair. Elora, the flowers you chose will begin arrivin' later today. If you weave a few into the cord, they will dry prettily."
Ram looked at Elora. "You chose the flowers? Stargazer lilies, red roses, and no baby's breath."
Ram's mother laughed and clapped her hands. "That's right! Rammel, you turned out to be romantic!"
Ram gaped at his mum. "And since when have elves been concernin' ourselves with romance? I thought 'twas a human thing."
Tepring looked at Elora and rolled her eyes and that was all that needed to be said.
After asking Tepring where to find yarn, Ram and Elora went on quest for cord materials and some quiet time to combine braiding with enjoying each other's company, but as they were starting up the wide staircase leading to their wing they ran into Baka, just arriving and being shown upstairs.
Elora rushed to give him a hug which he returned far too enthusiastically to suit Ram.
Istvan Baka had lived his life as a human for thirty years before living as a vampire for six hundred years. As a result of the brand new cure for the vampire virus, developed from the antibodies in Elora's blood that had been hard won at her expense, Baka had very recently resumed life as a human. Because of his long-time ties to The Order and his unique circumstances, he had been hired to create and head up a special task force to bring about the great vampire inversion. As part of that assignment, he had been transferred to headquarters in Edinburgh where he was to reside semi-permanently.
Implementing the inversion was a monumental task and would be daunting if the prospect of ending a millennia-old plague on humanity wasn't so exciting. Sometimes, when change happened, it revolutionized with lightning speed. Overnight the knights of The Order of the Black Swan, Hunters Division, who had spent most of their lives training to become vampire slayers, were about to be retrained and retrofitted as vampire healers instead. The new mission would be to tag vamps with antidote capsules or, as the new slogan said, Shoot to Cure.
As head of the new highly specialized task force, Baka anticipated that finding and curing the vamps would be the easiest phase of the operation. The tricky part would be figuring out what to do with them afterward. There would be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of displaced souls globally, who would "wake up" to find themselves alone in the world - family and friends having aged beyond recognition or passed away. They would need help acclimating to a new life and help with motivation. Meaning that Baka expected widespread depression among the
Tepring looked out at the gardens for a few seconds. A wistful smile took over her expression. Elora thought her mother-in-law could not possibly be remembering her own wedding to that walking coat rack with any fondness. Tepring suddenly jerked her focus back to the meeting in progress as if she had heard Elora's thoughts.
"I've noticed you like to wear clothes made from pure natural fibers like silk, linen, wool, and cotton." She leaned toward Elora and lowered her voice. "No' a thing wrong with a few wrinkles here and there."
Elora assumed she was still talking about clothing and smiled. "You're very observant."
Tepring returned her smile. "No' really. I may be overly fond of clothing."
Her eyes slid to Ram. She gave the Black Sabbath tee shirt and faded, threadbare 501's with a tear in the knee a pointed once over. Elora snickered at the implied put down. Ram just smiled, shook his head, crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair as if to say, "No' a thing new."
His mother sighed. "No danger that anyone will accuse you of that, Rammel. Anyway, you could start with thick embroidery threads. Or it would go quicker if you used yarn. As you're braidin' you can weave mementos from your courtship or symbols of what you love into the braid. You both like to ride so you could add some horsehair. Elora, the flowers you chose will begin arrivin' later today. If you weave a few into the cord, they will dry prettily."
Ram looked at Elora. "You chose the flowers? Stargazer lilies, red roses, and no baby's breath."
Ram's mother laughed and clapped her hands. "That's right! Rammel, you turned out to be romantic!"
Ram gaped at his mum. "And since when have elves been concernin' ourselves with romance? I thought 'twas a human thing."
Tepring looked at Elora and rolled her eyes and that was all that needed to be said.
After asking Tepring where to find yarn, Ram and Elora went on quest for cord materials and some quiet time to combine braiding with enjoying each other's company, but as they were starting up the wide staircase leading to their wing they ran into Baka, just arriving and being shown upstairs.
Elora rushed to give him a hug which he returned far too enthusiastically to suit Ram.
Istvan Baka had lived his life as a human for thirty years before living as a vampire for six hundred years. As a result of the brand new cure for the vampire virus, developed from the antibodies in Elora's blood that had been hard won at her expense, Baka had very recently resumed life as a human. Because of his long-time ties to The Order and his unique circumstances, he had been hired to create and head up a special task force to bring about the great vampire inversion. As part of that assignment, he had been transferred to headquarters in Edinburgh where he was to reside semi-permanently.
Implementing the inversion was a monumental task and would be daunting if the prospect of ending a millennia-old plague on humanity wasn't so exciting. Sometimes, when change happened, it revolutionized with lightning speed. Overnight the knights of The Order of the Black Swan, Hunters Division, who had spent most of their lives training to become vampire slayers, were about to be retrained and retrofitted as vampire healers instead. The new mission would be to tag vamps with antidote capsules or, as the new slogan said, Shoot to Cure.
As head of the new highly specialized task force, Baka anticipated that finding and curing the vamps would be the easiest phase of the operation. The tricky part would be figuring out what to do with them afterward. There would be hundreds, perhaps even thousands of displaced souls globally, who would "wake up" to find themselves alone in the world - family and friends having aged beyond recognition or passed away. They would need help acclimating to a new life and help with motivation. Meaning that Baka expected widespread depression among the
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