The Photo is Colin's mom, Caroline. I made her here: http://www.dolldivine.com/princess-maker.php
We walked into the meeting room, and found before us quite a scene. Pushed up against the wall was a scared looking woman. She was insanely beautiful, with long, wavy black hair, and the same electric blue eyes as Colin. Her ivory skin was free of any imperfections. Long, dark lashes and full, blood red lips brought her beauty to the peak of perfection. I ran out to get the wolves away from this innocent human, but as I got closer, I realized that she was no human.
As the smell of the vampire flooded into me, I couldn’t hold my transformation back. Vampires couldn’t be allowed to live. A single one can kill a million people and still not be satisfied. I wasn’t just going to growl at the vermin like the stupid wolves. I ran at it and came very close to attacking.
“Stop! Don’t…” A pleading voice yelled into my head. Now that I was paying attention, I could feel Colin’s emotions again, and I was appalled to find that he was worried for a vampire.
“What is your problem? She is a vampire.” I thought angrily back at him.
“I just can’t believe she’s not dead.”
“What?”
“That’s my mom.” Although it went against all of my instincts, I fought Star and backed off the beautiful monster. There was still no way I would be able to calm myself down and transform back into human form. As I was, I turned around to face my mate. I saw the anger I was feeling on Star’s face through his eyes, and I tried to make myself look less feral, but it was no use with a vampire so close by.
“Your mom is a vampire?” The mind link question came through angrier than I’d intended, but my emotions were uncontrollable when I was being triggered by a vampire. I felt Star beginning to take back control and I knew I wouldn’t be able to keep from ripping the monster to shreds any longer. “I’m sorry Colin, I just can’t stand to be around her any longer.” I channeled to him as I darted out of the room. I didn’t know where I was going to go. I just needed to get away from her.
Once at the doorway, I lost the smell of her and began regaining my control. It still wasn’t enough. I had to keep going, and as I ran, I passed by Mark. He didn’t seem to have any clue what was going on in the meeting room. It distracted me a little thinking about how surprised he’d be to see that his dead wife had come back as a vampire.
“Katrina, why are you in cat form? What has happened?” He called after me, but I didn’t stop. I would have to change back to human form to talk to him, and I couldn’t trust myself to be able to change back and not run back to kill that vile creature. Plus, I didn’t have any clothes. I released myself from Katrina’s way of thinking, and let Star lead me home.
I felt comforted by the site of my familiar home. I know I had only been gone for one night, but it felt like it had been much longer, especially knowing that nobody knew where I was. I scratched on the door and hoped that someone was home. I couldn’t have the neighbors seeing a gigantic cat at my house. The might call the police, or animal control, or something. As I was thinking these things, the door creaked open and I saw as my mom begin crying. I pushed past her and into the house. She wiped up her tears and calmed down as she closed the door.
As soon as the door was closed, I shifted into human form and shook myself out. Grabbing my legs, I pulled them up to my chest. Rejecting my instincts could weaken me enough, but there was something else. I felt a strong force in my stomach pulling me back to the wolves, to Colin. My vision was blurred, but Colin’s was coming through strongly along with all his strange emotions, probably from seeing his mom. My thoughts kept coming back to Colin, and I had to assume this was from being away from him. He was my mate. I couldn’t be away from him, especially so soon after mating.
“I’ll go grab you some clothes.” My mom’s beautiful voice chimed before she hurried up the stairs to my room. I wasn’t paying much attention to my surroundings though as I was quite caught up in Colin’s.
He’d ordered the wolves away from his mom. He trusted her for some reason that I didn’t understand. As they were backing off, Mark had come in and Colin seemed to explain what he knew of the situation. There was a reunition of the family, from a distance of course. Colin’s mom kept coming too close to him for me to be comfortable with.
“Keep your distance from that demon.” I instructed Colin. I happily welcomed the comfort of his presence in my mind with his response.
“Don’t you worry, sweetie. She’s under control. I’ll make sure she keeps her fangs in her mouth.” He didn’t feel threatened by her, and I was assured by his lack of fear.
“Here you are, Katra, baby.” I pulled my attention away from Colin and his vampire mom to look at my own mom and take the clothes from her. I stood up and pulled on my underwear, but was stopped from putting my pants on by my mom.
“What is that?” She demanded. Her attention was on the mating mark I still hadn’t gotten a chance to look at. A bright blue star glowed on my thigh. Smaller yellow stars shimmered over top the larger blue one. The words Love, Trust and Katrina were repeated in a circle around the stars. Man, his mark was way better than mine.
“Um… I may have found my mate…” I admitted as I shrugged on a shirt. A smile spread across my mom’s face. She completely understood the werecat world, unlike my dad. Even though she’d chosen to reject her cat and not be a part of it, she still grew up in it and knew all about mates. Yet, just as soon as the smile had finished developing, it was replaced with confusion. I knew what the problem was. It wouldn’t even cross her mind that he was a werewolf.
“But... I don’t understand. There aren’t any werecat boys you haven’t already met. A human couldn’t have marked you.” My mom had grown up with an even stronger division between the wolves and cats, same as Mark. It would be hard for her to understand my feelings for Colin, but she understood that mating was uncontrollable and you could never know who your mate would be, so I could hope that she’d accept our mating.
“Um, actually… He’s a werewolf, the uh… new Alpha too, Colin.” By now I was standing, my new mark completely covered by my pants. I rubbed my hands down them as I said this, pushing the wrinkles of my skinny jeans down to my ankles. It made sense to her then, and she began nodding.
“I see. Well, this is new, but you cannot control who your mate is, and nobody can argue with nature’s decision to put you two together. But, not everyone will be so understanding and you need to be prepared to defend your love for him. Be delicate when telling other werecats. I don’t worry about your pride, but others. Just, be careful.” A smile slowly spread onto my face. I knew my mom would understand.
“Thanks, mom. I will.”
“Now, are you okay? Where have you been? I guess the werewolves place… Did they take care of you? Are you hungry?” I take a deep breath, preparing myself to answer, but almost end up just laughing.
“I’m fine, just a little weak from being so far away from my new mate. I was at the wolves place, yes, and they did take care of me, but I am a little hungry. Things kept happening so fast, that I missed lunch.”
“Alright, sweetie. I’ll make you some lunch so you can eat before I drive you back over to your mate.”
“Okay, but I don’t think it’s a good idea for me to go back over there right now…”
“Well, why not? You should be with your mate.”
“It’s… a long story. I’ll explain while I eat.”
“Alright, then. Why don’t you go wake your little sister up from her nap. She’ll be real happy to see you. We almost couldn’t get her to sleep last night; she was so worried about you.” I nodded my head and began my way up the stairs, calling Kira’s name out.
I walked into my baby sister’s room and saw her sleeping on her little bed. She looked so sweet and innocent.
“Kira, it’s me, Katrina. I’m back.” I cooed while rocking her a little. Her eyelids fluttered a bit and finally her eyes opened all the way to reveal the deep green color.
“Cat Rine-a? You came back!” She excitedly cried while trying to free herself from the covers. I helped her out and placed her onto my lap.
“Sorry I had to leave. I was meeting my mate.”
“You met your mate, sissy?” I nodded and gave Kira a little smile.
“Yes, I did. His name is Colin, and he’s the most amazing thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Dat’s great!” Kira cried out as she wrapped her little arms as far as they would go around me.
“You wanna come downstairs with me?” Kira nodded, and wiggled herself off the bed. I grabbed her hand and we walked down the stairs together. At the bottom, she let go and ran into the kitchen.
“Momma, sissy’s back, and she found her mate.”
“Yes, I know.” I sat down at the table and focused back in on what was going on with Colin. They were so close. He was practically touching her.
“Colin, I thought I told you to keep your distance.”
“I told you not to worry.” He reminded me, but I couldn’t not worry. He was so close to her, and I was so far away from him. I wasn’t even near the vampire, but she was triggering my transformation. I held it back and began eating.
“Is everything okay, sweetie? You’re eyes just changed.” My mom questioned me as she sat down, concern lining her face.
“Yeah, it’s just what Colin’s seeing. It’s why ran back here as Star.”
“What’s going on?”
“There’s a vampire there, but I can’t kill her. Apparently, It’s Colin’s mom who he thought was dead, but I don’t know why he trusts her. She isn’t his mom anymore. She’s a monster. Vampires don’t have souls. Those are taken away when they’re bitten.”
“I understand that you don’t trust this vampire. We’ve all had bad experiences with them, but this werewolf is your mate. I know you may want to protect him, but if he trusts her, you should trust her too.” I nodded my head to show my mom that I understood what she was saying as I finished the last bite of food.
“Okay, well, I’ve changed my mind. It’s too hard to be away from him with her right there. I’ll hold back Star for him, but I can’t just sit here while the Alpha leads a meeting without his mate.” My mom smiled as she stood up from the table. I quickly ran to put my shoes on and get into the car.
My mom dropped me off in front of the wolves’ house and I ran straight for the meeting room until I appeared in my second vision. The closer I got to her, the harder it was to keep Star under control. She wanted out. I clenched my fists as the door swung open, and saw my eyes turn catlike in the doorway from Colin’s eyes. I paused my breathing and focused entirely on Colin, keeping our mind link entirely open as I walked to his side. Slowly, Star calmed down. I began breathing again, but focused on Colin’s scent instead of hers. It was a powerful smell, but not overpowering. It reminded me of runs in the woods, campfire and pine needles, just after a rain.
The meeting we had planned to have was about me. This one was about her. Colin stood on a stage with his mom, everyone else standing on the floor and facing him. I took my place next to him while he continued his speech.
“Many of you remember Caroline, back when she was human… We have all believed her dead, but this is not what happened. I have my mother on the stage here with me to tell you her story.” With this, Colin grabbed my hand and we walked off the stage together. He was hearing all of my thoughts now, because I’d opened the mind link, and he continued to comfort me and keep Star under control as we listened to Caroline’s story.
“I know Mark blames himself for my capture, and honestly, I blamed him for the first few years myself. I hated him more than I hated myself, but since then I have changed my thinking, and I don’t want Mark to feel guilty for something he had no control over. I realize now that I was extremely stupid on that day. Nobody should feel guilty about what happened to me, except for me, and well… those vampires. But, I’ll get to that.” She began.
“The day those vampire came they told all of us humans to get out, but I couldn’t bear the thought of being away from my Mark, who had to stay to fight with all the other grown werewolves. I didn’t tell him what I was doing, that I was staying to be with him, until he found out last minute by seeing me by his side. I gave Colin to my mother who was evacuating with the other humans and children, and she took him to safety for me.”
“I remember this part. My grandma, Daisy told me that my mom was evacuating with a different group. I questioned her on this, since I hadn’t heard anything about multiple groups and everyone seemed to be in our group, but she just told me that there was a lot I was unaware of.” Colin added to the story in my head while she explained how the vampires had captured her.
“I ran back to Mark quickly to find that all the wolves had left this room, so I went out looking for them. I walked out that door, right there.” She pointed at the door I’d recently walked in to help make her point before continuing.
“I hadn’t walked for long before the first one appeared before me. I was so terrified. I knew what they were capable of. I wasn’t a clueless human. Living with you wolves, I understood that vampires were no joke. I turned as fast as I could, but I was just a human, and he was so fast. His cold fingers locked around my delicate arm. I struggled to free myself, but it was no use. His grip became stronger, and I was turned to face him. The Danger struck strongly into me at the sight of his red eyes. My heart started beating way too fast, and I wished I could control it. I he would be able to tell, and that it’d make it harder for him to control his thirst, and I was right. Sharp fangs seemed to grow instantly, going straight for my throat as soon as they were out. I’d been bitten before, but this was different, almost unbearable. I thought I was dying, but I could still somewhat tell what was going on around me.”
“His teeth didn’t stay in my neck for too long, not long enough to kill me, but the pain didn’t go away. It grew stronger as it spread across my body. Outside of my body, I could hear a very intense fight going on. As the fight in my body intensified, the fight outside ended, and a pair of cold arms lifted me up and carried me off.”
“Wow. My dad had told me that he’d seen one of them carrying her corpse off, once I was old enough, but it wasn’t her corpse. She was still alive.” Colin added between comforts to explain why they thought she was dead.
“The pain became so unbearable that I lost my senses, and couldn’t imagine the world around me. All I knew was the war inside. I was trying to fight against the evil, even though it could never work. But I wanted to stay good. I didn’t want to be like the evil creatures that had made me one of them. I wanted to be me, not a vampire, but it was too late. The venom was spreading through my body, changing me. It was winning. I was taken over by the evil, and for several months I wasn’t me. I didn’t think about the things I truly care about. It was like I couldn’t think of them, because only one thing was important to me. Blood. I literally didn’t think or care about anything else. My whole life was revolved around it. I forgot who I was. After those first few months, I came back, but slowly. I was still killing, a dozen a day. It was never enough, but I learned to control myself. I was remembering. My Mark, and my baby, Colin. I spent a lot of time thinking I could never come back, and wanting to cry because of it. Eventually, I tried to end my misery, but nothing would kill me. I asked my creators to help me, but they wouldn’t do it. They told me that, although an accident, I was a perfect creation, exactly what they wanted. Evil was perfect to them, so one by one, I took them down. I killed my creator, Luke before the rest of my coven, Marcus and Jenifer. Finally, I realized that killing myself wasn’t going to be an option. I would have to learn to control myself. I feed on rats, and stole from hospitals, but I kept my killing under control. There was a few… accidents, but I stopped draining. My victims lived. Five more years and I had it perfected. Somehow, I’d fought against the evil. I didn’t have to be an evil monster. I could still be me, with just a slightly different diet, and better skills. But, I was so sad. With my coven dead, I had no one to talk to, not that I’d have wanted to talk to those demons. I missed my family. So, I thought I would come home. I know you may not want to accept me, as I am. I don’t expect to be welcomed back with open arms. I just hope that maybe someday, you will see that I’m still me. I know I’m a bit different, but I’m doing my best to be a good person."