☼ Chapter XXII ☼

picture; Eloize Reinove

song; "Coming Home" by Skylar Grey

author's note; This is the second half of chapter 21, and one mystery is cleared up here, finally! However, do not write off the character. He (just like every other character) are all essential to the main plots of both the Essentia and Imperium books. His role is pretty small in the first book, but grows more important as the story continues in later books, so don't think he's a random character. None of my characters are random!

Anyway, what do you guys think of the explanation? Did you guess that, or did it pull you out of complete darkness? How do you like Nora and Eloize so far? The next chapter gets wild again and I already know is going to be a treat for you to read!

Comment + Vote, enjoy!

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Warmth that I hadn't experienced in a long time curled in my chest as Eloize used the Romanian word for "daughter" when she addressed me. I giggled into Derik's side at her clear distaste toward being called "grandmother" and nodded curtly. "Eloize it is then... bunică."

She raised a brow at me, her eyes sharp with disapproval and I smiled innocently, to which Eloize clicked her tongue at before her lips turned up to the ceiling again. "Come, Nora. Sonya, I believe you are useful in the kitchen?"

Nodding, I moved to peel away from Derik who wrapped an arm around my waist and peered suspiciously at Eloize. I rolled my eyes at his overprotectiveness.

"She's fine." I muttered heatedly to my Mate through clenched teeth. Derik only looked at me warningly, but didn't loosen his grip or even appear to consider moving away from me.

"Shh," He hushed me and I scowled at him.

"Don't shush me." He scowled back and we just glared at one another until her next comment caused my eyes to turn over to Eloize again.

"There is no doubt that you are undeniably Mates." Eloize spoke smoothly as the smile on her lips turned mischievous.

"Elle, have you seen my red tie? I like that one best but I can't find it any—'' Sawyer had come descending down the stairs, his voice abruptly stopping as he noticed me standing before his Mate. "Sonya, you made it." He smiled warmly, but his eyes didn't stay on me for too long as they strayed to a rigidly standing Derik beside me. "You must be Derik."

"You must be Sawyer." I elbowed him harshly in the side at his rude tone. Derik smiled wickedly down at me and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm sorry about him. He's being very weird tonight." I untangled myself from Derik's hold and followed Eloize toward the kitchen doorway.

"Sonya," Derik hissed, scowling as I retreated. I smirked at him over my shoulder and chuckled as Sawyer began to tug him away.

"He feels intimidated by me." Eloize says once the three of us are alone. "It goes against his instinct to let you alone with a Powerful being, regardless the actuality of the matter is that I would never harm you. His apathetic mood toward Sawyer is simply because he's a male."

"What a caveman." Nonetheless, I smiled at his possessiveness, secretly indulging in how sexy he looked when he sneered when Sawyer entered the room earlier. "Why don't I feel protective of Derik since you're here?"

"It's immensely likely that it is because you do not perceive me to be a danger to him. However, if a true threat were to arise, your disposition may not be so composed." Her eyes slid over to mine as a wise glint sparked in the jade orbs.

"Naturally, concurrently, the protective instinct in males over their Mates is exceptionally higher. That is artlessly how the Goddess designed them."

Nodding in understanding, I realized that it was true that all the nervousness that had contaminated my skin earlier had melted away. I was comfortable and sure in Eloize's presence, despite the fact that her Power alone should make any supernatural tremble. But I wasn't. Quite the opposite really.

I switched subjects as my eyes slid over the countertop that was scattered with several ingredients. "What are you making?"

"Italian-style vegetables and pasta." Eloize sent me a small smile. "It's become one of my specialties. I learned the dish from my brother's wife a century or so back."

"Mihai, right?" I smiled at his name as Eloize handed a knife over to me.

"How do you know about Mihai?" Nora chimed in, reminding me she was here. "Have you met him?"

"No," I told her, feeling a little embarrassed. "Um, Sawyer gave me Eloize's journal at the beginning of the year and I read a little about him in there."

"He gave you a journal of mine?" Eloize scoffed at the words. "That barbarian." It was impossible to stop my laughter, and Nora's giggle harmonized with my own.

"Yeah, I read about him in your journal. He's your older brother, but he got the Preudova Sorcerer gene while you got the Reinove Vampyre gene." I paused as I remembered the passage I had read and the fact that Eloize had written that she was Mated to an Olicidove Lycan before Sawyer.

"I was wondering about something you wrote..." My voice trailed off and I saw Nora lean in. "There was something in there about being Mated to an Olicidove Lycan?"

"Ah, yes." Eloize's jade eyes glazed over with nostalgia at the mention of her last Mate. "Micael. He was my husband, and I was his True Mate. As a young girl, I had assumed that he was my Sufletul Oglinda, but the Threads are vastly different. Both Powerful, but dissimilar."

"Whoa," Nora interjected again as she stirred the pot of pasta. "You can have a True Mate and a Sufletul Oglinda?" She took the words right out of my mouth and Eloize chuckled at Nora's surprise.

"It is quite rare." She explained before setting down carrots, potatoes, bell peppers, and onions in front of me. "Chop the vegetables up like this." Eloize demonstrated the way to cut all the vegetables for me. "Mince the onions so they are small. Sawyer doesn't care much for them." Eloize returned to her pasta sauce before continuing answering Nora's question.

"Generally, there is no need for multiple Threads this Powerful as majority of supernaturals do not perish. However, during the Red War, my husband regrettably met his demise in battle. There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel the pain of losing Micael. The Red War came to a conclusion in the human year 1145, which translates to the year 1107 C.O. It has been nearly a millenia since Micael's death."

Eloize's eyes had turned glossy, and she turned her back to Nora and I. The sadness that burned in my chest wasn't surprising. I could only imagine how I would feel if I lost Derik. He and I had only been together for a little over three months and I hadn't had any children for him.

Who knows how long Eloize had been with her husband, let alone the fact that she had two children with him?

Sawyer had already said that the pain of someone's Mate dying could kill the living Mate. Eloize managed to live through her husband's death, but despite the fact it had been centuries since he left her, she still was almost ready to break down speaking about him.

"I clung to my children after his death, and their need for me to remain on this earth to guide them gave me the strength to continue on. Sawyer came to me just as I was feeling ready to follow my husband into death, and he renewed my reason to live." Eloize smiled at the thought of her Sufletul Oglinda, and I smiled too.

"Benedicti, Micael." Nora said quietly, lowering her head for a moment and I followed suit, repeating the short prayer to our Goddess to take care of our ancestor's soul.

"There was something else I wanted to ask you, Eloize." She turned to me expectantly before turning the heat down underneath the pasta sauce. "I was able to See a Ritual that my mom had done on me as a baby, to remove a Hunter gene?"

"Yes, we are still unsure about how the gene emerges or affects those supernaturals who may carry it. Meredith felt it was safer for you if we removed it. It did unfortunately cause both your sister and you to become crapat Deviants."

"A Deviant?" Nora once again stole my question before I could ask it. "That's amazing! Sonya, you're one of the rarest supernaturals ever to carry every supernatural gene there is. Deviants have only been discovered within the last century. Eloize created one of the first ever Deviants in the 1920s." Nora seemed thrilled about this, but I still was confused as to why.

"So, Deviants are supernaturals that carry a Lycan, Vampyre, Sorcerer, and Nephilim gene. Is that all? Why is that special?" Nora and Eloize shared a look before Eloize gestured for Nora to open the oven.

"Well, because Deviants sustain a Sorcerer gene while simultaneously sustaining every other supernatural gene, there is a theory that if a Deviant can Awaken their magick, they can summon the abilities that remain dormant reliant on the rest of the genes." Eloize explained as Nora pulled a huge turkey from the oven.

"However," she continued on a sigh. "Because you are crapat due to the Ritual performed on you as an infant, it is possible you will not be allowed to access the Power of the other genes."

"Could I still try to work on it?" I wondered, stepping closer to Eloize. "Like would it be possible to train to be able to use the other abilities?"

"Yes!" Nora squeaked. "I could work with you, help you tap into your magick if you want. Do you have any Gifts besides Seeing?"

"Just a little healing magick. I haven't been able to strengthen that Gift at all though." Nora and Eloize both detected the dejected tone to my voice, and my cousin offered a small encouraging smile that I couldn't help but to return.

"Some Gifts take a lot longer to get good with. It's no biggie. Maybe if we work together, we can help strengthen it. And Seeing. I can See as well since I'm a Sorcerer." Nora added, her words tumbling out of her mouth like everything was an afterthought and she had no filter.

"Is it possible to See Threads with others?" I wondered, my mind drifting back to Trent from earlier in the night.

"Well, yeah. Touching someone helps to be able to See things. If you touch someone, sometimes you can get an image of their Mates, pieces of their life--like memories. If you delve deeper, you can sense things too." Nora seemed thoughtful. "Why do you ask?"

"It's weird." I admitted. "I met Derik months ago, and the pull I felt towards him was almost undeniable. But... I've felt like sparks with others. They both had been Marked by Darkness, and I know that Anima Vinculum Threads are present before the two supernaturals can sense it, between the crapat and those Marked by Darkness. One of the people I felt the sparks with felt them too, though, and he thought he was my Sufletul Oglinda because of it." Nora was growing more puzzled the more I explained, but Eloize's jade eyes glinted knowingly.

"Are you questioning about Trenton Codaihme?" Eloize made it sound like a question, but the perceptive glimmer in her gaze didn't waver.

"Um, well, yeah." I lamely agreed.

"You most likely have an Illusionist Gift." My eyes narrowed and I raked my fingers through my dark coils, trying to digest the information that I had been making someone suffer because I was unaware that I was using a Gift.

"Illusionist?" I tried, attempting to shake away the guilt.

"Usually this Gift can make people hallucinate things. Like seeing or hearing things that aren't real. But it sounds like because it isn't strong enough yet, and you have no control over it, so you're only able to project your own feelings onto others." Nora told me, and even though she was the one explaining, she still looked thoughtful. "I wonder how Mentor Nyoria overlooked this if you've been doing it for months."

"Yeah, that is pretty weird." Sighing, I shook my head. "I feel bad about Trent, especially since he found out Derik and I completed the Mating Rituals." My fingers affectionately caressed my throat as an image of Derik's lips dripping with my blood flashed through my mind.

My Mate's amused laughter ricocheted in my head. Are you trying to seduce me? His voice wondered cheekily and I couldn't deny the grin that held my mouth captive, just like he held me.

I don't think I need to try hard. The snarky reply caused the heat of our bond to increase, and I knew Derik's mind was dancing in the gutter already when flickers of his perverted ideas burst through my brain.

Nasty boy. I thought to myself, rolling my eyes, but the smile on my lips never slipping.

You like it. He quipped back, and I knew that he was smirking rooms away in the presence of Sawyer.

I clicked my tongue and tried to ground myself back into the kitchen with Nora and Eloize. "Whatever you can do to help would be great, Nora." My cousin looked at me knowingly and giggled, shaking her head as her dark ringlets bobbed merrily down her back.

"Let's get the food out there before you become dinner." Nora brazenly quipped, and I felt my face grow warm at her words.

I really like her, I mused with a smirk as she carried the turkey into the dining room on a luxurious silver platter.

Lorelai's words from when we first met entered my mind: We're gonna get on like a house on fire. The happiness swirling in my chest kept me grinning like an idiot the rest of the night.