Echoside Book 2: Micah

Hello dear readers! Thank you for joining me once again :) In the last chapter, Micah reunited with his long-lost mother and learned of his half-brother Caspar... Enjoy!

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“Did you enjoy your talk with your mother?” Sebastian asked when they were alone in their room.

“Very much so,” Micah replied. “It was wonderful to see her again.”

“You talked nearly the entire night,” Sebastian observed.

“There was much to discuss. We talked about everything the other had missed in each of our lives. I still cannot believe that I have a brother.”

“You will love him, Micah. He is a delightful child.”

“At first I felt betrayed for my own sake as well as my father's when she told me of her marriage to Liam and of their son, but now I am only anxious to meet him tomorrow night. I do not doubt that I will love him unconditionally as any brother would.”

“I am certain that he is anxious to meet you as well. He has some knowledge of you already.”

“Master...” Micah began after a pause, “did you know of my psychic sensitivity?”

“I have always known of your mother's and I expected that you would have inherited something akin to her powers. I knew that you had indeed inherited some form of sensitivity when you were so in tune with my power, and all my suspicions were confirmed when you were so affected by Andre's anger. Yes, I knew, though to what degree I am still unsure.”

“I see... I am still baffled by the fact that my mother is truly alive, and that she is here, and she is pack. And I have you to thank for it.” He held Sebastian's hand as he had held his mother's all night. “You saved my mother's life. You saved Matthew's life. You saved the lives of the original pack. And you saved mine. None of this could have been without you.” For the first time, Micah initiated a kiss. He touched his Master's face as he so loved to be touched. “Thank you,” he whispered against his lips and deepened his kiss.

This sweet kiss was the last thing he remembered that night.

 

Micah's mother was waiting for him in the parlor when he returned from his successful hunt the next night. Without a word she stood and held out a hand to him. He did not hesitate to take her hand and he followed her back out into the night. She led him straight off to the right and nearly to the edge of town.

“All of us wolves live on the outskirts of the village as a precaution, and we like to live closer to our Alpha as well. As such, we all live quite close together. Our house is straight ahead. Ephraim and Christian live in the next house, there. Demetrius lives there,” she said, pointing off further toward the manor house, “and Nicholas lives directly next to him, though he spends most of his time inside the manor itself. Of course Kendrick lives within the manor, and Matthew has always lived there with him, as did I until I married Liam.

“Kendrick is the lord of the manor, as you likely know. Nicholas and Demetrius are tax collectors and law enforcers. Matthew does a bit of everything, as he could never settle on one task and was often absent as it was. Ephraim and Christian are farmers in the fields and Liam is the miller. Among ourselves we do other tasks as well. I darn clothes for the pack and Christian is fond of cooking when we all dine together. If any hard labor needs doing, any of the men are happy to oblige. And we are always ready to do the will of Alpha Kendrick, to help him see that his fief is happy and prosperous. We are a self-sustaining village with very few ties to the other fiefs in the kingdom and that is the way we like it.”

“Echoside seems so wonderful, almost too good to be true.”

His mother smiled. “Almost. But it is true, my son. We are all happy and you will be, too. It is a wonderful place to live. And here we are,” she said, coming to stand before a small house and cheerfully gesturing at the door.

Standing at the threshold of his mother's home, Micah became suddenly anxious. Until that moment he had been excited to meet his new brother, but now he almost felt sick. Were he human, or even simply a werewolf, he might have broken a cold sweat.

He would now meet his mother's family—the one she had created after she had left her original family behind. Of course, he completely understood and respected his mother's history, but it still felt like a betrayal in his heart. Here was a family she would never leave, a family she had fought to create, the second attempt that had succeeded where the first had not. Here lived a son who had kept his mother for his entire life.

Perhaps it was too soon; perhaps he needed more time to process the story his mother had told him. He did understand why she had done everything she had, but perhaps he had not yet fully accepted it all.

“Papa, Papa!”

A small voice on the other side of the door led Micah to know that whether or not he was ready, this meeting would happen tonight.

“Papa! Soren is arrived!”

“All right, Caspar, you may open the door,” a voice that could only belong to Liam said jovially.

The door was flung wide open before Micah could prepare himself. Whether or not he was prepared to meet him, here stood his half-brother, beaming up at him. He was so small. Were all seven-year-old children so small? He was thin and wiry, but did not seem malnourished, which did not help him to appear any larger. His hair was a fine, wispy white-blonde that reminded him of down feathers. His eyes were a pale green framed by long light lashes. These features were not his mother's; instead he had inherited her delicate bone structure, as he himself had. There was no doubt as he looked upon the child that he was his mother's son. Still, his wolf needed confirmation by scent.

The child sniffed at him as well. “You smell like Sebastian,” he proclaimed.

“You smell like family,” Micah replied without thinking.

Caspar giggled and suddenly flung his arms around Micah's waist. After a moment of surprised hesitation, Micah wrapped one arm around his tiny shoulders.

“Hello, brother!” he said cheerfully as he stepped back.

“Hello,” Micah replied awkwardly, still quite taken aback. He looked to his mother and then to Liam, both of whom seemed very amused.

Liam nodded to him as their gazes met. “Brother,” he said by way of greeting.

Micah looked upon him in his human form and saw Caspar in his face. He had the same incredibly lightly-colored hair that had the same subtle hint of gold as his son's. They even shared the same pale eyes and long lashes. Liam was a slender man; it was little wonder that Caspar was so wiry. Still, Caspar was not an exact copy of his father. Liam's face was not nearly so delicate and effeminate as Caspar's—another affirmation that he was indeed the son of their shared mother.

“Please, come in,” Liam said with a polite gesture, and Micah realized that he had been staring.

“Thank you, brother,” Micah said with a courteous nod and stepped into the small house.

It was the house of a peasant family, but it was clean and neat and furnished with simple, yet well-made furniture. The main room was small, containing a table with four chairs, a fireplace, a washbasin, and little else. Two doors led off into the rest of the house, which Micah assumed were bedrooms for the parents and their child.

“I would offer you a tour of the house,” his mother said, laying a hand on his shoulder, “but there is nothing more.”

“It is so simple,” Micah said.

“We live a simple life,” she replied. “We spend most of our time in the manor, the woods, or the mill anyway. This house is but a place to sleep most days. Yes, it is simple, but it is the way we want our lives to be.”

“I did not mean to judge,” Micah clarified. “It feels comfortable here; it feels like a home.”

“The entire village is our home,” Caspar said with a smile. “Please say that it will be your home, too, brother.” The child wrapped his tiny fingers around two of Micah's.

“Yes.” Micah smiled back at his brother. “I am pack now and so Echoside is my new home.”

“Where was your home before?” Caspar asked.

“Until recently I lived with my father in a village far from here.”

“Not so far,” Caspar said with a twinkle in his eye. “Pack-brother Matthew traveled there all the time and always came back for the full moon.”

“I always missed him during those times,” Micah admitted.

“And we missed him while he was with you,” his mother said.

“Soren,” Caspar cried, his eyes wide with a sudden sadness. “You will not go away like Matthew does, will you?”

“Caspar, love,” their mother said quietly as she crouched before him and took his little hands, “we do not call him by that name. That was his human name. He is now called Micah.”

Micah nodded to her in appreciation. Even when spoken by one he had never before met, to hear his human name was still painful.

“No, Caspar,” he said with a smile. “I will not go away.”

“Then you will run with me when I become a wolf?” the child asked excitedly.

“You...” Micah felt his jaw drop and he turned to his mother for an explanation. He could not imagine a child as a werewolf. Surely one so small should not have to endure the pain of the transformation.

“As a child born from two werewolves, he may become one himself once he becomes a man,” Liam explained when his mother hesitated.

“I will be a werewolf!” Caspar insisted. “I know it and Mama knows it.”

“He is sensitive,” Micah breathed.

“Yes,” his mother answered.

Micah took a step back as his hand involuntarily touched the scar on his chest. A terrible emotional pain seemed to be seeping from the place where the knife had entered his body. This wound had ended his life as he had known it. Yet his mother's leaving had ended the life he should have known. He should have learned of his psychic sensitivity early on in life through his mother and grown up knowing the truth about himself as Caspar had. And if he were destined to become a werewolf, he should have been born into it and raised by parents who could have taught him of his dual nature from birth. Caspar's was the life that should have been his.

“Ow,” Caspar said, pressing a hand over his heart. “Soren, you hurt!”

“My name is Micah!” he barked and turned away as his vision began to turn red.

He did not realize that he had begun walking away from the little house until his mother called after him. “Micah, please wait!”

“No,” he said and he felt the first bloody tear wet his cheek. He felt ashamed of himself for his outburst, but that was only the beginning of his anguish. “It is all too much. I told you last night that each night I have learned something new, and each revelation has been more shocking than the last. I thought myself ready to continue learning about my new life, but tonight I have learned of the life I might have had.” The tears were falling freely now and he did nothing to stop them. “Even after everything you told me last night, the fact that I grew up without a mother when she was alive elsewhere in the world is still very painful. To see what happiness my life might have held, to see the life that might have been mine, to see that happy and knowledgeable child I might have been... I cannot bear it, not yet. It is too much, too soon, do you understand?”

“Oh, child,” his mother crooned. She put a hand to his hair that so resembled hers and placed a kiss on his forehead. “I am so sorry. Please forgive me.”

“Of course, of course,” he said, trying to blink away the redness to see her face clearly. “We spoke of our lives so freely last night and we each accepted the other without judgment. You wanted to share your life with me in more than words. But now I see that I am not ready.”

“Then you will not return home with me?”

“No, not tonight. Please apologize to Caspar for me. Tell him that I am glad that we are brothers and that I will return to play with him, but not tonight.”

“I understand, Micah. Come when you are ready. You are always welcome.” She kissed him again on his brow. “I love you.”

He wanted to reciprocate, but his heart was too heavy. He simply turned and walked back to the manor alone.

 

“Tell me more of Micah.”

Sebastian looked up from the book in his hands to see Kendrick leaning against the door frame.

“Was my explanation upon our arrival unsatisfactory?”

“Yes.”

“And why not ask these questions of him?”

“He will not know the answers.”

“Have you so little faith in his intelligence?”

“Do not twist my words to fit your own agenda,” Kendrick said with a growl, pushing himself from the wall to stand upright.

Sebastian closed his book and set it aside. Crossing one leg over the other, he formed a temple with his fingers and said, “What do you wish to know?”

“Is he so different from other vampires? From Renae, from... Andre?”

“Odessa and Renae both embraced their vampiric natures from the start,” Sebastian replied, his eyes downcast, as if there at his feet he could see what once had been. “They both enjoyed the hunt and the kill. Both were excited each night to begin the hunt for blood. Neither cared whether they left their victims alive or dead. Odessa especially liked to hear the screams of fear and pain, to watch the light leave their eyes as she drained them dry. She liked to fuck them before, during, and sometimes even after feeding, whether by their consent or not.

“Renae had a more romantic way about feeding, and she was more likely to leave them alive after a few years. She liked to be invited into a home or to a party and choose a victim she admired. Sometimes she would bed them, but she was rarely cruel as Odessa had been. She could be savage if the mood struck her, but she strove to be artful in her quest for blood.

“Andre was already a mercenary when Renae made him vampire, as you may already know. He and Renae can be quite savage when they hunt together. They have been known to bathe in the blood of their victims and make love to one another with the blood as a lubricant. Andre is an angry, violent soul and so his kills are vicious and heartless. Decades have passed since I have watched him hunt, but his attacks on the Restless Wanderer and his treatment thereafter of Matthew prove the depth of his savagery.

“Even I have killed mercilessly when I was first made vampire. Once my Beta was gone from my side, I gave in to my anger, my hatred, and my confusion. Without a Master I could not control myself and without my pack I was lost. Blood was the only joy in my life and so I took it by any means necessary. It was only after learning from Hamadi that I had the will and ability and desire to spare the lives of those I fed upon.”

“And Micah?” Kendrick asked as he perched on the edge of the bed, his eyes filled with wonder and horror and fearful anticipation.

Sebastian met his eyes. “Micah is vastly different. As I have told you, he has killed. All but one were accidents, and that one will haunt him perhaps forever. He desires humans only for their blood and even that he takes only because he must. Never has he lusted for their flesh, never has he remained once he was sated or they were dead, and never has he walked among them before taking them. To my knowledge, there has never been a vampire like him, at least not as a fledgling. Some as they grow ancient choose a discreet life as he has, but no baby vampire has ever shown such restraint.

“Perhaps it is because he was like his mother in life or because of his sleeping empathic powers. Perhaps it is because he became a vampire and a werewolf at once, although I might have expected him to be all the more primal and savage because of it. For whatever reason, he has held so very dearly to his humanity. He could have allowed his fear and anger to drive his thirst and become like Odessa or even Andre, but I believe his fear is part of what keeps his thirst and his anger in check.”

“Surely your guidance has been of great benefit to his merciful feeding habits.”

“If he had wished to hunt as my other children had, I would have allowed, even encouraged it.” Kendrick's eyes widened at this. “Do not be surprised, wolf. The hunt is in both of our natures. This makes it all the stranger that he does not enjoy the hunt. The ways of Odessa, Renae, and Andre may be repulsive to you, but they are natural, normal. It is what vampires are!”

“You wish that Micah was a normal vampire, that he enjoyed killing?” Kendrick challenged, his blue eyes alight.

“No, of course not. Do you know what Quinque might have done if he was anything but as he is?” Sebastian knew that Kendrick had heard the fear in his voice. “If he had known of and embraced his wolf, if he had decided that he liked his wolfish nature more than that of his vampire, they would have destroyed him without a second thought. If he had been like Renae or even Odessa, they might have been too intrigued and taken him from me to keep as part of their collection or as an experiment. And if he had shown them weakness, they might have found him unworthy of the Blood and taken his heart. I have seen it done. You do not know what fear I suffered when he was thrown at my feet as I stood before Quinque!”

“He should have never had the need to go before them,” Kendrick said in retort. “He should have never been made vampire!”

“I have already told you—I had no choice.”

“You chose to take the risk of turning him into a monster like Andre! He could very well have become a killer and all of the years of protection we had invested in him would have been for naught!”

“Is that all he is to you: an investment?”

Kendrick was instantly on his feet and towering over the seated vampire. “You know very well that he is much more to me than that. And by risking his goodness for the undead, bloodthirsty life of a vampire, you nearly stole him from me entirely.”

“How could I have stolen something that was never yours?” Sebastian asked softly, meeting the Alpha's piercing gaze and leaning even closer, so that their faces nearly touched.

Kendrick snarled, baring his teeth, and turned his back sharply, his long hair nearly slapping Sebastian in the face.

“You would have done the same,” Sebastian said calmly. “Imagine yourself holding him in your arms, blood covering his chest and face, and feeling his life fading.”

“I have.” Kendrick crossed his arms tightly over his chest, his back still turned.

“There was no time left. He had no strength and little blood to spare. He was white as a lily and limp as one wilted.”

“Stop.” Kendrick's nails were digging into his own arm.

“As I have said, a bite deep enough to infect him with lycanthropy would have certainly killed him. He would have bled more and his heart could not have taken the shock, not when he had lost so much blood already. The only choice I had was to make him vampire. Only by chance did he inherit my wolf, as the others had not. I am grateful that he did, however it frightened me when we were summoned by Quinque.”

“I am grateful as well,” said Kendrick. “Although I think that it was fate, not chance, that granted him your lycanthropy.”

“Do not make me regret bringing him here, Kendrick.”

“I will do nothing of the sort, nothing that should give you reason to leave and take him with you.”

“Have you any more questions, my Alpha, or will you now be on your way?”

“Does he truly love you, or is it because you are his maker only?”

“Goodnight, Kendrick.” Sebastian turned his attention back to his book.

“Sebastian. You will not interfere with my teaching of his wolf. He must learn from the Alpha of his pack.”

“As all new wolves must. He is an excellent student,” he replied, flipping a page and continuing to read even as he spoke. “He is always eager to learn. He came into his vampire powers so easily, even though he does not use them as the average vampire does. I am certain it will be the same for his wolf.”

“And if he should fall in love with another?”

“We shall cross that bridge,” he paused and looked up at the werewolf, “if we come to it.”

“You are his father in many ways, but you cannot forbid him to love who he will with the authority of one.”

“Goodnight, Kendrick.”

“Goodnight, Sebastian. I must rest now if I am to begin Micah's lessons tomorrow night.”

“I am sure he looks forward to it.”

“As am I.”

Sebastian glared after the werewolf as he strode away with an Alpha's posture. He could not deny Kendrick's right to ask the questions he had, but the conversation had irritated him. And even though he had been the one to speak of his former apprentices, that part of the conversation had irritated him as well, though he could not be certain exactly why. He thought it best to forget about it all for the time being and return to his reading to otherwise occupy his mind.

A short while later, he sensed Micah approaching. Was he not with his mother? When Micah reached the door, he understood why that no longer was. His face was covered in blood, not from feeding or violence, but from vampire tears.

“Micah,” he said sympathetically as he rose to meet him.

“Master.”

His apprentice was immediately in his embrace, sobbing into his shoulder. Sebastian held him supportively and stroked his soft black hair.

“Whatever is wrong, little one?” he asked when Micah's tears did not subside.

Micah only shook his head, though his tears did lessen.

Sebastian pushed his apprentice from his chest and gazed into his red eyes. “Tell me.”

“No, not tonight. No more talking.”

“Micah, let me help you. Tell me what happened.”

“No.” he said sternly. “I wish to be alone. I need to think. I am overwhelmed by everything that has happened and I just need to think.”

“Then we will not speak, but let me stay with you,” Sebastian begged. After what had been said with Kendrick tonight, he did not want to leave his side.

“Please, Master. I have not been alone with my thoughts since my rebirth. I need this. Please.”

Sebastian simply nodded. What could he say? He kissed Micah's bloody cheek, collected his book, and left his apprentice alone.

 

Micah turned his back to the door as his Master left. He hugged himself as he surveyed the empty room before him. Never since his rebirth had he ever been alone, not for more than a few minutes at most. A week ago he might have felt scared to be by himself, but he had spoken the truth when he told his Master that he needed this. With his arms still wrapped around his middle, he sank down onto the bed and curled up on his side. Immediately the tears returned in full force. He nuzzled his face into the soft bedding and let them come.

For what seemed like hours he cried away his sense of loss, all of his stresses, his confusion, his anger, and his fears. Once his emotions stopped their chaotic raging within his mind and began to settle, he pushed himself up to sit cross-legged on the bed. He took a deep breath, touched his forefingers to his thumbs and set his wrists on his knees. Coaxing himself into a meditative state, he thought through everything that had happened to him since Matthew's return to the Restless Wanderer—when the events leading up to this moment had been set into motion. He remembered loving Matthew, sparring with his friends, both of Andre's attacks, his rebirth, and learning what it meant to be a vampire. He remembered all of the people he had killed. He remembered his blackout during the full moon, making love to Sebastian, meeting Renae, following the Latro to meet Quinque, Aurelio's test, and the judgment that had been passed on him. He remembered Sebastian's stories from his past, reuniting with Matthew, and with Kendrick, and with his mother. He remembered the feel of his wolf, the taste of Kendrick's blood, his acceptance into the pack, and his ascension over Christian. He remembered the look on Caspar's face when he had felt the pain in his heart. He remembered all of the arguments with Sebastian, all of the lies that had been told, all of the truths hidden, all of the shocking revelations. He remembered all of the anger, the fear, the confusion, and the pain.

And he made peace with it all.

Even the fact that the bedding was now soaked with his own bloody tears could not upset him now. All was well with the world. He was dead, but he was happy. He and Sebastian had their differences, but they loved one another. There was a wolf inside him, but he rather liked the beast. Quinque had made a threat against his life, but he had no intention of betraying their trust. Andre was still out there in the world, but they were all safe here and he had an eternity to hunt him down should he wish. His mother had been living a life without him, but he was now to be a part of it. And he had a brother. He had a whole pack of brothers, and even one related by blood.

He would apologize and make amends to his half-brother and to Liam, and he would learn to be a good pack-brother to the other wolves. He would live happily here surrounded by his pack, his family. Sebastian, Matthew, Kendrick, and his mother... they were all here with him. He still missed his father, Balduin, and Katrine, but he knew that they would be safe and happy at the Restless Wanderer. They had each other; they were a family all their own. All was well in the world.

Sebastian did not return until just before daybreak. Micah felt him standing in the doorway. He turned to his Master and held out a hand to him. Sebastian took the invitation and settled in behind him.

“Are you all right now, little one?” he whispered.

“All is well,” he replied, holding Sebastian's hand in both of his. “I only wish that I did not have the need to hunt every night.”

Sebastian chuckled. “You are a strange vampire, Micah, and for that I am glad.” He placed a kiss on his neck. “Kendrick wishes to coach you in the ways of the wolf tomorrow night.”

“I would very much like that,” Micah said sincerely.

“Matthew will be there as well, as he must always be with Kendrick. Shall I join you?”

“Please,” he replied and kissed the hand he held.

“I love you, Micah. Even covered in the blood of your own tears I love you.”

Micah simply laughed.

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Now that Micah has had his meltdown and recovery, he can go on peacefully and live a normal life, right? ;) I love you for reading but I'll love you even more if you review! ^_^