Shadow and Light Book 01

"Oh please. I'm better than that, you know that?"

"I do."

"What's been bothering me is...she's dating an alien. Granted he's a hunk and drop dead gorgeous but he's still a not of this Earth alien."

"He and the others were lycanthropes on their home world."

Kelly looked up, "Come again."

"I didn't tell you this before but when I was in Roswell for the Wild Pack fight, Max changed his animan appearance. He became bigger, green and very mean. Apparently it was just suppressed for them blending in on Earth."

"Oh." Kelly said, "Well, they go up a few points then but I still don't like it. We have to put our future in the hands of some girl and her pride...we barely know them."

"She's the same age as you are and when they come to Moon Peak when school starts, I suggest we get to know them."

"Well I won't promise anything. But if she really is Destiny Girl then I guess I better give her a chance. Ummmm...okay, anyway, I'm heading up to the school."

"Making sure your room's okay?"

"Of course. I've got a mate this term, need to make sure there is enough room for his stuff." Kelly said

"Well, just remember I don't want to be a grandfather yet. When you're mating cycle starts, be careful."

"Always." Kelly said as she kissed her fathers cheek and walked out of the hall.

As he walked Kelly walk away, a glimmer from a nearby case caught his attention. He stood up and moved over to it. Inside there were metal triangles with gems in them, similar to the ones worn by the council members and if legend was to be believed then they were a gift of the gods. The ones in this case were from those tribes who didn't survive and were now extinct, from Satyrs to Vampires. He looked at one of the triangle and watched as light flickered on the gem of it.

"No. It couldn't be."

Carpathian Mountain Range, Eastern Romania A.K.A. Transylvania, Same Time

Three researchers had hiked through the mountains to a pile of ruins. The chief scientist was obsessed with his work into the `unknown history' as he put it while the other two were simply students he dragged alone. The older map followed a map religiously until he reached the spot. At that, out came the pickaxes and the three hammered away at the rock. It took them over three hours to break through but they did and all entered into the cavern the exposed.

"You see...it's a primitive sewer system here." He said they pulled their snow-covered hoods off

"Professor, there is no doubt that some people used to live up here..."

"I'm telling you we're close. Very close." He said, "They aren't just some fictitious nightmare. They were real and this is...was the seat of their power."

Then the other student moved closer, "Prof, conditions that made people extremely photosensitive...yeah. Need to drink blood for whatever reason...maybe. But the stories on them..."

"Well those I believe were just stories. It's probably just something to make them seem more frightening. The ability to fly, fangs and the whole bat thing...yes, stories, maybe. We probably won't know for sure. This way." The professor said as the walked further into the ancient abandoned sewer. All of a sudden, all three stopped before massive doors built into the side of the tunnels. "Open it." The professor said and the two students grabbed the handles to the heavy doors and pulled them open.

"What the hell?"

Inside there was a massive block of ice that filled the room behind it and went right up to where the door closed. With the light of their torches, they could see four silhouettes encased in the frozen mass. The professor smiled as he focused in on their faces.

"My god." A student said

"Vampires." The professor said

Tunnels, Carpathian Mountains, Romania, Immediately Following

Encased in the ice stood four figures, one male and three female. All looked to be in starting the process of the change when they were frozen, their ears were all slightly elongated but their fangs were long and sharp. The four were all dressed elegantly, the male was clad in thick folds of regal silk where as the women all wore thin white silk on their arms and legs that was just a little transparent, on them, the silk connected to garments that resembled golden bikinis. Everything looked just as it was when they were frozen at the end of the Tribal Wars against their race.

Out in the tunnel the Professor and his two students stood staring at the ice wall. The young ones stood there petrified at seeing some of their worst nightmares in the flesh. The professor on the other hand had a wide smile growing on his face.

"You see...I told you. It's right there in front of us, I am not insane." The professor yelled, "I'll show those arrogant bastards at the university. I was right."

"Prof...I...eh..."

"The camera...picture, boy, pictures." He said

One student pulled out his camera. He started taking shots of the caverns and then the doors before moving on to the figures in the ice. Then his fellow student spotted something when the light of the flash impacted on it.

"He professor, in the side of the doorframe there." She said

The other student stopped taking pictures and looked over to it. He shown his flashlight where she pointed and the Professor looked over to it. There was a metal plaque firmly embedded into the wood with writing all over it.

"I haven't seen that language before. It's definitely not Romanian."

"I have. I've seen it once or twice during my research and, no it's not Romanian. I've found that the vampires were migratory at times. They moved around, which is why so many cultures have them in their mythology. I think I've translated enough in the past to read this..." The professor said as he pulled out his notebook and flipped it open to a collection of symbols and their meanings in English,

"The end has come, the final moon has risen over our kind. Before the sun will rise the Tribes will...I'm not sure here, it's either conquer or...defeat the last of our forces. To save our kind, one group has been chosen. For the time will come...when the world will know...we will feed until the fields of the land are soaked with blood."

"What are the Tribes?" she asked

"It could mean that different towns or communities came together to beat them."

"I wonder how they were supposed to get out?" the professor said

"We should get a sample of ice. You know, for testing. It might tell us something."

He pulled off his glove to reach into his backpack to pull out equipment. As he stood back up onto his feet, he stumbled on a loose rock and he fell back. Instinctively he reached out to stop himself from falling but his bare hand latched onto the ice barrier.

"Arghhhhhhhh!" he cried out in pain

As he pulled his hand back off of the wall, the professor held it and shinned his light onto it, the hand was practically blue with ice crystals forming over it. "What happened?"

"It...it felt like the heat was being pulled out of me."

All looked to the wall and saw a new indentation on the previously smooth surface. It was the shape and size of a handprint. All of a sudden they watched as the ice began to recede at a rapid pace. It was melting far faster than it should and all three moved back against the far wall.

"Ice does not melt like that."

It only took a few minutes for the ice to be far back enough for the vampires to be exposed. The second they were free, three of the vampires opened their eyes. They hissed and stretched out their limbs, large bat wings formed from their backs as their skin became a clammy grey. All of their teeth became sharper and pointed just like their fingernails. It didn't take long for the need to feed to overtake them and they could hear the heat beats of the three nearby.

All dived through their air, gliding as they hunted the petrified humans. Each vampire grabbed one and in seconds their jaws were latched onto their necks. Normally they would savour the meals but they were too hungry. As their teeth sank into the soft flesh, they sucked the blood out. Unlike the movies, there wasn't a trickle of blood or extensive damage done, just a series of holes.

Once the three were completely drained the vampires released them. Their bodies slumped to the floor, each one looking as white as ghosts. As soon as they were done, they all returned to their human appearance and looked around. They found the professors journal and opened it, looking at the final date entered.

"1999. So many years have passed." A female said

"At least it gives us the opportunity to start again." The other woman said

That was when they realised the third female wasn't with them.

"Where is Marlenna?" the male asked as they continued to look and then looked back in the chamber they had come out of.

They found her lying on the floor; the two women ran over to her and held her before crying out. Their screams echoed throughout the mountains. As they held her, her skin started to disintegrate and they let her go. It burned off, as did everything else until only the skeleton remained.

"Tanya, Katrina, we need more food. Find us some more."

"How can you say that? Our wife is dead; none of us can conceive children without all of us being together. Without her we may as well be dead." Tanya said

The male vampire grabbed her throat and pinned her against a wall as he looked angrily at her. Then he calmed and released her throat before caressing her cheek.

"Forgive me my love, I'm sorry." He said as he sharply turned his head, he sensed something in his mind. He could feel something out there, "Yesssss. Can you feel that?"

"Stephan?" Katrina asked

"A heat beat. Strong, powerful..." Stephan said

The two women stood next to him and looked out to the opening. They too began to feel it, "Such passion." Tanya said

"A primal fire..." Katrina said

"The chosen one." Stephan said

The women looked at him, "The First Born Daughter of the prophecy. It was believed that she would be born to that Rakas family. They are the only ones who have yet to produce a female heir in centuries." Katrina said

"Yes...to us she was always known as `She who carries the blood of all the tribes'. If this is true, then there is some vampire in her...we can convert her and I will have a new third bride."

The two smiled.

"Go, bring me food." Stephan commanded

His two brides changed into their animan bodies and flew off into the night, hunting for the nearest town and more food.

Living Room, Parker Residence, 21:00

Liz and the others spent a lot of time staring at the Granolith that night. Eventually they simply walked out of the cave and changed back into their cat forms. No one said anything; they didn't know what to say so they ran back to town. They were running hard, Liz was running the fastest and the others were simply trying to keep up. They all knew she wanted answers from her grandmother, just as much as Max wanted answers from his father.

As they arrived back at the Crashdown, all changed back into their human forms out in the alley. Although nude, not one of them felt the cold of the night air as badly that they should have been. Liz opened the back door and everyone stepped inside, they found their clothes where they had left them in the lockers and dressed before headed upstairs.

They walked into the living room to find Liz's mother and father sitting and watching the news, while her grandmother was reading a book. Nancy looked up and smiled at her daughter as she entered.

"Hi Liz, enjoy your run?" she asked

"Yeah. It was good." Liz said

"Find anything interesting up that the cave?" Jeff said

"You could say that." Max said

"Oh?" Nancy asked

"Remember how I said it would be difficult finding Chimera?" Liz asked rhetorically, "Well I was wrong. There are a couple in town."

Claudia looked up at Liz to see her granddaughter staring at her.

"What? Where?" Jeff asked

"Right here." Liz said

"What?" Nancy asked

"There's this machine up at the cave. It scanned me and then it did the rest of Roswell. It picked out lycanthropes and separated them into categories. You guys, me, Maria and everyone else. Then it picked up on Stephen and put him elsewhere. Then it picked up Grandma." Liz said

Claudia smiled and stood up.

"Mum?" Jeff asked

"I guess there's no point in denying it. It's true." Claudia said

"What?" Nancy asked, "But...you're Rakas...you smell Rakas."

"Chimera can mask their scents to blend in. That probably means they can adjust it to match our scents." Liz said, "What's going on?" she asked her grandmother

"You all might want to sit down." Claudia said, and they did so. "Okay, I am Chimera. I guess I should start from the beginning... well...okay; you have one of our Chronicles so I wont bore you. You know we were a tribe who looked after yours and the others until you left the Sanctuary, you know that there was a volcanic eruption that forced us to evacuate so..."

"So?" Liz asked

"So, after that we never really paid attention to the tribes. That was our mistake that caused the Centaurs and the Satyrs to become extinct after humans hunted them. At least we corrected that when they started hunting the Wolfen. It was out people who managed to arrange ships to take them to safety...at any rate, after that we stopped watching you."

"Why?" Nancy asked

"Just something that happened. Eventually I came a long. I was...well let's just say I was curious. I felt it important to know about the other tribes so a friend and I decided, against out leaders and our fathers wishes, to spend some time among the rest of you. I usually did the opposite of what I was told when I was young. During my time with the Rakas, I met your father." She said to Philip, "We mated not too long after that."

"Why the hell am I learning about this now?" Jeff asked, keeping his emotions in check.

"No one knew. Except your father, I told him before we mated and he accepted me. He promised that he'd keep my secret and from that day on I limited myself to changing into a cat. As far as the tribe was concerned I was a Rakas."

"And you couldn't tell me...why?" Jeff asked

"I always wanted to. I kept trying to find the right time after your father died but...I'd lived with keeping the secret for so long..." Claudia said

"So what does this mean?" Isabel said, "I mean...with what we're dealing with."

"My people have always kept ourselves secret from everyone. They like living however they please. It's best if you don't do anything to let them know you know, at least until you return from Moon Peak."

"Why then?" Isabel asked

"Because after that, you'd know more about yourselves." She said to the aliens, "Things are supposed to progress in an order. In time you'll all understand more, especially about the prophecies and the discovery of Sanctuary."

"Oh would people please stop talking about this prophecy. I don't care about it, what I do care about are my friends and family. That's my concern and not finding some mythical Garden of Eden." Liz said with agitation

Claudia looked at her granddaughter, "Liz..."

"What?" Liz said loudly as she turned around. There was a small ripple of light from her hand but it blasted to door to shred.

"Oh, easy Liz." Max said as he moved in front of her and cupped her cheek with his hand to calm her.

Liz closed her eyes and breathed deeply as Max caressed her skin.

"I'll take care of that." Isabel said as she moved over to the pile of wood chips, she waved her hand over it and slowly reformed the door.

Max held Liz closely, for the first time in a long while Claudia really felt guilty about keeping the secret.

"Liz, I am sorry." Claudia said

"Yeah, that you've said." Jeff said as he looked at his mother, "You've kept this secret from all of us and we deserved to know...I deserved to know."

"Yes you did, but I made a choice. By marrying into your father's family I made it possible for Liz to be born and that I'll never apologise for. Listen; there are things that you were never meant to find out yet. The leader of the Chimera was always supposed to be the first one you met when you tracked us down but this...this changed everything."

"What happens now?" Liz asked

"Honestly, I don't know. I guess everything keeps going as it is, some things...we just can't help." Claudia said

Liz gave a deep sigh; she didn't know what to do or what else to say. Her mind was going like lightening trying to keep up with everything. Just as she adapted to aliens, being a Rakas was sprung on her and then after that it was the prophecy...it kept coming and coming. Liz needed a break and announced that she was going to bed. The others also called it a night, returning to their homes but Max stayed with Liz until she fell asleep. When that happened he kissed her forehead and returned home himself.

Isabel's Bedroom, Davidson Residence, 08:00 The Next Morning

Isabel slept soundly in her bed, not wanting to wake up for anything. The warm blankets covered her body as sunlight came in from her window. She never closed her curtains and neither did Max. They found comfort in always being open to each other, not that she never needed to close them. The only people that could look in would be those in Max's room.

In his bedroom, Alex woke up very early and before long he was heading to Isabel's. As he arrived at the front door and unlocked it with the key Isabel had given him, he slipped inside. He could hear both Isabel and Michael sleeping in their beds, not that he'd have expected them to be up after a particularly exhausting evening. Michael had told Maria what happened and Maria told him. He was sorry he wasn't there; both for Liz and the fact he missed the four aliens having fun.

However he was here and slowly climbed the stairs and found Isabel's room. For a few minutes he watched her sleep, watched as the sheets covering her breasts rose and fell with each breath. Then he felt a stirring within himself, he could feel his pants become tighter as his cock became harder and as he looked over to Isabel he could see her eyes were opened and smiling at him. Both were feeling it.

Alex started to walk over to her and pulled his t-shirt off over his head. Isabel had felt his presence in her room and had woken up because of it. Almost at the exact same moment they felt their blood begin to heat up with the influence of a spike. Isabel watched Alex with a gleam in her eyes and she pulled off her sheets. She showed him her body and Alex crawled onto the bed.

He smiled as he looked at her. "Did you enjoy yourself last night?"

"You have no idea." Isabel said as Alex moved over her. She wrapped her arms around him, her hands ran over his back as his became planted on either side of her head.

Alex felt her breasts press against his chest as she arched her back. He leaned down slightly at the same time and their lips connected. It was brief but they felt a surge between them, they felt it run over their skin. It caused them to kiss again only this time it was harder yet more sensual. The kiss touched their souls and Isabel's hands ran down and grabbed Alex's ass.

They smiled wickedly to each other before Isabel reached around and started to unfasten his pants. When they were undone she pushed them down a little, exposing his butt and releasing his dick. Isabel felt it brush against her leg, slowly she spread them and cradled her lover between them. Alex rested his full weight on her, the tip of his cock pressed against her opening as they caressed each other.

They never stopped looking at each other as they gave light, gentle kisses over their faces and throats. Isabel's hands ran over Alex's chest and felt him give subtle thrusts with his hips, it was instinctual, he couldn't help it, Alex needed to be inside her and he poked at her core. Isabel wanted it as well and reached to his ass, she pulled on him and his dick slipped passed her lips.