Chapter 52

Claudia’s POV
**“Claudia; wake up”** Amanda nudges me in my mind. I roll over moaning, **“Mandy”** I say, stirring. **“You need to wake Danny and Pappa Wolf”** she explains, nudging me again. **“I’m up, I’m up”** I tell her, yawning and getting out of bed. “Snow Blossom” Danny says, stirring. “Mandy’s back. Let me pee, then we can wake Dad up” I say, walking into the bathroom.
“What did she say?” Danny calls out. “She didn’t, she just told me to wake you and dad up” I explain coming out of the bathroom. *“Dad; you need to wake up”* I mind link him. *“What is it, sweetheart?”* he sleepily, answers me. *“Mandy’s back, she told me to wake you and Danny”* I tell him. *“I’ll be down, shortly”* he says.
**“I need to come forward and talk to them both”** Amanda tells me. **“No, shit”** I say back, allowing her to come forward in my mind. “Pappa wolf; please sit down” Mandy says as dad comes into our room. “What happened?” Dad asks, yawning. “Sorry to wake you all, I didn’t realise it would take as long as it did. Goddess Selene, Goddess Hecate and God Apollo had a meeting with Goddess Bastet and Goddess Artio. Oliver, Sariah and I were with them. There were many questions asked by the three of us and Bastet and Artio were not very forthcoming in their answers. Goddess Hecate is not one, you want to piss off” she giggles.
“Start from the beginning, what did you ask the two of them?” Dad asks Mandy. “Sariah started the questions; she asked why Joseph and Lucas have not been reincarnated. There is a clear threat to all shifters, witches and warlocks and vampires. They should have been reincarnated by now. Both goddesses looked at each other and said the same thing Lucas and Joseph said to us in our last lifetime; this was a werewolf, witch and vampire situation. Not a werebear or werecat situation” she tells them.
“Michael and Callum aren’t seeking to become king of werecats and werebears?” Danny asks her. “Not exactly; Oliver thought this is what they meant also. Until Hecate stepped in; she screamed at them and threw lightning bolts from her hands at the pair. Apparently, both goddesses had gone to her and told her, they were going to let Danny, Oliver and Sariah deal with this new threat. We dealt with the pair last time and will deal with them this time around” she explains.
“Wait a minute; Callum wasn’t the threat last time. We killed Marcus; Callum told us where we could find him” Danny says to her. “I know Michael is a different person to Marcus; I grew up with him. We went to the same school” Dad includes.
“Yes; about that. Michael is the great, grandson of Marcus. Callum was indeed the threat last time; wanting to overthrow Oliver’s father. Access your memories of the time Danny; Oliver’s father was killed not long before we knew about Marcus and Oliver was named the next king. You and Claudia arrived at Oliver’s palace not too long after and we stopped Callum pursuing the thrown at that point. Callum could not do it alone and Marcus’ daughter and grandson were not king or queen material according to him. He waited for the right heir to come along; Michael. Both families go way back” she explains.
“King Ronald was killed in a freak accident” Danny tells her. “Oliver stated that also. The freak accident; which Callum informed everyone of. You know how hard it is to kill a vampire; they need their heart ripped out or their head decapitated. Ronald’s heart was pulled out by an unknown source. Callum covered his tracks quite well; even from God Apollo. He too thought it was an accident at the time; as Callum started plotting Oliver’s demise, he looked back and realised Callum’s accidental clumsiness was in fact purposeful. He murdered Ronald” she tells us as Dad and Danny look at her contemplating her words.
**“What do they suggest we do; to illuminate the threat?”** I ask her. **“They didn’t say anything when Sariah asked the same question. They just looked between one another.”**
“What else did you ask of them?” Dad questions. “I was just telling Claudia, Sariah asked what we could do to illuminate the threat. They didn’t answer her. Oliver then asked, if you can’t tell us, can you at least explain what we need to look out for” she informs us.
“And?” “And, God Apollo said for Oliver, Sariah and you to stick together, Danny. The more of us together, the less likely they are to succeed. This is when he went off at Bastet and Artio for not helping; he said ‘we could have used the help last time and Callum would not have learnt how to get around us this time. He almost succeeded in killing Tracey as an infant and allowing Michael to convince Alfred to kidnap Claudia. You didn’t stop to think about that?’ The two of them snarled and walked away; which only enraged Hecate more. This time she started throwing fireballs out of her hand at them” she laughs.
**“This almost took 3 days”** I ask her. “No; what took 3 days was either Bastet, Artio or both would leave. We hadn’t finished questioning them. It took Apollo, Selene and Hecate ages to persuade them to come back. We came to the conclusion it was too late to reincarnate Joseph and Lucas. We will have to deal with Callum and Michael on our own” she answers, speaking to the room.
“What about Danny? Did James know who he was? Is that why he reacted the way he did?” Dad asks her. “Goddess Selene does not believe so. He put his guilt of Rachael’s death onto Danny. Him and Craig were at a poker game, at that shady place they owned. Rachael called him to say she was in labour and losing blood and he said he will be back momentarily. She was too weak to get herself to the hospital and he didn’t end up coming back for 2 hours. According to Quinton; he never told them about Danny being his son. Only way they knew who he was, was when Tim was heading back to the River Pack. Oh Shit! Tim and Chelsea.”
“It’s ok, baby wolf. We had Tim come back here. We got a message for him to meet us at Grandma Nelly’s place with Chelsea. Because Craig has replaced James’ part in all of this; Todd is being left out of it all. It’s safe for him to come back. He made the excuse his jealousy got the better of him and came back” Dad says, giving off a small chuckle.
“Who could he be jealous of? Chelsea loves him; although I don’t know why” Amanda asks. “Jerry” Danny laughs; holding up the stuffed mouse.
**“I’m lost” “I’ll fill you in later”** I giggle to her.
“Oh Kay” she says; stating each syllable. “Oliver said to tell you; we should all go back to his castle. Since he is the main person, they want to attack; we can co-ordinate everything from there. He was also going to ask you Danny if you didn’t mind bringing Joslyn down to help work in his kitchen” she adds.
“I can’t leave everyone else here; they will be vulnerable. I wonder if there is a way everyone can go there” Danny explains. “Up and leave the territory?” Dad answers, shocked. “Is there another way you can see us going to stay with Oliver?” he asks.
“No, I guess not” Dad frowns; looking at Amanda. **“Let me out”** I tell her. “I will let Claudia come back; you can talk about what do next, with her” she tells them as I come forward in my mind. “Dad; we stayed at the castle last time. There were a lot of deaths from our pack, because we left them to defend the territory. I am with Danny; if we go to the castle, we all go” I tell him. “Fine, but I want you, Jason, Simon, Rick and Tim to stay behind before we go anywhere” he says, pointing to Danny. “What are we going to do?” Danny answers. “Booby trap the whole damn territory. If they think they can take my land; they will get hurt in the process” he snarls.
“Now I’m worried. Who are you and what have you done with my father?” I giggle. “Ha, ha; your hilarious. This has been the Davison territory for many centuries. I am not going to give it up for some overzealous king wannabe and his minions. And I sure as hell not going to let rouges take over. I am not going to set the booby traps to kill them. It will make anyone; including rogues, think twice before claiming our land” he fumes.
“Let’s all go back to bed. We have a lot of plans to make in the morning” I tell them both. “Night” dad replies, heading out the door. “Night” I call after him.
“Mandy; what did they say regarding werecats and werebears? Do they have someone planning on becoming king for both of them as well?” Danny asks. I let Mandy come forward; “to Bastet’s and Artio’s knowledge; they do not. They believe once Michael becomes king of werewolves; he will then move forward and become king of all shifters” she replies. “Unless…” Danny starts saying. **“Unless; what?”** I say as Mandy lets me come forward again.
“Unless, what?” I say again; so, he can hear me. “Unless, Callum is only using Michael to get rid of us and he wants to be the one and only king for all vampires, witches and shifters.” “Similar to Nesbeth; he could be thinking vampires are the only true supernatural to be in existence and want to destroy all others” I add. “Precisely. We need to talk to Oliver. He knows Callum and will know if he these views.”
I nod my head, as I get back into bed. “We will deal with it, in the morning” I tell Danny as he lays down next to me again. “We should get some sleep” he says. I know him; he won’t be sleeping. I put my arms around his waist and slowly drift back to sleep.